I'm happy to announce that I'm a participant in Portland's Rebuilding Center's 2020 inaugural Salvage Showdown.  My furniture piece is available for purchase by chance of raffle, with funds helping support the non-profits Constructing Hope and the RBC.  Please consider voting for my piece by purchasing a raffle ticket.  The project piece receiving the most raffle ticket purchases will be presented with their SCRAPPY award and bragging rights.

IFirst, THE BUILD:
During the Salvage Showdown, up to 8 individuals or teams will compete to build the most interesting/beautiful/creative/weird piece of furniture using only reclaimed materials from the ReBuilding Center. Builders work in their own spaces over the course of one month. Anything (really, anything) is possible!

Then, THE JUDGING:
Finished items will be on display in all their glory from October 17-22 at the ReBuilding Center and posted across our social feeds, where customers and supporters will vote for the winning salvage creation and purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win one of the finished pieces.
Finally, THE WINNERS:
On October 22, the ReBuilding Center will host a live Zoom event where all pieces will be raffled off to eight lucky winners, and the winning creation will be revealed! The winning team will receive The Scrappy, a custom, trophy hand-built by ReBuilding Center staff and guaranteed to be unique.
In recognizing the value of community partnerships, ReBuilding Center will donate 50% of the raffle proceeds to our friends at Constructing Hope to support their mission and participants!

The RBC accepted 7 builders, DIYers, artists, designers, and dreamers as Builders in the Salvage Showdown!

We had until October 16th to create a beautiful/weird/unique/unlikely piece of furniture that is at least three feet long in any dimension (three feet tall, wide, or deep).

The finished pieces will be showcased in the RBC store for one week and ranked by community vote. The builder of the winning piece will receive The Scrappy, a custom trophy hand-built by ReBuilding Center staff. Each piece will be raffled off to a lucky winner and the ReBuilding Center will donate half of the proceeds to our friends at Constructing Hope. Final pieces will be displayed in store and online for ticket purchasing starting October 17th.

Raffle Ticket Pricing
1 @ $15
2 @ $30
3 @ $40 (save $5!)
4 @ $55
5 @ $65 (save $10!)
6 @ $80
7 @ $95
8 @ $100 (save $20!)

Please show my fellow builders some love for their kind donation of their time and skills.  It's amazing how all of us came up with such different concepts all from the RBC's selection of reclaimed materials.

WOODEN TOP KITCHEN CART - Builder: Adam Zeek | Instagram | Website
HANGING SHELF - Builder: Ashley Krollenbrock | Instagram
LEANING DESK AND SHELF - Builder: Dana Luukko | Instagram
PLANT STAND WITH LIGHT - Builder: Daniel Goers | Instagram | Website
TABLE WITH VASES - Builders: Team Mayest | Instagram | Website
KITCHEN CART WITH DRAWERS - Builders: Team True North | Instagram | Website

For more information about the RBC please visit their website: RBC or drop by their retail location at 3625 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR 97227

Just for fun!  I'm sharing my original Holiday spray labels.  For me they represent all the years I've spent creating retail Holiday trims.  I think of them as mementos.  For you, they can be a fun item to display, create hijinx with your Elf on a Shelf or beef up your Jack Frost street credibility. 
The images are sized for a traditional spray can.  If you need them larger just dial up your print percentage.  I recommend using empty spray cans of course.  You wouldn't want lil' ones spraying black spray on your frosty windows.

Hey there Today's Creative Life friends, welcome!  As a thank you for TCL's love and support in the blogosphere I'm offering Kim's pals a chance to win a $100.00 art shopping spree from my art collection.  Kim at TCL has been kind enough to introduce me to you all over the years.  She and I teamed up awhile back to makeover her son Lucas's bedroom.  You may remember .

Kim challenged me to redo his room with a 300.00 budget.  Boy do I love a good challenge.   Let's just say I squeaked in at about 297.00.  I had just enough left over for a cup of coffee.
That makeover has since become a Pinterest darling and even won best of Houzz 2014, along with one of my nursery designs.  What do ya know...

So here's the skinny on the shopping spree-

When author, TV personality and designer Kathy Peterson sent me an email saying she needs a man, I almost clicked the spam button.  Sure, she and I are Facebook banterers keeping each other's spirits high with humor and accolades, but this proclamation had me perplexed.  In reading further, that was just the tip of the iceberg, she needed five men.  Now, before I lead you on too far and tarnish the respectable and admirable reputation of the talented KP, let me share with you her exciting idea.

In association with Flip-Pal ©, Kathy was assembling her team of Men, five men who create.  Her invitation was for us to test drive the mobile scanner, that was awarded the Craft and Hobby Associations Innovation award in 2010.

To run it through it's paces with a different breed of animal, joining me are the talented Suede Baum - Fashion designer and TV personality from the Project Runway, Ken Oliver - The Accidental Crafter, Martin Amado - Interior designer and HGTV design host, and Mark Montano - Author of The Big Ass Book of Crafts.

While my resume of notoriety is dwarfed by these high profile men of design, Kathy knows that my magical world of Embellishments can put any product through a warfare of art and craft.  I'll put it to the test and share with you how it does keeping up with kid's design, prop making and the overall theme overload we see here in the studio.  I unwrapped mine today and have just begun to play with it.

Every Thursday during December, the guys and I will be updating our blogs with our Flip-Pal© experiences and sharing our creations.  To keep with the "man" theme, I wonder if we all scan our manly abs, could we start a Men of Flip-Pal calendar?  I better scan and crunch, scan and crunch
Crunch...1,2,3...Crunch 4,5,6... whew!  Could I please have a stunt double, or an ab stand in?

Here are links to my cohorts.
Happy Hopping!
-Aaron

Suede Baum - http://suedesays.com/blog     
Ken Oliver - http://kensworldinprogress.blogspot.com/
Martin Amado - http://www.martinamado.com/
Mark Montano - http://markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com/