New temple paintings in the shop!

I'm so excited to finally share what I've been working on! New temple paintings are up in the shop today!

The text is customizable with a family name or wedding date.

I'd love to take requests for favorite temples and paint as many different ones as I can!

White to Bright Style Challenge with Chairish

I was invited by Chairish to take part in their White to Bright Style Challenge! If you haven't checked out their site before, you totally should. It's a curated collection of awesome vintage finds and it's a veritable treasure trove!  The White to Bright Style Challenge involves choosing a vintage accent chair and then designing a styleboard around it that takes the room from 'white to bright.'  

When I'm designing a room, I always need to have an idea of who would live there... even if they're completely fictional. So my imaginary occupants of this living room are a young couple who live in the city in their first adult apartment. Because it's a rental, the walls have to stay white, so it's essential to bring in color through accessories.  The couple purchased curtains from Target and a couch from IKEA that are neutral and affordable and will allow them to focus on bringing in personality with accessory choices. 

Curtains from Target, couch from IKEA, fiddleleaf fig tree from Amazon, floor from Lowe's, all other accessories from Chairish

I love this gold accent chair from Chairish that is vintage but also has a totally modern look. I anchored the room with a bright, contrasting overdyed rug, also from Chairish. All of the accessories are from Chairish! I brought in more color with unique vintage pillows and bright art. And to me, all rooms must have the natural color of a potted plant... I love the life it gives to a room and this one gets to live in a unique vintage planter. The little rattan footstool serves multiple purposes in this small apartment; it can be a foot rest or a little side table... whatever is needed at the moment.  This is the kind of room and accessories that will evolve with the couple as they grow.

Kaberi's Red and White Seattle Wedding

At my shop, Fuzzy Rose, I love custom orders, so I was super excited when Kaberi contacted me to make her custom silk bridal bouquet, as well as some boutonnieres and corsages.  Kaberi was having a small March wedding with a cheerful red and white color scheme and an awesome short white wedding dress!  Their wedding took place on a beautiful warm Seattle day at the Volunteer Park Conservatory on Capitol Hill.

Heather Brincko Photography

Heather Brincko Photography

Red shoes! I love how they go with her color scheme. Image by Heather Brincko Photography.

Boutonniere for the wedding party. Image by Heather Brincko Photography.

I love how her custom bouquet looks with her sweet wedding dress. Image by Heather Brincko Photography.

Mother's wrist corsage. Image by Heather Brincko Photography.

I love how the wrist corsages turned out! Image by Heather Brincko Photography.

Conveying a Clear Brand Message

I'm currently finishing up my last course for my Marketing Strategy Certificate through Cornell. This particular courses stresses the importance of brand message.  I've been taking this opportunity to update my Etsy shop and make sure that with the new formatting of the site, all of my information contributes to continually promoting a clear brand promise and successfully establishes my positioning in the market. 

My shop's announcement

My shop's about page

I've included the two images above to illustrate my attempts to give similar information and communicate a clear brand message across my Etsy shop.

As small business owners and makers, we don't have huge marketing and advertising teams to maintain this consistency for us, so it's important to keep up with it ourselves. For many of us, we ARE our brand and it can be a challenge to make sure that we are not just putting everything that we love out there. Tied to this concept is the need to keep our image consistent across all of social media. I've been using this opportunity to do that! Little things like using the same profile picture(s) and repeatedly using the same key words and phrases can really make all the difference.

Below is an example from my Instagram. I use the same profile picture as my shop (I also use this one on Pinterest), which is a picture that clearly conveys what I make. The pictures that I post on Instagram further back up my brand promises, for example, showing custom items that I have made.

My business Instagram

The Crafting Bonanza and Other Updates

A lot has happened in the last few weeks since I've posted! It's crazy how quickly time flies. One of my best friends from college got married this weekend to a super nice guy at this beautiful venue near Orlando. Now they're honeymooning at Disneyland and not gonna lie, B and I are a little jealous about that part.

Pavilion on the Lake in Tavares, Florida, where my friend got married. It was beautiful! Image via venues.puffnstuff.com

I've been busy working on lots of orders and projects! I really need to get better at learning to balance my crafting/production time and my blogging time.

I LOVE paper flowers and I know I want to do them for my wedding, so when my bride Stacey asked me to experiment with making giant paper roses, I figured it was as good a time as any to jump in to that. I love how my first one came out and I love the medium! I used the Green Wedding Shoes tutorial and the Martha Stewart flower template.

My first attempt at a paper rose! Via my Instagram.

It really has been a crafting marathon bonanza at my house these past few weeks. In addition to paper flowers, I made boutonnières for a groom in Canada. I love how they turned out!

Happy Bastille Day!

Bastille Day always brings me happy memories of summer travels in France and sitting on the banks of La Maine River to watch the amazing fireworks display at the Chateau d'Angers.

Mini Travel Tuesday!

I'm so close to being done with my marketing certificate... I'm on the 6th course out of 7! It's been fascinating and I've learned a lot, but I can't wait to have more time to focus on blogging again! In our course discussions this week, we've been talking about introducing products to the international market. It made me think of when I was in the UK (exactly 6 years ago!!!) and without my Mountain Dew, I had to switch to Fanta Orange. I bought a bottle from a street vendor and got a Russian version instead! I wanted to bring it home, but alas, there was absolutely no room in my luggage!

Fun memories!

-Robin

Creative, Personalized Cake Topper Options

I am so, so excited for this post. I've got some fun things in the works and I can't wait to share them with you all.

Up until recently, cake toppers weren't something that I'd thought about a whole lot. But after painting an adorable pair of peg people cake toppers for my own someday wedding, I thought, "hey, this is really fun, I'd like to make more of these." So the wheels in my head started turning on how to start making this a potential product for my shop. Around the same time, Patience Brewster contacted me about collaborating to show you all some awesome options for cake toppers. So now my head is full of all things cake topper-related (haha) and I can't wait to show my readers some creative options!

Not so long ago, it was really hard to find any kind of cake topper that reflected who you are as a couple, especially if you're a person/people of color, a same-sex couple, or even just wanting something a little different. Thankfully, that's changing and there are so many more options these days. Instead of a traditional one piece cake topper, I love "cake toppers" that are separate pieces, allowing couples to chose different figures representing their personalities, physical features, and gender.

Hand-painted Peg People Cake Toppers

I'm so excited to debut this new item for my shop! These adorable peg people are completely customizable: hair color, skin tone, eye color, clothing, veils, and gender.

You can also go with tall and short, like I've done here or both tall/both short. Or if you've got children you want to include, the parents can be tall and the kids short. All kinds of families and couples should be able to have cake toppers that reflect themselves!

These are the cake toppers that I made for my wedding, using blank peg people from Dandelionland. She makes some of the most adorable personalized wooden cake toppers.

I'll give them clothes when we get a closer to an actual wedding date and know what we're wearing!

Ornaments as Cake Toppers

I don't know that I would have thought of this right off the bat on my own, but after talking with the folks at Patience Brewster, it got me thinking about what awesome cake toppers ornaments can make. It's the same general idea, choose two separate pieces that represent you individually as a couple and bring them together as one awesome cake topper!

Patience Brewster makes whimsical ornaments based on her drawings. So cute and playful!

Here are some of my favorite combinations of ornaments for cake toppers...

Boy/Girl of the same kind of animal (or Girl/Girl, Boy/Boy)

Two different kinds of animals that represent you each individually.

How about some cute little elves?!

A New Rug for the Living Room

When I got my house 3 years ago, I bought a new rug for the living room from Rugs USA. It's great quality and I got it for an insanely low price (I think it was about $125). I still love this rug and it's a great striped pattern, but I've been noticing lately my living room is a little too bright and energetic for where I'm at in life right now... I'd really like something a little more soothing. I think the floors have a lot to do with this. My wood floors have a very strong red-orange undertone and fairly bold grain pattern. I'd love to change them out someday, but that definitely won't be happening anytime soon. Sadly, I think my beautiful rug also contributes to how visually busy the space feels. So, right now, I'm dreaming of something a little more sedate for my living room rug.

My living room, as it looks now.

I'd love to get another rug from Rugs USA, since I really love the prices, quality, and selection...

This is the rug that I really like. It got great reviews, but they say it's a little silvery. Not sure that a metallic will help my problem...

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! I put together some Red, White, and Blue wedding inspiration for the occasion! Summer's around the corner-- already here in Florida, let's be real-- and red, white, and blue would be an awesome summer wedding color scheme, especially for July.

All images via Pinterest. Check out my board for all sources.

Patriotic pretty things and weekend fun times are all well and good, but let's not forget the real reason for Memorial Day, to remember those who gave their lives for our sakes!

Updates

I'm a blogging slacker. Like I've said in most of my last posts, I've been so busy lately that I haven't been keeping up with the blog as much as I'd like. I'm taking my marketing courses and doing a lot of new training at my day job. I've also been busy getting this beauty out to a bride-to-be who's using it for an engagement shoot:

I love that idea of using an alternative bouquet for an engagement shoot!


We also got to go on a little mini-getaway when I got a surprise day off from work! That was nice and much needed. We stayed in Ellenton, FL and did a few things around town in Bradenton (where I grew up!)... it was a really a nice little break. We also went to The Dali Museum in St Petersburg to see the Dali & da Vinci exhibit (going on through July 26). Bonus... on Thursday nights, it's only $10 a person to get in! If you've never been to The Dali Museum, you need to go... just the building itself is worth the trip!

Atrium of the Dali Museum, photo by me.

Sixties wedding dresses that are totally on trend

Did anyone else see this post on Buzzfeed? I looked through it because I love old photos and retro fashion, but as I was scrolling through, what stuck out to to me was how many of the brides were wearing trends that are super popular right now (and not just the "vintage" trend).

Short Dresses

I love Say Yes to the Dress and fairly often, there's a mama on there freaking out because her daughter wants to wear a short dress instead of a long traditional dress. Haha, well, this is 50 years ago, look at all the short dresses! So many!

via Buzzfeed

via Buzzfeed

via Buzzfeed

via Buzzfeed

via Buzzfeed

Wedding Dresses with Color

Wedding dresses that aren't all white or ivory are a huge trend right now. So many people want a white wedding dress because they're traditional. Even though it's no secret that that "tradition" only goes back less than 200 years to the wedding of Queen Victoria, even in the 60s, there were wedding dresses in colors besides white.  

via Buzzfeed

I mean, how awesome is her light blue wedding dress?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOUSE!

I absolutely can not believe that I closed on my house THREE YEARS ago this week. Time really does fly. 

I'd been house hunting for about three years before that, so finally finding a house and closing after all that time felt pretty crazy. I wanted to get most of the interior painting and cleaning done before I moved in, so I didn't actually end up living here until Bastille Day (I'm a Francophile, what can I say) of 2012. 

We've done a lot of work and it's changed so much, but there's still a lot more to be done! I don't live here alone anymore either... that's a nice change :) I gather my house likes B too, because he's accomplished more around this place in his few months of residency than I did in years!

I got a cake to celebrate. Buying a house is a big milestone that is worth celebrating to me!

In honor of my house's birthday, here are a few more photos of the interior! We'll be updating the kitchen soon (thank God) and I can't wait to do make even more improvements around here. We've done a LOT on the sunporch/office/craft room area, but none of it is particularly photo-ready, so I'll spare y'all's eyes for now.

My dark grey almost black bathroom. I think it works well with the original yellow tile.

View into our bedroom. I love my ceilings.

Ravenclaw felt banner that B and I made hanging from the door knob. I need to do a DIY tutorial on that.

JUST KEEP WALKING

In case you haven't noticed, life can be hard, y'all. I'm always thankful to get some encouragement and a reminder that we are not alone in this journey. So I was super happy to get some really wonderful motivation at church the other day. 

The topic of the talk was "just keep walking." The speaker opened with a story about overhearing a snide comment made about a woman who was on the heavier side and was out walking for exercise. "Just keep walking, lady," the smug commenter said. The thing is though, she may have had a long way to go, but she kept on walking.

Walking is a theme that we see many times in the Bible. The Israelites walked in the wilderness for years to get to the Promised Land. It had to have been so incredibly hard and they lost faith so many times, but they had to just keep walking. 

Alternative Wedding Bouquets

As I've mentioned before, I'm pretty new to Instagram and I love it. Besides being fun because of all the pretty pictures, it's a great way to meet new people and find new things. I've long been obsessed with paper flowers and I'm planning on using them for my wedding. Through Instagram, I've found several paper florists (is that what they're called? is that a thing?) that I was previously unaware of. I also found another cool alternative to fresh flowers that even though I probably won't do, I'm super in awe of them. And well, I make alternative bouquets too, so I'll talk about myself a little (haha).

Like I said, I've been loving on paper flowers for awhile now, but I just recently found a few really good makers of them on IG. Probably my favorite is Margie Keates from The Lovely Ave. I've been Instagram stalking her for the last few weeks and she does some great work. I'd love to have some of her flowers at my wedding (if I haven't been too creepy of a stalker and she'll talk to me, that is).

From The Lovely Ave @thelovelyave on Instagram.

From @thelovelyave on Instagram.

Super pretty, huh? And check out her beautiful new website!

The other super talented maker of alternative bouquets that I've been in awe of lately, is Meghan LaCroix. She makes the most gorgeous, fresh-looking bouquets that I would never believe are actually dried and preserved.

From @MeghanLaCroix on Instagram

Roundup for the Week: Bridal Market, Prom, and Self Esteem

Hello! I've been a little more absent from the blog lately, so I've been amassing a bunch of things that I want to share with you! 

I had no idea that this week would be Bridal Market, but it's been blowing up my Instagram and Facebook today!

RIVINI Fall 2015. Photo from Bridals by Lori on Facebook. I love the shape and embelishments, but maybe a little too sheer in places for my tastes.

RIVINI Fall 2015. Photo from Bridals by Lori on Facebook. I'm loving all the sleeves and in general, the lack of strapless! So glad that trend is at least temporarily over.

Checking in!

I haven't been posting as much lately because I've been busy with my Marketing Certificate coursework.  It's loads of fun and super interesting and I can't wait to put what I've learned into action and share it with you all.

We've also been having little adventures around town, like we do, including Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival.  We even saw the Village People! (They're a good time.)

DIY: Easy Framed Art

So for someone who's as dubious of DIY art as me, this is my second tutorial for it in as many weeks.  Today, I've got the easiest DIY art tutorial ever for you! 

You only need two things! An interesting frame and a wallpaper swatch piece that you like and/or goes with your decor. Easy, huh?

I found a mid-century frame that I love at a garage sale for super cheap.  I'd been trying to find something that fit in the frame and looked good in the empty spot on my wall.  I'd tried lots and lots of pictures in prints in that frame, but nothing seemed right.

You can see my framed wallpaper art hanging out over my wingback chair.  That spot on the wall really needed something.

I'd also gotten a sample of the beautiful Ode to the Unhasty wallpaper from Grow House Grow about a year ago.  I want to put it on a wall in my kitchen, but so far I haven't been able to afford it. Whomp.  Still though, I wanted to at least be able to show off the piece of wallpaper that I had. So, I popped it into that empty frame and I loved it!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you!

I went to a lovely church service with my family.  Now I'm home, working on school work with a roast in the crock pot (yum) and waiting for B to get home from work.

I hope you have a joyful day today! There are always difficult things and situations that leave us with a heavy heart, but I am so thankful for the joy of salvation and the ability to be victors over death.

Happy Easter!

-Robin

Good Things Happen to Those Who Hustle

I have BIG NEWS!  So, as I alluded to a couple of weeks ago, I've had something big in the works for a new educational opportunity.  Well, as of yesterday, I'm working on a graduate certificate in Marketing through Cornell's School of Business!  I'm ridiculously excited.  I've been searching for the right educational fit for me for awhile and I can't wait to learn more about the how and why of marketing, not just tips and tricks.

ANYWAY, because of this awesome opportunity, I won't have quite as much time to blog for the next few months because I'll be HUSTLING.  I'm planning on still posting at least once a week, so keep an eye out!

Cross stitch pattern PDF from SatsumaStreet on Etsy (I love her work)

All the best!

-Robin