If you build it they will come.

One Spark was a month away, I had to come up with a plan. Mike's sister was so gracious and lent her and Tim's help plus their 3 car garage. Perfect! I was lucky to be given so many wonderful pallets from friends and the idea was born...

It was time for a bath, off to the car-wash I went. It was so much fun to see the transformation. After the second day, we broke out the pressure washer.  A lot cheaper than the timed machine at the car-wash!

   
The boys gave great supervision of course! I think secretly they were wondering what in the world I was doing and what were they getting themselves into!!  

Now that they are looking good it was time to sand them down and put the wall together! I have done plenty of art shows with the white tents and been truly scared that I was going to blow away. I didn't want this bad boy going anywhere!  6 pallets stacked 2 high should do :)

Lay out desired pallets 3 wide and 2 high. Attach each 2 tiered section with two 2x4x8 pieces. Give a quick sand and ready to go...

Corks! So with working in a restaurant, you come across so many corks. Me being a craft hoarder, I had bags full! I have seen so many cork DIY on Pinterest but really didn't want to soak the corks. I had hundreds to cut! .Well, I found a lovely small serrated knife in our drawer and it worked great!...oops...I didn't know it was a $300 serrated knife! Chef's with knives are like seamstresses with scissors.  No wonder the corks cut so nicely :) So for all the cork pinterest diy...a bad to the bone serrated knife will do the job., but not the wisest choice. I found an old bread knife and it worked just fine. A little carpel tunnel action towards the end but it will work for smaller projects.

 

 So with my cardboard letters and mannequins spray painted a metallic silver and an idea in place I was ready to start the arts and crafts section of this project...my favorite part.  I got Salt and Sol in place and started on the Sun. I had my little helper Caden and some good tunes and spent the next two weeks hovered over pallets and hot gluing corks one by one. It sounds tedious but I loved it.

  

Now that the sun is shining, time to set up the booth. We attached the three 2-tiered back wall pieces together with 2 additional 2x4x10's going lengthwise across the back, drilling into the first 2x4x8 braces. We constructed the side walls the same way and attached it to the back wall. We saved one of the best pallets for last and created a table for me to stand behind. We cut one pallet 2/3 the way up for the base and placed the remaining 1/3 on top to create the table top. Braced them with 2x4's and voila!

 Now the clutches needed a home, and an excuse to use the circular saw so I cut the scrap pallets and made some floating shelves to make the perfect home :)

It's starting to take shape and we have a booth! Now for the merchandising part, a little test run and we are ready to go!!

Day 1 of One Spark here we go!!!