When I was growing up I used to watch the show “New Yankee Workshop” with Norm Abrams ALL.THE.TIME. (If you don’t know what it was, it was a spinoff of This Old House, but where Norm built furniture and projects from scratch with new materials).  Norm Abrams (if you don’t know) is a master carpenter, which basically means he has a PhD in woodworking.  And let’s just say, If the earth was flooding, I’d want Norm on my Ark building team.

The New Yankee Workshop was a a fascinating show, and Norm always built amazing things and had this amazing shop filled with amazing tools I had no idea even existed.  Seriously, his shop was the size of a barn and he had more tools than the Home Depot.

At the time, a lot of the time the terminology was way over my head (I didn’t know the difference between a planer and a joiner and I never understood why anyone needed 100 types of saws.) And of course, the finished projects were so complicated it was mind-blowing. I mean seriously, in episode he built an entire BOAT.  A few times projects would require more than one episode, but typically, everything was wrapped up beautifully in just under 30 minutes.  He made everything look SO EASY.

Today I have joined a challenge with 16 other awesome bloggers (seriously, I have to pinch myself to believe I’m even included in this group) to use a single board to create something awesome.

If you want to see their entries into this challenge, you can check them out here (You really should visit, I’m in awe of these beautiful things the other bloggers came up with!)

Summer is here and along with summer fun comes unintentional childhood accidents.  The kids and I recently attended an event at The Shriners Hospital for Children®** in Sacramento where we learned a lot about which types of childhood injuries are most often seen in emergency rooms during the summer,  and we also learned how we can prevent these types of injuries.

At home, on the playground or while on vacation, there are lots of summer activities that put children at risk for live threatening and life changing injuries, but with a few simple precautions you can greatly reduce the risk.   As a mom my number one priority is to keep my kids safe, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

5 Common Types of Summer Injuries:

I’ve always used a palm (finishing) sander for most of my painting projects, so when I recently purchased an orbital sander, the differences between the two were immediately obvious.

And since there may be a little confusion about which tool is the ‘right’ one for the job, I thought I’d spend a little time today going over the differences in both tools and the pros and cons of each one.   I’m not including Belt Sanders on this list for the same reasons I’m not including floor sanders:  (1)  I don’t have one and (2) it is a heavy duty tool for a very specific niche: Heavily sanding down large flat surfaces.  I’m only going to talk about light-duty/multi-purpose sanders that most DIY’rs could use on a regular basis.

Before we start the party today I have a quick announcement!! Kathe and I decided we are going to put the party on hiatus for the summer.   Between traveling and other commitments, we both were having trouble finding enough time to dedicate to all you fantastic linker uppers. But don't fret.. this is not 'farewell' it is only 'until we meet again' since the party will be back in the fall.

Since this week is our last one for a while, let's make it a good one.   It is the first Monday of the month which means ANYTHING GOES!  Link up your etsy shop, sponsored posts, giveaways.. The sky is the limit!  (Well, keep it family friendly of course! ;) )  And don't forget, next week we will still have features, which means I'll be sharing my favorite small business linker uppper!!  

This week I was busy building a screen for my ugly A/C unit:

I spent some time rounding up 15 (actually 16) of my favorite blogger builder girls:

Today I’m sharing with you how I made this darling little baker’s twine wrapped anchor for the baby’s room, but this tutorial can open the door to so much more.  
I chose an anchor along with red and white baker’s twine since it fit the theme of his nautical nursery, but you could do the exact same process with a different shape, or a monogram or even a full word or phrase.  As long as you can trace the outline of something, you can create it in three dimensions.

I actually created a 30 second movie of the process, but I've also included all the nitty gritty details below (if you are a video person):

Back in 2012 I shared my experience replacing a post on our pergola that had suffered termite damage.  It was pretty bad (I’m glad ithat sucker hadn’t tipped over!)

If you have been reading blogs for a while, you may remember the days when blogs had blogrolls.  If you aren’t familiar with blogrolls, they are lists of a bloggers’ favorite blogs, typically in the sidebar or on a stand alone page.  In pre-Pinterest days, that was a really common way for readers to find new blogs and great new projects. This word of mouth recommendation for other blogs was a great way to connect.

I removed my blogroll long ago, as most bloggers have, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have favorite blogs. In fact, the longer I blog, the more great content I find from other bloggers..   So today, since I don’t have a blogroll anymore,  I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you in a post instead.

There are so many great blogs out there, I thought I would narrow it down to one category of my favorites: Builder Girls With Power Tools!

It is always disheartening to see women relegated to the pin-up calendar by tool companies and hardware stores.  So today I am going showcase a few of my favorite HARD CORE builder bloggers (who just happen to be ladies!) Since, power tools always go well with a side of estrogen!