It's that time of the year!

Hello lovelies!

It's officially that time of year to start your holiday shopping! It seems that people are already lining up outside of stores to be first in line for the big sales. If you're like me, and you like to sleep in instead of waking up at dawn, I've got a special treat for you that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own couch!

All this weekend, starting today (11/23) thru Cyber Monday (11/28), we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our Etsy shop and on our website! We know a lot of brides out there are planning their Spring weddings, and this is the perfect opportunity to get your accessories at a fantastic price! This is the first sale we've ever run, and you don't want to miss out!

The discount is already on our website, so just click the "buy now" button and you're done! If you're shopping on our Etsy site, please enter in the code "BLACKFRIDAY10" in all caps into the discount code box during checkout.

We hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving, and happy shopping!! :)

Custom Pieces

Creating pretty things for others to enjoy is one of the best parts of my job. I recently had the pleasure of being able to create something for a special person, my friend Erin. (My sash Erin is named after her!).

Erin and I have gone to school together since Elementary (go Parkside Pandas!), and became close friends in high school. She recently got married at the courthouse in D.C., due to her husband being in the air force, and they are having their wedding next September. She asked if I could create a headpiece for her to go with her dress, as she tried to find something to no avail. I was so excited that she asked that I started on it right away! Here's a picture of it on my living room rug:

I loved making these flowers! I was also pretty excited that she asked me to throw in her wedding colors. Her 'maids are going to be wearing emerald gowns, and her accent colors are black and silver. This piece would look lovely in all ivory, but I love color, so I was incredibly happy to add that in! Here's another picture of it that my husband took, this time in my hair:

I think it'll look a lot better in her hair on her wedding day than it does in my quick bun. But, hey, you get the idea of what it's going to look like! I can't wait to post about her wedding, and show off pics from her wedding day, but sadly, that won't happen until next September. I'll be sure to keep you updated!

The website is finished!! Finally!!!

Hi Lovelies!

So, it's official. The website that I have been working on f.o.r.e.v.e.r. has finally been completed! As of about 2 o'clock this morning, the new website is up and available for your viewing pleasure! I'm sure that I'll still be working out some things over the next few days, but I'd love it if you guys could check it out and let me know what you think!! We're so unbelievably excited that it's finally finished! We've worked really hard to make it prettier, and easier to use. Here are some things that we've changed:

- Our logo. Yay!
- The design and layout. We've updated to something a little more sophisticated.
- The image galleries. We've made them easier to scroll through, and we've added pop out galleries so that you can really see the details of each sash.
- We've updated our F.A.Q.'s sections of the website to include our new international shipping rates!
- We've added links to our blog, our twitter account, our facebook page, and our etsy shop.
- We've added a contact page on the website so it's easier for you to get in touch with us.

We hope that all of these changes make it easier for you to shop on our site! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! :)

Spring 2012 Photo Shoot

Hi there lovelies!

First of all, I want to say that this is highly delayed. I've tried to post this several times and couldn't get the pictures to load so I did what anyone else would do, I gave up. Now I've decided to try again. I know, I've already posted the pics on our Facebook page, as well as on our Wedding Chicks page, but I think they deserve to live on here as well. So, here we go!

We are bursting with excitement! We received our photos from our Spring 2012 photo shoot that we did at the end of September!! All photos were taken by the wonderful Sarah McKenzie, of Sarah McKenzie photography. If you're unfamiliar with her work, you should definitely check her out. She has such a lovely style, and has the eye for perfect lighting, perfect composition, perfect everything! And, on top of all of that, she's absolutely amazing to work with! I'll let her images speak for themselves (here are some of my favs):

We shot on location at the Trails End Stables in Kingwood, TX. It's a nice quiet little stable with lots of friendly horses, and a few cats. During our shoot, a lot of the owners came out to feed the horses and groom them, and one owner was nice enough to let us borrow her daughter's horse, Tara, for a few photos! Here is a breakdown of who did what for the shoot:

Photography: As mentioned earlier, by the amazing Sarah McKenzie.

Hair: Jessica of Adorne Artistry; she's amazing. This was my first time working with her, and she nailed it, and was a peach to work with.

Makeup: Crystal Curry of Crystal Clear Makeup. She worked with us on the first photo shoot, and I was so happy to have her back! I basically give her no direction, and she gives me loveliness. She really understands that when I say I want a "natural" look, than I mean I want something amazing. She gave me two completely different looks (one for Deven and one for Marina), and they both worked so well with the shoot.

Clothing: All of the clothing worn by the two lovely models were vintage pieces that Sarah and I found together at some great vintage shops in the Heights in Houston. Deven wore two different vintage looks (she also worn a corset top from Anthropologie-purchased at Buffalo Exchange), and Marina wore my J.Crew wedding gown, and a Tracy Reese dress, also Anthropologie (also purchased at Buffalo Exchange). All of the jewelry is my own, and Deven wore my mother's veil, that I wore as well for my wedding!

I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed taking a part in them! Things definitely went a lot smoother the second time around, but there's also tweaking to do. Hopefully the next one will be sooner than next fall if I get on the ball and start on some headpieces! :)

A whole lotta new going on

I didn't mean to write one post right after another, but I'm so excited! Since I've only done a few posts, and haven't been good about linking them elsewhere (i.e. facebook and twitter), you probably never saw my first blog layout. It was cute and colorful, but I never felt like it really went with my style. Thus, my search for a new blog template/layout began. Since I was able to find a great logo design on Etsy (see previous post), I figured I might as well give this a try.

It didn't take me long to find a shop that I liked. And I mean, really liked. As in, every single layout in the shop. I'm a pretty indecisive person, and this was a big decision, so I was completely torn. The shop is called Little Grey Willow, and is run by a lovely lady named Maree. She was wonderful to work with, and she absolutely has something for everyone. I picked the Zoe template because of it's bright colors and fun design. Plus, the blue design at the top is very similar to my banner for my Etsy shop. I just received and installed the template, and I'm very happy with it. I wanted the blog to be a place that you want to sit and stay awhile, and I think this does the trick. I highly recommend Little Grey Willow to anyone looking for something new and fresh. So, what do you think of the new design?

Choosing a new Logo Design

I guess I shouldn't say "new" logo design, when I don't really have one in the first place. What I'm currently using is a pretty text, simply with our business name written out. This is used on our website, on our labels, and on our packaging. But now that we have the new line ready, and the website is being overhauled, it just seemed like the right time for a change.

The first thing I did was try to design one myself. I'm like a one woman show anyway, and I studied one year of graphic design in college (before thankfully switching over to fashion), so I thought it might be easy. I was wrong. I'm usually really good at being able to see something and then replicate it. Whether it's an outfit, a drawing, a design, etc etc. But when it comes to logo design, I'm completely lost (it would have been nice if they had covered this during my stint as an aspiring graphic designer). I see beautiful logos and have no idea how their created. Which brings me to what I did next.

In the quest for the perfect logo design, a few other options came to mind. The first being that there are several design firms right here in Houston that are wonderful that I could use. The cost of this is pretty high, so I quickly decided against that. Then I looked into Vistaprint, which is where I had my first round of business cards printed. But their designs were so generic and clipart-ish, and not at all what I wanted. The next option I stumbled upon by accident. I was looking up some advertising things on Etsy, and saw a small blurb about custom made banners. After clicking on that, I discovered a whole world of designers on Etsy with entire shops filled with wonderful designs. I didn't even realize that there were shops like this until about three days ago. Am I behind the times or what?

I came across the shop Ginger Studio and immediately fell in love. Her simple but utterly gorgeous designs are exactly what I had in mind. They are complete with all of the scrolly beautifulness that I have no idea how to do. They are pretty and whimsical without being complicated, and I think they could work for all kinds of businesses. The pricing is pretty great, and she is available for custom work as well. The hardest part was choosing a design that I liked more than the rest. With the help of a good friend, I narrowed down my choices and decided on the perfect fit! Now I simply can't wait to receive it and show it off! I think it's going to make a really great statement on the website, and I'm hoping to use it when I order new business cards (which I really need to do....). For now, here are some of Ginger Studio's other design's. Enjoy the loveliness :)