Super Saturday Crafts 2016

October 31, 2016November 7, 2016 spcountrygal Christmas, Craft, Decorating, DIY, Gift Idea, Home Accessories, Pinterest, Printable, Super Saturday Accessories, Christmas, Craft, Decorating, DIY, Gift Idea, Pinterest, Super Saturday

It’s almost Super Saturday again!

Super Saturday is my favorite crafting event and it is coming up in just 2 short weeks. Last year I posted what crafts we did for our local Super Saturday and I figured that I would do the same this year. Uggh. I just realized that in that post I had promised a tutorial for the Scarecrow/Snowman craft that I made and I totally did not do that! Shame on me! I will do that very soon. This time I really mean it! Promise!

***UPDATE: Here is the tutorial***

To decide on which crafts to make, I consulted my two Pinterest Super Saturday boards: Super Saturday Craft Day Ideas and my group board, Super SUPER SATURDAY Craft Ideas. You should check these boards (my other boards too!) out for some awesome, awesome crafting ideas. (I will link below to show the original crafts that I copied for this Super Saturday activity)

Now, on to this year’s Super Saturday crafts:

This first craft is what I will call a Ponderize Board. The thought is that you take scripture verses or other quotes that you want to incorporate into your life and you print it up in cool fonts and post it on this board where everyone can see it often. It can just be a nice thought to ponder or you can try to memorize, hence the name, Ponderize. The great part is that you can easily change your chosen verse or quote, maybe change it out every week or month. Or, keep it up forever.

Next craft is a cute Picture Display Board. I cut the rounded long edges off of 2 x 6 lumber so it can easily sit on a shelf, countertop, table, etc. and not fall over. Tiny clothespins are hot glued in place to hold the pics. The lettering is vinyl, (Café Rojo font) and I just used a stencil to add a little detail.

This Quart Jar Kleenex Dispenser turned out so cute! Let’s face it, Kleenex boxes- no matter how stylish the print is- are really not that attractive. To get this look, I first painted the jar with a dark color, then added a heavy coat of white chalk paint and sanded a bit to get the distressed look and to highlight the raised lettering. You can click the “DIY Mason Jar Tissue Holder” link below for the tutorial on how to get the dispenser to work correctly. This decorative jar is a really fun way to keep Kleenex’s handy:

We will also be offering this O Holy Night Banner. I was hoping to be able to download the banner letters directly from the site that I got the idea from, but the link wasn’t working. I created my own version and had my local print shop print it up on cardstock. If you want to print up your own set, here is the link for my version of the O Holy Night banner. The top and sides of each page just need to be trimmed off (I removed the song title), the bottom cut into this banner-like shape and string added. Easy peasy!

I’m sure that these Microwaveable Neck Warmers will be a Super Saturday hit. They make fabulous gifts! Look here for my tutorial.

Lastly, during Super Saturday, we are going to do a demonstration to show just how easy it is to make a Square Wreath. (Here is the tutorial.)

Here are the images that inspired some of our Super Saturday craft choices:

Kudos to these awesome crafters!

Verse of the Week

Count Your Blessings Board

DIY Mason Jar Tissue Holder

O Holy Night Banner

Yep, Super Saturday is going to be awesome!

And, there you have it! Our 2016 Super Saturday crafts. What do you think?

Do you participate in a get-ready-for-the-holidays crafting event? I would love to see what you are making! Please send pics! Maybe we will do them for Super Saturday 2017!

*********Linking up to these awesome parties*********

I was featured!

Found: My Pinterest Friends

July 10, 2015September 20, 2016 spcountrygal Pinterest, Uncategorized Pinterest

I’m totally doing the “Happy Dance” in my seat right now because I am so excited. Wanna know why? Of course you do! I just figured out how to make it so I see what my friends and those that I purposely follow on Pinterest are pinning. It has been months since I have been able to do that.

Do you have the same problem that I had? Is your Pinterest newsfeed cluttered with “Picked For You” pins and “Promoted Pins”? For me, it was as if all of my friends, as well as people and boards that I follow, had disappeared from my Pinterest newsfeed. Frustrating. Seriously, has your newsfeed been commandeered like mine had been? If so, I can help you!!! Ready? Okay!

First of all, click on the gear-shaped icon on the upper right corner of your Pinterest screen, then “Account Settings”. I’m showing you my settings, but you may choose to set yours differently.

In the “Personalization” section, I set NO for both options because I do NOT want Pinterest to send me Promoted Pins and recommendations based on my activity.

In this same section, it is probably a good idea to clear your recent searches every so often, as well:

Continue to scroll down to “Notifications”, and this is the important part, click on the option to only get notifications from people you follow:

Finally, make sure that you click on “Save Settings” to make it official.

Now, go back to your newsfeed by clicking on the Pinterest “P” symbol on the left side of the search bar at the top. At this point, you should only see pins from people that you follow…YAY!!!… although Pinterest still seems to throw in a few promo pins. I’m assuming that Pinterest must get paid for these.

Another important tip: If you follow several group boards, you will also find that your newsfeed is full of pins from people that you don’t know and you may want to scale back and just follow your favorites.

You can fine tune your newsfeed further by seeing if there are pins that you really aren’t interested in and then click on the bottom portion of the pin -not the pic of the pin itself- where it says who the pinner is and what board it is on. Take a minute to make sure that that truly is a board that you want to follow. If not, click on the “Unfollow Board” shape on the upper right hand side.

Something else to keep in mind is that you don’t have to follow every single board when you follow someone. For example, I know that I will never get a tattoo so if I follow someone who has a board with all of their favorite tattoos, I can click “Unfollow” on that board alone. On the other hand, I might only like one or two board categories that someone has, so I will choose to only follow those boards. That is the awesome thing about Pinterest…you get to customize your experience. Really, how awesome it that?!

So, now I have my old Pinterest back and I couldn’t be happier. Well, kind of. It appears that everyone else is probably in the same clogged-up newsfeed situation that I was because, where I used to get hundreds of repins a day, I now get about a 10th of that. Go figure. Maybe if I tell two friends, and you tell two friends, who then tell two friends, and so on and so on, and so on… the word will get around and we will all get back to where we used to be on Pinterest: a place where we can see what our friends and those we follow are pinning. Are you in with me?

Speaking of being “in” with me…have you checked me out on Pinterest? If not, you should!

While you are at it, you can check out my boards and follow the ones that you like, or follow them all. Your Pinterest…your choice! If you do, you just may be showing up on MY newsfeed, as well.

UPDATE: Here is some recent correspondence that I had with Pinterest that I thought that you might be interested in reading:

********* Linking up to these awesome parties!*********

Dreams of White and Gray

March 23, 2015 spcountrygal Decorating, Gray and White, Painting, Pinterest Decorating, Gray and White, Painting, Pinterest

Do you love Pinterest as much as I do? It is mind-boggling how much incredible information there is out there. Like I said in my first blog post ever: “I used to love decorating magazines. I subscribed to them. My mother-in-law gave me hers after she finished reading them. I would look for them at thrift stores and garage sales. To be honest, I didn’t necessarily read those magazines. I would (very quickly) scan through them, tear out pages that I liked and then file them away in my very organized files. Come to think of it, it was kind of a precursor to my Pinterest addiction. Pinterest is so much easier. And less messy. And cheaper. And less time consuming. OK, maybe not less time consuming, but so much more fun.” Yep. I love Pinterest.

About a month or so before I found Pinterest, in the Spring of 2011, we purchased and moved into our current home. My husband loved this house because everything inside and out, landscaping, etc. was done. Translation for him, “Everything is just perfect. We don’t need to do anything except upkeep!”. Honestly, I was a tiny bit bummed because there really was nothing that needed to be fixed, updated, redone. Well, that was my thought UNTIL Pinterest. Once I started using Pinterest I realized something… I absolutely LOVE gray and white interiors. Love. Them.

Soon thereafter I created what has become my most popular board: Shades of White and Gray. As a side note; not long after I started this board I heard about the naughty book “Fifty Shades…” (which I would never read or promote) and was a little sickened that someone might think that I was trying to copy the naughty book title. That was not the case AT ALL. An-y-way, I really love everything white and gray. What about my house? I don’t have a single white or gray room. See?

The previous owners did a fantastic job of adding beautiful wood trim everywhere, but painted everything beige. Beigggge. I once read a decorator’s opinion on beige…basically you should never paint a room the color of bad foundation. Amen. I am at the point where I realize that there is much to be done to this house. I see a lot of gray and white in my crystal ball. Until then I will dream.

Modern White and Light Gray Master Bedroom modern-bedroom

Photo by Lume Photography. See more modern bedroom designs

Photo by Sheri Olson Architecture PLLC. See more traditional living room designs

Here are some homes that have made the beige to gray/white switcheroo:

http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/beige-to-greige-before-and-after/

http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2013/04/room-evolution-from-beige-to-grey.html

http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/2014/07/29/entryway-before-and-after-beige-to-greige-with-behr-paint/

Seriously, take the time to check these out! Here is one more for you to click on. This blog article from “Our Small-Town Idaho Life” shows the amazing gray colors that this couple chose for their new home. I want to copy(!):

http://andrewrachelashmore.blogspot.com/2012/01/paint-color-decisions.html

Well, now that I have a whole house of rooms that need to be painted, I have much, much, much to do. Maybe not until summer, but I have plans. You can be sure that there will plenty of Before (beige) and After (gray/white) blog posts and photos to come! Thanks, Pinterest!

Welcome to armchairdecoratorblog.com

September 20, 2014September 19, 2016 spcountrygal Decorating, Pinterest Armchair Decorator, Decorating, Pinterest

I’m so glad you have stopped by. Please grab a chair and get comfy!

I have been toying with the idea of creating a blog for a very long time now. I have pinned and studied up on blogging hints, tips, why’s, how’s, do’s and don’ts… for long enough. I have finally decided to dive in. Splash! Please be patient with me, I’m new to this. I will need water wings for a bit until I get my sea legs. Promise to hang in there with me? Maybe call the lifeguard if I need help?

If you go to my Pinterest account, http://www.pinterest.com/sharileep/, you can see just how much I love everything decorating. I’m no computer specialist, but I must admit that I rock at Pinterest. Seriously. Rock…at Pinterest. But really, who doesn’t rock at Pinterest. How genius is Pinterest? I used to love decorating magazines. I subscribed to them. My mother-in-law gave me hers after she finished reading them. I would look for them at thrift stores and garage sales. To be honest, I didn’t necessarily read those magazines. I would (very quickly) scan through them, tear out pages that I liked and then file them away in my very organized files. Come to think of it, it was kind of a precursor to my Pinterest addiction. Pinterest is so much easier. And less messy. And cheaper. And less time consuming. OK, maybe not less time consuming, but so much more fun.

Seriously, did you go to my Pinterest account? I’ll wait.

So, back to my blog. What is my grand plan for it? Well, I have a couple of plans to be honest. First, to document my own projects, makeovers, before and afters, accomplishments, you know the drill. But, and this is a big but, (I like big buts and I cannot lie) I want my (eventual) readers to be my helpers. My own personal decorator…helper….friends. The other day, I was thinking over a decorating dilemma in my home and thought to myself how awesome it would be to be able to take a picture of this dilemma, post it online and have decorators give me ideas of how to remedy it. I thought of all of the armchair (like me!) decorators out there and thought that we can all help each other. Eventually, (hopefully soon- remember my sea legs), I want my readers to be able to post pics of their decorating dilemmas, their “it needs something more’s”, their “look what I did’s!”. I would like to think of this blog as being one big living room with a bazillion comfy chairs and us all helping each other out. Wanna come?