Winding down from this Summer Rush!!

So. Very. Tired.

I'm learning how bad it is for you to not get the required amount of sleep everyday.  My bad habit of working really late and labeling myself as a 'Night Owl' are just not conducive to keeping a healthy lifestyle, especially not for a small business owner who works in only the free hours outside of my office job.  Along with all of the trials of life going on simultaneously, it is wearing me down very fast.  So... I made the decision yesterday to go into vacation mode, and force detox myself from all of the work, responsibility, obligations, and stress I allow myself to be a slave to.  Luckily, I get the chance to also go out of town for the birth of my first nephew, and spend some time helping family with him.

See, if I don't take care of myself, then how in the world can I take care of a small business?  When I'm tired, I lose my passion for creating, for thinking, for marketing, for integrating, and for keeping important connections with people.  I lose time to do important things, to pray, to be physically active, etc. etc.  It all begins to spiral out of control until you can't even find your grounding to hold on at all.

God has given me this opportunity to own my own business and to use creative skills only He has given.  To spoil it or let it become some non-stop machine would not help the person He gave it to in the first place.  I know He wants me to take care of all that he has given me; this includes me.  If I ever want this business to become something beautiful and beneficial to others, I've got to make sure that I'm present to take it and run with it.


And now a digression! ....Here's some of the fun orders that happened in the studio this summer!  This was my first really busy wedding season, covering 4 weddings with either invitations or with full wedding party bouquets, and then one anniversary.


Will you be my Bridesmaid? card set (for 11 bridesmaids!)

Wedding Ceremony invitations to a lovely evening backyard wedding with a West Texas sunset:

A set for a bride from Dublin, Ireland, with heirloom jewelry from her grandmother and great-grandmother

Full Set of wedding party bouquets: flowers were made from vintage comic books

A smaller set for a couple on their 5th Wedding Anniversary, vacationing and renewing vows in Las Vegas.

Comic book flowers: a hit!

The order I'm currently working on is for the wedding of a very comic-book, action-hero conscious couple.  The bride requested comic book Kusudama flowers for all the bouquets and boutonnieres, specifically Rogue, Gambit, and Wolverine.  

I posted the first photo of a few of these flowers, and they seem to be a hit among fans and friends!  So I'll be adding Comic books as an option for types of paper for all my flowers on the Etsy shop.  

This wedding bouquets set is quickly becoming my favorite I've done so far.  I love how personal and detailed they'll be tailored to the couple, and show off their personalities a little bit.

Hydrangeas & Magnolias @ 922 and soon online

What a whirlwind these last few months have been for me! On top of this little business of mine picking up speed, I've been taking in more wedding custom orders, Mother's Day and Father's Day card collections, and a market/show. There have been a crazy amount of tasks and projects to take on in preparation for events, and somehow I've come out on the other side not too sleep deprived. Excuse me while I spend the next week napping... 

 I truly am a night-owl, and am addicted to the late hours of the day into the early hours of tomorrow. That's about the only time my mind decides to shut itself up and be quiet so I can get some dang work done! But then my sweet friend Sleep gets the boot and I keep crafting away into the night. 

 So probably more than a year ago, my Mom asked me if I would make her some hydrangeas. She and my Dad had just re-done my old bedroom into a guest bedroom with blues, browns, and creams, and she wanted a little something extra. I had the plans for attempting this flower in the back of my mind, but of course it didn't go anywhere immediately. But when the chance finally came up (I needed a Christmas present for Mom...) I sat down and figured out the details of making those big, round, and full-petaled beautiful flowers that I've always loved looking at. For the petals I used a Martha Stewart hand paper-punch of a small four-petal flower. By cutting out a bunch of these, and doubling them up for each stem, it helped to make the entire flower fuller. Lots of wire and hot glue later, you get these:

They are so much fun to make, and adding them in with other types of flowers in a bouquet is really great.  These pictured here are the ones Mom received for Christmas last year, and they make a really interesting piece of home decor, as well as a conversation starter.  

You can also find these Hydrangeas in other colors at 922 Indie in Wichita Falls, TX

You can see more examples here.

Also at 922 Indie, I finally got my mini-market shelf to the shop, and now it's easier to make selections for a large array of colors to make your own bouquet.  Just pick and grab the flowers you want, find a vase or container, and arrange!  These make a great quick gift for a friend or family member who has a birthday, anniversary, graduation, retirement, or who is feeling under the weather.  And BOYS, these make a perfect gift for your lady friends, *ahem*.  

I had a friend a few months back who was in a stage production of 'Steel Magnolias', the Sally Field and Julia Roberts tear-jerker of a movie (gosh it gets me every time...I'm a crier).  But she asked if I had made Magnolias before, wanting to give some to each of her cast-mates, and of course then I had not.  But I said I'd give it a try.  Now one of my personal goals with new flowers is to be completely original with them, all the way down to the files I use to cut the dies.  So I studied the flower, drew my own petals, scanned them in and made my own SVG's.  So these magnolias are completely, 100% my design.  I really do love the way they came out, they are so elegant and soft looking.  They would be stunning in wedding bouquets, backdrops, and even table decorations.  These will soon be posted online in my Etsy shop.

There will be more posts soon to cover all the projects I've been working on lately.  Thank God for all the time and capacity He gives, and for the inspiration for my work I see in nature.