Donations, please?

I posted this on my Facebook page yesterday and got ZERO responses.  Actually, I'm kind of striking out all over the place because, once again, not a single person has joined mine and Sarah's monthly craft challenge.  Maybe I'm getting on everyone's nerves, so they've all stopped reading my stuff.  Strong possibility.  But I digress.

I'm going to try this again here.

WHO WANTS A CHANCE TO WIN A SET OF 8 PEG DOLLS??

(This is the part where you jump up and wave your arms around madly because, YES, you do want your very own set!)

I couldn't make it any easier for you to enter to win.  All you have to do is donate WHATEVER AMOUNT YOU WANT to me and my Relay for Life team.  I will gladly take a $1.  I will more than gladly take $10.  Or $50.

I Relay for my Peepaw, Sheriff Bobby Thomas, who lost his battle to colon cancer in 2001.  Since losing him, I Relay for my mother in law, Arlene.  My mom's friend Ann.  Brooklyn Disselkamp.  Addie Roberts.  So many other people that I know and love and are fighting this stupid a-hole we call cancer.  No one deserves a life of chemo ports and losing their hair.  Please, please help me?  I'm asking for a measly donation to help go towards the fight to find a cure.  And in return, you might win a set of peg dolls.  EVERYONE WINS.

Are you interested yet?  I hope so.

Rules.

1.  I must receive at least 10 entries before a drawing will take place.  (And since I have zero at the moment, I'm a little concerned.)

2.  You must leave your name (and not an anonymous donation) so I know what name to put in the drawing, and then come back to FB, this blog post, and shoot me a comment or a message to let me know that you've donated. 

3.  If you win, you can pick a set of ANY peg doll characters you want.  Here's a few sketches of possible sets that I've done.

DISNEY VILLAINS

SNOW WHITE AND THE 7 DWARFS

But I can literally do any set you have your heart set on.  Disney Junior characters.  The cast of Peter Pan.  Wizard of Oz.  Or, since I'm such a giving person, if you don't want a set of peg dolls, you can pick a painting (an 11"x14" or smaller) of your choosing. 

4.  Click on the link here to donate to my Relay page.  https://secure.acsevents.org/site/Donation2?1011308.donation=form1&idb=737016230&df_id=1011308&FR_ID=59664&PROXY_ID=19356769&PROXY_TYPE=20&__utmk=244071297&__utma=54177207.414484813.1398691356.1398691356.1398693289.2&__utmc=54177207&__utmb=54177207.5.9.1398693303309&__utmx=-&__utmv=54177207.|3=registration%20status=registered=1&__utmz=54177207.1398691356.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none) 

5.  The drawing will close on May 8th at midnight.  I will draw and announce a winner on May 9th at 5pm!



That's all you have to do.  Make a $5 donation and you're automatically entered to win a set of your very own Peg Dolls, a value of $55 for a set of 8!  No brainer, right??

In all seriousness though.  I take my "job" as a Relayer very seriously.  I lost my Peepaw when I was in high school.  He never saw me graduate, never saw me become an FFA State officer.  He never met my husband or my tractor-loving daughter.  I was robbed of getting to spend more time with him.  All because of cancer.  Please, please, please.  Make a donation and help the American Cancer Society find ways for people to spend more time with their loved ones.  Help them find a cure.   Help me fight for a world where my daughter doesn't have to Relay for her loved ones.  I know there are plenty of causes and organizations that are begging for your money.  I'm just trying to make this donation a little more fun and hopefully a little more rewarding for one lucky winner.  Consider it?

Day One Kitchen Progress.

Okay.  I was going to save a blog post about my kitchen remodel for when the entire thing was done.  Unveil the amazing before and finished after pictures and wow your pants off at the change.

But, today was day 1 of construction and it took everything in me not to physically jump up and down and squeal when I walked in the door.

I am SO, SO, SOOOO excited.  I'll admit, for a brief second, I was a little nervous about how this is all going to turn out because I couldn't actually see it before I committed to it.  Today is total justification that this was a great decision.

Now I have the remodel bug.  What other walls can I knock down around here.....?

"Busy but Crafty" Monthly Challenge: Month TWO

It's time once again for our "Busy but Crafty" monthly craft challenge!

 As you may recall, our last month didn't go so well.  We're hoping for wayyyyy more participation with this month's challenge:

For this month, I'm expecting to see a bunch of wreaths.  I adore wreaths.  But.  I have an irrational fear of birds.

What's that have to do with wreaths?  I've had multiple people tell me their horror story of putting a wreath on their front door,  a bird laid a nest inside the wreath and...... *shudder*.....when they opened their front door, the bird flew IN. THEIR. HOUSE.

Therefore, I am anti-wreath.

So, this month, it was little of a challenge for me to come up with something for my door that I could make.  Usually, when I have a craft, I do research, come up with something that I like and then go buy the components from there.

Not this one.  I had a few ideas in mind, but nothing that "spoke" to me.  So, today, being the slacker I am, I went to Michaels in hopes that I could pull my door decor craft out of something in the aisles.  Luckily, I found something (obviously, or I wouldn't be blogging right now).

Here's my non-wreath door decor craft:

A boxwood door hanging with monogram!

Supplies Needed:

--Boxwood mat
--Wooden or paper mache letter
--Ribbon
--Scrapbook paper (or paint)
--Floral wire
--Outdoor Modge Podge (if you go the scrapbook paper route)

Instructions:

1.  Decorate your letter.  This can be a completely optional step.  I chose to Modge Podge scrapbook paper onto my letter.  You can Modge Podge, you can paint, you can leave it the wood color, it's up to you and your personal tastes.

2.  Tie ribbon to boxwood mat.  (tip: the boxwood mat is a little expensive if regularly priced.  I had a coupon for 40%.  I wouldn't go this route unless you can get the boxwood material for a discounted price.)
Anyway.  I chose a burlap ribbon and tied it to the back of the mat.

3.  Tie the letter to the mat.

I looped some floral wire around the front of the initial and then just twisted it like a bread tie around the back of the mat. 

4.  You're done! 

(note: this is not my door. They're remodeling my kitchen!!! and, since I waited until the very last minute, I had to put together this craft at my parent's house, you're seeing my parent's lovely front door)

I used two different suction cup hangers to hang this on the door.  One, for the ribbon to hang from.  Two, where I hung the actual boxwood from.  I did this because the initial is heavier than the boxwood and the hanger will want to lean forward.  I wanted it to be flush against the door, so I used the two suction cups. 

Now, show us your fabulous, handmade "Door Decor!!" 

We have to have some rules here, first. 

1.  You must link back to either my blog or the Year of Sarah Blog (the link co-host).

2.  Follow both our blogs.  You can do this however your little heart pleases.  Google +, Facebook  (my page is here, Sarah's is here), Bloglovin', etc.  

3.  Your link needs to be a craft blog post.  Please do not link to your Etsy page, business page, own link party or giveaways.

4.  Must be your own original work.

5.  Show some other blogs some love.  Don't we all get the warm fuzzies when we see new blog comments??

(NOTE:  Inlinkz decided to change their rules and isn't showing thumbnails for your link you submit.  We're not happy about that, but it's gotta be that way for this month's challenge.  We promise, we'll have it back to the old, thumbnail view link up next month.  For now, if you want to see what someone else has created, click on the green link in front of their name.  Apologies, a million.)

DIY Pretend Makeup Tutorial

I'm pretty excited about this post.  I love to craft and, unfortunately, I haven't gotten to really make anything (that wasn't for a 28th and Hudson painting order) in quite awhile.  Easter was coming up though, and I'd had this craft in mind for awhile for part of Avery's Easter basket.

Presenting!

DIY play makeup! 

In my house, I have a two year old.....who thinks she's 19.  She has the attitude, the sassiness, and the fascination with makeup.  If Avery's awake in the morning while I'm putting on makeup, she normally wants to sit right beside me and do "her makeup too."  Of course, in my makeup bag, there's very few things I'll actually let her have, out of fear that, if I gave her eyeshadow or powder, the entire contents would end up on my nice clean bedsheets.  So the idea was born that I would make Avery her own makeup. 

Now.  Let me stop with the crafting tutorial right there and just say this, because I know some of you are thinking it, have thought it, are gonna say it......No, I am not teaching my child that she HAS to wear makeup.  No more than buying her that pretty pink dress teaches her that she has to wear dresses in order to feel pretty.  My child is beautiful.  She has a vibrant personality that matches her outward beauty.  She's also two.  When she's old enough, I'll tell her all about her inner beauty and explain to her that we need to spend more time perfecting our inner beauty than covering up any outward blemishes.  I'll explain about the world and how society will tell her she's not pretty unless she has her hair done perfectly, her makeup done flawlessly and her clothes always at the height of fashion.  I will do everything I can to build her confidence and help her understand that she is a beautiful child of God that doesn't need the world's approval to tell her she's beautiful.  But for now, she's my two and a half year old toddler that loves all things girly.  She's a toddler that wants to sneak into Mommy's makeup bag and start taking things out that I don't want her having.  For my TWO year old, that loves Mommy's makeup....and for saving my sanity.....that's why I made this makeup. 

[puts away soapbox]

Back to the tutorial.  

When I first had the idea to get Avery some play makeup, I looked into buying a ready made kid.  Turns out, stores don't really sell them.  I found a couple of plastic lipsticks, but they mostly came in a set with a pretend purse, credit card and car keys.  Not really what I was needing.  So, I turned to Etsy.  And I found some awesome options like this set from Little Cosmetics Shop, this felt set from Kidn Around Creations, or this set from Lipstick and Bowties.  Problems with these:  I don't want to spend that much and I didn't really love the felt look.  I wanted something more real.  

So, I went to my next favorite place on the Internet:  Pinterest.  If you look up DIY play makeup, there are a TON of tutorials on making pretend makeup using nail polish.  Not my favorite idea.  Yes, the makeup looks real, but it's stinky and messy and can get expensive.  Then I saw this idea for making it out of craft foam.  Genius.  To be honest, I saw the picture on Pinterest and didn't even click the link, but the original inspiration came from Playing House. 

This is a VERY inexpensive and fairly easy project to complete.  Let's get started! 

Supplies Needed:

• Sheets of craft foam (I'll explain how many in the steps).
• Craft glue
• Makeup compacts

X-acto knife or scissors

How To:

1.  Remove the makeup. First, take your makeup compacts.  I chose to go with the "Elf Cosmetics" brand that I picked up at my local Target.  The powder, bronzer and brushes were all $1.02 apiece.  The eyeshadows were $2.05 (or very close to it) apiece.  

Obviously, you're going to be replacing the real makeup with foam, so you gotta get the real stuff out of there.  I found it easiest to use a butter knife.  I cut lines across the makeup and rimmed the knife around the edges of the makeup.  This made it easier to cut out. 

2.  Wash the remaining makeup out of the compacts. After cutting the makeup out and dumping it, wash all the compacts out with soap and water. At first, I tried using a sponge and then a wet paper towel and neither one was getting into the sides and getting all the makeup cleaned out.  Finally, I took a hard bristle paintbrush, which worked wonders. 

3.  Let the compacts dry.  Pretty self explanatory.  I let mine dry overnight. 

4.  Cut and glue foam.  This project is fairly simple, but this is the step where things get a little tricky.  After buying my makeup, I decided what colors I wanted to use (one "powder" flesh color, one pink blush and eight eye shadow colors).  

Let's start with the eyeshadow containers.  I lined up the corner of the craft foam sheet with one section of the eyeshadow container.  After lining the corners up, I pressed the sheet down into the compartment and then cut around the edges with my X-acto knife.  

When I had my piece cut out, I pushed it down into the section.  If there was any overhang, I trimmed it down with my X-acto knife.  After it was the shape I wanted, I took the piece back out and applied craft glue with a fairly heavy hand into the single section of the container.

When the glue is down, push the craft foam piece back in.  And voila!  You're done with one eyeshadow color.  

Repeat this process for the other three colors.

Now, for the tricker part.  The circle compacts.  This took a bit of trial and error before I was finally happy with the shape that came out. 

This is the process that seemed to work best for me.  I took the circle compacts, laid a sheet of the craft foam over it and pushed the foam down into the compact.  When you push the foam into the compact, you can see the outline of the inside where the "powder" will go.  I took my X-acto knife and cut around this outline.

Once it was cut, I pushed the circle down into the compact and cut down any excess to make the shape fit into it.  Same rule applies as before.  Once you get the shape you want, lift it back out, put glue down and then put the circle back in.

You're done!

I bought Avery a cute little pink zipper pouch to store her makeup and two makeup brushes to make her feel like an official big girl like Mommy.

Ready for the cost?  Did you see the sets from Etsy that cost $22 and $28 (and up??).

For the makeup, I spent $6.14 (one blush, one bronzer, two eyeshadows).  For the brushes, I spent $2.04.  For the craft foam, I spent $7.11.  BUT.  I'm only going to count what I used of the foam.  I probably used 1/10 of each sheet (and that's being generous.  I only used a sliver of the sheets for the eyeshadow colors).  If I used 1/10, at 0.79 apiece, and 9 colors, I used 0.72 cents worth of foam.  The bag cost me $1.97.  I already had the X-acto knife and the craft glue.  Bringing this total to $10.87.  I can live with that.

And it made one very happy, one very grown up feeling Avery.

Mom win. 

Kitchen remodel decisions.

Well.  Looks like I'm back with another installment of "Devan Can't Make Kitchen Remodel Decisions to Save Her Life."  (I'll work on a catchier name for that).

Since my last post about decisions that needed to be made, I hadn't made much headway on our remodel plans.  The builder we had lined up encountered some health issues and put the plans on hold.  So I decided to take a break from looking at kitchens.  Backsplashes, countertops, paint colors....they were all starting to make my head spin.

We received the good news this week that our builder is cleared to work and he'll be starting next week on our kitchen.  [cue freak out mode].  Now, I have to start making decisions.

I thought I had settled on the countertop and colors of the upper and lower cabinets.  Remember these?

I thought these were solid locks when it came to choices for the kitchen.

Until Marty and I went to Lowe's to look at kitchen sinks.

You should know before I start this story that, when I think of my absolute "Dream Kitchen," it includes a white farmhouse, apron front sink.  You should also know that white farmhouse sinks can cost from $700 and up.  After researching a few options online, I decided that a farmhouse sink was definitely not happening unless 1.  We wanted to go into massive debt over a sink (not an option).  or 2.  Marty won the lottery (he doesn't even play).  Goodbye, beautiful sinks.

Hellllloooo beautiful.

I had pretty much resigned myself to brushed nickel/silver looking sinks.  Ugh.  Not my favorite, but I guess I could get a single basin sink, or somehow make it...prettier?  Idk.

So, we walk in Lowe's last night.  And I see WHITE CAST IRON DROP IN SINKS.  Not apron front, but still white. I didn't even know this was an option.  I'm in love.  Our current sink is only 7 inches deep.  This one is 9.625 inches deep.  HUGE difference.

I was ready to load it in the cart and leave.  Until I got out my paint samples and countertop choice.  And I started thinking......a white sink, with off white cabinets and possibly a light/tan/off white backsplash?  This sounds like a disaster.  

So, I started looking around at some of the options.  While they did have the standard silver colored sinks, they also had some really dark colored sinks too.  Black and some dark grey looking ones.  "That could work, right?"  

I finally decided on a single basin dark grey granite sink (pictured below).  And I thought that was that.  

Until I got home.  

I could not stop thinking about that white cast iron sink.  It's *close* to the farmhouse sink of my dreams.  No, it's not an apron front, but it IS white.  And country-feeling.  And I'm obsessed with it.  I wanted that sink.  I was not married in any way to the "Burnished Clay" color of the upper cabinets.  It made little sense to base my decisions around a cabinet color that could be changed easily. 

So, white cast iron sink it is.  One decision now made.  

Now, to rethink the color options.  

Instead of the Burnished Clay for the upper cabinets, I'm now thinking white. 

Juniper Berries (by Behr) on the bottom cabinets, White (whatever paint color works best) on the upper cabinets, Wilsonart Laminate 4550K-01 countertops, Kohler Hartland white cast iron double basin sink.  

Whoa.  Four decisions made. 

Now, the backsplash remains.  Marty and I have decided to wait on it.  Once everything is in our kitchen and we can look at all the elements together (I'm a visual person, 100%), then we'll make a decision on what looks best in the space between the countertops and cabinets (it's a pretty small amount of space anyway....we're talking less than foot probably).  For now though, I'm realllllllllly leaning towards a beadboard backsplash. 

(I originally saw the idea on thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com--my newest design blogger obsession).  

It's original, it's simple, it's clean, it's SO much cheaper than a tile or stone option.  I'm really, really loving this look.  My only hesitation is that it might be too much white with the white cabinets and white sink.  So, we wait until it's all installed and make a decision from there.

I'm actually getting excited about this.


***Next day update from my husband***
Marty just texted to let me know that he talked to a plumber friend of his.  We might not have the room under the sink for the 9.625 inch deep cast iron sink, depending on how our under the sink plumbing is set up.  I may cry.  If you ever hear me say I want to build a house, punch me in the face.  You have my permission.

Busy But Crafty Monthly Challenge: Take Two.

So, there was this one time that I paired up with Sarah, over at Year of Sarah Blog, and we decided that we were going to create a monthly craft challenge link up party.  We had big visions in our heads of people getting excited and putting their little crafty fingers and brains to work and then, eventually, linking up with us at the end of the month to show us their amazing creations.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

What DID happen was, Sarah and I created the craft challenge, posted the link up party.....and we were the only two participants.  [cue embarrassed blogger blushing here]

But!  We're determined to get this thing off the ground and gain more participants.  That's why, for April, your monthly craft challenge is:

Do you have an awesome homemade wreath for your front door?  We wanna see it!

Did you go non-traditional and are decorating your door with something other than a wreath?  We wanna see it!

Did you make something that sits beside your door and makes your entire front porch look fabulous?  We wanna see it!

Seriously.  Share it all....from door hangers, to door knockers, even to a wreath you made for your kid's birthday party.  We'll be posting the party link up on Friday, April 25th and it'll be live until May 2nd.

And I'm not above begging.....please, please, PUH-LEASE join us this time??

Gluten and caffeine free update.

A lot of people have asked me how my gluten free/caffeine free journey is going.  So, I thought, instead of responding to every person, I'd just blog about it.

Life without caffeine: 

Basically.

I love my caffeine.  I feel so drained when I don't have my Dr. Pepper in the morning.  I don't know if it really was the caffeine making me energized, or if it was all in my head.  Either way, I'm dragging.  If you add no caffeine, with no carbs from the gluten free diet (no carbs=no energy), and I'm struggling to make it through the day.  Good news though, I haven't had really bad headaches.  I've been off caffeine for two weeks now, and I've only had one unbearable caffeine withdraw headache.  The rest of the time, my head was sore, but nothing like what I was expecting.  What I WASN'T expecting was how badly I would crave Dr. Pepper.  Right now, I haven't had a drink of a Dr. Pepper in two weeks, and I'd still love one.  I thought it wouldn't take long at all before I stopped missing my morning fizzy drink.  Not true.  I've had very intense cravings for a Coke.  It's starting to subside....a little.  My problem is, I don't feel any better after cutting off the caffeine---because I substituted my Dr. Peppers with Sprites.  Goal for this week?  Get rid of ALL sodas.

Gluten-free living. 

Get ready for a rant, friends, because I'm just going to say it:  being gluten free SUCKS.  I hate it so much.  Do I feel better?  Yes.  Absolutely.  I'm not having any pain whatsoever, which proves to me that my problem was, without a doubt, gluten.  I'm intolerant.  That part is great.

Here's all the parts I severely dislike about being gluten free.

1.  I have NO energy.  No caffeine to wake me up and no carbs in my diet equal a very, very, VERY tired me.  I'm taking a multivitamin and a B-12 complex vitamin to try to give me more energy, but it's not working very well.  As soon as I get home, I want to sleep immediately.   I barely have energy to make it through the day without wanting to fall asleep at lunchtime.  I've got to figure out a fix to this.  Someone mentioned eating more complex carbs.  I'll say this:  eating gluten free is not something you do willy-nilly.  It takes a LOT of planning.  Which brings me to...

2.  Gluten free living is not something you just decide to do.  It's HARD.  If I'm running errands on my lunch break, I cannot just swing through McDonalds and grab myself something to eat.  In fact, I can count on one hand all the fast food places in my town that have gluten free options for an entire meal (meaning, they have more items to choose from than just salad dressings and fries that are GF).  Same thing goes for being at home.  I can't just look in my freezer and pop in a frozen pizza or throw together a sandwich if I'm hungry and want something quick.  Eating gluten free requires a lot of preparation and thought.  And I'm not that kind of person when it comes to eating every single night.

3.  Going out to eat with me is a pain in the butt. It's a lot of "Where can you eat?" questions. I am a fundamental people pleaser to my very core. The idea of picking a restaurant for 7 people to eat at, and possibly dislike, just because I picked it, sends me into panic mode. Once a restaurant is picked, I'm always the last to decide what I want because I'm busy googling every item on the menu to see what the ingredients are in the dish and if I can have it. I'm a pain. Even I don't like eating with me.

4.  I'm fat.  Please, don't start jumping all over me.  Let me explain.  My stomach is feeling better.  I'm not in pain, I'm not running to the bathroom, I'm not miserable.  But I am 10+ pounds heavier and way more bloated than I was before I started a gluten free lifestyle.  I don't know what's causing it.  I'm eating stuff like plain rice and grilled chicken and I have spare tire.  What the heck??  I wasn't this heavy when I was eating McDonald's breakfast and Burger King for lunch.  Maybe there is something in certain GF foods that causes bloating and weight gain.  Whatever it is, I have to find it and ditch it fast.  I'm running out of clothing that fits me and my self esteem (which was pretty low to begin with) is at rock bottom.

5.  People flat don't understand what it means to be gluten free.  I'm not doing this as a diet plan.  I'm not doing this because I want to be "cool" or do the latest fad diet (because well, see #4).  I'm doing it because gluten quite literally makes me sick.  I have a co-worker that just cannot understand this.  Every day, he comes in and tells me that I'll be fine if I have a sausage biscuit that one of our reps just brought in.  Or, if I avoid bread the rest of my life, I'll waste away to nothing.  The second day of being gluten free, he asked if I was going to be a vegetarian too.  Listen, I get it.  People don't understand what gluten is and when you can't have it, it seems like a stupid lifestyle plan to be on.  If I didn't have to do this, I wouldn't be.  But my body rejects gluten and lets me know loud and clear.  Therefore, I don't eat it.  Plain and simple.  I don't like talking about being gluten free. I don't like pointing it out every time someone asks me if I want a bite of their food or offers me something to eat. I don't like drawing attention to myself. I would MUCH rather be happily sitting with a hamburger, bun on, not causing a problem. But, that can't be, so I deal with it.

To answer your questions:  I'm still caffeine and gluten free.  I'm doing really well by resisting all the temptations.  Yesterday, I wanted a cheeseburger so bad that I didn't think I'd be able to keep my car from driving into McDonalds.  Instead, I drove home for lunch and ate chicken salad. Was it better than the cheeseburger would have tasted?  Probably not. But I wasn't sick last night either. It's a daily trade off. I don't get to eat the foods I once loved, but I also am not a slave to my heating pad. One day, I hope I won't even miss those sausage biscuits or that Dr Pepper. It's just not today.