May, Right Now

POSTED ON May 13, 2014 IN Life Adventures

With so much change on the horizon, today felt like a good day to capture a little snapshot of what life is like right now.

Right now I am…

Living in Houston, TX with my hubby Adam. This month is our official one-year anniversary of moving here. One year left to go here and then who knows where we’ll end up.

Currently 35 weeks pregnant. The first two trimesters felt like they flew by but much like the final months of a deployment, this final trimester is moving at a snail’s pace.

Writing this post early Tuesday morning on my iPhone from the comfort of my cozy bed.

Listening to the sound of the rain as it drizzles down here in Houston.

Feeling the baby kick, kick and kick some more. Mornings and late nights seem to be his fave which I’m pretty sure he gets from me. Will be fun to see if it continues once he arrives.

Giggling at just how lopsided my belly can become when he starts shifting around in there.

Waiting for all the nursery stuff to arrive. Pretty sure our UPS guy is going to know me well after this week.

Sleeping surrounded by what feels like a thousand pillows right now in an attempt to be comfortable. It’s all very princess and the pea-style at this point.

Eating more small meals these days and lots and lots of fruit (cuties especially).

Drinking mostly water but loving the occasional “margarita” slushie Adam makes for me.

Craving cheese and anything cold and slushy.

Disappointed I haven’t had any crazy pregnancy cravings. Pretty sure if they haven’t shown up by now they probably aren’t going to.

Wearing all maternity clothes now, mostly from Gap and Old Navy.

Laughing at the irony since those are two stores I never shop at normally.

Walking as much as I can to help alleviate all the pregnancy-induced hip pain.

Thankful for Adam’s last week of travel for awhile. After this he’ll be home for good until after the baby arrives.

Watching the season finale of Revenge. So good and now I can’t wait for the start of season 4.

Planning out the next few weeks of want-to-dos vs must-dos.

Checking items off our before baby to-do list slowly but surely.

Counting down the days until my birthday later this month.

Seeing it as the benchmark for getting things done.

Pretty sure baby won’t care if we get it all done before he gets here.

Gathering the courage to start sewing together the baby quilt.

Reminding myself that perfectly imperfect is very much the goal.

Thinking still about business goals, ideas and branding. Even with a baby on the way and impending maternity leave, I can’t turn it off.

Sketching out ideas for one last business idea before I officially start maternity leave.

Realizing I’d probably be horribly bored as a stay at home mom.

Wondering what exactly life will be like a year from now. Feeling a mix of nervous excitement for sure.

Crazy excited to be heading into this new chapter of our lives.

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Nursery Mood Board: The Great Outdoors

POSTED ON May 8, 2014 IN Home Design, Life Adventures

I mentioned in my last post that if I were to choose a One Little Word for May, it would be ACTION because holy moly, do we still have a lot to do before our little guy arrives. At the top of our action list is the nursery so I thought it’d be fun to share a peek into what I’m currently planning for the design.

The Nursery Layout

To give you some context, we currently live in a two-bedroom apartment here in Houston which means we’re going to be turning our current office into an office/nursery.

It’s thankfully a decent sized room but the downside is that it only really has one full wall and corner when it comes to furniture placement which has made things tricky. The other three walls include:

One wall with an awesome bank of windows but low window sills (and we’re several floors up so safety is an issue)
One partial wall which holds both the door to the hallway and the adjoining bathroom
One full wall where the hall door swings in losing about 3-4 feet of usable space

After arranging and then re-arranging the furniture in this room, we ultimately decided to keep our desks along the one full wall and the window wall where they are now and use the other two walls for the nursery half of the room. We’ve measured it all out and while it’ll be a tight fit furniture-wise, we think we can make it work. Plus I like that this layout will keep the office and nursery areas separate rather than having say, a desk in-between the crib and glider or what not.

As far as storage, the room includes a large attached bathroom and a huge walk-in closet (so big my 16 square 4×4 Ikea Expedit fits into it) so we’ll be relying on those spaces heavily for any additional storage and since we’ll be moving again next summer, this layout really only has to last us until he’s just around one years old.

Here’s a quick visual to give you an idea of the layout:

We’re planning to put the dresser on the half wall between the doors (it currently has an office stand with my typewriter on it – not sure where that will go) and then the crib & a glider on the wall with the door. It does mean you’ll walk into the end of the crib when you walk into the room but that should also mean we can peek in on him without too much trouble.

We’re also going to be moving the desk area along the windows over to the left a bit to give more breathing room around the chair/crib but since that requires me to move all my scrap/sewing stuff out of it first, I haven’t been motivated to do it yet.

The Nursery Mood Board

That’s our plan for the layout, now on to the fun part: the design!

Since the outdoors and camping are near and dear to our heart (the first gift Adam ever bought me was a tent and he proposed to me on a trip to Sequoia National Park) we thought a camping/outdoor theme would be a fun direction for the nursery.

Because this is a shared adult/kid space, I wanted the nursery side of the room to feel child-friendly without being too over-the-top cutesy.

For the color scheme, I’m sticking with blues & greens (my faves) plus some reds (Adam’s fave) as well as gray, wood tones and some gold thrown in there as neutrals.

I’ve been saving ideas for months and months on a secret Pinterest board so it was fun to finally put my ideas down into an official mood board!

1) Blue Danube Natura paint from Benjamin Moore: We used this for an accent wall in our living room so we already had some on hand. This is the third time I’ve used this color though so it’s safe to say it’s one of my fave shades of blue paint ever.

2) Be Brave Gold Foil Print by Charm & Gumption

3) Birch round from Michael’s: Found this on an end cap there and plan to add his first initial once it’s settled. For now I went with a J for Jackman.

4) Modern Moose Owl from Target: Just picked this up on Monday and they were on sale for $10. They had some other cute ones too (moose, etc.)

5) Let’s Go Camping Card from thelittlecanoe: We bought this at the Austin Renegade Craft Fair awhile back so I’m excited to finally have a place to use it.

6) Babyletto Skip Crib

7) Vintage Inspired Science Posters – FEATHER PATTERNS Vol. 3 by vol. 25: Got this for $10 off in honor of Mother’s Day – sale ends May 9th. I own like 4 or 5 vol. 25 prints already so clearly I’m a fan.

8) Olin Grey 2’x6′ Runner from Crate & Barrel: The room is carpet and there isn’t a ton of floor space so I thought this could work to add some pizazz to the floor. Plus the price is right for a rug.

9) Bright Moose and Squirrel Camping 6×6 Print by leearthaus

10) Charcoal Luca Glider from Land of Nod: This is our one splurge item for the nursery but we figure it’ll be worth it since it can be used well past the baby stage.

11) Elk Throw pillow by Tangerine Home: I don’t think these are sold anymore – we bought ours at the Renegade Craft Fair a few years ago for Adam’s man cave.

12) Ikea HEMNES 3 drawer chest in white: The size and price are right and I love the idea of possibly spiffing it up to be more custom. Thinking something like this but maybe not chevron since the curtains are already chevron.

13) Arrow Wall Hook from CB2: Not sure what I’ll use this for yet but it seems fun!

14) Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Zig Zag Blue Moon from Fabric.com (curtains): This is the fabric I used for the curtains that are already in the office. I originally made them for the living room in our last house but they’re working for us in the office. I may end up adding lining to them or adding an additional blackout curtain since that room gets an insane amount of sun. We’ll see.

15) Giant Sequoia Plush Toy from hitree: Kind of pricey but I’m seriously tempted to splurge on this since it’s so adorable and it’s a Sequoia!

16) Adventure a Day print by littlelow

17) Happy Camper Quilting Flannel by Allison Cole: I’m currently working on a triangle quilt for the baby using these fabrics. More details to come once it’s done!

And that’s the plan so far! Now to just get everything ordered and put it all together. Will be interesting to see how it works out and I’ll be sure to share the end result once we get there!

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Hello May!

POSTED ON May 1, 2014 IN Life Adventures

If you had been a fly on our bedroom wall this morning, here’s the conversation you would have overheard between Adam and I:

Me: It’s May! It’s May! (said in a really excited voice because I tend to get ridiculously excited about stupid things)

Adam: You seem rather excited about this.

Me: Well yeah, it’s my favorite month of the year AND my birthday month!

I admit, I get a little excited every year about the arrival of May and not just because it’s my birthday month and I love birthdays. (Start the countdown now, May 24th y’all!)

For me, May is always the first month of the year where things start to gel. Maybe that’s a sign I’m a late bloomer and it takes me several months to realize that yes, it is in fact 2014 now. Or maybe it’s because May is the first month where you’re officially out of the winter doldrums and past that awkward “is it winter or spring?” phase.

Either way, I love May because it’s the month where the days start to feel long, the world turns green again and the weather warms up. Spring is here, summer is on it’s way and it makes me happy and ready to get things done.

Last night, Adam and I went to the Foster the People concert here in Houston (the tickets were his birthday present back in March – it was awesome, by the way) and afterward we stopped at our local House of Pies for a quick dessert.

I’ve reached that point in my pregnancy where strangers are now confident enough to mention I’m pregnant but tend to not realize I’m as far along as I am. As we were standing at the counter waiting to order our pie, another customer who was paying turned to me and said “You’re about halfway there, right?”

In all honesty, it took me a moment to realize what he was talking about because despite the fact that I’m being jabbed in the ribs daily by a baby who seems convinced the way out is through the skin of my stomach, at times I actually do forget that I’m pregnant. Blame mommy brain?

Once I realized what he meant, I laughed and said, “oh no, I’m a little farther than that.” After which Adam chimed in with a “She has 7 weeks to go.”

I admit when he said that I did a double take thinking, “Wait, 7 weeks? Say what now?” Until I realized that yes, since I’m 33 weeks this week that means we have 7 weeks until my due date and 8 weeks until the little guy will be here for sure.

Holy crap.

I think it’s safe to say if I were to choose a One Little Word for the month of May, it’d be ACTION. Because holy cow, we have a lot to do and a baby who’ll be arriving before too long whether we’re ready or not.

There’s a part of me that feels a little freaked out about that but a much bigger part of me that’s ridiculously excited we’ve reached this point of our journey. And much like May being the second-to-last month of school growing up where you’re so close to the end but not quite there, May feels like the perfect month to be preparing ourselves to make this transition from two to three.

Assuming (and fingers crossed!) the little guy stays put like he’s supposed to, my goal is to have all the major stuff we need to do knocked out by my birthday on May 24th, which would put me right at 36.5 weeks. Seems doable and well, you know how I like to tie goals to my birthday.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an afternoon date with my calendar and to-do list to finalize what all we need to do so I can start checking things off like a mad woman.

And you know, maybe squeeze a little scrapbooking in there too in prep for International Scrapbooking Day this weekend.

I admit, it feels a bit weird to the business-side of my brain for this be the first year in several where I’m not part of a mad scramble to finish products for iNSD but I can’t say I miss the frenzy and stress that comes with it either. I’m definitely much happier to be heading into May bright eyed and bushy-tailed, haha.

So with that I say, hello May! I am so excited to have you here.

Calendar is from Paper Source.

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Ever Wanted to Take A Class With Me?

POSTED ON March 20, 2014 IN Announcements

Ever wanted to take a class with me? Well, as of today, you can!

Over at KickAss Scrapbooking, I just launched my very first e-course, Style You. This is a class I’ve been wanted to do since long before I ever started designing templates at Sweet Shoppe Designs so it’s a pretty exciting day that it’s finally here!

Style You is a five-week online course where I’ll be serving as your Style Sherpa, guiding you through the process of discovering your own unique style. If you’ve ever been curious about my own style process or how you can get your own kickass style that stands out from the crowd, check it out!

You can see the post at KickAss Scrapbooking here or sign up for Style You here.

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14 in 2014

POSTED ON March 5, 2014 IN 14 in 2014, Goal Setting, Life Adventures

If you’ve been around Nettio Designs for awhile, you’ll know that I’m no stranger to goal-setting.

Now goal finishing?

That’s a whole different story.

But even when I don’t complete the ambitious goals I set out to accomplish, like my 28 at 28 list or my 30 Creative Adventures, I find that just the act of setting those goals in the first place pushes me to get more done than I would have without setting those goals at all.

So when the beginning of 2014 rolled around, I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this year and how I wanted to do it. Did I want to set another One Little Word? Resolutions? 2014 monthly goals?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this year I wanted to keep things simple and actionable. As much as I love the idea of One Little Word, it can sometimes seem so abstract.

So instead I decided on creating a simple 14 in 2014 list: 14 random things I’d like to be able to check off at the end of year. Since we’re expecting a mid-year arrival for our little dude, it’s a little baby-heavy but it’s also a mix of life, work, home design and scrapbooking goals which I love.

Since we’re a few months into 2014, I thought it’d be fun to share the progress I’ve made on my list so far. It’s still very much a work-in-progress but so far it’s turning out to be motivating me to take action much more so than other things I’ve done in the past. I think perhaps because everything on the list is more project based?

Here’s where I’m at as of March 5, 2014. Blue is In Progress and Green & ~~crossed off~~ is Done:

Finish Advent Calendar: This is a sewing project I’ve been working on for TWO Christmases now and it’s so close to being done, I can taste it. I’m making myself finish this before tackling any of the other “fun” items on my list.
~~Launch KickAss Scrapbooking:~~ DONE as of March 3.
Hang Adventure wall
Make a baby quilt: I’m waiting to officially start this until after I’ve checked off #1 but you can see the fabric I bought for it in this post.
Go on a baby moon: We’re keeping it simple but plans are in the works.
Organize digital photos
Turn master bedroom into a cozy space: Hoping to check this off this month, just have to convince Adam to do a little painting for me.
Make art for over the TV
Decorate office/nursery for the lil’ dude’s arrival: Mostly just plans & pins at this point but I’m excited to get started.
Have a baby. : ) Very much in progress, haha. Just over 100 days to go!
Create Project Life 6/6
Scrap 100 layouts: 7/100. This is an item that’s been on my list for oh, 8 years now and I’ve never managed to accomplish it. Clearly I’ll have to pick up the pace to do it this year.
Read 10 books: 1.5/10. Ten is probably laughable for you hardcore readers but I mostly read blogs and such these days so 10 books sounded doable to me. Book 1 for the year was The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte.
Learn to use my Silhouette: As a lovely desk accent…yes.

I fully don’t expect to accomplish everything on the list but I’ve learned over the years of goal-setting that the dreaming/planning/scheming is just as much a part of the fun for me as actually completing the goals, so I’m excited to see what 2014 brings!

What about you? Any other 2014 goal-setters out there?

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Why I Retired As a Template Designer & What’s Next for Nettio Designs

POSTED ON March 3, 2014 IN Announcements, Behind-the-Scenes

And now for the post I know you’ve been waiting for…

Back in December I made the decision to step down as a designer at Sweet Shoppe Designs and retire as a digital scrapbooking template designer. Because of the rushed end-of-the-year holiday timeline, I’m sure it seemed like a bit of an out of the blue decision to a lot of you. But the reality is, this was something I’d been mulling over for a good six months to a year before I actually took the plunge.

As many of you have guessed, yes, my decision to step down as a template designer was related to the little boy we have coming our way in June. But I’d say the baby was much less the reason and much more the catalyst for me to actually take action on a long pushed aside dream.

You see, I never set out to be a template designer or even a digital product designer. In fact, for many years as a scrapbooker I swore I would never be a designer. My passion for scrapbooking has always been telling stories in a creative way and as anyone who’s followed any designer knows, scrapbooking tends to be one of the first things that goes when you become a designer (the irony, right?).

But as I shared more of my layouts as a Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe, along with an occasional freebie template here and there, I started to get more and more requests from digital scrapbookers for templates using my designs. And since I’d always wanted to own my own business and having a mobile, online business as a military wife seemed like a smart idea, I decided to take the plunge.

What a lot of people don’t know, is that prior to launching Nettio Designs in February 2011, I sketched out a plan for another website.

A place where creative tech-lovin memory keepers could go to be inspired, connect, and fully embrace a spirit of creativity and adventure in their lives.

And I called it, KICKASS SCRAPBOOKING.

But for many reasons, the timing didn’t feel right. If I’m being honest, I didn’t feel ready.

So in the meantime I took what I felt was the “safe” route and opened up Nettio Designs selling digital scrapbooking templates, eventually became a designer at Sweet Shoppe Designs and spent the last 3 years learning, growing. All the while knowing in the back of my head that one day this would be the direction I would want to go. One day I would be ready.

And I’m beyond thrilled to say that today is that day.

KickAss Scrapbooking is live!

Now some would probably say that starting a new business venture with a baby on the way isn’t the smartest move. That it would have been safer to stay the course and grow what I had already built with my template business.

But the way I see it, if come June, my life is going to get crazy and my time turned upside down, then I want to make sure the time I do have available is being used for something I am truly passionate about and for me, that extends WAY beyond designing templates on a weekly basis.

What I most want to do is empower digital, hybrid & paper scrapbookers alike to step outside their comfort zone, embrace creative adventure and capture their story in a kickass way.

Which is exactly what KickAss Scrapbooking is all about.

So if you’ve ever felt bored with the stories you tell, felt like all your layouts look the same, or are just ready to take your scrapbooking to a whole new level beyond templates, go check out KickAss Scrapbooking.

Over there you’ll learn much more about my vision for the site as well as details on how you can get your very own copy of the KickAss Scrapbooking + Lifestyle Manifesto which will give you a much clearer (and prettier!) picture on what kickass scrapbooking is all about than I can squeeze into here.

What This Means for Nettio Designs

Now before I go, I know there are some of you who are probably wondering what the launch of KickAss Scrapbooking means for Nettio Designs, so here’s a few answers to what I suspect will be common questions:

1) What does the launch of KickAss Scrapbooking mean for Nettio Designs?

All good things I hope! Moving forward my main scrapbooking-related focus will be at KickAss Scrapbooking, but I will be keeping the Nettio Designs site as a personal playground for my own creative & life adventures. So if you want my best scrapbooking tips & tricks, you’ll now find those at KickAss Scrapbooking, but if you’re curious about my behind-the-scenes adventures, you’ll find those here.

2) Does this mean we won’t see digital scrapbooking templates from you anymore?

Yes and no. I will no longer be offering digital scrapbooking templates on a regular basis or as individual products. But you may occasionally see templates from me as part of a larger product when it makes sense.

3) If I previously subscribed to Nettio Designs News, do I have to sign up again at KickAss Scrapbooking?

Nope! The previous Nettio Designs News email list has been merged with KickAss Scrapbooking which means if you are a Nettio Designs subscriber excited to join me on this kickass adventure, you’re all set.

In fact, you should have received an email from me this morning letting you know about KickAss Scrapbooking. If you didn’t, it means you aren’t currently subscribed to the Nettio Designs list and you’ll need to sign up again over at KickAss Scrapbooking.

Not interested in KickAss Scrapbooking? No worries! Simply click the unsubscribe link in your email and you’ll be removed from the list.

4) Will I still be able to receive Nettio Designs blog posts through email?

No, I will no longer be sending Nettio Designs blog posts out via email. So if you want to keep up with what I have going on here at Nettio Designs in addition to KickAss Scrapbooking, you’ll need to subscribe directly to the Nettio Designs RSS feed using a feed reader. I personally recommend Feedly.

Now, what are you waiting for? Head on over to KickAss Scrapbooking and check it out! I can’t wait to have you join me on this new kickass scrapbooking adventure!

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