Dreamin' and Hopin' and Wishin' and Doin'

Mountain sunrise photo from here

As 2011 comes to a close I have been doing a lot thinking, brainstorming, planning - as in my brain actually hurts and you might find me staring blankly off into space at any given moment. There is so much in my heart right now just trying to bust out and I have been working on figuring out how to make that happen. Because, as it turns out, just because you are on fire about something doesn't make it easier to obtain.

This past year has been full of change for me. I decided to leave my job to stay at home with Eli and pursue Truly Noted full time. There have been so many ups and downs since then, including an anxiety inducing August and September with virtually no sales, and I think I learned a lot. I have always subscribed to the idea that as long as you learn something, every trial is worth it. Throughout all of it, though I have tried my hardest to keep my thoughts on the reason for it all. The awesome rewards of being able to be with my son and experience every little milestone along with him. To give him all of the nurturing, love and attention he deserves.

So what if that means I had to give up cable, a fancy cell phone and going out to dinner? Who has time for that stuff anyway? Especially when you are working your little behind off trying to grow your business into something awesome. Something greater than you ever thought it could be. Something to give me pride, joy, fulfillment and a decent paycheck.

And I really did work my behind off and I did make progress. I did have more sales than 2010. More sales than I ever have had before. I created new designs. I launched a new website. I forged new friendships and partnerships. It wasn't perfect, but it was in the right direction. And I learned so much.

I was also inspired by some pretty amazing people. Other women who intimidated me at first. Who made me want to go back to bed, crawl into a ball and cry about how lame I was. But I wouldn't let myself. Sure, I might have had a pang in my heart of jealousy towards their awesomeness, but then I let it inspire me. I let it fuel the fire inside of my soul that wants to achieve all of my dreams. And then some. I read what they believe, what they do, who they are and I tried to learn from them.

Then I reminded myself that they were once where I am now. They didn't start out ridiculously successful and awesome. Once upon a time they were just girls sitting at a computer with an idea and $2 to their name just like me. They had jobs that they risked leaving to pursue their dreams just like me. They had fears and made mistakes and questioned themselves just like me. But they pushed on and worked hard and eventually made it through to the other side. Just like I am going to do.

So, 2012, I have a lot in store for you. A lot of goals. Some of them might sound crazy and unachievable, but if you shoot for the moon and miss at least you end up in the stars. In the next year I hope to accomplish some amazing things, such as:

• Get Truly Noted set up as an LLC
• Trademark the Truly Noted name
• Sign at least two wholesale accounts in Vermont to carry my invitations
• Forge a relationship with area venues to carry my event stationery line
• Attend at least one seminar or conference geared towards stationery or wedding professionals
• Get to the point where I can pay myself a regular paycheck each month
• Expand the Truly Noted product line
• Teach DIY Invitation classes in my area
• Be able to afford to send Eli to daycare two days a week (I really need this!)
• Blog at least twice a week
• Tweet at least once a day
• Update Facebook at least once a day
• Hit 500 sales in my Etsy store

So there you have it. My goals for the new year. There are a few other, personal goals I have as well just to spice it up. I used to think, when I first started out on this business owning journey, that my goal was just to be able to afford staying home with my kids. If I could make just enough to pay the bills and stay home that would be enough. I didn't want to push it, to try and have my cake and eat it too. But now I realize that I am capable of doing so much more than that and I shouldn't try to limit my expectations of myself. I am looking to the new year like the sunrise in the picture at the top of this post. Beautiful, breathtaking and amazingly large.

Merry Christmas

A very special project I have been working on for the last several weeks has reminded me just how precious family is. How, as we grow up, it is easy to forget the simple joys of togetherness and unconditional love from our youth. Whether your family is parents and siblings, or friends and neighbors, I urge you to recognize the blessing they are to your life and take a moment to cherish them.

All too quickly this too will pass and the future will be upon us. Don't let the simple beauty of this moment slip by unnoticed.

I wish you all a wonderful holiday that is unforgettable.

Real Weddings | Kim & Shane

 Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working on invitations for a lakeside wedding featuring our rowboat illustration. One of my favorite and beautifully simplistic designs. The bride, Kim Grassie, works at Etsy so it came as no surprise when the most recent Etsy Weddings e-newsletter arrived in my inbox and her wedding was featured!

I get so much joy out of seeing pictures from clients weddings. Being the invitation designer my work is usually done and over with weeks before the wedding even takes place, so I rarely get a glimpse into them. Kim and Shane's lakeside ceremony and reception in Wisconsin is absolutely idyllic! And I love that Kim worked with so many Etsy artists to make her wedding special.

Check out more about Kim and Shane's wedding on the Etsy blog.

Savvy Couples Wedding Solutions

I am so excited to announce my participation in the Savvy Couples Wedding Solutions seminar series! This seminar series was put together by Jackie Watson at VT Enchanted Events and Nick de Tarnowsky of Blue Sky Weddings & Events to help couples plan their perfect dream day! They understood that not all couples can afford to hire a wedding planner but still could use some tips and tricks on how to navigate all of the different aspects of planning such a huge (and momentous!) occasion.

When they asked me to be a guest speaker to talk about invitations I leaped at the chance! I have been wanting to offer seminars on invitations, especially DIY, for a while now but just didn't have the venue for it. There will be a series of four seminars and I plan on bringing lots of resources and inspiration to help you on your way to making your wedding stationery dreams come true.

If you are planning a wedding and can make it to the Hilton Hotel in Burlington on January 22, from 1-3 pm, please join us for an amazing afternoon! There will be a drawing for a romance package for two and a sampling of some local Vermont wine,  not to mention tons of info and a chance to ask us all your burning questions!

You can register for the event on VT Enchanted Events website, here. Can't wait to see you there!

Golden Autumn Leaves Invitation Design

 

One of the best things I ever did was to join an online group consisting entirely of stationery business owners. Working from home by myself can be very isolating at times {E doesn't have any appreciation for fine papers except to try and eat them} and the inspiration and support I receive from the wonderful community on Let's Talk Stationery is priceless.

In fact I think that whatever your passion or profession is it is a good idea to see if there is an online forum dedicated to that particular activity. It is amazing to me what kind of forums there are out there on the world wide web- my husband belongs to one that is specifically for owners of his particular make and model of car. Yes, he is a geek- probably why we are perfect for each other :-)

Anyway, I digress - recently a fellow member of LTS suggested a monthly design challenge where we are given certain perameters to design around and at the end of the month everyone posts photos of their creations. I love that kind of thing so I was super excited to complete our first challenge- like three weeks ago. I am a little bit of an overachiever if you haven't guessed that yet.

 

This months design challenge was to use leaves and the color gold. Fall being in full swing for the month of October there was tons of inspiration all around me. I happened to have some beautiful bronze metallic cardstock from Envelopments laying around and I decided to give it an organic feel with a kraft paper envelope. Some super shiny vellum became an envelope liner and a simple illustration of delicately layered fall leaves completed my vision.

I am pretty excited with how it all turned out and can't wait for next months challenge! Oh, and in case you are wondering, this design will definitely be making it's way into my Signature collection soon.

Wedding Video Love | Lola Video & Film

Film by Lola Video & Film found via Style Me Pretty

I am just swooning over this gorgeous wedding video I saw on Style Me Pretty today. Shot in Super 8mm, it has a vintage, grainy texture that I find so alluring. It is a perfect format for the location and ambiance of the wedding. Speaking of which, you should really check out all of the lovely pictures on SMP.

I love the song playing too, but can't figure out who it is, so if you know please tell!

First Birthday | Teddy Bear Picnic

 

The Teddy Bear Picnic invitation is now part of my Signature line!

Well this post has been a little delayed in the making- funny how life has a way of speeding up just as things are getting good! We celebrated Eli's first birthday back in September and I wanted to share these pics of all the goodies I put together.

During his first year I tried my darndest to have a mini photoshoot every month, including these adorable shots of E with his giant teddy bear. I love the idea of watching him change in size with the ever constant bear in the background. Of course the older he got the less he wanted to sit still for the shots, but I managed to get 10 out of 12 months!

The cupcake toppers- we had chocolate devils food and apple spice cupcakes- yum!

 
I knew I wanted to incorporate the photos into his party and thus the idea of a Teddy Bear Picnic themed party was born. I lucked out and it was a beautiful, sunny and warm weekend - perfect for having a picnic in the backyard. I gathered up all of the quilts and blankets I could find and made sure to instruct guests to bring their teddy bears to the party.

 

Yummy Ham, Cheddar and Apple sandwiches and my favorite pic of Eli from the day.

With a limited budget I found the picnic idea to be perfect for easy to make and easy on the wallet food choices. I whipped up a couple of tasty sandwich options on mini rolls and made a homemade pasta salad the night before. Paired with some bags of goldfish crackers (E's favorite), apples and cupcakes for dessert it made a perfect casual lunch.

 

For the kiddies I just put out juice boxes which were easy for them to carry around outside. But for the adults I mixed up some Papa and Mama Bear Juice, being careful to label it such so no one was confused which juice was for whom. For favors I took a pinwheel and attached it to a bottle of bubbles which I labeled with custom stickers that went along with the theme.

 

I made this banner following this tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop

A few years ago I made a homemade Happy Birthday banner for my nephew and its blue, white and red color scheme went perfectly with E's party too! I got some red gingham fabric at Walmart and put it over a plain white tablecloth for the buffet table. And of course, as I mentioned in a previous post, I had my super awesome cupcake stand from All Custom Gifts on Etsy.

 

Gah! Can you believe how cute those plaid pants are!?

And of course I had to create a little wall display for the teddy bear pics chronicling E's growth over the year. It was a wonderful day and even though E looked at us like we were crazy when we sang him Happy Birthday I think he had a pretty good time, too.

Check out E's party recap on Catch My Party too!