My First Oversized Poster Print!

To be perfectly honest, one of the main reasons I wanted to start decorating with black in our new house was because of my obsession with chalkboard prints. :) I know that I share this obsession with a lot of people right now and that is fine by me! Now that we finally have some black in our kitchen and dining room (cabinet hardware, shelf brackets, etc....so exciting!), I thought I would make my very own chalkboard print for Christmas. I used Isaiah 9:6. I had this verse on my bible cover when I was like 9 and have been obsessed with it ever since, haha. Just a side note. :)

I made this to fit a cheap-o Ikea frame that I've had for about a year now. I actually think it looks really nice when spray painted with gold leaf...not too cheap at all! I may spray paint it a different color eventually because it was hard to get the gold to look even, but we will see.

This was also my first time to print one of those super popular over-sized blue print posters from Fed Ex. It cost me all of $3 for a 20"x28" black and white poster!

(Aaaaand you can see me. Looking awkward. I think I was trying to duck from the tri-pod, haha)

The quality is actually pretty nice, except for that it didn't print quite as much of the chalkboard texture as I would have liked. For the price though, I am A-okay with that. ;)

I put this on our Craigslist buffet which now has a new home in the dining room. I LOVE it here! 

I may end up moving this poster to the mantel, but I wanted to get a few quick pictures today because I have listed it in my shop! It is available as an instant download 8x10 printable OR as a custom-sized print. (Perfect for these oversized posters!) Please head over there to check it out!

We just got our NEW faucet in the mail today and I am in love! Hopefully Bryan can install it tonight and then I will take some pictures. And then after that maybe I will get around to decorating the rest of our house for Christmas! Y'all, I can't handle our house right now. I am looking at pumpkins and ornaments in the same room and it's driving me nuts. 

Yay! Two posts in one week. Go me! Have a great rest of your week.

Christmas Cards Are In The Shop.

Hi everyone! I was hoping to get pictures taken of our fall decorations this past weekend and write up a post for today, but I never got around to it...hopefully that will happen sometime this week. I think the real problem is that the house is so not how I want it at the moment and so I'm having a hard time being content with it...so seasonal decorating is just not as fun. (I know, first world problem...working on it.)

 

In the meantime, I thought I would share a couple of the Christmas cards I've just listed in the shop. That's right....Christmas! It's closer than you think. And I'm perfectly happy about that :)

 

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I can't wait to get mine printed! There are a few other designs in the shop right now if you want to hop on over there, but I am still working away and hope to have the full collection up by the first of October.

 

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy, happy Monday. :)

 

 



Back to Work!

You may have noticed that things are looking pretty different here on Twenty Three Oh One! I have been working day and night on a few things for my stationery business--mainly designing a fluid brand and look for my blog, Etsy Shop, Facebook page, business cards, and---get this--a website! I guess it's a complete makeover....I tend to go all or nothing. :) Here's a little sneak peek:

 

Woo hoo!! I am so excited, you have no idea! Big things, big things. I am nervous and excited about this new step all at the same time. Growing this business has been on my heart for months--it is something that I truly love to do (I'm sure you all know what I mean!). I am also happy about this because I have decided to stay at home with my sweet Parker (who is growing fast!) so this will be the perfect opportunity to do something I enjoy while being a full-time momma--which I also enjoy :).

So, I apologize for the lack of posts (baby and vacations are my excuses!) and for the broken links (working on that part), but things will hopefully be back to normal soon.

OH. Oh my gosh--I had no clue this happened until it had already happened, but our home was featured on the amazing blog 6th Street Design School last week! Kirsten is an extremely talented designer so I was shocked when she contacted me. Thank you so much, Kirsten! Check out her blog, friends!

New Stuff

Sorry I'm not very original with my post titles. So...I woke up today feeling very inspired, and the next thing I know, I had come up with tons of cute designs for personal stationery cards for my Etsy shop! Basically ever since I opened my shop, I've been trying to decide what audience and style to focus in on (hello, marketing classes). I love to play with a ton of styles (modern, classic, simple, girly...) but I need to stick with just one of two if I want to be successful. I also decided to narrow down the type of stationery I want to sell. After today's design extravaganza, I think I have it all figured out.

From now on, I will only be selling personal stationery. I really love wedding related stationery, but I tend to get stuck and frustrated....so I'm hoping this new direction works well!

Here are just a few of the card designs I came up with today....

I became obsessed with ticking stripe a few weeks ago, hence the next two cards...

AND I just orded cardstock to print these on--linen textured. They will look amazing.

P.S. Yardwork sucks. And also you should go download the new Eli Young Band song "Crazy Girl" and "7 & 7" by Turnpike Troubadours. SO so good. Ok...I am leaving this computer! I haven't showered yet and all I've eaten today is a cupcake. I know, TMI.

I Heart Invitations

So last week I was finally able to see one of my designs in print! Usually when I make something, I send it off and never see it again. I about jumped up and down when I got Megan and Westin's Save the Date in the mail!

Excuse the brick house in the background... I was running out of daylight and didn't want to take the picture without it...natural light is SO great for photography.

Anyway, she had them printed on linen textured cardstock...I love them! She also printed and sent out this one as well:

I also wanted to give ya'll an update on my brand new Etsy Shop. I haven't sold anything yet, but since it's only been open for a week I'm not worried at all and I'm still hopeful that things will pick up in the next few months as I add more items (and maybe start advertising). Here are a few more invitations I added this week:

Yes, I did use my sisters and sister-in-law for these, and YES they are marrying celebrities haha!

Love them all! I might get this printed just so I can post pictures of how much cooler they would look in person!

New Etsy Shop

I finally got around to starting my own Etsy shop! It's called KatyLady Designs!

I've been talking about doing this for months, so last night while I was STILL recovering from my cold/fever/deadly illness, I went ahead and made a shop. In the last year, I've probably made some sort of invitation for someone every couple of weeks, so I decided that I want to start selling them.

I only have 2 items for sale right now, but I intend on adding more in the next month. I will be selling pre-made digital templates for people to print their own invitations/cards for weddings and parties. Eventually, I want to do custom orders and maybe even print them myself, but for now, I'm going to stick with this. We'll see how it goes! I may sell nothing at all, and if so, I'll change my methods...only time will tell. If I ever get too busy or just don't like doing this anymore, I'll close the shop, but as of right now, I'm having fun doing this in my free time and am very excited!

You can visit the shop by clicking HERE!