Just Wright Designs Blog

My Snow Day

I've been a bit slack at posting lately but thought I would share my show day with you. I got up yesterday morning and weathered the cold to take some pictures of our Texas snow.  For Texas this is a bit unusual and honestly I hope it's our last snow day.  I'm so ready for Spring.

Just Wright Designs has been busy!! We've started to work with some great brides on Spring, Summer and Fall weddings and I look forward to the sunshine and warmth.

Keep an eye on us because we have some great things coming for 2010. As soon as our bridal shows are over we'll start sharing our exciting news.

Our oldest baby, Ajax.

My truck or SUV to be correct.

Our house, the poor magnolia trees.

You guessed it, our mailbox :)

Have an inspiring weekend!

Just Ten Tuesday #2

Two weeks ago I launched the Just Ten Tuesdays. I’ve decided to sneak in another one this month. So here are some more random thoughts, ideas and little things about us.

If you have questions or things you might want to know shoot me an email and I’ll do my best to answer them.

1. January is our craziest month. We start the year by doing shows and I personally never seem to get the year end organization done. This drives my crazy but we love doing the shows.
2. Our first craft show was a bomb! Nothing more needs said. I’ll try to find some pictures to share. Shows are hard so if you’re just getting started, keep it up, you’ll get the hang of it.
3. I love country music and Alan Jackson is my favorite. I’ve been following him since the late 80’s when he had his first big hit.
4. In the month of January you can get $20 off any of our Themed Celebration Signature Plates®.
5. Our studio cats love printers and fax machines.
6. Our oldest dog Ajax will be 11 in March. He’s starting to lose his hearing which makes us so sad.
7. I walked the 3 Day in Dallas in 2008 with my mother, her friend and my assistant. It was on of the best experiences of my life. If you’ve ever wanted to do this, don’t wait, just do it.
8.  In the early days of Just Wright Designs® we stamped children’s hands and feet on plates.
9. We will have a wine charm giveaway starting on Friday from RBK Creations.
   
10. In 2004 we were contracted to paint over 800 charger plates for Meals on Wheels in California. We did this project out of our house. Our entire dining room was filled with plates.

Enjoy the pictures below and have a Happy Tuesday.

Angel Plate Project 2004

Kealy on the scanner

 

Kealy on the printer

Our 3 Day Team

Just Ten Tuesday #1

Ten years ago this March is when Jeff and I started Just Wright Designs. It’s been a long road with a few hard knocks but also some very exciting and amazing times.

This year I will be doing “Just Ten Tuesday” on the first Tuesday of every month.  I’ll list 10 random thoughts, ideas, pictures or little things about us and our journey. One day I plan on writing a book but for now please enjoy my Just Ten Tuesdays. 

If there are any questions you have or things you might want to know shoot me an email and I’ll do my best to answer them. We’re not expert business people but we love to share experiences.

1. Keep a scrapbook.  I wish I had a screen capture of our first site, it would be a good laugh. Shopping carts didn’t exist back then so we spent hours and hours at night (we both worked demanding full time jobs) trying to design a website with very little tools. Today we have so many options and the web world has come so far.
2. We’re a husband and wife team, along with my mother (Sue) and my assistant (Lauren). This is why you might get our voice mail when you call, we wear many hats. The quickest way to reach us is by email.
3. We worked out of our home and garage for years but we now have a studio space. If you are an artist thinking about moving your studio outside of the home make sure to take many things into consideration before making this leap. Business phones, commercial electricity and many other things are much more expensive in a commercial space.
4. I personally paint every Celebration Signature Plate®. This is why it takes longer to get one of our plates and why ours cost more than our competitors. We don’t use templates, I hand paint it all.
5. We did our first Bridal Show in July of 2003 and we still love doing Bridal Shows.
6. We have 3 dogs (2 yellow labs & 1 doxie) and 3 cats (all rescued, 2 studio cats and 1 home cat). Stay tuned for some furry friend fun this year.
7. We resisted opening an Etsy shop for years and regret it. I loved buying on Etsy but felt it was a venue where we’d just get knocked off. Truth is; we always got knocked off or copied even when we didn’t have our Etsy shop. It’s bad karma to copy, be creative and use YOUR imagination. Make sure to visit our Etsy shop. 
8. We have a WOW jar. We put any important, funny, not so funny or crazy things in this jar that have happened over the years. It’s a great way to go back and remember these times. Maybe I’ll start WOW Wednesdays posts soon.
9. We’ve lived in Texas 9 years. I grew up in South Florida, Jeff grew up in Seattle.
10. I hate cold weather and it’s been cold in Texas. I love the tropics, flip flops and tank tops so I can’t wait for warmer weather.

Have an inspiring day!

Let's get this party started! Bring on 2010!

 

I'm sorry for my disappearance lately. The last part of the year was a bit of a whirl wind around here.

Personally I'm ready for 2009 to be over. I'm not sure where time has gone but 2009 has not been the best year for me or Just Wright Designs. We've had a year where if something can go wrong it will.

On a better note we've had some great things happen to us also.

Here's a couple that stand out to me:

• I designed my first Inspiration Board and won the contest on My Island Weddings Blog. Thanks so much for hosting this contest. 
• We launched our new Guest Book Boxes with great success. They have been featured many places including Daily Candy Dallas.
• I joined the North Dallas Etsy Team and am looking forward to a great 2010 with this team. We have some exciting things coming ahead.
• We reached 128 sold items in our Etsy Shop. My goal was 100!
• Our new Personalized Note Cards made it to the front page of Etsy on Cyber Monday. It was so exciting.

These are just a few off the list of great things for 2009 and won't list all the bad things of 2009.

Stay tuned!  We'll be ringing in the New Year with some exciting new products next week and a few surprises in January.

Here's to a Happy New Year!  We designed this plate for a special bride that is getting married today. Congrats to the new couple!

Be safe out there!

 

 

We're Sailing Away

Today Jeff and I will be sailing away to Mexico to attend the Wedding College at Sea and celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary. We're so excited because we haven't had a vacation in almost two years.

Last night we arrived in Galveston and ate dinner at a very interesting place; The Spot. You order your food like fast food (they take your margarita order too). You find a place to sit and then you get a little buzzer to tell you when you're food is ready. This place had such an interesting atmosphere. Check out the graffiti all over the walls below (I take no responsibility for what this stuff says). HA!

Now for the good part.

Sailing Away Special on Celebration Signature Plates®

Save $10 off a Celebration Signature Plate® until November 4th.

*Valid on online orders over $90 not including shipping. Not valid with other offers, on custom designs or rush orders.  Valid on Celebration Signature Plates website only, not valid with other etailers. Expires 11-4-2009

 

Have an inspiring day!

It's been a while - I'm still here!

Hello!

It's been over a month since my last post. Is 'blog slacker' in the dictionary?  I've read that a blogger should never admit to being a slacker but I don't have a problem admitting I'm a 'blog slacker'. 

We've been busy! Today I'm sharing with you a glimpse of what we've been up to.

We've moved our studio!  With today's hard times we decided we had more space than we really needed.  Moving a studio to a smaller space after 5 years is a tough task.  We're a little cramped in our smaller space but in the end I'm sure it will be worth it. Please be patient with us as we clean up the dust and get settled.

We have some great surprises coming!  Holiday Memory Boxes will be making their debut this week on our Etsy shop. Holiday cards are also ready so check our sites often this week for some fun surprises. We'll also have a Holiday Signature Plate and Snowman Family Print that will make great keepsake gifts.

During the month of September we had quite a few invitation jobs. We worked with some great brides and wish them all the best. I'll post some pictures of the invitations in the coming months.

We launched our new guest book box designs on our Etsy shop. WOW, that was quite a bit of work and we have some exciting news coming later this week, a special feature we hope.

Our German exchange student went back home to Germany on September 3rd. It was so sad to see her go.  We had a great visit and we miss her.

Jeff and I celebrated our 10 year Anniversary. We enjoyed a great day together. We'll be going on a cruise at the end of this month to "officially" celebrate.

Our refrigerator blew out and we had a flood all over our dining room on 9.9.09.  What a mess, 2 inches of water and about 3 hours of clean up. Thank goodness we were home. I didn't even get pictures as we were in such a panic. A little hint for everyone, change the water filter in your fridge regularly.

We celebrated my 42nd birthday.  I am not sure where the last 20 to 25 years have gone. Time flies when you're having fun.  We enjoyed dinner that night with my family. Jeff gave me the most amazing custom text pendant; he purchased it on Etsy.  I absolutely love this seller and my pendant. I am not a very good photographer and couldn't get a good picture of it, sorry.

 

Above is a picture of my roses for my anniversary, a sneak peek at our holiday cards and our Holiday Memory Boxes.

Have an inspiring day!

TGIF

Happy Friday!  It's been a very long week for me.  Last week my oldest dog, Ajax, (he's my baby) started limping. We took him to the vet last Saturday and they gave him a Cortisone shot.  By Sunday he was worse and wouldn't put any weight on his paw.  Monday afternoon I went back to the vet for x-rays.  The x-rays didn't show a thing.  There were no broken bones, no area where he might have been bit...nothing!  How frustrating because he was obviously in quite a bit of pain.

During the night on Monday he started getting sick.  We cleaned up after him for over 12 hours and  starting to get really worried.  The vet advised us to take him off food and water for 12 hours. After 12 hours he was able to keep his food down however the limp was still there.  Wednesday morning we started him on antibiotics.  Finally late Wednesday night I noticed he was licking his paw. When I took a look he had a HUGE boil between his toes. It sounds a bit crazy but I was excited. Finally after a week we were able to see what the problem was.  He had developed a little abscess and it was finally draining. 

We talked to the vet this morning and this is a good sign because he is healing.  Thank goodness. It's been a long week and I'm very much looking forward to the weekend.

Have a good one!  Don't forget to enter for a chance to win some really great soap.

Dog collar by Big Doggy Bling.

Balancing, Adjusting and Arranging #2

Happy July 1st!  Can you believe half of 2009 is already over? Today I'm updating you on how my adjusting and arranging is going.

I have two very large and beautiful magnolia tress in my front yard.  When the builder planted them I never imagined that 9 years later they would be so large and gorgeous.  I love our magnolias!  Last week as I pulled into the driveway I noticed one of the blooms had turned into this amazing flower.  Instead of getting the mail and heading to the kitchen to start dinner I rushed into the house and grabbed the camera.

I'm sure you'll be seeing some products inspired by these beautiful flowers so come back soon!

Have and inspiring day!

 




 

Balance, Adjusting and Arranging

Lately I’ve read many posts on “balancing.  So I ask myself "Exactly what is balance?"
One definition is: “To arrange, adjust, or proportion the parts symmetrically.”

As artist and designer, I find symmetry boring, but once I looked past that part, I saw “arrange and adjust.

I do not have a balanced life. My days are filled with my business – management, marketing, preparing for summer shows, paying bills, painting plates and putting out everyday fires. I often forget to relax and enjoy the moment and get inspired.

After much thought, I decided to label it as “balance” but to arrange my days and adjust my schedule to allow time to look around and really see…to observe…to enjoy.  

First on my list was to schedule time to read blogs that I enjoy and look what I found……

On the Santa Barbara Wedding Chic Blog  I found these amazing photos. Colors inspire me and these totally popped off the page. Can you believe they are created with chalk?

This amazing artist is Essimar

Stay tuned!!  I hope to share more results with you from this “arranging and adjusting”  I’m trying in my life.:)