My new office!... well sort of.

If you haven't noticed I've been a little scarce with posts lately.  I blame it on the fact that even though I have a one year old and currently work full time I decided to start my own business!  I am a new Independent Consultant with Arbonne International!!!!!

It's taken me over a year to finally jump in and see where this amazing company can take me and I'm so excited.  I feel like I'm back to my college days when I sold cosmetics at a cosmetic counter... only better.  I tried the RE9 skincare for the first time about a month ago and after using 10+ different brands of products in my lifetime I have to say that it's the best thing I have ever tried.  My goal is to reach Regional Vice President within the next year thus earning my white Mercedes Benz.  Wish me luck!

Since my launch party over a week ago I have been accumulating samples, products to use in my presentations, products for clients, catalogues and other materials.  They are beginning to take over my small two bedroom apartment.  Therefore, I knew in order to stay organized I needed an office.  Unfortunately, as I just stated we live in a two bedroom apartment.  Thus I decided to take over a corner of our Master Bedroom and make that my so called "office."  

 Here is the small corner that I had to work with.

Here is what the corner looks like now!  Complete with organizing cubes from Target {favorite store}.  I have a box for office supplies, one for samples, another for paperwork, one for gift bags and tissue and the last for catalogues. {which by the way the new Holiday catalogues are out and I"M OBSESSED}

I love my new office.  Hopefully once I become extremely successful I can have a real office but until then this will work just great.

{Craft Project} Diaper Box Bulletin Board

Thank you to my friend Jen for sending me the link to a post on the "I Choose to Thrive" blog.  She must know me well because as soon as I saw these bulletin boards I knew I HAD to make one... or two.  You can find the original post here at Thrive.


Last night after work Max and I went shopping for all of our materials to make my fun bulletin boards.  Max enjoyed waving at all the women in the craft store and even threw some spools of ribbon at them.  They giggled and bent down to pick it up for him... only a baby could get away with that!


After dinner I stayed up working on the start of my project, hoping to get at least some of it done before my bed time.  I found that not only were they super easy to make but also really fun!  It was one of those projects that I just couldn't stop.  I seriously want to make more but think it would be weird if my home was covered in bulletin boards.  {at least I would have plenty of places to stick my to do lists!}


Here are the steps: Diaper Box Bulletin Boards


Take a diaper box or any other box and open it up all the way. {I also used a wipes box that was a different size}

Spray the printed side with tacky spray and then fold it together so the printed sides stick.

This stuff is so cool.  I may just google "things to do with tacky spray" in order to use it again!

This makes the base of your bulletin board.  See below.

Next cut strips from the extra tab on the end in order to fill in the gaps.  Tape the pieces into the gaps using packing tape.  Then tape up the end to make sure it stays tight.  Spray what you consider the "Front" of your bulletin board with tacky spray and place that side down onto your choice of fabric.  Cut out the fabric to fit the box leaving an extra 1.5-2" border around the edges.

When you cut the fabric cut the corners off at an angle to make it easier to wrap the fabric around the corners.  Next using a hot glue gun, glue the fabric around the box making sure it's pulled tight.

To hang it up take ribbon of your choice and glue it to the back of the bulletin board.

Hang them up and you are ready to go!

I love the fabrics Max helped me pick out! 

Grab some push pins or thumb tacks and stick whatever you want to them!

Here is the start of my new baby wall.  These used to be on my refrigerator.  If you want me to put your baby on my wall send me your photo!!!

Here they are displayed in my kitchen.

I love how much these bulletin boards add to my space!

Sparkles and TV's

Yesterday Luke, Max and I went to 2 more Parade of Homes sites in Fitchburg and Oregon.  I was starting to feel a little over all the home viewing but today was a whole new story!  I'm in LOVE... with a home.  I honestly think that Temple Construction built their parade home for me!

First we visited 3 homes in Fitchburg and I found a house that I, at that time, considered my favorite out of all of them.  Here are some of the reasons why...

I want a bowl sink in my guest bathroom

These built-in shelves were in the entryway of the master bedroom

This is the tub I want!

These are built in shelves in the shower.  Great to hold all of my shampoo!

Fireplace in the living room.  The actual fireplace has blue stones in it.

This decoration was in the staircase in 2 places, Luke especially liked these.

Now onto the main attraction!  After Fitchburg we decided to quickly run over to Oregon and see the BIG ONES!  Here is the Temple Construction home.  I must preface this by saying there is NO WAY I could afford the next home but that doesn't keep me from dreaming.  Just walking in the front door took my breath away.

Dining room.  Do I have to tell you how much I love the light fixture?!

Double staircase leading downstairs

Wall next to the double staircase that also separated the dining room from the living room area

The coolest bathroom fixture EVER!  The sink is pretty awesome too

Seriously, what an ingenious idea to put a dining room fixture in the bathroom.  Who would have thought?! This was made out of  multi-colored crystals

I wish this showed the light fixture better.  It was really cool textured balls hanging from the ceiling.  The tray ceiling was pretty cool too.  This was right outside the master bedroom in the hallway.

This is a wall sconce in the bedroom!  SO AWESOME!!!!!

I NEED THIS!

Master bedroom.  Love the built-ins

The wallpaper accented behind the mirror was cool, this was in the master bedroom bathroom

Perfect mirror for a master bedroom.

Light fixture hanging over a really cute seating area in a section of the two part living room.  Little crystals are hanging in the middle.  

My screen porch + a fireplace and view of the golf course.

Inlet in the bar area.  Sparkly tile back splash.

I loved the bathroom sconces but they don't show up with my iPhone, what else is neat is the tile behind the mirror.

Seating area in the basement.  Such a neat idea to do the built-in seating near the basement bar.  Also, love the light... typical.

Basement bar and fireplace.

Exterior.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the front door.  It's unexplainable.

Both Luke and I LOVED this home.  If you can't tell I love sparkly things {hence my blog name} and this place had plenty of that!  It also had a TV in every room.  Seriously, it had a 47" flat screen in the kitchen.  That's one reason I think Luke liked the home but he also loved the two sided stair case.  If only... I can dream :)

I'm Back! with a little this and a little that.

For my loyal followers, I'm sorry for my week long absence. I was struck last weekend with a nasty sore throat that turned into a full blown cold by the time Monday rolled around. I've attempted to simply survive this week and now am back!  The last three nights, due to my barking dog cough, Luke has resided on the couch. I miss him but don't miss him hitting me with a pillow every time I cough. Now I can hack up a lung without injury!

Here are a few things on my mind this Saturday morning.

This I would not consider a rhinestone as it was pretty sucky and I'm still having mental conflict about it.  I found out that a friend accidentally spread an untrue and hurt full rumor about my family.  By the time Luke and I found out the telephone game had gone through at least 8 people and had even reached his grandfather and entire extended family!  Yesterday I confirmed that it was this friend who started it all but I have yet to call and speak to her about it.  Personally I would rather just pretend it never happened and simply stop talking to this person because I'm a wuss but Luke is so upset and wants to make sure that she doesn't continue to tell other random people something that's untrue.  Can we just say that I'm dreading this phone call.  To go along with this I have chosen a song that I've been loving lately.  I think the part about "I won't let you close enough to hurt me" really hits home to how I'm feeling about this.

On a more positive note Luke and I went to a few more Parade Homes this week.  We may consider building a home next summer and so are looking for ideas just in case.  Every time we walk through a home I point out all the things that I WANT!  Luke told me yesterday to put together a list so that we can remember once the time comes to start on the plans.  

Here is my NEW HOME must haves would like to haves:

1. A front porch where I can sit on an Adirondack chair and drink wine iced tea while watching the kids ride their bikes in the street.

2. A screen porch where I can sit with friends and drink wine iced tea or read a book without bugs attacking me. {Who knows if I will even have time to enjoy these spaces but just in case, I WANT them}

3. Back yard big enough to fit a swing set and other toys for the kids

4. Framed mirrors in the bathrooms

5. Island in the kitchen, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances
6. Open floor plan, fireplace in the living room
7. Guest room/craft room {this one I'm pushing for!}
8. Lockers in the mud room
9. Cool lighting! Like below!

Can you see this in my front entryway?

Or how about this for my entryway?

Above my dining room table?

All of the light fixtures above are from Overstock.com

Stay tuned for the conclusion of my friend confrontation and also a fun Father's Day bbq that we are attending tomorrow.

Homes on Parade

Luke and I went to the Parade of homes this weekend in Waunakee and Bristol.  We try to make it every year as we like to see what fun stuff the rich people do to their homes.  It's nice to dream isn't it.  Typically we go to Blackhawk and the homes are unreal.  This year the homes were a little less extravagant but still VERY nice.  I took a few pics of things that I liked just in case we decide to build our own home in the future.

Liked the side fireplaces

The built-ins and the white trim is nice

Fire pit and waterfall

This fireplace was directly when you walked in and it was two stories high, this home had 3 fireplaces this one, one in the living room and one in the three season porch

I liked the front porch of this one

Really cool bathroom mirror

I WILL buy this light fixture for my entryway some day

This was a home in Bristol that I really liked