I am over the moon with this entire collection! All inspired by butterflies, moons + suns. I’d keep every piece if I could, but I’m excited for them to find their forever homes. Here are some sneak peeks of everything coming to the shop, Wednesday at 6pm CST.
ROOTS & FEATHERS
Most of you reading this probably know of my jewelry line Roots & Feathers… This is where the name of this blog actually came from first. I named this business after doing some soul searching and digging deeper into what I wanted to offer in this lifetime. At the time I already had a jewelry line called Violet Bella (named after my dog + cat). As much as I loved the creating part, the line itself had drifted far from who I felt I was inside. I wanted a whole new thing to reflect more of what I felt inside as an artist. Then in 2011 came Roots & Feathers. I named it this after my mother, who I had lost to cancer just a few years before this. I have always felt that she gave me my roots in this life and my wings to fly. I have always been fascinated with feathers, so that word felt more fitting to me than wings. And the birth of my soulwork truly began.
My mother was a jeweler, so the fruit definitely didn’t fall too far from the tree, as the saying goes. I wish so badly my mother could see all of the things I’ve created over the years. I know she would have a bathroom full of my jewelry. These ones below remind me of her. The colors. I don’t think I shared her love for a certain color palette when she was alive, but the older I get the more and more I find myself loving the same things I know she loved. I find colors, or clothing, or home things and fall in love and then think to myself, my mom would of loved this. We would probably be raiding each others closets these days. And now I’m kicking myself for making fun of her velvety slouchy purple boots b/c they would be pretty damn rad with my skinny jeans.
It’s been really good for my soul to get back to making stuff again this past year. I had a deep hiatus from alot of things creative during my first few years of motherhood, naturally. I didn’t realize how much I missed creating beautiful jewels until I got myself back in the studio this past summer. It felt so natural to pick up right where I had left off, but with fresh eyes and new visions. I think creating things with my hands will always be one of my biggest passions.
If you have stuck around here this long, thank you. If you have your eye on something in my shop, go use the code BLOGLOVE to get 20% any one time order! A little thank you for reading my blog. xo
NEW THINGS ON THE HORIZON
Ive been a little quiet over here on the blog this week b/c I have been working behind the scenes on a total shop revamp. Just like I have spent the past month slowly cleaning out, purging, and revamping my home space, and then doing the same thing to my blog... Now I am doing it with my shops. I really feel like I am at a new crossroads with my life. I am ready for change. For new life. New inspiration. All of it. And as funny as this may sound, the switching of two desks in my home sparked ALOT of this change. I can't fully explain why, but it shifted something in me in so many ways.
One big change that will be occurring soon is that I am bringing BACK my print shop! But with all new, updated photography. I'm keeping it very simple and only selling small 5x5 prints. I'm so excited about this shift. Photography is one of my biggest passions and I'm happy to be sharing this love with the world again. It's been a long time since I closed down my last print shop, and with all new photos this move feels filled with new life!
The best part... I'll be selling straight from my site here! Which leads me to...
My Roots & Feathers shop is also getting a major re-vamp! I will also be transitioning my jewelry shop to my website here! You will be able to get it all in one place. This will be a new thing for me, so I may need to do a bit of a trial period first to make sure I really like the flow of it, but that is my plan!
I am also going to only be making one of a kind pieces, or some things in very small batches, so once something sells, its gone! The last few years I have built my shop full of items that could be re-ordered over and over, and while that has been a great thing for a long time, it is no longer working for my lifestyle. I have my hands in too many things along with creating the magazine for The Bohemian Collective + keeping up with that website, making shirts with James for Skyline Fever (which is booming), being a fulltime blogger, etc. If you have been following along you know that over a month ago it hit me that I need some major restructuring as I was burning out. I wasn't sure how that was going to look when I first took time off, but slowly over a month or two of letting go, things have been falling into place in a new way. They are finally starting to feel exciting + manageable again!
It takes the passion out of something when it gets to the point where you feel stressed out over what you love to do. I am continually aiming to create an environment for myself that feels life giving, not life sucking. If I have to let go or restructure the things in my life to do so, then I am up for it! Being your own boss comes with all the responsibility of figuring this out, and sometimes it has to be done over and over again as your life changes.
I can't wait to share the new shop! I'm not sure exactly when it will go live, but I'll keep you posted! Many of the items that are in my etsy shop right now are going to be phased out, just FYI if you have had your eye on something, it might be the time to snag it!
NEW BLOG MAKEOVER
I got a wild hair today and decided to makeover my blog! It's actually something I have wanted to do for so very long but just haven't found the time. I thought about it most of the day yesterday and wasn't able to, so since today was saturday, I decided what better day to spend some lovin' on my site!
I wanted to create an easier navigation. For so long now I have had a very full navigation bar on top that had several pages that were outdated and some that never got updated. They just kind of sat there. It felt like a maze to get to where you wanted to go. So now the Home Page should have everything you need in one space. I made easy on the eye circle buttons for all the main content on the blog, social media and my other websites & shops.
I also finally filled out my About Page! It's just been a photo forever. And now there is an easy Collab Page for anyone looking to collaborate with me, or to visit brands pages easily that I have featured. I still need to add all the links to the brands shops, so that part will be coming soon. I know old blog posts tend to get lost over time so this will be an easier way for you to find something that I have featured.
I changed my sidebar on the blog up a bit as well. It just feels so good to have a fresh look here. It's actually really inspiring me to get back to blogging more often.
I will admit I didn't take very good care of myself today b/c I basically sat in my computer chair from 9 am to 9pm. I did take one dance break though. I danced to the first 10 songs of an Eileen Jewel cd. And I did not falter from my new health goals with food! Normally on days like this I would literally grab chips & salsa for lunch or eat pb&j's... I did eat a Kind bar for lunch today, but other than that I made sure I nurtured myself with food & lots of water/green tea. Tomorrow I must not allow myself to sit so much, or my bum may be quite mad at me...
I'd love to hear your thoughts about the revamp! Do you feel it's easier to navigate around the site? I like to make things pretty, but I also want it to be super easy for my readers.