dog bowls

Before we even got a puppy, I got the bowls. Maybe it was a little cart before the horse moment, but I saw them at TJ Maxx and just had to be prepared.

There isn't anything special about them. Just plain old bowls.

I thought for sure I could craft a little something up to make them a little less plain jane...so with some big bones from Metal Fetish and my hand stamping supplies, I set to work.

I stamped out the bones

and then got out my super GOOP glue and a clamp and glued the bones on the dish.

I let them dry for about two hours and then put the bowls back down to their normal spot. Of course, Sophie came running! She thought she was getting a little mid morning snack!

She even tried them out!

Bummer! Only water right now. But at least with the new labels we know which dish to put it in.

disclaimer: Nutro sponsored post

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spa slumber party bath buckets

Earlier this week I shared a few things from my daughter's spa slumber party . I thought I would show you the final touches that I used to create her bath beauty basket favors (say that 5 times fast!).

I found some plastic baskets at the dollar store and took some vinyl along with me to make sure it would stick (I learned that the hard way!).

I got my silhouette machine humming and printed out some flowers and each girls name on some cream colored vinyl.

Then I stuck the vinyl on the bath baskets. Easy as that!

One of the activities that the girls did was to make peppermint foot soak salts. It really sounds fancier than it was. I found a few bags of foot soak at the dollar store, poured it into a big bowl so the girls were non the wiser, and had each girl scoop out several scoops into their bags. It kept them busy and gave them something that they made to take home.

Before the girls came, I used one of the free templates on my silhouette machine and cut out labels with each of their initials on them. Then I glued them on to some boxes I found (wait for it...) at the dollar store.

I think they turned out really nicely and added a sweet personal touch to it.

The last thing I added to the bath basket were these personalized journals from Jones Design Company .

You can get the tutorial here .

I added a few nail files and some nail polish to the baskets and they were complete.

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Tour of our master bedroom in need of a makeover

I tivo the Nate show every day. I just love him. He is always so darn practical and he keeps things real. I think we could have a ton of fun garage saleing in my neck of the woods. Yep, that's an official invite Nate. I also love that he supports blogs. I've seen several of the authors of blogs that I read featured on his show recently, and found several new ones that I now love as well. Mandi from Vintage Revivals is one of them. Mandi has such a cool spunky style that I only wish I could come up with on my own. But alas, I cannot. And my house that we moved into just before Christmas feels just halfway done. I guess I get overwhelmed with the finishing touches. Or maybe it's the expense of decorating. Or maybe it's that I want things to look like a designer pulled everything together but I don't want to pay for a designer. Or geesh, for the things the designer would pull together! My husband is a less is more kind of guy so the sparsity in our home doesn't bother him. Neither does a honey do list. I've had things on that list for over a decade that he just hasn't gotten around to. I love the guy, but decorating is just not something he cares about. And if he doesn't care about it, it doesn't get done. Today, let me show you our master bedroom. It's one of those rooms that still very much feels half done with lots of unfinished or never started projects. It all starts off well, with beautiful French doors and this little cove as you walk in.

And then BAM! You get hit with beige everything. The bed, nightstands and dresser were all bought second hand from the owners of our LAST house. We bought our last house over 10 years ago.

From the moment we bought the set, I have had every intention of painting it (yep...for the past 10 years!). It's IKEA furniture that looks like it's from an unfinished furniture store. The task of painting the set would fall on me, but the disassembly and moving of the furniture down to the garage so I could paint, falls on my husband. So with the ever important first step never happening, neither has the painting of the furniture.

Do you see anything else missing? Oh yeah, pictures on the walls. We have NEVER had anything hanging above our bed. I've been searching for years for just the perfect artwork or accessory and have never found it, so it stays empty.

But not to worry, the previous owners have several nail holes and wall screws left up as a constant reminder that I don't have anything on my walls. Isn't that sweet of them?

To the left of our bed, we have my husband's closet. Yep, he has his own closet. But for whatever reason, he continues to drag this dresser around with him (my parents bought the dresser as a set for me second hand when I was in Jr. High) insisting he needs somewhere to put his scivvies. Maybe some built ins would do the trick.

As you turn around from the bed, we have a spot that fits our old living room chair. Actually, this spot really just feels like the land for misfit furniture. Anything that didn't fit in the house like it used to, is now banished to this corner of the room. Bad furniture. Stay.

Again, we have more French doors leading into our bathroom. I love French doors.

Thankfully, not a whole lot of decorating needs to be done here, cuz it hasn't, so that's good.

Our jacuzzi tub gets used more by the kids and our dog than by us (once maybe?).

Oh, and one of my favorite things about the house before we moved in, is now one of my least favorite spots. Mostly because I know it isn't living up to it's potential. It's my master closet. Since my husband has his own walk in closet, I have one of my very own off of the bathroom. It's massive, but it is really crying out for built in's.

My closet has to do double duty until a few of the kids move out. And that's o.k. It has the space to house my sewing stuff. It just doesn't do it well. See the mirror? Again, the only full length mirror in the bedroom so I can see how awesome I look every day. I stole it from my son's room. He misses it.

It's hard to tell how big the closet is from these pictures but it's big.

And it has a ton of unused space.

Now not to talk all bad about my room (or my husband). It's a great master bedroom and we are thankful for the space (my husband is pretty awesome too). One thing I love about the room (and the whole house) is that it has some really cool architectural details in it. It's really large, and it has a good flow. But it could be better.

And for now, even the orchid is sad. Do you see the flowers fell off of one whole side.

Really, is that normal?

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spa slumber party towels

Earlier this week I blogged about my daughter's spa slumber party . I wanted to make sure I shared some of the details of the bath buckets that I put together for her party.

I picked up some hand towels at the dollar store earlier in the week and thought it would be fun to personalize them. So I got out my silhouette machine and made up some letters for each girl's towel. Since I don't have the Silhouette interfacing fabric yet, I had to just use the cut outs as a stencil onto my own heat and bond.

Don't forget, when you print the letters off, they have to be a mirror image!

I then had my daughter choose fabric for her guests from my fabric bin (it doesn't take much) and ironed on the stenciled heat and bond to the fabric. Take some scissors and cut the letters out, then iron them on to the towel.

I then stitched around each letter and added rick rack to a few of the towels.

A cheap, personalized party favor that every girl loved!

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Room to Run

With three kids, I have spent my fair amount of time at the park believe me! When we adopted our seven month old Golden Retriever Sophie, we started gravitating away from the people parks and have tried out nearly every dog park within a 20 mile radius.

I love the dog parks for several reasons.

1. Dog owners talk about their dogs, the way that parents talk about their kids. I have learned so much about puppies and training, grooming and dog friendly places to go.

2. Large dogs like Sophie need to get LOTS of exercise! Sophie is better behaved and more enjoyable to be around if she's gotten that puppy energy out.

Daily, I try to get Sophie at least an hour of exercise. The Dog park seems to wear her out faster than a long run or a game of soccer.

3. Dog parks provide a safe environment for socialization. Sophie is a fairly well mannered puppy and like the report card saying goes "she plays well with others".

Here's a video of a recent trip to our favorite dog park .

As you may know, Sophie has paired up with The Nutro Company to try out their products. Nutro isn't just about pet food though. Nutro is also very supportive of animals in the community.
Nutro will be hosting their second annual room to run dog park appreciation project in a city near you on May 7, 2011 and has plans to use volunteers just like you to rejuvenate dog parks in 29 cities across the US and Canada. To find out more information you can visit their facebook fan page here.

In honor of Nutro's room to run project, Nutro has generously offered four of our readers the chance to win this great prize package valued at over $100!!!

The prize pack includes:

* The Nutro Company Natural Choice variety of pet food of your choice

* The Nutro Company reusable tote bag

* Dog treats

* Poop bags

To enter the giveaway you must be a follower of Holy Craft. Then head over to The Nutro Company's facebook page and tell me where the closest room to run event is to you.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you or leave your e-mail address in the same comment. That's it, just one entry! The contest will close on Monday, May 2 and the winners will be announced on Tuesday, May 3.

Disclaimer: Nutro sponsored, 100% my own opinions.

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Spa Slumber party

Spa Slumber party

My little girl turned 9 this week! It seems like only yesterday she was sucking a pacifier and toddling around with her crazy curls. To celebrate, we had a spa slumber party.

Now, if you have been a reader for a long time, you might think these face mask invitations look familiar. That's cuz they are! But we moved, and there is a whole new crop of girls that were invited to her party, so we thought we could get away with a repeat. PHEW!

As Martha Stewart always says, the tone is set for the party by the invitations, and I think these invitations set the tone. All of the information for the party is printed on the back of the eye mask.

And because not all birthdays fall on the weekend, we took Isabella putt putt golfing on her actual birthday.

As we prepared for the party, I got my trusty old rooster out to shout "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl.

Did you see that sweet little cupcake card? My five year old made that for his sister on the Silhouette machine. Yep, even a five year old can use it!

We started our evening out with make your own pizzas.

Made some peppermint foot soak salts to take home

Crafted some flower hairbows (I was in charge of the hot glue...that stuff is hot!)

And relaxed with some mud masks

and a little foot soak in the bubble tub.

Each girl went home with a spa gift basket. Keep your eyes peeled for more details on those later this week.

There wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on, but I think all of the girls had a relaxing time!

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