Coffee Printables, Starbucks Winner and Pampered Chef Giveaway Reminder!

Happy Friday! Isn’t Friday a  great day to “start” your week?? I think so! I’ve been quiet all week…but busy…and thinking and learning! I will be sharing some of that next week! I am encouraged and excited!!! I have seen articles with titles dealing with what to do when you don’t know what to blog about…and I just couldn’t imagine not having something to say, either in real life or on my blog…I totally have the opposite problem! I typically don’t know when to be quiet! ;-) So I have have lots to share, I just don’t know what to share first!!
Today, lets start with the winner of the Starbucks GC. Thank you for all the “Happy Blogiversary” wishes and the sweet and encouraging comments for the upcoming year! I am really looking forward to another year of inspiring and being inspired by friends new (386 of you??!?!?) and not so new…I’ve learned not to say “old”…Who wants to be “old”?!?! You only have to correct me once! lol

And the winner is:

#43 New Friend, Michelle!

Congratulations Michelle! I’ve sent you an email!!

I told you I would have coffee printables coming up and they are finally ready to share. Sometimes it takes a little extra tweaking to make me happy with my word art! The first one is a coffee definition:

It is 5.75x5.75 inches so that it will fit nicely on a 6 x6 ceramic tile. Click to the image to open the larger image an then right click to save. It should be resizable in your photo editing software. If you need a different size and can’t get it…email me! The second one is subway style word art with some coffee sayings that I saw hanging in a coffee shop years ago. I can’t find the exact sayings all together anywhere now…not even with Google! So I went with what I remembered! This is the one that has taken me so long:

 

It is the same size as the definition above. Here is what I did with mine.

I wanted color this time and I wanted the warm, brown, burlap feel. I wasn’t ready to try my printer on fabric yet, so I went to the next best thing…burlap look scrapbook paper! I don’t know where we would  be without all the choices in scrapbook paper!

These tiles are only available in white or “biscuit”…no black, so I created black edges on mine with a little craft paint. It went into the sides well, because they are so porous. The front accepted the paint but would scratch off fairly easy until covered in several coats of Mod Podge.

On the definition tile, I only painted the 1/4 inch or so that would be showing outside of the burlap paper. I printed the definition out, Mod Podged it down and covered it with a heavy book til dry. This keeps the paper from bubbling up. When it was dry, I brushed the Mod Podge over the top going in one direction. After it was dry, I “inked the edges” with a little more black craft paint.

Having one coat of Mod Podge on allowed the paint to smear and wipe easily. I put on a final coat of the Mod Podge going in the other direction. I don’t know if it is the matte formula or the type of paper, but I didn’t get the canvas look from the brush this time. I did leave a smudge by the C in coffee, but decided to leave it for effect, k?

For Coffeeology, after I painted the edges black, I cut a piece of coffee bean scrapbook paper to fit the tile and Mod Podged it down. I printed the word art out on a coordinating textured cardstock and glued it on top of the coffee paper allowing the edges to show. After it sat for a while under a heavy book and  dried, I coated the top and sides of the tile with several coats of the matte Mod Podge.

 

I have a plate rack that I thought I would use to  display these, but I’m not sure if the tiles are too small. What do you think? Also, if I use the rack, I need something for the middle….a picture maybe? more word art? What do you think??

 

I am having so much fun with these tiles! It started with my Family Definition Tile,

and now I want to Mod Podge everything to a tile! :-) The possibilities are endless and what great, customizeable (is that a word?) gifts!!!

Don’t forget to enter the Pampered Chef giveaway here!

                

You can also take advantage of Kim’s free shipping and bonus offers here! Don’t  forget to tell me what your thoughts on my tiles on the rack, please!

Off to “work” again today!

More Blogiversary Celebration…A Giveaway with Pampered Chef!

So have you been wondering when we’d get the party going again??? :-) Well, I’m back in the land of the living…for now. I’m on antibiotics and pain meds and waiting til next Friday to have the dental work done. It seems that you you don’t “get numb” if there is swelling, which I had plenty of  and believe me I want to be very numb when I have dental work done!! The swelling is almost gone and I’m mostly off the pain meds. So let’s get the party back on track! Oh, and thank you for all the prayers and well wishes! They are much appreciated!!

On to the giveaway…

My friend and fellow homeschooling Mom, Kim Madren is an Independent Director and Consultant with Pampered Chef and she is going to help us celebrate my one year blogiversary with a giveaway! Kim would like a reader of Keen Inspirations to have one of Pampered Chef’s most popular kitchen tools….

The  Food Chopper

We’ve had one of these for years and  have used it to prepare the toppings for our Friday night homemade pizza. My kids would fuss over who got to chop the olives…they let me chop the onions! :-) It is just the right size to chop what we need and we don’t have to drag out the big food processor!

We don’t make homemade pizza every Friday anymore….but we do make pizza…either fresh from the store or frozen if there’s a great deal with a coupon! We still cut it with the same Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter! We’ve probably had this about 8 years and it’s still going strong!  Here it is after a busy Friday Pizza Night!

Here’s the new updated version…isn’t it sleek looking????

 

I do realize that my  Friday Night Pizza was not on a Pampered Chef Stone…:( I’ve never trusted my family with one living in a basement with concrete floors. Since they are all a little older now, that is something I may have to reconsider! Hmmmm…

The new spring products just came out this week!

If you’d like to enter the giveaway for the Food Chopper, you will need to go here and check out the new Pampered Chef  products! Then, come back and tell me which one is your favorite! I posted a picture of mine above! That is all that is required! Of course I always give opportunities for extra entries! :) Here ya go:

1. Required entry: Visit Kim’s site and check out the new products. Come back and tell me in a comment which is your favorite.

2. Extra entries: Blog, FB  and or Tweet about the giveaway and come back here and tell me in a separate comment for each way you shared.

3. As always if you are a follower or become one, give yourself an extra entry by telling me so!

Besides wanting a pizza stone, I’ve also fallen in love with this:

The Crinkle Cutter! I have to admit that there was a time when I thought that this is something I would never use….then I was at my friend Lisa’s for dinner and she made homemade french fries with this! They were awesome! She also used it for cutting up fresh veggies for a veggie tray and they looked so dressed up! And it was super easy to use!! I was SOLD!

Sooo, if you are like me and have a few things on your Pampered Chef “wish list”, Kim is offering

Free Shipping  AND a Free - Season's Best Cookbook

as a blogiversary bonus to all of my readers!! Thank you Kim!!

To take advantage of this  special offer, you will need to click here to go directly to Kim’s website. Once you are on her site, click on “shop online”. When prompted, type in Keen Inspirations as “Host” and you will then receive the free shipping and cookbook!

Kim also has some awesome specials going on this month!!When customers spend $60 in product amount they will receive their choice of any two RUBS (from page 44 of the catalog - $4.50 value each) of their choice. YUM!

 

When they spend $150+ in product amount, they will also receive their choice of any 1 - new SPRING 2011 product at 60% off AND a 10% discount for an entire year! The specials can be combined with Kim’s free shipping bonus…YAY! :-)

 Because of my delays in getting this up and running I will be leaving this giveaway open until next Saturday, March 12th at 11:59pm est. Kim’s blogiversary bonus for ordering will also be open until then!

New Items Can be Seen Here!

Please remember to comment on which NEW item is your favorite, after visiting Kim’s site above!

and

The blogiversary bonus link is here!

*****UPDATE*****

I’ve had some of you write and say that you have put “Keen Inspirations” in as host and nothing is found. I tried it and found that you must put Keen in the first box and Inspirations in the second.

Sorry for the confusion!

I’m finishing up my printables to share tomorrow…and then some more goodies to giveaway later in the week…so let’s keep the party rollin’!

We Interrupt This Blog, Blog Anniversary and Life In General …

to deal with an abscessed tooth! :( Anything and everything that was going to go on this week to celebrate my blogiversary will  continue a little later than planned when I can think again….

There will still be a Pampered Chef giveaway, and printables and coffee related giveaways!

I’m off to the dentist…thoughts and prayers appreciated!

Happy Blogiversary to Me!!!!

Good Morning! It’s my one year “blogiversary”!! I cannot believe that it’s been a year already! I am so thankful for the friends that I’ve made through blogging…I am surprised and humbled at my number of followers blog friends that I have. Please don’t “follow” me lol…I’m sure to lead you astray! But you are welcome to be my friend anytime!!!! As I’ve said, putting myself out there has never been easy, but I’ve noticed that I am only 10 followers, I mean friends away from 365…that’s one for every day of my first year!!! So, if you are a stalker, reader who hasn’t officially “followed” I’d love for you to do so! You don’t have to have a blog follow…or even a picture! Help me celebrate and give it a try!! I love little associations like that…365 for 365! :-)

To kick of the celebration, my gift to  you is a $20 Starbucks Gift Card!!!

I appreciate your friendships, encouraging comments, inquiries when I would disappear…and your willingness to wait for me to come back! I’ve been humbled and honored this year! This is my way of saying “I appreciate you!” I wish it could be one for each of you…but we’ll have to do a drawing….sorry…

To enter the giveaway, please just leave me a “Happy Blogiversay” comment! If you really want this card because you are as much of a coffee fiend connoisseur as I am and want some extra entries, tweet for one extra, share on FB for another, share on your blog for a fourth and if you are a friend,(new or old) as always give yourself an extra entry for sticking with me! Please leave a separate comment for each entry! I’ve slowly started some of the changes I said that I am going to make…I have numbered comments now!…and that wasn’t even on my to do list! :-) By the end of the week, I am determined to “fix” my profile as suggested! Then you will actually be able to tell who is really responsible for all the confusion around here!

We are off to Tuesday co-op, one of the high points of my week! Love my friends there too! I’ll be back later tonight with some more goodies to share!

Happy Blogiversary to Me…and Thank YOU!! to all of you! You’ve made this last year and my blogging a very encouraging experience for me! Looking forward to the next 365 with you!!

My DIY Solar Street Lamp

Today is the first day of my “Blogiversary Week”!!!! Yes, I’m going to streeettcch it out all week! :-) Kind of like when your birthday falls on a Wednesday, but you won’t actually be celebrating til Saturday and then  friends take you to lunch on another day…so you celebrate all week! :-) I LOVE birthdays like that! So I want to celebrate my blog birthday the same way. I have two giveaways that will start Tuesday and Wednesday and then go all week. I will be putting up some printables too. I also have a couple of special projects that I want to share this week.
Have you ever had a project in your mind, but have to wait to put it together? Well, I’ve been waiting since late last summer to make a solar “street lamp” for my yard. It was worth the wait though! It turned out as good as I had envisioned it…even a little better! Last summer I made this small solar light for a table in my garden
and knew I wanted to make more. I don’t like the plain straight “stick” solar lights…to me they don’t blend in with anything. I have wanted to make some  of these with different size lights, bases and globes. Last year I got to thinking that if I could put these in a globe for a table, why couldn’t I do something like this:

using solar lights instead of electric??? Well, I’ve had all winter to think about it and to collect  fixtures and globes. When it warmed up last week, I got started!
I found these two lovely brass light fixtures at the thrift store…different times, different stores.
The one on the left I bought to be the top of the street lamp. the one on the right I needed for parts and  globes. There were three globes  when I bought it…but  I broke two of them!!! I did find some more though….whew!  I started out by stripping them of all electrical stuff, right down to the metal. I pulled all the wires out and ended up with this:

Then I loosened the screws and  turned the arms of the light fixture up, so the globes would be sitting on top. From this:

Down To This:

UpThe “cups” that hold the globes in on the chandelier were smaller than the  bases of the glass globes, but the “cups” that were on the ceiling light came off, so I took the small ones off and and put the big ones on..but forgot to take the  pic of the switch.

I lightly sanded and rubbed away the shine and pit marks. Then everything got a coat of Krylon primer followed by Krylon Satin Black.

 

Large cups now on the fixture.

I bought several of these solar lights at Walmart last summer. I took the stake off of the light. 

and used Gorilla Glue to hold them into the light fixture. The plastic fit right down over the nut in the light fixture.


Meanwhile I had hubby working on the pole for me. He cut the pvc to the right size.  I used one piece of narrower pipe (2.5 inches) and one piece of 4” pipe for the base. 
I started out with a 4 foot piece of 3” and and a 30” piece of 4” of pipe and bought an adapter to put to them together. When we held the light fixture over the pipe, the pipe seemed a little wide for it, kind of swallowed it up, so I used a 2.5” piece  instead. Hubby wrapped Gorilla tape to make it fit snugly. Once he had them glued together with regular pvc glue, he cut the tape down even with the top of the adapter. Hubby was really gettin’ into my project and even offered to make me a base out of a scrap of avantec plywood. He also glued a piece of pvc pipe up into the fixture so that it would slide in and out of the pole for easy change of the solar lights when necessary.

When all the pipes were put together to make the pole, I painted them with a coat of Valspar Plastic Primer and then Krylon Satin Black. I gave the wooden base a coat of Kilz 2 primer and then sprayed it black. When it was all dry, hubby put the lights in.

And here it is finished!

I’m thrilled with the way it turned out! Even better than I had pictured it in my head!

Here it is  at night

Up close you can see the design made by the solar light inside the globe!

  

I have it at the beginning of the path where we park and then walk in. It’s nice to have this on when I pull up and not have to worry about turning something on and then off again. We live in the woods…no street lights or neighbors lights to help light our path!

I am so excited about how this turned out that I can’t wait to make  more…with different types of fixtures on top! Like these…

 

… and more! I plan to use these to light my yard and my garden. I’ll have another one ready later in the week!

Remember that Tuesday is the start of the Starbucks giveaway!See you tomorrow with some printables!

 
I am participating in Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and these other parties and many of the parties listed in my sidebar! Come check out some of the awesome projects! I’ve also entered this in the DIY Club monthly contest!

 
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