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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Personal Creations, a company I’m loving working with- but no sweat, all ideas are still 100% mine! 

If you’re new around here, there’s something you really need to know… I love cookie dough- okay, that’s not THE thing you need to know, but it’s quite true.  What you need to know is that my style is kinda quirky, funky, bold, and totally reflects me as a person.  If you’re the kind of person that really likes to blend in, and go with the norm, you might break out in hives if you had to live at my house.  Take my foyer for example…

Bigfoot Rug[3]-2

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Yup, a bigfoot rug and good old “Shut the front door”…  so, to say I like things a little outside the box would be pretty accurate.  I definitely am this way with decorating my home, but it also flows into other areas as well.

We LOVE entertaining- you’ve heard me talk about that tons- and I was really excited to work with Personal Creations to get some new stuff we can use when we have people over.  Most of their items are completely customizable, and sometimes I can be hesitant to customize because, well… it’s so “inside the box”  BUT…  then it occurred to me that duh, I can totally make it my own and personalize in a way that fits me and our family!  It was like a giant lightbulb went off!

Thankfully Personal creations made it easy for me to swap out the normal last name or monogram with some fun stuff…  Here’s what I got!

Rather than a monogram and last name on these mason jar drinking glasses I did… U Thirsty? I feel like it’s a pretty legit question to ask right?

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And lest you think I’m a hater of monograms (I’m not!) I also got these simple drinking jars with a clean, simple M for Monica, or Mangin, or Maniac… you’ll never know which (mwhahah- enter evil laugh).  I know they’re drinking glasses, but they also double fantastically well as a small vase.

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I have never had a drink tub before and have always really wanted one, so I was thrilled to see that they had a simple, metal one that I could personalize.

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I didn’t have any drinks I needed to chill, so instead I ran over to my mother-in-laws’ yard and she and I cut some fresh flowers.  Umm… can we all just talk about how amazing her flowers are for a second?  Her yard looks like something out of a magazine this year!  I had never thought to use a huge beverage tub as a vase before, but it totally worked and could be a really cool centerpiece for an outdoor event (I kinda wish I got two of them now!)

To get our flowers to stand up nicely I used some red solo cups in the bottom and surrounded them with balled up newspaper to keep them sturdy.  Easy Peasy.

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Now, there’s a story behind this personalization… Eric and I kind of have a reputation of being intense… like in a good way (or at least we think so).  Whenever we do something, we REALLY do it- we’re both super driven, task oriented and so our friends started saying “Mangins to the Max” whenever we’d do something at our intense Mangin pace.  The phrase stuck and about 7 years later it’s definitely tossed around a lot.  So, I thought- what the heck, let’s put it on the drink tub… and I kinda love it!

I got a new pitcher and gave it a fun little phrase… Got Lemons??  Well duh, make lemonade!  Unfortunately I didn’t use Sarah’s amazing lemonade recipe and instead used Country Time powder without measuring… yeah, it’s the darkest lemonade ever, but normally you could better see my witty little, lemon-loving phrase.  One thing that I think is cool is that you don’t have to be crafty or have a ton of time to have something super personalized.  It’s just type and enter.  done and done.

Got Lemons

 

The final thing I got was a branding iron… what the what???  Yup, like for making our steaks and other meat look fun and fancy when we’re grilling.  I could use 3 letters because I’m pretty sure it’s intended for initials, but that wouldn’t be any fun for me, so we went with this little 3 letter command… E-A-T!

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Ya know, just incase someone forgets what exactly they’re supposed to do with the food in front of them! ha!  There are a lot of cute 3 letter words and some very naughty ones, but I played it safe with EAT.  I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to next week when I’m back home from our long weekend at the beach!

I love the packaging the iron came in.  It arrived in a cedar box (which smells amazing) and was wrapped in a cute bandana.  It got me thinking that these items would be really fun gifts.  You could get all crazy with your personalization for presents for friends or family and they’d think it was awesome.  I know if I got a gift that was totally customized just for me and showed that the giver totally “gets” me- I’d love it!

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See, personalization can be FUN and you don’t have to always go the traditional route, unless you like that route, then be my guest.  I had so much fun being creative with my personalization and I know that my friends and family will completely “get” all my new entertaining gear.

I want you to have a chance to win some freebies from Personal Creations., so they’re giving away a $500 gift card!  One lucky reader will be chosen on Aug. 11th!

Not only do we have an awesome giveaway for you, but there is also a coupon code, PCSM20, for 20% off your entire purchase at Personal Creations! Think of what you could epicly customize for yourself and then also show a little love to your friends and fam because they make great gifts!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

 

 

 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Personal Creations. 

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The comments +

  1. marne says:

    I love using unconventional phrases instead of monograms! I feel foolish for not thinking of that before… Thanks for the tip! I’m getting the branding iron for my boss’ birthday!

  2. Patti says:

    My favorite product from Personal Creations is the Colorful Alphabet Framed Print. I’ve wanted one of these for years! One of the things I like about this site is that you can personalize even simple things. For example, my husband is called Poppy by our grandson. Try finding that on a premade mug! Thanks for offering this wonderful giveaway and introducing us to a great company!

  3. We’re big steak fans, so I think we need the brand and a wooden cutting board (http://gifts.personalcreations.com/gifts/wood-cutting-baord-30132028). Who am I kidding, we will grill anything. So we need to be prepared with cocktail time with Acrylic Initial Pilsners (http://gifts.personalcreations.com/gifts/acrylic-initial-pilsner-30132058) and Plastic To Go Cups (http://gifts.personalcreations.com/gifts/Plastic-To-Go-Cup-30051275)

  4. Beth Marie says:

    This is great! “U Thirsty?” i am totally stealing that. And i love love your style Monica!

  5. Deirdre says:

    I would love a personalized rug for my living room. Thanks for the chance to win.

  6. baileywife @Irishman Acres says:

    So much fun! I would love some fun personality added to my partyware!! ~Kim

  7. Stephanie says:

    I love the drink tub!

  8. What a great giveaway! My husband would DIE if I got him a branding iron, too much fun!

  9. Tessa says:

    Such great style.

  10. Chris says:

    I recently started following Personal Creations on pinterest. It’s amazing what you can get personalized 🙂 Love your big foot rug!!

  11. Mckenzie says:

    I love the sign above the front door and the “u thirsty” is adorable.

  12. Megan Adams says:

    Love this!

  13. kimberly says:

    That drink tub is awesome!

  14. Meg says:

    What fun stuff! Love the mason jars!

  15. Kara D. says:

    Those personalized mason jars are awesome! I’d love to put numbers on them for entertaining, so people know which is their glass. Love your foyer Monica!

  16. Liz says:

    What a creative way to personalize without just monogramming

  17. carrie eastman says:

    I really like the The Day We Became & Canvas. It would be great on my gallery wall!

  18. Kerri KC says:

    I love the heart in the sand and the carved heart canvases. How cute!

  19. Megan says:

    I loooove me some Monograms – but this is such a cute way to throw something new in there! The “U Thirsty?” mason jars belong on my patio for Saturdays =)

  20. Ashley says:

    Definitely the drink tub!

  21. Jane says:

    Such great ideas. Love thinking out of the box. You sure do a great job with that!

  22. marly z. says:

    Got Lemons? I love this.

  23. Liz says:

    They are all great, but I think my favorite is the drink tub.

  24. elizabeth says:

    Wow! I’m not sure I could pick a favorite. I loved the wedding present ideas and just may order one for my cousins wedding next month, the kids back packs were adorable & I LOVED all of your quirkiness!!!! Thanks Monica!

  25. Jenn MacD says:

    I would love to personalize cubbies for my kids coats/mitts/etc. with the branding iron or the mail sorter that we have by our front door. So cute!

  26. alison says:

    i would do all our towels!

  27. Sharon says:

    Love the shut the front door sign!

  28. Kathy says:

    I recently pinned wood burning projects!

  29. Elena says:

    Best ideas! I definitely will try some of these ideas and try to incorporate more personalization! Thanks!

  30. Amber says:

    I love the bbq branding tools!

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