Back to School Special {Sponsor Spotlight}

It's time for a Back to School roundup of our favorite items from the best sponsors around! We've hand-picked some awesome eye candy for you all inspired by the Fall season. Enjoy!

 

Babysitting Swap

Let's be honest. We're in the life stage where dates don't happen very often. But, we're making an effort to change that...before we go crazy! My hubs and I are lucky enough to have my sister and her family live only 10 minutes away. They're in the same stage we are (except they have 3 kids three and under!), so we're giving the babysitting swap thing a try. Basically, one weekend we'll watch their kids and the next, they will watch ours. It's a wonderful thing that you could totally do with friends or neighbors or whatever. Last weekend, my sister, her husband and their kids came over while we went out, and I decided to make their "night in" watching our kids a little bit more fun. I mean, come on, they're giving up their precious time to help us get out, so they should be rewarded, right?

 

Family Room Update {AKA What ever happened to those stenciled wall panels?}

You might have noticed that once in a while we start a project here on the blog and then pretty much never mention it again... leaving you hanging.  Sorta like the awesome guy on a date that never calls again. We don't want to be "that guy," so today I'm doing a little blast from the past update!  Remember my family room last January?   I was getting ready to stencil some wall panels...

Back to School Photo Ideas & More!

Here on the East Coast, kiddos are heading back to school this week or after Labor Day next weekend. I know that many areas of the country have already been back, but I'm glad our kiddos have all of August off- it's been a month full of busy fun!  This is the first year that ALL FOUR kids will be in school at least part-time.  I'll have a pre-school rookie, a Pre-K rockstar, a shy 2nd grader, and a school-lovin' 5th grader.  As we've been busy getting our supplies organized (umm...btw really expensive for 4 kids! Anyone with me?), and our first day outfits picked out, I've been hunting around for fun first day picture ideas!  Here's a little round up of the ones I found and liked: Since I know the first morning of school will be a little nutty, I like how simple these free printables are from How Does She & Chickabug Blog.  Print, Hold, Smile, done!

Paint Chip Wall Art

Striped Hat Rack {DecoArt Glass Paint}

Come on, you knew that all those old cabinets and cabinet doors would someday be put to use in my house, didn't you? (Remember my cabinet turned planter box?) Well, my most recent transformation was super easy, and pushed me a little bit out of my norm because I used DecoArt Frost Gloss Enamel paints, which I had never tried before. The result is this adorable cabinet door turned hat rack for my baseball -and baseball hat- obsessed little boy.

 

Design ADD

I have Design and Decorating ADD. Never heard of it? It's when you start one DIY project, and before finishing it, you move on to something else that catches your interest. I'm pretty sure my BFF suffers from it, too. (Just ask her husband!) Just to prove it to you, let's take a look at the projects that are going on simultaneously right now at my home:

Cleaning out and reorganizing my collection of barnwood, old doors and cabinets in the shed:

DIY Neon Locker Memo Board {Astro Brights}

This post brought to you by Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper. All opinions are 100% mine.

Can you believe that NEON is making a major comeback?  I mean, I know everything comes back, but I really thought that when I retired my My Rebox Pump-ups that it was gone for good.  My husband also sported some hideous neon Umbros... so I'm praying he doesn't find out that Neon is back! Yikes. 

Do You Like Us? And Mark your calendars!

You probably noticed that we post 4-5 times a week here on the blog.  That means most days you can come here for a daily dose of creativity.  But what if I want more???  So you want more than just one dose a day?  Sounds like it's time to follow us on Facebook! We love Facebook because it let's us interact with so many of our readers and lets us share far more than we can here in only one daily blog post.

Click HERE to Like Us on Facebook!

Still not completely convinced?  Let's see what you've been missing...

Curb Appeal

I've already confessed to you that yard work is not really my thing. I pay way more attention to the inside of my house, and tend to neglect the outside. Unfortunately, my hubs isn't really into working outside either. But, I started to feel really bad for our neighbors because the front of our house was sooooo not welcoming. A few years ago, right before my daughter was born, I had Kevin paint the shutters and front door of our home a nice neutral brown. It was a major improvement over the faded blue that was there when we bought it, and for awhile, I liked the look. But not anymore. Now that I know what style I'm going for in my house, it wasn't fitting the bill. Not unique enough, not coastal/cottagey enough and not "me" anymore. 

At Long Last {Urban Outfitters Rug}

It's been a while since I first posted about never having bought a rug and daydreaming about what I'd buy if I could. Since then, I DIYed two floor mats and made my first big rug purchase. I feel like rugs are a really big commitment, and I have trouble taking that first step knowing that next year, I'll probably change my mind and hate the rug, but I have to keep it anyway because it was so expensive. Is that true for anybody else? Well, I found the perfect solution: a really cool rug for under $100. That's a commitment I can -and did- make. Let's take a look, shall we? (Warning: This is a picture-heavy post! :)

DIY Decorative Flower Trough {Christina's Adventures}

Ok, are you ready for our last guest post for the Summer? We are thrilled with all of the projects our bloggy friends have shared with us, and this one from Christina of Christina's Adventures, is no exception! Christina is a local girl and has a sweet heart and some serious DIY skills. And oh my goodness, this nautical summer wreath of hers made my heart skip a beat. A.dor.a.ble.



She's a regular commenter on our posts, for which we are eternally grateful!  Welcome, Christina!
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Antique Doorknob Decor {Being Brook}

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce you to sweet Brook of Being Brook. She's a fellow contributor to Infarrantly Creative, and was a part of our Blogging 2 Better group. She's insanely talented and her projects are sooo beautiful! Her incredibly adorable fabric wall map happened to be our favorite project from our summer challenge!

Hi East Coast Creative Readers! I'm Brook and I blog at BeingBrook where I share tips and tutorials on building, sewing, crafts and home decor! I'm a military spouse so I move frequently and am always striving to Create Awesome wherever our family ends up!

Today I have a tutorial on how to make a keepsake hanger out of an antique doorknob!

Repurposed Art into Bulletin Board {Cleverly Inspired}

Tracie from Cleverly Inspired is a blog rockstar, in our opinion. Not only is her blog fabulous, she is effortlessly beautiful and stylish, which we got to see firsthand when we met her at Haven in June. She has been super supportive of us from the get-go, and offers such sweet encouragement to us. Plus, she has great taste!  Just check out the office makeover she did for her husband:

Please give her a big EC2 welcome and show her some love!

DIY Fabric Flower Bouquet {My Girlish Whims}

Happy Monday, everyone! We are working our tails off this week on lots of Fall projects and fun blog stuff, so to help us out, we've asked a few of our bloggy pals to share some of their projects with you. But get ready, because next week, we'll be back in full force! :) We're so pleased to introduce you to Rebecca from My Girlish Whims. We've been communicating the past several months through email and were fortunate enough to share our top wedding planning tips with her readers in February when Rebecca was busy getting married and going on her honeymoon. Rebecca is a really talented jewelry designer (make sure you check out her anthro jewelry knockoffs!), but we're in love with this Paper Fan Banner she made. Isn't it darling?

House Snooping {Oxford, Maryland Vacation}

Ok, we all know that the reason we love DIY and home decor blogs is that we can legitimately snoop in other people's houses. Seriously, you know it's true. Well, I'm here to please, folks, so I'm going to give you a little glimpse into the house where my family (parents, both sisters and their families, and my fam) stayed the last week. We have this awesome tradition of spending a week together on vacation every year and we always go somewhere new. This year, my dad found this gorgeous house called "Old Wintersell" right outside of the adorable little town of Oxford, which is situated on the Chesapeake in Maryland. We've been to a lot of places, but this spot was definitely in my top 5 locations. Let me show you why:

Make your own Cube Puzzle {Jamie from C.R.A.F.T}

We have another one of our Haven Conference pals visiting today!  Story time:  Jess and I were at Haven and noticed one of the cutest girls ever. We're talking adorable outfit, super no-fuss look, but yet perfectly put together.  Then we both had a discussion about how I probably should go change my outfit because I tend to lean towards the overly casual side of fashion (what? My Phillies tee wasn't a good choice?). Anyhow, the adorable girl ended up being even cooler once we met her.  Let us introduce you to Jamie!  

Jamie has some awesome projects on her blog, but recently she hit a major home run with this cool kitchen organizer. 

It is modern, awesome, and was featured by Design Sponge.  Yup, we're talking the real-deal folks!  So without further ado... Welcome to EC2 Jamie! 

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