Labor Day Swagbucks Collector Bills

The folks over at Swagbucks have put a fun twist on their reward points - Collector's Bills! From now through September 6th you have a chance to win one of five Collector's Bills celebrating Labor Day. Each of the five is for a different amount and each one has a different image - you can keep track of your bills by looking in the "My Swag Bucks" area of your account, and if you get all five during the promotion, you'll get a 10 Swag Buck bonus instantly applied to your account, meaning you'll be even closer to getting the free stuff you love!

{Things Remembered Specials}

Special for Things Remembered:

• FREE Keepsake Box with Select Women's & Men's Jewelry!
• Bracelets, Sterling Silver Jewelry, Snow Globes & More On Sale!

 Just in time for those back to school memories and preparing for Christmas. Offers good til 10/30

• Shop Things Remembered Now and Get 15% Off! Use code AUTUMN15 during checkout. *Offer excludes personalization. ONLINE ONLY!

Pinterest Challenge

I am not doing this along with any other blog's challenges but was urged to do it by seeing some. It is great to have so many wonderful tips and ideas on pinterest, but I need to use them. So, I did a quick easy one earlier this week.

The homemade hair detangler! My daughter has naturally curly hair, not really curly but enough that when she gets out of the tub/shower you have to use a detangler to brush it out, and you need it again in the morning when she wakes up. She also is only 4 and likes the smell of it, so I cannot buy the stuff and waste it like that. So I color my own hair many times, and always have leftover tubes of conditioner left from it. SO The recipe I used was 3/4 water and 1/4 conditioner. Well I just added it to the bottle, so its hard to eyeball that through a pink spray bottle, but I fill the water up almost to the top, and then squeezed conditioner in till it looked enough. I shook it up, and then we tried it on her hair. Perfect, though, be careful that you have a rug down in the bathroom- our floor got slick after using it.


I was not able to take pictures of it, doesn't really show up in the bottle. I guess I could have done it in a mixing bowl or something. If yours doesn't have any fragrance you could add something of your own.

This project did not cost me anything since I already had the spray bottle and conditioner, and used tap water. So this would be a super cheap way for you to make your own as well.

What I did do for you, is create a label you could use to put on your own spray bottle. I did several different colors and a couple different fonts. This is my first time creating my own labels and such so please bear with me, and feel free to share tips and tricks about creating documents!



Hair Detangler Label

All about Fall

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am ready for FALL!

Ready for cooler weather, long sleeve shirts, bonfires, pumpkin smells and carvings and goodies, and the decorating. Fall is definitely my Favorite time of the year. Growing up we had a big county fair and I so enjoyed going with my friends and dates in High School. We don't really have a county fair in the county I live in now, but there are some special events that have carnival food, rides, and concerts, but I miss the baking contests and 4H shows I grew up with.


Anyway, I am ready to start decorating for fall in the hopes it will help me feel cooler. I am looking for guest bloggers with topics about Fall; recipes, decor, crafts for kids, projects, traditions, picture ideas and more. If it is related to Fall, I want to hear about it!!!

Swagbucks special offers!

Swagbucks is always looking for new ways for you to earn Reward Points, and this week they've got a promotion designed to help you get your free stuff faster! All this week, for any qualifying Special Offer you complete from now through Sunday, August 21st, you’ll receive a 20% bonus on what you earn That bonus will be applied no later than 4:00pm PDT on Monday, August 22nd.
Offers from the following providers qualify for the bonus:
Ad Rewards
Gambit
Trialpay (Offers & Daily Deals)
RadiumOne
Paymentwall
Super Rewards
Peanut Labs (Surveys & Offers) and Sponsorpay
If you haven’t done Special Offers before, you can choose from a variety of different offers (free, purchase required, games, surveys, watching videos, etc.), each of which pay you a Swag Bucks reward. Get started today and earn big all week long!

Update on a project I have been working on.

See I have been working on this one project for a while now. It's not something that I planned to be doing right now, but you know sometimes those things happen and you go with it. So I realized I was pretty well committed to this project before I had even realized I had started it. It has been an exhausting project so far, my kids don't understand why I am not up for playing as much lately. Working FT and working on this project combined with this horrible Heat we had lately in the Carolinas was almost unbearable. But thankfully it has gotten cooler and I am finally feeling like I have control of it.

If you haven't figured out my project yet, it is our new addition to the house, a little baby coming in February. This was definitely not planned since Baby Boy is only 9 months old this week and I am currently 12 weeks. I have been horribly sick this time around. I have been fortunate enough to not be sick with the other 2 previous pregnancies. But this one has me knocked on my bottom so far. I am lucky that Baby boy takes a nap when we first get home after working. I can get my sweet Spencer to watch a movie and mommy can catch a nap.


So please bear with me as I get my sea legs back and can feel up to some projects again. I will gladly accept any Guest Bloggers to fill in and tell me about yourself in the meantime!

Haven Conference (Sponsorship opportunities)

Haven Conference tickets just went on sale Today!

EEK  I am So excited! This is a conference I have been looking  forward to since they started teasing it. 

This is not quite in my budget yet and I don't have enough blog funds rolling in yet to cover it. 

Some of the info they will be sharing includes "knowledge on subjects such as painting furniture and using power tools" so you see it will be hands on training on things that could absolutely transform the skills I have to use for this blog.

If you are interested in sponsoring my way to Haven Conference in 2012, please contact me at begintocraft@gmail.com.


Thank you for your support and for continuing to follow this blog! I know there are so many other wonderful ones out there. I feel so blessed you follow mine.

Modern Cottage thrifty project!

 Guest Post from my BFF Kristen! I am trying to convince her to join me on this blog sharing her tips and ideas and projects. She and I come up with all kinds of ideas and feed off each other, share color ideas and thrift finds. I am so bummed she is moving, but think we can come up with so many great projects and share them here together. Here is her super cheap project.

 

So, my husband, son and myself will be making a move to Jacksonville Florida within the next few weeks and already my decorating mind is churning.  I have always had a love for dark woods, warm colors, and geometric shapes.  Well, since we are going to be only 8 miles from the beach {oh darn} I have found myself wanting to live the cottage life.  I am pretty sure we will never own a cottage on the beach, but that is not going to stop me from decorating like we do!  So, I had to start somewhere and find my new inspiration for turning my house into the "Modern Cottage". 

 

*Last week I made a trip over to a new thrift store in the area and landed this small dessert platter for a whopping .59 cents! 

*Once I bought the platter I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it!  I knew I wanted some type of candle holder to make a base for the platter and hit the jackpot when I found this one at another local thrift store for .75 cents!  

 

* Once I had my two pieces that I needed I made a quick trip to Walmart (well, I take that back, Walmart trips are never quick)  to pick up some spray paint!  I knew exactly what color I wanted and went for the Krylon Peekaboo Blue! (~$2.99)

 

 

* Got all my supplies ready and got to spraying.  I spayed the candle holder first and did not do an even coverage spray...I wanted it to have that rough look, so I was sure to let the silver/brown original color show through

 

 

* Next, I sprayed the brown base of the platter and again did not cover it perfectly. 

 

* After about 30 minutes of drying time, I went after them both with sandpaper.  I roughed up the candle holder a little more to bring out the details of the design.  I also distressed the base of the platter alot to get that "beat up look" as I call it! 

 

 

* Once I had the look I wanted, I broke out the gorilla glue and tackled the easy task of gluing the wood base to the candle holder.  After 15 long drying minutes (I was dying to see it finished) I stood it up and here it is.....my inspiration for the cozy beach cottage that we do not have yet!

 

 

 

Ok didn't that turn out Super cute!!! And for less than $5! I am so jealous of that candlestick find. I think it really makes the project. I can't wait to see what she comes up with and how she decorates her new home. Either way I am going to miss her craftiness and our thrifty trips. Maybe I will gain some new thrift stores to hit when I visit her at the beach! :-)