A Colorful Valentine's Day Spread + Chandelier by NK!

Greetings, yet again, from me and the only white wall in my house!

Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  I put together this colorful little scene that will be sure to invoke the heart eyes.  I hope you're able to use my ideas as inspiration for your own Valentine's or Galentine's Day bash!

I put this display together using my Turquoise Fancy Chandelier from Chandelier by NK!  The opportunities for using this fab piece of decor are limitless, as evident by my past shoots with it.  In case you have missed them, check out the Halloween Bar Scene here, the Outer Space Celebration here, and Addy's room reveal here.  The chandeliers are incredibly lightweight and come in a variety of colors!

The rest of the decor is from a variety of sources.  Mostly Target, if we're being honest (mailbox, heart garland). Other sources include Oriental Trading Company (triangle pennant garland), TJ Maxx, Joann Fabrics, and The Dollar Tree.  Lots are from past seasons!  I usually purchase holiday decor at the end of a season rather than the beginning, because that's when you'll find all the good sales.  Then I hide it away until the next year, and it's a big surprise when I pull it all out again!

But if your eyes are glued to those cupcakes rather than the decor, you can find the recipe for them here!  It's Add a Pinch's "Best Chocolate Cake Ever" recipe, adapted into cupcakes.  I'm using the Sprinkle Pop "Nursery Rhyme" bespoke sprinkle mix.  I also used their sprinkles for my hot chocolate bar featured here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

PS:  And make sure to get on my email list if you want your FREE Valentine's themed phone background delivered to your inbox on February 1!  Only those VIPs who are on my list will be receiving this one!  If you're on a computer, you can sign up on the right hand side of my blog.  If you're on your phone, scroll all the way to the bottom.  Can't wait to share it with you!

OOTD: Bright Flamingo is in! The Newest Color from kate spade's January Collection

Cameron Street Lottie Handbag (in bright flamingo): kate spade new york // Cameron Street Lacey Wallet (in bright flamingo multi): kate spade new york // Heart Skinny Scarf: kate spade new york // Idlewild Co. Charmed Keychain (champagne): Anthropologie

I don't remember the last time that my wallet has ever matched my handbag.  I'm not even sure it's ever occurred before.  Well, there's a first for everything!  As soon as I saw this bright flamingo color in the kate spade January collection, I knew I needed one of everything in it.  

The Lottie is an amazing style, and it's somewhat new for kate.  I think it first appeared at the end of the summer.  It has a zipper area in the center, but also two side compartments on the front and back.  And a crossbody strap in addition to the handles!  It's saffiano leather, so it's super durable, scratch proof, and stain resistant.

The Lacey is my favorite style of wallet, as it's pretty big and zips all the way around.  It's my second one, so I'm telling you from experience that it's a great choice!  It zips all the way around, so everything is safe and secure.  It has plenty of space for all your cards, cash, and rewards cards too.  Some people even like to put their phone in it and carry it as a clutch.  But I'm not much of a clutch girl.  

I think you should always accessorize your handbag, so I tied on the heart skinny scarf from kate and a "press for champagne" keychain from Anthro!  I've been waiting forever to find the keychain.  And I actually wear the scarf in my hair from time to time too!

Put it all together and I have the perfect set to waltz right into the Valentine's Day season!

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OOTD: Can you guess my signature color?

Cable Knit Chenille Boat Neck Balloon Sleeve Sweater (on sale!): Express // Hunter Original Tour Packable Rain Boot (on sale now on 6pm.com!) : Nordstrom // Solid Black Leggings: Aeropostale // Black Bow Parka (last year): kate spade new york // Headband (old): Forever 21 // Faux Fur Rimmed Mittens (old): Forever 21 // Julep Lip Crayon (in fuschia berry creme): Nordstrom

Well, can you guess it now?

Obviously I love me some pink.  It's my favorite color and it's my brand color, and I pretty much love all shades of it.

Which is why, if you recall from Black Friday, I purchased two of my favorite pink items!

No lie, the sweater really is this bright in color.  I didn't increase the saturation of these photos AT ALL, in fact, I thought about desaturating it!  But I really like the hot pink hue, so I figured I'll leave it!  If pink's not your thang but you really like they style of this sweater, it comes in five other gorgeous colors.  Mine was petite (short arms and torso!) and it is sold out, but the regular is still fully in stock!  And on sale for $50.99.  It's super cuddly, very soft, and in my opinion really cute on!

My other favorite pink item is this pair of Hunter boots!  They were also one of my Black Friday finds.  I had wanted a pair of Hunter boots FOREVER, and found them in ion pink for a great deal on Black Friday.  I got mine from Nordstrom back in November, but the same color is on sale on 6pm right now, linked above.

I am constantly on the hunt for good quality plain (non-athletic) black leggings, since they are my go-to in the winter.  Over the last couple of years, I have been wearing the ones from Aero.  I like that they last at least one winter (and I wear them all the time) and that they have the thick band around the waist so they don't fall down.  Obviously they show signs of wear and tear after a while, as all leggings do, but I really do think they hold up well against other competitors that are in the $10 range.  I mean, I guess these are originally $16.50 but I've always got them for $10.  I just buy a couple new pairs each year and wear those in public, and the old ones during lazy days at home.

My winter coat is from kate spade, but outlet last year.  I love that kate spade parkas are down-filled and super warm.  You can't tell me that having a long coat in Wisconsin winters is a bad thing, either!  It really saves my legs from freezing when the wind is blowing in my direction!

My winter accessories are both from Forever 21 a couple of years ago.  Since it's pretty common to loose at least one mitten over the course of a winter, I'm okay with buying cheap ones!

For lip color, I'm wearing Julep's fuschia berry creme color.  I really love this brand, especially in this color!  So if I were to recommend you add one thing to your beauty repertoire, it would be this! The lip crayons are only $20.

Now cue the hot pink sign-off:

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Freebie Alert! January iPhone Background

Hi guys!

Today I wanted to share with you a FREE iPhone background, hand painted by me.  It's a wintry Nordic inspired scene, so enjoy!

You can either save the image above, or follow the link below to download the background:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pLB5QQp1S3xvrbkR2

This first background is being released on my blog, obviously.

From now on, I will be releasing a new iPhone background that I painted each month!  

It'll be themed based on the current season.  

But there's a catch - you have to be on my email list to receive it!

That's right, I'll be sending out a freebie on the first of every month, starting in February.

This image shows exactly where to sign up (on desktop)!  

As you can see, it's just to the right.

If you're on your phone, it's going to be all the way to the BOTTOM, under the about me section.  

I hope you enjoy this iPhone background!

 And make sure to sign up to receive the next one I'll be releasing via email on February 1!

It's 2018

Silver Sequin Dress // Disco Ball Cup

Hi, it's me again, back for another yearly recap!

It's crazy to me that my blog is now in it's 4th year (I started in December of 2014).  I ended up writing more blog posts than ever before this year.  It's still not exactly the number I'd like to be at, but it's getting close and I'll take any improvement I can get!

Now to recap my year...just be warned, it's a doozy.

On one hand, I feel like I accomplished a ton.  I did a lot of things in 2017 that I would never have imagined myself doing when I wrote my "It's 2017" post last January.  So let's revisit some of these goals I had for the upcoming year.

If you need a reminder (I did...), these were my goals for 2017:

Plan more, Worry Less

It's Okay to Say No

Outsource When Necessary

Rebrand

See NYC

Read a lot

Recap My Successes

In no particular order, here's my recap of the last year!

Rebrand/Outsource

In terms of business, I did rebrand like I said I wanted to.  My blog went from its original Blogger template to something that actually looks like a website.  I didn't outsource that task like I thought I might.  I ended up figuring out a way to do it myself.  And I am really happy with how it looks right now.  Sort of took the amateur route if we're going to get technical, but it's good enough for right now!

Plan More/Worry Less

At certain points of the year, I got really good at planning out content and my daily life.  Editorial calendars and everything, it was beautiful!  But then I got really really stressed in November/December and stopped writing things down.  Not my best moment.  When I get stressed out, I start planning LESS and then everything snowballs and I become a very crazed person.  It happened.  I'm going to try to not let that happen again.  It just felt like I had way too much going on personally, in my business, and in my regular job.  I'm not very good at forcing myself to take a break, and it sort of led to my negative attitude towards...everything at that time.  I was not a nice or happy or optimistic lady for a little while there.  And I'm still sort of recovering from it, this first week of January. 

But I have since calmed down a bit and am armed with a new plan for success!

Kind of funny how it happened, but the reason for this craziness was partially because my Etsy shop, Midwest Mermaid Art, BLEW UP in terms of business around mid-November through Christmas.  A good thing, right?  While I was extremely happy to be having that type of success, it opened up doors for a lot of unforeseen problems that I didn't even know existed.  It gave me a lesson in having a problem, dealing with it, and then LETTING IT GO.  The third part is what I have a hard time with!   I tend to take things very personally, even when they are out of my control.  So overall, I did a pretty good job at planning more (for the most part) but a very bad job at worrying less.

The reason I was able to have so much success on Etsy was because of the art sale that my friend Courtney allowed me to participate in.  I was hesitant at first because I had almost no inventory.  I was doing mostly custom graduation caps and other made-to-order projects, so I'd have nothing to sell at the sale. Well, I took the first half of November to work like a madwoman to build my inventory.  In fact, I had SO much inventory that my booth ended up looking really amazing!  I did well, granted it was probably not my ideal client shopping that particular sale.  Anything I had left over I listed on my Etsy shop.  And that's when the magic happened.

...Actual Harry Potter themed magic!

At the art sale, I sold a few of my Gryffindor Girls BFF prints.  I had some left over, so I listed them on Etsy...  They immediately started selling like crazy, and I had an equal amount of requests hitting my inbox for custom Hogwarts House scarf colors and hair colors.  So I created 5 combinations of BFFs, and threw those up on Etsy too.  Chaos ensued.  I don't even know how many I sold (I really should count that!).  I restocked again in December.  It was awesome.  Ran into a few post office issues here and there which sent my stress level through the roof, but everything eventually ended up where it needed to be.  Also realized exactly how you need to spell things out for people, because they really don't like to read things.  

Yea, I said it.

Also thanks to Courtney, I had the opportunity to teach two workshops at The ArtGarage in 2017!  I also taught one at kate spade Mayfair, thanks to my fab managers.  Teaching a workshop was one of my bucket list type goals, so I count this as a huge success of 2017.  I realized I love teaching people how to do things that I'm a so-called "expert" at.  I would like to teach more workshops in 2018.  Because what's that quote...

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."

See NYC

Travel wise, I did indeed see NYC.  I saw New York City, Chicago, Salt Lake City, and my beloved Pensacola/Navarre area of Florida.  

Read A Lot

I read, but not as much as I had hoped.  Some of my favorite books were listed here and here on my blog. Here's to more books in 2018!

Recap My Successes

I definitely did that more than I did in 2016, but not as often as I would have liked to.  I did take time now and again to appreciate my successes though.

It's Okay to Say No

Well, I'm getting better at it.  I've started to say no more often, which consequently means that I got to say yes to more.  I'll expand on this in my 2018 goals below. 

I also got an LLC for my business, Midwest Mermaid LLC to be exact.  I created a mailing list.  I proceeded to do nothing with either of these things.  That's this year's task I guess!

Now onto my goals for 2018!  Actually, they are my quarterly goals for January-March.

Big Picture:  I want to focus on setting quarterly goals instead of yearly ones.  I got this advice from Jenna Kutcher's Goal Digger Podcast (a must-listen!).  Planning out my next 3 months seems way less daunting than planning out my next 12.

Editorial Calendar/Daily Planner

I want to start strong by getting back on the editorial calendar train!  That means that I'll plan out my whole month in terms of content.  Pre-prepare (is that a word?) a lot of content, which I have been doing, so that I'm not writing a post in the same day as I am publishing it.  Which is usually how I post anyways.  My editorial calendars that I did make in 2017 were life-changing.  I'm also a huge fan of writing down my daily to-dos in an agenda.  I'm pretty good at doing that, although it did also fall off in that stressful time towards the end of the year.

Weekly Blog Post

The editorial calendar will help with this.  But this goal is pretty cut and dry.  

YOU. CAN. DO. IT!

The Mermaid Monthly + Freebie

You better get on my mailing list now (the "Stay Updated" section on the right hand side of my blog if you're on your computer and all the way to the bottom if you're on your phone)!  I'm going to commit to sending out a monthly newsletter at the end of each month.  I'd like to do more, but I know if I set that as my goal it wouldn't happen.  As an incentive, I'm going to be sending out a freebie in each newsletter!  It's going to be a downloadable iPhone background hand painted by me, themed for the upcoming month!  Woo hoo!  The first background will be posted on my blog next week, but from then on, it will be in my newsletter sent to your inbox, The Mermaid Monthly.

Refine My Pricing

I'm getting waaaay better at pricing the things I sell, but it's nowhere near perfect.  I know that most people who sell things they make have a hard time with this (we tend to under-sell ourselves).  I've spent a long time pricing emotionally, and that needs to stop.  For example, "oh, that person is so sweet though, I'll give a discount even though they didn't even ask for one."  That is dangerous behavior (hello burnout).  I need to actually pay attention to the time and money it takes for me to create something rather than throwing out an arbitrary price and hoping it isn't too high.  Not everyone is my ideal client, and that's okay!  I'm going to take time in January to really think about this.

Network

I want to meet all the amazing people in this area. And even the country!  I met so many lovely ladies at the Female Foodie retreat in SLC this summer.  I want to continue to put myself in situations like that, because there's so much to learn from other people in my same areas of expertise.  I got to host one Instagram giveaway last year, and I'm part of another this month.  And it's a BIG one.  I want to do more of that type of thing in 2018!

Say No.

This is to build on my goal from last year.  Really cracking down on this one.  I need to say no so that I can say yes more.  I don't have a lot of free time.  I need to use it wisely.  I can't give in and say yes to something that I don't have time for/don't want to do today, because it WILL screw me over tomorrow.  Saying yes to something that I don't want to do means I have to say no to something else.  I think I actually have the "saying no" part down actually, it's the "feeling bad and stewing about it" part that I need to work on.  The guilt.  I hate letting people down, but I need to realize that I am not responsible for helping everyone, all the time.  And to learn to say no and then move on.

And it's okay to say no so that I have time to rest.  (I have a super hard time with this concept.)  I feel the need to constantly be doing something.  I'm trying to train myself to relax at certain points of the week.  I'm trying to schedule in downtime, because GOD KNOWS I need to.

Passion Project

I need to say "no" more because I need my time to follow my passions!  I have a new passion project in the works, and it has to do with foodie adventures.  I felt like I made my foodie endeavors a bit more of a job than a fun hobby in 2017, which makes me so sad because I truly do love it.  I'm going to pursue this project so that I can get back to enjoying food photography and eating the best things ever!  Not to mention sending out vibrant and rich content for you all to enjoy.

Legitimize My Business

LLC? Done.  Mailing list? Done.  Accountant, lawyer, separate business bank account, business coach, web designer, media kit, personal chef (jk)?  Want.  Anyone know anybody?

Well that's pretty much the long and the short of it! (But mostly just the long of it, hahaha.)

Let's kill it in 2018!

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