Dress up Your Doorway

The door photo is via Holly Mathis Interiors. All other links can be found below!
In case y'all haven't noticed, THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US! I've been spending this evening decking the halls of our apartment with glittery holiday cheer! One of the first things I put up was our wreath that I made last year (picture to come... because I don't think I've ever shared it??) and I thought it would be fun to put together a little diagram of holiday door decor ideas!

1. Sans serif house numbers. This is a great way to make a lasting change to the appearance of your home even after Christmas! Updating those outdated numerals on your door gives it a modern and trendy feel. It might cost a little more than most changes, but they'll last for years and years! The ones pictured above are the Avalon numbers from Atlas.

2. Mid-century mod doorbell plate. Oh how a lovely starburst can make a difference! This is so dreamy. I wish I had a doorbell so I could pretty min up for the season. This one is a pretty accurate replica of mid-century modern ones you would find on old homes! I just think it's whimsical and stylish!

3. Vintage-style letterbox. I would love traipsing up to my door in the winter to find some pretty Christmas cards sticking out of a little tin letter box! You can use it to replace your existing mailbox, use it as a planter for a hardy succulent, or just have it there for decoration! Vintage style housewares are the best and this one from Pottery Barn is even on sale!

4. Personal scroll monogram. I found this super beautiful door monogram on the incredible blog of Holly Mathis and was blown away. Any door would be lucky to have such a beautiful piece! What a sweet way to celebrate family. Holly shares that she bought her custom piece from Southern Proper Monograms.

5. A buffalo plaid scarf. I thought a cute way to dress up a wreath or monogram on your door would be to add a buffalo plaid scarf behind it. You could drpe it across, use it to hang the wreath, tie it in a big oversize bow, or even WRAP a foam wreath with it! So many options. Check out this one from the Gap or just thrift a cheap one!

6. DIY graphic doormat. I've always admired this DIY tutorial from A Beautiful Mess. With all your holiday guests looking down to stomp the snow off their boots, a graphic doormat would be a winning choice and yet another way to decorate your door or entryway. There are tons of tutorials out there that are affordable and super simple!

7. Bright coat of paint. Never underestimate a simple makeover of a fresh coat of brightly colored paint! (if your landlord/apartment manager allows, that is.) It truly makes a huge impact. Best to do this one sooner rather than later because paint can be very hard to cure in the cold weather!

I hope you loved this and got some ideas for your own doorway! A few honorable mentions are here and here. I want to put a little more effort into mine and really take the holiday sparkle to the next level! Coming soon I want to do a little apartment tour of all our Christmas decorations, so hopefully by then I will have some personal progress.

Happy decorating!
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Arrow & Ink at the Winter Craft Fair!

On Saturday, Tori & I attended a craft fair as vendors for the very first time! It was an incredibly awesome experience and we learned SO much from it! I wanted to reflect a little on the fair, post product photos, and share what we learned from it.

We found this craft fair through local flyers and it was being held at a flea market that we frequent, so I called Tori and we decided to reserve a booth space. We had about a month to make everything happen, which wasn't a lot of time, but we brainstormed, delegated, and executed in record time. We knew we wanted a certain esthetic and color palette to our line, so we made mood boards on Pinterest to stay on the same track design-wise. There was a lot of texting pictures of prototypes and lengthy emails involved.

The craft fair finally arrived on Saturday and we had a great time setting up our booth and just letting the day ride out from there.

There were some very specific things that we learned from this experience. Also some very obvious positives and negatives. (Not all of them were our fault, but still.)

Negatives:
*The big one was that it was NOT the right type of craft fair for us. Completely wrong demographic & venue. The fair attracted the wrong type of clientele for our particular products. We needed ladies younger than 60 to be blunt. There weren't really any other booths of our same.... craft genre? If that makes sense. If we were around other younger indie artists I think it would have made a difference.

*The flea market holding the craft show wasn't prepared. They didn't do a good job of advertising and using their resources. The vendors were the ones advertising mainly. It got to the point where vendors were literally going through their contact lists and texting people to help spread the word the day of the show. There was very little traffic and most booths packed up and left 2 hours early!

*The venue wasn't prepped properly. It was FREEZING in there. All they had was 2 industrial propane heaters to heat a gymnasium. We had to wear our coats all day and our toes were frozen. People were deterred from looking around very long because it was so cold in there and it was warmer OUTSIDE!

*We had to buy a lot of stuff to prepare the booth since it was our first time. We had a lot of expenses like buying our 6 ft. table, purchasing items for packaging, etc. If it weren't our first fair, we would have already had those items and our expenses would have been significantly less.

Positives:
*We found out that we are quite good at coming up with ideas for products on short notice and executing them successfully. We work well together and share a common vision about what we want our merchandise to be like.

*We now have our start-up merchandise for the Arrow & Ink etsy shop that will be opening very soon!

*We have the experience of our first show under our belts. This is huge because you never know how smooth something will go until you try it and turns out we were able to set up our booth with aplomb.

*We had a great time! Overall, even though not everything went exactly according to plan, we had fun. And that's very important when you're doing work that you're passionate about. We also made a few crafter friends at the show and it was fun "talking shop" with a few select gals we met at the show. :)

On a different token, Tori & I were SO pleased with the way our projects turned out! Everything looked so fantastic hanging out on our show table and so inviting. Everything looked professional and cohesive, but also very inspiring which was the goal!

Truth be told, as much fun as I had doing the show and having a new experience with my best friend, I'm a little relieved that it's over! haha It was a tad stressful getting all the merchandise made in time and I'll be happy to get back to some photo editing, Project Life, and reading this week, not to mention enjoying some much-needed time with my family for Thanksgiving!

Here's to new experiences!

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Tips on Creating an Event Album

We've all done it: postponed doing a certain scrapbook album a million times over because it just seems too overwhelming to accomplish. "Event Albums" can seem daunting for us because it's an ENTIRE BOOK centered around one day, like: weddings, vacations, a big move, the birth of a baby, and more. I wanted to share some of my own personal tips for how to prep any event album! These are 10 steps that will help you prep the album AND YOURSELF!

1. GATHER INSPIRATION. Pinterest is a great way to do this because it's fast, convenient, and organized. There's no printing involved and you won't have millions of thumbnails cluttering your computer desktop. Search for inspiring images that fit the feel you're going for, showcase a technique you want to try, or just have a great idea you want to remember. Keep it all in one place so when it's time to create, they will be there.

2. Make A LIST OF ALL SUB-EVENTS TO INCLUDE. For events like weddings, there are many tiny sub-events that go on such as wedding showers, registry, dress fittings, rehearsal, and so on. It's a good idea to write out a list of all sub-events you want to include in your album so that you don't miss any awesome memories!

3. CREATE A STORY BOARD FOR THE LAYOUT OF THE ALBUM. Literally draw out the album page by page and get the general layout nailed down so you have an idea of the spacing to expect. Some events will require 2-page spreads and inserts, so this allows you to plan ahead for that.

4. WRITE OUT DETAILS. At some point, sit down and just write out any and all details you remember about the event so you can include them as you go. Chances are, in 20 years you're not going to remember certain tiny details and it will be wonderful to have them documented when you look back.

5. CREATE A LOOSE COLOR PALETTE CONCEPT. Having a color palette truly does tie an album together. This can be easier said than done depending on how many pages your scrapbook will be, but choosing your main and supporting colors with plenty of pretty neutrals will make the book seem cohesive and pleasing to the eye. It also saves you from having to choose from the 5,306 different papers you have and narrows it down to a few dignified choices. For my wedding album, I chose variations of my wedding colors, gray, silver, and teal.

6. GATHER PLENTY OF EMBELLISHMENTS AND PHOTOS AHEAD OF TIME. Before the day you actually want to sit down & scrap, take the time to print out photos you know you want to use. Also, go through your stash of embellishments and stickers and pull things you might want to use that match your color palette and vibe. Keeping these items close at hand in one place will save you time from searching through drawers of supplies while creating the project.

7. CONTACT FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR MORE PHOTOS. Asking your friends and family to email you photos of the event will give you more options and you can include shots and angles you might not have already had!

8. DON'T FORGET MEMORABILIA! Scour your house to collect all the loose memorabilia and ephemera from the event that you want in the book. Items might include: cards, ticket stubs, receipts, notes, etc.

9. CREATE A BRILLIANT TITLE PAGE LAYOUT. Make your title page capture the feel you want for the album, that way it sets the tone for your project from the start. It will seem charming to your reader and help keep you inspired and on track.

10. BE AWARE OF POSSIBLE CHANGES. If you're not using a "top-loading" page protector system, create loose pages and wait to permanently adhere them until the entire album is finished. This will keep things in chronological order and prevent any messy changes in layout you might have to make.

Overall, enjoy your project! Prepping is half the fun and it can be very inspiring!
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3 Ring Inspiration

Springtime is getting me majorly amped up for projects and warm weather and inspiring projects and warmer weather and projects and... and... Yeah. You get the idea. I thought I would share a little today about how I save all my many ideas that aren't pinned away on my Pinterest page! I keep a binder much like anyone else-- nothing fancy.


But I have to say that i LOOOOOOVE looking through that binder when I'm in need of a creative push or when I just want to look at pretty things for awhile while watching TV. I have it divided into different sections: Projects, Home Decor, Fashion, Life, & Holiday. I have a whole separate binder for business and etsy related ideas.

The tabs are attached to paperclips (I found them at Walgreens) so that I can move them around and they're not hooked to one page in particular. There's nothing that freaks me out more than not being able to change my mind! HA!




Well this was short but sweet. What do you think? Hope you enjoyed the peek!
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Mix & Match

After taking a trip to Anthropologie the other day, I was on the website and found something that occupied my attention for quite awhile. I'm sure I'm the last to know about this, but it was so much fun, I had to share! It's the Mix & Match Bedding page on their housewares range! You can scroll through the different comforters and sheet sets that they have and create your own pretty pairings. Here's some of the ones I created:





Although I'm in no position to afford any linens from Anthro, I still thought this was a magical way to get ideas. It shows you the crazy color combinations that actually look really wonderful together!

They also have a section where you can choose different pieces of furniture and try on their collection of pretty knobs and drawer pulls! How cute!

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High-Low Fashion

I read this article on College Fashion about mixing contrasting pieces of fashion together in one outfit. I thought it was so interesting and very similar to what I do with my own wardrobe every day!

In light of the grand opening of Red Door Vintage for The Christian Center, I thought I would talk a little about how to pair amazing vintage pieces with the clothes that already exist in your wardrobe!

1. Pair vintage statement pieces with modern basics. Grab some essentials like plain camisoles, leggings, and cardis in neutral colors and you're in business! A pretty vintage floral dress paired with some heather gray tights and a colored cardi is a great way to mix clothing genres.

Golden Afternoon Silk Dress

2. Cinch in ill-fitting waistlines with belts over top. I'm sure everyone has been in that thrift store and found the perfect vintage specimen that was just a SMIDGE ill-fitting. Either the waistline was too big or a little too tight with a judgmental pinch in the fabric. A belt can solve both of these problems cosmetically. As long as the garment fits around you, you can cover up the middle seam or cinch in that waist with a belt. I prefer the wide, stretchy belt with pretty buckles that you can wrap around and go!

Mr. Maverick Air Force Shirt

3. Try some shoes with character! If you have a simple vintage dress or shirt, some statement shoes will make a world of difference. Shoes can really give an outfit SO much character without looking like you're trying too hard. This trick works both ways as well! You can pair some great vintage shoes with an otherwise modern wardrobe.

Meeting Mr. Darcy Gauze Dress

4. Accessories are everything! Sometimes you can wear a garment with the risk of looking completely out dated and jaded. As troublesome as this may be, I know one quick fix: accessories. Wearing the right accompanying pieces can make or break and outfit. I find that a sure fire way to modernize ANY pretty vintage piece is nerd glasses. Call me crazy, but I'm in love. They're my trademark. :)

Aloha Hawaiian Maxi Dress

5. Weird is the new Normal. In this day and age, the more interesting and unique the piece, the more in style it might be. Consider fashion icons known for their characteristic ridiculousness like Betsey Johnson, Lady Gaga, and Elton John! A hat with a lot of character could be your new personal trademark.

Threads of Gold Veiled Hat

Well I hope that was a fun look at ways to successfully pair vintage with modern in such a way that you can convey pizazz and flair while still looking your utmost cute. In my opinion, there's hope for every single piece of clothing paired with the right companions. :) It's true. Happy hunting and be sure to check out the shop for some cute and unique pieces you can work into your own closet!

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Perfect Planning

One of my many quirks is my organization. As most of you know, my room and creative spaces are very organized, as is my life. I wanted to share with some of you what I keep in my personal day planner. I keep one of these because I have LOTS of Dr. appointments, work shifts, special events, and photography client sessions to juggle. I have to keep some sort of order of it all or my time gets unfocused and overwhelming.

This particular planner is from Franklin Covey and I LOVE it. It has all sorts of pockets and tabs that assist me in keeping all personal information in one place. I also have it in the pink cover as well. I feel that the brown is more professional and strong looking, but the pink is fun too.

Some of the things I keep in my planner are:
*a pen
*appointment cards
*important business cards and numbers
*a list of potential pending photography clients
*a few post it notes
*some photos
*stamps
*quarters to pay a parking meter
*color swatches for our room and the wedding
*frequently used information sheet

The day planner is set up with a tab for each month of the year. Inside each tab, there is a month-spread calendar, slots for each day of the month, and a monthly goals section to jot down everything you want to accomplish that month. (This is really helpful to me)

In the back, there’s also meal planner pages, personal password tracker, medical sheets, birthdays page and an alphabetized address book. If there is anything that you don’t want, or don’t think you will use, you can take it out of the rings.

If some of you are having difficulty managing your time, I suggest a day planner and this book. It’s a great way to discover new ways to manage your life that you might not have thought of before. There are chapters for each section of your life including vehicle, each room of the house, and even your MIND! ☺

I hope this was helpful to someone out there and that your summer can be relaxing but organized so you don’t lose your minds. Haha
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