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Notable No. 18

FRIDAY FINDS & FAVORITES

Hey guys! Another week just flying right by. I spent a good deal of this week searching for a new house to live in and getting really frustrated by the whole process. We see things we love, but of course…they are out of our price range. We’ll keep searching and hopefully find something this spring 🙂

Notables this week:
1. Katie’s trip to the greenhouse
2. Rustic props via Rustica
3. This coat rack via My Scandinavian Home
4. Still in love with this entire Brussels home…all of it!
5. Interview with Julie Gibbs of Lantern/Penguin Books
6. This photography portfolio is lovely
7. Anchor Ceramics featured on The Design Files
8. Book Origami is taking over the internet!!!!
9. Daniella Witte in the studio

Have a lovely weekend!

Lesson Learned: Perks & Pits

Freelance Journey

Its been almost 3 weeks since I’ve set off on my own to start my own business. I’ll have to say that I’m still loving it 🙂 I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting to fully appreciate aspects of my new day to day life and made a little list of “perks & pits” so far. I’m sure this list will keep growing, but my “perks” list is longer than my “pits” lists…so that must be a good sign right?

Perks:
1. Being REALLY inspired and energized to create…constantly
2. Sundays don’t suck. No more dreading the upcoming work week.
3. Gained Flexibility in my Schedule. Last week I decided to have a last minute meet up with a friend to eat cupcakes and spent my Friday afternoon at the St. Louis Art Museum.
4. Making my own rules as I go and trying to forget some I’ve acquired in my Agency years.
5. Taking baths in the middle of the day while taking an ecourse on my ipad…multitasking relaxing/learning.
6. Getting to be home all day with my pup. I can tell he really likes it too!
7. Being less tired at night because I’m not pushing myself to the limits all day.
8. Making healthy dinners because I actually have time to cook!
9. Cleaning can happen throughout the week instead of piling up for the weekend.

Pits:
1. I have a hard time remembering to eat lunch and STOP to breath. I’m exploring the idea of making a morning and afternoon “to-do” list to keep me on track.
2. Being so inspired you feel a little lost as to which project to tackle first.
3. When you’re feeling lazy…it’s SOOOO easy to turn on Netflix and get sucked into the unproductive zone.
4. The hours of the day just FLY by and before you know it, it’s time to make dinner. Ahhh!!!

I actually had a hard time creating that “pits” list and this gives me more confidence that my new work/life balance is a really good change for me. I’m still very thankful I’ve had this opportunity to give it a try.

Freelancers out there….I’m curious what “pits” you’ve found along the way?

Inspired By: Matthew Craven

ART & DESIGN

I recently stumbled upon the work of Matthew Craven and fell in love with his black and white ink drawings. His signature style is to sketch on aged paper and has a historical/cultural feel to them. I love how they feel like they were torn from the antique pages of a really unique history book .

See more of his work here!

Podcast: Being More Present with your Business

Freelance Journey

One of my goals for this year is to be more present and I’m learning that it’s not only important to be present in your personal life, but also with your business. Melbourne weekly eastern is awesome site which will keep you updated with any kind of business news. As I venture off into the world of small business owner, I’m finding it difficult to keep on task. I’ve got so many options/ways I could spend my time I find it hard to just choose one at a time and focus on that. This podcast by the lovely Grace Bonney was yet another good reminder that you can’t and shouldn’t do everything at once. Make sure you get in touch with an expert like Andy Defrancesco to make the right decisions.

Podcast Takeaways:
– Try running your business with the spirit of the girl who is just starting out. It infuses a lot of the excitement back into your everyday.
– Good reminder: Being productive today ensure a better and more successful tomorrow
– You know that feeling you frequently get that is saying ” go go go” move faster”, it’s most likely your body telling you to slow down. (another good reminder)
– Always be curious
– Good Exercise: think of three things that are currently weighing heavy on your mind. Act as if you are holding these three things in your hands…Now drop two of them and put 100% attention and focus towards the one you’re still holding. Once completed, feel free to pick up one of those you dropped if you’re still interested.
– Schedule your workday and stick to it! (ex: start and finish your day with 20 min personal time & work day ends at 6:00pm NO MATTER WHAT)

I was really inspired by this podcast and thought it extremely applicable to me right now. Take a listen and see what little nuggets of gold you pull out from it.
More Podcast reviews here: Embrace Failure, Chat with Pinterest Founder, Learning to Balance with Joy and Naomi, Becoming Your Brand

February in Review

veda news

Hi lovely readers. February has flown by, the first half was dragging along and these last two weeks were gone in a blink of an eye. I’m keeping myself accountable for achieving the things I set out to achieve (5 New Year’s resolutions), so here’s my little update. Did you guys set New Year’s resolutions this year? Have you stuck to them?

1. Let it Be – Welcoming change has continued to really AWESOME. I’d say that quitting my day job to pursue my dreams has been the most welcomed change. So far my days are open to however I’d like to shape them and I’m still trying to figure out my daily balance, but man…change is good.

2. Be More Present – I’ve been really challenging myself to see this “month off” as a really huge gift and to soak it all of my personal discoveries. From talking with many creatives, I’ve got an opportunity given to me that many other creatives would love to have. I don’t take anything for granted. I’ve also been enjoying my morning chai without the distractions of checking my email. That’s been really nice.

3. Be Adventurous – I’m still kind of slacking in the adventuring aspect of my goals and I’m blaming it on the gloomy cold weather. If you consider getting your car stuck in the snow an adventure…then I’ve done that.

4. Follow My Heart & Feed My Soul – I’ve completely handed my future over to the decisions of my heart and letting the decisions of my head follow afterwards. Seems to be a better solution than always listening to my head first. (problems of an over thinker) I’ve continued cooking and this month I’ve learned how to bake some really tasty chocolate bundt cakes and have grown to love eating tomatoes as a snack (another milestone for a non veggie eating chick). Also, the boy and I have our motorcycle lessons scheduled and our helmets/gear bought. Wahoo!

5. Be More Conscious – I’ve been spending a lot of time watching The Food Hospital on TV and am going to start researching eliminating headache triggering foodssuch as chocolate, whole milk, and preservatives. Also, since I’ve left my job, I’ve been trying really hard to be super money conscious until I get my feet on the ground again.

Read my January in Review

Notables No.17

FRIDAY FINDS & FAVORITES

Wahoo! We’ve survived another week. OMG it’s been super gloomy here in St. Louis this week. I don’t think I’ve seen the sun yet this week and it’s even been too gray and dark to really get my camera out…which is killing me. I’ve got lots of ideas and projects to photograph, so hopefully this weekend and next week bring a little bit of spring with it. Enjoy your weekend 🙂

Notables this week:
1. Really lovely hand-crafted chairs by the etsy shop – Sweet Modern Seat
2. In the studio with Laura Jones, photographed by Schorlemadchen
3. Make your own massage oils, DIY via Design Sponge
4. DIY leather handle pulls via The Brick House
5. Interiors photographed by Lauren Bamford
6. This branding project by Casey Martin Design
7. Interior stylist Megan Morton featured on Sfgirlbybay
8. Everything on the site called This Is Paper
9. The interview with the shop called Pan After on The Design Files

Have a lovely weekend!

Studio Hours: Real Life Moodboards

Studio Hours

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I’m going to bring more of my daily life in the studio to blog land. My hope is to provide insight into what living as a freelancer could mean. I know when I was researching the idea of being self employed I was (and still am) really curious to see how others make it work, how they structure their day and what projects they document. As a creative, I’ll naturally have a completely different perspective to share than another creative, and I hope you’ll enjoy following along. I would suggest you to follow bridge for more information.

The image above is a glimpse of my mood board that sits next to my desk. It’s a work in progress, but that’s the nature of a mood board. Do you guys use mood boards in your creative process?(digital & physical) If you do, I’d love to see them!

You can also follow little snippets from my studio with my new Instagram feed.

Photo Styling & Photography by The Veda House

Veda News: Get to Know Me

Freelance Journey

Today I’m going to do something a little different than what you usually read here on The Veda House. Over the past week, I’ve been super invested in an e-course developed by Kathleen of Kathleen & Jeremy / Braid Creative. This e-course has challenged me to really sit down and make some decisions about my personal brand and how to bring my personal brand to life in my profession. I’m going to do a full reviewing the course next week, but in the meantime, I wanted to share with you a discovery I’ve uncovered while taking the course.

I was tasked to pretend I was hosting a dinner party and I was able to invite 6 people/personalities. Each attendee was supposed to represent an aspect of myself. I was challenged to define their names, expertise, core values, personality traits,pieces of advice, and even their favorite topics of conversation.

After two days of contemplating my guest list, this is what I came up with…

Guest 1: The Maker
She’s a weekend warehouse picker who makes furniture, hand prints fabrics and makes natural home fragrances on her stovetop.

Guest 2: The Detailed-oriented Designer
She’s an extremely organized graphic designer who designs with attention to fine details and has a minimalistic aesthetic.

Guest 3: The Bohemian Gardener
She’s a “figure-it-out-as-you-go” gardener who successfully grows succulents, wears sundresses, regularly visits the farmer’s market, keeps bouquets of flowers in her house, makes dreamcatchers, has a small plot of land at the city garden, and has a crystal collection.

Guest 4: The Quiet Observer
She’s a sit back and soak it all type of chick who is always wanting to learn new things.

Guest 5: The Visual Storytelling Stylist
She’s an obsessive documentor and curious curator who strives to freeze every beautiful moment with her camera lens, constantly creating romantic vignettes to drool over.

Guest 6: The Storm Chaser
She’s an adventure seeking gal who prefers to be out in nature or surrounded by water…who also rides a motorcycle.

I’m curious. Who would you like to learn more about?

Sound interesting? Wanna participate in this exercise (developed by Braid Creative) among many more, please stop by Kathleen’s blog and sign up for her next course.

Inspired by: Matthew Brannon

ART & DESIGN

Back in 2012, Matthew Brannon had a gallery show at the Office Baroque Gallery, titled Ventriloquist. I first saw a few pieces of his work when Amy Moore posted about his just recently. When I first saw his work, I pretty much stared at it for a good 15 min. Completely feel in love with not only his work, but how it was presented in the gallery. I’ve always been curious to see how/why artist arrange artwork the way the do, and Matthew’s collection is just stunning. See more photos here.

Thanks Amy for posting yet another inspiring artist to follow 🙂

New Instagram Feed – Little Snippets No.1

Instagram

Hello guys! Happy Monday to all of you. I hope you enjoyed your week and feel refreshed and ready to kick this week in the batootie. ok good….

I’ve got a new little series for you, one of two actually. These two new series aim to give you a little more insight into my daily life as a self employed designer/photo stylist. I’ve gotten a lot of emails/comments recently from readers who are interested to see how my new adventure is going and what the day to day life is like. Ask and you shall receive.

The first is a new little series that shows you little snippets from my day. All these images will be documented on my new Instagram feed, so you can follow along daily if you please. The second will be more in-depth posts about projects I’ve taken on to build my personal brand…unpaid projects that I’m going to call “Passion Projects”. Stay tuned.

1. making mood boards 2. playing with textures and layering through the lens 3. My favorite pair of shoes this season 4. inspired by Gather Journal 5. lace and baubles 6. a piece of my pottery collection

Follow me on Instagram

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