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

Water You Wearing????

The boys in my house had a baseball night. They all left. And what do the girls do when there are no males around? We craft. We get out all the glitter and glitz and fabric and glue and we make stuff.
We decided to make bracelets. I've seen more than a couple tutorials online for different ways to do them. Here's our take. Keep in mind my girls are 4 and 10...so you can gage them for own little ones.

 

 We started with drinking waters earlier in the day- in preparation for the evenings' activities. The girls took the labels off so that the bottles started like this:

 

Then I cut the top and the bottom off

(I kept these- for some future products, just in case you hate wasting 'opportunity', too.)

Then we cut the bottle open. This allows you to {sorta} lay it out flat so that you can cut it into the thickness you want your bracelets.

This picture looks weird...I was holding the camera AND trying to show you my cutting, too. Just know, you can determine the size you want to cut here. Put it around your wrist and measure it out.

 

 Also, you can determine if you want to cut it to size length-wise, too. I cut mine down to size...but you could wait til later, too.

We used duct tape to cover the bottle- it gives more texture: something for everything else to hang-on to. After I laid the smaller (the girls') bracelets down I was able to fold the tape over length-wise, so it was fully covered (the hot-dog way, my daughter would say). The larger bracelet I folded the tape over the top (the hamburger way...I have no idea).

After the bracelets were covered in duct tape, we decided what we would cover them in and what we would "make them pretty" with. Here were our basic tools:

We glued the ric-rac to the bracelet- be careful not to touch the bracelet, it will melt.

 

 Then we added a rolled-fabric flower and a cute button!

My bracelet was twice as thick as the girls'.

I used orange satin ribbon and the glue gun to attach it to the bracelet. I wanted to do something a little 'Anthropology-esque'.

I wrapped mine in a rubber band while I helped the girls finish theirs.

I won't lie. We got these really great enamel necklaces in this last week.  I took it apart. I wanted to use it as a bracelet. I still need to clip the loops off of the flowers, but overall I love the look.

 We had a really fun time. I think if I was to change anything- I would probably double-up on the plastic bottles for my bracelet. It was terrific recycling and re-using items to make something my girls wore all day today.

Stop into the shop to see what's new or pop over to MMMblog to see what's being featured today!

 

Thumb-body Loves You!

I love this thumbprint necklace that I found {Here}. I just couldn't justify that kind of cost for it. 

I decided to make my own...times four. My little brother used to make me necklaces to match my more casual dance outfits when I was in high school. He used to roll the bead with craft clay that he would bake in the oven. He used to make all sorts of things. Which gave me an idea....

I headed out and took a gander at the local craft store and found me a couple of clay colors that I fancied.

I returned home and pulled out some parchment paper, a rolling pin, a cookie cutter {of sorts}, some letter stamps and the clay.

 I pulled a portion of the clay out of the package and I started to knead it- just with my fingers until it was more pliable. When it warmed up I rolled it out with my rolling pin on the parchment paper.

 Once it was rolled out, I used my lid to cut a circle out and called my little ones to do their part.

I had my kiddos wash and dry their little hands- mainly because they had been eating Cheetos and I though I love orange, I didn't want this one THAT orange.

I had the girls press their thumbs in the pearl colored clay and the boys on the metallic gray.

 Once they were done leaving their imprints I stamped each of their charms with their nicknames. {Something to consider: I put the letters on the side that will end up being upside-down to everyone else. Be aware of the letter stamp direction and readability.}

 I wanted to make sure that the necklace holels were big enough. - Double check yours- and I removed the toothpicks from the charms before I put them in the oven.

 I put the charms on the same parchment paper I had rolled and cut them out on on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven for 10 minuted {at 300 degrees}.

 I picked this one up off the cookie sheet almost immediately- look how cute!

 Here's the four of my charms together. I love it! Way less expensive than the metal version, easier to make and faster, too!  Just my style. ;)

 Check out MindyMaesMarket.com to see which vendor's product is up now!

And our blog: MMMblog  for our ORANGE ideas this week!