Sarah Dawn Designs

Custom Rug - Cafe Press Review

2013-07-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know, its been a while but life has a way of throwing your curve balls. I have been trying to get this custom rug review up for a while and am excited to show you the final result. If you remember, a while back a representative from CafePress offered me the chance to design one of my own products from their DIY line and I opted for a customized rug.

Here was the design I came up with. Something bold. Something graphic. The process for ordering was quite simple. They told me how big my file needed to be and then I simply uploaded my custom design. I was able to see where the edges would be bound on the design as well. Then after finalizing my design I hit the order button. You can create you designs on their website or like me, create the design in Photoshop and just upload a jpg file.

I didn't have any problems with upload or ordering and my rug showed up a couple days later. Seriously, these guys were quick.

Now as you can expect with this sort of item the design was printed on top of the fibers meaning that this is not the kind of rug where each strand of fiber is dyed all the way through. The design is simply printed on top. This makes it perfect for spaces such as dorm rooms or kids rooms where you want something custom but don't want to pay an arm and a leg. I do have this rug in my living room for now, it just worked so well with my furniture. Make sure and take your shoes off in the area in which you place this rug. If you live in an area such as the Arizona where red rock dust is everywhere the dust will stain the rug quite easily I'm sure. The trick to keeping any rug looking fantastic is to treat it with respect:) *Note: This is not your high quality rug that will last for years and years. I personally would use it in LOW traffic areas or a semi temporary solution. It is what you would expect of an inexpensive custom rug.* If you are like me and want to change the feel of your living room every other year than it could be a viable solution. We move a lot :)

One little secret I learned about CafePress is that every so often they have random "Flash Sales" where most or all of their products will be 25%-50% off the original price. You just have to check the site frequently to catch these sales. In the future I would be interested in trying to design a shirt. Like I said the turn around from the time you order is quick so it would be great for team shirts and they offer discounts for larger orders.

The products they have vary from custom graduation invitations and announcements to shower curtains. They cater to the individual needs as well as those of the business person with items such as business cards and cases.

Finally, if you love your design enough and think others would to, CafePress has the option for you to partner with their store and sell your item. How cool is that.

I would give this company two thumbs up. They are easy to work with and have lots of products to offer to make you life and home personalized to you.

*Please note I did receive this rug as compensation for this post but the opinions expressed are solely my own.*

Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party #33

2013-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yes Pintastic Tuesday is up a little late but it is still Tuesday and we have lots of pin worthy features to take a look at. In my defense though I spent the day looking for the supplies to make an ultra command center, a project that has taken a bit longer than I planned but it is going to be fantastic!

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party #32

2013-04-01T17:35:00.001-07:00

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. I spent mine with friends, family, and some beautiful weather. I'm getting excited for spring and am on the hunt for some project inspiration. So let's get partying :)

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Design Your Own Rug - Cafe Press

2013-03-27T14:46:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been perusing Pinterest and looking through the various pins and thought you would like to design your own rug? I know I have and there are so many great ideas out there. I was beyond ecstatic when someone from CafePress contacted me about doing a review for one of their personalized products. When I discovered you could design your own rug I was hooked but alas I 'm getting a little ahead of myself.

For those of you who aren't familiar with CafePress they offer customized products in conjunction with letting you sell your own customized products on their site. It really is pretty sweet.

The range of products you can customize is pretty wide. You can start out with your basics. Design your own t-shirt. The have v-necks, tank tops, raglan style, and even maternity shirts. One of my all time favorite items of clothing are hoodies. A person can never have too many hoodies, at least in my opinion. My husband might think otherwise as he starts to loose space in our closet.

As Mother's and Father's Day approaches you may want to check out their other personalized products. Their prices are pretty decent and so far I have been impressed with the contact I'm working with.

It doesn't just stop at clothing and dishware. You can personalize your own shower curtains, blankets, i-phone cases and of course rugs.

I gathered a bunch of photos for some inspiration and started designing away. Rugs are a great way to bring pattern into your home and I love pattern. Right now I'm really into fresh and clean neutral rooms with pops of color and pattern. If you can't tell, herringbone patterns have always been a favorite of mine.

When I first started the design process I thought I would go with a neutral gray, it would go with everything. Of course I would add my color through my accessories.

Then I was looking through photos and decided I liked the stark contrast of black and white rugs and came up with this ombre herringbone rug. I love both concepts. You have to imagine this pattern at a large scale as it would be a 3 x 5 rug.

I think I will play around a little bit more with a larger print and if I can decide for sure which room I want it in, perhaps I will even add some fun colors.

What do you think? How would you design your own rug? I'm so excited to submit my design and see how the final product turns out. Stay tuned!

Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party 31

2013-03-25T19:38:00.003-07:00

Welcome to Pintastic Tuesday. Can you believe March is almost either? Ya me neither. Regardless, we have lots to party about with some more great projects and recipes this week. I just love everyone's different styles and ideas.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party #30

2013-03-18T19:56:00.001-07:00

I know, I'm lame. I totally missed my own party last week. I apologize. My sister came to visit for a week and a half and now we have more family in town and I work from home... I just plum forgot. That just means this week's party will be twice as awesome.

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St. Patrick's Day Craft

2013-03-06T17:32:00.001-08:00

This St. Patrick's Day craft started out so simple, until I tried to spray paint a picture frame white. Apparently I need to consult Pinterest on that one to learn the tricks of the trade on that one. Thus, the project got put on hold, over and over again even though it REALLY should only take about 1/2 an hour. Other than the picture frame, the supplies for this St. Patrick's Day craft are minimal.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party 29

2013-03-04T16:42:00.001-08:00

How is it already March? My weeks are just flying by. I hope you all have had a great weekend and are ready for another great Pin Party and find lots of inspiration, I know I could use a little right about now.

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St. Patrick's Day Craft - Paper Shamrocks

2013-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Before I get started on this easy St. Patrick's Day craft I thought I would share something I learned this last week from one of you. As some may or may not know I will link up my posts to various link parties and many of them have a limit to how many characters you can use in the title. Like Twitter, you learn how to shorten your message for link parties. For example, instead of "St. Patrick's Day Printable," I was linking up, "St. Patty's Day Printable" or "St. Patty's Printable." Seems normal right?

That's what my American self thought until someone commented on my post and politely informed me that it is St. Paddy and NOT St. Patty.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party 28

2013-02-25T15:32:00.002-08:00

Another week has come and gone and the Phoenix valley even saw a little bit of snow. I hope you have your pins ready because we have some awesome features this week. I really have been inspired over the last week but so far, my projects are not turning out how I had hoped they would. Here's to hoping that this week is different.

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St. Patrick Printables

2013-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Now that Valentine's Day is over its time to start switching out the decor and what better way to start then with St. Patrick Printables? This printable may look slightly familar depending on how long you've been following Sarah Dawn Designs. I used this template last year but decided that this year my St. Patrick Printables could use a little makeover with some fun bright colors.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party 27

2013-02-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a fantastic Valentines Day and for some of you, a great three day weekend. We had lots of things going on around these parts, dinners, comedy show, a dance, and time with family. I'm so excited for this week's party. We have some fabulous features this week that have gotten the creative juices flowing.

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DIY Mugs - Meet the Moustache World

2013-02-13T14:59:00.001-08:00

I should have shown you these DIY Mugs a long time ago! Seriously. I joined the moustache world a couple of years ago when coming up with gift ideas for the husband. Like a lot of other men he has hopped onto that bandwagon only I don't really like REAL moustaches so he mostly just dreams of the moustaches he could grow. Since I am a total dream killer I thought these diy mugs would make the perfect gift as he also loves hot chocolate. Best of both worlds. He thought they were awesome, at least that is what he told me.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party 26

2013-02-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Pintastic Tuesday! What do you think of the new redesign? Already I'm loving having this party on Tuesday instead of Monday. It gives me more time to look and pin!

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

2013-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Last night I made a variation of my stuffed peppers and was quite satisfied with the results, Quinoa Stuffed Peppers. I have had quinoa sitting on my shelf for a while now and just hadn't gotten around to trying it although I had heard how amazingly healthy it was. I admit I was a little nervous to try it but really, I almost didn't enough know it wasn't rice. Its a keeper that's for sure.

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Pintastic Tuesday - Link Party #25

2013-02-04T17:06:00.002-08:00

Welcome to our first official Pinatstic Tuesday. All sorts of exciting things are happening around here including a blog make-over that is almost ready for a reveal. In the meantime I hope you will link up your favorite projects this week and perhaps even find one or two that are Pin worthy.

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Building Blocks for Finding the Perfect Color Schemes

2013-01-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

I love, love, LOVE color and find it fascinating to learn everything I can about it. Color Theory was definitely one of my favorite classes in college and thought I would share with you some of the basics to putting together great color schemes. You must know that there are several variations of the color wheel out there and that they will have a different number of colors on their wheel. We'll use color the wheel above, "The Prang Theory."

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Pintastic Monday - Link Party 24

2013-01-28T08:06:00.000-08:00

It's official this will be the LAST PINTASTIC MONDAY but don't worry folks this party is only moving to Tuesdays. Starting next week we will be having Pintastic Tuesday. Making this change will help me be more consistent in getting the link party up on time. I hope to open the party on Mondays around 5:00 PM MST. I hope you will all join me.

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Valentines Day Printable

2013-01-22T12:04:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year to get a Valentines Day Printable up. Now if you follow my blog you may recognize this particular printable as the quote happens to be my 2013 theme. However, I have spiced it up a little bit in honor of the upcoming holiday. I have to say, I LOVE this Valentines Day Printable.

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Pintastic Monday - Link Party #23

2013-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! I've been debating moving Pintastic Monday to Tuesday? What are your thoughts? I find that the weekend seems to get away from me and the link party just never gets up on time. While I still haven't gotten in my "regular" schedule I have been able to get a project or two done. Here is what I was up to last week.

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Easy Valentine Crafts - 20 Min. Garland

2013-01-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Who is ready for easy Valentine crafts? I know I am. After decorating for fall and Christmas I get to Valentine's Day and have little motivation to change things up too drastically. Add to the fact that we just moved and I really don't want to go too crazy nor do I want to make anything at the moment that will be too hard to store. That's what makes this 20 min garland the perfect solution when it comes to easy Valentine crafts. Seriously!

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Pintastic Monday - Link Party #22

2013-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ok this time for REAL I'm back on track with Pintastic Monday. I wasn't counting on the internet company taking so long to connect our router with this move. After all we stayed with the same company and already had the router, they didn't even have to come to our house. Regardless I'm ready to get 2013 rolling with a Pin Party and share with you some of my favorite posts from last year.

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Pintastic Monday 21

2012-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's the last Pintastic Monday of this year so we're going to change it up a bit. Link up any new projects you have as well as your FAVORITE project from this past year. Then as usual browse some of the other projects and pin away. By the end of this week we should be completely moved and hopefully unpacked and settled (fingers crossed) and my blog should start look more normal.

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New Year Resolutions Printables

2012-12-27T08:31:00.001-08:00

I know my blog has been awfully quiet the last couple of weeks and while we are still in the process of moving, last night I whipped up these New Year Resolutions Printables to share with you before my computer was packed. This year I wanted something I could put up somewhere in our new house that would remind me of the goals I want to be working on constantly. As you can see the first of my New Year Resolutions printable is a list that is somewhat general. I am a goal oriented person and while I often need a very specific goal to be working towards I also want to work on being happy with the small achievements.

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Pintastic Monday #20

2012-12-10T10:06:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Pintastic Monday where bloggers come together to find "pinsperation" projects. I love Christmas time and the projects that are out there are just fantastic. I think I will have to start my Christmas projects in July next year so that I can get them all done in time.

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