FAREWELL

"So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye!" Don't worry folks, I'm not leaving this blog anytime soon. (Did I scare you a tad?) I have been taking a bit of an unintentional hiatus, though. I have transitioned to being a full-time working stiff (from the easy, make-your-own hours life of a college student) and learned to cope with a husband who is only home select evenings and weekends due to work and school.

However, the most exciting reason I've been absent is the slow but steady start of my design business The Main Event! I've had a link to the business page in the upper left of this blog for a while now, but I thought it might be fun to share a little bit of what I do and why I am particularly in love with this job that eats up the rare free moments I have anymore. I began designing wedding announcements, which are a blast because they can embody so many styles and come in a million varieties.

As I played around with fonts and graphics, I realized that I was ignoring a very important part of what I have to offer as an artist: graphics and text from my own hands! I braved incorporating some hand-drawn fonts into my first baby announcement and I was hooked! Each invitation or announcement is supposed to tell a unique story about its announcees, and I really felt like hand-drawn work allowed me to embody the little nuances that made my clients so special. The moral of this story is that now I include a unique graphic element for each and every design of mine, because there is simply no better way to make an announcement or invitation memorable!

So now I spend my afternoons and evenings crafting wedding invitations, shopping for envelopes, drawing baby names in sweet fonts, and waiting for graduation season so I can bust out a horde of announcements for all my intelligent friends! When you have a moment, take a look at The Main Event website and let me know when you're ready to start designing the perfect announcement or invitation!

By the way, this card I've showed you is a farewell cards for the girls in my youth group at church who graduate up to the next age level. I hate it when they leave me, but I sure love the time I spend with them and I try to remind them of how special they are with a card when they turn twelve!

Renter's Plight | UGLY CLOSET DOOR

Many moons ago, I mentioned doing a series called "Renter's Plight" where I present temporary solutions for dealing with ugly rental conditions. My post today is really similar to my first post, found here, where I covered the back of some awkward cabinets with stylish wrapping paper.

In our new home, we have three bedrooms, which means both My Main Man and I get our own home offices. I actually get a bit lonely without him working next to me, but I'm taking this opportunity to create a clean, well put-together space where I can meet with clients for my design business, The Main Event. Just behind my desk (and immediately next to the space where clients might sit) is a closet with sliding doors. The doors are a dark wood, which actually isn't the most awful thing aesthetically. However, those doors are my view anytime I sit at my desk, which is often, and I needed to make them either prettier or more functional.

In one of my infamous dollar store trips, I found a 15 foot roll of brown craft paper, and I had to have it. I taped one sheet of craft paper to each door, and drew out calendars for the upcoming months. (I even made a super sweet/dorky template so I can quickly draw new calendars when I run out.) I tried two different formats, and I'll figure out which one I like more over the next few months. I'll use colored markers to classify different activities, like green for birthdays, purple for client deadlines, red for holidays, etc. It should be a really helpful organizing tool to have everything mapped out right in front of me, and I honestly like the craft paper a lot more than the wood doors!

Have you done anything similar to cover up less-than-wonderful finishes in your home?

The Main Event

Did you folks notice the new little logo on the left? Maybe you've even clicked it? (You should if you haven't yet.) This is my business that I've been working on since the beginning of this year, and I am so excited to tell anyone and everyone about it! It's called The Main Event, and I design print pieces for all kind of special events a.k.a. I do beautiful wedding invitations, birth announcements, party decor design, etc! I have had an amazing batch of clients so far, and I am really excited for a couple of great engaged couples I'm currently serving.

Anyway, I just wanted to give you all a "heads up" because (A) many of my next posts will be related to getting my home office rolling, (B) I may obsessively refer to how much fun I have with this business, and I want to know what business I'm talking about, and (C) if you wanted to enlist my services for you or a friend I would be tickled pink!

Do any of you have great home businesses that you gush over all the time?