New Style Every Weekday.

 

Don't forget! Dirty Hair Month starts Monday! Share. Share. Share!
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The Dreaded Plastic Office Chair on Wheels

Revamping an old wooden chair to look pretty and modern is cake compared to the dreaded plastic office chair on wheels. Think windowless office. Think vending machine snacks and neutered chroma. Gug. Do you have one or more of these left over from college? Check out these do-overs that will make your rolling office chair sing the body electric! 1. My Insanity ☀ 2. Design Sponge ☀ 3. Cozy Cottage Slipcovers ☀ 4. The Crafting Chicks  ☀ 5. How Joyful ☀ 6. Sugar Bee Crafts ☀ 7. StudioCherie ☀ 8. Custom Slipcovers by Shelley ☀ 9. Decor Hacks

Easy Peasy Trench

An easy way to make a boring, cheap trench coat POP!
Via What I Wore

Source: whatiwore.tumblr.com via Adin on Pinterest

Clever Charlotte Guest Giveaway

Let me introduce to you Clever Charlotte (love the name btw). Their designs are meant to be playful and sophisticated at the same time.  They are suitable for everyday activities as well as special occasions. But what makes Clever Charlotte so special is that they offer sewing 'kits' designed to take the guess work and foot work out of sewing.

Today Clever Charlotte is offering 2 different patterns to two separate readers. See contest rules at bottom of post.

Clever Charlotte is born out of a love of children’s wear with clean, modern designs and a love of beautiful fabric.  They want to inspire today’s sewers to create perfectly-styled handmade looks for their wee ones that are sure to bring compliments.  This inspiration comes not only from their original sewing patterns, but also the array of fabrics and notions that they carry especially for their designs. 

For inspiration, their online gallery will feature more design ideas and styling options for each pattern. 

Purchased together with our fabrics or separately, Clever Charlotte’s original patterns will let you make trendy and unique clothes without paying boutique prices.   Clever Charlotte represents modern tastes.  They strive to produce fashions that are rich in detail and, yet, easy to make.   Their patterns cover sizes 2T-8 and are printed in full-scale on heavy tracing paper so that you can use and reuse them as many times as you wish.  

Though they’ve written the accompanying instructions to guide beginner sewers, Clever Charlotte’s designs are sophisticated so that even the most skilled sewer will find them fun and satisfying to sew.  Each pattern includes an exclusive Clever Charlotte clothing label for sewing into your creations so that you can take pride in your garment. (Additional labels will be available for sale in their shop.)

Take the second guessing out of buying fabric online.  To make your sewing experience fun, streamlined and immediately rewarding, Clever Charlotte offers a one-stop source for fabrics and notions suitable for their patterns and showcased on their website.  

Prompted by their own frustrations of buying fabrics online for sewing projects, often from multiple sites to find the right fabric in terms of weight and color, they wanted to offer sewers the opportunity to order fabrics that are perfect for their patterns. They have taken the hard work out of selecting fabrics by presenting coordinating seasonal fabric collections that are complementary to their patterns.  Their fabric selections emphasize stylish, quality apparel fabrics that are easy to sew, easy to care for, and comfortable to wear.

At your option, they will be offering sewing kits to be delivered to your door with everything you need to get started sewing the minute you open the package.  You choose the fabrics and any special styling options, and they’ll send the fabric and notions off to you with quick, reliable shipping at one low-price.  

Grosgrain Giveaways can be entered by ANY ONE of four ways.

1) By linking about this giveaway (to your blog, facebook, or any other site) button is below. If you are using blogger, create a link by using this link: Create a link.
2) By Following Grosgrain using RSS or Google Friend Connect. RSS is located in MY UPPER LEFT SIDEBAR. Google Friend Connect is located at the bottom of this page. 
3) Like this post on Facebook.

4) Pin this post on Pinterest

Just remember to please leave me a comment telling me what you did so that I can go back and look for your entry. ALSO, PLEASE SPECIFY WHICH PATTERN YOU'D CHOOSE IF YOU WON!

Rebuilding Together with Pfister

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pfister for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

April is National Rebuilding Month and for each new “Like” on the Pfister Facebook page Pfister will donate $1.00 in materials for use in Rebuilding Together's reconstruction projects (up to $20,000). To trigger Pfister's donation by either provide your email address and zip code and opt-in OR click on the "like" button on the landing page to participate.

As the economic pressure on low-income families grows, more and more families are placed in the position of choosing between vital necessities and essential home repairs and modifications. In many cases, those repairs may include the need for new kitchen and bath faucets that provide access to safe running water.

Rebuilding Together is a national nonprofit organization providing critical home repairs, modifications, and improvements for America's low-income homeowners. Rebuilding Together rebuilds the homes and lives of the nation's most vulnerable homeowners and families at no cost to those served.

Rebuilding Together started over 30 years ago, with an act of grassroots activism and community engagement in Midland, Texas. Collectively, they have completed work on more than 100,000 homes across the nation! With the help of 3.4 million volunteers, Rebuilding Together has delivered over $1.3 billion in market value since it founding!

For nearly 100 years, Pfister has been a leader in the plumbing field, offering a wide variety of innovative, first to market plumbing fixtures and many additional products that have helped define the industry.

Those who are already fans of Pfister on Facebook or do not participate in social media can still contribute to the cause by either making a monetary donation to the Friends of Pfister campaign site OR signing-up for the Friends of Pfister campaign e-newsletter, which will provide tips on how to become involved in one’s own local community.

Dirty Hair Month

Click squares to be taken to tutorials.

All hair tutorials take five minutes or less to do. 

Great when you have greasy hair but have to get out of the door fast!

For an entire two weeks I won't be washing my hair! I promise it doesn't sound as gross as it seems. First off, I usually wait one week between washings. My hair is very coarse and dry and does not get greasy until about a week, sometimes longer. 

Yesterday I had a birthday party to attend and didn't have time to wash my hair so instead I did a quick updo in less than 5 minutes that looked both polished and put together all at once. It got me thinking about how often I'm trying to think of new ways to do quick updos when my hair is not at its fluffiest. There are some pretty basic styles out there some you may know of, some you may not, that can get you by when you don't have an hour or more to wash and style.

Starting April 1st, (in addition to my other daily posts) I'll post a new dirty hair updo each day that takes 5 minutes or less with a video tutorial. I won't wash my hair for two weeks, then I'll wash it and go for another two weeks.

Looking forward to it!

Please Share! Just highlight and paste the image above or use the "Pin It" button below.

Family Sunday

Molly said and did some pretty funny things yesterday.

When riding in Brian's car: "Did someone eat cheese in here?"

"Animal crackers give you bones": When told they have calcium.

When told we didn't have money to go to the toy store: "Can you buy some money."

Gave me her middle finger when asking me to 'pinky promise'.

All That Glitters is "Platinum"

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Platinum Guild International USA for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Brian and I have been shopping for wedding bands. I like the simple non-embellished sort and I'm looking for a platinum band to match my engagement ring.

For the first time in recent history, the price of gold per ounce has risen higher than that of platinum. Meaning platinum rings are now more attainable than ever before (Please note, this does not mean the retail price of plaitnum is less than gold, just that platinum's premium is less, and because it is a denser and more pure metal than gold, it is a better value for its cost )precious platinum 

I remember how excited I was to camera phone my engagement ring to all my friends and every time I look down at my hand it still makes me smile. It seems to match everything I wear and somehow always looks shiny.

Platinum is a naturally white metal, meaning it will never fade or change color, or need to be dipped or re-plated. In contrast, white gold is created by adding an alloy mix to pure yellow gold that removes its yellow color and creates a white look. White gold jewelry needs to be re-dipped about once or twice each year to retain its white color. Platinum loses little metal to scratching or everyday wear; instead the metal is simply displaced on the ring’s surface, causing the ring surface to strengthen through work hardening. This means the band increases its strength and your groom has a ring that will last forever (when gold is scratched, slivers of metal are lost and eventually the ring might need to be re-shanked, and prongs or re-tipped to avoid breakage).

The groom's band always plays second fiddle to the bride's engagement ring but it IS also a symbol of love commitment, and must therefore stand the test of time. When we finally do purchase our bands we'll be choosing platinum.

For a gorgeous collections of platinum jewelry check out precious platinum.

Free Printables: Spa Themed Kids Cards

Is this not the cutest ever? Invitiations for a child's spa party. Get more pics and the card pdf at Design Mom. And if you had a Silhouette machine you could make many of the hair cutouts all at once. Design Mom said she bought the bobby pins at a local shop but if you don't have a quaint french magasin I've also seen people paint bobby pins with nail polish and let it cure overnight.

I’ve seen a lot of unopened paraffin wax tubs at the thrift store lately and wanted a reason to buy one. This could be my reason!

Source: designmom.com via Jordan on Pinterest

Scotts® Snap® Spreader System Review and Giveaway!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

For almost five years now we've lived with a major disappointment of a yard.  Our neighbors can afford to invest in things like professional landscapers and snow removal. I won't lie. I'm jealous. Long story short, they put our yard to shame.

In other words, for the past five years now I've watched their perfectly manicured lawns look green and lush all summer long while ours turned brown, patchy and poked our bare feet with its sharp weeds. Ouch!

This year will finally be different, I'll be using the new Scotts® Snap® Spreader System. So our yard won't look so disheveled standing next to the well manicured plots. This year, I'm going to walk barefoot without worrying about having to pick burrs out of my feet. This year, the kids won't be mistaking the yard for the sandbox. It's going to be so awesome! I can hardly wait.

I'll be saying goodbye to this....

And hello to this....

Now, I've used spreader systems before. There were downsides. Filling the spreader container, then emptying the remnants and pouring them back into the bag was a pain. And it caused me fertilize the lawn less. But the new Snap Pac connects directly to the Scotts® Snap® Spreader System. There's no cutting, no opening and no pouring from heavy bags – no spilling or waste! 
The system auto-sets the proper flow rate. No Spreader settings required! It also has a unique EdgeGuard feature that keeps product where you want it…. on the lawn! When you’re done, the Snap Pac self-seals upon removal making it easy to store – No more half empty bags on the garage floor. 


 

Go to Scotts.com and check out their Snap-pac seasonal plans. Just type in your zip code and get recommendations about when to seed and which snap-pac bags to use.

To see what I'm describing you can take a look at the video below.
 

If YOU'D like to try the new Scotts® Snap® Spreader System, Scott's is giving away one spreader to a lucky reader. With the bag included it's a $75 value!

To enter just "like" Snap Perks on Facebook then leave a comment telling me so and why you need a Scotts® Snap® Spreader System.
 

Contest ends 4/30/12. contest rules

Wow: Peacock Frock

Frock is quite an understatement. Peacock wedding dress. Don't know the exact source for this however. If this were white feathers I'd wear it to my wedding;)

Inspiration Home: Concrete Numbers

My old house had this concrete porch on the front which I hated. I always wanted to cover the bottom in brick. But this is also a pretty cool idea if you too have not-so-pretty concrete in front of your home. It was done by making stencils of the numbers then using a foam pouncer, stencil with outdoor paint. I wonder if a concrete stain would work as well? The homeowners combined black and earthy brown paint to achieve a mottled look for the numbers.

Source: bhg.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Wedding: Tablecloth Sparkle

Tablecloth love. But I can tell you that fabric would be expensive. If you wanted to cover every table, you'd be paying a pretty penny. You WOULDN'T want sequined fabric like this which is usually inexpensive. You'd want sequined fabric like this at $23 a yard! This white sequined fabric would look gorgeous too at $23.90 a yard. This is nice too at $25 a yard. Ooo or these at $28 a yard.

Source: tumblr.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Inspiration Clothing: Ombre Tights

Love these ombre tights. And if I were a teenager again I'd totally wear these shorts. The look is very "Lolita". Get the tights here.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Justina on Pinterest

Photoshoot Concepts: Floor Mats

♥♥♥♥Pin This!♥♥♥♥

If you live in an area that isn't conducive for outdoor winter shots and have your own makeshift studio set up in the basement (like me) then you might be interested in floor mats. Pepperlu has some pretty ones in eight different styles. But at $199 they are a bit pricey for floor mats.

There's also FoFlor featured below. It's a little smaller than the Pepperlu mats by a couple inches but they are only $102 on amazon. They even have 13 different available mats to choose from as well as various smaller sizes if you're looking to spend less. They have even more gorgeous options on their website but if you buy it from them they are $190 per 44"x66" sheet.

Source (below): Elzee Photography

But if you are super cheap (like me) you could even just buy some sheet vinyl per yard and only at most $8.82 a square YARD! Like this below:

But if you're looking for that distressed look, Armstrong has a good variety of vinyl sheet flooring for $2.75 a square foot. So for the same size as the FoFloors, you can get a sheet for $57.47.

See more wood vinyl varieties for less than $1 per square foot here. More wood grains here. Some interesting wood patterns here. And here.