Office Makeover & Inspiration

Last Sunday, The Baconator took me out into the city and let me do whatever my little heart desired. This was a sort of belated birthday day since he had to work on my actual birthday. I have been wanting to go to Paris on Ponce for awhile now. We see it every time we go to Whole Foods and just never had to chance to stop by and see what it was all about. Let me just say…vintage heaven! This place was filled to the brim with some really cool vintage accessories, furniture and everything in between! Even The Baconator was in awe as we walked through the warehouse spaces and looked through all of the treasures. In the vendor area, there was a particular booth that caught my eye. It had mostly things from the 50s and 60s but were refinished in cool pops of bright colors. I WISH I could remember the name because I would love to see if they have a website or Etsy shop where I can find more.

This whole trip and the piece I bought from the above described booth, gave me the inspiration I needed to makeover my office. Since getting new furniture was out of the question, I decided to put a bit of pop into my existing pieces. (FIY – The piece in the top right corner is the one I purchased…it is the most delicious color of teal ever. It looks a little blue in that picture because of the crappy lighting in here. The upper pic is the closest to the actual color.)

So what do you do with a plain white desk from IKEA? Mod Podge it of course! I actually started out with Amanda’s desk because it was in pretty sad condition. Before adding her to the team, the desk was used mainly to cut things and craft so it was pretty beat up. I had some really cool green fabric on hand and went to mod-podging! Amanda’s work space is the first photo.

I really didn’t have an intention of doing my desk but after seeing how cool Amanda’s desk turned out, I was jealous and wanted to do mine too! I did have to make a trip to the fabric store to try and find the right shade of teal to match my existing pieces. But hey, a trip to the fabric store is like much needed therapy for this chick. Gia went along and picked out a few fat quarters for herself…I have no clue what she is making with it (she says it’s a surprise!).

I also spray painted a little wooden table in the same teal and covered it with the green fabric. Since I had the spray paint out, I also gave my storage bins a once over since the previous colors didn’t really match any more.

This next photo doesn’t really have anything to do with the makeover but I thought you may like to see what the other side of the room looks like. It is mostly inventory and supplies for Write With Moxie.

I am a huge believer that if you really want your creativity to flow, you have to have things around you that can help inspire. Having a clean, organized and bright workspace always helps me to be productive. After all, if you like coming in and spending time in your office…the rest will follow!

Vday printable freebies!

I wanted to design something a little less “cutesy” for this Valentine’s Day.  I started looking through some of my old illustrations and found this little whale I had done awhile back. (It was actually part of a logo concept for a client that wasn’t chosen). I immediately hopped on Google to see if I could find a pun that would match. Really, what is Valentine’s Day without a few puns? While it’s still got a little cute factor for the kids, I chose a more modern color palette and print for the paper.

We are very into origami bookmarks over here lately. If you purchase anything from Write With Moxie, you will see that up close and personal. ;) I just used a larger piece of paper to make a little “pouch” to hold the card and a little piece of candy. I even included illustrated directions for you! I just used a sucker but there is enough room to stuff it with all kinds of goodies.

Since most Valentine’s are pink and red, I thought I would make something for the boys as well. Both color palettes are included in the PDF!

And if that wasn’t enough, I also made little pillowboxes in the same print and colors.

You can download a PDF for each one below (or over there on the sidebar). Hope you enjoy!

<< WHALE VALENTINE CARD FREEBIE – BOY & GIRL >>
<< WHALE VALENTINE PILLOWBOX FREEBIE – BOY & GIRL >>

sweet shoes – chooze

Have you seen Chooze shoes? Besides being made from organic and vegan material, they are also super cool! Each shoe in a pair is different. I am really diggin these for Gia. Oh and these for myself!

oh my! get your website ready

As most of you may know, I write a monthly post for Oh My! Handmade Goodness. I absolutely love the community that Jessika has put together over there. It only seems fitting that since it is comprised of handmade business, I keep the business posts there. So that is what I have decided to do. I am going to make it a goal of mine to contribute several posts per month (if not more). No worries, I will make sure to post a little excerpt here so that everyone can keep up with the biz advice and stuff. :)

This month, I wrote a post on how to get your website ready for the new year. As you know, web design is a true passion of mine so to be able to share that is an awesome gift. Check it out here. You can also get a super handy checklist to help you get started!

Oh and there is a free web consultation at the end of the post. Since that was so popular, I decided to make it a regular thing. If you are interested, just click that little banner over on the right there and we can chat about your website. :)