Just a Reminder....

...that today is the last day to vote here for me, #87!

And, thanks to those who have already voted.

***It's time to VOTE!!! {I'm #87}*** Ode to Mandi (Vintage Revival)

Mandi, oh Mandi with an 'i' at the end of your name

You are so awesome and no one is to blame.

Mandi, oh Mandi you have to stay up late

to get your stuff on Nate (Berkus, that is).

Mandi, oh Mandi you can turn something made of plastic,

that can only be described as "craptastic".

Mandi, oh Mandi there are no ifs, ans, or buts

we will always 'love your guts'!!

Why, you ask, did I just write a fabulous ode to someone I have never even met?
For this, of course!!!

Not only do I LOVE her crap-tastic redos, but I appreciate her honesty and openess with her husband's addiction.  So, here's the deal, you vote for me, I  win and  Mandi will go to the winners house for 1 week and redo the room of their choice. If you would like to sneek a peek at Mandi at my house all you have to do is go here and vote for me #87. Polls close Tues. May 2 at midnight!  So, hurry fast and vote for me!!! <please>  If I get my wish, and win, I will invite anyone over for a post-craptastic party to check out my new pad.

So, here are my reasons that Mandi has to come to my house:

1. Porter

She can feed him ice cubes. And, his mouth is so big that he can hold things for her. He will even pick something up and hold it in his mouth before she even asks him to.

2. My kids

My son is 8 and loves to paint. And my daughter is 10 and a half, and is already finding her style.

3. Thrift stores

Because I live in the Salt Lake valley, we have many options to choose from.  Within 20 miles from my home there are 12  DI's, 4 Savers, an IKEA, 7 Salvation Armys, and Restore (leftover home items from Habitat for Humanity builds).  Not to mention all the fabulous garage sales that will be happening in June!!

4. TOOLS

source

My hubby has a plethora of tools at her disposal: Table/chop/circular saws, brad nailer-with air compressor, power drills-both plugged and cordless, and a hand sander (which is actually mine).

5.  My Great Room

 yes, we keep sheets on our couches all the time because of that dog in the picture. I have a grand idea for that big wall , think fire and place (faux for now). The clock gets lost in the room, so I want that redone. And, this paint has been up for 6 years now, it's time for something fresh. And, the coffee and end table have seen better days, so I want redo them as well.

 this wall used to have a large fishtank in front of it that has since been moved downstairs. I have an onld window that I want to make into a sofa table. And, that picture of Christ is just too small, so I have a large 24x24 frame that I want to put our last family picture in. (pic will be 12x12)

 this hallway baffles me. I want to put something there so it's not a blank wall. But, we have the cold air return and my son's door on the left, sits further back than our door, so anything that's there may get run into. I want this dresser to go in the next spot, and I want to turn it on it's side to make a bookshelf bench.

 this looks like this all the time.  Because I have nothing there, it becomes a catch-all.

 this is the landing of our stairs, cuz that's part of the great room isn't it?  I think so since you see this from the couch. 

and, speaking of catchalls.  This photo is meant to be blurry. This is right outside our laundry room and it becomes the landing for all our laundry-clean, of course.  I would love some kind of console, buffet, something there for our church bags, resuable shopping bags, or anything else we can't find a home for.

And, 6. Crap that is begging to be redone

 these are freebies given to us. I have been wanting to redo them ever since we moved in.

 remember the landing on the stairs? I want to take this, split it in half lenghtwise and make a corner shelving unit with this.

yes, I have started hoarding lamps. I love this set and I want to put it on the old window sofa table under the large family photo.

and, apparently our table isn't inspiring enough to take our easter baskets off to sit down and eat dinner. Actually, we eat Sunday dinner here and spend the rest of the week in our awesome basement.

So, please find it in your heart to vote for me-or you can do it for Porter in the above picture. Have your mom, sister, bff, dog, guinea pig and chicken vote as well.  I will keep my promise if I win to have a fabulous reveal party at my home with all the Mandi-ness craptastic style you can handle!!

Hitting the books

I know that this isn't crap craft related, but please just humor me!!

I have made the decision to go back to school.  It has become apparent to me that this is the direction I need to take in order to continue helping my family.  I know that I will be a big adjustment, as I will be away from home 3 nights a week for four weeks.  I don't know how that will affect Alex, but I pray that he is mature enough to handle it.  Hopefully, playing tball on the 2 other nights a week will be enough of a distraction for him not to notice.  Jayci says that she is excited for me to do this even though I know that she will still miss me those nights.  I talked to my bro, Ty about all this, and he reminded me that you are never too old to learn something new.  He also said that it helps that I have been thinking about and wanting to do this for a long time, that it's not a fleeting thought, or something I am doing on a whim.  I also have 1000% support from Jason.  I know that I could not do this without him, as he will be a single dad for a few nights a week.

I am not going to tell you what I will be studying; you will need to guess.  I will give you a few hints.  And, if no one has guessed right, I will tell you once I finish my first class on Mon. May 2nd (yeah, I'm staring that soon!). 

1.  Like I said, I will be able to work for dozens of different companies.
2.  I will even be qualified to work in another state-it is a National certification.
3.  I have never worked in this field before.
4.  I have been interested in doing it since Jayci was born-in fact, I read about this opportunity the day after.
5.  It will allow me to work over the summer but still give me the time to do boutiques-my real passion.

Good luck on your guesses!

the fine print:  those of you who I have talked to about this-ie: Mom, Ty, & Dee (since I know that Ty has talked to you about this) are not eligible to guess.  You may, however, offer well wishes and words of encouragement.

Summer Craft Classes

Stay tuned for more information on how you can pass the summer creatively.  There will be kid classes, mom classes and mom and kid classes.  They will be offered Tues, Weds, and Sat morning, afternoon and evenings (for moms only). All projects will be $5 or less for kids and $10 or less for moms. Let me know if you are interested in this and include the best day and time frame for you.

Before & After

I have been working like crazy on boutique items {see previous post} and during this time, I have been going through my own home decor to liven it up.  I have had this sign (it says: Laundry drop your drawers here)

hanging in my laundry room for awhile now, but it has been bugging me that the lighter vinyl just blends in with the stain.  And, I didn't want to repaint it because I love the rustic look.  So, as I was looking through blogs, I came across this post and thought -doh!! Why didn't I think of that?!?  Anywho, this is the result.  I really like it. I think that I may be doing more of this masking technique in the future.

Spring Boutique

This past weekend my items were being sold in a boutique at Pioneer Hall right across 7800 from Gardner Village.  It turned out to be pretty successful. This gal hosts them four times a year and I can't wait to do another one with her. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

My display (I am working on streamling this-any ideas are welcome)

 DMarie Photgraphy

 Hearfelt Wall Hangings (the hostess)

 Iva Lillie

In the meantime....

If you are wanting to see what I will be selling on the website, I have listed a few things on ebay. The buy it now prices will be the price point of my items. Here are the links:

Believe wood sign

Joy word blocks

Peace word blocks

Merry Christmas word blocks

Ho Ho Ho word block

4x4 wood pumpkins

2x4 wood pumpkins