Just US...thanking YOU.

This picture was taken at Ikea- one of the few trips we've taken to do "fun" stuff. It's currently the best picture we have of the two of us together. Both showered. ;)

I wanted to take a minute to tell you...{because you're reading this} "Thank you". Courtney and I started this amazing journey together with the desire to be creative, to build relationships and to allow us greater control of our own lives.

Mindy Mae's Market has brought all of this into our lives because of YOU. I want you to know that we watch your status updates on Facebook. We celebrate with you and discuss your vents and concerns that you've shared.  We stalk your blogs. We talk about your darling posts and about the ways that you have become endearing to us. We love to see you "take the next step" and branch out. We "awww" and coo over the pictures you post of your babies...human or otherwise. ;)We check out how your giveaways are going (and enter...with hopes of winning). We oggle your projects and make plans to do them, too. We talk about how we can grow with you...how we might be able to help...ways we wish we could help.

 

Thank you for sharing with us. Thanks for letting our relationships be more than bubble mailers and postage stickers. We appreciate you. We appreciate you investing in us. We want you to know that we try hard. Every. Single. Day. 

 

We will continue to. That's what you do for people that you care about. :)

 

Fancified Frames....Via Individual Rivalry and a DIT (Do-It-Too)

My friend Sheena from Individual Rivalry made this incredible frame on her site. I had to try it! I was fantastic - a frame and some glue. I decided to try it.

I had this old frame- completely nondescript. I wanted to use it for a really cute quote I hope to print.

I took Sheena's advice on her site and decided to give puff paint a go. I happened to have some from a craft I started and ended up going in another direction...like THAT ever happens, right?! {Gee, can you GUESS which holiday it MIGHT have involved?}

 

 

I'm not a great artist. My designs are not fantasmic. I know. I tried to copy a frame that I found on the Internet. This is to inspire YOU, okay?

I did the whole frame...I found that the different bottles had different 'flow'. The red came out more prone to air bubbles and splatters. I recommend buying at least two so that you can cover the entire frame and so that you have other means in which to fix flubs.

After the puff paint dried I took it into my garage and gave it ONE {yay!} coat of spray paint.

I did a few more small touch ups- just in case. (Actually, my youngest decided to pick some of the puff paint off and I had to do damage control.)

So now I need to find my way to a printer... but meanwhile- start thinking up some neat twists to this here terrific idea- Thanks Sheena!!

 

Check out MMMblog for our upcoming boutique announcement!!

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!

 

Tooth Paste Dispenser Cover-UP!

 We all probably have accured quite the washi tape collection. I know I am well on my way....

And it doesn't help that I KEEP finding ways to use it. I took my kids to Walmart tonight to make another dent in their back-to-school lists. While we were on the toothbrush aisle, my oldest reminded me that we had discussed trying a toothpaste dispenser. We hadn't been able to find on FOREVER. The only problem...we had a choice between Dora and Sponge Bob. Boo. I almost walked away. Until....I remembered I had WASHI TAPE!

We went with Dora...she seemed less...foreboding.

I came home and picked out my colors...and started wrapping. It took me three {magic number for me?} times around to fully cover Dora's Exploration on the contraption.

Once I finished wrapping I had some extra 'overage' of washi tape over parts that I needed to be NOT covered....

So I found my ever-illusive razor blade {not really a good thing in a house of four children}. It was almost magical at cleanly removing the excess washi tape.

 Once I had clean lines all around it was time for Mod Podge. {I'm kind of glad I can type it because I'm pretty sure I say it wrong.}

Here's the second coat of Mod Podge. I let it dry completely and then I assembled the parts (two, not counting the toothpaste tube I added).

We attached it the mirror and we are set to conquer the toothpaste explosions that seemed to occur so regularly in my children's bathrooms.

Have you already purchased {and thrown out?} this addition to my bathroom?

How did it work for you?

Kiddo Craft...Sort of. ;)

I invited a few friends over with the FULL intention of letting the kids do this craft. I was going to visit and oversee the glue-gun usage...that was all. UNTIL my friend starting pulling out all these MMM goodies I have stashed in my office. Add to that the really INCREDIBLE buttons we just got into the shop...we couldn't resist.

We started with the SUPER cute felt MMM just started selling. We each picked a piece and measured on the "wrong" side of the felt- or the side you don't want showing at the very end. We measured 5 1/2 inches by 7 inches - marked the felt with a ball point pin .

I marked mine in a couple places so that I could "connect-the-dots" I used a piece of paper to trace straight measurement lines onto my felt. I cut it out with REGULAR scissors first.

Then I used pinking shears to cut around the outside. You could omit this part, or only do the inside (the opening) part or just the outside edges...whatever!

We folded the felt so that the two shorter sides met up in the center. I put a {little} dab of glue on each of the inside corners of the felt so that it would hold while I sewed. I hate when multiple parts move around when you are trying to complete something.

We all just did a basic stitch. We used some BAKER'S TWINE I had lying around- it was my friend's idea. She's pretty clever.

She mentioned to make sure you start on the inside of the edge when you start so that you don't have the knot on the outside....and to end the same way.

After we sew the ends, we began embellishing! We let the kids tell us what ideas they had for their holders.

Did you spy buttons, ric rac (both BIG and SMALL), baker's twine, buttons...colored, shapes and hearts, lace tape, AND ribbon?  WHEW! It was a FUN, FAST craft and I think we may make some more- after we buy a new glue gun.  Did you know that a glue gun struggles to work properly after a four year-old pulls a half-melted stick out the wrong end? Yeah. I didn't either.

Check out the TULLE feature over at MMMblog!