Be Kind... and a Freebie

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. I've found this statement in the back of my mind quite often lately. Do you ever stop to examine how you treat the people you love and those whose paths you cross? To their face or otherwise. Because it's true, our battles may not be the same, but everyone certainly has at least one.

I definitely haven't always lived by this mentality, but as I round out the last month at age 26, I have to say I'm pretty proud that I do now. Perhaps being married to the most patient man in the world has something to do with that... plus I'm sure adding more candles to the cake year after year does too. And now I have a Jewel song stuck in my head. (FF to 1:45 for the line I'm referencing there...)

It's been a while since I've done anything typographic so I sat down this morning and created this print to share with you. It was cathARTic if you will. The watercolor wash is from Bittbox.   You can download the 8 x 10 image here.

'Round the Shop

Hi there! I just wanted to stop in and make note of a few things going on in the shop. First, you might have noticed that the fabric department is looking a bit barren these days. Don't worry though, it will be full again soon! I'm switching things up a bit with pricing and batching, and will be adding some new prints over the next few months. So sit tight on that one!

Otherwise, I'd like to point out that I still have a few tea towel calendars on hand, and they are now 50% off. Snatch 'em up now while they're at their best price yet! Keep in mind that even though we're nearing the fourth month of 2013, you can still use the calendars after the year is over as actual towels in your kitchen. They're a lovely linen/cotton blend that only gets softer with time.

Next, you might notice that things are a bit hodge-podge in the handmade department. I've struggled over the past few months with narrowing down what exactly it is that I want to make to sell in my shop. Just because I can make just about anything doesn't mean I should sell everything! I've always loved making purses, bags, and accessories. But as my friends and family experience lots of life changes like weddings and babies, my mind wanders to things I want to make for them as gifts, and then of course, what I can turn into products. So I think I've finally narrowed down a logical product line that encompasses ladies and babies... accessory style. So look forward to new handmade products being added regularly.

Finally, things are starting to pick up in the DIY department. If you head on over there now you'll see my very first non-seasonal pattern available as a digital download. I plan to add many, many more of these patterns for a variety of items so you can sew along with me. Putting patterns online is not a quick or simple process, and it's a bit nerve-wracking as far as intellectual property goes... but you never know what will come of something if you're not willing to put your work out there!

Thanks for reading my shop announcements and being patient as I pull everything together. I'll be back on Friday with some High Fives for the week.

March Tutorial: How to host a virtual bridal shower

I'm baaaack!

Today I'd like to share with you one of the many projects that's been keeping me so darn busy this month. First of all, I have to mention that while I may talk about my wedding on a fairly regular basis, I don't think I've talked much about the fact that this is the year of the wedding in our household.

I've only ever been a flower girl in a wedding before... and that was a good 20-ish years ago. This year I'm a bridesmaid in two weddings, on top of being a bride in my own- one in June, ours in October, the last in November. But I'm not finished yet- there's two more! We're attending my bridesmaid Anna's wedding in May, and the other, which we unfortunately can't attend, is my cousin Jen's in November. Oye. So back to the project.

One of my high school girlfriends actually got married last June. Long story short, he's in the Air Force, was getting deployed, so they had a small ceremony at the time, but they still want a big celebration once he gets back. So this year, on their one year anniversary, they're having a traditional wedding and reception. Since I'm one of the bridesmaids, I stepped up to host the bridal shower. Difficult thing is, she lives in Montana and won't be back in Missouri (where most of her guests live and the wedding will be) until the week before the wedding. So I did the bridal shower working around this issue... virtual style.

The photo above was the evite that was sent out. I embedded the image into the body of an email and sent it to all the guests whose addresses I had. So how exactly do you host a virtual bridal shower? You start a blog, of course!

Step one: Email your invitation. (see first photo for mine) I recommend doing an open site after trying to do a private site myself. The hassle of sending invitations via blogger and folks who don't normally read blogs not understanding the process was a bit overwhelming- so learn from my mistake! Chances are you won't have too many uninvited folks visiting your site if you're not tagging posts and there are settings to make it invisible in blogger search and google search.

Step two: Make an intro page. I just made a post that would appear on the home page to serve as instructions for the shower itself. I also utilized the static pages feature that blogger offers to create the rest of the site. You're allowed to have ten pages total, and I used eight: (which you can see right under the header of the site) About the couple, registry, favors, advice, and four games: mad lib, 20 questions, in your purse, and first date.

Step Three: Choose your games wisely. Many bridal shower games require you to all be in the same room as each other. I picked the four that I did because they were games where guests could leave their answers in the comments. 20 questions was a game about Justin and how well Jackie knows him. I wrote questions like how did he find out Santa wasn't real (sorry if I just crushed anyone's dreams) and what was the name of his first pet. Guests left the number that they thought Jackie and Justin would answer the same way.

The Mad Lib was also fun because people just filled in the prompts, and when it was all over, I posted everyone's answers filled into the mad lib. Jackie picked her favorite for the winner. For first date- Jackie told the story of her first date with Justin, guests left their stories with their significant others, and Jackie picked her favorite for the winner. And finally, for in your purse, guests posted the contents of their purse and I had a key to award them points for each item.

Step Four: Make a page for guests to leave advice for the couple. Check out what our guests wrote:

Step Five: Get the registry information from the bride and set up a page to link to it. Since we couldn't bring gifts to watch her open them at a bridal shower, we all mailed our gifts straight to her.



Step Six: You can't have a bridal shower without a favor to thank the guests! I decided to do a printable piece of art. That way guests could print it from their own computers and frame/use it as they please. Don't think I'd leave you hanging... if you want to use my favor for a virtual shower of you own, (or if you just want a little freebie art!) you can download it here.

That's it! Simple, straightforward, and if you already have a blog then you know exactly what to do. Do you know a bride who lives far away from her guests and could benefit from a virtual shower? What other ways have you been creative with bridal showers?

Header and invitation art pieces made from downloads from Pugly Pixel.
Images of the couple courtesy of the bride.
Favor art done by Moi :)