I know that according to the Chinese New Year we are up for a year full of horses. But I would like to submit for your approval, a beast that is a little bit more exciting than the horse. Meet the Bison.
Counting down the animal trends that have owned the internet from the conception of Vintage Revivals, we have the bird:
Or how about this AMAZING watercolor printable from one of my favorite artists in the entire world Ashmae Hoiland. That girl has MAD skills.
And last but not least. This is something I am FREAKING excited about. How about this Geometric Bison that is a Vintage Revivals exclusive for Cricut? My girl Jamie designed a whole Geometric Menagerie that will be rolling out in the next month. (I have a post explaining all things Cricut coming at the beginning of next week so sit tight!)
Go ahead. Tell me you don’t love them. It’s just not possible.
Hey guys!! Hope you are having such a fantastic week!!
Today we are just chatting like the besties we are! I hope that is ok! Sometimes I just feel so detached from the world, sitting behind my computer talking about decorating all day. Speaking of besties. Court and I were leaving church on Sunday and talking to another couple. The subject of having adult friends (or lack thereof) came up and Court said “Well, Mandi has a bunch of invisible internet friends, and I have employees.” How is that for honest…and a little disturbing?
I have found a new favorite snack. Boom Chicka Pop Cheddar and Carmel Popcorn. It is so fantastic I have been reliving my college days of living off of one type of food. Court is not amused.
The funniest thing happened last week, it makes me laugh out loud every time I think about it. Dylan still sleeps in our bed. I know. It is reeeeeeediculous. But I sort of love having a cuddle buddy, and she is just growing up so fast! Anyways. It was 11:30ish and I was on the computer working. Wallace our Boston Terrier (who is notorious for his horrible gas) was buried deep underneath the covers. The covers started rustling and he sleepily walked out from underneath them, farted, and then climbed back underneath (I mean, I cant blame him, I would NOT want to be trapped underneath there with that either.) Then out of the blue, Dylan sits straight up and says “Ugh, Wallace! That was horrible!” then laid down and went back to sleep. They were both instantly asleep and I was left stifling a laugh while simultaneously gasping for air.
I hate the twinge of regret that comes after you pass something awesome up at the thrift store. Believe it or not, this painting is what I am heartbroken about.
I know. It is snort inducing. I cant believe I didn’t get it. I hope that whoever scooped it up loves him as much as we would have.
Do you ever have moments where it just hits you how big your kids are getting? After a bath this week I was doing Dylan’s hair and she stuck her foot on the foggy bathroom mirror. It took me be surprise how big her footprint was! And then like 30 seconds later, Ivie walked in wearing one of my shirts and it sort of fit her. WHY?! It is breaking my heart!!
We have a new favorite family game in our lives. It is THE BEST. Period. In this history of ever. It’s called Telestrations and it is sort of like drawing Telephone, you start with a word or phrase and then draw a picture of it. Then you pass your book and the person next to is only allowed to see the picture that you drew. They write down what they think it is and pass the book. The person next to them can only see what they have written and has to draw a picture of it. You pass the booklet around to everyone playing, and trust me when I say, it is laugh so hard you cant make any noise funny. Here is a link to the game on Amazon. And just so you can get the idea here is one of our rounds:
I will admit, this is one of the cleaner versions, but it is seriously the funnest game of my life.
Ok now it’s your turn! Tell me what is going on in your neck of the woods!
Happy Monday my loves!! I thought it might be a little fun to start off this week with a glance backward. I have been so busy with projects and holiday’s and being out of town that it has been a long time since I have hit up my beloved thrift store. Finally on Friday I had a few minutes to stop by and MAN the Thrifting Gods must have missed my happy face, because I totally scored!
First find on the list is this Mid Century coffee table set.
The tops are made out of Formica and I LOVE the gold inlay. It reminds me of the facade of “It’s a Small World”. But the legs are what sold me. Price? $15 for the coffee table and $12 for each of the two tier end tables.
Thrift Store Art is my favorite kind. It just makes me SO happy! Last year I even did a series on it called Thrift Store Art Warms My Heart.
So my heart was basically on fire when I found this embroidered bird picture. I am mighty obsessed with the colors and the different patterns. It was a little expensive at $10 but I knew that if I didn’t get it, I would regret it. Art is a lot easier to find a home for than a piece of furniture.
I also found these black and white sketches of the organs in the LDS Tabernacle and Assembly Hall. They totally remind me of these pictures I found last year.
The one thing that I did pass up? A giant bag of Pogs. I ALMOST bought them but they were $25 and I couldn’t justify spending more on a bag of Pogs than I did on a table.
You guys!! I am sharing all of my secrets this week! I am an over-sharer to my core, so now that I’ve started, well hold on, cause its a whirlwind.
One of the biggest secrets that I have had to keep tight lipped about (and when I say tight lipped I mean the NDA basically said that they would own my family if I blabbed…)
Now. I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing (and verbalized it A LOT).
Cricut? Like the scrapbook paper cutter that makes things in cutesy fonts and pastel paper? No thank you.
Cricut? Like the company that only lets you create with predesigned cartridges? Nope, I like to design things myself, thankyouverymuch.
Cricut? Like the pinnacle of Mormon Housewife-hood? ( I can say that, I’m Mormon.)
Cricut was not my friend. Cricut was something I was super judgy about.
Let me give you a little bit of a back story on the whole situation so you know where I am coming from. I have this friend, we will call her Mallie…because that is her name. We met when Vintage Revivals was 3 months old. At the time she was the PR girl for Deco Art. We got to know each other so so well and I completely love her. About a year and 1/2 ago Mallie moved to Utah (from back east) to work for Cricut. I was pretty sure that we would have to not be friends any more about it. Then just over a year ago while I was in Salt Lake, I met Mallie and a few other amazing people for lunch to talk Cricut. She basically told me that even though she could tell me NOTHING about the new machine, or where the new CEO was taking the company, that I needed to trust her and get on board.
Up until this point I had been pretty hardcore Team Silhouette. There were issues that I had with the software, and the machine, and the company in and of itself, but not anything huge enough to willingly give it up for Cricut (me being judgy again). But it was Mallie, and I knew she wouldn’t lead me astray. I fought with it for a while. Finally after realizing that there were a lot of places that Silhouette was coming up short and that there did have to be something better, I took a huge risk and stopped posting about Silhouette completely so that I could give the blog a chance to breathe. (I didn’t want to tell you to buy a Silhouette, then the next week tell you how fantastic a Cricut was.) So a year later, here we are. If the Cricut didn’t change my mind, then I could go back to blogging about Silhouette and no one would notice.
In September I had a chance to go to Cricut headquarters to get a sneak peek of the Explore and the new user interface Design Space. You guys. I literally started to cry while I was there because everything was just SO GOOD. They had exceeded every expectation that I had ever had. They had addressed every concern and problem that I had ever encountered with a machine. They had taken ideas that were so far ahead of where anyone else was that, well, it was beautiful (insert sob).
Cricut knows the way that they are perceived (not unlike the way that I used to feel about them) but they are changing in massive ways.
So I would love to share with you the 10 things that converted me completely. Please keep in mind that I have both the Silhouette Cameo and the Portrait and have had my Explore since December. So I have had a good amount of time to really test it out. And I have werked it.
1. The Cricut Explore Is Just A Tool:
The most perspective changing thing that I discovered (hands down) was that the Explore is no longer in the same class as their previous machines or as Silhouette’s. The Explore is a just tool. Just like a saw, or a drill. You aren’t limited to what you can make with a drill, the Explore is the same way. No longer will projects be defined by a specific look because that is what you are limited to using. You can use it to create on virtually any material (more on this next!) and you are not limited by what they tell you you can make with it.
2. Cutting Materials That Will Blow Your Mind:
I love to push things. I don’t know, its just my nature to go as far as I can. When they told me that I could cut leather, wood, extremely thick fabric, and about 50 other materials I was like, GAME ON CRICUT. And that is exactly what I did. Check out my business cards. Awww yeah, they are cut out of 1/32” Birch Plywood.
I used sticker felt and my Cricut Explore to make a custom stamp that I used in Macie’s Bedroom Makeover. Just a little something that I had never seen before. This was totally new territory. I went to Joann’s and bought sheets of really thick stiff felt that had an adhesive backing. The Explore cut it like butter.
3. The Machine is Intuitive and Simple:
One problem that I had with the Silhouette was having to manually adjust the speed, and pressure, as well as adjusting the blade length on the dial. The Explore has the Cut Smart system that senses the pressure that the material needs, changes speed based on the design and has one dial that has presets for everything from lightweight paper, to poster board. There is also a setting for a Custom Cut. In the Custom Cut drop down menu there are materials listed that you have never dreamed of cutting. Or you can create your own by setting the pressure and the # of times you re-cut it. Speaking of re-cutting (this is a simple thing but I just had to share it with you!) when the Silhouette does multiple passes on an image it cuts the entire image and then does it again, and again. The problem with doing this is that it frequently gets out of alignment and your project is ruined. When the Explore cuts multiple passes, it cuts the same section of the design multiple times before it moves on to the next. Genius.
4. User Friendly Design Interface:
So Simple. Always up for a challenge, I can usually figure a difficult task out, and if something is too simple I feel like I don’t have the ability to really create something spectacular (does that make sense to anyone else? Bueller?) Design Space is so simple Ivie my 10 year old can use it, but I don’t feel like they have dumbed it down and lost any of the abilities that I want. It is simple and fantastic. Design Space is a web-based software. This means that all of your projects are stored in the cloud. No crying over losing files if your computer crashes.
Design Space works in Layers like PS, but it is SO simple. I think I have used the word simple about 15 times in the last paragraph. If you look closely in this picture you can see how quick it is to change something from Cut to Write or Score.
5. Cut Wirelessly AND From Your iPad:
This is HUGE!!! All of the machines have a port for a wireless adaptor (you can buy it here). Cricut has also developed an app for Design Space so that you can cut and draw, exactly like you would on your desktop on your iPad. This is the great thing about having a web based software, all of the updates are automatic and the app will be free to use.
6. You Don’t Need A Cartridge EVER AGAIN!
This was kind of the deal breaker for a lot of people, you could only create what was already created. That is now dead in it’s tracks. You can upload JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, SVG, & DFX files for FREEEEEEE! If you are the happy owner of a Cricut cartridge or 73 good news, there is a port on the Explore that you plug them into and you also have the ability to upload them to your Design Space account and they will be saved on there forever! You never have to plug in the cartridge again! If you have linked your cartridges to Craft Room they will transfer over to Design Space when you register there!
7. Drawing!
The Explore comes equipped with a dual carriage that has a spot for cutting, and a spot for writing or scoring. and when I say writing, I mean writing. The pen just clicks in and any image that you upload can be changed from a cutting project to a writing project with one click. I love that I can create a font in my own handwriting and the Explore can sketch it out. Check out the detail on the this leather notebook. The entire thing (minus the stringing) was make with my Explore!
8. Storage!
Being a messy creator I am ALWAYS misplacing tools. Taking the Gold Medal for best idea ever, the Explore has 3 different compartments for your tools. The cup on the top, the large storage on the bottom will hold all of the Cricut tools, and the small one on the right has a magnet for your blades so they never roll away. One other bit of fantastic engineering is that the Explore is up on legs, and your mats will slide right underneath and out of the way.
There are about a million other reasons that I love the machine, but the one that I am most excited about involves YOU!
9. Make It NOW!
For REALS!! Cricut has asked a handful of extremely talented bloggers (Kim from TomKat Studios, Emily, Nicole, and Jenna from Small Fry, Kelly from Studio DIY, Amy from The Idea Room, Rachel from Handmade Charlotte, Jen from Tatertots and Jello, Jen Goode, and myself pssst! I don’t know how I was included in this group) to create projects exclusively for Design Space using their new tool Make It Now. We do all the hard work, all you have to do is pick a project, click the Make It Now button, and load the materials that you are cutting. Everything is cut, sketched, scored, and sized to create the project EXACTLY like we have designed. How cool is that?! I will have more info on this in a few weeks when the first projects roll out!
10. Ashish:
Ashish is the CEO that has changed everything for Cricut. His passion and excitement are like nothing I have ever seen before. He makes things happen that are only a dream. He thinks that everyone should have the chance to create and is doing everything in his power to make that possible. He truly listens to feedback. In fact, while I was at ALT, I was sitting by Ashish at dinner. They had announced the Explore the day before and were getting a lot of feedback from customers who were upset about not being able to cut SVG files for free (they were part of the new subscription plan). So he decided that it needed to change, and made me pinky promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone before he could, that SVG files were going to be available for anyone in Design Space to cut for free. Its like Cricut is run like a small town business and not a huge corporation. It is amazing and really fascinating to watch.
Phew that was a lot of words. I just want to make sure that you are equipped with the information that you guys need to make an informed decision.
The Cricut Explore on sale right now! Check it out here, What are you waiting for?! Get your cute butts over there now so that we can be Cricut buddies!
tl;dr I am completely and utterly in love with my Explore and I cant wait for you to get one too!
Make sure you come back tomorrow, I am spilling all of the hacks I have learned with my Explore!
It is time for part dos of the crazy clean up! If you missed yesterday’s post, you might want to check it out…it is guaranteed to make you feel better about your life. So lets get to it!
Do your kids have a bathroom that you aren’t in very often? That is the way it happens at our house. Ivie is in charge of cleaning it and I don’t really dig around in there unless I am missing something. The problem is that everything gets put into a drawer.
It looks like I don’t even know what. Oh wait. Yes I do. Remember the lady that lives in the dump on Labyrinth? Yes. Like that.
Which is dumb, because there is a closet in the bathroom with fantastic storage. Do you know what is stored in there? Nothing. It is full of nothing of importance at all.
My girls are a little bit older so I don’t worry about keeping cleaning supplies out of reach. But I still wanted them to be up a little bit higher in case someone with a curious toddler (Brooke I am looking at you) comes over.
Sometimes, to make projects even funner you need to amp up the DIY factor…insert my favorite charcoal gray from Sherwin Williams Iron Ore and about 30 minutes.
Updating an old ugly vase also makes things much cuter in closet land.
I wish I had a picture of myself trying to take this picture. The closet is directly behind the sink and there is little to no space between them. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe…
Precariously Perched Problem:
The last thing that I tackled on my rampage, is well, there aren’t actually words other than “oh my Mandi.”
I have a problem.
See this closet? This is where I keep all of my little knick knacks that I have thrifted and picked up over the years that I love. The problem that I have been having is that most of the items are breakable and there isn’t enough shelf space for them to all have their own little home. So precariously perched is the theme of this closet.
There were things in that closet that had no business being there. A huge basket of random electronics and cords? Please. That is just ridiculous.
I pulled a few things out that belonged in my garage and put together a pile of things to donate and wouldn’t you know, there IS space in there! Ivie walked by when I was doing this and said “Wow mom, you have a lot of animals…and metal fruit….and wooden bowls.”
If you havent had a chance to enter the giveaway for $200 to The Home Depot and a whole slew of P&G supplies go here!
If you are feeling the organizing itch, you will for sure want to check out this fun site with a bunch of organizing ideas!
You know those people who just SO lucked out when it comes to genetics? Like they got the best of everything that their parents literally have to offer?
Well. When it comes to matters of the mind and basic life skills, I got the crap end of the gene pool. (at least that is what I am blaming it on…)
The first problem is that I am creative (its a blessing or a curse, depending on if you are talking to me or Court.) He even went so far as to tell his Grandpa that I have Project Diarrhea. It never ends, there is no holding it back, and it effects everyone around me. You are welcome for that visual. Lovely.
The second problem is that I am a RAGING 7. If you have no idea what I am talking about, take this personality quiz, it is my favorite one ever! Being a Seven means that I love to have new exciting things going on at all times. If its not exciting, I am not doing it. It also means that and I quote “sevens have a tendency to be ungrounded; getting lost in plans or fantasies.” There is no such thing as simply organizing a drawer. We are going to organize EVERY drawer, cabinet, closet in the house, and while I’m at it, I am going to start going to the gym, reading and meditating every single morning before I check my email, make a home cooked meal every night AND clean up after it, start 3 new blogs, train the dog and completely redesign my kitchen. All because of a drawer that had too many tools in it. Want to know how many of those things will actually happen? Only the really fun one.
Today I am airing all my dirty laundry (literally). Please don’t judge me. I am so far from wonderful it is embarrassing. Phew. Here we go!
I know that I may be on the extreme end of the spectrum when it comes to order and organizing (with my girl Jen on the complete opposite side, she is AMAZING!) but that doesn’t mean that I LIKE to live like this. It in fact drives me insane. I can never find anything that I need because everything goes everywhere. Case in point. A few days ago I couldn’t find a Philips head screwdriver anywhere. Which is so lame, because we literally own 10 + about 30 interchangeables. I mean, we have more screwdriver tips than Home Depot. I searched everywhere for a good 20 minutes. Guess where I found not 1, but 3? The bathroom drawer. Right next to the toothpaste and (wait for it) a butter knife.
I desperately needed to come up with a solution that could help me pull my crap together, without getting distracted. I really don’t have ADD, I just want to do something enjoyable. At all times.
Laser focus. So here are a few things that I do or have started implementing in my life.
I pulled out a few bins from the garage and labeled them:
I started in the kitchen. Every drawer and cupboard was cleared out. Everything that is supposed to live in the garage went in one bin.
Everything that was crafting/project supplies when in a second bin.
Everything that was the girl’s went in a third bin.
Everything that was decor related went in a fourth bin.
I was SHOCKED at how much more storage I had when everything was separated.
Then I toted my totes around every room in the house and left order and unicorn tears in my wake. It was beautiful.
Catch All Permission Granted:
One of the other problems that I face is that I am always bringing things into the house for projects. Tools/supplies/finds, you know, the stuff that makes up Vintage Revivals. I know myself. I am not going to put things where they are supposed to be when I get home. I needed a designated area to put things like this. And I know that you are probably not bringing these specific types of treasures in your home on a daily basis, but this would totally work for the things that you frequently stack on the closest flat surface to the front door.
I went to Homegoods (of course I did) and bought this really great reed basket for $25. This is literally my catch all. Everything that is a blog related supply goes into the basket until I need it or have time to put them all away. Doing this totally cuts down on my “I should be more on top of life” guilt, because it is supposed to be filled with stuff, that is why I bought it! Hooorah!
Once everything was clean, I did a quick run through with the Swiffer Steamboost and felt like I had actually accomplished something for the day.
Let me start off this post with the hugest apology ever! Last week was a crazy one full of traveling, and hanging out with my favorite friends, and massive sicknesses. So please please forgive the radio silence, you guys know what its like when life just takes over, right?
It is time for the first ever Rock What Ya Got Party! If you remember we chatted about it here. If you are new, let me explain.
Whenever I bring a new treasure home Court just looks at me and says “Where are you going to put that?” And then I happily float into the garage and add it to the treasures that are taking up my half. (Ok it is more like two thirds. But who is measuring?)
The problem in this situation is that I have treasures that I have long forgotten about. And who can forget the ever present “But I cant get rid of that, I might use it!” excuse?
So here is what we are going to do. It is a fun thing I like to call MOTIVATION! Once a month we are going to have a Rock What Ya Got party. You can play along on Vintage Revivals by linking up a blog post, or on instagram using the #rockwhatyagotparty hashtag.
Here is the other deal. This link up is for new projects only. I get it, you are excited about that dresser that you painted last June and still want everyone to see it. But this is not that. We are doing NEW projects. New. Like sparkly newborn baby new. Yes? The whole point is to do something new. How about if I throw one more NEW in there for effect? New.
So here are a few things you need to know about our fun new club:
The Rock What Ya Got party will be opening today, and will be open for one week.
Feel free to link up any type of project, as long as it is using something that you already had at home. (You can obviously buy a few supplies to work your magic) The project has to be (say it with me!) NEW!
I will be sharing some of my favorites every month on my social media channels and in the Vintage Revivals newsletter!
Not to mention all of the other happy applause from other Rock What Ya Gotters.
Here is my Rock What You Got project for this month, you can see the full tutorial here.
