My First Giveaway!

I am so excited to finally hold my first giveaway. This is my way to say thank you to my readers. Like I've said before, I don't write for comments or followers but having both gives me that warm & fuzzy feeling, and encourages me to share more.

Would you like to know what the prize is? I said earlier this month it would be something you've seen featured here.

Ta-da!

The winner of this giveaway will receive a print out of this laundry definition on iron on transfer paper. When I made mine I had a heck of a time ironing it onto the burlap. I thought it was a lost cause and printed another definition. While it was printing I gave it another try and it started to work. So I've had this extra printout waiting around for an excuse to have a giveaway.

So, how do you win? Here's what I've come up with.

• Follow Searching Out Simple - leave a comment telling me that you do. {one entry}

• Leave a comment with an idea/tip for making over this china hutch. {one entry}
• And just for fun leave a comment sharing an April Fool's joke you've been a part of. {one entry}

 This giveaway will be open for one week, comments close at 10am CST & winner will be announced shortly after.

Good luck! Sharing is caring so tell your friends so they have a chance to win also. ;)

Thanks for visiting!

Another Painted Pearls and Freezer Paper Stenciling

So when I find something that I like I do it a lot. Like, I have a stack of shirts just waiting to be painted in one way or the other. I have an idea for a new twist on the painted pearls and can't wait to try it out. Last weekend we had a birthday party to go to. My friend celebrated both of her kids birthdays together because the dates are pretty close.

If you don't know, I'm quite the procrastinator. I used to get a rush out of doing a project for school last minute and it's continued into my adult life. I plan ahead but I don't do ahead so well. I'm working on that this year.

Anyway, I needed two gifts and didn't have much time so I stuck with what I know.

I love how the painted pearls came out. I didn't do as many strands this time but it's still fun and the birthday girl was happy. The cowboy hat shirt was cute too, though I really didn't like the pocket on the shirt. I was almost tempted to take it off but if that went wrong I'd be stuck without a shirt. I also should have layered my freezer paper better so I didn't smudge and I realize the name is off center but I don't think the birthday boy noticed.

You can see my other painted pearls here and here.

Thanks for visiting! Be sure to come back tomorrow {April 1st} for a giveaway, and that's no joke. ;)

A Laundry Sign

Sometime last year {during my blogging hiatus} I came across this tutorial for a burlap laundry sign. It started my love of burlap and desire to cover my house in it. While I've {mostly} gotten over that urge I still love burlap. I was impressed that you could print onto burlap. Well, impressed that she could print onto burlap. My printer {Dell} did not share the burlap love. But I still wanted a happy little sign to pretty up my laundry room. If I must spend time in there it may as well be pretty right?

So, instead of printing directly onto the burlap I used iron on transfer paper. This was not an easy thing to iron onto burlap. Doing it over I would have used a canvas, duck cloth or drop cloth instead. I also would have trimmed it up some. Making the definition was the easiest part. I copied & pasted the definition from an online dictionary. Then I went through and changed up the font or bolded or italicized {is that a word?} the occasional word. Totally random.

See? Too much iron on stuff. But from further back you can't tell so it still makes for a happy little sign. I stuck it in a dollar store frame and hot glued a circle and two yoyos made from flour sack cloth on the corner.

I have another laundry make over to share tomorrow. I need to clean up/organize my laundry room so it's a more pleasant place to be. For now my sign  will do.

Thanks for visiting!

Linking to:

TypeA - Anything Goes 

What I Whipped Up Wednesday

 

I Didn't Win but YOU Might!

I received such awesome feedback on my air guitar t-shirt last week. I was a little bummed that I wasn't a top contender but there was some stiff competition, so many fabulous ideas & talent! I was happily surprised to find my entry was even featured at Ucreate! There are also a lot of new followers and I have now matched the number I had at my previous blog, so there will be a giveaway! I don't blog for comments or features or followers but it feels great to get good feedback. I blog because I love sharing ideas and inspiration. I blog because I firmly believe that everyone has some creative bone in them, even if it's a small one, and just maybe they'll find some inspiration here.

Okay, now onto something crafty! It is still National Craft Month after all. :) This is a coffee cozy I made.

I made these for Christmas gifts for several coffee addicts drinkers I know. Along with a gift card to a local coffee shop it made a great gift for my son's teacher too. I thought the zebra stripe fabric was a fun{ky} touch and the orange lining pops. Some had large buttons like this one and a few had two small ones. I kept the prototype for myself and churned these puppies out in a few sittings. I lost track of how many I made. They are a fairly quick project and you can use larger scraps of fabric to make them. It's a great assembly line project. If you're going to make one go ahead and make five or ten and keep some on hand for a hostess gift or any time you are short on time and in need of a gift. Or am I the only one who procrastinates and time gets away from me?

You can find the tutorial here. Then find some scraps {or head to your local fabric store} and whip up a cozy {or a dozen} and enjoy your fashionable {& reusable!} cup of coffee.

Thanks for visiting!

Giveaway Update!

March has been a fun crafting month for me. I have several more projects to share with you and hope to make up for my short hiatus when life interrupted. I mentioned in this post that I had an item to giveaway if I had enough followers. Right now there are 23 sweet people following my blog. My other blog reached 25 followers over the years I was writing there. It's been exciting to see such a jump this month. I love sharing my crafty projects with others. Especially with those that think they aren't creative or crafty.

So if I get over 25 followers by the end of this month {March} I will have a giveaway announcement the first week of April. I already have the item ready to go, just needs an address to go on it. Will it be yours?

I am having so much fun with this blog and truly appreciate all of the positive feedback and nice comments I've received. Thank you for reading {and commenting!}.

By the way - does anyone have a tip or pointer on creating a button? I'd love to have a button to share {along with the html code below it} but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. TIA!

Air Guitar T-Shirt

Last month one of my favorite blogs to read, I Am Momma Hear Me Roar, announced a contest for a boys top and I knew I had to enter. I love making girly things for my daughters with bows and frills and fun over the top-ness but I also love making fun things for my son. He already has his own sense of style. He loves wearing ties, bow ties & hats. He has a favorite t-shirt that he has outgrown but refuses to give up. I see a sweatshirt facing the same fate soon.

His school dress code is solid shirts and pants without extra pockets. Simple and easy but not much fun. After a few days of thinking on it I knew I wanted to make him a fun shirt using freezer paper stenciling because it's so much fun. But I wanted a little something extra. Here's what I came up with.

 

He loves it. I'm happy with how it came out, though doing it over again I would keep everything black. Against the white freezer paper the gray looked good but not as much against the t-shirt.

 

Do you see the stitched guitar strings? I used a zig zag stitch on one to give movement. Now he can rock out and do the robot {he really does} with his 'air guitar' t-shirt.'

Thanks for visiting!

Edited to add - Click here to read about my giveaway update!

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Gifts for a Baby Shower

I love any excuse to make something. Holidays, birthdays and special occasions like a baby shower. I am one of those people that don't follow a registry. I use it as a guide for color schemes mostly. A friend of mine is expecting another little girl soon and is using pink & brown to decorate her girls' room. She has made several things for the room already and it's super cute so I thought I'd make a couple things she could use in there.

The first thing I knew I wanted to make was this wipes case band. I saw this tutorial at Less Cake More Frosting recently and have been waiting for an excuse to make one. {I'll be making one for my own wipes case soon too} Her directions were great and the project was a pretty quick one. My band isn't as wide because my store didn't have 3" wide elastic but the 1.5 still worked.

I also covered a travel wipes case for her. My BFF made one for me when I had Delilah and I love it. I used this tutorial as a guide. The store I bought the wipes at didn't have the simple lid. If your only option is this style of lid I would drive to another store to find the simple one. This one works but took much longer and I don't like the gap in the middle.

Lastly I personalized shirts for her girls using freezer paper and my Cricut. I love love love freezer paper stenciling but really dislike using my exacto knife to cut letters. Mostly because I am impatient, often rush and they don't come out very nice. Using the low pressure setting on my Cricut the freezer paper cut smoothly & quickly.

 

I added a couple of bows and voila! Thanks for visiting.

Linking to:

What I Whipped Up Wednesday