Tidbits

Here is a Recap of our Passion Perspective week with Lavender’s Blue Designs…

Monday: Get to know Becca and Lavender’s Blue Designs!

Tuesday: Dive more into the Journey of Lavender’s Blue Designs!

Wednesday: Learn more about Becca and Lavender’s Blue Designs through our Passion Perspective Interview!

Thursday: Read reviews from actual Lavender’s Blue Designs customers

AND THE WINNER IS…

Kristen P!!!

Kristen, check your email!! At some point today, you will receive an email with your Easter Printable Pack Giveaway Gift!

Super bummed you didn’t win? Don’t worry, keep reading!! This printable pack (Click to see photos at the bottom of the linked post) will be available to you for the next 2 weeks at only $10! This pack is a sure fire way to have an awesome party of your own and to be your best Easter yet! Click the link below to purchase:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/184808430/easter-printable-party-pack?ref=shop_home_active_1

We know that Becca’s work is so amazing that you may have been distracted by these posts all week and possibly have forgot to sign up for The Dating Divas Marriage Makeover Conference! And, remember, this conference is ONLINE- Yep, you can listen to these amazing speakers from the comfort of your couch!! 😀

The Dating Divas are thrilled to present you with the 2014 Marriage Makeover Virtual Conference! Last year’s online event was such a huge success for so many people that we’ve created a full 7-day Online Conference, focused on strengthening the most important thing in each of our lives… our marriages!

We’re bringing together 6 of the TOP experts in marriage, parenting, intimacy, communication, and happiness to help you reconnect, re-energize and truly make-over your marriage, right from the comfort of your home, the week of April 6-12th!

Of course, we’re The Dating Divas, …

“Lavender’s Blue is a design studio offering custom stationery designs for all the celebratory events in your life, whether it’s a wedding, new baby, birthday, or just because. I also offer coordinating items such as menus, place cards, favor tags, and decorations to help you create an event that is truly unique and memorable.”

“I am a designer and teacher with a degree in architectural design. I have a passion for smart and thoughtful design, whether in architecture, drawing, graphics, photography, sewing, or crafts. Stay up to date with my current design projects at my blog www.lavendersbluedesigns.com.”

Lavender’s Blue Designs has a 5-star review on Etsy and plenty of enthusiastic reviews from very happy customers after working with Becca. Not only is Becca’s work greatly enjoyed, but customers really appreciate how detail oriented, efficient, and creative Becca is with her work through Lavender’s Blue Designs.

“Best Etsy seller I’ve worked with! So sweet, super cute packaging, and lightning-quick turnaround!”

“So friendly and efficient. She even sent me a little extra as a thank you! I will buy from her again.”

“Beautiful packaging! Timely arrival, friendly seller! Thank you!”

“I love this idea!! You are such a creative teacher.. Those kids are lucky to be in your class!! I hope you’ll have a full map. Please post a picture of it when you do get your postcards back.” Chau for the DIY Balloon Launch Postcard

“Becca is one of the most caring people I know, and her thoughtfulness fuels her creativity. Her designs are clean and modern, and nothing she does is ever without extensive deliberation. Her concern for her quality of work comes out in everything she does – even little things for friends! She is definitely a designer at heart! I have seen her designs range from eye-catching promo …

We hope you read yesterday’s post and appreciate all that goes into building a design business like Lavender’s Blue Designs. If you have not taken a peek at Becca’s work, on our website or on her Etsy or Minted accounts, you should take a moment and look at the amazing attention to detail she puts into her work. She is a creative genius. When we were working with Becca to design our website, she listened to our wants and needs and came up with a half dozen preliminary ideas. She was open to our input, made changes as we requested and did not stop working and reworking her designs until we were fully satisfied. It was a blessing to work with someone so gifted and talented. Today you will be able to see how “patience, hard work, and staying true to yourself” has been the backbone of her success. She certainly has been an answer to prayer for us.

Today we are going to share with you some of the ups and downs of Becca’s journey. We asked her how her faith played a part of this journey through the expected and unexpected challenges and blessings of developing and running her own business.

What were the challenges-expected and unexpected?
“It’s definitely been a challenging journey, but God has been gracious, time and time again. Some days, I feel like I must be crazy not to be doing something architecture or education-related, since those are actually the fields I studied in school. It makes me wonder whether I’ve wasted years of my life working toward one thing, only to go in a different direction altogether. But it’s in these times of anxiety and desperation that I hear God whispering to me, and he reminds me, ‘I have a plan for you. …

Today we will take you on a journey of Becca’s company Lavender’s Blue Design and you will experience how her passion for crafts and design became a custom design business.

We asked Becca a series of questions:

What was your original passion and how did it change into what you are doing now?
“I’ve always had a passion for craft and design.  I love how good design (graphic, industrial, architectural) has the ability to persuade, to communicate, to enable, and to empower. And craft, that is, the skill of making something by hand, goes hand in hand with design. I spent a lot of my time in college learning, studying, and practicing a lot of the skills I have today – more abstract skills like how to apply design principles to more tangible skills like how to draw a straight line (it’s harder than you think!).  I think it’s the perfect blend of these two elements, craft and design, that creates a good product.”

How and when did it begin?
“My first, real dabble in graphic design started when I decided to design my own wedding invitations. I ended up teaching myself how to use Adobe Illustrator so I could translate the ideas in my head onto paper. I ended up loving the whole process so much that I started volunteering to design wedding invitations for my friends and family. As people saw the invitations that I was creating, word spread and people I didn’t even know started approaching me about custom design. I spent a large amount of time developing my website, working on my photography to take quality photos of my work, and submitting my work to different websites and companies for features and publications.”

So far, Becca’s work has been published on The Knot, Disney Baby, Babble, …

This week Growing Weisser has the awesome privilege of introducing you, our followers, to the extremely talented graphic designer who created all the “Growing Weisser” images you see on our website. Becca Thongkham is a freelance designer that our Bekah had the honor of befriending 2 years ago. Becca describes their relationship as such,  “I met Bekah at SGU in Grenada, where both our husbands attend medical school. We quickly became friends as we found ourselves going to church together, attending women’s Bible study together, and visiting the local children’s home every week. We also have a few things in common like living in California, a love for crafts and cooking, and husbands who love In ‘n Out!”

Today we will get to know a bit about Becca- where she grew up, her education and the beginning of her passion for design.

Becca’s story begins…” I grew up in the prairielands of Canada, where I spent my childhood climbing trees and reading books (often reading books in trees!). I was never short on imagination as a child, and books were my fuel. My family eventually moved to Mesa, Arizona, where I started finding mediums to translate my imagination into reality. In school, I took every art class I could get into – drawing, pottery, architecture, photography. Eventually, I majored in Architecture in college, with a minor in Design. I loved studying architecture, but realized it wasn’t quite right for me. I found that the reality of architecture consists a lot more of technical details and building codes instead of the poetry and artistry that I had loved about it in the first place.”

Her education continues…”I ended up getting my Master’s in Elementary Education, and thought that maybe I could teach instead. After a few years in education, I realized …

I think that without a doubt parenting is one of the most, if not the most, difficult job. There is no manual, no “rules.” We are faced with thousands of decisions each day, constantly wondering if we are making the right choices.

With this difficult job also comes the biggest rewards – those smiling faces, the sounds of laughter, the joy and excitement we get to witness each day.

This is why I love reading and hearing stories about amazing parents. The kinds of stories that inspire us to see each day as an opportunity to revel in the amazing gift of parenthood. What do these parents do? They trust their heart.

Here is a great story I saw today on my Facebook news feed about a mom who trusted her heart when she was told many times that her autistic son would never speak again, and now he is a college student at 15 and possibly on track to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. (If you have the time, watch the entire video. It is quite inspiring). She encourages other parents, saying, “As parents, we know in our hearts what our kids need,” she says, “and we need to trust that a little more. Even if that goes against what others are saying.”

Something that really spoke to me from this interview is how this mom really watched her kids. She saw what they were interested in and helped to foster their interests. She let them explore and learn, often on their own terms.

I know this isn’t easy. Often times it is uncomfortable or inconvenient. So many of the things Ellie loves to do are messy and require a lot of clean up (playing in the rain, playing in the mud, visiting farms and feeding animals), but …

Do you sometimes feel like your life is part of a circus? Are you a part of the juggling act just trying to keep all the moving parts flowing? Are you just one second away from one ball dropping? If one ball drops will all of them drop?

Do you feel like I just described one of your days? If I did, that’s okay. You are just like the rest of us. Usually we have too much on our plates, we are afraid to take something off, and we are just trying to figure out how to keep everything afloat. But many of us put ourselves there. Do we really have to juggle all those things? Are they really in our control, or do we just think they are, so then we stress even more about them?

Some things to help you take control of your circus act:
1. Write down your big priorities in order of how you want them (God, family, works, social, sports)
2. Write down the same priorities in how you think they play out in your life.

3. Write down your schedule for the week and see where you spend your time.
4. Schedule an hour to take some down time for yourself.

5. Don’t be too busy for kids, co workers, friends, family, etc.
6. Put down your phone. Facebook and instagram aren’t going anywhere.

7. Be real with where you are at. Emotions are okay. But how do you respond and bounce back.
8. Put control in its proper place.

9. Choose your things. Try to take one non priority off your schedule, if it allows.
10. Talk through schedule, lifestyle, plan with your spouse, family, kids.

Values:

• Be intentional about how you spend your time.
• Strive for a manageable lifestyle, you don’t

In case you missed our First PASSION PERSPECTIVE featuring of Brooklyn Owl, here is a recap of the week!

Learn about Growing Weisser’s new Passion Perspective concept of featuring a guest that has a true enthusiasm for the work they are doing. Our first guest has been Annie Bruce, the creator of Brooklyn Owl. Discover our long time history of knowing Annie and a few of Annie’s favorite things!

Tuesday’s post revealed the journey of Brooklyn Owl – The passion, the long-time goals, and more!

Wednesday included more of the Passion Perspective Interview. Read about Annie’s heart and what has motivated her through the process of Brooklyn Owl. She shares about how her faith has played such a big role and gives some great life wisdom!

Read some amazing Reviews about the Brooklyn Owl products from Thursday’s post, showing more of the variety and creativity of each item!

AND THE WINNER IS…

Melissa Rae McCary!!

Congratulations on winning our Brooklyn Owl Giveaway! Check your inbox today for your exclusive Brooklyn Owl Etsy Shop Coupon Code!

For all of our other Growing Weisser Followers, please continue to support Annie Bruce and Brooklyn Owl!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/brooklynowl

Print out some Brooklyn Owl original coloring pages!Fun Free Coloring Pages by Brooklyn Owl
Step 1: Download and Print
Rainbow Owl = http://BrooklynOwl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/BKOwl_color_rainbowowl.pdf

Big Owl = http://BrooklynOwl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/BKOwl_color_page_owl.pdf

Step 2: Have Fun Coloring
Step 3: Take Picture of you and your creation
Step 4: Send image to BrooklynOwl@gmail.com
or tag Brooklyn Owl on Facebook

We hope you have enjoyed our first Passion Perspective week! We will continue this new idea once a month, sharing a new guest each time! We are really excited to support and encourage our guest’s passion through Growing Weisser!…

Annie has quite the successful Brooklyn Owl business! She has made almost 1,000 sales on Etsy, and as a result, has obtained a 5 STAR Review from her customers! In most business, there are bound to be a few negative comments here or there regardless of how great the product it. However, going through the 216 customer feedback reviews for Brooklyn Owl, I did not read one negative comment! I believe that is a great testimony of the hard work put into each product and the quality of each handmade item, the reliability and precision of the artist, and an all around amazing company!

Brooklyn Owl products are also sold at 9 different retailers around New York. Annie tries to get involved with many local events, such local flea markets and street sales, to share Brooklyn Owl with as many people as possible! Check out the Brooklyn Owl Facebook Page to get more updates on these events!

CUSTOM LISTING FOR LAILA: “I cannot say enough good things about Annie and Brooklyn Owl. She was very helpful and willing to work with me on the order. She responded to my messages quickly and was extremely friendly. I was shocked at how quickly she made my order and got it shipped to me. It was packaged so carefully and came with adorable extra coloring sheets! One of the best online purchase experiences I’ve ever had. Thank you so much, Annie!
CUSTOM LISTING FOR ASHELY: “Amazing! Annie went out of her way to create ears my daughter wanted to go along with the unicorn horn. The complete set is so perfect! Very well made and super cute! Shipped & arrived very promptly, too.”

YOU CHOOSE COLOR UNICORN HORN or NARWAL TUSK HAIRCLIP: “Great seller. I ordered the white unicorn horn with gold thread. …