I was browsing through my blog reader today, when I spotted my 'White Lace' wedding invitation featured on this sweet inspiration board on Blush Printables' blog. It was a guest post by Jenn at Glamour and Grace, a beautiful new-to-me wedding blog. I love what she put together. So gorgeous!
How does an accountant become a stationery Designer?
I've been getting a lot of questions lately about my designing... and I thought I'd do a few posts answering some common curiosities... I get the accountant question quite a lot, probably because, in general, accountants aren't your most creative people. Stereotypes aside, I think it’s kind of fitting for me that I am both.
Growing up, I was your typical type B personality. While my sister was studying, I was cruising through high school having a good ole time. I made good grades, just not perfect grades. A 'B' was good enough for me. I was pretty laid back until I went off to college and realized that I couldn’t do nothing and do well, so somewhere in there, I learned how to study. I was in the business school, so I was leaning towards a Marketing degree, but at the time, jobs were nowhere to be found… except in accounting. Not only were there jobs, but the companies came into our college town to wine and dine recruit us. Since I ‘got’ the whole accounting thing, I decided that I would take that route and after 5 years of school, I graduated with my masters and passed my CPA exam (shocking anyone who remembered me as the aforementioned highschool student). I think it was safe to say that I wasn't really all that laid back anymore, but then again, not too many accountants are.
After graduation, I moved to Dallas and started working for an oil and gas company, where I still work today. My husband and I got engaged a couple years later and even though I was never the type of girl that always dreamt of her wedding day, I quickly fell in love with the planning. I discovered the world of wedding blogs and I was a goner. I was engaged for a year and half, so I had to keep the excitement alive. I am pretty sure I planned the entire time!
When it came to my wedding invitations, I just wasn't seeing what I wanted. I’ve always been creative and pretty resourceful when it came to crafty projects, so after a lot of hours with google, I decided I was going to take a stab at designing my own… and I ended up designing all the little details for my wedding and completely falling in love with it. Here are a few photos of my wedding and you can take a look at some more on my facebook page.
We got married in Carillon Beach, Florida, which is to this day, my favorite place in the world. Our photos were taken by Paul and Mecheal Johnson of Paul Johnson Photography. Best money (my parents) ever spent!
Designing my invitations didn't turn into a business overnight. I started a blog right before I got married, opened an Etsy shop, and slowly took on projects for friends and friends of friends. Last year, I got brave enough to enter my first Minted challenge and credit the design community for helping me take my designing to another level. I have learned so much and I love thinking back to the days when I was trying to figure out what the heck I was doing with my wedding invitations. (To be honest, sometimes I still don't know!) What's funny is, if I could do it again, they probably wouldn't look that different... well, maybe a little... my font collection has come a LONG way.
Hello Monday.
Happy Monday!I had a busy weekend: I bought a 27 inch iMac (no more guilty feelings!!!), finished our taxes (which I hated but got a pretty nice refund so that helped) and did a little designing and printing.
It wasn't all work and no play though. We met some friends on Saturday night at Eno's Pizza Tavern in Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District. If you are from DFW, you should definitely head to this little area. It's full of unique restaurants (Tillman's is a personal favorite) and several cute eclectic shops. If you go, make sure you plan some time to browse around. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite areas in Dallas.
To Buy or Not to Buy?
... that is the question.
I'm not even sure why I am asking this because I already ordered the new Adobe Creative Suite for a mac, so it looks like I already made the decision. I don't know why I am having the hardest time with this purchase. Maybe it's because it's a considerable investment, or because I already have a computer, so I don't neccesarily NEED it, but oh, how I WANT it. I am not sure how long the guilty feelings will last, but I guess I'll find out, because I think we are going to buy it this weekend!
The Simple (Business) Plan
Last week, I attended The Simple Plan, which is a business planning workshop for wedding industry professionals. It’s put on by Michelle Loretta and Kelly Simants, of Sage Wedding Pros. It was, without a doubt, the BEST THING I could have done (and probably will ever do) for my business. I spent two days surrounded by some pretty amazing people – it was so inspiring.
I’ve just been going a hundred miles an hour lately and this workshop forced me to stop and think about just my business for two whole days. Yes, this is a ‘side’ job, and no, it’s not the main source of my income, but I was treating it like the business aspect wasn't important because of those things and I wasn't giving that part of running a business the time it deserved. This workshop gives you tools to write your business plan... and it will change the way you view your business. It gave me such a fresh perspective and got me so excited about the future of Palm Papers.
If you want a little taste of what I learned, check out the Sage Wedding Pros blog. It is full of business information and tools and they explain it so that it’s easy to understand. Michelle even makes accounting simple... okay that might be because I already have a ‘bit’ of a background, but still they are good.
