Dreaming of a Summer Escape in My Own Backyard

Who doesn't want a magical and unique outdoor space? A place were you can gather with friends and family to make memories and have a whole lot of fun doing it.

To be honest, I'm a bit jealous of folks with these massive outdoor spaces and big backyards. Sadly, right now, I don't have that. Someday I'd love to have a bigger chunk of land with several acres where I  have a barn, plant a massive garden, plant a field of wild flowers... you get it.

Since that won't be happening anytime soon, I will just continue to dream and incorporation some unique elements into my space to create my own little backyard escape.

Here's what I found...

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I've been dying to add a water feature to my space! Loving this one.

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I love the idea of bring the indoors outside. How cute is this setup!?

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You know me, I love a splash of color. That yellow dutch door is too perfect!

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An arbor of trees with a chandlier and string lights!? I'm in heaven!

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And this is probably one of my favorite yards from the fab blog The Polished Pebble. Those ginormous trees are like a ceiling for this outdoor oasis.

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And the details are just magical.

I just love dreaming and planning of all these beautiful things. Don't you?

Now that I have shared what turns my backyard into my perfect summer oasis, I want to know what you’ve done to transform your backyard into your oasis. One of my lucky readers will win a $25 Sears gift card!

Need help finding your own pieces for your backyard? Sears is bringing the ease of searching for those perfect pieces with their recently launched iPad digital catalog. On your computer? Don't fear, Sears has an amazing digital catalog built just for you.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sears. 

The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Your Picks. Your Place. Updates // $100 Pottery Barn Giveaway!!

I'm back again with lots of updates to Apartment Guide's Your Picks. Your Place. Sweepstakes. First, the second round winners have been announced. A HUGE congrats to my friend Maryanne over at Domestically Speaking as her design board had the most votes. I can see why, I just love it! That chandelier is so fun! 

Apartment Guide also announced the two $250 winners for the second round. Congrats ladies! 

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In other exciting news, Apartment Guide has created a fun memory game and my face is one of the pieces to the puzzle! I'm not kidding. Check it out here.  

Pretty cool, right. I can honestly say that's a first. I love it! 

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When you are finished playing memory, don't forget to take a moment and head on over to Your Picks. Your Place. to vote and you will be automatically entered to win. It's that simple.

This is what my board looks like on the site ...

And this is where I'm shamelessly asking begging you to vote for me! (I feel like I'm running for class president or something.)  There are some other fabulous bloggers participating and I don't think I actually win anything other than bragging rights, so winning isn't a huge deal, but it would still be pretty amazing.

 Your votes for my boards are beyond appreciated.

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You can also visit the three other fabulous bloggers who are participating in this project...

Jamiely from I Heart Naptime

Diane from In My Own Style

Maryann from Domestically Speaking

From now through August 14th I will share two more design boards (Office and Bedroom) at which time you will be able to vote on those as well. Remember you can vote once a day.

So head on over and get voting!

I can't thank you enough for your support and your votes during this sweepstakes. You are amazing! Thank you!!!

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Okay, now for the part you've been waiting for - This week's Giveaway. Here are the details..

*The Prize*

A $100 Pottery Barn Gift Card 

*Enter to Win*
TWO chances to win:
1. Visit Your Picks. Your Place. and vote for your favorite Dining Room Design Board (Round Two). Feel free to vote for the Board you like best. Though, bonus points will be awarded to those voting for Board #3 - Southern Bungalow. (Hint - this is my board) Then leave a comment below telling me what you'd buy with your $100 Potter Barn Card.

2. Share this giveaway with a tweet, a blog post, a PIN or spread the word on facebook. Then, come back here and leave an additional comment saying you did. 

This giveaway is open to everyone! Should you be a 'no reply' or 'anonymous' commenter, remember to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you, should you win.

Enter now through 11 pm (EST) on Tuesday, July 31st. I will announce the winner in a post of Wednesday, August 1st.

*I should note the Bonus Points don't actually count for anything. Things are just so much cooler when you can earn bonus points. Right? I really, really appreciate your votes. Thank you! 

Thank you again and Good Luck!!

Apartment Guide is owned by Consumer Source, Inc. Apartment Guide partnered with bloggers such as me to participate in its “Your Picks. Your Place.” Sweepstakes. As part of that program, I received compensation. They did not tell me what to select or write about my featured design boards, or what to write in my blog posts. Apartment Guide and Consumer Source believe that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Consumer Source’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. The winner of any giveaways in this program will be randomly chosen and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.  Sweepstakes ends @ 9:00 PM on 8/14/12, subject to Entry Periods outlined in Official Rules. Must be a US legal resident of the 50 US or DC and 18 years of age or older. Sweepstakes subject to full Official Rules available at www.yourpicksyourplace.com. Void where prohibited.

Tie-Dye Ombre Embroidery Hoop Art // Tulip Tie-Dye

My hallway/staircase wall needed a little sprucing up, so I decided to take every 'trendy' thing and put them all into one awesome project.  May I introduce my DIY Tie-Dye Ombre Embroidery Hoop Art. Talk about a mouthful.

I haven't tie-dyed anything in a super long time. I think it was sophomore year of college. I was an RA and it was one of the freshman ordination activities I assisted with. Wow, that was almost 10 years ago! Seems like yesterday.

Anyway, All I needed to create this projects were some embroidery hoops (which I already had), this fancy Tulip Tie-Dye Kit and some old bed sheets.

Using the guide provided inside the kit, I attempted every technique possible.

First, I cut all my sheets into sections and dampened them with a little water.

Using the rubber bands provided in the kit, I tried the spiral and bullseye.

I made some stripes.

I did the crumple and more spirals.

Once all the pieces of sheets ready to go, it was time to add some color.

This kit is awesome because all the powder dye is in the bottle ready to go. Just add water and shake.

This is where the fun began.

I started off by adding the cool full strength. Since I knew I wanted an ombre look, as soon as I finished about half the bottle I just added more water and moved on to the next piece of material.

 After doing this several times the color become much less concentrated. See the image above.

Then, I sealed everything in plastic bags and let them sit for about 8 hours. The darker fabrics/dyes are to the left and the lighter are to the right.

After the 8 hours, all the rubber bands were removed. Then all the fabric was washed in the washing machine on hot with a little laundry detergent.

Once dry, all the material was ironed and then placed in the embroidery hoops.

The excess material was trimmed off with scissors. The hoops were then hung on the wall with a small finishing nail.

And that's it!

DIY Tie-Dye Ombre Embroidery Hoop Art!

This little area is at the bottom of my staircase which is accessed through the kitchen. There is another door to the right of the hoops that leads into the Gift Shoppe.

So, I mentioned to a friend that I was doing tie-dye and this was her response....

(Everyone say 'Hi' to my friend Krista and hope she doesn't kill me for posting this.)

I think tie-dye gets a bad rap, but I'm hoping this little tutorial proves that with a little imagination tie-dye is kind of cool and can be beautiful.

You remember my curtains, chalkboard globe, and blueprints don't you??

And the artwork my nephew made for me?

So what do you think of my new art? Love it? Hate it?

I hope you'll give it a try! If you need some more tips and tricks for how to Tie Dye, check out www.ILoveToCreate.com for more information!

 You can also follow along with on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

I was provided with the Tulip Tie Dye Kit and Surface Cover for this project.

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with www.ilovetocreate.com and Blueprint Social. 

The opinions in this post are my own.