Take 2-landscaping the backyard with a giveaway

This post brought to you by Scotts®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you guys remember last year when I shared with you all of my hard work planting in the yard?

Well, we have had some crazy weather.

Plants got planted where they didn't thrive

And some plants got eaten (my dog is crazy like that)

Thankfully, I bought plants that had a 1 year guarantee, and I am waiting for a day that isn't raining so much that Noah starts dusting off his hammer to pull up the dead plants and replant new ones.

I want to give the new plants the best possible start so this time I am going to be using Expand ‘n Gro™.

Expand 'n Gro transforms any soil into the ideal growing environment.

My plants will have no choice but to thrive this year!

I'm even going to use  Expand 'n Gro in my potted planters.

I heard that this stuff can make your plants grow up to 3x's the size when mixed with water (which Seattle has plenty of) AND it  feeds the plants for 6 months.  

I can plant and forget about it!

Since I am so excited about using Expand 'n Gro this summer, I also want to offer my readers a chance to win a sample as well.

Just leave me a comment telling me what your favorite plant or flower is and I will enter you to win.

A winner will be selected on Friday March 23.

Expand 'n Gro is such an easy way to prep your gardens for spring and summer.

Good luck!

$10 Stenciled rug with Cutting Edge Stencils and a giveaway!!!

Last week, Cutting Edge stencils was kind enough to send me a stencil of my choice to try out.

I spent too much time looking through all of their great stencil choices and I have to tell you, 

stencils are not what they used to be!

Remember the ugly bunnies and the flower basket wall stencils you could get in the 90's? 

There are none of those to be found.

phew!

Instead there are some great all over patterns 

Like this Zagora stencil

This Anna Damask stencil

This beautiful Rabbat stencil

And this one that I chose, 

The Julia Allover stencil

I took the stencil and made this beautiful custom rug for my den.

Wanna know the best part? 

 It only cost me $10 to make!

How you ask?

Well, I picked up this 5x6 rug at Big Lots for $10

It was the last rug they had and it was pretty sorry looking.
and that's saying something for a rug at Big Lots!

There wasn't a price on it, and after pointing out the flaws in the rug, the manager and I agreed upon $10.

can you tell it's been rolled up just a little too long?

I watched the quick how to stencil video from Cutting Edge Stencils

and got started.

I had some painters tape and used that to position the stencil to the rug.
In hindsight I could have spent more time thinking about the repeating pattern and how to place the stencil, but in keeping with my personality I went with random, cuz that's how I roll.

I had the perfect paint colors in my garage that I picked up FREE (my favorite word) 

from a local business.

The company is contracted to do painting in local area businesses and offices and when they have leftovers, they place it on a pallet outside for free.

There are so many great colors to choose from.

These are the two I picked for this project.
**the grey on the left was too light, so if you look at the other pictures, you can see I traded it in for a darker color for the actual project.

I also used the dense foam roller supplied by Cutting Edge
and some foam brushes I always have on hand.

I started painting and rolling on the rug and was really pleased with the results.

Four hours later, I had completed the rug.

I was amazed at how easy it was to use the stencil.

I didn't have to wash the stencil between uses

It wasn't messy

There was very little clean up
I didn't have to be too accurate with my placement...it all just fell into place

And the stencil made perfect crisp lines every time!

I found the perfect spot for the rug in my den.

I love how the yellow in the flowers matches the carpet.

I couldn't have planned that better!

My goal in decorating is always to make it look expensive without it being expensive.

I think I achieved that with this $10 rug don't you?

Thank you Cutting Edge Stencils!

And because Cutting Edge Stencils are so awesome, they are offering a $50 store credit to one of my fabulous readers.
One reader will get to choose their favorite stencil and have it shipped to them for free.
US residents only


This giveaway is only open to followers of Holy Craft so please only enter if you are following me.
If you aren't, what better time to start?!

Now let's get down to business.
Want to enter?

Head on over to Cutting Edge Stencils and leave me a comment on what stencil you would choose and what DIY project you will use it on.

Want an extra entry or two?

"Like" Cutting Edge Stencils on Facebook and tell them Rachel sent you
and/or "pin" one of their stencils on Pinterest

This giveaway closes on Wednesday, March 21
A winner will be selected and announced on Thursday, March 22.

Good luck!

Last day to vote for me in the top 25 Creative Moms blog contest

I have appreciated each and every vote that I get in the Circle of Moms top 25 creative moms blog contest.
Today is the last day to vote.It's easy, you don't even have to register.One click and that's it...
 
o.k. 2 clicks,this one and then the click on the thumbs up to vote.
It's been a close race and to finish in the top 25.  So really, each vote matters.
Can anyone else hear the song by The Temptations"I Ain't Too Proud to Beg"Yep, not too proud.Go vote.Puhlease!

Countdown to Disneyland using the Silhouette machine

Our family has a bucket list of places we want to visit (again or for the first time)

before my oldest son heads off to college.

When you parent young kids you think they will never leave,

then the reality sets in and we realized we only have four more years with all three kids in the house.

So with that in mind, we are setting out to cross off the second item on the family bucket list

(the first was a trip to Washington DC)

#2: Visit Disneyland (again...)

Yep, all of the kids have been before.

 May 2004

May 2004

December 2005

December 2005

December 2005

In fact, our oldest two kids have been several times

But my youngest son was just three months old when we went last time.

He was snuggled up in the sling the whole time

The "baby" is now 6 and he's requesting a countdown calendar until we go.

So I busted out my trusty silhouette machine and set to work.

This project wasn't as cut and dry as I would have hoped.

I had to figure out (again) how to do the print and cut feature

I imported the Disneyland font to my silhouette program

and also had to import Mickey Mouse ears since Silhouette doesn't sell Disney items (yet)

I followed this tutorial on how to make a tear off calendar.

It gave me a good idea of how to do it, but because I have updated (or outdated...not sure) software, I had to search for the answers on how to do things a little differently than what Jin showed.

Then, mid project, my new printer ran out of ink. 

I ordered ink on-line and had to wait a week for it to arrive.

But once that was up and running, I got started.

Notice the registration marks on the printed sheet?

Those help the Silhouette know where your page is so it can cut in the right spot.

Everytime I loaded the pages in to the Silhouette, I made sure I used the "detect registration marks" feature.

The one time I didn't it cut crazy and I had to reprint the whole thing and start again.

Each page also has a perforated edge so that they tear off easily.

Once the pages were printed and cut

I used my silhouette machine to cut out Disney font numbers and glued each number on to each page

That took FOREVER.

In hindsight, I should have used some print feature to do this

Once I had all of the page numbers glued on

I stacked them up in descending order

Then I found some rubber cement at Michaels and put a thick layer on the top off all of the pages.

As the rubber cement dried

I clipped the top together with a large binder clip

I used about 5 layers of rubber cement to bind the pages together

This is the finished countdown with the cover on.

It looks a little rough (well loved???) because it's been used for the past few weeks.

The back cover on the inside says

We're going to Disneyland

that way when you get to day 1, you pull that off and see the message!

Each night my little guy crawls into bed and takes out his countdown calendar

He tears off the page and is excited to see how many days are left!

After he's done, he can sit the calender down on his dresser and wait for the next morning.

What special ways to do you use to countdown the days to a big day?

I would love to hear them.

PS-Just a reminder that there is only 1 more day to vote for Holy Craft to be in the top 25 creative mom blogs.  It only takes a second to vote and you don't have to sign up for anything.If you like what you see here, please take a second to vote for me.

Dijon Pork Chops

As my kids get older, our evenings seem to get busier.

Family dinner time is important to us though, so we always make it a point to eat together as a family regardless of what activity we have going on.

Sometimes that means we don't eat until 7, and sometimes that means we eat right at 5.

I like to make healthy homemade meals and cook from scratch the majority of the time.

This week our family had Dijon Pork Chops

A family favorite that everyone liked!

Here's what you will need:

Dijon Mustard (or other fancy mustard)

pork chops

mix in a bowl:

1/2 c bread crumbs

3 Tbs parmesan cheese

3 Tbs fresh parsely 

3 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

(I doubled this recipe since we had 7 pork chops)

Coat the pork chops with a thin layer of mustard on both sides

Press into bread crumb mixture coating both sides

Lay flat in pan

 Cook at 350 degrees for 35-60 minutes (depending on how thick your chops are)

or until pork reaches 160 degrees internally

Serve them up and enjoy!

PS-ONLY 2 Days left!Would you mind taking a second and voting for me in the top 25 creative mom blogs contest?It only takes a second and doesn't require anything more than a click...no signing up for anything, no forms.Promise.  Just a second of your time.

The Grass is Always Greener on my neighbors lawn...but not this summer!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Scotts®. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I was growing up, my father took great pride in his acre of lawn.  He fertilized the yard, aerated, edged, and mowed the grass sometimes twice a week.  When I was in High School, I took over the job of mowing the grass.  I got paid $10 for mowing that acre of lawn.  Even though I had access to our riding lawn mower, I always choose to mow the grass using our self propelled push mower.  I loved the way the lines would be so crisp and clean in that fluffy green grass.  

My father set that bar high for lawn care and maintenance.  When I became a homeowner eleven years ago I was excited to carry the torch.  I mowed the lawn with our used lawnmower and my husband edged the lawn once a summer (not enough if you ask me!) when he could borrow an edger.  But something was missing.  Our lawn wasn't green, lush and full.  Before I would head out to cut the lawn, my kids would beg me to not cut down the flowers (dandelions) in the grass!  When we tried to have a picnic or run barefoot through the yard we would yelp in pain.  The grass was so pokey and hard.

I started talking to friends and researching fertilizer.  I knew that was the one thing missing from a beautiful green lawn.  Just like we take vitamins and eat right to make our bodies healthy and strong, our grass is alive and needed it's dose of vitamins to help it grow and be healthy as well.  

I went to our local home improvement store and picked up Scott's fertilizer and have been using it ever since.  Most stores carry Scott's so it's easy to find, and now it's even easier to use.  Why you ask?  Because Scotts has come up with a new Scotts® Snap® Spreader System that is going to make lawn care so much easier!

The new Scotts Snap Spreader System is a no mess no guess spreader system.  I don't have to ask my engineer husband to calculate how much fertilizer I need to spread on the lawn.  Scotts has taken the guess work (and the math) out of the equation!  The system auto-sets the proper flow rate for your yard.  No spreader settings required.  

With the Snap Pac there are no spills, no scissors and no heavy bags to be pouring from.  When you are finished spreading your fertilizer on your lawn the Snap Pac self seals upon removal, no more half empty bags on the garage floor!  

Want to see more? Check out  this video 

I love a great deal and don't want you to miss out on any specials.  "Like" Snap perks on Facebook to win amazing prizes and be the first to hear about promotions.

Scotts Snap Spreader System would definitely help make lawn care easier for me this summer. 

Baby prints and PicMonkey

My husband and I both had cousins that had babies last month.

I made these birth announcement prints for those sweet boys.

I've really loved using Picnik to make prints for the babies in our lives.

Remember this one I made around Christmas time?

I'm going to miss Picnik.

Just when I think I have it all figured out, 

it's closing down.

Story of my life.

Good news though

 I hear PicMonkey is very similar.

I can't wait to try it out.

Have you tried PicMonkey yet?

What do you think?

ps-would you mind taking a second and voting for me in the top 25 creative mom blogs contest?It only takes a second and doesn't require anything more than a click...no signing up for anything, no forms.Promise.  Just a second of your time.