I had so much fun putting together my Fall Favorites round-up last week, I thought I'd keep going! I guess that's the secret to blogging, right? Keep posting stuff! :D In a renewed effort to maintain momentum and not make it overly complicated, here are some recent pins from Pinterest that have really pushed my inspiration button and why:
1.// Whale Typography: I really aspire to think like this. I love finding art, and especially typography, that shows confidence in thinking and an exceptional creative result.
2.// Pink + Orange Bowl: I would love to replace all my dishes and pottery with color block pieces like this one, it's so modern and fresh.
3.// Bedroom: Right now we are trying to figure out what to do with the rooms in our house and how to make space for baby and a growing little girl. I am done with staring at a bunch of toys in my living room, so I am really thinking it would be good for Maggie to have a big girl room and give the bean her nook...but people...that would mean my office would get the heave! I don't think I can do that right now. Instead, I think we're going to try to reorganize the living room and get the toys into bins and put them into our closet armoires (since she'll be doing preschool 4 days a week) and then makeover our bedroom into a dream space like this with room for a bassinet and rocking chair and call it good.
4.// Rolling Pen: Love this new typeface from the amazing Alejandro Paul at Studipos. It's on sale right now, so you should probably go grab it before it's like, $100 :D
5.// Colorblock Dress: Again with the colorblock; but I am also a HUGE fan of the shape of this dress- I've been living in T-shirt dresses all summer with my pregnancy, and I would love this dress and wear it like crazy because pockets! And that necklace is sick. I am all about statement jewelry. Just love the whole look and wish I could teleport it straight to my closet.
6.// Yarn Art: Another reason why I wish I had a lot more wall space. This rocks! I have this from Target that is going in my kitchen/dining room and I'm thinking I might need to spray paint the letters different colors like this.
7.// Desk + Lamp: I have a lamp just like this, that doesn't seem to fit in our house, but I love it too much to get rid of it, so this makes me think that if push comes to shove and I do HAVE to move my office space...maybe I could really minimize my needs and do something like this. It would suck though, no bull.
8.// Baskets: I'm getting these. Don't know where or how I'll use them, but eff it...I love.
(Photo from Craft and Hobby Association)
The Summer 2013 CHA (Craft + Hobby Association) Trade Show is kicking off this week in Las Vegas, NV and just like a lot of you, I am excited to see all the new designs and collections debuting, and am wishing I was there in person to see it and touch it and soak it all in...
However, I have bittersweet feelings about this particular CHA show, because it is the one where I was going to be debuting my very own line.
(I should note, before I continue, that I have heavily debated sharing this- but what I have to say isn't going to throw anyone under the bus- it's just about life, experience, and feelings. We've all been there at one time or another, I know you can relate.)
In January, I went to the Winter show in Anaheim to reconnect and meet up with my peers in the craft industry, and it was wonderful to come back to a place that I missed so much in all the business of raising an infant. It was a great show, I met with a lot of wonderful people, had a fantastic time with my friends and was excited to have some doors open for me and some production design opportunities to look into.
A few weeks after the show, between our family trip to Whistler and my trip to Minneapolis for Target, I got an email from a MAJOR scrapbooking company offering me the chance of a lifetime- MY OWN LINE, to debut at CHA Summer 2013!! I was so floored and so torn and so excited...(taking this offer meant turning down other opportunities, which I felt very conflicted about) but this was an amazing opportunity, one I would have never pursued on my own. I never knew just how much I wanted it, until it plopped down in my lap.
Once I was home, the phone calls and emails started and I felt great about moving forward, even though we'd be extremely pressed for time in putting it all together. I can't begin to express how happy and excited I was, how proud my family was, and I really couldn't believe it was happening. I became a one-woman product research machine, my secret Pinterest boards were on fire, and I was buying supplies, getting ready for our development meeting, brainstorming and dreaming and loving every minute of the promise of what was to come.
And then, just like that, for reasons that I still do not understand, they pulled the plug.
Sometimes it sucks to be professional when what you want is to tell everyone how you got the shaft. I was devastated...and for a long time afterwards, angry...for getting my hopes up, for investing my emotions in it, for having expectations. I'm still not really over it. I want to be, but I'm not sure if it's my heart that's bruised or my ego...most likely both. I can't help but wonder a little bit if I could have done something different...if the stars were aligned in a more fortuitous configuration, if I had sacrificed a goat or something equally drastic to prove to the universe that I deserved this chance...if I wouldn't be writing an entirely different blog post today, sharing sneak peeks of a product line and celebrating my heart out.
But... they say everything happens for a reason...two days after my final communication with the company, I realized that in all the stress and excitement, "things" were a bit late... and so I took a pregnancy test. We all know how that turned out. :D And hey, who knows, maybe there are better unknown things to come? I can only hope.
So, like I said, I'll be following all the show updates this week on Instagram and Facebook, and while it will surely be bittersweet, I still love this crazy industry and whatever small part I get to play in it, and I can't wait to see all the awesome new stuff and to cheer on those who are so well deserving of success!
xoxoxo
-JP
