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Our Points & Miles Journey
    $16,961.56   That’s the cash value of travel we’ve taken/booked since we started the points and miles journey in May 2024 (including trips we’ve taken and trips we have booked for later this year).  I still have to pinch myself to believe that we’re actually doing all this for *nearly* FREE.  It’s almost too good to be true – but it is!!     OUR POINTS AND MILES JOURNEY Our family started this “hobby” about a year ago.  We weren’t necessarily planning to go all-in on the travel credit card game, but we […]
https://www.unoriginalmom.com/points-miles-journey/
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unOriginal Mom – An Update, and a Shift
Hello! It’s been a while :-)  In fact, it’s been more than three years since I last published a post!  As life seasons and family circumstances shifted for us over the few years, it became clear it was time to retire unOriginalMom, at least for a while.   All of the old craft and DIY content I created lives on here, and I’m so proud of that creative journey and all that it represents in my life!    I began this blog back in 2012 as a brand new stay-at-home-mom, in the beginning of the Pinterest-era…before […]
https://www.unoriginalmom.com/unoriginal-mom-update-shift/
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90s Colonial Exterior Renovation – AFTER!
Before and after photos of our builder grade 90s colonial exterior renovation including a garage extension, standing seam steel roof accents, and front porch refresh, all with touches of craftsman style.   We made it!! Our major house renovation is complete, and I am FINALLY getting around to getting the first blog post up. I apologize to any of you who have been patiently waiting and checking for updates over these past few months! I’ve decided that “renovation hangover” is a real thing, haha. But seriously, it’s taken quite a while to feel recovered from the […]
https://www.unoriginalmom.com/90s-colonial-exterior-renovation-after/
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DIY Backyard Playhouse with Slide – Our Handmade Hideaway
Here it is…the big reveal of our beautiful DIY backyard playhouse! Based on the “Handmade Hideaway” plans, we made several adjustments and customizations to our version, including a tube slide and rock wall. This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure.   We built a playhouse! This is by far the biggest and most drawn out DIY project my husband and I have ever tackled but it was completely worth all of the hard work. We actually started it at the beginning of July 2019 and had the structure part done by September, […]
https://www.unoriginalmom.com/diy-backyard-playhouse-slide/
Jun
03

Basic Photography – Tips for Beginners

  I got my very first DSLR camera about 6 months ago, and was SO excited to learn how to use it.  But I don’t think I was prepared for how much there is to learn about basic photography!  I never intended to become any kind of semi-professional photographer…I just wanted to know enough about photography to take good pictures of my family and capture memories in a little higher quality than our old point-and-shoot.  We purchased a Nikon D5100, and based on the recommendation of a photographer friend (knowing that I’d be doing lots of… READ MORE

May
31

Original Fridays #10

Happy Friday!   Can you believe that it’s the last day of May?  Tomorrow is JUNE!  Where did spring go?  I don’t know about where you live…but here in central PA, we’ve either been having weather that’s either cold or HOT, nothing in-between.  I feel like we got 2 or 3 really beautiful spring-weather days in the past two months…otherwise it’s felt like March or July.   After 4 years of being a teacher (preceded by 17 years of being a student, K-12 plus 4 years of college), Ii’s strange for me to not be… READ MORE

May
30

Book-Themed Baby Shower Favor and Game

Over the past two days I shared with you my friend Kate’s Children’s Book Themed Baby Shower…   and some Free Printable Children’s Book Quotes that we used as decor for the shower…     Today I’d like to share the bookmark favor and game that I helped to create for her shower!   First, here is the bookmark, which is a quote from Emilie Buchwald – “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”  It was a perfect favor for the shower!   You can download a printable PDF sheet of bookmarks HERE.  We printed… READ MORE

May
29

Free Printable Children’s Book Quotes

My good friend Kate just gave birth to a handsome little boy named Aiden!  She and her husband are both avid readers, so before Aiden was born her mother-in-law threw an absolutely beautiful children’s book baby shower for her.  If you’d like to see pictures from the shower, take a look at this post!  It was simply perfect!  Here’s a teaser:     My small contribution to the shower was printing images of children’s book quotes or quotes about books to place on all the tables.  Quite a few of them I found online and… READ MORE

May
28

Children’s Book Baby Shower

  I recently attended (and helped a little bit with) a good friend’s baby shower, planned by an extraordinarily talented family friend of ours, Lisa Hackman.  Lisa has an incredible gift for event decor and planning – she throws the most beautiful parties, showers, and weddings I have ever seen! She has such an eye for detail and makes sure that everything – down to the drink stirrers – is perfect!  I asked her if I could showcase this baby shower, because it was just too beautiful not to share with you!  Feast your eyes… READ MORE

May
27

My First Silhouette Project!

I got a new toy!     It came last week while we were on vacation…and it took a whole lot of will power not to open the box when we got home late late Saturday night and wait until the next morning instead!  I’ve been playing around with it a lot, and am starting to get the hang of how it all works.  I am definitely still learning, but I thought I’d share my first project with you – a birthday card for my sister-in-law!  I hope she likes it!   Do you have… READ MORE

May
24

Original Fridays #9

Happy Memorial Day weekend!   I am currently soaking up the sun on our last day of vacation at the beach in Palm Coast, FL  :-)  It has been a beautiful week, and I will be sad to leave tomorrow!   Needless to say, I haven’t been on the computer much this week…and haven’t been doing my usual weekly routine of posting on and browsing around link parties…so my Original Friday finds today are just from some Pinterest browsing.  And, since it’s Friday of Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d share with you some quick… READ MORE

May
22

Use a Dish Wand to Clean Your Shower

It actually WORKS!     Having pinned this LONG ago, I’ve been meaning to try it for quite a while.  My least favorite household chore is cleaning the bathroom…and of that, my most dreaded task is scrubbing the shower.  Needless to say, it doesn’t get done as much as it should!  So the idea of being able to clean the shower while I’m already in it taking a shower really appealed to me.  (Not to mention, a good excuse to stay in the shower a bit longer!)  But…is it too good to be true?  … READ MORE

May
20

Best Baby Shower Gift Ever!

One of the best gifts I received at my baby shower wasn’t on my registry.  It wasn’t adorable, or baby-sized, or cute and cuddly, or even something you’d find in the baby section of a store.  It was a folder.  And it was the best baby shower gift ever!     A folder with a place for every piece of paper that had been accumulating on my desk related to a baby that hadn’t even been born yet…and with places for very important pieces of paper we’d be receiving in those exhausting hours, days, and sleep-deprived weeks… READ MORE

May
17

Original Fridays #8

Gooooood morning and happy Friday to you!   I am especially happy this Friday…we are leaving today for the beach!  Woohoo!  It will be my 10 month old daughter’s first vacation…first trip to the beach…and first car ride over two hours…she can handle a 16 hour car ride, right?  :-/  Regardless, by Saturday evening we will be settled into our condo, relaxing on the balcony, and listening to the waves.  Ahhhh.   I have posts scheduled for next week and will have internet access on vacation…but I definitely won’t be around as much as usual.… READ MORE

May
15

Strawberry Spinach Salad

  This salad is seriously delicious.         It is so simple…strawberries, spinach, and almonds with a sweet and tangy balsamic poppy seed dressing.  Adjust the amount of sugar in your dressing to taste – I like it very sweet!           Especially this time of year, when strawberries are in season, it’s not an expensive salad to make, either!  It’s great to take to potlucks or dinner parties.  You’ll always come home with an empty bowl!           Make the dressing ahead of time.  I put… READ MORE

May
13

Baby Checklists: Postpartum Checklist

  This is the fifth post in my Baby Checklist Series: Free Printable Postpartum Checklist     Well, throughout this series we’ve talked about all kinds of things Baby will need after he’s born…now it’s time to talk a little bit about what Mama will need!     I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again because it bears repeating – everyone’s birthing experience is so very different, there is no one definitive checklist of things you definitely will or won’t need.  I had a fairly straightforward (though LONG) labor and deliver with a… READ MORE

May
10

Original Fridays #7

  Happy Friday to all!     I launched a Facebook page for Unoriginal Mom yesterday – so now we are “facebook official!”  I’d love it if you’d take a moment to stop by and like the Facebook page!     I had a blast co-hosting the Pinterest Power Party yesterday.  If you didn’t already, take a few minutes to browse through the links – there are some really great ideas there!  For Original Fridays today, I thought I’d feature a few of my favorites.       Half Baked Harvest made Margarita Chicken with… READ MORE

May
08

Pinterest Power Party!

I am so excited to be co-hosting the Pinterest Power Party this week along with the fabulous blogs Living on Love & Cents, The Taylor House, and Sew Much Crafting!  Make sure you click over to their blogs and follow along, and link up your latest posts and projects here…then visit a bunch of links and start pinning away! Hey friends! It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means! It’s time for the weekly Pinterest Power Party!! This party is to focus on YOU – the readers! Do you have a DIY project, frugal… READ MORE

stay-at-home mom to three beautiful children, wife to an incredible husband, and daughter of a loving God. I freely admit that I am not always the most creative or original person when it comes to crafting, decorating, organizing, cooking, etc...but I love being inspired by great ideas and putting my own spin on them! Look around, stay a while, and I hope through my *unoriginality* I can provide some inspiration to you, too!
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