Guest Post: Spinach Noodle Casserole

Just popping in here to let you know that I have a recipe for a tasty Spinach Noodle Casserole up on the Newfoundlander at Heart blog  today while Margot prepares for/ recovers from having her baby! Check out the recipe and let me know what you think!

I'll be popping back in later as well with some photos of what I've been up to lately, as well as a giveaway tomorrow as part of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway day!

♥ Craftzilla

Lately...Around the Web

Since I'm crazily swamped with work at the moment, enjoy some of my photos that have been featured on other sites lately!

Canada Arts Connect featured my photo on one of their job lists lately. A bit of background on this one--it was taken at Brownie camp last year. We were just sitting outside getting ready for a camp fire, and this flock of geese flew right over our heads. I was quick enough to get this shot and I was really pleased with it. There's something to be said for always having your camera handy!

Blog Guelph also featured my photo of tulips lately

I also have a post up on the ApoCALyse craftalong blog, on how to make and use I-cords in knitting!

♥ Craftzilla

Guest Posts, Crafty Reveals and Blog Positivity Week

Just popping in here to share a few exciting things that are going on!

Guest Post Today on Living Apockylypse- Sweet Potato Sushi DIY

Today I'm guest posting as a part of Kelly from Living Apockylypse's Blog party in celebration of her one year blogging anniversary! Check out my Sushi DIY as well as some other awesome DIYs, giveaways and amazing posts today on her blog!

Exciting Crafty Announcement 

Also of exciting note, is the fun and fabulous announcement that Kelly also made as a part of her blog party- her, myself and Margot from Newfoundlander at Heart have banded together and come up with a new crafty community project, called the ApoCALypse (CAL for Craft-a-long) where we connect crafters in working on crafty projects together. Our first set of projects will be knitting related, but there will be other projects of a crafty nature in the future. For more information on how to get involved, check out the ApoCALypse blog , Flickr Group or join the ApoCALypse group on Ravelry.

Blog Positivity Week on After Nine to Five's Blog 

And last but not least, Ashley from After Nine to Five is spending next week (March 19 to 25th) on her blog having a Blog Positivity Week to celebrate the positive aspects of the blogging community and for all of us to celebrate all the good parts that blogging brings to our lives. If you want to get involved, check out the information page here to sign up and get involved!

I hope all of you are having an awesome St Patrick's Day!

Guest Post on Pixie Mama's Blog : Tasty Halloween Treats

Hi everyone, stopping in to let you know that I'm guest posting today on the lovely Polly's blog, Pixie Mama, with a fun post on tasty and spooky Halloween treats to spice up any Halloween party or get together.

For example--you can’t go wrong with spooky cupcakes!

Source: bakerella.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Click here to read the full post and get your food planning for your party out of the way!

♥ Craftzilla 

Guest Post on Searching for Serendipity - Halloween has Gone to the Dogs

Just popping on again to let you know that I have a guest post up on the lovely Kami's blog, Searching for Serendipity on  adorable Halloween costumes for dogs (and cats!)

Here's Jesse from a few Halloweens ago, being the inspiration for this whole post by being an adorable puppy devil!





Click here to see the rest of the post and get inspired!

♥ Craftzilla

Guest Post on A Wild Tonic Vintage today- Five Favourites

I'm guest posting over on A Wild Tonic Vintage today, while the lovely Lauren is off on vacation! Stop on over and check out my post of my 5 Favourites of the moment!

Here's a sneak peek of my first favourite--cozy blankets! I can never get enough of those especially with the weather being all grey and cold as it has been lately.

Source: lionbrand.com via Gillian on Pinterest

What favourite things can't you live without?


♥ Craftzilla

Guest Post on Elousions : Favourite Thrifted Finds

Head on over to Miss Lou's blog to check out my post from yesterday on my favourite thrifted finds of all time!



Also, I've made a few appearances on the blogs of my lovely sponsors lately--on Embrace the Apockylypse and Elousions blog !

Clearly I haven't been making many appearances on my blog of late, but will change that later on today with an awesome post for Blog Action Day, whose topic this year is Food!

Guest Post on Artsy You: A Craftzilla Halloween

I just wanted to pop in and let you guys know that I'm doing a guest post today on the fabulous Angie's blog, Artsy You, on adorable (and often food related) Halloween costumes for kids, since I know she'll need lots of ideas for the coming years, as her little munchkin Violet gets bigger and more demanding in her costume desires.

Hop on over to the post here and see my adorable kid's Halloween costumes, such as this lovely one:

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Is it bad that this costume makes me a bit hungry for sushi? Naaaaw.

♥ Craftzilla

Giveaway Winners!

Time for a little bit of housekeeping on the blog--I've been very behind with announcing some winners of giveaways! So here we are:

The winner of the giveaway from Giulia from Another Diamond Day is--Deanna from Delirious Rhapsody!

The winner of the pencils giveaway is Earl Leigh from Earl Leigh Designs!

I'll be in touch with both of you ladies today by email to get your details! Many thanks to everyone who entered!

♥ Craftzilla


P.S. don't forget the last open giveaway on the blog--enter for a chance to win a fancy cupcake pencil case from the lovely Claire of Polka Dot Prettie!

P.P.S I'm also doing a quick guest post at Pixie Mama's blog today! Go check it out!

Guest Post: Manda Jane from Elf House Chronicles: Keeping Organized

I'd like to welcome the lovely Manda Jane from Elf House Chronicles to the blog, with this great post on keeping organized--this is definitely something I struggle with! Also wishing her a happy early National StepFamily Day, which is celebrated on September 16th!

Hi everyone! I'm Amanda. You can find me over at Elf House Chronicles. You have no idea how excited I am to be posting here at Craftzilla Conquers the World for the lovely and talented Gillian. This back to school theme suited me perfectly. You see, I'm a brand new step-mom to four kiddos (ages 10, 12, 14 and 16). I have no kids of my own, so this is my first experience with raising kids and all the fun that goes along with it! School started here on August 22 - so I've had my hands full with school supply shopping, school clothes shopping, orientations, meet the teacher nights and athletics parent meetings. Mind you, these are all brand new things to me and I'm just trying to keep up and learn as I go.

As you can imagine, with 4 kids, things stay extremely busy. One thing about me (which I myself find to be a positive trait), is my need and love of organization and structure. I need to have a calendar on hand at all times. I keep a running grocery list. I need everyone to know what the rules and expectations are so we have a smooth running household. So, in order for us to get ready for back to school (and since we're a newly blended family), the first thing we did was set 'House Rules' and held a family meeting to discuss these and open the floor for discussion and debate. I think these rules are imperative with school starting back up. A structured home is a happy home. A few of the highlights of our rules are that we will be eating dinner together as a family nightly, doing our homework together as a family nightly, the boys and girls both had chores they are responsible for  and after 9:30 we shut down all social media, computers, phones, etc. We are getting there slowly, but surely. The good news is David and I follow through with enforcing our House Rules and always back each other up.

Another brilliant idea I've come up with to help organize our super hectic life is a Home Management Binder. This was no original idea. I actually ran across the idea while cruising Pinterest (if you're not on there, you must go today and get signed up). I did a little research and visited a few websites and decided we needed one for our family. I'm still in the process of completing it, but I can tell you that our binder will contain:

• a master calendar
• a menu planner
• a grocery shopping list
• a financial planner (or something to help us with our budget)
• all school correspondance (i.e. athletic calendars, bell schedules, school calendar, etc)
• master phone list (parents, kids, grandparents, doctors, vet, etc)
• insurance information
• blogging planner/calendar (for me)
• to do list/chore list

My thought process is that this one binder will be the 'brain' of our family. Anyone should be able to pick this up and know where we are supposed to be, what we need from the grocery store, how to get in touch with someone. My belief is we will add to it or change it around as we figure out what works for us. Here are some websites I'm using that have free printables so that you can do your own Home Management Binder:

• http://www.organizedhome.com/
• www.everythingmom.com
• www.simplemom.net
• www.theprojectgirl.com

So, that's how we have geared up for back to school. It's important that this Momma stays organized and on top of everything. I would hate to be the one to forget someone at school or practice or miss an important event! Not to mention, I still want to make sure everyone is eating healthy, sleeping well and making fantastic grades! It's going to be a fast paced school year, but welcome to our crazy and chaotic life!

Lots of Love...

~Manda Jane~

Guest Post: DIY Book Cover with Angie of Artsy You

Today's guest post is from my lovely friend Angie of Artsy You, who is sharing this fun DIY for a book cover! Perfect for protecting any back to school books!

The excitement of September has never left me, even though I haven’t been in school for over 5 years. Every year as September draws closer the main things I think about are the fun times I had picking out new clothes, getting my backpacks ready and not sleeping much due to the excitement of a new adventure. But one of the big things I remember fondest is my father’s insistence on reading and teaching us to care for our books. For him, and now for me, books are precious and you take care of something that’s important to you!

I admit I have a bit of OCD when it comes to the condition of my books. My friends may even call me a little psychotic,  lol, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with caring for your books. I’ve hit a point that my soft covers barely look read, even though I read some of them yearly, and my hard covers are precious! Heck, my most loved hardcover novels are stored a glass china cabinet LOL.

The thing I have always hated the most is getting a bend in the cover of my soft covers. The culprit usually was my backpack and other books. So my dad and I started making these handy dandy book totes to put in our backpack and carry our books. They keep the pages and covers from being bent and help you keep your books looking nice:

In order to make this tote we started with a bunch of supplies! You will need: A box your book will fit into (or that you can cut down to fit your book), Glue, Staples (optional), Construction Paper (of any colour), Scrapbook paper and anything else you can think of, Ribbon or String. As always you can use anything you like and alter any of the instructions to suit your needs!

I had a friend help me with making these totes. She starts back to school in Grade 4 this year and thought it would be a great idea to make one for her school bag being she has started to read on her own! The box we chose for her was a little too wide so we decided to cut the sides.

We then glued one side to the other to make it back into the box shape but a little narrower!

This is us holding the newly formed sides together. We used glue down the middle and staples at either end for extra support!

We folded over the bottom and glued it back together. This is so the book doesn’t slide out the bottom. Once the bottom is put together you can cut off the flaps on the top of the box!

I chose a smaller box and didn’t need to adjust the size. I left the bottom glued from when I got it, and just cut off the flaps to create an opening at the top. Our next step is to cover the box: I advise using a large enough piece of paper to cover long wise for extra support on the bottom. I used purple construction paper to cover mine.

My friend used black. We glued the paper around then stapled the top to add support so that the paper wouldn’t peel off in your backpack!

Now for the fun part! Once the box is covered you can start decorating how you like. We used Scrapbook paper and decals. HAVE FUN WITH IT AND BE CREATIVE!!!

The boxes came together nicely!!


 
My friend took her time to cut out some fun decals and personalize her creation!!


You can use anything you can find. We found this image in a craft supply section, it was the example sheet for an iron on picture for T-Shirts and Bags! You would be amazed what you can find in dollar stores!!! You can even draw or paint on your box (I advise using things that won’t transfer if they rub another book... meaning No Chalk!)

My friend’s final product! Woot!! We added some small ribbons to tie the box closed (it would defeat the purpose if the book fell out! :)

For my box I used a larger ribbon around the whole box! I think it turned out pretty good. Hopefully, you’ll have fun making your own! I’d love to hear how they went!

Until next time you can find me at Artsy You!

Keep Creating!!!

Angie

Guest Post on Campfire Chic's Blog Party --DIY: Treasure Stones

Wanna find out how to make these awesome DIY treasure stones (with hidden treasures inside?) as well as check out ANOTHER awesome blog party?

Well, head on over to Kam's blog Campfire Chic today to see my post, as well as a host of others in an "Around the Campfire" Blog Party!

♥ Craftzilla

Giveaway from Giulia from Another Diamond Day!

I'd like to welcome the lovely Giulia of Another Diamond Day to my Back to School Blog Party celebration! 

Giulia has a lovely giveaway from her shop to share, to make one of you lucky readers a bit more stylish, whether you're on your way back to school or not! 


Description of prizes: BRASS LEAF AND BELL EARRINGS




The earrings consist of a tiny brass leaf and a dusty pink baby czech glass bell. The pendant is 1 inch long and the whole earring is 2.5 inches.   The prize also includes a 25% off coupon on any items of my shop. The winner will receive the coupon code by email.

Please leave a comment and a way to reach you (Email, Twitter)  for each entry!


How to enter:
1) Follow Giulia's Blog by Google Friend Connect
2 Visit her Etsy shop and leave a comment telling which item is your favourite


The giveaway will be open for one week, and will close at midnight on September20th. Open to all readers! 


Good luck!


♥ Craftzilla

Guest Post - Back to School Clothes: Kelly from Embrace the Apocklypse

Kelly is the first of my awesome guest posters! I hope you enjoy this fun post on back to school style! Goodness knows, I always need some help in the style department--I can barely remember to brush my hair most days!

Well hello there!

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I'm Pocky from embrace the apockylypse! I absolutely adore Gillian (isn't she super duper awesome?!?!?) and I am so excited/honored to be asked to guest for her today! Before I get on with the post, I just want to wish Gillian and all of you other students a very wonderful start to your semesters. After being in the real world for a few years, I actually miss being a student...that's something I never thought I'd ever say!

What's one of the first things you think about when it comes to going back to school?

Now I'm not a shopaholic (unless it comes to craft supplies) or a fashionista, but one of the first things I think of is new clothes.

Most of my life, I never dressed like most the kids I went to school with. I didn't go for all those name brands for two reasons: I was a skinny mini that couldn't fit in some of the styles and we couldn't always afford a new wardrobe of what was "in" at the time. With a mom who is the most amazing seamstress I know, that never really bugged me.

Thinking about school clothes, there is one specific outfit that always pops right up. To this day, I still haven't forgotten about it...and this was when I was just a wee one in preschool. I had on the most amazing pair of red silk overalls that my mom made just for me. No one else had a pair! They were my favorite piece of clothing because they made me feel special & unique. Even to this day I remember telling every classmate, "These are MY red silk overalls that my mommy made just for ME!".

...maybe if I had a new pair every year I wouldn't have felt so awkward in high school...

Red silk overalls aren't my thing now, but I might just have to search through piles of material & see if my mom can work a little magic like she did back then. I would go around wearing my beautiful wedding dress she made me, but I might be a little overdressed for my day-to-day activities.

What would be some of your "red silk overalls" this year?

I can't wait to get my sewing machine set back up so I can maybe make some of these pieces:

• Nerdy Blouses
• Low Rise Flared Jeans
• 1 Piece Kimono Tee
• Dots Invasion Dress
• And of course...Classic Overalls

Pocky

Back to School Blog Party--A Week of School Related Posts and Giveaways!

As I promised at the end of last week, this week will be a fun blog party of guest posts and giveaways from a bunch of amazing people while I start my first week of university! There will be lots of amazing stuff to come on the blog from these amazing ladies:

Kelly from Embrace the Apockylypse

Giulia from Another Diamond Day

Angie from Artsy You 

Manda Jane from Elfhouse Chronicles

Claire from Polka Dot Pretties

Enjoy! I'll be posting the first post shortly!

♥ Craftzilla

Sunday Styles on a Friday --Guest Post from Kami from Searching for Serendipity

Today's Guest post (the first ever for my blog, actually!) is from the lovely Kami,  whose blog Searching for Serendipity includes fun Sunday styles posts like the one below, as well adventures with her new baby girl Claire and thoughts on motherhood, crafts, and creativity.


Check her out at her Blog and on Twitter and enjoy today's post! I'll be back later on with some Friday Fancies for you:)

 

I love back to school time! I can't wait until Claire is old enough for her first day of Kindergarten, how exciting! Shopping for school supplies, picking out a special outfit, packing her first bag lunch and sticking a cute note inside it...SO CUTE! Even before I had Claire though I got all excited over back to school, I am a perpetual nerd and love school, new stationary, and the look of a clean sheet of paper in a new notebook, just waiting for my ideas! This weeks Sunday Styles is all about back to school cool!

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And,  as an a little treat for you all here is a picture of me on my first day of school! Kindergarden a la 1985

Kami