Blog Swap: {The Girl Creative}

Today I've got a great blog swap for you! Diana from "The Girl Creative" is here to share just what a creative gal she is!

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Hello!!!! It's Diana from The Girl Creative! I'm so excited to be guest posting at Sew Dang Cute today. It's always so much fun taking over someone’s blog and making new friends. :)

Here are somethings you may (or may not) want to know about me:

• I'm a Jesus lovin' girl who happens to be married to a hunky police officer and together we have 2 very silly little girls.
• I L.O.V.E fountain soda....diet coke to be exact. I can drink it at any given time of the day.
• Sometimes I'm random
• I love to laugh but love to make other people laugh even more.
• I've always lived in NY and have only had 3 addresses in my whole life.
• I love making homemade cookie dough and then eating it.
• My favorite TV shows are Lost, Flash Forward and Chuck.

About the blog: At The Girl Creative I blog about little crafty projects that I do around the house. I'm kind of like a Jill of all trades, master of none type of girl. I like to try my hand at just about anything crafty and if my attempts come out decent enough, then I share them over at TGC. If not, I pretend I've been too busy to do anything productive. (wink wink).

• Every Monday at TGC we have a fun linky party called Just Something I Whipped Up where my readers can link up to projects they've been working on.
  

• Every Tuesday we host Teach Me Tuesday where our readers submit tutorials to share and I post them dubbing them as an official "Girl Creative"
  
  
  
  
• On Fridays we have a super cool party called New Friend Friday. It's a great way to make some new bloggy friends and to gain exposure for your blog. You may even get a few new followers while you're at it and who doesn't love that?

We also have a Giveaway Guide for people to list their current giveaway. Each month a new list is generated and bloggers can link up.





When I'm not hosting blog parties and avoiding laundry I do blog design so if you are in need of a bloggy makeover, I'm your girl. :)

Okay, enough of my babbling, let's show you some fun projects I've worked on in the past. My most recent creation is 2 little dresses I made for my girls. I just learned about shirring and had to give it a whirl. They came out cute, I think.


Trying to keep my daughter's artwork on display, I made these adorable personalized clipboard from dollar store supplies


Needing to soothe (and buff) that sore and dry winter skin, I made this sugar scrub that absolutely works like a charm:



Needing to feed my addiction for blowing off housework, I sewed up this little pleated purse just because:




Still avoiding housework, here are some ruffled dish towels and some washable swiffers. Of course I felt justified in my slacking off because I DID make stuff that would be helpful once I finally got myself moving! That has to count for something, right?






Thanks so much for letting me come and share a bit of my world with you. I hope you come by The Girl Creative and join in on all the fun. :)

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Love it all!!! Those shirred dresses are BEAUTIFUL!!! Be sure to pop over to her blog to check out all the creativity! Thanks Diana!!

Bronzed Envy Giveaway!!! ***ENDED***

With warmer weather finally happening in my neck of the woods, I'm starting to get out summer clothing, which means shorts. However, I have those pasty, white winter legs. Like everyone out there, I want tan skin, without the risk of skin cancer. Solution? Bronzed Envy! Here to tell us a little bit more about that is Blakeley. My name is Blakeley and I live in Austin, TX. I am a stay at home mom of two boys. I always knew I wanted to start my own business, but I didn't quite know what. After doing some researching for a family member about safer, quicker ways to tan I came across Airbrush Tanning. I instantly fell in love with the idea and wanted to start my own Mobile Airbrush Tanning Service. I started Bronzed Envy in October 2008 and the rest is history. People were calling right away! I make my own hours, and am able to be home for my kids during the day. After 4 months I had to hire my fist "helper" and after 6 months, I was so busy I couldn't believe it! This service is so popular and women all over the place are attaching the word "addicting" to this service. All it takes is ONE tan and you are addicted! The results are a natural toasted almond bronze, with NO orange or red undertones in the solution! I know, because I've developed the color myself. I knew exactly what my clients were looking for, and what I couldn't find in a solution. I have clients coming to me after trying other places and stay with me mainly because they adore my color! I want to share this great opportunity with other women as well. I believe its the perfect business for stay-at-home moms wanting some extra income, or someone just like me, looking for something unique to start of their own. Its a fun, easy, low investment and high profit business! Make your own hours, be your own boss, and stay as busy as you would like! I can help you with everything you need to get started. Please feel free to check out my website or email me for more information!

You can also purchase products on my site that you can easily apply yourself! It's all been perfected so no crazy skin tones and nasty smells going on! Be sure to check out my Self tanners and other products for sale HERE!!!!

"Tan in a can!"

It's the next best thing to an airbrush tan! It will give you an instant tan/color right away AND also develops into a darker tan over the next few hours! This stuff Rocks and is a best seller!!

Your very own jump start on Healthy looking beautiful skin!!!

Are you sold yet? I know that I am! One of you lucky readers is going to win your own "Tan in the Can"!!! Here's how: (please do a separate comment for each entry)

1. Become a follower at the top of my right sidebar, or tell me that you are.
2. Tell your family and friends about this giveaway via Blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter.
3. Add my button to your blog. Grab the code from my left sidebar.
4. Become a follower of Bronzed Envy's blog here.

So there you have it! Giveaway will run until Friday, April 30th Midnight MST. Winner will be announced Saturday morning!! Good luck!

"Get Inspired" Favorites

Sorry I'm getting this so late. Amidst other things, I've been dealing with a puking baby all weekend.

You guys are so great! I'm loving everything that I see. This week did not disappoint! Check out some of my favorites:

Step Stool Redo by Not So Crafty Matching Square Bear and Toddler PJ's by A Crafty Escape Anthro Dress Knock-Off by Welcome to the Good Life (Sarah, I really hope you will make a tutorial for this)! Truck Pincushion by Kitty Gardens Makes Car Playmat by This Present Life Fabric Flowers are so beautiful!! Here are a couple of variations:

Necklace by Live.Laugh.Make Something Necklace with Tutorial by The Scrap Shoppe Flowers by Little House of Projects Thank you everyone for linking up! I really appreciate being able to hop around and see what all of you creative minds have concocted!!! Please grab a button if I've featured you!

See you in the morning for a great, new giveaway!!! Don't forget to check out the new deal this week: All patterns only $5!!

Multi-Purpose Memo Board Tutorial

In case you missed me yesterday on Tatertots & Jello, here's a new tutorial I shared.

I am going to share with you how to make this multi-purpose memo board. Let's get started shall we?

Materials Needed:

• Piece of wood 21" x 19" (mine was 3/8" thick)
• Three frames (or you can just use cardboard and transparency paper)
• Cork Board
• Batting
• Fabric - 1/4 yd for frames, 1/4 yd center piece, 1 yd corkboard and cover wood piece
• 3 yds ribbon
• 8 buttons
• Cardboard
• Paper stapler/staples
• Mod-Podge
• E6000, Epoxy, or some other similar type of glue

1. Cut a piece of fabric slightly larger than your piece of wood and lay the wood on top of it. Clip each corner as shown below. Apply Mod-Podge to the wood and fold fabric over to glue in place. Once all four sides are folded over and glued down, apply Mod-Podge on top of all the fabric. We are only working with the back side. Do not apply any Mod-Podge to the front. Set aside to dry.

2. Grab your frames. I bought these paperish ones at Hobby Lobby for $1.99 each, but I had to rip them apart like so. All you need is the top of the frame and the transparency sheet, so really you can just use cardboard and transparency paper. Cover the frames with fabric and Mod-Podge similar to step 1, but this time cut out the center of the fabric as well. I left about 1/2" to fold over. Clip at a diagonal into each of the inside corners, then fold over and Mod-Podge. Once all four sides are folded up and glued in place, apply Mod-Podge on top of all the fabric, again only to the back. Set aside to dry.

3. Cut a piece of cardboard and batting 21" x 8", and fabric slightly larger than the piece of cardboard. Layer fabric right side down, batting, then cardboard. Cover with Mod-Podge just like in step 1. Set aside to dry.

4. Cut a piece of cardboard 21" x 6". Draw a 1" frame on the cardboard. Cut out the center piece along the lines you just drew, so you have a big frame. Cover with fabric and Mod-Podge just like we did the photo frames and set aside to dry.

5. Once everything is dry, staple the piece of transparency paper to the back of the photo frames, the cork board to the back of the frame we made in step 4 (if possible, use two layers of cork board here or thicker cork board), and the ribbon to the back of the center piece we made in step 3. Hand stitch the buttons to the center piece where the ribbons criss-cross, so your final middle piece looks like this.

6. Using E6000, Epoxy, or another similar type of strong glue, glue all the pieces to the front of your memo board. I put my photo frames on top (make sure you don't glue the top side of the frames...you want to be able to put pictures in those frames). I put the center piece from step 3 in the middle, and the corkboard piece on the bottom. Here is the final result. Add some pictures, reminder notes, coupons, etc., and you now have a multi-purpose memo board. The last step is to attach your preferred hanging hardware. I like these sawtooth thingys. That's it! I hope you enjoyed that tutorial! Any questions, please let me know!!!

"Get Inpsired" Link Party Time!

It's time to link up once again for our weekly "Get Inspired" party!

Show me what you've created this week. Remember it can be a craft, sewing project, recipe, whatever!!!

Grab a button below, to display at the bottom of the post you linked to. You have until Sunday, April 25th 8 am MST to enter.

<br /><center><a href="http://www.sewdangcute.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/tamarynn/Get-Inspired-Button.png" /></a></center><br /><br />

By linking you give me permission to feature your pictures, blog, and you! Thanks!!

Blog Swap/Guest Blogger: {Tatertots & Jello}

Today I've got a special treat for you!!! Jen from Tatertots & Jello and I are blog swapping, but with a twist. She's going to share a tutorial with you today, and you can head over to her blog to see mine.

I'm so excited to have Jen with us today!!!! She is a remarkable lady, and hands-down one of the nicest people I've met through blogging. I love seeing all the creative things she comes up with, so without further ado...take it away Jen!

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Hello there! I'm Jen from Tatertots & Jello.

I'm so excited to be here at Sew Dang Cute!

I just love Tam and all of her wonderful creations!

She is just the friendliest, most creative girl!!!

Today I'd like to share some projects you can make with old silverware. Last month I made a wreath with a flower I made out of spoons.

I was wondering what else I could make out of mismatched silverware. And since it's Spring I thought it would be fun to make some

garden markers.

I also made a little Spring saying to go in a pot on my kitchen table.

"Oh Come, Gentle Spring."

And I thought -- why not make some magnets out of old silverware to go on the magnet board in my kitchen?

Or maybe a little saying or decoration for a present or birthday plant?

I put an ad in my local Freecycle for old silverware. But you can also find bins of mismatched silverware at your local thrift store. Mine had bins with silverware for 25 cents each!


So, if you want to make any of these projects with your mismatched silverware, this is what I did:

I took my silverware and used a hard surface (the concrete in my backyard -- with a cutting board on top) and pounded it as hard as I could with a hammer to flatten the forks and spoons. Depending on what the spoon is made out of, it might take a few swings or several dozen.

After my silverware was flat, I took it to my workbench and stamped it. I found my stamps on eBay -- the size I used was 1/4 inch -- but you can buy the stamps in all sorts of sizes. I practiced first on a piece of left over sheet metal. It's good to practice for awhile, to get the spacing figured out. But I like the imperfect look, it adds character.

I used a sharpie and marked off the places I wanted to put the letters by putting a little dot on that space. The way that I found worked best was to hit it with one hard strike. I found that if I did several, the stamp moved a little and the letters were blurry.

After the letters were all stamped, I filled in the spaces with black Sharpie marker. Then I filed it off with a nail file. The Sharpie will stay in the grooves of the stamp, making the word easier to read.

Thanks so much for letting me spend the day here!

It's been wonderful!

Come by and say hi if you have time @ Tatertots & Jello

I'd love to meet you!
XOXO

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Didn't I tell you she was awesome!!! Thanks Jen! Make sure to head over to Tatertots & Jello to see all the other amazing things Jen does!!!