Monday, February 27, 2012

DIY-er turn Entrepreneur

There is nothing like a wedding that will get your creative juices flowing. I've always been interested in planning events which was part of my last job but this was my niche. Picking colors, looking at every picture a photographer has taken (shout out to Nadean at Gene Ho Photography out of Myrtle Beach, SC!), picking the perfect dress for you and your maids and then watching how everything comes together the day of. I was a very hands-on cost conscious bride. I had a spreadsheet for everything and used people's blogs and such to get ideas of things that I could tackle myself or cut back expenses without cutting back on style.

One thing in particular that I made myself were some of the props for my photo booth. I hired a company about 45 minutes away from where we wed and was not sure if they would have everything I wanted so one of the things I made were mustaches on sticks. They were a hit, let me tell you. Not only were the pictures a hit but the photo booth started a sandstorm of ideas in my head after the wedding. If I was one of the only people in my group of friends that had this photo booth at my wedding, (which by the way makes for great entertainment and favors for your guests :)) there has to be so many people who are missing out on this great idea. I immediately did research to see where different photo booth companies were located in South Carolina along with their pricing. I researched where to buy them, the costs, upkeep, etc. Within a week, I knew this would be something I would love to do. I threw the idea out to a couple of different people but one person stuck out in my mind. My cousin, Elizabeth is very involved in our community and knows a totally separate professional and social group than I do. We got together and formed Flash Photo Booth Rental in September 2011! Since then we have been booming! Weddings have been a big seller for us as well as corporate events, proms and even small children's birthday parties!

Spread the word to your circles of friends and professional groups. It is a great way to lighten up an event and to remember the night.


Check out our Facebook page that has lots of fun pictures from our events here. And our video here!


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Pin it, Pin it real good...

True to my pinterest addict colors I was looking for an alternative to using one whole cabinet in our itty bitty kitchen to hold all of the glasses, bottles and barware. I came across some great on pinterest like....















One in particular stuck out to me and I thought "that's it!". It was perfect for my little space.

I searched every thrift store and even pleaded to friends on Facebook to donate and what do you know? The 'ol Facebook pulled through. About 2 weeks after I posted, an old co-worker offered up her old book case that was in her kid's playroom. The thing was in bad shape but was solid wood. I had so many options of what I could do with it! I hate that I didn't take a before picture, but this was the work in progress.












It was an easy, but time consuming project. We sanded, stained (dark red mahogany, bought from Walmart for about 4 dollars), sanded, stained. Once that was done, I took all the shelves out, taped the back of the bookcase off and primed it with a spray primer....Although it was fast, it was messy. I would recommend painting it on. Once I put 2 coats of primer on and they were dried I started painting the back of the book case. The pictures don't really look like the color. It was a mustard color, a good mix between yellow and gold. Unfortunately there's not a BIG contrast between that color and my wall color, like I had hoped. This took probably 4 coats to look even. Then I had to touch it up because when I pulled the painter's tape off it took some of the paint with it. I'm thinking because it was too cold to be painting outside.

Ta-da! It's definitely not the "bar" I wanted and could have purchased for about $450 but it definitely is serving the purpose. I have a good bit of "tools" to add to the bar but just not sure where I want to make their home on top. For the second shelf I got 2 wine racks from Target for $17.99 (but I used a gift card so I spent $0!). Unfortunately I'm only able to use one because I was short about an inch of space so I have that one stored away for another project. On the same shelf I added a shallow bowl to put cocktail napkins in. On the second shelf I opted against using glass holders because it would have taken up space. And note to those who may want to try this project, I did find that storing the glasses upside down left a weird smell/taste on the glasses from the stain. So right side up they go! On the bottom shelf I used a Pampered Chef trifle bowl to keep all of our mini bottles in and then lined all of the bottles up beside it. The only thing it is lacking is a home for probably the 100 koozies that we have. If anyone has a suggestion, please let me know.

There you have it, my bookshelf bar. If you try this project please post pictures!

-Caren

Friday, February 17, 2012

Here goes nothing..

Welcome to made! We have been friends for quite some time. Last August Caren married Austin, and Lacey was a bridesmaid! In October Lacey married Wes and Caren was a bridesmaid!

Caren and Lacey at Caren’s wedding
August 13, 2011
Lacey and Caren at Lacey’s Wedding
October 29, 2011


Last year kept us busy with our weddings and we are both now semi-settled into our homes with our new husbands! Now, we are filling our time with crafts and decorating our homes. Some of our projects are successful…and some don’t turn out so great! We’ve decided to start a blog and share our ideas, inspirations, innovations! We’ll share some of our favorite blogs and our attempts at their projects.
Here’s a little more about us:
My name is Caren and I’m a lot of things these days…An entrepreneur (details coming soon), a sales person for an outdoor advertising company in my home town, and addict (to my iPhone of course) a wannabe photographer and a pinterest-aholic.

Right before Christmas 2011 I mentioned to my mom that I thought it would be a great thing to know how to sew so “Santa” brought me a Brother sewing machine. As soon as I took it out of the box I went straight to work making Lacey a pillow for her master bedroom and a brown paper bag skirt for me! (pictures to come soon!) I started trying to “make” stuff when Pinterest became so popular. I thought while reading all of these blogs on DIY projects…”why can’t I do that?” And guess what, If I can, you definitely can.

Mine and Lacey’s attempts at being crafty are just that, attempts. Sometimes they turn out okay and sometimes I know I hide the creations in our hall closet so no one sees (especially my husband...its evidence that I wasted money, haha). Austin gets annoyed when there’s something new going on weekly; one more project started for 2 that haven’t been completed but it keeps me busy and him on his toes to see what will be hung on our walls when he comes home.

I think that’s enough about me. Stay tuned for some great creations and maybe even some laughs at projects that turn out to be train wrecks of ideas.


I’m Lacey and I love to decorate and organize. I have lots of ideas and projects on my to-do list and I am anxious to get started. Of course most of the ideas are from Pinterest because I too, am a pinterest-aholic. My husband frequently reminds me of this!

I come from a crafty family if DIY’ers. My mom and her sisters are quite creative and they love a DIY project. Thanks to them I’ve learned to be pretty crafty myself. I also have to thank them for giving me the wedding of my dreams! With their creative touch and hard work, everything turned out perfectly. Here they are having some fun after all their hard work!
So, here goes nothing! Caren and I are entering the blogging world! There will be some great projects and there will be some bad projects. Most importantly…we’re going to have fun!