Nude Leonora?

Yes, world, I just posted a photo of myself nekkid, in a tub, taken by my friend for her art class.

But really, you would have no clue I was wearin' my b-day suit unless I told ya.

See, being an artist really changed how I viewed the human body. When I was in my Junior year of college (Probably 19, 20 years old?) I had to take this class called "foundations". No matter what type of art major you were eveeeeeryone had to take foundations or else you didn't graduate.

Basically its art boot camp. You meet up 3 times of week for a total of 13 hours and you only got 5 credits for it. Oh yes, a class that should've been worth at least 9 credits was only 5.

On the first day of drawing class the professor announces that our final assignment for the end of the year would be a life size drawing of ourselves.

Ok, life size drawing? Thats challenging but I can swing that, sure I love myself why not let's go for it.

He then throws in there "oh, and by the way, you're nude".

*crickets*

I'm sorry, you want ME to make a LIFE SIZE NUDE self portrait of myself, hang that sucker up on the wall, sit back, let 30 of my peers stare at it, and CRITIQUE IT?

By this point the entire class was pretty much ready to take the closest paint brush and stab it into their eye ball to see if this was indeed real life right now.

Oh, oh it was real life, and it was happening.

I did what any normal 20 year old does at the time "oh, I'll let future Leonora worry about that, it'll be HER problem, ha sucker"

Well, 9 months later and future Leonora turned into present Leonora who was then wishing she was past Leonora (are you with me? good)

The time come for us to draw ourselves life size and nude.

Don't worry guys, this was HOME WORK, there wasn't a bunch of naked college kids running around an art room staring at ourselves in a mirror.

So, I teetered my camera up on my dresser, hit the self timer button, bee lined over to my bed, sat down and strategically covered my no-no parts by bringing my knees up to my chin.

Success!

Now let's upload this bad boy to the family computer so I can print it out.

crap.

Cause ya know back in 2004 generally everyone in the house shared a computer. Which is great because the one thing you want your mom finding is naked pictures of her daughter for ART CLASS.

No mom, I know, it looks weird right now but I swear its for school. Right, I know, I don't understand why this will help me be a graphic designer. Yes yes I know you are paying 14,000 a year to have me upload naked pictures of myself on the computer but just trust me mom I know what I am doing.

I didn't know what I was doing. In fact I was pretty much as loss as her, but being 19 years old you can never admit to your parents that you relate to them, ever.

You deny and deny and deny ever being on the same wave length as them. Cause, like, they're old and why would you ever think like an old person.

So, up went my 6 foot roll of kraft paper on the back of my bedroom door and out came the charcoal pencils. It was time to face my fears.

But a strange thing happened as I was drawing myself. I started to like it.

I even included that gnarly roll on the left side of my stomach that showed up when I sat down.

Why? Because it was me.

It took about 5 hours to draw but I was done. And I loved it.

I couldn't leave it up on my door so I of course let it set on my dining room table.

My dad questioned if I HAD to leave it there.

Yes, father, its art can't you appreciate it?

By the way to all my teen readers right now if you want to keep your parents out of your bedroom and never look at you straight in the eye ever again just make a giant life size nude self portrait of yourself and hang it up on your door. It's instant parent repellent. You are welcome in advanced.

My mom tried to be more supportive. She handed me her aqua net so I could set my charcoal drawing.

Maybe she just wanted to finally finish up her bottle of aqua net from the 80s, or maybe she thought to herself if she could prevent this charcoal drawing from smudging then there would just be ONE life size nude of her daughter lurking around the house as opposed to 2 of them.

Either way, thanks Ma.

So, the time came for me to put myself up there and be critiqued. A really strange thing happened though. All those kids who 9 months ago wanted to stab themselves in the eye with the closest paint brush were also all ok with sharing their naked selves to the class.

As you can guess 99% of us were clever with our poses and you couldn't see anything inappropriate at all. But there is always that one girl whose all like "Haaay guys look at my chest!"

Hey, it happens. You know that girl.

For the next couple of years I started to be OK with my body. I learned to love every curve and every imperfection because when you're an artist you see it as art.

But I've been out of school for 1 6 years now, and it pains me to say that I have reverted back to 19 year old me. I am starting to be super insecure again and am starting to hate seeing photos of myself.

What a cruel way to think--that you actually HATE photos of YOU.

I don't like it, and I want to change this ASAP.

Cause I don't want to look back in 20 years and think to myself "wow, I wish I had more photos of myself in my late 20s, what the heck was my problem"

I am challenging myself and anyone else who wants to join me to stop being so negative on themselves.

Each time a negative thought creeps up replace it immediately with something positive.

I am hoping to slowly get back into being ok with myself, cause life is too short to focus on the unimportant things.

Anyone else joining me?

The Bucket List

found here

Somethings I want to try to accomplish, whose with me?

• Even though I get complimented on it at least once a day I wanna part with my super long hair and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths and give it to a little girl battling with cancer or alopecia.

• Master the art of eye liner

• While I'm at it also find a smudge proof "will-survive-the-zombie-apocalypse" eye liner

• Finally open my Bridal line and Design line for Yellow Heart Art

• Figure out what it is exactly that Meatloaf won't do for love

• To sit down in a chair and not "tug" at my clothes (this may or may not require working out) (who am I kidding it totally does)

• Save my money and see Europe, all of Europe

• Ride in a hot air balloon

• Figure out how to cook something so awesome that Paula Dean her self would be all like "guuuuurl that shiz is GOOD" (side note: Paula Dean needs to incorporate the word "Shiz" into her daily vocab)

• Figure out how in the world to get my right hand to look just as ballin' as my left hand when giving myself a manicure

• To not order "penne a la vodka" every time I step foot into an Italian restaurant

• Own 2 dogs and name them "Sans" and "Serif" (ha I crack myself up…)

• Find a way to be able to afford a home on Long Island (half a million for a frekkin house? I'm sorry instead of water coming out of your faucets is it pouring out liquid gold? Was the roof built by hand by Leonardo DaVinci himself? Oh and your ceiling is made up of marble from *thee* sistine chapel?  My apologies for questioning how much you are selling your house for, half a million sounds totally reasonable)

• Make Yellow Heart Art my main source of income

• When the time comes for me to be a bride throw a totally non-traditional wedding (Sorry mom)

• To down size my purses, they keep growing by the month. I'm a walking CVS pharmacy.


What are some things you wanna cross off the 'ol bucket list?

Happy Birthday To You!

Who says you can't buy yourself a lil somethin' somethin' for your birthday?

Introducing our Birthday Goodie Bag! Whenever your birthday month is Yellow Heart Art will ship to you a box full of Yellow Heart Art loot!

Your box can include anything from:
• mini plushes
• necklaces
• mini prints
• other exclusive Yellow Heart Art items that are just for our birthday girls and not sold in our shop

Sounds fun? Click here to pick one up! Also, just to let you know, this is not a subscription plan, this is a one time shot of a bunch of swag delivered on your birthday month. It can be for this year or next year! If you want more loot just buy another listing :)

What I wore, Arm Party Edition

ITS AN ARM PAR-TAY!

You might have remembered a few weeks back Ilene and I talkin' bout an arm party the 2 of us were hosting.

Long story short we thought it would be a fun "summer camp activity" for a bunch of bloggers out there to make some friendship bracelets for each other and then swap 'em!

We then asked everyone to link up their arm party posts today so we can see how everyone's bracelets came out!

My partner was Ilene, look at how much she spoiled me!

I believe I'M ready for an arm party ;)

how cute are her note cards?

 that's what she said ;)

Look what I paired my arm bling with!

necklace - supposedly J.Crew, nabbed this suckah for 14 bucks on ebay, necklace goes for $150, boom goes the dynamite baby.

Dress: old navy (I know, I was shocked too)

Arm Bling: Ilene ;)

I absolutely love how Ilene made my arm party bracelets! She jacked up a typical friendship bracelet by sewing rhinestones into them.

She also included an original Much Love, Illy headband and a pair of hot pink sunglasses! I have met this girl in fo realz life a few months back, and let me tell you she is JUST as gorgeous and uh-may-zing in person. Although I think her only down fall is that shes a total cover hog ;) also when the 2 of us get together we exude this awesome aura called "absolute gangsta"

in case you were doubting said aura here is a photo to prove it. I mean if wearing a glittery star crown made out of glitter, pipe cleaners and cardboard doesn't scream "thug life" then nothing does.

She has a HUGE heart and I know we will be besties for life. Whenever we talk most of our sentences end in "omg ME TOO!", we are pretty much the same person.

Also didja notice I got some bangs? I have a huge love/hate relationship with them. No joke ask me in 10 minutes how I feel about having bangs, you will never get the same answer outta me.

Right now I'm on Team Bangs, but I'm sure tomorrow I'll be googling "how does one grow out hair at super sonic human speed"

and by the way, these will soon be the "before" shots, homegirl has not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 frekkin weddings next year to go to. In NY you go big or go home when it comes to this stuff, so I am determined to fit into all my cocktail dresses by then.

It's gonna happen and you all are holding me accountable.

Got it?

Good.

Oh and those hot pink sunglasses? There is a story behind them...but more on that later ;)

Now let's see what kind of arm swag you all got! Link up to your posts below, they will show up on mine AND Ilene's blogs!

Some rules and things:

• Please link to your actual POST not your BLOG
• The post must be about the arm party swap, any posts about your giveaway or handmade shop etc. will be deleted
•  please use the following button below to spread the word and link back to both mine and ilene's blogs so people know what this swap is all about :)
• have fun with it! Please make sure to shout out to your partner in your blog post

 

<a border="0" href="http://yellowheartart.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-i-wore-arm-party-edition.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n607/muchloveilly/ArmPartyGraphic200x200.jpg"/></a>

How To Protect Your Products in a Handmade Market

Last week my Photoshop for bloggers partner Gina asked me to do a guest post over on her blog.

She has a series called Handmade 101 where she gives tips and tricks for how to run your handmade shop.

I was so stoked to be a part of it! Thank you Gina for letting me be included in this awe-some series!

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HOW TO PROTECT YOUR GOODS

I wish someone had told me how to protect my work better. Here was little me starting in such a HUGE handmade community, I didn't even think I would make a sale let alone have someone try to copy me.

You work HARD, no one should reap off your success. You should definitely keep that in mind when putting photos of your products online.

3 Ways on How To Protect Your Business

1. Watermark Watermark WATERMARK.
This was a big mistake of mine. I'm a graphic designer so I make all original artwork prints that I sell in my shop. I also make original artwork necklaces and plushes. Some of you might not be a graphic designer so you are thinking "why do I need to watermark my photos, they're not artwork that someone can steal and re-print and sell themselves"

And yes, this is true. But there are awesome sites out there now like pinterest and tumblr where people place images on there all the time with out any links on them. If your product is an original painting or a necklace it doesn't matter, you ALWAYS want people to know that that photo they see circulating on pinterest belongs to YOU.

You don't have to take away from your products shots by adding text to them. You can see what I did with my necklace photo below. I kept the font small yet big enough to be read comfortably and I also made it a light gray color so when it is being views as a thumbnail its not distracting.

If you can't fit all your links at least include your shop link and your blog. You blog most likely has a section in there where people can contact you through other social media outlets. Now if your product photos go circulating online with out a link back to your shop or blog people will still now how to find you and your product.

Also this will hopefully detour people from copying your work. People tend to try to steal other people's work if they can not find the original place from where it came from. It happened to me. The person who copied 3 of my prints point blank said to me "well, I saw it circulating on pinterest with out a source link so I figured I'd copy it"

[arrow necklace by yellow heart art]

2. Get 1/2 Payment Upfront For All Custom Orders
Regardless of what you sell online I am sure you have had at least ONE person contact you and asked you to change your product slightly to make it fit their needs OR ask you to come up with a new product completely for them.

For most custom requests I ask that my clients give me a 1/2 upfront. That 1/2 fee is non-refundable. I can't tell you how many blog posts I read from other graphic designers who created invitations for a bride and then the person never paid them. Or someone took the time to order new supplies to make 10 necklaces for a bridal party and then the bride flaked out. Offering a 1/2 non refundable deposit will help you work with people who are serious about your work and respect you as an artist. They will most likely not flake on you knowing they will be out half the money for your product if they do not pull through.

source

3. Help Others But Beware Of People Trying To Copy
I am ALL about helping my fellow handmade show owners out whenever I can. I constantly make blog posts full of my favorite Etsy finds and are constantly tweeting links of other handmade owner's new products. Thats what makes this handmade community a community.

But be careful of people who ask you too many questions in regards to how you make your products or where you get your materials. Some things I don't mind telling people. For example a lot of other graphic designers ask me what printer I use. I always give that information out because me telling them what printer I use has nothing to do with my product itself. Me using the same printer as another graphic designer does not mean they will automatically copy my designs.

Now I have also had people ask me what fonts I use, and unfortunately there I have to draw the line. My fonts are part of my branding, and even if you're not a graphic designer I'm sure you can understand that picking the RIGHT font is such a "AH-HA!" moment. It could take me HOURS to mix and match fonts together. So it kinda stings a little when a fellow graphic designer asks me for a font that I use when they too know themselves how long it can take till you are happy finding that right font.

If you make purses and someone is asking you where you got your purse pattern you might want to hold back that information to protect yourself. The last thing you need is someone trying to rip off your unique designs because they see that your stuff is successful and selling really well. But maybe you don't mind telling them where you purchase your thread or the type of sewing machine you use since that information is still helpful to them but allows you to protect YOUR designs.

(source)

-------------------

also in case you missed it we are having a HUGE sale over at fab.com right now! There are 11 designs from Yellow Heart Art at a discounted rate till August 22nd. But HURRY because there are only a limited number available of each design.

Thank you to everyone who has already purchased an item from fab, all your support gives me the warm and fuzzies <3

Discounts Discounts Discounts!

So, I am currently equal parts petrified and stoked for my Fab sale with fab.com

You see, I have to guarantee a cah-razy amount of inventory for their site since they have over 5 million subscribers.

The bad ass in me is all like "WE ARE GOING TO ROCK THIS SALE SO FIERCE THAT ALL CHUCK NORRIS JOKES WILL BE REPLACED WITH YELLOW HEART ART"

But the inner wimp in me is all like "....mommy? are you out there? I need you to rock me back and forth while stroking your fingers through my hair"

Ok, I'll stop doing that inner monologue thing now and get to the cool shiz.


*ahem*


The Yellow Heart Art Fab Sale is NOW LIVE!

so what does that mean?

It means that from August 15th - August 22nd YOU get to nab 11 designs from Yellow Heart Art at a discount from Fab!

As you all know we rarely have our prints at a discounted price, so if you have been holding off on getting some Yellow Heart Swag now is the time to get it!

You have to be a member of fab to access this deal, so sign up here!

Already a member? Then get to shoppin' ovah hea!

Not sure what you would use our art for? well it's a good thing you have a friend like me to tell ya!
• Spruce up boring walls on the cheap!
• Forget crock pots (they're a pain to clean anyway) give the newly weds some fun home decor
• Going away to college? Can't put holes in your dorm room walls? Hang our prints with some washi tape!
• Know someone in the military? Ship them an inspirational or funny print to make them smile
• Need teacher gifts? It has been known that teachers give their student's A's when they are rockin some Yellow Heart Art in their class room!
• The holidays are only 4 months away! Quick, stock up on stocking stuffers and rad presents!

Thank you so much fab for asking me to be a part of your 1 week shop! I am so honored and I hope more white walls out there get to get all prettied up now with Yellow Heart Art goodness!

-----

oh and in way more important news homegurl got bangs

I'm Sucha Doll

I had the opportunity to meet Jordan Grace Owens at Renegade Craft Fair this past June.

In case you're unfamiliar with her, she makes these super awesome paper doll illustrations of people.

Her style is is unlike anything I've seen before. I recruited her to make some dolls of the bubs and I for my future art studio.

the best part? Our little dolls have moveable limbs, so bubs and I can hold hands! (or, ya know, strangle each others necks when we're in a scuffle, whichever) (just kidding about the strangling thing) (maybe) (no but seriously)

Contrary to what it looks like I promise bub isn't wearing an over sized adult onesie, he's really sporting his Air Force Flight suit and I told Jordan to throw me in something "artsy".

nailed it.

Taking that Leap into the Unkown

The other day on my facebook page I had wrote this status:

That status left to countless amazing and uplifting comments from my amazing friends:

Each comment just as uplifting as the one before it. It's also so true, if the timing was ever "right" to do something then everyone would be following their dreams.  I feel like at times we put our dreams "on hold" for  fear of the "what if". Don't get me wrong, I am 100% guilty of this as well. And I am not just talking about pursuing a career, there are all types of dreams & goals people put on hold. Like:

"Is now the time to buy a house? Will we go totally broke?"

"Should we have kids now? Can I afford to quit my job?"

"Can we afford to have another child?"

"Will uprooting my life and moving to a place I am unfamiliar with be a good idea right now?"

"Should I date this guy? He might break my heart"

"Is it even worth back packing across Europe? I have no clue how to speak any other language"

"Is now the right time to propose to her? What if she says no?"

"Should I bother giving my resume to that well known magazine? They probably won't hire me as a writer"

"Should I bother working out? I probably won't see a difference"

"Can I go away to school? Can I live on my own?"

"Should I pursue this new job opportunity? What if I don't make as much money?"

I don't know why we keep doing this to ourselves, always questioning our actions and holding off on what may potentially make us sooo happy for fear of utter and complete failure.

But ya know what? It doesn't always have to be doom and gloom.

So what if the only language you speak is english? You're going to hold off traveling Europe because you're scared you can't talk to the locals?

So what if mr.new guy breaks your heart? He may break your heart, but he may not.

Yeah, maybe that famous magazine won't bother looking at your resume and just throw it in the trash...but what if they don't?

Life is scary.

Life is full of a ton of disappointment.

But it's also full of a ton of success too.

Like these people:

Andy Warhol: Gifted his drawing "Shoe" to the museum of modern art, was thanked for the gift but was told they would not be displaying his drawing and that it could be picked up at anytime at his convenience.

Michael Jordan: was cut from his high school basketball team

The Beatles: rejected by Decca Recording studios who said "we don't like their sound" "they have no future in show business"

Steve Jobs: At 30 years old he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started

Walt Disney: Fired from a newspaper from "lacking imagination" and "having no original ideas"

Oprah Winfrey: Was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she wasn't fit for TV

Stephen King: The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it

Henry Ford: His early businesses failed and left him broke five times. He was advised by countless people not to get into the manufacturing of automobiles because he had neither the capital or know how.

Fred Astaire: In his first screen test, the testing director of MGM noted that Astaire "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Not handsome. Can dance a little."

Steven Spielberg: He was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director before finishing.

Lucille Ball: Before starring in I Love Lucy, Ball was widely regarded as a failed actress and a B movie star. Even her drama instructors didn't feel she could make it, telling her to try another profession.

Elvis Presley:  in 1954 Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."

sure, my facebook status might be a little cryptic. Maybe you know what it means, maybe you don't, but I know for myself and for my happiness I have to make that leap soon...

Thank you to everyone for all your support and amazing words, I hope you found a little encouragement today to finally do what has been holding you back.

How to prep for a pop up shop and craft show!

Hay gurl haaaaay

guess where I am today?

I'm over at Heather's Blog JustLove.Ly talkin' bout how to get yo ass in gear and prep for a craft fair or pop-up shop.

You can see a snippet below! Thank you again heather for having me :)

--------------------------

Waddup Just Lovely readers! I'm Leonora from Yellow Heart Art. I'm a graphic designer who started Yellow Heart Art back in January of 2011 as a way for me to be my own boss and be 100% creative. Unfortunately at my corporate full time job I don't get to be very creative (there is only so much one can do with slate gray…) My shop is full of quirky typography art, fun plushes and pretty rad-o necklaces.

Heather was super stoked to find out that I was going to be a vendor in Renegade Craft Fair. (if you're unfamiliar with Renegade you guys can get acquainted right over here) She asked if I could write a post about how one prepares for a craft fair. Obviously the answer is apparent here.

you panic.

No, just kidding.

Kinda.

PROCRASTINATION BLOWS
Don't let the months leading up to your craft fair fool you. You might think "eh, its 2 months away, mama's got this". Well, I got news for you. Mama don't got this. The worse thing you can do is put off and procrastinate getting inventory together for your show. I found out I was accepted to Renegade back in May. That meant I had almost 2 and a 1/2 months to prep for the show, and that is exactly what I did. I dedicated at least 5 days a week to slowly prepping and building up my inventory. Which was great for when I ran into hiccups.

((CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE))

Secret Life Of A Graphic Artist

Whenever I find a handmade shop that I love I just imagine them having this super posh life style while making pretty things in their pinterest perfect art studio.

I imagine their studio to have gorgeous hard wood floors with a light gray wall full of brightly colored art prints in nice clean white frames. I'd imagine their desk look sleek and modern with a bunch of drawers labeled and organized with all of their art supplies.

Umm, do you guys know what my "studio" is like?

Cause I'll tell ya.

Currently there are 1,000 shipping envelopes pressed up against our dining room table. If a guest comes over they have to sit indian style 5 feet in the air on top of the boxes. I just tell them its "Feng shui" and they usually go for it.

1,000 sheets of photo paper are nice and cozy next to our TV stand in the living room. It also doubles as a place that bub likes to drape his jackets into.

The bottom of our closet houses 2 giant bags full of sewn up plushes. Oh and the other 75 plushes? They're in our coat closet downstairs. Guests have to wear all article of clothing when coming over to our apartment, unless they would like me to put their jacket on top of my photo paper next to bub's coat.

A shoe rack from IKEA is being used for more ink, paper, and more shipping supplies. Oh and our shoes? Those are lined up nicely in our dining room.

My printer is placed on top of a filing cabinet.

Our wooden shelves are buckling under all the weight of my ink cartridges.

The ottoman in our living room is where I sit hunched over as I create all your packaging for the print you just ordered from me.

sigh.

I get such anxiety when blogs ask me to show them a picture of my studio space. I'm all like "yeah weird thing um my camera just, i dont know, stopped taking pictures. It JUST happened like, today, I think it has to do with the autumnal equinox or something?" I then pray that they forget about it and move on. I also throw in some camera words to throw them off like "aperture" or "white balance".

So in order to stay sane (and positive) I've been collecting things that are currently in storage that will only make its grand appearance when I finally own a studio. A really kick ass studio with white walls and light gray furniture with bright yellow & mint accents everywhere.

It'll happen one day. One day I'll be able to give you a tour of my studio. One day I'll have a closet full of drawers that are JUST for art supplies. One day I'll be able to design, print & package all my art in one space. One day my guests won't have to sit on top of a 5' box of envelopes while eating dinner. One day our shoes will actually go in the shoe rack & we can use our closets for clothes again.

One day we'll own a home that I get to fill with an insane amount of memories.

One day my shelves will be painted with cute designs and not be buckling under the weight of ink cartridges

 (via)

one day I can finally arrange all the prints I've been collecting instead of having them tucked away in a folder

 (via)

One day I'll be able to tape shipping labels using this bad boy. Cause really, that shiz is baller.

One day I'll be able to make a cork board and have it be filled with more goals, and business cards from friends, and little knick knacks that never seem to have a home

(via)

One day I can add a pop of color into my office by making these awesome paper pom pom things. But I'll probably get super frustrated while making them and scrap the whole thing all together, but thats not the point.

(via)

what do you hope to achieve one day?

Adding 2 new shops? Yeah, I'm crazy.

 found it!

Wow.

This year has been a HUGE whirlwind for me, and its not even done yet!

It's sort of a bitter sweet feeling though. I am so happy that I have been so busy getting my shop out there by prepping for Renegade Craft Fair and currently now my Fab.com deal. But one thing has been weighing heavy with me lately.

Even though I am exposing Yellow Heart Art to people at craft shows and running deals like working with Fab.com, I sorta find myself in a mini designers rut.

You see, Yellow Heart Art is not my only source of income. I currently work full time as a graphic designer as well as doing freelance design work whenever possible. This year I have spent countless days at home sewing over 200 plushes, printing over 500 prints, taking my jewelry pliers to over 300 necklaces and gathering up fun "props" to be used at craft shows and pop up shops. I have had to create a crazy amount of inventory in a short amount of time to able to sell my stuff for these events.

I.am.exhausted.

I find myself pushing away freelance jobs and not being able to add more inventory to Yellow Heart Art because I honestly do not have any time to be creative, which really breaks my heart.

I know this is only temporary since after my Fab deal (running for 1 week starting August 15th!) I'll be able to slowly dedicate more time to my shop and freelance jobs and less time making an insane amount of inventory in a super short amount of time.

You probably remember me mentioning a while back about me opening up 2 new shops: Yellow Heart Bridal and Yellow Heart Art Design.

I wanted to have Yellow Heart Bridal make its BIG grand opening in the Fall of 2012, but that is so not going to happen anymore. Between everything else going on I unfortunately had to put designs for that on the back burner. Don't worry, I am going to launch it HOPEFULLY by the end of this year! Some things I am working on for it are:
• Wedding and Bridal Shower Invitations with that quirky Yellow Heart Art vibe
• Bridal shower game cards/game mats
• Cupcake toppers
• Fun Wedding signage
• and a TON more!

Basically the concept behind Yellow Heart Bridal is so brides can have that polished uniformed looking wedding with out having to spend a ton of money. There will be printables available as well as actual products that you can get delivered to your house. This shop will be able to please all brides whether their budget is big or small :)

I am also opening up Yellow Heart Art Design. I know how important branding is for a handmade business and blog, and I have had some people not be able to work with me in designing a brand for them because at that moment in time they could not commit to spending that much money on it. I understand, life gets in the way. You need to put your money towards groceries, mortgage payments and those cute pair of jeans that FINALLY went on sale at anthropologie ;)

So for those of you who want to work with me but don't have the extra spending funds at the moment to have me make a custom design for you I am going to have "pre made templates" of items you can purchase at a more affordable design price. You'll be able to get logos, business cards & shop/facebook banners that will have your shop or blog name! Unfortunately at this time there will be no blog templates. I might make blog headers an option, but I still would not have time to create backgrounds and other fun elements to put on your blog.

It's a win win for both of us! You still get to have me design your branding, it'll be more affordable for you guys AND I'll be able to put more of myself into my original shop, Yellow Heart, Art since I will have less custom freelance orders!

I did reserve the etsy names "Yellow Heart Bridal" and "Yellow Heart Art Design" in case I wanted to keep all my shops separate.

And plus also? I am hoping by the Fall of 2012 to release 2 NEW products to Yellow Heart Art! One will be functional home decor, the other will be fashionable ;) I can not WAIT to have you all see what I have planned!

What do you think? Am I totally crazy for doing this? Cause I'm gonna go with a big fat "yeah gurl you cray"

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Also in case you missed it:

• we had to pick a NEW winner for our awesome note card giveaway! If you are Jackie from The Sweetest Petunia then please contact me with in 3 days to get your prize! 

• been adding new necklaces to my over stock sale! Help me get rid of my inventory so I can make way for NEW swag in Fall 2012! Necklaces at 60% off (stocking stuffers anybody?) (hey, its NEVER too early)

• been feeling a little crafty? why not try to make yourself this geometric arrow head necklace! super easy, super cheap and super cute.

Finding Inspiration Everywhere, Look at things differently

I used to be HUGE into photography.

One of the things I used to love photographing was normal, mundane things and transforming them into abstract art.

These are all pictures of my downstairs blinds as the sunlight was peaking through them and brightening up the little dew specs left on the screen door from the night before.

Look at things differently.