Calling all Swap Buddies!

Blog/Shop Ad Swap!

♥ What is a Ad Swap? ♥ 
It's when 2 blogs or shops (mine and yours) exchange sidebar ads with each other for 1 month for FREE!
I help you and you help me!

I am accepting
"Swap Buddies"
to ad swap with my blog for the next month!
If you feel that your blog/shop would be of interest to my readers, please email me at:
erin@agirlandhercraftboxdesigns.com 
with the subject line, SwapBuddies, by May 25th and let me know:

♥ Your name
♥  Your blog/shop name
♥ What is your blog about or what does your shop sell
♥ The URL to link it to
♥ Swap Ad @ 125 wide x 125 high

If I feel that your blog/shop is a good fit for mine, I would ♥  to feature your button on my blog!
I will only be selecting 8 swap buddies this month, but everyone is welcome to submit!
Once choosen they will all go up:
June 1st!


♥ What do you have to do? ♥
All that is required is that you grab one of my buttons and put it in your sidebar too, for 1 month.
We are swap buddies are we not?
I just created some brand new swap ads that you can use to swap with, just scroll down to the right side of my blog to find them.
Can't wait to hear from you!

Military Appreciation Week in My Shop!

As I am sure, you all know by now I am a Marine Corps Wife, if not you can check out my story here: 

 Meet Erin

So, since May is Military Appreciation Month, I decided to dedicate one week on the month as Military Appreciation week in my shop!

Each day a different branch will get a % off "Wreaths" for that day only!

Come check out my Facebook Page, to find out how you can place an order!

It kicked off yesterday with The Coast Guard, and ends this Saturday with Armed Forces Day!

Here is a list of each day so you can make sure to mark your calendar for your favorite branch!

May 14th- Coast Guard

May 15th- Air Force

May 16th- Army

May 17th- Navy

May 18th- Marines

May 19th- Armed Forces Day (USA)

Happy Military Appreciation Week!

Today is Military Appreciation Day!

Today is Military Appreciation Day, and I am linking up to 

2012 Military Spouse Appreciation Day Blog Hop

hosted by

Riding the Roller Coaster & Household Diva 6

♥♥♥♥

Hi! My name is Erin!

I'm a wife to a Survey/Met Marine, Christopher.

I am also an animal mommy to a cute English Bulldog, Daisy Mae, and dusty little tortoise, Peanut Tillman!

We currently are stationed at MCBH, Kaneohe Hawaii, for the last 3 1/2 years.

When I am not making cupcakes for my husbands shop,

I run a small business,  A Girl and Her Craftbox Design, where I sell

Military Inspired Wreaths, Stylish Frames, and Countdown Blocks!

In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day

I'm offering:

20% off 

all items in my shop until Saturday, at 11:59pm PST!

Just use code:

Spouse

at check out!

♥♥♥♥

I would love to stay in touch, and can find me through these links too:

♥ Facebook

♥ Twitter

♥ shop newsletter

 (find out whats new each month in my shop and get special offers no one else gets (I pinky promise I won't spam you)!!

Thanks for stopping by!
Be sure to let me know, if you follow me and I will follow you back too!

psst... next week is Military Appreciation week in my shop, be sure to check back daily to see what branch is getting a special offer for that day only!

Meet Ashley of Basewives!

I'm so excited to have Ashley of Basewives here to share about her blog and website!
(She is my first bloggerview! If you would like to do a bloggerview on AG&HCD click here)

Ashley is the creator of an amazing site, Basewives, that is about to launch, for Military Spouses and Mom's!
She also has a cute blog called, Ashley's Blog!


Here we go!

~Tell us a little about yourself, your awesome site Basewives and your cute blog, Ashley's Blog!

I am a 25 year old mother to 4 wonderful little boys. I love living in Hawaii. Hobbies of mine include scrap 

booking and photography. I love capturing all the fun moments with my little guys. Basewives is a site I started to give military families a convenient way to buy and sell their items online that is also catered to their base. My blog is just something extra I started as a way to help other spouses with tips I have learned along the way and share other ideas I have.

~ How long have you been apart of the military lifestyle?

My husband has been in the Marines for just over 3 years.

~What is your favorite thing about being a Marine Wife and what is your least favorite thing?

My favorite thing about being a Marine wife are all the different people you meet and experiences you go through. I never knew how strong I really was until I was forced to not have a choice but to be strong. I have been through the birth of 3 children without my husband, countless challenging situations and have come out of it all proud of myself and the job I have done. My least favorite thing about being a Marine wife is obviously the times of separation from my husband. 

~ How do you come up with material/content for Ashley's Blog, What inspires you?

The material and content that I have used for the blog are just things I do in my everyday life. Things that have helped me through tough times of separation, recipes I enjoy and fun crafts to do with kids. 

~ Name some of the bloggers whom you look up to and why?

I have two blogs that I follow, the marathon mom and Maria's eat clean journey. Both women are inspiring and have overcome their own issues and challenges with flying colors. 

~How did you come up with the idea for Basewives/Ashley's Blog?

I came up with the idea for Basewives from some of the groups on facebook where people where able to buy and sell on my base. The initial idea was great but the execution through using facebook was poor and had alot of flaws. Also having the groups linked on facebook left a lot of room for drama and unnecessary conflicts. I wanted a site where it truly was about buying and selling but also a place where there is a forum for questions and a way of networking with other families on base. 

~Why do you think its so important for there to be a site like Basewives?

I think a site like Basewives is important because being able to buy used from a garage sale is a wonderful thing for people who maybe can't afford to always buy things full price and brand new. Having the convenience of the internet while still maintaining the comfort of only buying from people on base creates a safer, more efficient environment for everyone. 

~What types of ideas and goals do you have for Basewives?

I would love to be able to expand with Basewives. Include a section for every individual base. I would love to be able to help promote military spouses home businesses and help out families moving to a new area. 

~What types of ideas and goals do you have for Ashley's Blog?

For my blog, I would just love to be able to help one person. One person maybe find a better way to do something or a fun activity to spend time with their kids doing. 

~What makes you different then the other yard sale sites out there?

I think what people will see that makes Basewives different than other sites is the personal factor, it is ran and maintained by a fellow military spouse and without all the complications of facebook groups. 

~What is your ideal audience for Basewives?

My ideal audience for Basewives are people like me! Spouses and moms going through the everyday challenges of life and being apart of the military. 

~If someone has an idea for your blog or site, that they would like to see, or would like to do a giveaway how can they submit that to you?

Please, please, please if anyone ever has an idea or something they want to talk to me about please fell free to email me at my personal email anytime, ashleygeoco@gmail.com

~How can people find you, and are you apart of any other Social Networks? (please link these)
Basewives
Ashley's Blog
Basewives Fanpage-Facebook
Basewives Community-Facebook
Ashley's Blog-Facebook
Twitter


♥♥♥♥
Thanks Ashley!
If your a military spouse or you just want to learn new fun tips and tricks for being a spouse or mom, go check out Basewives.com or Ashley's Blog!
Guess what she is interviewing me too!
To check out my interview with her check it out here:
Meet Erin of A Girl and Her Craftbox Designs

DIY Craft Desk

I have always wanted a cute craft desk to do projects and to cut my fabric not on the floor, but most of the ones in the stores are hugely to expensive for my wallet.

So my husband promised that when we moved into our new housing on base he would build me a fabulous one. 

If you follow my blog regularly, a few weeks ago, I blogged about how we finally got new base housing.

(If not you can catch up here: My New Craftroom/Studio)

Finally after 2 months of PTA's, training and other adventures, my husband finally had time to finish my craftdesk!

I am so excited to show you and now you can find out how we made it so you can make one too!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Materials:

♥ Book shelves (we used 3 of these from Walmart)

♥ Piece of wood cut to the dimentions of your shelves after assembled and organized the way you want them- (ours was cut at 35 1/4 x 54 3/8 inches)

♥  L brackets and screws- 10

♥  Paint (if you want to paint your board)

♥ Paint Brushes

Walmart- $35

Tutorial:

First, we built our shelves as stated by the manufactures instructions.

Then, we cut our board to the size that we wanted to be. I wanted mine to hang over the edges a bit so I cut it a bit longer and wider then the shelves were. 

Next, I painted my wooden board. We actually found the piece of wood on a walk, that someone put out for bulk trash day. But it had a few imperfections and the color I wanted to paint it was a bright color so I ended up priming my board first, but if you have a piece of wood that is perfect or a color that is dark you won't need to prime. I ended up painting about a whole pint of paint over the board. It was about 7 full coats.

After the paint was good and dry for about a day, we attached the shelves all together using the L-Brackets on the top and bottom of the center shelf. Next we then attached the board to the tops of the shelves on each corner and then in the middle of the center shelf. (See picture above)

That's it! 

Super easy and super cute!

The table is very solid and will be easy to take a part and put back together when we move again at the end of the year.

Perfect storage for my fabric tubs!

I spy a Navy and USMC Multi Cammie Wreath 

getting ready for shipment to 2 lucky mom's for Mothers Day! 

Ribbon, Ribbon Everywhere!

Lots of leg room or hidden space!

What do you think?

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 

 This is a great cost-effective solution if you have ever wanted a table like me!!

Words to Remember & A Giveway

Where have you been??

Well remember a few months ago when I posted this?

Some Shop Changes

Well thanks to some nice comments and some advice from some awesome people in my life, I decided to not give into those copy cats out there!

Everyday and AUR Studios

Note to Self

Open Heart Creations

In fact, I am so glad that I didn't because since then my wreaths have taken over my life, in a GREAT WAY! 

On another note,

Have you heard of The Homefront United Network?

"The Homefront United Network is a website for all military spouses and family members to have a comfortable and positive environment. This is a place for you to gain resources, vent, support others and celebrate our lives as military spouses, family and friends."

Until Friday, May 4th at 11:59 PM EST, you can enter to win one of my 12 inch Round Wreaths with Nametapes on their website!

There is only 2 more days left so,

GO CHECK IT OUT!

New Frames in the Shop!

I've added some new Spring inspired frames to the

 A Girl and Her Craftbox Designs Shop!

All my frames retail for $20 with $5 shipping!

Today is also the first day of the 

jessicaNdesigns Spring Gift Guide!

Fly High, Dream Big

I Deerly Love You

What a Hoot

Spring Time

Thanks for stopping by!