Palm Study Prints and a Minted Giveaway

I just hit a big number over on Instagram!!! Well, it's big for me. Oleander + Palm now has 5000 followers there. I'm totally flattered that these folks follow what I'm up to from day to day.  

So, to celebrate, I'm hosting a fun GIVEAWAY over on Instagram.  I've teamed up with Minted to treat one of my lucky followers to $150 worth of art prints at Minted.  These gorgeous Palm Study prints look amazing in my studio.  Wouldn't you love to win them?  Head over to this Instagram post to enter!

Good Luck friends and thanks for following!

Oleander + Palm Studio Office

I've been in my new studio space for a couple of months now. I've shared that this space is actually two small rooms.  When you walk in the door, I've set up the first space as my office and storage space.  And then it opens into a larger space with a wall of windows (you can see more of that room here and here).  I keep this second space almost empty so that I can have space for photographing, making and hosting craft events.  But, I've finally got the office space together and I LOVE it!!!!  I can't wait to you to see the space.

I measured and planned every last inch of this office space, so that I could get the most out of it.  I wanted to keep it organized and neat, but also allow it to be a place for my creativity to be sparked.  I found the perfect desk at The Land of Nod, and so I built the room design around it. 

Here's a quick look at the space, but to see the whole room, head over to Honest to Nod today! 

So, what do you think?  I'm a using every square inch the best way possible.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions.  

Pale Pink Chair

There were quite a few things I learned from my reader survey that surprised me.  One things you wanted more of was a look behind-the-scenes and more of the studio.  So, here's a little look at Olivia's space in the studio.

This year, Olivia goes to pre-school 1 to 2 days a week. She's a really social kid and loves being with friends so I'm glad she can go now and then. But, when she's not at school, she's my side kick. She loves going to the studio. I have a little table and chair for her and she has a whole drawer full of paper, markers, scissors, glue, paint, and tape. She can spend hours making stuff. Don't get me wrong, she also makes a lot of messes in the process. But, I'm thankful she's happy to be "working" with me. Yesterday she even lined up her crafts on the floor and asked for the phone so that she could take some pictures. Maybe she needs her on IG account, it could be entertaining.

I have two of these little chairs, I bought them at a thrift store when Denali was a baby.  They were sage green with little red seat cushions the first time I gave them a makeover.  Then when Denali was about 4 or 5, I painted them bright pink (seen here).  And now they are the perfect pale shade of pink. And the best part is that the name of this Sherwin Williams color is OLEANDER!!! Seriously, it was meant to be. 

When Olivia isn't in the studio with me, or a have a big shoot, I can easily move her little station to a corner.  I added a little temporary color to the wall above the table with a couple sheets of Minted's gorgeous wrapping paper in blue and pink. I love this color combo. Blue is not usually a color I play with, but it's a new color I'm trying to add to my mix (remember my Colbalt Blue mood board).  

Oh, and because I know you'll ask, the wall color is from Sherwin Williams as well and the color is Snowbound. It's are really pretty bright white and I used the Emerald line of paint, it covered really well with one coat.  

Oleander + Palm Studio

Well, are you ready to see a first look at my new studio space?  I've been in the space for a couple of weeks now and although I don't get to go there everyday, I'm sure productive when I'm there. This dedicated work space is really paying off.  I don't have the distractions of laundry and dusting my house.  And I can leave a project half finished, and return to it the next day without having to pack everything up.  So far, I just have a couple shelves and some folding tables in the space, but I've got big plans.

The studio is actually divided into two rooms. You can get a better look at the space below (sorry for the bad iphone pics).  The first room you walk into is smaller and has no windows.  It leads to a bigger room that has a whole wall of windows.  The first room I'm dedicating to storage and my office space.  I already have some shelves in there with all my craft supplies and equipment and I will have a desk for my computer very soon. You know I'm a huge fan of The Land of Nod, and I love their stuff for grown up spaces.  So, I'm using a few of my favorite Nod pieces for a clean, efficient work space.  

Clock // Wall Shelf

Desk

Triangle Wall System // Drawers

Chair // California Print // Trash Can

This is the larger of the two rooms and the one with all the great light.

The second room, with all the windows, I'm keeping as a blank canvas.  This is where I will host workshops, do my making and then photograph the finished products.

This picture is taken from the first room, where I will have my storage and desk space,  into the second room.

This is the first room and the entrance door.  This picture is taken from the second room, the room with the windows.

I hope that gives you a better idea of the space.  I will show more of the progress as the space begins to take shape.  I hope to find sometime this week to put a fresh coat of paint on the walls. I'm keeping them white, but there are a lot of scuff marks and smudges that need to be covered.

BIG NEWS for Oleander + Palm

Well, I've got some news. Oleander + Palm now has a studio downtown Bakersfield!!!!  Yep, I'm taking a big leap and moving off the dining table and into a studio.  I can't tell you how excited I am. It all happened really quickly.  A couple weeks ago you might have seen me post about trying to make room for a desk in our bedroom.  I think I do pretty well working from home. We do have a small house and I was working off the dining room table.  It wasn't easy to be always dragging out stuff, making and shooting and then having to put it all away so we could eat dinner. I felt like I was wasting so much time.  Plus, all my craft stuff (or craft crap is what I usually call it) was stored all over the house because I didn't have one place to fit it all.  My sewing machine was in Dylan's closet, my Cricut was under my bed, party supplies where in the laundry room, and I had an assortment of styling props in drawers in both my living room and dining room.  Needless to say, this blog was taking over my house.

We rearranged the bedroom and thought through how I could at least have a desk in the corner. Then, about a week ago we decided to drive around downtown and see if we spotted any possible spaces for rent.  Just to see what is out there.  We found one in the perfect building downtown, right above a coffee shop.  And in just a day, decided to take a risk and try something new. I have felt like I needed to make an investment in my blog in order to push myself forward and really be successful.  My husband, Lonnie and I are naturally risk takers (that's kind of how you end up living in Yemen with two little kids).  I think there are friends and family members that think we are crazy.  But, what the heck, you only live once.  I want to live with no regrets and try everything at least once.  Success isn't going to come with me sitting on my butt waiting for something good to happen.  I'm going to be out there giving it my all and doing what I love. Success doesn't look like me making lots of money, sure I would love to be able to pay the bills, but I just want to be happy and love what I'm doing.  So, here was go - Oleander + Palm Studio!

It's a small space, but it's all mine.  Don't worry, pictures are coming very soon.  It needs some TLC, so I'll be sharing the process. It's a bright white room with big windows, I think it's going to really make taking pictures so much easier.  Plus, I can have a dedicated workspace all to myself.  I can leave unfinished out and I'll have all my supplies in one place.  And even though it's small, I want to begin hosting regular craft workshops.  If there is anything I like more then making, it's getting to make and create with others.  I'll be hosting my first workshop on March 19th.  These are going to be fun, relaxed events with just 6-8 guests at a time.  You know I love to host a party, so there will be treats and goodies for sure.  If you are local, stay tuned to more information on signing up to attend.

Well, here goes nothing. Now if I can just get my girls feeling better again, so I can get out of this house and get to work on my new studio.