Sunday night blues (and a giveaway)

I'm exhausted. It's Sunday night, I just barely finished another custom project and I'm sitting here listening to my husband teach himself to play the guitar. What could be irritating is strangely soothing. Faced with another long week of two jobs, bored kids, and a kitchen I can't use because my landlord (aka my mom) decided it needed to be painted giving me oh, about an hours notice; I'm having a serious how the eff am I going to pull this off without my head exploding type moment. But that's ok. I prayed for success in my business and I'm receiving it, I just need to learn to rely on his grace more and myself less (on the subject of grace, for all of you who received my typo ridden newsletter last night, please grant me some! I promise I'll have the husband proofread the next one!).

If you haven't signed up for the newsletter/e-zine whatever I'm calling it these days and you're interested just follow this here link and we'll get you hooked up. It will be full of tips on how to mother perfectly and implement world piece while DIYing the most lovely dinner party. As well as coupon codes and new product lines. Did the sarcasm come through? Gosh, I hope so!

 

In other news I'm running a giveaway in honor of reaching 400 followers on Instagram that no one seems to be interested in participating in (who doesn't want free stuff?! What's going on here?). I basically just want you guys to share a picture and you can win you're own set of customized notepads. I use mine all the time. So. I'll post it here too. Share this post on Facebook, regram me on Instagram (@thehipstehousewife). Whatever! Just make sure you comment somewhere with the name you want on the notepad.

My prayer for this week is to find some balance, to rely less on my own strength and more on His. How do the rest of you working moms, wifes, regular humans, do it? I find myself getting so lost in my art (and the art of managing a small business) that the dishes pile up, my husband feels ignored, and I'm tired. Bone tired. Balance has never been easy for me, but it feels even more elusive now.

 

Advice needed and welcomed.

 

Instagram Giveaway!

In case you haven't already heard I'm running a little giveaway on Instagram, mostly just cuz I love you guys. The rules are easy peasy to follow and the winner gets to take home my 'Home sweet Home' banner (see what I did there?). I've already had a good reaction on Instagram itself, but I thought I'd share here as well in case you are aren't on the IG (in which case get yourself an account because it's awesome and my very favorite way to share pretty things. Who doesn't like pretty things?!).

All you have to do is follow me @thehipsterhousewife if you don't already, repost the photo above, and tag your comment with #regram #giveaway and my name @thehipsterhousewife. Also, if you wanted to share why you want the banner I'd love to hear it, but it's not a requirement per se. See, easy! The winner will be chosen next Saturday, so best get on that!

Love you guys! Good luck!

Isn't she pretty?!

 

A recap, a winner, and an awesome husband

Hello friends, it's been too long! Love Buzz at Mill no. 5 is over and I can finally come up for a bit of air. I love what I do, but two jobs, three kids, and preparing for an art show is a lot of work! I feel like I haven't had a moment for anything (including cooking or cleaning - I have an awesome husband), and this blog stuff takes some time, hence my radio silence.

I want to start by thanking you all for participating in our scripture canvas giveaway. So many kind comments, encouraging words, likes, shares, all of it. You guys are the best. That definitely deserves the bold type. I announced the winner on Facebook this morning, Erin Vincent-Leger! I know her husband through work (the day job) and I couldn't be happier that she won the Joshua 24:15, 'As for me and my house, we will serve The Lord'. It's an inspiring and convicting verse, one that hangs on my wall, and I'm pumped that it will be hanging on theirs as well.

Me and hubs on our way to Love Buzz

So, anyway, Love Buzz!! We drove up around 8am (even though we didn't have to be there until ten, my husband is one of those crazy punctual people, whereas I am decidedly not) and I pretty much thought I was going to puke the entire time, I was so nervous. Luckily, not only is my husband punctual, he is also my rock, and he has a way of keeping me calm despite myself. When I say I couldn't have done this without him, I mean I couldn't have done it without him.

We got everything hauled up to the fourth floor (there was an elevator, but it's still no joke with that door setup - again, props to the husband) with the help of the awesome Love Buzz staff. The mill itself is crazy gorgeous and cool inside. My father and I were in awe of the old giant beams and columns (you appreciate that kind of stuff more as a carpenter!).

My handsome daddy (in case you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a daddy's girl)

We got the booth set up, all of my family came out to support us, I sold tons of my valentines day cards, and I met some wicked cool people. I think that was the best part of the day, getting to meet so many talented artists and crafters. The girl across the hall from me was so nice and supportive (and crazy talented, check out her shop Firelight Pottery, gorgeous jewlery) and she is a Christian too. What a funny coincidence (I love when God does that stuff).

Everyone loved our display, and I was quite happy with how it came out. So many people helped to bring it all together, loaning me antlers, paint, chalkboards. I have the best friends and family. Seriously, I love you guys.

It was an awesome first show experience, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of such a cool community of talented artisans. Drew and I prayed on the way up that we would be a good representative of Christ while we were there, and I think we did that. Because that's really the whole point of this right? Making those connections with people, shining that light. I firmly feel as though you never know who you might reach, who might read something even in passing, and have it spark something in them, be an encouragement to them.

But, if I'm going to be really real here, I'm relieved it's over! It was a lot of work, stress, and craziness. I've said it like three times already, but my husband has been an angel through it all. I have been rather difficult (who, me?) at times, and he kept on smiling and supporting me through it all. I love him so much. So. Frickin. Much.

And I love you guys (I think I said that a few times already too, but it bears repeating). A million
thank yous to each and every one of you.



P.S. I just started reading this book, The Journey of Desire , and it is amazing. Ah-maze-ing. I can't wait to talk about it with you guys!!

It's giveaway time people!!

So, I was super excited when I hit 200 followers on Facebook and said it just might be giveaway time, you know, to thank everyone for being awesome and liking me and everything.

Well I just checked said Facebook and I have 298 likes. That's like two away from 300. That IS 2 away from 300. I'm writing in bold because I am SO EXCITED (bold and caps, watch out people, this girl is pumped)!!

Anyway, I've been pondering what I should be giving away, should it be something small, something large and awesome, a coffee date maybe? Who wouldn't want to hang out with me and talk about hipster housewife related exciting stuff?! No seriously though, I've been racking my brain over what it is I create that really captures the essence of who I am, my brand, whatever you want to call it (it's very weird to think of yourself as a brand, but that's all the advice people give you when you're trying to start something like this: you have to brand yourself and do it really awesomely so everyone likes you and wants to be your friend and therefore buy your stuff or care at all about what you have to say). Sorry, I deviate.

I thought maybe a *totally awesome* set of funny valentines or one of my new prints, but that didn't seem to quite fit with what I was going for (though like I said, the cards are pretty great, they're selling like hot cakes. You can get them here).

And then it hit me. Scripture canvas. Bam. That was the sound of it hitting me, in case you were wondering.

This next one is a brand new design, and hasn't been made available in the shop yet. Extra special just for you.

I thought doing a giveaway would be way more special if I gave away something that was, well, special. These are my best selling items and I am so in love with the idea of them up on the walls of people's homes all over the country, offering encouragement and a constant reminder of the word. A valentines day card, while nice and all, doesn't really have the same kind of impact (not counting what may be written inside of the card, I've received some pretty amaze cards).

So, are you wondering what you have to do to get your paws on one of these bad boys yet? It's going to require I series of increasingly difficult tasks performed blindfolded and involving a corn maze in my back yard. You will all be set loose at midnight to compete for the prize, which will be awarded to the first person to finish the maze and correctly complete each task.

No, actually though, I just want you to like, comment with which design you would like best, and share. Repeat it with me people, like, comment, and share. You can comment here or on Facebook, share this on your blog, or on Facebook. But I don't think you can 'like' a blog post within a blog post, so that has to be on Facebook. Wow, I just said Facebook a lot of times. The winner will be picked at random and announced on Facebook one week from tomorrow. So that would be the 2nd of February.

Good luck, and thank you so so so much for liking what I'm doing here at The Hipster Housewife! You guys have no idea what an encouragement you have been to me through your kind words and support. Real talk friends, real talk.

I don't know why I just said real talk that sounded kind of silly. Love you guys!!