5,000 Fan Charity Giveaway

I've been so busy lately that I haven't focused much on my 5,000 fan charity giveaway! It's gotten left behind in the dust so now that we're up over 4,100 fans I figured I'd better give it some attention again!

If you're new here you're going to want the details! Here is a copy and paste of the giveaway details and rules:

One thing I'm extremely passionate about in my life is giving back. I've always had grand plans of pushing my business and making it succeed not only for the benefit of my own family but so that I would have the ability to help others as well. I am very blessed to have been given a talent that I've been able to turn into a business that does help support my family.

My kids have everything they need. As a family we are all healthy, we have a roof over our heads, clothing on our backs and food on our plates. We take vacations, take part in sports and activities and are lucky to have a fantastic, supportive community of people around us.

However, we know that so many families are not so lucky. Too many families out there in our own communities do without some of the things I've mentioned above be it health, food and clothing or even the supportive community. So many families need a helping hand in some way, shape or form.

I can't help everyone. I sure wish I could - but what I can do is give what I DO have. What I CAN. Sometimes even the smallest thing for one person can change a whole life. We all have a cause or a charity we're passionate about and I know what it's like when you want to help so bad, but can't.

That is why, instead of doing a regular prize draw for my fans here on my Facebook page, I thought I'd do something that would be more beneficial than someone winning a few letters for their wall or a holder for their daughter's hair bows.

This one is simple. Once I reach 5,000 "likes" I will give $250 to the charity of YOUR choice. All you have to do is comment below this post or on my Facebook page. Tell me what charity or organization you're passionate about. When we hit 5,000 I will do a random pick from the list using www.random.org and the winning charity will receive the money. Each charity will be entered as many times as someone different chooses to recommend it. So if 5 people choose the "ABC" charity, the ABC charity will get 5 entries. So here's a good chance to spread the word to everyone and help your favorite charity WIN!

The rules? They're easy.

• The charity must be an actual registered charity or a real cause that can be proven.
• The winner will be drawn from the list of charities on my blog.
• The draw will take place once 5,000 fans is reached.When that happens I will post a comment with the word **CLOSED**. Any comments made after that will not be eligible.

Good luck!

Here's a list of the charities that we have in the running to date. I've only listed each one once here to keep the list short! I provided the links for all of them so take a minute and check them out. I sure learned a lot by doing just that!

Alberta Children's Hospital
Shining Through Centre For Autism
MS Society of Alberta
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Made By Momma
Make A Wish Southern Alberta
ALS Society of Alberta
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
American Cancer Society
Cochrane SPCA
The Christmas Fairy
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada
Edmonton's Hair Massacure
Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse
Children's Cottage Society
Children's Wish Foundation of Saskatchewan
Build It Forward
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Calgary Food Bank
Calgary Reads
Ugandan Girls Fund
Name Canada
Pads 4 Girls
Calgary Women's Shelter
Destiny in Quebec
Pearl Alliance
BC Children's Hospital
Knights Table in Brampton, ON
Anaphylaxis Canada
St. Jude Children's Hospital
Smile Train
Island Dog Rescue
Spina Bifida Association
Kelowna, BC Food Bank
Canadian Salvation Army
March of Dimes
Children Are People
Childhood Cancer Canada
Soi Cat and Dog Bangkok
Schreiber Pediatric
Sick Kids

Paint and Pom Poms

It was hard, but I was able to do it! I waited the 72 hours for the wall paper to dry fully before I broke out the paint!

Let me start by saying that now that the painting is done in my daughter's room I am even MORE happy with that textured, paintable wall paper! I thought it would soak up the paint and I'd have to do a whole bunch of coats to get in all the little grooves but boy, was I wrong! ONE coat of paint! That's it! I had to do two on all the other walls, but the paint went on that wall paper so nicely.

The colour I chose was Behr's River's Edge and I love it!



Painting done it's now on to the good stuff! I have lots to do and it will most likely get done slowly as I'm still hunting for some items but I started with the pom poms! I bought these months ago from Pom Love on Etsy and I've been dying to get them up!





They weren't difficult at all to open up , although I could use a bit more patience as I tore a couple of pieces here in there in my haste! I am very happy with how they look and more importantly - so is my daughter! She calls them her flowers! My only regret is that I wish I would have bought a white one and one less light aqua one as it's so close to the wall colour, but when I bought the poms I didn't know what paint colour I was doing!

Speaking of flowers - I found these the other day and knew they'd be perfect! You'll never guess where I found them! The Safeway floral department! I was in the produce section picking out a green pepper and glanced over. They were $5! Can't go wrong there and I think they look great!



Lots more to come. I'm not going to show you the WHOLE room yet! I hung up her new curtains but I think they're a little bit brighter than I wanted so I need to wash them a few times to fade them!

Can't wait to show you all the letters I will be doing for her!

Bye Bye Nemo!

As some of you know, I've been redoing my daughter's bedroom. (See this blog post for the details)

Ok. So the truth? I've been THINKING about redoing my daughter's room. Imagining it, planning it in my head, buying things for it. But the actual DOING it hasn't really taken off! Spare time around here is harder to come by than a springtime in Alberta without a blizzard!

So, this weekend, with plenty of other things to do, I got started on her room. If I don't just do it; it won't happen. First task? Saying goodbye to the Finding Nemo mural that I painted on the wall about 7 years ago before I even had kids.

Covering a wall mural is not a project that is high on my "want-to-do" list. Until I found this wall paper from Sears.


I bought this wall paper a long time ago and it's been sitting here waiting for me. I was nervous. I have never put up wall paper before. I had visions of it stuck to everything but the walls, full of rips and tears, the paper not staying and a husband who will never help me with any project again. But, I was pleasantly surprised and I'm over the moon happy with the results!

It was definitely a two person job and I'm lucky that my husband is over 6 ft tall! I will say that although it wasn't a FUN job, it was a fairly easy one and we got it done in good time.

Here's the wall before hand:


Here it is when we were half finished. You can still see the mural through the paper but I wasn't too worried about that because we will be painting it.



We finished the whole wall in about an hour and a half. That seems long but you have to wait while each strip sits wet for 5 minutes between wetting it and putting it up so we got a bunch of 5 minute breaks in there!

I have to trim around the edges still. My concern over seeing the mural through the paper? Well, when the paper dried you couldn't see it at all! All the bubbles disappeared and the wall looks amazing! The only downfall? I have to wait 72 hours to paint it and now I'm raring to go!

We did end up with a lot of wasted paper simply because you have to line the design up. I thought I had bought too much (2 rolls) but we needed it. I have a bunch extra but nothing that would line up or be long enough to do from floor to ceiling and still line up. I think this is a conspiracy on the wall paper company's part! Therefore, for this one wall cost us about $20 which isn't bad but if you were doing a whole room it could add up.

All in all, if you have a mural to cover, this textured wall paper is a fantastic, easy way to go. No sanding down paint lumps or brush strokes and no painting 5 or 6 coats of paint to cover the image. I didn't even wash the wall. The best part? One day when we don't live in this house - someone is bound to Find Nemo!

5,000 Fan Charity Giveaway

So I'm doing a giveaway on my Facebook page once I reach 5,000 fans. Doesn't everyone? Not like this they don't!

One thing I'm extremely passionate about in my life is giving back. I've always had grand plans of pushing my business and making it succeed not only for the benefit of my own family but so that I would have the ability to help others as well. I am very blessed to have been given a talent that I've been able to turn into a business that does help support my family.

My kids have everything they need. As a family we are all healthy, we have a roof over our heads, clothing on our backs and food on our plates. We take vacations, take part in sports and activities and are lucky to have a fantastic, supportive community of people around us.

However, we know that so many families are not so lucky. Too many families out there in our own communities do without some of the things I've mentioned above be it health, food and clothing or even the supportive community. So many families need a helping hand in some way, shape or form.

I can't help everyone. I sure wish I could - but what I can do is give what I DO have. What I CAN. Sometimes even the smallest thing for one person can change a whole life. We all have a cause or a charity we're passionate about and I know what it's like when you want to help so bad, but can't.

That is why, instead of doing a regular prize draw for my fans here on my Facebook page, I thought I'd do something that would be more beneficial than someone winning a few letters for their wall or a holder for their daughter's hair bows.

This one is simple. Once I reach 5,000 "likes" I will give $250 to the charity of YOUR choice. All you have to do is comment here on my Facebook page. Tell me what charity or organization you're passionate about. I will list all the charities mentioned here on my blog. When we hit 5,000 I will do a random pick using www.random.org and the winning charity will receive the money.

So far this has been a great experience. I've met some awesome people and learned about some great charities I didn't even know existed! I'm excited to have the opportunity to not only learn about them myself but to also share them with everyone else in the hopes of bring some awareness in their direction!

If you've entered into the draw don't forget to share it with your friends

Want to learn more about some of the charities in the running so far? Here's a list with links:
***Please note that I have to update this list so if you don't see your charity on here I just have to add it still!

Alberta Children's Hospital
Shining Through Centre For Autism
MS Society of Alberta
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Made By Momma
Make A Wish Southern Alberta
ALS Society of Alberta
Muscular Dystrophy Canada
American Cancer Society
Cochrane SPCA
The Christmas Fairy
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada
Edmonton's Hair Massacure
Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse
Children's Cottage Society
Children's Wish Foundation of Saskatchewan
Build It Forward
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
Calgary Food Bank
Calgary Reads
Ugandan Girls Fund
Name Canada
Pads 4 Girls
Calgary Women's Shelter
Destiny in Quebec
Pearl Alliance
BC Children's Hospital
Knights Table in Brampton, ON
Anaphylaxis Canada
St. Jude Children's Hospital
Smile Train
Island Dog Rescue
Spina Bifida Association
Kelowna, BC Food Bank
Canadian Salvation Army

Aqua,Teal, Turquoise.....Any Shade Will Do!

Pantone recently announced that the 2011 color of the year is Honeysuckle. “In times of stress, we need something to lift our spirits. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues,” explains Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®.

Although I agree that the Honeysuckle shade is gorgeous and definitely uplifting I think that if any color should get some recognition it's aqua. Or turquoise. Or teal. Or any hue along the blue/green scale of color! The reason I like it so much? It's versatility! I can't think of a single color that DOESN'T go with it!

Below are some great examples of rooms that all use a shade of aqua paired with another color. As you can see from boy's rooms to girl's rooms to gender neutral - aqua works for them all!

Images courtesy of Project Nursery, Baby's Dream, Russell & Mackenna, Simplified Bee

Proud Picassos!

I don't know about you but as soon as my kids started taking part in activities outside the house my pile of arts and crafts masterpieces started really stacking up! Not even school-aged yet and I've got enough paintings, drawings and I-don't-know-whats to open up a gallery!

At first it's nice but soon you find yourself feeling a little guilty as some of them "accidentally" find their way into the recycling bin or garbage. Among the daily projects there are always the select few that find a place in your heart, too special to get rid of and let's face it - nothing brings a beaming smile to a child's face better than when you proudly display their artwork for all to see.

The fridge gets cluttered, magnets slide under the strain of glitter glue and pipe cleaners and soon you're picking up torn and tattered artwork off the floor on a daily basis.

Want a better, more creative way to show off all these special pieces? I've come up with a new line of very cute artwork holders to do just that! From octopus and seahorses to owls and squirrels there's sure to be something to please every little artist!

Each artwork holder comes with five feet of twine and eight clothes pins for clipping the artwork to. Sold individually or in sets of three you can stick with a theme or mix and match to get something for everyone!

Great for displaying photographs, greeting cards and notes you can also use the holders for hanging up hats and mittens and for drying artwork as well! The options are never ending!




Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part! These are IN STOCK items which means no long turn around times when you order! Order yours now!

Artwork Holders

Just saved myself A LOT of work!

Covering over a full wall mural. It can be done. It's a lot of work! To cover the Finding Nemo mural in my daughter's room I had this image of me in grubby clothes wearing a dust mask and eye protection, room cleared out, furniture covered - dust EVERYWHERE while I sanded the paint down to a smooth finish. It's winter. It's Canada. It's cold here! Having a window open while I do it means I need to add gloves and a toque to the image!

An entire weekend's work? Maybe. If I'm going to do wainscoting around the bottom half of the walls then that will cover the bottom half of the mural, all I need to worry about is the top half. Today I had a light bulb idea! I started thinking along the lines of wallpaper. But, as usual I had an image in my head and couldn't seem to find what I wanted online. Then I found this from Sears:



Textured, PAINTABLE wallpaper! It's perfect! IT won't be overpowering. No crazy pattern in a bunch of colors, just simple, classic and best of all! I can just put it right over the mural and not have to worry about any ridges from paint! I will paint it the same color as the rest of the room and voila! I just love the damask pattern, too!

Best of all - its very reasonably priced!

Not having to worry about the mural is what is really going to give me the motivation to start this room!

Has you every used a similar product? Do you like it?