How to make a standard shirt cuff link ready

My oldest son is kind of a fan of dressing up.
He is a member of his High School FBLA team and recently went to the state competition {where you have to dress in full suit} and begged me to put cufflink holes in his standard shirt so that he could sport his cufflinks that he got for Christmas.

Apparently, shirts with cufflink holes are far more expensive then your run of the mill standard dress shirt.
Who knew?
And more expensive is just not my MO, so alas, I knew there was a way to do it on my own and save money.

Here's how I did it!


I started with my son's standard dress shirt.
You know it's a standard dress shirt because of these two buttons on the cuff.


You want to remove the buttons.


Now fold back your cuff and you will have four layers.
Your cufflink will go through all four layers of your shirt, however, as it is now, there is only one button hole.


I used the button that I removed and put on my button hole foot on my sewing machine.
This feature on my Janome machine is amazing!
I don't remember button holes being so easy!
If you don't make button holes often, you may want to practice on a scrap piece of fabric.


Mark through your button hole where you will need to make your new button hole.
You will need to make this mark on all three layers that you will be creating a new cuff link hole.


This is a picture of four button holes
{see the two below the cuff}


Use an xacto knife and cut open your button hole.


Fold back your cuff and insert your cufflink through all four layers.
That's it!
It took me about 5 minutes to do on each side.

This little trick will save you a ton of money and will give you a very high end look.
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Family Pizza Party

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Tony’s Pizza, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #tonyspizzeria http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
April has been a busy month for us.
My oldest son spent 10 days on a mission trip in Mexico, and then after only three days at home, he left again for a four day school field trip.  Throw in normal life activities and it felt like it had been forever since we had a quality family night.
When we had a free evening, where all five of us were going to be home, 
I knew just the thing to bring us all together.
Food.
And not just any food... pizza.  
Tony's pizza to be exact.
I have a teenage boy, nothing says love more than pizza.

While shopping at Walmart, I picked up three Tony's pizza's. 
{major bonus, I had a coupon!  You can get one too at coupons.com, while supplies last!}

Not only are Tony's pizza's affordable, they are delicious!
They now have a crispier crunchier crust and are topped with real cheese and sauce made with real tomatoes.


I prepped some of my families favorite side dishes and in less than 20 minutes, 
we were ready for a full night of quality family time!


Once that authentic pizzeria smell wafted through the house, the family came running!


Not only were we able to share a meal, we were able to make memories.


We talked about things that went on while my son was gone


and shared stories about life.


It was a successful family night around the dinner table.
Sometimes, you just really need that.

Visit Tony's website, twitter, and facebook
to share your pizza love.

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Thanks Mom! Win $500 from onlineshoes.com

We never really understand the sacrifice that our mother's make until we become parents ourselves.
Take a second to say thanks, mom and you could win $500 from Onlineshoes.com.

It's easy to enter and just takes a second to say
thanks, mom!


enter here
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How to negotiate at a garage sale-5 tips that will save you tons of money!

It's nearly garage sale season and one of the questions I always get asked is how do you negotiate.
I shared a few tips and tricks on this post last year, but I think it's time to revisit them so that we all can be prepared as we head out and hit the sales!


1. Know what you are dealing with

It's inevitable that every week I will come across a garage sale that doesn't have their items marked.
It's not my biggest garage sale pet peeve, though it is up there.
If the items at a sale are not marked you just don't know what you are dealing with.
If the items aren't marked, I typically find something that I want and ask the seller what they are asking for the item.
If we are really far off base, I usually just walk away.
You know, those garage sales where the prices are so high that the people would just rather keep their stuff.
If a seller wants $350 for a dresser, I know that I will probably not be able to get that dresser negotiated down to a price I am willing to pay, unless I am willing to pay close to the asking price.
But if they say that the clothes for example are a dollar a piece, then I know we are in the same ball park.

2. Bundle and save

I usually buy a lot of clothes and it's pretty typical that a garage sale doesn't have each item individually priced.  Again, lets say each clothing item is $1 a piece.  It's not unheard of at a person's sale that if I like one piece I usually like several items.  So say I find 14 articles of clothing.  I will usually go to the seller and say I have 14 items, would you take $10?
9 times out of 10 they will say yes.

3. Add up your items with the seller

The majority of the time when I go with an armload of items to the seller {usually if they are unmarked}, the seller will make a crazy out of no where price for the lot.  I like to ask periodically as I shop what the items price is so that I can have an idea and I think it forces the seller to think about the value of the item.  For example, books are a quarter, clothes are a dollar, etc...If I don't add the items up and ask how much the seller will take for the items that I have, usually the price they come up with is higher than the actual price they have quoted me.
 I have taken to adding up the items with the seller first and then asking for a lot price after we know the total.  10 items in your arms looks like the value should be much higher than the low garage sale price you are paying.  Especially if the seller isn't familiar with garage sale prices!  If my 10 items add up to $8, then I will ask if the seller will take $5.  This tactic works much better then just asking for nearly half of my stuff for free!

4. Be willing to walk away 

 This is huge!  If you want to negotiate for the sake of negotiating, then that is fine.  In fact, it's one of my favorite things to do!  If you have a bottom line, and the seller won't budge, then be willing to walk away.  It's quite common that I will put items back at a sale or reduce the items that I am buying if I am not getting as big of a discount or paying the price that I want to pay.
Don't be rude about it! Just put the item back and walk away.  Most of the time, the seller will change their mind as I walk down their driveway, other times they won't, and that is totally fine!

5. Start your negotiating low so you have wiggle room

Bargaining at a garage sale is fun for me.  I like to pay the lowest price possible and get the most high quality items possible.  Negotiating is part of having a garage sale and it's a two way street.  Assume that if you are going to offer a lower price, that the seller will come back with another {higher} offer that they are willing to take.  It's just part of the game.  If you start low, and you get your first asking price, then you had a major score.  Pat yourself on the back.  If you don't negotiate, you will never know if you could have gotten the items cheaper, but if you make an attempt to negotiate a lower price, you can leave with the satisfaction that you tried.  And you still might possibly come out with a better price!
Don't be unreasonable.  If the prices are fair and you are willing to pay them, don't haggle just to haggle.  That is, unless you are buying a huge lot of items from the seller, then I think that it's reasonable to offer a lot price {after you calculate your items of course!}.

For example, I went to a garage sale of a home school parent last summer.  This parent had some amazing books in their library at very reasonable prices.  Each book was $1 despite the sometimes high retail price.  I picked up 45 books and offered to pay her $40.  If I had only found 4 books I liked, I would not have asked her to take a lower price since I felt like the $1 asking price for pristine hard back books was worth the total.   If I had offered her $20 for the 45 books, that would have been unreasonable.
Tip number 5 and tip number 1 go hand in hand.  If the item you are interested in costs $15 but you are only willing to pay $1, don't be offended if your offer isn't taken.  Be polite, thank them, and walk away.
Hopefully these 5 tips help you negotiate your way to some great deals this garage sale season.
Do you have any tips you would like to add that I might have missed?
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One Room Challenge Week 4-working on the art work

Welcome back to week 4 of the Calling it Home One Room Challenge.
For the past 4 weeks I have been participating in this 6 week challenge to make over one room.
I have been working on my 8 year old son's vintage airplane room and this week, I focused on creating and collecting art work for Owen's room.


One of the projects that I worked on was this massive
{it's seriously huge!}
vintage airplane blueprint canvas.


I picked up this canvas for $3 at a garage sale.
{I had no idea what a great deal that was until I started pricing out canvases!  YeeHaw!}
It was blank so I used this dark grey paint to dry brush over the plain canvas.


I found a free blueprint on line of a vintage airplane.
And not just any vintage airplane, a B-29, which is the same airplane that my husband's Grandfather flew on during WWII. 
I had it printed as large as I could.
I have heard that you can get an engineer's print at your local copy store for under $5.
I had an inside source who printed this off for me for free.
Which, as you all know, is my favorite word!

I did have to do a little grunt work and cut off the surrounding white edge.

Once my print was cut and ready,
I got out my supplies.
I am lucky enough to have fancy Mod Podge supplies, but you could totally make this work with a simple brush that you have on hand.

But I must say, this Mod Podge roller is pretty rad.
And makes the job super easy!
I started by rolling Mod Podge on to my canvas where my picture would eventually go.
You want to make sure you roll your Mod Podge out smooth.


Next, take your picture and position it on to your canvas.
This is the hardest part.
Because the blueprint was scanned in crooked, the angles were a little wonky, which made eyeballing it a little trickier than normal.
I used a ruler to make sure the edges were all about the same distance from the edge.


Once you have your image positioned, you will spread a layer of Mod Podge over the top of your picture.
This step is not for the super perfectionist.
You will not get a nice flat image even if you work from the center out.
There are wrinkles and bubbles, but I liked the imperfect look for this project and rolled with it.


Once your finish brushing on your top layer of Mod Podge,
let your canvas dry.


I love the end result and can't wait to hang it in it's new permanent location.
{not in my foyer!}

As a re-cap, here is how the past four weeks have broken down.
Week 1
The Plan
Owen's Room
Week 2
Construction
Week 3
Painted furniture, linens, curtains, and rug
Next week, I'm hoping to have the artwork hung and start working on the finishing details for week six.
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Getting ready for and awesome 80's Throw Back Thursday #tbt with a Netflix giveaway

You guys!
I can't even begin to tell you how much fun Throw Back Thursday's are for me.
I don't always participate, but when I do it always puts a smile on my face remembering the good times.

I know it's only Wednesday, but I wanted to catch you the day before so that you could trump my 80's style with your own.  More details to come on how you can participate in a Holy Craft 80's #tbt and win a 3 month subscription to Netflix.

But first, I want to share some awesome pics of me in that awesome awkward  era.

Check out my little brother who is totally working the Miami Vice jacket over the shoulder thing.
And look at those tight rolled jeans.
What the heck were we thinking?!


A sweater under overalls?
Yep, totally awesome!


My best friend Audrey and I circa 1988.
I wish I had stock in some perm company then.
Remember how awesome perms were?


Oh, you know, just taking my bunny out for a little walk around the neighborhood.
Yep, Snowball is on a leash.
And for the record she hated it.


Me and my kitty Alex P. Kitten.
Wait, you had an Alex P. Kitten too?
I thought I was so original with the name!
Obviously Family Ties wasn't super influential on the children of the 80's!

And lets take a second to check out my purple suit and big glasses.
Totally adorable right?!
The glasses have a cool tiger sticker on the lens.
I remember that my parents paid extra for that.
Totally worth it!


Know what else I remember from the 80's?
Some awesome TV shows.
They seriously don't make them like they used to!

Did you know that Netflix offers a full line up of oldies but goodies that you can stream?
I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved reading The Babysitters Club.
I had no idea it was a TV show!
I can still sing the Jem theme song, can you?

And speaking of theme songs, my guess is that every last one of you knows the Saved By the Bell theme song am I right?!


Remember Jell-O pudding pops?
Every time I ate one I would stick my tongue to it first thing and it would always stick Ralphie Style.
Ah, memories.
You can make your own using this recipe from Andrea Lynn.

So because this little trip down memory lane was so much fun, I want to entice you to participate in my awesome 80's throw back Thursday.
I will pick one participant randomly through random.org to receive a 3 month streaming subscription from Netflix so you can watch all of the Family Ties and Saved By the Bell that you want! 
All you have to do is post an awesome 80's #tbt picture on instagram, facebook or twitter with the hashtag #holycraft #tbt.  Then, come to this post and comment that you put a totally tubular picture of yourself out there for throw back Thursday and you will be entered to win.
Super easy!  
And fun...maybe not for you, but for the rest of us.
Seriously, I put a picture of myself walking my bunny out there.
So what are you waiting for?
Go dig up those old pictures!
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Vintage box turned Dynamite storage box with simple distressing and painting technique

It's easy to take a plain vintage find and give it new life with a little paint.


I had this nice solid wooden box that was super plain.
It was screaming for some history.
Or a back story.
Something!
I decided that it looked like an old vintage dynamite container that I have seen at antique shops and garage sales before.  I used some simple techniques to give this plain box a little more charm.


It's hard to see, but if you look closely there is a clear stencil that I cut out on my Silhouette machine.
I used transfer tape to apply the letters where I wanted 
{I probably could have centered them better}


I used a very dry brush and painted over my stencil with white paint.
I didn't want a nice crisp line,
I wanted this box to look like it had some history so I used as little paint as possible to make it look authentic.
If you are a perfectionist, this isn't the kind of craft that will be good for you!


Once you have all of your stencil painted,
let it dry.


Remove your stencil and use sand paper to distress the letters and painting even more.


What do you think?
Think it was always a dynamite box?

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