C.R.A.F.T.

Making Monday Marvelous #93

2012-02-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

Here are a few marvelous ideas from last week...

1: Need last minute Valentine's? Print out these cute cards for free and use your thumb to finish them up! "I like hanging around with you" for a monkey thumbprint or how about "I have a roaring good time with you" and a lion thumbprint!

2: Love this wood chip wreath for everyday use!

3: Grab a pointed fence post and turn it into a giant #2 pencil. Genius!

4: Wouldn't be sweet of us to make our neighbors this heart shaped hot pad. "Valentine, you're hot" or "You warm my heart!" 

5: I love a good piece of paint chip art :)

6: This is an important one for all blogger blogs! Make sure your settings are set to "Show my e-mail address" (See how mine is checked!) I get sad when I see this: <noreply-comment@blogger.com>

Grab some bling if you were featured! 

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured!

5 things...

2012-02-10T16:09:00.001-06:00

A few things before we get this weekend started!

1: Where do you and your blog live? I love making these google forms! I have some giveaways coming up that will be city specific, and I am trying to get a feel for how many people with blogs live where...

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2: Remember the beach inspired baby shower? Many of you asked where you could find the mom to be cards I used... You can now download them for free, here!

3: If you want play by play C.R.A.F.T. details (I know you do... ha!) You should follow C.R.A.F.T. on facebook. Today we talked about Tom's making feet stink (or not), making animated gif's (which is so, so easy), and my ad placement experiment!

4: Still need Valentine ideas? Check out this list of 100 or my Valentine board on pinterest... you will surely find something you want to craft up this weekend!

5: Are you going to Haven? You should :) Link up here and we can pre introduce ourselves :)

Andy and I are going to relax, cook breakfast together, hand up some big pictures and mirrors, and possibly go to the beach (fingers crossed it doesn't rain). What are your weekend plans? I'd love to hear...

360 Makeover- Part 1

2012-02-10T07:56:00.002-06:00

One little fact you probably don't know about me is that I took a wood shop class in college at the University of Texas. After a little finagling, we snuck our way into the graduate level class as juniors in college. We had access to the cold, cave under the architecture building filled with every kind of saw imaginable, planers, drills, routers, and my personal favorite, a wood lathe. A lathe is the thing that makes wooden legs, banisters, and candlesticks just to name a few.

Wood shop was one of my best college classes, I made a frame, a 5 legged stool (I really enjoyed the wood lathe), and 360 was my final project. I designed and built 360 (almost) all by myself. You can see my stool in this picture right in front of the door mirror. This was my makeup vanity in my college apartment :)

My final wood shop project was not as fancy as most peoples. Remember we're talking about graduate level architecture students and then there was me, a wanna be architect... junior in college, undecided major (ended up going with psychology).

We had to draw plans for our final project, create mock ups, build the beast, and then present it to a board of professionals. I don't have many pictures, but I did come across this during the packing process. I guess I officially named her 90 degrees back in college, but 360 is what I've always called her. The idea was she could be used on any of her 4 sides, depending on the need.

Here is a close up of my working drawing and first cardboard mock up. It doesn't look so difficult to build, buy holly geez... you have to have an exact plan. Exact plans, have never been my thing. Notice the darkening of the corners in my working drawing. You have to know exactly what piece of wood is going to lay on top of another piece of wood, and this determines the size of the piece. 1/4 of inch makes a big difference. And wood is expensive, especially for a college kid :)

This is all of the wood cut to size, according to my drawing.

This is the first section I built. I used a nail gun, and wood glue for most of the piece.

Here she is getting painting in wood shop paint room for the first time. She has since been painted 2 more times.

This is what she looked like on the presentation day. I got a B. 360 wasn't fancy enough, but she is oh so functional!

Here is what she looked like for 3 years in my closet in the Austin condo.

With the lack of shelving in Sunny, I decided to give 360 a more prominent location in our apartment. She is now literally in the center of the living room. The brown paint job I did over 3 years ago was pathetic. I missed a ~~few~~ tons of spots. See...

Here is a sneak peak at her new look.

I am going to add a little something something to the 3 boxes with backs :) I will share a full tutorial on how to repaint a piece of furniture soon! Until then, are you in the middle of a furniture makeover? Did you ever take wood shop? Have you ever used a wood lathe? Have you ever built a piece of furniture? It's pretty fun to say, "I built that!". I'd love to hear...

Freebies and First Look

2012-02-09T08:05:00.002-06:00

If you're tired of all of this moving stuff... just know that I'm tired of it too! It will be over soon, like today soon :) I've got furniture makeovers, crafts, decorating plans, furniture arrangement, and mood boards galore coming up. I've blogged about every pseudo interesting detail of this DIY move... from where to find free boxes, costs of moving yourself, and comparing your first home to your second home.

I showed you around our new place we call Sunny. (Do you name the places you live?) In my adult life I've lived at Zen garden, the egg house, the beach house, and the Efficiency.

We left the moving saga with the couch not fitting in the house. It's Monday, January 30th, we have moved every item, just the 2 of us, from the moving truck, through the buildings 3 doorways, in and out of the elevator, through the hallway, and into the apartment. It's dusky... around 6:00pm. The apartment looks like this:

You can see that we brought up the cushions from the brown couch (stacked on the gray futon) just to bring them back to the truck the next morning. #sadstory

We eat a frozen lasagna, and Andy is determined to get the bed set up to sleep on a real mattress tonight. After all we slept on a blow up mattress Friday night, hotel Saturday night, blow up mattress Sunday night. Not to mention, Andy slept on a blow up for 5 months straight!

Here is an elated Andy rolling up his blow up for the last tine.

Setting up the bed after the madness of packing, driving, moving, and unpacking for 84 hours straight.

I was hoping the magic unpacking fairy would appear in the middle of the night, but no... We woke up to this disaster in the living room.

Our sweet neighbor brought me a welcome to Florida orchid (see it... on the right hand side in the green pot :)

Kitchen doorway...

Kitchen:

Andy ended up staying home from work on Tuesday due to exhaustion. We took care of things like getting rid of this stuff:

Andy had accumulated quite a bit of free furniture in the past 5 months, some of which I'm excited about and we are definitely keeping and some that needs to go... When you live in a building and don't have a truck it is a lot more difficult to get rid of stuff than one might think. We ended up calling Faith Farm Ministries and they scheduled a pick up for 3:00pm that day. Free pick up and they moved the stuff by themselves. Oh hallelujah.

For the past 5 months, if someone didn't know what to do with something they gave it to Andy. After all, he has an empty apartment minus the blow up mattress! (I think people felt sorry for him!)

Andy's freebies:

3 end tables- gone
funky part of a sectional (white thing above)- gone
old, super heavy, couch bed- gone
round coffee table- gone
side table that reminds me of a harp- gone
broken bar- last minute I pulled it out of the gone pile- keeper
cane chair with stains- kepper
2 dressers- keepers

The wooden table and 2 chairs by the window is the one thing he bought himself at a thrift store for $50 before everyone started dropping off their hammy downs!

You can see the table better in this picture. We worked all day Tuesday on getting things pseudo usable and the big pieces in place:

By the end of Tuesday it looked like this, much better than it did 24 hours before!

The balcony was an easy set up... and where we have eaten dinner every night for the past week!

The bedroom:

The closet:

Just a note to self and anyone else is ever going to move... don't fold and tape your boxes like this. It makes the unfolding and un-taping way more difficult than it needs to be!

Tomorrow I'm going to introduce you to 360, the only piece of furniture I've ever built. She got a makeover and looks fabulous! She was brown before...you can see her sitting behind the futon in the living room pictures :)

The DIY move and a packing party!

2012-02-08T06:53:00.003-06:00

We choose option C. DIY the big move. We looked into moving companies, but $2000 to $3000 just to move our stuff (not including paying for gas in my car to get us there) was out of the budget. Andy flew in Friday night to help me finish packing, load the Budget truck and get last minutes things done. The house was about 80% packed into boxes by the time I picked him up from the airport at 7:00pm on Friday, January 27.

Did I mention my last day of work was Friday? Yep, silly me... I worked the entire week before I moved cross country. Probably not the best idea, but I suppose the most money conscience decision :) After work on Friday, I picked up the 16 foot Budget truck and car trailer with our friend, Will. Will dropped it off at our house and I went to get Andy at the airport.

Next thing we knew, there was a packing party at our house :) We knew 2 of Andy's friends were coming over to help move the big items down the stairs and into the truck. But, we were not counting on Will, Marcus, Katy, Rachelle, and Annie to help!

Katy and Will brought Corona's and limes :) Rachelle picked up some Little Ceasers Hot and Readies, Bota Boxes (wine in juice box containers), and Grandma's hummus and pita chips (this hummus is hands down the most d-leesh hummus brand.) We listened to old school 90's music (think TLC's Waterfalls) and boxed, carried, and sung our little hearts out. It certainly made the night more entertaining and with 7 people carrying boxes down it went well, 7x as fast.

I foresee Bota Boxes at picnics on the beach in the near future :) Just so you know, they're very tasty.

I left out a few things until the very last minute... since the kitchen was all packed away it was handy to have:

-Paper products (to eat and drink)
-trash bags (for last minute trash and Good Will giveaways)
-zip lock bags (screws from picture frames, TV mounts, curtain rods)
-Clorox wipes (clean up the mess from the packing party)
-scissors, tape (duh)
-paper towels
-magic erasers (clean walls, baseboards, doors, love these things.)
-vacuum (vacuum yourself out of the house)

We moved all of the boxes from here:

To here:

Good ol' Google taught us how to pack a moving truck (our budget truck did not have what they call an attic, the space that hangs over the cab of the truck):

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We (as in Andy, Marcus, and Will), not me, put the couch and fancy futon at the front of the truck facing each other. We piled boxes to the roof on top of the couches.

Our neighbor let us borrow a blow up air mattress, and we slept on the living room floor :)
Our sweet friends brought us coffee and breakfast tacos the next morning as we packed last minute things, cleaned, and dealt with a dryer issue. (I hope they have breakfast tacos in Florida) (I have a hard time spelling Flo-rida, and every time I type it I say to myself "flo" like flow and "rida"... makes me giggle.)

The night before, we realized our dryer was broken. It was burning hot to the touch and smelled like tanning bed. We called the dryer guy, he thankfully came on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. We paid him $50 to tell us the problem is most likely a clogged, dirty, dryer vent.

FYI homeowners: you are supposed to clean your dryer vent (not just the little fuzz catcher in your dryer) but the actual pipe that goes from your dryer to the outside every 2 years.

The dryer guy recommended a steam cleaning company (they have the right equipment for the job: big vacuums) It cost us $85.

Andy checking the air flow from the dryer vent. (It is supposed to fell like a hair dryer on medium) Ours felt like a sucky hair dryer on low.

We finally hitched up the car and left Austin, TX at 2:07 pm on Sunday!

We decided to do a surprise stop by my parents on the way out of Texas to have dinner and say good bye. My mom baked us some goodies :)

We drove to Baton Rouge, LA and stayed in a La Quinta Inn. The free waffle breakfast was a plus. This is Andy "mad" at me because I'm hurrying him out the door... he is a putzer, big time putzer. Anytime we are leaving, you can typically find me tapping my foot with an exasperated look on my face, calling Andy's name and telling him we are late... He has no sense of urgency :)

We are back road by 8:00 am. We accidentally drive through New Orleans instead of around it. Oopsie. But, I'm happy we got to (kind of) see new Orleans.

I did a first, and bought scratch offs on our drive. I see the scratching thrill, but loosing the dollar doesn't make it worth it for me. Next time I'll put my dollar to good use and buy a york peppermint patty instead. I was actually going to buy one lottery ticket in every state. Apparently, Alabama does not do the lottery, and I somehow missed Mississippi. I only wasted $3 :)

We stopped every 3 hours or so for our gas guzzling truck, stretching, bathroom breaks, and treats. We were told this bad boy gets 8 mpg!

Feeding the truck...

We made it into Florida!

Then this happened. Thankfully, we were not involved in the crash part... just the aftermath, hours later. We were so close, but so far! The highway was closed down, and the detour cost us 3 hours.

It was stand still traffic. We took pictures for entrainment.

We made it safe and sound to Fort Lauderdale at 3:00 am, and went promptly to sleep on the double decker aerobed. Woke up in the morning to find a ticket on the ol' Budget. We parked it in a mall parking lot. Whoops.

The only eventful happening of the un-loading process was the couch. The 3 year old, brown Basset, 85 inch long couch that would. not. fit in the elevator. True story. We tried taking the ceiling out of the elevator. Andy even attempting walking it up the stairs, but it would not fit through the stairwell door. Sad, but true. We could not fathom giving the couch to Good Will. So, we threw it back in the Budget and took it to a consignment store. Here she rests in the front window spot of Everything Under the Sun in Fort Lauderdale, FL. She was a good couch.

And here is the final cost of the big move:

- 5 boxes and 30 feet of bubble wrap from Home Depot- $13.86

-15 boxes from Specs- free

-13 boxes from Uhaul.com- free

- 9 copy paper boxes- free

- Budget one way truckcar trailer, and 12 furniture blanket rental- $675

- Gas from TX to Fort Lauderdale- $608

- Florida turnpike toll- $7.50 because we had multiple axles! (After we realized we would have to pay this multiple times, we took an alternate route!)
- 3 lottery tickets- $3.00
- One night in a hotel- $79
- Car snacks- $20
- Lock for the Budget (bought it from Budget, don't do this)- $14.00

Total cost to move from Texas to Florida: $1,420. 36

Would I do it this way again... Yes. Unless I had kids, that might change my mind. Have you moved lately? Were you at all involved in the I-75 fiasco in Florida? Have you ever used a consignment store? Do you feel sorry for me and my couch :)? I went to visit it yesterday at the store... it's price tag is $585.

Austin Condo Good Byes

2012-02-07T07:54:00.003-06:00

Walking out of your house for the last time is a bizarre feeling. I guess I just like to think I might be back there one day. After all, we still own the little thing. I took a few pictures right before we rolled my Versa onto the trailer attached to the Budget truck and drove away to begin what turned into a 48 hour trek to Fort Lauderdale (more on that soon).

This is the the last picture I took before I locked up the house for the last time...

Oh suspended desk, how I am going to miss you. And shelves, I need shelves. I hope y'all are being loved by the new tenant :)

We bought the condo back in October of 2008, but the ol' blog did not begin until February of 2010 (holy. cow. 2 years this month). As I looked through the pictures I realized y'all had never seen some of the little details we did early on... like putting in a glass shower door.

I don't know if it is just me, but I am not a fan of shower curtains. I am super-missing my glass shower door in Florida. We bought the door at Home Depot for @ $250 bucks. Andy installed it in a few hours. The hardest part was drilling through the tile. In my opinion, a great investment and a not too complicated DIY project! Andy could give you details if you're curious... but we have no detailed process pictures for this project!

I miss those shelves over the toilet too. Sunny (the name of our Fort Lauderdale apartment) has nothing over the toilets in both bathrooms. Our new bathrooms don't even have towels racks.

As much as I disliked the placement of this window, I really liked the paint chip walls, and my pretty, giant crepe myrtle tree right outside the window. You can see her wintery, bare branches through the blinds.

These hooks in my closet were a life savor. I didn't take those with me either. My sweater collection lived on those hooks. I love a good cardigan. At the moment my sweaters live in a heap on the floor in the bedroom. Geez, I'm being kind of pathetic today, huh :)

MP room, you made me happy. Although, your walls turned out a little too bright, you were cheery. Everything had a home in here.

This closet makeover was one of the early blog blog posts. It was a good closet.

That white shelf is going to try and hold ALL of my craft supplies in Sunny. It's a big unorganized, disaster at the moment too :) The gray desk is my new blogging desk.

Laundry room. How I really, really miss you. A free washer and dryer all to myself. 2 shelves of storage above, and look at that spice rack on the back of your door! You're pretty. Sunny has no laundry room. We have to pay 50 cents to wash and 50 cents to dry our clothes. We share the one washer and dryer with 2 floors.

Shelves and fire place and desk and even the cable and outlet above the fire place so no cords hung down... Maybe it's the pouring rain, gray skies, and broken sink pipe that flooded our bathroom here this morning. But, I miss our little condo in Texas right now. Our TV is currently sitting on a dresser in the living room with cords everywhere.

The downstairs 1/2 bathroom had shelves too. And hand towel racks and a legit TP holder. I gave the bamboo away. On the up side, our new half bathroom is a lot bigger :)

Oh tree through the fence on the balcony. You are my favorite, and the reason I choose that condo in the first place :) You can see the Budget truck down there!

And Earl. Y'all know I loved Earl. He was a naughty, but super cute squirrel. We gave his house to Annie to use at her preschool.

This is Nutsy in Earl's house.

I told you about the kitchen dilemma in our new apartment... The whole one drawer thing. I didn't realize what a nice refrigerator we had either, and our cabinets went all the way to the ceiling. It's the little things you don't appreciate until they're gone!

Bon Voyage, Austin condo...

How do you feel about shower curtains? Locking the door to your home for the last time? Do you compare your old house to your new house even years later? I'd love to hear...

Making Monday Marvelous #92

2012-02-05T13:00:00.003-06:00

I told ya I was changing it up this year... keeping you on your toes :) Crepe paper flowers are pretty marvelous, right?

Here are a few marvelous ideas from last week...

1: Whitney painted this peacock on her bathroom wall with a projector... woah mama! So impressed!

2: West Elm knock off pillow? Yes, please :)

3: Microwave puff paint sounds pretty intriguing to me :) Paint it on flat, microwave it and if puffs!

4: Conversation heart wreath for Valentine's Day is calling my name!

Grab some bling if you were featured! 

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured!

Welcome to our sunshine state apartment!

2012-02-02T15:19:00.004-06:00

This is going to be the first of many posts to come about the ol' apartment in sunny, South Florida. I've got lots of plans... errr, ideas at least, to make this place a home! I never thought much about the difference between renting and owning, but when it comes to spiffing up a place it makes a big difference! We can't juse decide to build a floating desk or paint the bedroom walls a like a paint chip :) Andy even tried to tell me I can only put a limited number of holes in the wall!

To catch up any new C.R.A.F.T. readers, Andy and I are getting married (possibly on Valentine's day!) and recently moved to Florida. Andy actually moved back in August, and I officially moved in on Monday, January 30.

The renting thing is a totally different ball game. (We got the Austin condo officially leased yesterday... hip, hip hooray!) If you currently rent, you are going to extra-like the next couple of months on C.R.A.F.T. It's all about making things pretty, without making it permanent. Oh, and of course, we try to do it all for free!

First things first, let me show you what we're working with...it's a 1,000-ish square feet, one bedroom apartment with 1 and 1/2 baths. Square footage wise, a tad bigger than our old place in Austin, but minus a whole bedroom and LAUNDRY room. Which is proving to be mighty tricky when organizing an entire laundry room and craft room into 2 closets!

These pics were all taken pre me and all my stuff moving in... this is how Andy lived for almost 5 months (that is a blow up mattress in the bedroom)!

You just opened the front door and you see our bedroom with NO door :)

Again, bedroom has no door... I suppose someone was going for the open feel?

To the left in the foyer is the half bath...

You're walking down the hallway :) That closet is the new MP AND laundry room! We also have a storage room in the hallway of the building, but that space was quickly eaten by our 2 bikes.

Super tiny, galley style kitchen. The entire kitchen has 1 drawer. Yep, true story. That drawer is only 9 1/2 in. wide... It's pretty tricky trying to find a silverware caddy for such a tiny drawer!

Our favorite thing about the place... you can see the ocean! AND apparently, there are manatees (sea cows?) living in the intracoastal (that body of water right in front). I will be manatee searching soon. I have actually been staring out the window a lot thinking one might jump. (Do manatees jump?)

This is basically the whole house summed up:

Once again...

Pretty sunset viewing and a major glare on the 'ol computer! I have moved that sucker around about 6 times now :)

Have you moved lately? Or organized? Or tried to get rid of things? Or moved from a 4 room house to a 2 room house? I'd love to hear...

I just keep thinking how together really is a wonderful place to be :)

Ladies Night: Painting Peacocks!

2012-02-01T15:34:00.001-06:00

As many of you know, I'm in the process of a big 'ol move to Florida. We and our stuff are safely here in the sunshine state (minus a few banged up chairs). The apartment is getting cuter by the hour... I've got lots to share and show you! More on that later :)

Painting peacocks at Painting with a Twist with my Austin blog ladies actually happened last Wednesday, January 25th. (remember the Painting with a Twist giveaway?)

I must have been on some kind of drug to think that packing up my entire house, organizing a blog date, and sending out 102 package pal emails all in one week was a good idea (PP will happen again in April). Thankfully, it all worked out (And I'm drug free, just in case you were wondering. I don't even like taking Advil for headaches!)

Back to the painting class...

Painting with a Twist rocks. End. of. story. I've done it 3 times now, and I'm hopefully going to organize another blogger meet up at the Painting with a Twist in Miami (I need some girl friends :) ! See my fancy little peacock at the bottom... that's what we painted.

Here we are with our finished peacocks... from left to right... Dana, Allison, me, Shelley, Jessica) Thank you, Dana, for snapping some cute pics and sharing them with us! (vote for Dana's DIY diamond wall picture at BHG!!!)

Here's how Painting with a Twist works. You sign in, they hand you a blank canvas, and you go find your name and paint on the paper plate where your easel is all set up. Shelley is modeling this for you :) Don't forget the wine next to the canvas!

This is the only class I have been to that gave us a template... we traced the bird body on the canvas. Anyone. can. paint. this. peacock!

Dana and Jessica about to get started!

Me, Shelley, and Allison were on the other side of the table...

This is where the teacher teaches :) They always have a model painting at the front and paint with you step by step. The Bob Ross picture cracks me up!

First step... trace the peacock stencil and painted the background black...

My fancy blue bird! People think you can't erase paint... but I beg to differ :) black paint covers everything and if it's wet, it wipes off!

Next, we added tear drop shaped feathers... a little swooping action is all it took :)

Tweeting, facebooking.... bloggin' it up in class!

Everyone tweaked their colors a little :) We're crazy like that...

Check out all of the amazing peacocks... told they all turned out wonderful :)

Don't feel like playing that game? OK, I'll show you...

Want to see more peacock painting madness? Visit Allison and Dana!

16 Party Bar Ideas

2012-01-31T08:00:00.001-06:00

A party bar (sometimes called food stations) makes any party instantly more festive... the following 16 ideas will not only make your party more memorable, but also less stressful. With a food party bar, guests can make their own dish according to their tastes... extra marshmallows, no problem... don't like olives, no big deal...

#1: Cookie Bar

2: Mashed Potatoes

3: Smores

4: Root beer floats

5: Hot chocolate

6: Cupcake

7: All white candy bar

8: Colorful Candy Bar

9: Oatmeal

10: Cereal

11: Trail Mix

12: Pasta

13: Nacho Bar

14: Pizza

15: Yogurt

16. Baked Potatoes

Any one of these ideas would be fun for a simple gathering at home or you could combine a few ideas for a bigger event. My friend, Katy, hosts dinner at her house and she always does a "make your own_______" theme. I love it! We've done nachos, fajitas, and pizza so far :) Do you have a make your own ________ buffet? What are other good meals to do this with?

Making Monday Marvelous #91

2012-01-29T13:00:00.002-06:00

Thank you for helping me in...

Here are a few marvelous ideas from last week...

1: I had something very similar in my college apartment... the only difference is this one is hand made! What a unique way to up-cycle light bulbs!

2:  I want to giant pom pom all of my throws now! What else could we giant pom pom? 

3: This crochet blanket has the perfect touch of neon :)

4: Cinnamon roll waffles with cream cheese frosting... yum to the tum.

5. Add wheels and stencil numbers to a crate to make it even more useful (and cute)!

6.How cute would these twig arrows be to display in an apothecary jar for Valentine's Day? "You're love goes straight to my heart!" (I need to add that one to the big list :)
 
Grab some bling if you were featured! 

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

  Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured!

PACKING 101: Tips for packing for free

2012-01-24T22:03:00.003-06:00

If you follow C.RA.F.T. on facebook, you might have seen the DIY moving v. hiring movers convo. We are moving on Saturday, and still haven't decided what to do... Eeeek! We do know that we will be packing everything up ourselves...

And either...

A. Hire movers to load boxes, drive them to Florida, unload boxes, and set up furniture.

Pros: easiest and less stressful option for us

Cons: break things, the most expensive

B. Pay for space on a cargo trailer.

Pros: Someone else deals with the actually hauling of your stuff, less expensive then option A
Cons: It can take up to 10 days to receive your shipment, lost boxes, broken stuff

C. Rent a big 'ol truck from Budget, hitch up the car to the back, and DIY it!

Pros: Cheapest option that we can find so far, we will be more careful with our things than someone else would, our stuff will arrive when we do

Cons: Time consuming, stressful, pay for gas, slow moving on the road with so much baggage

What would you do or what have you done in the past? Remember, we only have a 2 bedroom condo worth of furniture. The moving companies tell us we have 20 items or 29 pieces. That includes every single piece of furniture in our house (i.e. 4 kitchen chairs and 4 outdoor chairs= 8 pieces)

Moving on... (I'm not usually so clever, I think this packing thing has me a little delirious!)

Tip 1: Where to find free boxes

Craiglist.com (choose your city and click on the free section)
Uhaul.com- search by location and connect with people who have boxes!
My local Uhaul has a free box section in store. Anyone can walk in and take as many as you need... I got a few boxes and lots of packing paper!
Specs (or any liquor place)- The local Specs has tons of small to medium boxes in a big pile at the front. These are great because they come with cardboard dividers for vases, glasses, etc...

Your job! Everyone has a copy machine, and those paper boxes are super sturdy packing boxes!
Free Cycle- You can always find boxes, and it's fun to search for free stuff in general

Tip #2: Packing Materials for free

Use what you've got, every thing needs to be packed in some form or fashion. Dish towels, beach towels, rags, pillows, place mats, blankets, coats, sweaters... use them to wrap all breakables, or divide things from banging into each other.
Newspaper
Trash bags for pillows, bedding, sheets, and extra towels you didn't use for packing!

Tip #3: How to not waste space and not break things

Throw a pillow on the top! Good for padding too :)

Throw a pillow on the bottom, for protection from breakables.

Wrap fragile stuff with towels and tape em up.

Maybe y'all can help me with my one big dilemma... I'm not sure what to do with these 27 large frames... shove them in a box with towels and pillows too? That will take 7 giant boxes! Any ideas?

Every time you say "yikes", do you want to continue with "stripes, fruit stripe gum, the yummy fruity one?" Or is that just me? Now, I'm really wasting time... looking up commercials on you tube from 1991!

Enjoy the rest of your evening, I'm going to surround myself in a sea of brown boxes :)

Creating Really Awesome Free Trips: Washington, DC

2012-01-23T22:34:00.003-06:00

C.R.A.F.T. is about creating really awesome free things, and I love to create vacations almost as much as I love DIY :) You have to buy plane tickets, food, and sleep some where (Andy and I have camped in a minivan at the Grand Canyon)... but the daily activities don't have to break the bank! Here are 29 fun, free, family friendly things to do in Washington, DC!

I spent MLK weekend in DC with my girlfriends! Although it was chilly, it didn't stop me from maniac-ing around the city, taking tons of pictures, and soaking up the history. A quick bit of history about out capitol city: According to Wikipedia, on July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a federal district to become the national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution. The District is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.

I like this map... it puts DC in perspective.

On to the 29 fun, free, family friendly things to do in Washington, DC...

1-19 Smithsonian museums... yep, 19 museums!! I was amazed when I realized they were all free! We spent the most time at this one:

One of my girl friends has a 10 year old boy, and he loved the America on the Move exhibit at this museum... I liked it too!

This exhibit explains how transportation has changed our life... from boats, to trains, to the the automobile...!

Transportation even changed how we view time...

As you can tell, we liked this museum :) Here is a map of all 19 museums... these could keep a person busy for days... most of them surround the National Mall... you can walk to all of them pretty easily...

20: National Zoo- Free admission!

Sadly, we did not make it to the zoo... but according to the website there are pandas, elephants, white-naped cranes, gorillas, tigers, and cheetahs!

21: Walking Tour with DC by Foot with a guided tour for FREE (guides work for tips)! There are 4 tours to choose from, be sure to check the schedule. reservations of 6 or less are not required.

22: See how money is made for free! There are different policies for peak (march-aug.) and non peak times (sept.-feb.) It's 40 minutes and free all year round, but you need tickerts for the peak time. This another thing I will do next time I go (hopefully, when those cherry blossoms are blooming!)

23: Play Frisbee, throw a football, have a picnic, fly a kite, or take silly pictures in the Washington Monument field. You can not go to the top right now because of damage from the earthquake.

24: You have to see the white house which is walking distance to the Washington monument and National Mall. Be sure to check out the front and the back side of the White House. If you want to see the inside, you have to request a tour through a member of congress. See the details here. Lafayette square is directly in front of the White House and has really tame squirrels that are fun to see.

This is actually the back of the White House (I feel like it is always the view on tv?)

You know I like squirrels :)

25. 4 must see Memorials: Lincoln, MLK, Korean War, WWII... all free you could do all of these in an an hour walk! The reflecting pool was under construction while I was there :(

26. Cherry Bloom Festival (March 20- April 27, 2012) I really want to see these suckers in bloom! There's a parade, performances, and music :)

source

27. Visit the National Archives (for free) and view the original Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence! There are different times for different seasons, be sure and check it out.

28. Tour the capitol building- Tours are M-F from 8:50-3:20. Passes are required, but free :)

29. Old Post Office Clock Tower Tour- Since the Washington monument is closed, this is the next best option in DC for a birds eye view. It's free and open 7 days a week!

Have you been to DC? Did you know ALL of the Smithsonian museums are free! That was such an exciting surprise :) Check out 30+ cities on the Creating Really Awesome Free trips List !

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Making Monday Marvelous #90

2012-01-22T13:00:00.006-06:00

Thank you for helping me in...

There  were 470 links last week. holly. cow. Thank you! I think that is the most ever :)  So many links= so many marvelous ideas... I had to share these 8:
  
1: My child will for sure needs a splatter art table one day :)

2: I love how she left stripes of wood on this painted bench makeover.

3: I've always admired a good duct tape creation. All kids would love a duct tape wallet and a few fake credit cards :)

4: Amaze a kid with a dissapearing egg shell experiment! I want to try this myself!

5: I'm a sucker for you... Free valentine printable (54 more free ones here)

6. My feet are always cold. I love these fuzzy, snake sock slippers complete with a tounge :)

7. Mint+chocolate=  d-lish. Check out these mint filled brownie cupcakes... made with a york peppermint patty (one of my favorite things!)

8. Giraffe art for the nursey. Clever.

Be sure to grab some bling if you were featured!

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

   Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured! 

PS Do you want a package pal? Some one who sends a crafty treat to your doorstep in the month of February? Read more here :)

Package Pals: February [closed]

2012-01-19T19:58:00.013-06:00

If you're like me, a package at your doorstep makes an OK day instantly an awesome day! (I'm old school, and love snail mail too :) Now, consider getting a package in the mail with a C.R.A.F.T. inside :) Sound like something you might be into...read on, my friend!

I have participated twice (here and here) in Craftaholics Anonymous handmade gift exchange (Linda does it twice a year). I loved it, but I want a package pal more than twice a year :) I'm planning on doing this every other month, you could make 6 new friends and get 6 C.R.A.F.T.'s in the mail this year!

Here are some C.R.A.F.T. ideas that are easy and inexpensive to ship:
- just because garland
- simple birdie art
- a hex nut bracelet (you could ship the bracelet in a TP tube :)
- a 3D cube puzzle
- a framed printable (I'm Sew Very Happy, Peanut to my Butter, Luck Quote)
- 6 DIY necklaces

There are an endless amount of C.R.A.F.T.'s to be made and shipped :) You could even send your package pal crafting supplies for a certain project or general fun crafty things like bakers twine, lace tape, doily's, cupcake liners).

Here's the deal:

Sign up, using the form below, by Wednesday, January 25th.
I will pair you with one other crafty person. You will each send one crafty package to each other in the month of February.
I will send each person an email by January 27th, letting you know who your package pal is. When you find out who your pal is, please send them a quick email and tell them a little about yourself.
Sadly, this time around, package pals is only open to crafty people in the U.S. and Canada!
Send you pal a C.R.A.F.T. package by February 28th!
I will have a linky party set up on February 29th for everyone to share their package pal goodies!
You do not have to have a blog to be a part of package pals.
Spread the crafty goodness... the more package pals the better :)

By filling out this form, you are committing to putting together a crafty package and going to the post office to send it to your package pal. In return, you will get a surprise crafty package delivered to your door step too!

(The submit is at the bottom of the form, you have to scroll down through the 5 questions to get there :)
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Thanks for playing, reading, and just being awesome in general :)

100 Clever Valentine Day Sayings

2012-01-18T21:30:00.005-06:00

I'm pretty excited about this post... a list (organized by item) of all the clever, cheesy Valentine sayings I could hunt down and/or make up!

Candy

1. Stick with me, Valentine pixie sticks

2. You’re the bomb wrap rolos in red construction paper

3. Don’t ever change valentine bag of chocolate coins

4. Have a super Valentines Day sucker decorated like a super hero

5. I “chews” you as my Valentine gum

6. We’re mint to be mints

7. You’re a great catch Swedish fish

8. You’re extra special to me Extra gum

9. Happy Valentine, toots! Tootsie rolls

10. You rock, valentine pop rocks, rock candy

11. You krack me up krackel mini chocolate bars

12. I like the way you roll rolos

13. Happy valentines Day to all my peeps Peeps

14. Thanks for making me snicker snickers

15. You’re outta this world orbit gum

16. I’m crazy for you sour punch straws

17. B Mine Butterfinger

18. You’re sweet any candy

19. You’re as cute as a button button candy

20. We’re 2 of a kind 2 of any candy

21. You stole a piece of my hear reeses pieces

22. It’s a joy being your firend almond joy
23. I'm bursting with happiness that you're my friend star bursts

Snack Food

24. You’re a great catch gold fish

25. I like you beary much teddy grahams

26. Everyday I like you s’more smores

27. You’re the apple of my eye apple jacks

28. I’m lucky to have you lucky charms cereal

29. You crack me up cracker jacks

30. You’re so much fun funyun chips

31. Ahoy Matey, be my valentine chips ahoys

32. You’re cool ice cream, popsicles

33. Will you o’fishally be my valentine?                     Gold fish
34. I love you a hole bunch                                        Donut Holes
35. We stick together like PB&J                    PB&J Sandwiches

Beverages

36. I’ve got a crush on you crush soda

37. You’re kool kool aid

38. I love everything you dew mountain dew

39. You’re the apple of my eye apple juice boxes

40. You melt my heart hot chocolate and marshmallows

41. I soda think you are amazing soda

Healthy Food

42. I like you berry much strawberries, blueberries

43. I go bananas over you banana

44. Orange you glad you’re my valentine oranges

45. You’re plum perfect plum

46. You’re the apple of my eye apples

47. We make the perfect pear pear

48. I’m nuts about you almonds, peanuts

49. Spread the love peanut butter

50. To a pop-ular kid popcorn

51. Olive you olives

52. Don’t mean to be corny, but will you be my Valentine? corn nuts
53. My heart pops for you Popcorn

School supplies

54. You rule, Valentine ruler

55. You’re the highlight of my day! Highlighter

56. Let’s stick together glue

57. You’re just write for me pen, pencil

Toys

58. I wheelie like you matchbox car

59. 52 things I love about you deck of cards

60. I’ve got my eye one you Magnifying glass

61. You make my heart glow glow sticks

62. Have a ball this Valentines bouncy ball

63. You blow me away, Valentine bubbles

64. Love is a battlefield GI Joe

65. I’m stuck on you stickers, tattoos

66. I’m wild about you plastic zoo animal

67. You make my heart bounce ball

68. I dig you shovel

69. Have a Dino-mite Valentines Day plastic dinosaur

70. you’re sweet and I’m not lion plastic lion

Useful items
71. You mean the world to me map, globe

72. Read my lips, Valentine…I’m yours chap stick, lip gloss

73. You’re a cut above the rest cookie cutter

74. We’re the perfect pair socks

75. I searched and found the best Valentine search word book

76. I’ve got my eyes on you google eyes

77. I’m crazy for you crazy straws

78. You’re sew special to me sewing kit

79. I’m stuck on you Band-Aids

80. You’re as cute as a button buttons

81. Can’t resist your pull magnet

82. Our class would knot be the same without friendship bracelet

83. We’re the perfect match matches

84. You can count on me when things get sticky handi wipes, antibacterial soap

85. I love you sew much sewing kit

86. I was soapin’ you’d be my Valentine soap

87. You warm my heart hot pad

Other clever/crafty ideas

88. Thumb body loves you thumbprints

89. I mustache you a question? Will you be my Valentine?

90. Stick with me, Valentine painted twigs

91. You’re just my type typewriter doodle

92. I love ewe sheep doodle

93. Owl be you’re friend forever owl doodle

94. You’re the obi-one for me star wars

95. I’d love to hang out with you clothes pin

96. You’re outta this world rocket ship

97. You’re a hoot owl doodle

98. You’re a deer to me deer doodle

99. I think you're a-maze-ing maze

100. I'd pick you any day flower

C.R.A.F.T. #93: Men's Button Down Re-Fashion

2012-01-18T08:07:00.000-06:00

All you need for this C.R.A.F.T. is a...

(Please, don't mind my deer in the headlight smile...trying to take pictures of yourself is way harder than I thought it was going to be!)

I found mine at Good Will for $4.99... Just for fun, I went home and looked up the brand (Ike Behar)... That's right, I'm fancy :) This sucker sales for $98.50 at Nordstroms.

Any button down will work... but, a button down that doesn't have a pocket will make things a tad easier. Sleeve length doesn't matter since I roll mine up. But be mindful of this when Good Will shopping... don't buy one with extra long arms or anything.

Put the giant shirt on inside out, pin at the armpit a comfortable amount that you want to take in (I took in 3 inches on both sides)

I just used a regular 'ol pen... if you mess up, just re-mark it.

Next, mark down the side of the shirt. There are 2 ways to do this depending on the look you want.

1: Sew straight down from the armpit to the bottom of the shirt, and then seam rip later to make slits up the side. (I did this on accident the first time, I forgot I had hips and a butt!)

2: Sew with your hips in mind which means the line will curve outward.

Next sew the from the armpit to the hand. I did not want to mess with the cuff so I only marked and sewed a slanted line from the armpit point about 3/4 of the way down the sleeve. Since I'm rolling up the sleeves anyway it doesn't really matter. See my fancy pen marks below.

Do the exact same thing to the the side.

Does anyone else have a Good Will obsession? What is your best ever Good Will find? THIS might be my favorite! THIS made a bold statement on the wall for super cheap. One last favorite, small glass bowls :)

Valentine C.R.A.F.T. #9: Peanut to my Butter Freebie

2012-01-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

I did a little switch a roo from Christmas to Valentines last night... With only 4 holiday decorations up it wasn't hard to put them away :) And actually the holly jolly freebie didn't have to be put away, she got covered up with a new freebie... I saw this on pinterest, changed a few words, and added a few hearts to personalize just a tad (I wasn't feeling the jewel on my crown line). The shadowboxes can be made with a frame from Hobby Lobby for $4.99, and then used all year round...

Here's the freebie... right click, save to desktop, and print ... An instant touch of festive :)

Here is the whole corner... the dino planter needs a new plant!

Do you put up Valentine's decorations? I did last year for my Valentine pizza party :)

PS Blogger now allows me to directly reply to your comments... so, ask me some questions, tell me about your v-day decor, plans, ideas... I want to check out this new feature and talk to y'all!

Making Monday Marvelous #89

2012-01-15T13:00:00.006-06:00

Thank you for helping me in...

It really does make my Monday's better :) I hope it helps yours too!

Here are a few marvelous ideas from last week...

1: You are my happy ever after. How can you not love this print :) Download for free and frame for heart day (which is less than a month away!)

2: How about an indoor hopscotch to keep the kids busy during the winter blues

3: Y'all know I love me some pretty paint chip art. (Check out 32 more paint chip projects)

4: Recover an ottoman in denim patch work. I just bought some denim Keds :)

5: Denim scrap bracelets. Denim is back, baby!

6: Spunk your winter decor with a modern twist on a yarn wreath

 7: Don't buy new doors! For $70 bucks worth of hardware you can give your garage doors a fancy makeover!

Grab some bling if you were featured! 

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured!

15 Edible Hearts

2012-01-13T15:00:00.000-06:00

Because all food is yummier in heart shape, duh :)

1: Heart shaped carrots

2: Heart shaped waffles

3: Heart Shaped Pizza (and a pizza party!)

4: Chocolate chip cookies are way yummier in heart shapes :)

5: Heart shaped cake (using one square and one round pan)

+ 10 more edible hearts

Have you heart shaped anything lately? I'd love to see...

Have a wonderful Friday the 13th :)

54 DIY Valentine Ideas and Printables

2012-01-12T16:00:00.005-06:00

Handmade valentine's are the best. Here are 54 super simple (some) printable goodies to use as Valentines for grown up friends, in the classroom, or your significant other!

1: We're stuck on you.
Made out of paint chips. Just add stickers or tattoos to the tiny envelope!

2: We're the perfect pair.
Also made with paint chips and Target $1 socks.

3: You're sew special to us.

4: Bee Mine

5: ABC I Love you (in gray and white)

6: Printable love notes (for pockets, drawers, bags, wallets, etc)

7: Make a pop up I love you card- Printable template

8: Buy The Little Book of I Love You at Amazon used for $1.50 and add a few extra special touches...

9: Buy A Lovely Love Story used for $1.00 on Amazon
and then color the pages yourself :)

+ 10 more Valentine Printables

+ 15 DIY Valentines "You're just my type & I love ewe"

+ 10 more DIY Valentines "You're just write" & "You Rule"

+ 10 more DIY Valentines "Spread the Love & Don't ever change"

Do you have a got to Valentine saying? Like, I love ewe with a sheep doodle? Or I'm a sucker for your love with a tasty sucker attached? I'd love to hear... I'm working on a giant list of sayings to share :)

My Craft Room

2012-01-11T18:00:00.004-06:00

I did this post for Taylor Made's Craft Room Series awhile back. There are lots of good tips and ideas to check out... See my original post HERE.

First of all, my craft room's real name is the MP room. MP stands for multi purpose room :) It is the craft room, office, and guest bedroom all in one. Although, it is a super functional room (LOVE my Good Will shelf makeover), I'm not in love with it's current look. Mainly the uber bright yellow walls. It was an accident to paint the ceiling (blue tape mishap). But, I just can't bring myself to buy more paint and spend more time to paint over perfectly fresh walls (and ceiling).

On the up side... it is bright and cheery in here :)

Who doesn't love a little before and after :) HERE is even more MP room before and afters!

C.R.A.F.T. #38: Closet Makeover
C.R.A.F.T. #45: Grommet Curtains
C.R.A.F.T. #47: Desk Makeover
C.R.A.F.T. #48: Desk Addition

C.R.A.F.T. # 55: Shelf Makeover

Stuff changes in here weekly... compare the the picture below to the first picture :) I rearrange to make the space work for me!

C.R.A.F.T. #56: Framed Picture Web

Speaking of changes... the baskets are gone in lieu of fingerprint art and the neck roll got re purposed into a stuffed owl baby gift :)

C.R.A.F.T. # 46: Grey Scale Quilt
C.R.A.F.T. #50: Neck Roll PIllow
C.R.A.F.T. # 57: Basket Wall Art

It now looks a little more like this:

C.R.A.F.T. #73: Framed Thumbprints

Here is the MP in guest room mode:

MP room advice:

Make it work for YOU, because after all it is YOUR craft room :)
Label everything
If it doesn't have its own spot, get rid of it!

And there you have it :) The MP room in all of her (yellow) glory!

Do you have an MP room? Do you have a dedicated craft room? You can check out the craft room round up for more ideas and inspiration!

Valentine C.R.A.F.T. #8: Pop Up Card Freebie

2012-01-10T17:31:00.001-06:00

All you need is the printable below, card stock, glue, cutting board, and an XACTO.

Right click, save this to your computer, and print on card stock.

After it is printed, crease your card stock in half. The half should be about right here....

Scissors are easier to work with on the big parts, like the inside of the heart. Start cutting... Be careful not to cut these very important parts:

Your card stock print out should no look like about like this...There are a few cuts left in this picture!

Now it's time to glue it inside of another piece of paper, and your almost done :) Once it is glued in, fold it so it closes naturally.

I love making cards :) They're quick and easy. Oh, yea... I like making envelopes too. Happy almost Valentine's Day crafters. Tomorrow, I have a big 'ol Valentine round up for you!

GIVEAWAY: Painting with a Twist with me! (CLOSED)

2012-01-09T20:22:00.003-06:00

WINNERS: Congratualtions to Dana and Evin! We get to paint peacocks together :) I would love to paint peacocks with everyone! If you did not win, sign up and come paint with us on Wednesday, January 25th... It's only $35!

Do you want to learn to paint this...

with me at Painting with A Twist in Austin?

I'm super excited about this giveaway, because I get to meet 2 C.R.A.F.T. readers AND we get to learn to paint a peacock together!

I've been to Painting with a Twist twice, and loved it both times :) Both of my paintings currently hang in my laundry room (remember one covers the electric box thing!) They certainly brighten up my laundry experience. The peacock is going to get a more prominent place in the house... I'm thinking he will be orange and blue instead of purple... they let you change up the colors :)

Here are the 2 painting I have done:

What the heck is Painting with a Twist? Good Question!

Basically, you sign up for a painting you like (check the calendar), show up (with wine & snacks), and the instructor takes you through the painting step by step! There are TONS of paintings to choose from (a different one every night of the week), and I promise your painting will look amazing! They even do private parties, family days, and kid classes :)

Here's the deal:

You have to be available to meet at Painting with a Twist in Austin on Wednesday, January 25th from 7-9pm (I super wish I could fly everybody in from all over to paint peacocks...How fun would that be!)
I will randomly pick 2 winners and the 3 of us will paint peacocks together!
Giveaway ends on Friday, January 13th at 10:00 pm
To enter: Leave a comment that says "I want to paint peacocks!" with your email
Bonus entry: Share this giveaway on facebook or twitter and leave a comment letting me know that you did!

Good luck, and I can't wait to paint with 2 of you!

ps if you don't win and want to paint with us, sign up here (It's $35 and totally worth it!)

Making Monday Marvelous #88

2012-01-08T13:00:00.001-06:00

Kites flying is pretty marvelous don't you think?

Here are a few marvelous ideas from last week...

1: Good Will sconces turned chandelier... ingenious :)

2: Fabric tray... perfect for a nightstand or bathroom counter! 

3: Peanut finger puppets... creative, free fun for kids!

 4: Hypothesize with kids about microwaves and ivory soap :) What will it do?

Grab some bling if you were featured! 

<br><a href="http://creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com"><img width="150" src="http://i896.photobucket.com/albums/ac167/serendipity629/pink_zigzag-1.png" height alt="DIY projects and crafts" t="125" width="150" /></a>

Now it is time to link up your marvelously crafty projects, recipes, and DIY's... Be sure to check back next week to see if you were featured!