We're Condensing Into ONE...Redirecting you to Mindy Mae's Market!

We don't want you to miss anything we are doing- so we are condensing into ONE blog.

Thanks for stickin' with us!

xoxo Courtney and Nikki

Boutique, BABY!

It's kinda like Christmas...a lot like Christmas.

Both sides...the innocent, believing child Christmas and the adult, magic-making Christmas. Putting on a boutique take prep work, emails, phone calls, signs, ads, mailers, flyers, blog buttons and posts. I takes time to find the right vendors that will bring products that will make our friends feel that rush of excitement when they step in through our doors. It's fun to plan, to map out, to watch details and figure final steps in orchestrating something like this, but then....

It's that giddy, nervous, hopeful -yes-I-may-throw-up-out-of -pure-excited-ness feeling WE get to experience, too. As vendors come in and set up, as we set up...as we walk through all the amazingly fun goodies that all of these lovely vendors have worked so hard to assemble and present. I don't sleep the night before- just like Christmas.

So even if it's not in your budget- you don't have to buy a thing...those feelings are all free and we'd love for you to come and experience Mindy Mae's Market. :D

Faux Wood Monogram Frame

 I had some odds and ends lying around that I thought I would put to good use. I really like the wood- infused items I'm seeing EVERYWHERE...so I thought I'd try my hand at it. I started with an old picture frame, minus the glass.

Trace paper mache letter on the back of the paper.

 

Cut it out....

 

and apply spray adhesive (I'm sure the Craft Wars judges would see me off rather quickly.).

 

 

I added some more paper (just trace the sides and cut it out) to give it some more dimension.

I placed it in the middle to eyeball where I wanted it.

And commenced wrapping my letter first...then the frame with the wire.

I had some left over burlap from a past project. I knotted one end and started twisting and twirling it around itself.

I cut out a felt circle to give it some additional support and to keep it all together.

I added that with spray adhesive, too. {GASP!}

I took the remaining wire and twisted it around the top and side of the frame, ending at the flower. I attatched  the flower to the frame with it.

 

 

I'm totally digging it!  Wasn't sure if I would come together- but it did!

This into That: School Spirit Wreath

 I had this wreath form that I intended to make a second straw wreath with. I also need something a little fun for my classroom. So I pulled out the form.

Pink is not a school color- but I really didn't want to cause more damage by taking off the ribbon- so I left it. I found some navy felt- which IS a school color. :)

 

 I haphazardly cut the felt sheets into one inch to one and a half inch felt strips.

Weilding my hot glue gun I started wrapping the felt around the ribbon-covered form.

Here is the wreath covered in felt.

I ALSO found some left-over striped straws- PERFECT! I cut them into thirds and halves. I used about 25 straws.

 

 Then I started gluing...and tying- sorry I had to see how it might look! I glued the straws close to the inner edge of the wreath.

I then made a hanger for the wreath...you know, so it can hang.

I finished tying the ribbons around the bottom corner of the wreath. I tied the scraps around the wreath and then slid them to stagger a bit around the wreath.

Here's my cute SCHOOL SPIRIT wreath! All set to find it's way into my classroom!

Head over to MMMblog to see our features for Organization Solutions!

Organizing Solutions...taking over for MMMblog.

I am loving the fun, funky flair of this adorable pair!
Colorful rulers and bright coffee cans...all pulled together for a darling display! I have a craft-crush a burnin'!

Wanna join me in creating this fabulous decor?  BHG is the anwers to THIS desire! I think I even have a old can or two kicking around in some boxes. Now I have an excuse to go digging at my local flea markets and salvage yards!

I wanna...DIT

I went back to work this week. School starts next week but this week I've had trainings and other needed meetings scheduled most of (if not all of) everyday. We've had no medical emergencies this whole summer...until I went back to work.

This was Tuesday. Five stitches external, three inside.

Thursday was another trip to the doctor's office when my children happend upon a hornet's nest whilst on a walk with my {poor, sweet} Sister-in-law. Picture a newlywed woman without children of her own yet, trying to calm and gather FOUR frantic- bee following children. THEN keeping them that way and getting them to a vehicle around the block. AMAZING. Perfect execution.

 

So...crafting has slowed for today. Next up:  This DIY Spoon Mirror....I have some ideas for it in my classroom. Pretty excited.

Here's the tutorial I'm going to follow.

 

Also getting ready for our upcoming BOUTIQUE! So excited- it's been a while!

 

 

 

Loverly to be Late....

Getting ready for school involves getting classroom procedures in order...and everything you need to make them happen, too. I want my students not to interupt the class when they come in late. I needed something that would hold a clipboard and a place for their admits. Well, well. I just happened to have this little item- I think it was a wedding gift, no less.

 I knew I would use it- one day! ;) I pulled it out of the garage, cleaned it up, took the hardware off and started painting. Our school colors are navy, blue and orange.

 I liked this color a lot. It's not too navy OR too bright. A couple of coats and we were good to go.

 I had a clipboard lying around (no joke. I'm like addicted to things with clips.) I taped the clip and spray painted it orange (obviously).

 After it dried I flipped it over, hot glued ric-rac to the back and covered it with felt.

 I had a piece of paper that was laminated- I put it inside the frame and made marks where the corners of the frame were, took it out and cut the rectangle out. Then I painted this laminated paper orange, too.

 I did the same thing with this piece of white vinyl. I printed 'Late!' on a plain piece of printer paper- and using my trusty razor I cut it out of the vinyl. I taped the printed word over the top and cut through both papr and vinyl.

 I printed "admits" out, too. I cut it out and fit it into the label holder.

 I placed the vinyl over the top of the orange-painted laminated paper. I printed 'sign in here', cut it out and simply taped it to the sign. (I free-handed the arrow...aren't you impressed?)

And here's the final project. A sign, a place for admits and a clipboard for them to sign-in with! One step closer to school starting as well!
 

Turning Into A Shopper...or Teacher.

As I get ready for school to start I decided to browse for some ideas for my classroom on etsy and share. Here's the first from Sprinkled Joy.

I thought it was a good reminder.

 

 

DeonnaWade has these VERY cool AND functional chair pockets. I happen to only have tables and chairs so these would be nice for holding student's things in my classes.

 

 

 

I thought this was appropriate. And cute. Well, let's be honest. It's also practical AND functional.

I am in love.

 

Aleta Ford Baker Design has this HERE.

 

Spray Paint continues over at our MMMblog and we'd LOVE to see you on Facebook!

Changed from TakingShape on Aug 13, 2012

 

DIY (Ikea) Tulle Lampshade....

 

I saw this super-cute lamp in my Ikea catalog. I really wanted it. It was such a neat looking lamp. Then I saw the price tag. $99.00. Dang. I don't think I've ever paid more than $10 for a lamp. It was a good thought.

 

 

Then I had an even better idea. I found a couple lamp shades at the last DownEast  sale. I took all the paper off of it and grabbed the tulle I had in my craft stash.

 

I began by cutting the tulle into 2-ft pieces. I cut the tulle so that it was enough to tie around the top with excess and to tie/glue at the bottom of the lamp shade with excess as well.

Once the pieces were cut, I combined four pieces together and then tied them at the top of the lamp- four to each "side" and then a group of eight pieces of tulle around each of the wires going down the side.

 As you can see- I have quite a bit of excess tulle. With one end of the tulle tied at the top, I let the rest flow down, in preparation for gluing to the lamp shade form.

 

 I tied the corner tulle (covering the additional form wires)  to keep it out of the way- it's purple mainly to differentiate the parts.

I pulled the tulle in sections (there were four- one for each side of the form) one-at-a-time through the center of the lamp shade form. I hot glued the INSIDE of the form first and laid the tulle flat against it- as neatly as possible. When that cooled I glued the OTHER side of the form and pulled/wrapped the tulle around that. This allowed the tulle to flare out to the sides of the lamp shade.

After I glued it all, I trimmed the bottom tulle so that it was approx. 3 inches long.

Here's the lamp with a trimmed bottom and untrimmed top/

Then I cropped the top. I cut the tulle down to match the length of the bottom.

Using the extra tulle that I had been trimming off I started to add more "poof" to the bottom half of the lamp.

I gathered approximately four-ish small pieces together. I folded them down, glued down the center (folded again, so the pieces were all glued together) and then glued this filler piece to the underside of the lamp.

It looked like this:

 I just repeated what I had done with the first tulle - just smaller 'chunks'.

After I added what I wanted I turned it over and trimmed it down {again}.

I really am pleased with the way it turned out. I must say that I really thought this was going to be a craft FAIL. So, my total for this lovely little lamp? Tulle: $7.00, Lamp: $3.50, Lamp Shade $1.50. Total {ish} $12.00! Far cry from $99.00- so I'm pretty happy about it.

Check out the AMAZING spray paint tutorials submitted this week over at MMMblog!