Happy One Year Blogiversary - $25 Hobby Lobby Giftcard Giveaway

My how time flies when you're having fun! And we've had a ball this year on our our Blogging adventure!

To thank all of our FANTASTIC Followers we are giving away a $25 Giftcard to our favorite store -Hobby Lobby!

The contest will run from February 28th to March the 8th. We hope you will take a moment to enter and share this contest with your friends!  And don't forget to enter the iPad Mini Giveaway that we co-sponsored.

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Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement during our first year - it means the world to us!

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Breakfast Room Light Fixture

When we moved into our brand new home back in 2006, the builder had installed the most hideous, cheapest white metal chandelier in our formal dining room that I had ever seen.

It was exactly like this and must have cost them all of about $5 -

I promptly took it down and replaced it with something more formal that matched the room.  The light fixture in the breakfast room was just the single glass shade pendant light and new it had to go too.

We got a new fixture for the breakfast room and kept it up for awhile, but it just wasn't right. Then I got the bright idea (hey we are talking about lights!) to paint the hideous white dining room fixture black to match the breakfast room furniture.

After painting the fixture, I decided that I didn't like the bare chain and sewed up a black cord cover for it and added some shades.

This fixture has been in hanging in our breakfast room for the past 5 years or so and while I still loved it, it was time to freshen it up a bit.  I thought I would add some trim to the shades, but then I ran across these at Garden Ridge 

for just $2.99 each!

I know it's not a big change and I probably could have just added trim to the old shades, but for the price, it was a cheap and easy makeover.

The new ones really look nice when the light is on - 

Quite a difference if you compare it to the original white 

fixture that it started out as!

I've learned that almost anything can be updated with a can of spray paint!

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Painting & Staining Projects in Progress

This was a busy weekend out in Crosby! Leigh came over on Saturday and we started the long awaited  bookshelf staining.  The project isn't complete yet, but I thought we would share a bit of it.  We found a great pin from Jill at One Good Thing by Jillee on how to stain oak cabinets.  That led us to the pin Jill was inspired by at Monica Wants It.

Both Jill and Monica used General Finishes Gel Stain in Java.  We ordered a quart of it on Amazon for $19.99.  It seems expensive, but it goes a long way.  We only used 1/2 of the quart on the bookshelf.

Here's a picture I got off the internet of the same bookshelf with all the shelves in it - 

And here's a picture of our bookshelf without the shelves - 

Here it is after 2 coats of stain and I have to say that we absolutely love it! The color is dark and rich and allows the wood grain to show through - 

so much better than paint!

The stain was easy to apply.  Since the bookshelf didn't have a top coat we just wiped it down and sanded down the edges too smooth them out. Then we used large foam brushes to apply 2 thin coats.  You don't have to wipe the stain off, just let it dry overnight before applying the next coat.

The shelves still need another coat.

We've ordered the Poly from Amazon and will post pictures as soon as it is finished.  I'm going to use it on my bedroom furniture next weekend. 

In between staining, we worked on a nightstand that Leigh found on a local garage sale sight.  It is solid wood too and she only paid $25 for it.  She wanted a glossy black finish, so we used glossy black spray paint for it.

Here's the before - 

And here it is during - 

I put the final coat on it tonight and we are going to use silver rub and buff to highlight the hardware. Quite a steal for $25 bucks!

And last but not least, our $10 clearance mirror from Garden Ridge.  It started out antique gold like this, but Leigh wanted hers the same glossy black as the nightstand.

Here it is during - 

Oh, yeah, and today we also cleaned up the garage!!! You can even walk through it and once Leigh's furniture is done, I might even be able to park in it.

Nope, that will never happen! LOL! 

 See the 3 chairs and the wood table with the 2 shelves on top of them? We picked those up off the curb in our neighborhood.  Dumpster diving at it's finest!

And thanks to Leigh's Grandpa for the new work bench! He decided it was taking up to much space and gave it to us! 

All in all, it was a very productive weekend!  Maybe we will have some complete projects to share with you next weekend.  Since we both work full time, we are pretty much weekend crafters.  

This pretty much sums up our crafting time - 

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.

Doug Larson 

If anyone finds our eight hours - please let us know!  Hope you have a great week with lots of extra time!

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Our Favorite Grocery Store - HEB

For those of you that are lucky enough to live in Texas, you are sure to be familiar with our favorite grocery store - HEB . For all of you unlucky folks, HEB is an amazing place with everything from home baked breads, gourmet treats from around the world, chefs preparing dishes, a meat market, gourmet cheeses, amazing fresh vegetables to your plain old everyday staples.

And no, before you ask, this is an unsolicited post that I am not receiving compensation for.  But hey, anyone from HEB out there that feels like throwing some coupons our way, please feel free!!!!

Leigh and I like to go there and sample all of the chef prepared dishes, cheeses, coffees, breads......and the list goes on!  We met there for lunch today and here are a few of the great things we found and tried.

They have the most amazing breads that are made in store each day - with samples of almost every one for you to try - Danger Will Robinson, Danger! (Leigh will not get that reference, but those of you of a certain age will!)

 We sampled this coffee and I fell in LOVE with it! It is roasted by a company here in Houston and has real Hazelnuts in it. I got a pound of it and brewed a pot tonight. It is absolutely divine!

I also picked out my Mother's Day present while we were there! We have just the spot for it right off the front porch. Just thought I would make Leigh's life easier and help her out - I'm just helpful like that!

Leigh is a tea drinker and they have an amazing selection.

Here are a few of the items we bought today.  We sampled the Asian Ginger Dressing at the store and both got a bottle to take home.  I got a jar of That Green Sauce, which we sampled too.  It was mixed with sour cream and makes a great spicy dip.  Leigh picked up the Tropical Coconut Rum Green Tea but hasn't tried it yet. It has to be good with Coconut and Rum - right?

The also have a beautiful floral shop!

We fell in love with these cute drink cups!

And they inspired me to make a little St. Patty's Day Printable!

Some things are just so great, you just have to share - like HEB! Sure wish they had one in Crosby!

One of the best things about the HEB in Cypress is the great staff they have.  The gentleman at the coffee counter absolutely loves coffee and you can tell by the way he talks about it and the knowledge he has.  And the Chef that served the yummy salad and chicken was a riot! You can be entertained, eat a bite and learn a lot - all at a grocery store!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

“May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand” 
― Irish Blessings

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Black & White Airmail Picture

Don't you hate when your better half turns out to be right? Well he was right about the original pictures that I had on the wall to the right of our front door.  They were in a very thick 3" deep frame and I had two of them - hanging vertically one on top of the other.  The problem was that they were too far out from the wall and every time I opened the front door I would bump them with my purse or shoulder.

After knocking the bottom one off for the umpteenth time, the frame finally fell apart and I was forced to admit that he was right!!!! Darn it!!!

I found this really cool pencil drawing of an old fashioned airplane but it was too small for the space.  It really needed something over it and then I found these adorable resin letters at Hobby Lobby and knew that I could use them.  They are actually made to be paperweights, but I thought I could attach them to a plaque or set them on a small shelf over the picture.  Neither one of those options worked, but I found a black box at Hobby Lobby on the clearance aisle for $4.00 and the lid made the perfect shadow box.  I glued a piece of scrapbook paper to the inside of the lid, glued the letters down with E6000 (the most awesome heavy duty glue ever), and added photo hangers to the back.

You can see how small the wall is and the front door is just to the left of the picture.  The other pictures that I had hung down at least 8 inches lower and it was the exact same height as my purse when it was slung over my shoulder!!!  

Just can't stand that he was right!!!

Here's a close up of the shadowbox - 

And here is the original box.  The lid worked perfectly as a shadow box since it was black on the inside too. For $4 it made the perfect shadow box and I can still use the bottom as an organizer in the craft room. I added 2 picture hangers to the top and one on the bottom so that the frame would hang properly.

I love it when a project that I have dreamed up in my head turns out just like I planned.  The whole thing cost  less than $20 and I love the vintage vibe, plus my Dad would have loved it.  He built these kind of model airplanes and every time I walk by it I think of him.

“The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” 

― J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird

Have faith and fly!

Don't forget to enter the iPad Mini Giveaway that we are co-hosting.  We would love for one of our readers to win!

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iPad Mini Giveaway - Celebrate our Blogiversary

At the end of the month, Crafty In Crosby will be celebrating our One Year Blogiversary!  Boy have we learned a lot about the blogging world! 
One of the best things about it, is all our lovely readers 
that have encouraged us along the way.

As a Thank You to our Readers and to help celebrate our Blogiversary, 
we've joined in this awesome iPad Mini Giveaway hosted by Oh So Amelia

We hope you will take a minute to enter! 
Wouldn't it be fabulous if one of our readers won?

Welcome to the iPad Mini Giveaway!

Today we are excited to give you the chance to win an iPad Mini!

iPad Mini 16gb Wi-fi

Giveaway ends March 15th, 11:59 pm GMT.

OPEN WORLDWIDE

Your choice of colour (White/Black)

To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below! It's up to you how many entries you do, but bear in mind the more you complete the better chance of winning!

Please take a moment to visit our co-hosts below. 

Hosted by: Ohsoamelia, Co-hosts: Berice Baby, Life In A Break Down, Daddy Space, Laras Vintage, The Life Of An Not So Ordinary Wife, Simply Clarke, My Four Littles, Whispering Sweet Nothings, Tales From The Nook,  My Fashion Forward, Crafty In Crosby, Boogies N BooBoos, Faith Love & Hope, and The Mosbys In China.

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Disclosure: I have received no compensation for this post. Any opinions are my own and may differ from your own. Please contact ohsoamelia@gmail.com with any questions or if you would like to take part in the next big event. 

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Dry Erase Boards with $$ Store Frames

Ok, who couldn't use a cute Dry Erase To Do List to hang on the fridge?  We made these at our Pinterest Party on Saturday and they are super easy to make.  

All you need is a 5 x 7 frame from the Dollar Store, embellishments, a dry erase pen, 4 button magnets and one of our Printable lists.

 We made fabric flowers for some of ours.  

Here's a great tutorial by Cherry Street Cottage on how to make them. 

Most of our boards have a loop of fabric on the right hand side to hold the dry erase marker.  Just cut a small strip of fabric, fold the raw edges to the inside and fasten with hot glue to the back of the frame.

I also used a small piece of scrapbook paper to dress up the marker.

They can be any style you like - from vintage to funky - just use your imagination.

Here are a few of the Printable Lists that I designed - feel free

 to download one to make your own board!

I found this To Do List at Design Eat Repeat

You can make yours to hang on the fridge or stand up on a desk or counter - whatever works best for you.  One of the girls at our party on Saturday is a teacher and she made hers to sit on her desk and plans to list items for her students to do.

What will you use your list for? Number one on mine is to get to bed early!!! Just don't know when I can make that happen!

Hope you are having a great week!  Make sure to check back in with us on Thursday for an exciting announcement!

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