Love it or hate it blogging has become a business for many of us. But blogging is such new frontier that there are few set rules and even fewer guidelines on how to do it the right way. There are so many little tips and tricks and ins and outs of this crazy world that I want to share with everyone what I have learned along my journey.

You should know that I am not the expert in all of this but I have a few morsels of awesome I want to pass along.

You may or may not remember this post about Ways You Can Make Money Blogging.

I highlighted a few companies that I work with to bring in some flowski (as Court calls it).

One of which was Social Spark.

For those of you who don’t know what Social Spark is here is the readers digest version:

Social Spark is an ad network where you write sponsored blog posts about a certain company or subject.

I Love Social Spark because you set your price and then they send you offers from all different types of companies. You can either accept or decline the offer. You have no obligation to post something that isn’t in line with your content. They tell you in advance how much each campaign is worth. They range anywhere from $5.00 to hundreds. They work with a lot of large reputable brands and have AMAZING customer (blogger) service.

Because they have such a wide offering you just have to make sure that you are blogging with what you feel comfortable with. I get offers daily from Social Spark. Most have nothing to do with my blog so I don’t accept them. You can determine for yourself what is right for your blog. I just choose to keep mine on the topic of my niche.

You can see an example of a post I did that was sponsored by Social Spark and Pier 1 here.

But here is some info that I can pretty much guarantee you haven’t found even if you are apart of Social Spark.

Did you know that they give an estimate of what a sponsored post is worth based on your blog’s analytics?!

Once you sign up with Social Spark and link your analytics to their site it will give you an amount of what your posts are worth to sponsors!!

Really quick here is how you find it.

Log into your Social Spark Dashboard. Click on Your Properties.

Then click on Edit Property:

Then scroll down to #3. That will give you an estimate of what your post is worth based on your stats. You need to remember that SS works in points not $,  so count one penny for each point.

The question then becomes, will companies pay that? The suggested price for Vintage Revivals was much much higher than I thought it would be. You should know that I have not been paid the amount that my suggested price is, but knowing what it is has significantly improved my confidence when I work with brands and on other Social Spark campaigns. I am not scared to negotiate because the brands see what my suggested post price is and they know they are getting a deal!

When you work with Social Spark you have the control to blog about what YOU want, there is NO obligation to post if you don’t want to. I love that. I feel like I am in complete control. You actually have a say in your prices,  and work with really great brands. You can sign up here. Good Luck!!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

In the spirit of full disclosure I will receive referral credit if you sign up with Social Spark. But truly all opinions are 10000% mine yo.

The post Insight Into How Much A Sponsored Post Is Worth appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Before you can start decorating all willy nilly you need to have a plan.

We are not talking a room design plan here people.

When I design a space the FIRST thing that I start with is the FEELING that I want to get from it.

I want my home to feel like me. Happy, energetic, a little strange, positive, and really really unique. So that is how I decorate it.

Today you get to write about YOUR personality traits. What are some of your favorite things about yourself?

And decide how you want your home to feel.

A house doesn’t feel Shabby Chic, it feels worn and loved. Does that make sense? Don’t hold back. If you want your house to feel exciting, neutral, and collected then that is GREAT!

When I look at Hailee’s house, to me it feels energizing and calming at the same time.

YOU DO NOT NEED A BLOG TO BE IN THE FFA!

This is something that you can do on your own in a journal, you can do it on FB, or if you want to start a blog its really easy.

Link up your posts below about how you want your house to feel.

And PLEASE bear with me as I try and work through this process! If you have feedback I would love to hear it,  I have never started an awesome club before (except the time I was in 3rd grade and started a club with my cousin called The Explorers).

Please only link up posts discussing this challenge! The linky will be open for a month so if you don’t have a spot on your blog or time right now to do it THAT IS FINE!!

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post FFA Challenge #1 Catch A Dream appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I have a fun series that I am going to start today. As a blogger I go back and forth SO much about what the “best” way to present a room design or projects to you (my favorite reader). Do I do the big reveal first and then project tutorials after? Do I share the tutorials along the way? I go back and forth, back and forth about it.

So. Since I am in the beginning stages of Dylan Room Redo, I am going to share all of the fun different elements along the way so you can sort of see the process and we can see how it works out!

I think that when we work on a room for our kids we automatically in our mind go to a gender specific space and how we can incorporate their favorite things into it. My daughter Dylan LOVES dress ups,  as I am sure most of your 3 year old daughters do.

But, just because they like something like that doesn’t mean that that is the only interest that we have to use as inspiration.

I don’t want my girls to grow up thinking that they have to do things like everyone else. I want to give them spaces that make them imagine and see things differently than other people do.

I remember laying on my bed as a kid and finding pictures in the ceiling texture. I want Dylan’s room to capture that intrigue that a child has. Where its ok to say that Rainbow is your favorite color. Where things are whimsical and magical and strange. You feel me?

This is how her room has looked for the past year or so:

You can see the tutorial for the bedding I made out of scraps from my sewing room here.

It is a huge improvement over what it looked like from our MLS listing.

But there is nothing MAGICAL about it.

So I hope that you guys will enjoy going on this little journey with me. The first project was repainting the walls. Which I ALWAYS underestimate and is extra complicated because of the stripes.

What are some of the things that were intriguing to you as a child that you want your kids to know about?

Love  Your  Guts,  Mandi

The post The Evolution Of A Child’s Room appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Hey Dudes!

So…..SURPRISE! I have a new site design. Do you love it? My AMAZINGLY talented friend Lara @Announced Design (you also might know her as Ellie G @ Less Cake {More Frosting}) created my totally awesome logo! I can’t even tell you how much I love it! She is a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff,  almost bordering on Evil Scientist genius…except without the evil part.

So sometimes with new junk comes issues. If you have any problems at all with links, or things not looking right PLEASE let me know! I still have a few more things to add BUT I have been working on this for 48 hours straight and I need a break…

And if you are in reader right now and want to check out the new makeover click the link! Vintage Revivals

LOve  Your  Guts,   Mandi

The post An All New Vintage Revivals appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

One of my FAVORITE things about blogging is getting to know other bloggers. I love that we “get” each others crazy lives. Its so fun to be able to work with them on cool projects that they are doing.

So today I am sending you a few places!

First the AMAZING Lara from Less Cake More Frosting has been hosting One Word Goal 2012 on her blog for the entire month of January.

And today I am sharing my word that is going to inspire me to be a better person! And no,  its not get off your lazy #*$. There are so many inspiring posts from your fave bloggers over there, you will love it!! Lara is one of my most favorite people in the whole world. Her writing brings me to tears almost weekly. She has such an amazing gift. Oh and we even rode on the alpine coaster together in July! It was magical. We didn’t use the brakes ONCE. Cause we are brave like that.

Next I am SO beyond thrilled that I have the chance to share this with you guys!! Janell from Isabella and Max Rooms started an online mag last year called House Of Fifty.  She is such a strong voice in the home blogging community and I am so lucky that she is one of my friends.

House of Fifty is a beautiful collaboration from some seriously talented designers. And they just launched a House Of Fifty App so you can read on your ipad! Please take the time to click the mag and read through it, I promise you wont be disappointed.

There are some amazing articles about Kitchens, and making your child’s room a magical place. I have loved every single issue of House of Fifty and I am so excited to be featured in this quarters! (click the image to go to the issue!)

I am picking up my paint tomorrow for Dylan’s room so I should have an awesome project to show you next week!!

The post One Word Goal and House of Fifty appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

My master bedroom has been “in the works” for a while. I started stenciling it in June,  and installing board and batten in September. One mistake that I think so many people do that  make things more complicated and frustrating is that they become so SET in a color palette or design scheme that they don’t let the room design flow organically. This room makeover is the PERFECT example of that.

Are you ready for the ultimate before and after?!! Here is the Before Before…Like from the MLS listing when we bought our house…:

Sick Nasty, right?!

If you want to see more of the NASTY MLS listing that I fell in love with you can click here.

This is what it looked like after we moved in and how things are in my real life and fixed it up a little…and by fixed up I mean got rid of that diseased carpet.

Originally the room was going to be Coral and Navy and Gold. That is it. Nothing else. I was struggling a little trying find fabric that matched the Coral Mirrored Dresser (Krylon Coral Isle). I had an impossible time trying to find something that was Navy AND Coral. Like IMPOSSIBLE. There was none.

So what is a girl to do? I went to the DI (Utah’s version of the Goodwill) and looked in the women’s clothing section. Did you know that you can find some really great fabric at the Thrift Store? Most long skirts or dresses have at least a yard or 2.

When I saw this skirt I KNEW it was perfect for the space. No it was not Coral and Navy. BUT it had Coral and Navy in it as well as a ton of other true bright colors. It was exactly what I needed to bring more life to the room.

So I made it into pillows!

(All of the other fabric for the pillows is from Joann’s and the pillow forms are basically stolen they were so cheap. The white duvet and fuchsia sheet are from Target. The green throw is from Homegoods.

Using this fabric TOTALLY opened up my entire color scheme which I LOVE!! The stencil is amazing right?! You can see a full tutorial on how to stencil your walls here.  If you have a large space to fill lining large pictures up is a great way to fill the space. And the coat of arms throws it off balance a little and makes it way more interesting.

Here is the before of that wall:

Did you notice that I spray painted my bed frame brass? I used Krylon Metallic in Brass.

On the opposite wall I used the mirror that used to hang in my entryway.

You guys know that I am OBSESSED with awesome frames and buy them any time I see one. I have accumulated quite the collection so I hung the board and batten so that I could show them off. Its like a mixture of a gallery wall and specimen art of awesomeness.

Here is a before of that wall..

I used basic white curtains from Ikea and hung them really high on the wall. This makes the windows seem much bigger. Just make sure if you do this that your curtains are long enough to touch or puddle on the floor. Personally, I love a good puddle.

I found the nightstands at Homegoods on clearance, and you can see the full tutorial on how to make the hanging pendant lights here.

And don’t you LOVE that giant horse head?! I found that at Homegoods also.

The before of this chair deserves an award. Don’t you think?

Now for some fun shots.

Pretty fab. Very colorful and COMPLETELY Mandilicious.

If you have any questions leave them in the comments,  hope you have a great weekend!

Linking to Thrifty Décor Chick

The post Master Bedroom Before and After appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I know that everyone did their look back at 2011 last week but I decided to take the ENTIRE week off and spend it with my family. So that means I am a little late to the party (those that know me IRL are SHOCKED about this…cause I am never ever ever late (hee hee)).

A year and a half ago I had NO CLUE what I was in for when I started Vintage Revivals. I am overwhelmed with gratitude at the blessings that it has brought into my life. Opportunities that were never even on my radar of dreams have come because of this little blog. But I have had to learn a whole bunch this year some was easy, some was scary, and some is still impossibly hard for me….Balance?? Whats that strange word?

You know what I mean right? I LOVE everything about my blog. I could do it all day everyday and still love it. When you do something that you love so much and passion is your driving force its super easy to make it THE priority in your life. Passion keeps me up at night thinking about anything and everything. Passion has THE WORST deadlines (I want it done, and I want it done NOW!)  Passion makes me commit to things that are hard. But. Those hard things make me a better person,  keeping a hard deadline helps me with my procrastination issues, and if Tatertot Jen can stay up all night, then I can too. (Wink wink)

Before I started Vintage Revivals I did not decorate. Literally I had my MIL come over and help me and then I would leave it like that for years. The first project that I was really nervous about was my wall of mirrors. I had never seen it done but it seemed like a fun idea, so after lots of encouragement from my MIL I did it. And I am so glad that I did because it gave me confidence to try the next out of the box idea.

Do not be afraid to put yourself out there! When you are doing something amazing don’t be afraid to ask people to come along for the ride! Whether it is other bloggers,  Brands,  Media, readers, anything or anyone that you can build a beneficial relationship with they WANT to be on your bandwagon of awesomeness, I promise!!

You are good enough. Your blog is good enough, your projects are good enough, You are good enough! It is SO easy to compare ourselves to each other right?! Someone tweeted this quote that I LOVED. I have it on my notes on my computer desktop and I read it constantly. (If anyone knows the author please let me know!)

The things that we share on our blogs affect people. We have in our power the chance to make this world better,  to make it happier,  to make it more inspired. We also have in our power the chance to tear people down,  to have them leave our space feeling worse than they did when they came. That carries a huge responsibility, SO STEP UP AND OWN IT!! Make a difference in someone’s life for gosh sakes!

So what lessons have you learned this year? I want to hear it!

The post Things That Blogging Has Taught Me In 2011 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

First off I need to apologize for any of you that have ever found your way into the Project Graveyard.  It was a sad sad place. BUT never fear! I have spent the last week getting it all ship shape and ready for action.

There are categories to organize it, so that it is easier to find what you are looking for. So head on over and click around,  don’t judge the pictures from my first few months blogging alrighty? And make sure that you let your cursor hover for a minute to see what pops up, some of the messages are pretty funny (considering I was writing them at 1 am)

Also if you notice something missing I would love to know, I need to still go back through all of my posts and make sure that I got everything!

I will be back on Monday giving away a FULL conference pass to SNAP!

The post Find Your Favorite Tutorials Easier! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Are you ready to meet my Crafting With The Stars Partner?! I am SO excited to introduce you to Laura from Corner House!!

Her entry project was AWESOME.

Laura and I have been buddies for a while. She was in the top 5 for the Epic Room Makeover Contest

And I got to meet her IRL at the fun Salt Lake Girls Night Out

and I just need to tell you that WE ARE SOOOOO GOING TO WIN!

No really, her projects are freaking amazing!!

You might have noticed that this post is not the reveal for Hailee’s Living Room. That’s because it takes time to be awesome….But don’t get mad… Tomorrow I am posting a tutorial for one of the big projects, and for those that only want the big reveal I don’t think it will ruin it! I mean maybe a little but its not the 100% complete deal. You’ll see what I mean tomorrow.

And we are on the hunt for lampshades that we might need to order online. So the question of the day is where other than Target and Walmart do you buy them?

Also you can still win a 6 pack of Krylon Duel by voting for my awesome desk and mirrors!!

The post Meet My Crafting With The Stars Partner and Hailee’s Room Update appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Hello hello!!

We are working through Hailey’s living room project at warp speed and I have tutorials in the works but here is my question for you today.

Is it better to wait a couple more days and post the reveal first, then all of the tutorials the following week?

Its such a dramatic change that I want the knock your socks off factor. Which you wont get as much if I am revealing projects all along the way…

So what do you think? Really I want your opinion (lurkers this means you too!)

Also I am FREAKING excited to announce that because of all of you my Project for Krylon’s Dual Duel made it into the TOP 4!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I would LOVE to win and would really appreciate a vote.

Also did you know that every time you vote you are entered into a weekly drawing for a case of Dual? Any color you want.

There is no liking a page or a 20 minute registration to vote. You just enter your email address if you want to win the Dual. (If you don’t want to win a case of it I don’t think you have to enter your email, but I am not sure)

So go vote pretty please!! I am #2 with the famous Acid Mirrors!!

The post How Would You Do It? appeared first on Vintage Revivals.