Archive for January, 2011

I am having a hard time just trying to process all the emotions I went through at Blissdom this year. I don’t know why, but I just feel very overwhelmed by it all.

There’s so much I could say, but I’d like to keep this post short of a novel. What slant do I want to put on it?

Let’s just start with the people since that’s what everyone wants to see anyway…

Kami, Lindsey, Jen, Beckie, Me, & Melissa.

I met so many amazing women at Blissdom. I’m just overwhelmed by all the kind, generous, sweet, amazing women that I am lucky enough to now call my friends.

  
Me & Lisa Leonard; Me & Sandra

  
Me & Marion; Me & Laurie

Melissa, Me, Gussy, Nester, Lorie
Marion, Lindsey, Laurie

Beth, Sarah, & Me

Kristen, Sandra, Layla, & Me

I have about 90 photos on my Facebook Fan Page if you’d like to see all of them.

Another highlight (the best highlight?) was meeting Crystal Bowersox from American Idol last year.

I freaking met Crystal Bowersox!!! If you aren’t familiar with my American Idol obsession, you can read about me attending last years American Idol Finale here.

So, did I actually learn anything?

To see a plethora of pictures from my weekend, I encourage you to visit my facebook fan page (and join it too!).

{If you aren’t sure what Share.Inspire.Create. is, click the button to read all about it}

I’ve Shared lots of ideas and tutorials with you. I’m thrilled I was able to Inspire you enough to Create one of your own!

Seriously, you guys are amazing. I’m so blown away by all the talent there is in this world. I’m honored that you would be inspired by me enough to make one of your own. Today, you are the star!

Check out these amazing crafts by my even more amazing readers. Please take the time to visit them and leave them some comment lovin’!

In no particular order… (except maybe the order they showed up in my inbox…)

While He Was Napping created a Christmas Wreath based on my DRYER DUCT PUMPKIN:

Free Stylin’ Beth (one of my IRL friends) used one of my tips for her pinecones: BAKE THE CRITTERS OUT!:

Mary (another one of my IRL friends) has come to the {Oil Rubbed Bronze} dark size based off my ORB OBSESSION:

Euless Not Useless applied one of my tips while remodeling her room: SANDING SANDPAPER WALLS:

Day Dream Designs made her own SOAP PUMP MAKEOVER:

Life Crafts and Whatever made a few CHEESE DOME CLOCHES:

Because Chocolate Can’t Get You Pregnant (love the name! ha!) read about my SHOE ORGANIZATION and went to town.

Chaotic Tendencies made her own FILE SYSTEM:

Lisa emailed me her SOAP PUMP MAKEOVER:

Southern Scraps made her own FILE SYSTEM:

Life At 2222 made her own SOAP PUMP MAKEOVER:

Shelia emailed me pictures of her MOULDING ADDED TO ROUNDED CORNERS:
  

Lisa emailed me her adorable CHEESE DOME CLOCHE:
  

Thanks so much for letting me share your crafts with everyone! You guys are great!

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you Monday Morning for a recap (or two) of my crazy fun time at Blissdom! Eek!

Hi, I’m Laurie from Handy Man, Crafty Woman! Thanks so much to Allison for having us guest post on her awesome blog! Allison does some incredible renovation work with power tools that I’m afraid to touch! (I let Handy Man do that job here.) I love the new trim that Allison recently put up in her piano room, and I can’t wait to see the rest of her process.

My husband Rob and I started our blog in 2009. We have one son, and we live in New England.

We’ve been married for 13 years, and the house we live in now is the third house we’ve renovated.

One of our favorite projects in our current home was renovating our stairway. We tore out walls, ripped up carpet, and rebuilt the whole thing! It was a lot of work, but we’re not afraid of hard work.

Our first house was built in the 1830s; our second house was built in the 1860s. We pretty much gutted and renovated those two houses inside and out. We tore down plaster, sanded floors, put up new trim, and painted, painted, and painted some more. It’s a good thing I have a “Handy Man”. Rob used to work in construction, and all of the work we’ve done on our houses has taught us so much. If we don’t know how to do something, we look it up and read about it first, then we dive right in.

Our current house was built in the 1990s. Yes, this time we have a “new” house! However, it was quite a fixer-upper and a challenge.

The yard needed a lot of work, too. Over the summer, we put in a stone pathway.

Last summer, Handy Man built a shed to store some of his tools and yard equipment.

We also renovated our kitchen. We put in new flooring, a new sink, new counters and painted the cabinets.

Yes, that is a “during” picture of our kitchen construction. Scary, isn’t it? You can see more kitchen photos here.

I love to scrapbook. Rob refinished a kitchen island as a scrapbook table for me.

In addition to scrapbooking, I like to make simple crafts, like these decorative tags.

There is always something to organize around the house, like our pantry.

We also like to share recipes on our blog, like these Wicked Good Brownies. I made these brownies, but Handy Man actually does a lot of the cooking!

Thanks so much, Allison, for having us guest post on your blog. I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog and following your progress.

Thanks Laurie for letting me share your fun blog with my readers!

I’m also Guest Blogging over at her blog today! You can check out my post at Handy Man, Crafty Woman.

I periodically feature other great bloggers here at House of Hepworths. If you have a blog with great photos and great content shoot me an email and include “Guest Blogger inquiry” in the subject line. I can’t guarantee a Guest Blogging spot here at House of Hepworths, but I’ll be more than happy to view your blog and let you know.