My Holga: Green

The Other day I had to run some errands - at like 6:30 in the morning, because that is literally the only free time I have right now. My free time has become my sleep time, so if I want to do something fun or watch youtube videos until my eyes fall out it has to be after 11:00pm or before 8:00am.  True story. Anyways, I had to run an errand so I decided to take my Holga out with me.

I picked green as my inspiration (see my blush photos here) and ran wild with it. I tried not to take toooo many plant photos, but I found a pretty amazing rose garden and lilac field that I just couldnt help myself. 

Here's were it gets a little cloudy. I had been out for about an hour or so just driving and taking random pictures on the side of the road, holding up traffic, you know..the works...and my 24 exposures were up. I had trouble winding my film so I threw a sweatshirt over the camera to protect it from light and opened the back up, only to find that there was no film in there. Really? No film. I've been driving around for an hour taking imaginary pictures. 

I had already taken so much time to do this and I didnt want it to go to waste so I popped another roll in there and did it allllll over again. I didnt get the same pictures, mostly because I didnt remember where I had been, but I think I found some new gems around town. After that I took my film to FIVE different places to get it developed. The first one didnt have any cds, but failed to tell me this until after they had already pulled my film and cut it. So I drove back out to pick it up. The second location that I went to couldnt do it because it was already cut. The third and forth didnt develop off of film, only digital, and FINALLY the fifth place (which was about 45 minutes from home) did. So I waited there an hour to get my long awaited CD. Needless to say I left my house at 6:30 and didnt get home until after lunch time. This is literally how my entire week has been. 

Enjoy these freaking green pictures because they really kicked my butt. 

Denim + Dandelions

On Memorial Day I went out with a great friend of mine, Shannon, to take some pictures in a field of dandelions. Seriously the most beautiful open filed that was hidden down a back road and in a neighborhood. How lucky for those people who get to pass this gem everyday on their way home?! So, Shannon is working on a crazy cool conceptual piece, that I'll hopefully be able to show you once its edited, and while we were out there I convinced her to take a couple of snaps for my new blog lay out. Oh yeah, btw, do you like it? Its still a work in progress but  instead of doing a huge reveal I'm just going to chip away at it little by little.

Shannon is an amazing photographer, she snapped 20 flawless pictures in less than 10 minutes flat. These are some of my favorites, but there are more that I'm sure you'll be seeing in some new pages that I'm working on. Check out her website, and if you're in the Atlanta area do yourself a favor and hire her to take pictures of your family, wedding, play dates, baby bumps, Christmas cards, engagements, everyday life...whatever. She is amazing and a super wiz at photoshop!

I guess this is now my official "Hello! Upholstery + Blog" blog....I feel like we should have a party! Okay, I actually have zero time for parties right now! haha. I'll be updating some pricing + contact info soon. Thanks for sticking with me! xox

Hello! The Busy Life.

I'm sure that I don't have to tell some of you that being self-employed is so much work! I'm constantly running around, juggling this project with that one.....and "Oh, did I forget to eat lunch? Holy moly, is it already 6:00? Am I in charge of dinner tonight?" But I'm loving every crazy minute of it.

We're really rockin and rollin over here at the Flynn house! Craig built me an upholstery riser to work on my furniture and it has been the BIGGEST help! I'm feeling incredibly productive every day - way more than I ever did with my office job. Also, it feels like its been at least a month and its only been a week. I seriously can't believe it.

I'll be starting a rocker for a little boys nursery in the next few days. I already ordered a few samples for the clients - I'll give you a little sneak peek...I know which one is my favorite, but I doubt they'll pick it. I'm going to order a few yards of it for another project.

Over all I'm just feeling incredibly blessed to be in the position that I'm in. I'm waking up every morning doing what I love to do. Someone pinch me. Is this real?

I hope to be back soon with some DIYs and Renovation pics - give me just a littttttle time to get my schedule situated a bit. Of course I'll be keeping you updated on my work as I do it - I've got a GREAT chair to show you in the next day or so.          xx

Easy DIY Display

We are getting ready to remodel our master bathroom this weekend - eep!! - and I am realizing now that I haven't even shown you how our guest bathroom turned out. You can all expect that soon. Maybe next week will just be bathroom reveal week, ha! 

This remodel couldn't have come at a crazier time. I'm in the middle of working what feels like 1,532 jobs and basically every thing in our lives seems to be changing, but we planned this weekend months ago. We must carry on! So, we found a great dresser online that we're turning into a vanity and we're adding double sinks! I am so excited to finally have my own space - but more than that I think Craig is excited that he can have his own neat and organized space and he wont have to look at my unorganized chaos.

Okay, back to the DIY...here's what you'll need:

Glass Vase

White Sand

Food Coloring

Botanical (optional, but always recommended)

This tutorial is about as easy as it looks, its more of an ''idea'' post than a DIY with step-by-step directions. Basically I set aside 4 bowls and filled them with my white sand. I put about 15 drops of regular blue food coloring in the first bowl to give a bright, vibrant color. Each bowl under that I used less and the last one didn't get any at all.

I picked up the vase and botanicals at Joann's and collectively they cost me less than $10. Not a bad deal at all. The size ended up being perfect for the space that I needed it to go. Ironically, with the remodel I wont be able to display these anymore because of the extra sink. I got to play with them for a few weeks, so I'll say that it was a good $15 spent. Maybe I'll pass it off to some one else - spread the love!

I've seen lots of people using rice or coffee beans to stick their makeup brushes in, which is probably cool too :)

Exciting News!

images via 1/2/3

I have some pretty exciting news to share with you today! About a week or two ago Craig and I sat down to have a messy picnic and a very serious conversation. A conversation that could only be had over egg salad and pizza flavored Gold Fish, apparently. We talked about the future and all of the things that we wanted for ourselves. We talked about our future babies, and how our adoption was going to change our lives next year. You know, one of those conversations that come up out of no where and you're all like...really? I mean, you can only solve so many questions in a 1 hour lunch break. We continued this conversation over the next few days - and then we started planning. Planning is my favorite - the future is a marvelous thing. There are so many possibilities, and choices, and you just have no idea where each road is going to lead you. Well, after much prayer and debate we have decided....

 I will be leaving my 9-5 job to dive into my upholstery business full-time! 

My last official day at work will be April 10th! I can not tell you how excited I am. This decision was not made lightly and it didn't completely come out of no where. We know that when we bring the babies home (yes, I said babies...multiple...two!) I will not be working. I want to make sure that I am home with them, bonding, loving, teaching them everything that I can.  But just because I'm home doesn't mean that I want to do nothing. I want to continue to share my life with you, I want to follow my passions and make a difference. 

I've been networking a bit with my upholstery and I have several jobs and projects lined up...but the problem has always been time! Where do people find the time?! So Craig says to me "Let's just jump in head first. Quit your job, see what you can do." Wow, that's scary, but we're doing it!  I'm going to pick up a little part time job to make myself get out of the house a few hours a week, but other than that it will be just me and my staple gun....following my dream.

I hope you'll all be as excited as I am about change. Keep us in your prayers as we make this transition, which is never easy. And, of course, if you need some custom furniture you know where to find me :) 

xoxo

Lomokino v.02

Last weekend Craig and I took a few minutes out of a busy Saturday to grab a blanket and take Kennedy Buttons to the park. We let her run around (it was fenced in, no worries!) and tried to keep her from eating mouth fulls of grass. No luck on that. We laid around and read books, and danced.

It was a great day.

Check out my first Lomokino video here. I am never putting this camera down.

A Slice of Home: Mary Jo's

This weekend I went home to spend some quality time with my parents and get my hair cut. Yes, I drive 3.5 hours to let my bestie cut my locks - worth it!! One of my favorite places to go when I'm home is Mary Jo's Cloth Store. I remember going there with my grandmother when I was younger, and now that I actually know what to do with high-quality amazing fabric it's like a little slice of heaven. The prices can get a little high, but it never dissapoints in terms of variety. You may have heard Sherry from Young House Love talking about it a few times - which I freaked out the first time that she mentioned it....like "Thats MY fabric store!".