Monday, January 31, 2011

Remember when it was cool to have a million cds...

As i was working on this project i realized this is my first organizing post on the blog! Crazy. Anyway i have wanted to get our cd's/dvd's organized. I thought about a three ring binder, or one of those HUGE cd cases that holds like 200 of these babies, but both options were too bulky. 
So i picked up these guys at Walmart for $12. The cd holder on the left was $7 and the 100 pack of paper cd sleeves were $5. 
Then, while i chilled out and watched tv tonight i put the little booklet in the front of the case and the cd in one sleeve. 
I did that about 100 times and got this...
So neat and tidy
and it fits perfect next to our cd player
see it up there on the top right shelf?
The hubs loves how organized it is :)
One more time.
Before/After
I have so much more space now and for only $12 bucks!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Happy Birthday to Me!

Hey guys, the hubs and i just got back from a long weekend with the families for my birthday. It was so fun! lots of good food and time spent with family and friends. 
I saved up my bday money and sold a few things. And got this guy...
He is amazing! Just what i need, he takes still shots AND video. And best of all. I found him on craigslist for $200 cheaper than in the stores. He is only 9 months old and in mint condition. 
Since i saved so much money on him i have a few beans to spend on accessories. 
I want to get a tripod, if anyone has one that they love, please fill me in! I'm always up for suggestions! 
I also am going to get a case for him but i want something different. I have been searching online and they are all so expensive, so i am going to try to find a camera case for cheap that has removable foam inserts and find a cute bag like this one, or this one and put the inserts in the bag.
If anyone has any advice i'd love to hear it.
Can't believe it's Monday again. Hope your's isn't a manic one!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

January Blog Feature

It's time for our second blog feature. I'm working on doing one of these a month, and i've got a great line up for you so far! Please let me introduce to you Mina from Bohemian Vintage
Mina has her own etsy shop, you can check out here.  And she has parties in the middle of the week like Etsy Tuesdays and Bohemian Wednesdays! How fun! 
Thanks for sharing your questions for Mina. I'll let her tell you a little more about herself. 

1.) Are you persian? haha, mina is a persian name! Nope. Not Persian! : ) My parents are Nicaraguan. My name is actually short for Guillermina... my horrid middle name. It's Whilemina in Spanish.

2.) What do you do? I have two degrees. One in Education and one in Law. I am using the Education degree right now. I teach American History; American Government and Economics to 10th, 11th and 12th graders. I was actually a teacher before I got my law degree and loved it. So, when I graduated law school, I realized it wasn't really something I had a passion for, so I didn't continue my pursuit of it. Somewhere in between all of that , I started the Bohemian Vintage blog as a fun way to journal about things I like and enjoy. From the blog grew a business and a creative side of me I never knew existed. : ) Many interior decorating projects have organically come out of it. Just over time. I worked in an Antiques boutique on Sundays while I was in law school (just part time) and that's kind of where I started to get my experience with putting things together and learning about vintage design and decorating. So, now I do it as a side job, if you will. So! To answer the question... no... I don't blog full time. I wish. : )

3.)What advice do you have for aspiring business-owners? Have plenty of capital to start and stay afloat for at least 2 years!!! That's if you plan on opening up a brick and mortar shop. Don't borrow money from a bank if you can help it and start it online if you can. Starting it online is a great way to test the waters and get to know who your audience is. It's also good because you get to keep your day job while you do it. So, it's not so scary. If you want to jump in with both feet, however... my advice is to stay organized with you accounting (Not even kidding... this can be so frustrating), get your legalities in order (licenses, sales tax, etc...), have excellent signage and USE social media to the fullest!! Also, if it's applicable to your business... host events in your community. People like events. There's no better marketing than word of mouth.

4.)What inspired you to start your blog? Honestly? I've been keeping journals since I was 12 years old. So, I have pretty much every week of my life journaled! I looooove to write. So, the idea of an online journal really intrigued me. But, I didn't want to have an online "diary"!! You know?? Um... terrifying!! So, I thought... "okay... maybe I can write about something I like or know about." And I was really into interiors at the time, so that's what I went with.

5.) How did you get your store up and running? I started it online with some things I had around the house. Within the week, however, I went to the local thrift shop and junk shop and started getting things to sell. I kept an inventory notebook that listed the price I paid for it and the price I listed it for. When it sold, I would jot down how much it sold for. It later went on to be a spreadsheet on Excel. My parents are both accountants for small businesses, so they consulted with me a lot about setting up a tax id and all that boring stuff that you should do. I already had the blog up when the shop started, so I referenced the shop on the blog and announced its opening. I used social media a lot to promote it as well. I was also always mindful of taking decent pictures. Not that they were professional by any means. There are some pretty scary ones on there. But, that was important to me. That etsy shop closed down in 2009. It was Mina180. : )

6.)What are your hobbies? I love thrifting, antiquing, reading, listening to music and being outside on bright sunny days. I love taking pictures too.

7.) What inspires you? Love inspires me. The amazing things people will do for it. When I prepare my home to look beautiful for people to stop in and see us, I do it with love. When I teach my wonderful and amazing students, I do it with love. When I sit down at night and blog, I sincerely do it with love. So, I feel that much of what I do in my life is driven by a strong love for that particular situation. It keeps me inpspired and it keeps me happy. Most of all... it keeps me humbled. Humbled because it's amazing to me that love can drive so many people to do so many things. Just that one emotion.

8.) Where is your favorite place you have traveled? Savannah, GA. I just fell in love with that town! The architecture is so beautiful and filled with character. There was jazz playing on the streets and people eating at outside cafes in the summer heat. The energy was incredible. I just loved it.

Mina, thank you so much for participating in our Blog Feauture!
Now go over and check out Bohemian Vintage!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Vanity before and after

Hey guys i finally finished the vanity i've been working on.
Here is the before picture






I have no where to put it so I need to sell it so if you or someone you know is interested let me know!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Craft Room Evolution

Since we moved into our cabin i have been working on my craft room. Here is a little evolution of the room.
This is what it looked like when we moved in. i only got one picture, dumb.
Then i painted the walls purple. again. dumb..
This was the other side of the room.
I had this metal shelf to hold all my junk :)
Then i got this guy.
and i replaced the metal shelf with these bookshelves.

I tried putting the table in the middle of the window.
Then we got new couches so i put one of our old couches in my craft room...didn't work. too big.
Then i put the table next to the door.  Are you bored yet?
Then i got the desk
and painted it green
And finally painted the walls flagstone by Martha Stewart.
AND NOW...
I am finally SO SO happy with it!
I have been collecting things to go on the wall above my desk for a while now. (I'll do a more detailed post on that later)
Here are some more pictures of  this side of the room.
Now i've just gotta tackle this...
i've got big plans :) wish me luck!

IHeart Organizing


Friday, January 21, 2011

Sweet Surprise!

When i got home from a loooong week at work, look what i found! 
Sheila at The Adventures of Ordy and Joon sent me a gift!
Well it's technically for Buddy but it will make him smell amazing, so it's kinda for me too :)
It's the Shampoo and Body Wipes from John Paul's Pet Care line. 
I am so excited to use them. 
Buddy may not look very happy but he is ecstatic!
Sheila thank you so much for thinking of us, and for the sweet words in your note! You are so thoughtful!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

You drive me Crazy

Hello Lovelies, yes i just broke out old school Brittany. Go ahead and click here to watch the video that you know you were jammin out to in 1999. Go ahead, i'll wait.

 Ok so it has been a while since my last post because it's been a little crazy around here...
I painted my craft room, this is what happened when i moved everything into the middle of the room.
The dishes are overflowing, thanks to the hubs they are not as bad as they were last night (now we can see the counter :)
And we are running low on food... if you look closely you can see that the bottom three drawers are empty. Wa. Wa.
Good thing it's almost the weekend so i can play catch up.

In other news, i received a $10 gift card from World Market, since my birthday is coming up, and they always have those buy $30 get $10 off, if your a World Market Explorer. I had the bright idea to combine my coupons, so i set out to find $30 worth of goodies.
(after coupons of course.)
Here's what i found...
All their Christmas stuff was 90% off.
Here's the breakdown (all prices with discount)
Glass Vase= $1.69
Champagne Ornaments (8)= $1.72
Large Green Ornaments (5)= $1.80
2 White knobs=$2
2 Turquoise knobs= $3.22
 2 Blue and White Knobs= $2.40
Red & Green Votives .16 cents for each pack of four!

My Total was around $15
On the bottom of my receipt it said i saved $113.43!
SCORE!

I am collecting knobs for this dresser that i am refinishing I am going to chang out all the knobs, keeping the drawers wood and painting the rest of her white. 
Well i'm off to tend to the mess that is overtaking my home. Have a wonderful weekend!
You're still watching Brittany aren't you? Me too :) 
P.S. i just remembered Melissa Joan Hart was in the video...crazy



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