Monthly Meet & Greet!

Welcome to the Monthly Meet & Greet!

Share the love!  The more, the merrier!

This hop is designed for us to make friends!
Whether you link up Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin', Google +, etc.... or all of them, we don't mind!
Just remember - if ya link up, follow the host & cohosts, link directly to the page you want us to follow, and participate.... please don't link up & not return the follow favor...

Stop, Look, & Link Party #27 [Plus Features too!]

Hi! Welcome to our Linky Party - This party is hosted by Alexandra @ In Designer Jeans and Lauren @ All Things Homie. We are very excited to see all of your great projects and ideas! 

Once the party is done we will post the most viewed links and a few of our favorites so be sure to check back next week to see if you are featured.

Happy Spring Break! Hope everyone is having a happy and safe vacation :)

Features from last weeks Stop, Link, & Look party:

Check out this super yummy and healthy Strawberry Cheesecake Protein Shake from Atkinson Drive:

A Casarella shared a Hostess Gift for Easter - such a cute idea! <3 Succulents!

Lauren's pick this week Mega Stuffed Brownies from Snack Cups and Smiles: 

Alexandra loved the idea of Planting Seeds in Egg Shells by Back to the Basics!

Thank you again for sharing your great ideas and for everyone's support! <3

[Now its party time]

The guidelines are simple, promise!

Please follow your lovely hosts so you can share your great ideas every week! :)

Link back in some way... Grab a button on the side bar or a text link on your page

Link projects, crafts, recipes, fun stories, or anything created in some way by YOU

Please do not link up other parties, stores, or giveaways

It is not required but would be much appreciated to check out other links and share the blog love! <3

The party will start at 9am! 

Have fun!

Brick Fireplace Makeover!

This past weekend I helped my mom make over her 1970's brick fireplace. She has been talking about trying to update it for some time now and then I found this link on pinterest: 

Brass Fireplace Update by East Coast Creative

This is what my parent's fireplace looked like:

Yes brick and brass [and not the cool dark vintage brass that is popular right now] 

Luckily the brass cover was removable (unlike the one on East Coast Creative) - that was tossed and they simply just purchased a new one from Crate and Barrel.

We followed the DIY Tutorial on the blog exactly - doing 2 parts water to 1 part of paint - my parent's fireplace had a dark grey grout in-between the brick and the blog had a white grout so we needed a thicker paint to cover!

After taping everything off and putting down drop cloths we went over the whole fire place with the paint using a roller and went back with a large paint brush for the second coat. My mom painted the top two rows of brick with a dark grey paint to help them stand out.

Almost done:

And the final result! 

Doesn't it look SO much better!? 

AND the best part about it is that the whole project took less than two hours start to finish! Woohoo! 

Stop, Look, & Link Party #26 [Plus Features too!]

Hi! Welcome to our Linky Party - This party is hosted by Alexandra @ In Designer Jeans and Lauren @ All Things Homie. We are very excited to see all of your great projects and ideas! 

Once the party is done we will post the most viewed links and a few of our favorites so be sure to check back next week to see if you are featured.

Hope that everyone had a safe and happy St. Patricks Day! Easter and Passover is right around the corner! Are YOU ready?!

Features from last weeks Stop, Link, & Look party:

Check out this amazing Master Bedroom before and After from Turtles and Tails:

Creative Mrs. Smith shared their Cute As A Button Art: 

Lauren's pick this week was a DIY Easter Egg Bunting from Atkinson Drive:

Alexandra's pick was this super cute Easter Egg Topiary from I Got This Martha:

Thank you again for sharing your great ideas and for everyone's support! <3

[Now its party time]

The guidelines are simple, promise!

Please follow your lovely hosts so you can share your great ideas every week! :)

Link back in some way... Grab a button on the side bar or a text link on your page

Link projects, crafts, recipes, fun stories, or anything created in some way by YOU
Please do not link up other parties, stores, or giveaways

It is not required but would be much appreciated to check out other links and share the blog love! <3

The party will start at 9am! 
Have fun!

DIY Custom Soap Dispensers!

This is my 100th post! Woohoo! 

This past few months, which feels like forever,  I have been working on little things here and there to reorganize and redecorate our house because its not quite right. I almost have our bathroom complete - I just need another piece of decor for the wall to finish it off! We have a TINY bathroom, our house was built in the 50's and the counter space is very limited. I got tired of seeing this:

Mis-matched bottles for our face and hand soap. It always looked messy to me. 

Then one night I was laying in bed - brilliant ideas always come at that time right??

And I thought I should just get nice glass dispensers and customize them so I know which soap is which! 

**Cue the Martha Stewart Etching Cream**

I decided to go with the Martha Etching Cream even though it was still ($13 and twice the cost of the other brand after my 50% off coupon) BUT Martha never disappoints! 

I also picked up two matching glass dispensers in different sizes from target - they had a light turquoise color to them which I liked however I learned after I started this process that is a coating on the outside not colored glass SO I had to do the etching cream twice. The first time to remove the coating and the second to etch the glass. 

I used my Silhouette Machine to cut out my lettering of [hand] and [face]:

Then I applied the cream for about 30 minutes the first time and had to remove it and scrape off the lifting coating an then reapplied for another 30.

Then cleaned off again and here is the result:

I am super happy with them and Z likes them too! They give our soaps a home and always look neat!

Birchbox!

Hello!! <3 

This past month I signed up for Birchbox - it is a $10 a month fee and they send you a mini box with all sorts of beauty samples and new products to try. Annnnd my first one arrived a few days ago and I am in love!! 

This bright pink box was in our mail box:

I was super excited to open it up and see what was inside:

There was a little card explaining what its contents were:

And TaDa:

It came with a eye shadow primer, a break out cream, headband, nail file, and shave cream. Was very worth the $10! I cannot wait until next month!

PS - they have a few week wait but if you want an invite I can send you one - just leave your email or email me with it on the button above! 

xoxo

Stop, Look, & Link Party #25 [Plus Features too!]

Hi! Welcome to our Linky Party - This party is hosted by Alexandra @ In Designer Jeans and Lauren @ All Things Homie. We are very excited to see all of your great projects and ideas! 

Once the party is done we will post the most viewed links and a few of our favorites so be sure to check back next week to see if you are featured.

Spring is in the air! There is so many ADORABLE easter and spring crafts floating around right now. Can you believe it is already March!? Where has the year gone.. Seriously. 

Features from last weeks Stop, Link, & Look party:

Calamity Kate's Kitchen shared these super YUMMY Nutella, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

Check out this adorable Pink Sock Monkey and the story behind it at Crystelle Boutique: 

Lauren LOVED the Cutest Crochet Giraffe from Dindin Does:

Alexandra pick this week was an awesome Pattern Remix from Stacy Sews and Schools:

Thank you again for sharing your great ideas and for everyone's support! <3

[Now its party time]

The guidelines are simple, promise!

Please follow your lovely hosts so you can share your great ideas every week! :)

Link back in some way... Grab a button on the side bar or a text link on your page

Link projects, crafts, recipes, fun stories, or anything created in some way by YOU
Please do not link up other parties, stores, or giveaways

It is not required but would be much appreciated to check out other links and share the blog love! <3

The party will start at 9am! 
Have fun!

Herringbone Baby Quilt!

It seems that I have been on a quilt making kick the past few months! The most recent one being a herringbone baby quilt for my sister, it is her first baby and the first baby in our family so I wanted to make something special and absolutely LOVE the herringbone/chevron quilts. [I learned that the difference is when the color/pattern is broken up- if the row was all one color it would be chevron - who knew?!] 

I searched the web and found all sorts of different tutorials but this one at The Crafty Cupboard- It is a Quick Herringbone Quilt Tutorial. I followed it exactly and it was very simple!

My strips all cut out!

And organized...

Starting to sew them together [this was a bit confusing for me :)]

and the final product! I absolutely love it!!

Just an upclose...

I did the actual quilting on my machine and did the binding by hand!