500 "Likes" Giveaway!

My mom got me a case of my favorite salsa!

The week of my birthday, I was on a mission:  to get 500 "likes" on the Kidspired Creations Facebook page by 4/09 - the date, not the cleaner.  Why 500 "likes?"  I'm not sure... it just sounded fun.  I promised fans a Facebook-only giveaway if they could help me reach my goal... I was at 455 fans when I came up with this brilliant plan on Monday (birthday Saturday).  I was completely overwhelmed by the number of friends, family and fans who shared my page... between everyone, Kidspired Creations hit a LOT of different newsfeeds and it showed!  The next night, KC had OVER 500 "LIKES!"  Wow!  That was fast!  The power of Facebook blows my mind!

So, as promised, I created a giveaway!  I only had to choose what I was going to give away.  My new obsession is to shop in the clearance aisle and choose poor, ugly, broken, price-slashed pieces of decor to purchase for pennies compared to their original prices.  Each time I go, I spend about $10-15 and get about 3-5 different items that I get to rescue and make new again.  I decided to take one of my found-items and use it in my giveaway.

I found this  little decorative plaque type-thing that had an ugly chipped-glass-bad-paint-job-type look about it.  The gems of this piece were the two shiny black knobs that allowed this piece to function a coat, towel, purse, key rack of sorts... perfect for an entryway or bathroom.

The Fix:
First, I primed the plaque with white paint... it took several coats... and all this time I was brainstorming what I was going to paint on it.  I first painted it all beige and painted a fleur de lis in a darker beige, but it really looked horrible and personalization would have looked pretty bad on it too.  So, scratch that...

My motto has always been "Anything can be fixed," at least when it comes to painting.  So I painted over it and decided to do something more simple and elegant like STRIPES!

I took my lighter of the two beiges and painted the entire plaque.  When that had dried, I used painters tape to hide the parts that I wanted to keep light beige, and painted the darker beige between the tape strips.  This allowed for crisp edges on my lines.

Done!  Now, let the giveaway begin!!!

After posting it on Facebook and having several people leave comments to enter the giveaway, one winner was chosen thanks to Random.org's list randomizer.  Brooke, from Metairie, Louisiana, mommy of cutiepie Ava, won the giveaway and she got to choose how she wanted it personalized.  She wanted her last initial "H", and the first initials of her and her hubby, "W" and "B" on either side, and below that, Est. 2005.  I can do that!

Here's the process I go through before painting letters:

Finding a font.

 Practicing the font &choosing the right brush and spacing of the letters.

Tip:  Keep your paint out of reach of little hands!

The final product:

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway and to everyone who "shared" the Kidspired Creations Facebook page with your friends!  I really appreciate your love and support!

According to the fortune cookie that James read:  "Mom, you're going to have a great big birthday tomorrow and you're going to get flowers because Dad knows that me and Leyson got you flowers for your birthday."

and my fortune was right!

I had a FABULOUS 28th birthday!

One candle would have been enough.

We went on down to the Acadiana Zoo...

My husband boiled the best batch of crawfish!  Not bad for an Oklahoma boy!

Crista & Dan-o and my mom came down to the bayou.

One day he'll thank me for putting him in soccer...