Blog Swap: Fun to Craft

It’s my first blogswap today – – enjoy! (If you’re looking for the features from the link-up yesterday, I’ll have them up and running tomorrow)

Hello Sugar Bee Craft Edition Readers!

Thank you SO much for having me over here today. It is always fun to take over a blog!!

That is me, Stacey.

I am the crafter over at Fun to Craft.

I blog to share tutorials, crafts, sewing projects, recipes,
frugal finds or tips, and host giveaways.

I have two crazy kiddos and a darling hubby who is in the throes of studying for the bar!! We are on a thrifty budget so I try to make creative things that don’t break the bank. I craft as my creative outlet because I think it helps keep me sane! I definitely dig home decor, sewing, crocheting, hand embroidery, spray painting, hot gluing and anything else I have to do to make that project just right.

Being that Summer is my favorite time of year, I LOVE being outside. I would be outside 24/7 if it wasn’t so darn hot all the time. So how do you remedy this? With shade. More importantly, a shade sail.I know, most of you might not know what this is. A lot of people I have talked to don’t seem to know…and I don’t think I even knew the exact term for it before. My 3 year old sure talks about it all the time now. Guess he is a little involved in our projects!! haha
Ours is a Coolaroo brand although I am sure you could just do basically the same thing with your own canvas or other thick fabric that will be durable outside. This mesh type fabric is UV protectant though too so if you can, it’s worth the splurge.They came with these nice pad eyes that fit against the wall and can be screwed in to secure it. Then the shade sail has a triangle shaped ring hooked on each end that can be used with carabiners(aka snap hooks) to secure it to your house or poles.We have a garage that is separate from our house and is behind it. So we were able to use the garage to help secure the shade sail. When it didn’t reach, we bought wire cable (it was 1/8″ thick and was 31 cents a foot at Home Depot). We ended up needing a couple more carabiners which are about 3 bucks a piece at Home Depot.
We also used a turnbuckle on two of the sides that came with the shade sail. This allows you to hang it up and then turn this to tighten the shade sail that much more.
Here is my little man enjoying the shade and using the squirt bottle to terrorize us all! Ahhhhh, shade. So nice in the summer time. I just love to sit out here all afternoon! Oh, and don’t forget to put it at a bit of an angle depending on where your sun hits in the afternoon. We are also working on getting a side (for lack of a better word) curtain to help fend off even more sun that comes at us in the late afternoon. I will show you how we work that up. We are using those canvas paint drop cloths from Home Depot. (We got two 6’x9′ ones for $10. Super cheap!!)
I have a LOT of fun over at Fun to Craft and would love for you to join me! I have a ‘Look at me, I am SO Crafty!‘ Link Party every Friday.
I love making new blogging friends and love to find new inspiring blogs to check out too. So come by, leave me a comment and I will come check out your blog too!!