The weekend is here! After a very busy week, I am looking forward to slowing down, getting some reading done, and resting.
Here are some links for your weekend…
Happy Weekend!
Category Archives: Uncategorized
For when it’s all just too much
I had a rough couple of days last week. Being a business owner is hard. Don’t get me wrong, I love that I get to create pretty things in my studio, and I still pinch myself that this is my JOB. It’s what I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a little girl drawing pictures and hanging them all over my room.
BUT. The business side of things can be completely overwhelming. There is bookkeeping to stay on top of, and liability insurance, and worker’s comp for a new employee we just hired, and taxes to pay, and the list goes on and on. It’s the stuff that makes me want to just forget that I’m a responsible human being and go binge on Netflix. Can I get an amen?
Aside from the business stuff, we are working on some new products for this year, and I’m working on licensing some of my designs with an international company. There are a lot of moving parts and most of the time, I feel like I don’t know what in the world I am doing.
There is a lot of new territory that feels BIG and a little bit scary. We are experiencing growing pains and, while it’s exciting, it also feels risky and hard.
Thankfully not every day is so hard, but when it is, here is what I’ve found helps to get me through:
- Talk with someone who understands. For me, I texted my lady-boss friend Janelle. It is so helpful to have someone in my life who understands the challenges of running a business and encourages me to keep going. Sometimes you need people in your life who have faith in you and can see the potential in you that you just can’t see for yourself.
- Do the next thing, however small it might be. Make the phone call. Write the email. Make the decision you’ve been putting off. This gives me momentum to keep going and makes me feel like I’m making progress, even if it’s super small.
- Don’t look at what other people are doing who are in your field. For me, when I start comparing what I am doing with what someone else is doing, I feel inadequate and defeated. It just isn’t helpful to me.
- Do something completely different. Go outside. Take a walk. Read a book. Getting my mind off work stuff helps to refocus me and gives me new energy to come back and tackle it again.
- Get enough sleep. This is super hard for me. I love to stay up late after putting the kids to bed. It’s the only time in the day where I can feel like I can relax, and I want to soak that time in. But sleep is so important. Especially since I’m not a coffee drinker (much to the dismay of my husband who would love for me to drink with him).
This business-owning thing is never going to get easy, and I’ll never have it all figured out. There is always more to learn and someone will always be further along than we are. We’ll make lots of mistakes and go through highs and lows and make things up as we go along. There will be days where it feels like it would be so much easier to give up.
Be encouraged. You aren’t alone. We can totally do this!
Feather painting on reclaimed wood
I have some new paintings available for order in the shop! I’ve been working on creating these feather paintings for several weeks and am really pleased with how they turned out.
They are made using our gorgeous reclaimed wood, and each one is painted-to-order. So colors can be changed, as well as the word on the bottom of the painting.
You can find the feather paintings in my shop here.
Have a great week friends!
Chandelier Makeover
Thrift stores are my absolute favorite. There is so much goodness to be had if you are up for a little digging. Even if I was a millionaire, I would still be drawn toward secondhand items.
I needed to find new lighting in my girls’ room and found the perfect thing at my local Habitat for Humanity Restore. It cost $1.88. I mean. You just can’t beat that.
Here is what the light looked like when I bought it. It was wood and brass and covered in dusty old fake vines.
I spray painted the whole thing white and found these cute little shades at Goodwill. Another thrift store score!
So for $1.88 + the cost of the shades ($1.97 ea) and a string of crystals from Amazon, I was really happy with this find!
“Bread of Life” Sign
I have a new sign in the shop this morning! 
You can find the “Bread of Life” sign here.
It’s Monday morning! Time to get to work! Hope you all have a great week.
Wrapping up the week
We had gloriously warm Spring-like weather this week, which was such a gift! There was lots of playing and exploring outside on our new property, riding bikes, and remember how dirty we get in the summer!
We moved in October, so most of the plants and flowers and done for the summer on our new property, so it’s been really fun watching things start to pop up. I’m getting excited to add some life to the outside of the house with plants like climbing roses and hydrangeas, my two favorites.
Here are some links you may want to check out this weekend…
- “What happens when you offer your work to the world” blog post by Life In Grace
Have a great weekend friends!
Girls Room Accent Wall
I am slowly but surely crossing projects in our new house off my list! Giving the girls’ room a little makeover with some paint was so fun! I’m still not completely finished with their room, but I thought I’d share what I have done so far.
Here is what part of the room looked like before we moved in…
I painted the ceiling, walls and trim Simply White by Benjamin Moore. This accent wall is Overcast by True Value EasyCare. It’s a really pretty deep gray with slightly green undertones.
In progress…
All finished…
After I painted the accent wall the solid gray color, I traced the large flowers onto the wall with chalk. I purchased some digital flower clip art from this Etsy shop and used the flowers as templates while I was tracing. Then I hand-painted the large flowers over the chalk with white craft paint and a small brush.
After I painted the large flowers, I went back and freehanded the vines and leaves.
Here are some sources from the room:
Curtains: Ikea | Bedding: Target & Ikea | “Sunshine Girl” pillow: made by me | chandelier: thrifted
Next on the agenda for the room is finishing a window seat and a gallery wall. The fun continues!
Recent Custom Signs
Happy Monday friends!
We had a mini snow storm this weekend, but it’s supposed to feel like Spring later this week, and I am ready! Bring on the warm sunshine and longer days!
Here are a few custom signs that I created recently…
My sweet customer sent me this picture of the “Dwell” sign in her beautiful home. I love her taste! So pretty, right?
Have a great week!
One Second Everyday in February
I mentioned in this post how I am trying to do a better job of capturing everyday life so that I remember what our life is like years from now when my memory will surely fail me.
The app called One Second Everyday is a great way to do just that. You record one second of each day and it compiles it into really fun little videos. I don’t remember to do it every single day, but I try my best with the help of my iPhone alarm.
Here is a snippet of what February looked like…
Wrapping up the week
It was a fun, busy week working on new things in the studio! Lots of experimenting, painting, and creating. It just doesn’t get much better than that. I’m finishing up with renovating the girls’ room, and it’s so close to being finished. It’s always that last 10% that seems to drag on and take forever to get done!
Love this quote from my “Quotes” Pinterest board…
Here are some links you may want to check out…
- This video about a couple who adopts a little neglected girl will tear your heart out.
- I ordered the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
and I’m excited to dig in. I’ve heard lots of good things about it.
- The podcast episode of the Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey where she talks to Retha Nichole was, oh my goodness, riveting. Retha’s story is pretty unbelievable.
Have a great weekend, friends!
