Fun News - Part One!

In the midst of yesterday's OlioHop festivities I entered three designs into a community suggested challenge with Olioboard! The first two were "easy" because they came directly from my OlioHop post about organizing playrooms, closets, and offices! Here they are:

See this board and vote for it here

See this board and vote for it here 

While Dablet's closet got the attention in my OlioHop, this mama desperately needs a closet reorganization! So I grabbed some of my favorite photos from Pinterest and imported some fabulous products from The Container Store (because Olioboard makes it VERY easy to add your own items!) and created this:

Love to Live in Your Closet

See this board and vote for it here

Right now it's tied for a 3rd place spot! What's different about the community suggested challenges from the sponsored contests is how the winners are chosen. In the community it's all about which boards the community loves; it's all VOTES! With sponsored contests the top 25 (or so) boards based on votes make it to judging and then a winner is selected. It's a bit like the Screen Actor's Guild Awards versus the Academy awards!

In the spirit of fun announcements, I have a couple more!!
Dabble in Chic has gone live on Etsy!! This is going to be a growing process, but I'm excited to share what I am opening with!

I created this virtual store on Olioboard! What makes it a fabulous advertising tool for any online tool? You can pull your items directly from your website (even Etsy) and upload them into your items. From there you can have pricing information pulled, names, descriptions, and create a moodboard that will allow onlookers to click through to your shop directly from your Olioboard! I've started with some custom and stock note cards, custom invitations, announcement, and some of my favorite photos from my 2007 trip to Kenya, Africa.
When I went to Africa I traveled with the Kenyan Children Foundation and it was one of the hardest, yet most rewarding experiences! I will donate a portion of my sales to the KCF from all of my Africa photo sales!
Added Blog Bonus!!! Until July 31st I will be featuring a special Grand Opening Discount for blog visitors of 25% off! Just use the code BLOGOPEN25 at check out to receive 25% off your entire purchase! This will work on all items (including custom orders!) and anything I add to the shop before the end of the month!

I have another fun announcement, and it's jewelry related!! I don't want to overwhelm you all in one day so I will post about that tomorrow! Enjoy your Tuesday and I'll "see" you soon!

Some Exciting News!

Over the past few weeks I have been busting my booty pulling together what (at times) feels like a million different projects! Of course, they all fall together at the same time which means they all require the same start-up love and attention at the same time. Social media has become an essential part of life, and I have recently added the icons representing Olioboard and Instagram to my "Let's Chat" section to integrate all facets of my style, design love, and personal taste. In building a brand based on design, whether it be graphics, interiors, or events, the brand people "buy into" is the person behind the brand. That's me! (scary huh?)
Coming soon I will be adding a new icon to my right side navigation that will look a little bit like this:

Do you recognize the font of that "E"? That's Etsy people!! Isn't font recognition fabulous?!?!

One of my projects has been building "ready to go" designs for note cards, invitations, announcements, and all other types of printed products! Print and graphic design were my starting places for this expansion to the brand of Dabble in Chic. I have always believed that custom print should not be something that breaks your bank. Custom wedding sets should not cost more than your wedding dress, never mind the food you feed your guests! While I will start the shop with the designs we have ready to go, they will hopefully serve as a "face" for the type of work we can do and get everyone's creative juices flowing for their own graphic ideas! 

I could not do this without a great support system and some phenomenal people who let me bounce all of my whacky ideas off of them! What tied this all together for me was and idea from Leslie Carothers who is the social media guru for Olioboard (as well as others!). She recently tweeted that Olioboard would be a fabulous way for Etsy stores to create virtual showrooms of their products. YES!!!! I mean, what girl designer doesn't dream of having a little niche boutique store of her own, and now I can create one virtually with some design to it! Best part: Because Olioboard links all products to the Moodboards, viewers can shop directly generating more traffic and more sales!

Anyone who tries to say connecting your social networks won't increase your revenue needs to have another cup of coffee!

Back to work!!

Dabble

When a Godmommy becomes a Fairy

The last several days have been a whirlwind to say the least! When I started this adventure in reinvention (or at least redefinition of myself...not trying to recreate the wheel) I decided that I would put myself out there and let my passions take me where ever they decided to take me. Don't read this as a passive action (in case my former English professors are reading), because if you follow your dreams you are the one getting yourself there! My biggest problem was that I had SO many dreams and passions. After realizing that the best thing for our former printing company would be to sell our production capabilities, I was daunted with the possibility of working on my own.
I interviewed for a fantastic position with a brand that seemed to suck me in (in the BEST way possible). While I wasn't offered the position, the entire process that I went through taught me more about myself and what I REALLY wanted to do and how I wanted to follow my passions. For that I am eternally grateful. Since then I have poured myself into how to define myself as a brand. Dabble in Chic has become more than a crazed working mom trying to find a few moment each week that truly make her feel amazing, Dabble has aesthetic.
Dabble in Chic is now connected to all types of social media, most importantly Twitter and Pinterest. The community I dived into on Twitter is full of incredible Interior Designers who are not only talented, but truly care about each other and the collaborative efforts that can grow out of social media in real life. These amazing people have helped me double my interested followers in the last week.
Recently, I was part of a chat about how blogging defines your brand. Most of the advice was to be yourself, after all when you're a designer you ARE you brand, and to keep your posts short and sweet showcasing your photos and designs. Maybe by a vote I'd be "failing" at the second, but sometimes (as we all know) a design has a story behind it.
When I was pregnant with Dablet Kyle and I went through the process of picking Godparents. He got to pick the guy, I got to pick the girl (and he's had his guys picked out for YEARS). It didn't take me long to decide on the perfect life and style role model for Dablet, someone I knew would teach her all of the important things in life, like where to get discount Tory Burch shoes! Also, it didn't hurt that Dablet's Godmommy has a fantastic sense of style and attention to the details (like these that she pulled together for my baby shower)!

Yes...I finally got to the pictures, but it will all make sense I promise!

As any pregnant lady will tell you, food is KEY! And these mini cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe in Raleigh, NC were amazing! (I even had one the day Dablet was born...just not from the same batch, and it was full size!)

Every good shower ends with the person being showered in a hat of bows!

Once all of the mayhem settled down it was time to have a baby! As soon as Dablet was born Godmommy got all of the pictures and heard her make her little noises on the phone and even though we're in NC and she's in NY she couldn't help herself and flew down to escort us home from the hospital! 

Dablet's Godmommy became OUR Fairy Godmommy because no one can make crock pot meals like she can, find the best designer deal, take an iPhone photo that flatters you, lead me to baby clothing sales Dablet "needs", pour me just the right amount of red wine at just the right moment, hide the chocolate chip cookies in the place I'll know to look, watch BravoTV marathons, or understand what it means to balance a marriage, baby, career, home, and all of the creative passions we just cannot live without! So of course, she had to have her own room (the one she's always stayed in) designed with her in mind!

This is everything fun and feminine that reminds me of our Fairy Godmommy from the fabric bed to the pale pink linens and the ruffled light!

All of the items in this board can be found here including some of my favorites from Layla Grayce, West Elm, and paint from Benjamin Moore!

Every room has an inspration, and I couldn't think of a better one than a person who inspires you!

Until Next Time

Dabble 

She's a Maniac

Where do I even begin on a night like tonight? How about something like doing a running man dance in place to  "She's a Maniac"? That would pretty much sum it up! Last night I wrote a post about Definition of Self and Style because I needed a moment to just be myself and realize that to have a successful style vision, I needed to have a good self vision. Ironically, it catapulted me in front of the "public" like I did not expect at this point in my blogging or my social media "efforts" to have a response quite like this mainly because the general public seems to have a clear idea of what it wants and it's quite intimidating.
Dabble in Chic was mentioned on this e-publication in the #inspire section. I entered into a contest with Olioboard for a paint package from Benjamin Moore. Exactly what I need because, as previously mentioned, I am embarking on a house makeover! From there, I have had more mentions, retweets, Facebook love, and blog views in a single day than ever before. I wasn't sure if I should get myself a martini to celebrate, or just keep riding the wave. Unfortunately I haven't been able to do either yet because I spent the afternoon picking up and shipping out custom designed print work for Printing Chic, the printing and graphic design arm of Dabble in Chic. Tonight I am planning on joining the conversation on Twitter for #AllThingsColor. In celebration of today's "success" I will have some red wine!
I started taking my "before" pictures for the house makeover today and I will only post them once I have the next step complete....total removal and purging of the chaos that has taken over our home! I've already had the carpeted areas upstairs measured for hardwoods (Bamboo!!!) and I'm working on some great new boards on Olioboard! I was talking to Dablet's Fairy Godmommy earlier today about my undertaking, and we've agreed that if I'm going to do this, I want to do it right! So of course we will have to get her down here for some assistance and contribution from her fantastic designing mind. She's an amazing designer in her own right, and I'll be having her do a guest blog appearance as things progress. The Fairy Godmommy shenanigans will most likely include chicken fingers getting stuck to some child's booty during a "business meeting" (this seems to be a required activity when your children come to business lunches with you), and lots of drool spilling on things we'll only dream of adding to my mix. Dablet will appreciate that someone else will drool on the furniture now besides her!
Again, I have to thank everyone who has shown me love and encouraged me to continue the style vision I am pursuing, one that starts with self first! To kick off my personal definition of style, I am going to post some of my favorite detail pictures from my wedding tomorrow (our 2nd anniversary is coming up in just under 3 weeks!!!!!)

Time for a quick dinner before the Twitter Chat!

Dabble

Passion in the details

I've been working on building social media connections for Dabble in Chic, and though the work I've been introduced to some fabulous brands, bloggers, and "women in charge". It makes a certain amount of sense that the design and planning world is saturated with amazing creative independent women who are living out their designing dreams through their (often times self-made) dream jobs!
Yesterday I talked about one way to satisfy the design ADD that plagues so many of us, and today I'd like to give you another that "tags along" with you! JEWELRY!!!! When Tiffany & Co. isn't in the budget, or maybe some David Yurman, it's nice to have some great stores to go to to give you some big bang for your buck!
Last year when I was pregnant I purchased a few simple pieces from Stella & Dot. I went simple because I had a massive bump, read watermelon, under my shirt and I didn't feel like carrying any extra weight. My center of gravity was already thrown off enough, you should have seen me trying to bowl at 32 weeks pregnant, I didn't want any excess sending me into early labor!
This summer, I'm all about some statement pieces! If you want to check out all of my Jewelry dreams check out the board on Pinterest. If you just can't stand it, check out these goodies from Bauble Bar and if you'd like $10 off your first purchase click the link on our Facebook page!

Blush Stacking Ring Duo Cuff Lime Elliptic Bib  Coral Rope Cuff Think Pink

Enjoy these delightful inspirations! Grandy (Abby's name for my mom) is in town this weekend and is closing on a townhouse she bought in the area. I'm sure I'll be full of new decorating tips, cooking ideas, and family fun! If I don't come back before the weekend, enjoy your Friday Frolicking!

Dabble

Step One...

It used to be that "Step One" was admitting the problem, but now step one is referring to the next step. Facebook.
This "day in age", the step businesses take, or any product, service, person, or book takes is to become "Facebook Official". While I am still working on the book Perfecting the life of a Working Mom: Lack of Perfection Kick Ass Shoes (or something like that), it is time to bring the latest endeavor to Facebook. Dabble in Chic now has a Facebook page. This is for the blog, yes, but it's so much more than that. This is my new business, and it's so much more than a blog. Printing Chic is the branch that relates directly to the industry I just came out of. While the website and Etsy store are under construction, they will soon offer custom designs for anything paper related, as well as ready to go designs that you can make your own changes to.
Since I got into the world of paper, I have become slightly obsessed with just how much detail you can give to any event with the paper products you associate with it. The theme of a wedding starts with the invitations! And I truly love the connection I can build with brides when we talk about how to literally "put their vision on paper"
Here is an invitation we did a while ago (I have changed the names):

(Front)

(Back)

The beauty of this is that you can print it on any color paper, changing the purple background, print on any texture, or (my favorite) print on a champagne metallic stock giving the leaves just a bit of shimmery movement. Here's a sneak peek at the RSVP postcard to a set in the works now. Of course, I'm not going to show the full invite yet, but it's AMAZING!!

The couple's initials can be "carved" into the tree on both the invitation and the RSVP cards, and as always all fonts can be changed! Check us out on Facebook to see it!

Until next time

Dabble