Guest Post-Sugar and Spice in the Land of Balls and Sticks

I'd like to welcome Sugar and Spice in the Land of Balls and Sticks today.  

Hi, everyone!  I'm so excited to be guest posting for Judy today.  DIY by Design was one of the very first blogs in my blog reader, and I'm still pinching myself that she asked me to guest post for her while she's taking some time off.  I'm a wife to an awesome, supportive husband and mom to 2 active boys.  I blog about cooking, baking, sewing, crafts, and DIY.  Today I'm sharing personalized camp chairs.

Ignore the raggedy garden, a hailstorm just shredded our poor hostas.

If you have active kids, you have camp chairs.  They're great not just for camping, but also for the sidelines of endless practices and games of football, soccer, lacrosse, the list goes on and on.  Their portability makes them fantastic for trekking to fields that are located nowhere near the parking lots, but if you're like me you'll spend more time roaming the sideline screaming than you will parked in your chair.  This leads to confusion come pack up time.  Hmmm...which chair was mine, or did I park it in the shade?

This was at one of Whirling Dervish's lacrosse tournaments last year.

I was at JoAnn's looking for some fabric the other day, when I wandered into the craft area and found these fun iron-on transfers.

The Me & My Peeps line of transfers have every imaginable hobby covered.  I thought the fishing one was perfect for Computer Genius since it's his favorite down time activity, and shopping bags and giant sunglasses - Hello, Come to Mama!  They also have yoga, power tools, soccer, basketball, cheer, hockey, etc.  You could make your own transfers with a Silhouette machine, but at $1.29 apiece, these are a great deal.  I laid out each transfer where I wanted them(slightly off center so that I could write Mom & Dad on the chairs.)

I covered the transfer with parchment.  This isn't really a necessary step for the transfer to work, but it's a good idea if you don't have a teflon iron, just in case you have some goo on your iron that you don't want to transfer.

Most camp chairs are made from canvas, so a hot iron should be fine, but test your fabric somewhere inconspicuous like the underside of the seat.  Press for a minute or so.

Peel back the transfer.  If it hasn't completely transfered, lay it back down and press again.

I then grabbed some puffy paint from the craft room to write our names.  I went with Mom and Dad vs our actual names, because we also use these camping, and it made more sense for family chairs.

I freehanded the lettering, but you could write with some eraseable marker and then go over it with the puffy paint if you're unsure of the spacing.  After first writing Mom in black, I went back and put highlights on the lettering with glow-in-the-dark orange.  I thought it'd be nice around the campfire knowing which chair held my beer in it's cupholder.

Easy personalized chairs.  Thanks for creating with me and a big thanks to Judy for inviting me over today.

Sizzle into Summer - It's a Party #21

Summer has officially arrived and it's time for a party.

 Two weeks ago the party was awesome.  I didn't want to let that week go unnoticed, so here are a few features:

The first one that really caught my eye is the MacKenzie-Childs inspired table created by Patti over at Pandora's Box.  If you've ever shopped MacKenzie Childs, you know that they are very pricey.  What an awesome "reproduction".

I just love sunburst mirrors.  There are so many creative alternatives out there in blogland, but this one has to be up there with one of the most creative.  This mirror, created by Homemaker in Heels,  is made using toilet paper rolls!  How cool.

I love a good chair re-do and I just love the fabric chosen by Saved by Suzy for this chair.  You have to go and check out the before and after.

Just because hydrangeas are my favorite flower...this link really caught my eye.  Fleur Cottage has the most beautiful hydrangea bushes that she was able to cut her own flowers.

How gorgeous is this ruffled tablecloth created by Wool and Flax.  How beautifully shabby chic.


If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.     I will keep this link open through Friday.  

<a border="0" href="http://www.diybydesign.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdXqgDYi2iCi1MWNSv6ByCItXuxHik0aUWJqmvWv9HcSDdvlIcNJDrsUwNefuLOdeJ3het1l6dtUKSD9IKmP-CCdwBrQhV-4Lt27GZrHZJ19VohtBgzm9CYePpvnS7IfIC0cQd7XL5gtgN/s128/14898620382.jpg" /></a>

A few rules:

1.  Please become a follower.  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Winner Announced and Bon Voyage

Last week's Blog Block Party was a total success.  There were 1166 links to the party!  WOW!!
During my themed party, there was a $50 credit up for grabs which was generously donated by Michell from Girl In Air Etsy  to her Girl In Air Etsy Store. 

The winner of the $50 credit is

My Dwelling Place

Please contact me via e-mail so that I can arrange to get you your prize.

My other news is that later today, my family and I will be on an airplane headed to Barcelona, Spain where we will be taking a 10-night Disney Cruise around the Mediterranean.  My daughter graduated elementary school and my son graduated middle school last week.  This is their graduation gift (by the way...who's better than them? right?)

The kids really wanted to go to Italy and we thought this would be the perfect way for them to experience Europe and still ensure fun for all.

It's an awesome itinerary.  We are looking forward to each and every port as well as just being pampered.  

Fear not...while I'm exploring Italy, Spain and France I have lined up some great guest bloggers.  I hope you will still drop by and check out these awesome bloggers.  I will be bringing my laptop to Italy.  I don't know how much access I will have to WiFi (apparently the charge is pretty hefty on the ship).  However, if I'm able to check in, I will.   In addition, tonight's link party is still on.  But since Spring is just a memory now...the new name of the party is...

Hope to see you tonight at the party.  The link will open at 8pm EST as usual.

-Judy

Bathroom Makeover Revealed

After working on my downstairs bathroom for a few weeks, I finally settled on a paint color.  Last weekend I painted the bathroom Benjamin Moore Glacier Lake.

What a difference a gallon of paint can make.

I finally got rid of the flesh colored walls that have been haunting me for months and replaced it with this awesome color that added much needed life to the bathroom.

Here is the reveal!!  I absolutely love the transformation.

This is where this bathroom began.  Blah, blah, blah.

I started by painting an old cabinet using chalk paint.  I used Anne Sloan chalk paint in Duck Egg.  You can check it out here how I did it.

I then transformed a mirror I had in a closet using inspiration from a catalog.  Check that out here.  Then I went to Home Goods and bought some new accessories, rug, towels in my new color scheme.

This has to be my favorite new addition to the bathroom.  

I went to Michaels craft store and bought four pieces of pre-cut wood to create a frame.  I found these in the aisle where art canvas' and paints are found.  Usually canvas is stretched over these frames.  Instead I had some awesome fabric I had never used that I wanted to stretch over this frame.

After putting the frame together (which just snaps together like a puzzle) I laid the fabric over the frame and decided how I wanted the pattern positioned.  I then cut the fabric leaving approximately 2" on all four sides.

Then using my staple gun, I stapled and stretched the fabric over the frame.

In less than 15 minutes I had this super cool "art" for the wall.  My original intention was to stencil the bathroom.  After looking at the bathroom night after night and trying to visualize the stenciled walls, I decided this would be a better way to add some graphic pattern to the walls.  

Much less work, less commitment, and less busy looking.

I also added a basket with towels for guests to use.  I have some "show" towels in the bathroom, but I also needed some that guests can actually use.  The basket is easy to remove before a shower and by placing the basket in the shower, it makes the room appear deeper.  It's an optical illusion, but any illusion to make a space look larger I'm willing to try.

I'm loving the new look...how about you?  The lighting has not changed in the room at all, but doesn't the after photo look so much brighter.  That's not just the photo...that's really how the room appears now.  I can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

The Block Blog Party continues

Today is Day 5 of the Block Blog Party and there are over 1000 link-ups.  That's awesome!

There are three more themes today...a Shabby Cottage Summer, A Vintage Summer and "Saleing" into Summer.

Photo from Common Ground

What evokes a perfect summer to you?  If vintage is your thing, head on over to Common Ground to participate in a "Vintage Summer".

Photo from French Country Cottage

Is your style more of the shabby cottage look?  If so, head on over to French Country Cottage and join in that themed party.

Photo from Stuff and Nonsense

Or maybe the perfect summer for you is hitting all of the flea markets and garage sales.  If so, you can head over to the themed party at Stuff and Nonsense.

No matter what your perfect summer looks like, there is a themed party out there for you.  Remember there is a total of 13 giveaways!  Make sure you stop by one of these parties and link up today.

Have a great weekend!
-Judy

Summer Entertaining

It's Day 4 of this fabulous Blogger Block Party.

Today's host is Sherry from No Minimalist Here and her theme is summer entertaining.  Well, entertaining is something we do almost every weekend in the summer.

We had this pool built six years ago.  Since then our home has become the entertainment capital of New York...or at least it often feels that way...and we love every minute of it.

But the only way this much pool entertaining could work for me is if we built a pool cabana.  The pool cabana started off very simply as a shed built by a local company.  We then used bead board instead of drywall for the walls.  After that the question was...what necessities did this pool cabana need to address?  I have two kids and most of our entertaining revolves around having other families with kids over.  What do kids seem to need to do every five minutes when they swim?

Bingo!!  Well plumbing was a small fortune...like $25,000!  Yeah...that wasn't happening...but my husband did some research and found a product called Biolet.  It is a waterless composting toilet.  I was very skeptical at first...VERY.   However, the price was a fraction of the cost of plumbing.  Before the product arrived I think I used terms like "a glorified outhouse" and "porta potty".  But, as it turns out, this is the most incredible invention ever.  It works amazing and there is absolutely no odor...none.  Most important, it keeps wet kids and adults alike out of my house.

The pool cabana also has a kitchenette with all the necessities...a fridge, cabinets, a water cooler (not shown, but on the other side) and dual blenders.

There are three rooms in the pool house...the kitchen area, changing/bathroom area and storage area (accessible from an outside door).

For a combination bench/storage for extra towels, I bought this at Company Kids.  It was the perfect size and price.

By far my favorite pillow...given to me by my best friend.

So if you're looking for me on a weekend during the summer, you can bet that we are entertaining poolside (either that or remodeling a room in the house...you never know).





If you get a chance click on the above button to go and link up your favorite summer entertaining idea.  Don't forget there's a giveaway at each and every party.

Have a great day!

-Judy


I'm joining this party:
Cottage Flora Thursday