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Opening Day on Etsy!!!

| leftylex

Well ladies and gents, opening day is finally here… off to the races! I literally felt like a kid on Christmas Eve last night. And I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at about 4AM but forced myself to stay in bed until 5AM then quickly made my way to the computer and officially “opened shop”. Now the challenge today is going to be focusing on work and resisting the urge to check my Etsy stats every two seconds!

Once I finally saw the activated version of LeftyLexCreations on the Etsy site I literally wanted to do a cartwheel in my living room. This represents many, many long hours of work: some fun, some frustrating, but all have been exciting. It’s so rewarding to see my products alongside the work of other artists! Not all of my finished products are listed quite yet, but I figured that 35 listings will do just fine for my grand opening.

So please, please click on over and have a look at my shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LeftyLexCreations  this is some of what you’ll see!

EtsyLLC EtsyEurope EtsyLesMis   EtsyOleEtsyOmbre  EtsyStars

Thanks for being so supportive, and please continue to spread the word! Cheers!

Etsy Countdown

Image | | leftylex

I have been blog MIA, I know. But this does not mean that I have not been super busy! As LeftyLexCreation is scheduled to open in TWO DAYS, I have been spending loads of QT with my laptop getting everything up and running on Etsy. This is what my morning view has primarily consisted of for the past week or so:

Etsy Countdown

Aaahh; the printscreen alone gives me nightmares! This is not the creative outlet that I need before (and after) I work my regular 9-5, but my shop isn’t going to up and open itself so this is just a necessary evil that must be tackled. Lord willing, this will be the most that I have to work on the computer for Lefty Lex for a while. There is nothing as fun as sitting at a computer from 5:30AM-8:00AM, getting ready for work, then sitting at another computer from 8:30A-5:30P for work! On these days 6PM yoga cannot come fast enough! Hopefully this is just for a short period of time and I take comfort in knowing that I will never again list 30 new items all at once.

I can see the finish line, it’s so close! I honestly feel like I am at mile 12 of a half marathon and just started getting a side ache; so close, yet so painful! All will be well very soon! For now, however, I feel like I’m existing in a barricade of hoops!

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Busy Little Bee

| leftylex

It has been extraordinarily busy over here in Lefty Lex land! With just 9 short days until LeftyLexCreations opens on Etsy, I’ve had lots and lots to do! Unless your a shop owner yourself, or are in the process of becoming one, you have no idea how much work actually goes into opening a (presentable and non-tacky) shop. It’s borderline exhausting, I get tired just thinking of everything that has been completed thus far! Design drafting, supply shopping, product execution (stitching, etc.), photographing products, editing photos, uploading to Etsy, writing descriptions, battling the dreaded pricing issues, finalizing logo and all things branding, keeping up with social media, keeping up with this here blog (or trying to!), etc., etc. Whew! I now have a new level of respect for people who make their full-time living running successful shops.

While I know that these are all necessary tasks that must be executed in order to open shop, I have spent such a large amount of time on the computer over the past couple of weeks that I have begun missing the actual stitching process immensely! So, for the past three days, I have dedicated at least an hour per day to the pure joy of stitching. The results have been a happier me and the following little gems…

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That was a nice little hiatus, now back to work!

Week in Snapshots

| leftylex

A bit late, but this was my last week in snapshots. I tried quite a few new recipes, semi-celebrated Valentine’s Day, watched my baby sister enter her twenties (!), spent oodles of quality time with Husband, and further fell in love with succulents.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

Image | | leftylex

Vday1 Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! May your chocolate be sweet, your flowers fragrant, your lover endearing, and your restaurant reservations on time!

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7:  Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The Big Branding Reveal

Image | | leftylex

I am so excited to (finally) present you with my logo and other delightful branding products! I am absolutely in love with the work the finished products and I could not say enough about my wonderful designer, Renee Jones of Mulberry Designs. Before I go any further, I’d like to say thank you to everyone (and there were a lot of you!) who chimed in with your two cents while I was still in the initial designing process with Renee.

The branding journey began with an email of the photo below to Renee. This little heart has become my signature stitch and I new that I wanted to incorporate it somehow in my logo. I sent Renee the image and she created/interpreted it in digital form. Kind of awesome to see that happen!

sigheart

She then sent these two designs to me as potential LLC logos. Deciding between the two potential logos above was tricky. While lots of followers liked the font on the left best, I ultimately went with a slightly altered version of the font on the right because it looks much more like my own handwriting. I did however absolute LOVE the little hoop design on the left.

llclogos

While taking your lovely feedback into consideration, I decided that I preferred the hoop design from the left logo paired with the lettering of the right logo. Renee then created these two designs to show me what exactly my two likes would look like paired together. This is where decisions began to be a bit more difficult for me.

Round2Luckily Husband always has ideas on what exactly my finished products should look like. We decided that even though I loved the top logo, it looked a bit crowded. Ultimately I liked the overall look of the later as a logo but I still loved the heart and hoop, so I asked her to create that as a separate avatar for me, which she graciously did. Best of both worlds!

There were several drafts and little kinks that were worked out prior to the finalization; things like smoothing out the font, changing the colors slightly, adding rows of colored dots, removing other dots, etc., etc. Overall, however, it was a rather painless and exciting experience. And I am finally able to present you with the finished products… don’t you love them? I absolutely do!

The Big Branding RevealI cannot say enough wonderful things about Renee, truly! She was extremely professional, listened to my ideas and turned them into reality. I searched for a branding designer for quite a while, but some showed poor work portfolios and others were severely overpriced; Mulberry Designs was neither. Renee has a fabulous body of work (of which my logo has been added to!) and she is reasonably priced. I would highly suggest Renee to anyone looking to brand or re-brand themselves. I could not be happier with the overall look that she has given me!

To view more of her work, click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MulberryDesign22

RWL: Valentine’s Day

| leftylex

Well, just two short days until Valentine’s Day. Truth be told, Husband and I are not the biggest Valentine’s Day celebrators. I have two reasons for permitting this: 1) my birthday is in January (just a few short days after Christmas) and 2.) our wedding anniversary is in March. So I am never truly in the mood for another obligatory festive celebration. Husband should be so happy, he gets off easy!

However, I am not a total Valentine’s Day grinch so I present to you, this week’s love themed RWL!

vdayred vdayorange vdayyellowvdaygreen  vdayblue  vdayindigo   vdayviolet 

Red: I like to think that one day I’ll be the kind of mom who makes uber cute traditions for my kids like making the same love theme breakfast each Valentine’s Day. Perhaps I’d have a cute little bowl like this cute little white and red heart number. It would of course be accompanied by an equally cute mug, plate, table runner, and other heart themed paraphernalia just to complete the effect. And probably an embroidered napkin or two (let’s keep it real here).

Orange: Hello. Also, I love you. This is my kind of card exactly: super weird, simple, and to the point. I like cards that aren’t entirely expected. This card is able to capture the love and Valentine’s Day effect without being red, pink or covered with little cupids. I’m also a giant fan of the letterpress look, magnificent!

Yellow: I adore this little yellow print and think that it belongs in my craft space. I love the many shades of yellow (none of them are annoying primary or neon shades) and I quite fancy the font as well; sweet and simple.

Green: This is actually a fridge magnet made of tile. I think that I’m drawn to this piece because it reminds me of Gaudi’s Parc Guell in Barcelona, a home of many, many tiles. If you are not familiar with Parc Guell, then you must take at least two minutes to check out some of the photos on this site: http://www.parkguell.es/en/gal.php. You will not regret it, I promise you! This is the most whimsical place I have ever been; it literally feels like you are stepping into a fairy tale  when you’re there. Hop a plane to Barcelona right now and let the whimsy begin!

Blue: For some reason or another I keep find myself crushing on useless little felt objects. No offense to the artist intended; of course these little blue felted hearts are not useless. If they can make someone smile, then they have purpose. But for practicality’s sake, not much use is achieved through tiny felt hearts… but I love them! Perhaps they’d look cute in a shadow box? Or placed together with other goods to make a unique centerpiece? I’m sure I could come up with a few good uses for these little guys should they make their way to my house!

Indigo: Okay, I know what you’re thinking here in regards to my indigo pick: that it’s not really indigo. But it is, it’s even titled Indigo Heart! So there, I win! This is actually a photograph of a door that belongs to an old, old house in Monaco. And although I have never been to Monaco (Southern France, but not Monaco) I can imagine that this door would belong to an old romantic house in a neighborhood with only cobblestone roads and surrounded by oodles and oodles of flowers. If only you could see the image in my mind!

Violet: Remember being around age 8 and thinking that nothing in the world was cooler than wearing broken heart best friend necklaces with your best friend? That is exactly what these pendants remind me of! Is that not the precursor to the engagement ring? It basically says: hand’s off, this best friend has already been spoken for!

Okay, just one more because for some strange reason I felt drawn to this strange little image. Happy Valentine’s day everyone!

vdayred

Weekend Wrap Up

| leftylex

I love the weekend, don’t you? This weekend was the perfect blend of productivity and rest.

image Saturday’s mission was to take a trip to my favorite place in all of San Diego, Balboa Park, and photograph about 25-30 hoops. Yikes! I knew that this would not be an easy task, so I recruited the help of my 15 year old brother (who I can generally count on for good quality, yet inexpensive labor). He’s helped with with Lefy Lex stuff before and was a major help when I was preparing for Artisans Alley back in December.

It seemed as though Balboa Park was extra crowded today (even for a Saturday), but luckily the park is so massive that even the multitudes did not interfere with taking great photos.

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The photo in the center was taken in the Spanish Village Art Center which houses 37 independent artist studios. It would be a dream to have one of these spaces; and it never hurts to dream. And believe it or not, little hooped Javert kept rolling towards water every time I turned my back! Stop Javert, suicide is not the answer! Luckily I was able to catch him before he took the plunge. (As my brother and I were taking this photograph, there was an elderly couple starring at us from afar, they began inching closer and once they were able to see what exactly was on the hoop, they began laughing hysterically. They much have been familiar with Les Mis.)

image And with Husband at work, Saturday night was spend uploading and editing photos, creating Etsy listings, organizing hoops, and watching many episodes of The Cosby Show. I live life on the wild side.

image Sunday began, as it always does, with church. (This is my happy, ready to worship face). The sermon was entitled: Something Greater than Jonah is Here (Luke 11:27-32). I love our church and am grateful that our pastor continually delivers Christ-centered sermons week after week.

image Brunch followed church, as it usually does. Husband said that he hadn’t been to Perry’s Cafe in at least a decade, so we stopped on in. I was a less than impressed. I ordered a zucchini frittata (without cheese) and it was one of the blandess things I’ve eaten in a while. Husband enjoyed his Mexican frittata (and the remaining of my entree) so Perry’s was not a total failure.

image Brunch was immediately followed by a lovely Sunday nap. Oh day of rest! I woke up with a headache (not migraine, thank God!) first thing that morning so I required two naps prior to 5PM on this particularly sleepy Sunday.

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And the weekend ended in the best way possible: curling up with my boys watching Downton Abbey! Jack’s face looks distorted in that last photo because Husband was forcing him to look at the camera. For some reason or another that cat will not look at a camera… drives me nuts!

That was my weekend; I hope yours was just as lovely!

RWL: Downton Abbey

| leftylex

I have succumbed to Downton Abbey fever. Ah, it’s true! I now look forward to Sunday evenings not because the work week starts soon after, but because I get to find out what’s happening at Downton. If you’re a fellow Downton addict, then I’m sure that you too are still mourning the death of Lady Sybil, so hopefully this list will remind you of happier times at Downton.

downtonred downtonorangedowntonyellow downtongreen 

downtonblue downtonindigo

downtonviolet1

Red:  Seeing that Sybil was always the more fashion-forward, risk-taker of the sisters I could have most seen her wearing this red felt cloche hat. Remember those awful turquoise Alladin pants she had made for herself? Um, yah. I think that this hat would make a much safer and posh choice than those pants. I love the brim!

Orange: Isn’t this serving tray the cutest? Although I highly doubt that Carson would serve the Crawleys with it, I feel that it is very reminiscent of that era. Wouldn’t that be a great conversation starter piece? My dinning room chairs are almost an avocado green shade and I would love to see how the two shades would play upon each other.

Yellow: For some reason I most see Cora wearing this lovely lace necklace. I think that the addition of the yellow lace affixed to the antique brass chain was genius! Come to think of it now, I’m not sure if any of the Crawleys would actually ever wear brass (that might be too middle class), but it’s my RWL and I can pretend all that I’d like!

Green: This vintage emerald ring would have to grace the hand of Lady Violet. I adore pieces like this. A few Christmases ago, Husband bought me a vintage inspired diamond ring whose band detail is very similar to this one and I absolutely adore it. Truth be told, I often wear it in place of my wedding ring! It looks like a wedding ring (I’m not trying to be sneaky) and sometimes its just fun to mix it up. And I always wear it in place of my actual wedding ring when traveling abroad… never go overseas with your real ring lest you lose it!

Blue: If you can’t read it, this little card says I love you more than Downton and if you’re not familiar with the show… that’s a picture of Downton Abbey on the front. I would love to have this little card on the pinboard in my crafty space; its simple and elegant, yet so much fun. This little number can be purchased here: http://papercrave.com/downton-abbey-love-card/

Indigo: Let’s imagine for a second that the Crawleys did not believe that the sun rose and set on the English. If we can imagine that, then we might be able to imagine that they might introduce a bit of culture into their lives by adding this Japanese inspired porcelain pair into their massive collection of dishes. I could only image what Mrs. Patmore and Daisy would have to say about that geisha design!

Violet: Her name is Lady Violet for Pete’s sake! How could I not have used a photo of her?! Besides, she wears violet shades half of the time.  And does this lady not age? I mean she looks old, obviously, but I remember her from The Secret Garden back in the mid 90s and she looked just as old then!

Well my dear lords and ladies, I hope you enjoyed our travel down the Downton RWL, have a splendid day!

RIP Lady Sybil

Downton Abbey Cast