Creating and Gifting with Black & Decker

Disclosure:  Although items in this post were provided to me, all comments, opinions and photos are strictly mine.

With the holidays upon us, not only is time to think about gifts for loved ones, it’s also a great time to get some holiday crafting done.  For me, Black & Decker is helping me out with both of these.

Truth be told, in the past when it came to anything needing to be cut or drilled or anything that involved power tools, I relied on my Dad to come to the rescue.  My Dad is always willing to help me out but now that I am in to my 40’s, a Mom and live 2 hours away from my Dad, I need to be a little more self sufficient to do things like this for myself and take my crafting and home decor to a new level.

Last Christmas, I won a little wooden tree that my son’s class had decorated in a raffle at his school.  Having a need to have things symmetrical around my mantle, I decided I wanted to make another one so I could have one on each side.

Before – and our inspiration.

It is a pretty simple design and knew I could probably copy it without a lot of difficulty.  I took the measurements of the wood and headed off to get the appropriate lumber and screws.

The tools I would require would be a drill, circular saw and a sander.  So I got out my Black & Decker tools and got started. What I like about these tools as they are an amazing quality and not too heavy for me to use.  I have tried other drills/etc in the past that were really heavy and it kind of deterred me from using them.

I came home and measured the wood for the appropriate length for each piece and was ready to cut.  Remember the age old rule – measure twice, cut once.

I am not going to lie, using a saw of any sort can be a bit intimidating at first, but as long as you follow the instructions completely and ensure you understand all the safety rules, it can really open up a whole new world and level to your home crafting projects.

After cutting the wood, I used my sander to take all the rough spots off and prevent any snagging on fabrics or slivers when being used.

Once all the pieces were ready to use, I lined them up and was ready to assemble the product.

Once the wood pieces were all screwed together, I passed the project along to my son add his artistic flare to it.  As the original was done by him and his classmates, I wanted to have this one to have his personal tough as well.  We really enjoy doing projects like this together.  Although the end product may not look like it came out of a store, it is something that we can look back and remember doing it together.

Now we have a set of 2 trees decorating our mantle with our own personal touches and will be a part of our holiday decor for years to come.

Completed – it may not be perfect, but it is ours!

Having the right tools though, makes a huge difference and can definitely boost your confidence to conquer more projects and makes a great gift for those wannabe crafters, young adults just starting out on their own or really, pretty much anyone. Having even the basics to do simple repairs around the house can make things so much easier and make home renovations a breeze.  The Blacker& Decker Project Kit with Drill/Driver is the perfect starter kit as it has all the basics you can need and even comes with a carrying case so that you have everything in one place.  I know a few people on my list that would love this and the other tools that used for this project to be under their tree this Christmas this year.

Now that my son is getting a bit older, he is quite intrigued in using the tools himself to make his own little projects.  I am hoping to find more of these types of projects that we can do together throughout the year.  Not sure what we will do next but I am sure we will have fun doing it and thanks to Black & Decker the sky is the limit as we have the proper tools to do it.

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Making changes with the help of Home Depot

I decided that this year I was going to make a bunch of changes in my life.  I am turning 45 and want to make this year count.  It’s not only going to be personal changes but other life changes as well.  One of the first projects I want to take on is making my home feel more like a home.  I moved into this home when I was in a very dark place in my life and it seemed at the time to be a temporary stop.  But now 8 years later it is our home and does not appear to be changing anytime soon.

Ever since I moved in, I have hated the kitchen.  It is practically a step back to the decade I was born.  The cupboards are just awful.  So this is the first room I wanted to start with.  Obviously, as a rental home, I don’t want to invest a lot of my own funds to update things but I am happy to make some investment to make it more mine.  What do I do and where do I start?

I decided to run over to my local Home Depot and talk to some of the experts there. I took some “Before” photos along with me to give them a better idea of what I had to work with.  After speaking to a very lovely and knowledgeable associate in the Kitchen department, we decided that simply painting would make a world of difference for the smallest amount of investment.

 

I then headed to the Paint department and was again greeted by a friendly and knowledgeable Associate.  As a single female, let’s be honest, I am not the most knowledgeable about anything to do with home renovations.  Obviously, I know the basics and my parents are amazing resources as well but being able to walk into the Home Depot and being able to ask question and not feel judged or intimidated is amazing.  They Associate was able to point me in the right direction as to which type of paint I would need and well as the best types of paint brushes/rollers to use and give me a few tips on how to make the whole job easier.

They also have monthly DIY seminars at each location that I am dying to try out.  I have seen topics from installing tiles and hardwood, how to use and choose power tools to outdoor/yard maintenance.  Once this project is done, I am going to check out a few of these seminars and see what I can do next! They even offer monthly make and take workshops for kids that my son has enjoyed a number of times.  If you have any upcoming DIY projects and are looking for a little guidance, this is the place to go.

For now, I need to pick out my paint colors and start the project.  Luckily I have been able to enlist the help of my Mom with this project, so stay tuned for my upcoming blog post with my before and after photos of my kitchen paint project, thanks to the help of Home Depot. 

**Although items were provided to me, all comments, thoughts and photos are strictly mine.