neon surprise party ::: 30th birthday

Soooo one of my many flaws is good intentions combined with a bit of forgetfulness. Namely, not posting projects because I intend to submit them to other blogs someday...and then forget that was my plan.

I now present to you a party that was styled a while ago.

Remember these amazing party invitations I posted? (No, of course you don't because that was forever ago.)

Neon. Confetti. Subtle Mexican Fiesta nuance.

The food served was a nacho bar and a gorgeous chevron cake. Yum.

 

One of the activities was that each guest filled out a favorite memory with the birthday girl, totalling 30 envelopes of memories.

And a incredible, ginormous, teal, pentagon piñata. Full of more confetti!

And a paper chain photobooth backdrop with metallic balloons and playful props.

A mess to clean up means great times were had. Yay friend collaborations to celebrate a friend in style!

What do you think, is this a fun way to help a friend over the hill?

Photography by Chase Oros

let your heart be light {holiday party}

This is the theme of the Holiday Party I worked on last weekend! We wanted the event to reflect all things "merry & bright". (Which is surely on target with large glitter letters)

Luminaries led you to the door, where you walk in and were greeted by the entrance below.

The canopy of candy cane & lights was one of my favorite elements.

Then you'll run into another large undertaking (with volunteer labor)—two large "curtains" of snowball garlands. The two curtains helped to separate the dancefloor space from the seating areas.

Simple centerpiece above: gold doilies with hurricane vases of snow & branches.

A festive bar area.

To incorporate polka dots into the party, I found these great straws. And we also created a large wall of hanging bulbs—totally mimicing polka dots!

So fun, right?! Hopefully my near-instagram-filter-looking photos are still able to give you an idea of all the details at this holiday party. It was a blast planning & making such festive decor.

Happy Weekend to you! I'll be plowing away on making Christmas gifts—we're attempting all handmade this year. It's taking far more time than we'd hoped. Fingers-crossed the payoff is worth it! How about you? Plans for the last weekend before Christmas break?

inspiration archive // 13

Ran across the styling of Tina Hellberg and just loved her series of wallpaper displays. The arrangement is so great!

Hope you're week is going well!

Featured Lovely By: Tina Hellberg (photography by Magnus Anesund)

inspiration archive // 11

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Mine was great! Yesterday was spent at a 6-hr neighborhood block party. And I am worn out. Not sure I am ready to tackle all my work projects this week, but more than grateful to develop relationships with those that live closest to me. #rewardingwork

And these simply styled nature images are just the inspiration I need...to foster my dream of someday starting a second (Oi vey!). But for now another week begins. Make it a good one!

Featured Lovely By: Brumley And Wells with Wendy Francisco, featured on Ruffled

inspiration archive // 10

Not sure where this week went. It was Tuesday, and now it's Friday...and I'm not sure what happened in between. But I do know suddenly I'm loving the bits of cool weather and longing to break out the scarves and boots. This photo captures it perfectly. Cozy fall.

Have a splendid weekend!

Featured Lovely By: Tartelette (via Pinterest)

4 year anniversary & gift

This past Friday was my 4 year anniversay! Time certainly flies. Both my husband and I have stuck to the traditional anniversary gift list for ideas each year. It presents a fun challenge. This year was silk and how fun is it to own a bow tie in case a special occasion comes up?

Since the gift is relatively minor, I wanted to dress it up with a little packaging. Using an old cigar box is classy and well, super fitting for my husband.

Then I threw in a "very romantic card" and found these GREAT illustrated instructions on how to tie a bow tie. The illustration is by Conor Whelan for 2011 Trinity Ball Magazine. The cute card on the left is from Breathless Paper Co.

I truly love it and can't wait for him to try it out!

If you want to follow our anniversary adventures, last year we celebrated with a mini cake and a photoshoot. The gift was a custom leather wallet from in blue. And the previous year I gifted a sweet cotton love letter.

*new* etsy shop launch + how to

Ok my shop is not really "new" (it has existed 2+ years) but for the first time I've made it into a REAL SHOP. TA DA!

By real, I mean that all my products "fit together" and they also "look good together". This is what they call a cohesive shop (brilliant!). Like many shop start-ups, I just wanted a shop so I threw together products that I thought were awesome in some way. The problem is that is stayed "that way" for over TWO YEARS. About one year ago I realized I was avoiding adding new products (that were made) because I knew the shop was ugly and needed work. #lifefail

Then last January, the Etsy newsletter included the article How To Create A Cohesive Shop. Bingo. This was exactly what I knew my shop needed. Life was plenty busy (always) and again this was put on the back burner. Fast forward another 6 months. 

It was time. It was work. In the last three weeks I've worked an additional 40+ hours on this project. Oy vey! So here are resources I think are particularly helpful (just in case you are also crazy). 

The Etsy Seller Handbook — General overview and easy to navigate for answers.

Launching A New Product Line (article on Going Home to Roost) — Helpful starter info to get you thinking/planning.

Creating A Cohesive Shop — Life changing!

Indie Biz Advice — Bonnie makes everything so accessible and achievable. This is easy to look over and pinpoint useful information.

Pitching to Bloggers — Excited to be SO close to this step!

Basic steps I recommend: Creating products you love (I could talk forever about my rocky road "getting this"), develop a strong brand that reflects your products, and create product images that are consistent and easy to replicate. Then put all this together in your shop and make a stellar about page like this: 

I know I keep gushing about Bonnie's work but how pretty is that?! And her new shop is also gorgeous. So glad she got all this done just in time for me to use her as a great example ;) 

Bottom line is love what you make, love how it looks, and make sure those two ideas compliment each other. Did I mention Etsy shops are a lot of work? I don't know that I'll ever "get paid" for all that time spent, but in the end I have something I'm really proud of and can now move forward with easier updates.

Now, there is still plenty of work to do for my shop. Proofing all listings (I'm terrible at typos), pricing review, a more engaging about page, and then on to promotions & advertising! It is a long road, but I am well on my way. 

Any readers that are shop owners? Do you have other tips to share and/or needing a shop facelift like I was?

summer floral bouquet

Monday Greetings!

Sending you a sweet summer (virtual) bouquet to today. The top image is homework from a photography course I'm currently in the middle of taking. The purpose of that image/project is learning to add and subtract light in the photograph. I am pretty proud because there is NO cropping and NO photoshop involved here—a rarity on this blog. It was fun styling the flowers and don't you love that paper backdrop?

Well back to work—continuing my nonstop workaholism to get ready for vacation later this week! Hope you have a great start to your week!

understated orange + neutrals

For your Wednesday I didn't quite finish up my latest project, so I randomly stumbled upon these gorgeous images and thought to bookmark in a post. Swooning over the subtle neutrals offset with the muted colors. The photos come from a BHLDN products blogger preview before the launch a year ago. Pure loveliness.

Image Source: Oh Joy!

a little something about love

Hello Monday and Friends!

How was your weekend? My Sunday was incredible and wonderfully refreshing. I took time to practice a little photography with this still life. I am incredibly insecure about my photography (lighting more accurately), and would like to NOT take 40 images for every 1 that I post here. Although I'd prefer to have a super-talented photographer stalk me 24/7, the realistic solution is to practice and get better, right?

Here's to a wonderful week, all!