If you are new here, Links I Love is my Friday wrap-up series. I am online and reading so much content so I wanted to use this to share with my friends without having to blow up their inboxes (Yes, this blog is that old.) Every Friday, that I can, I’ll try to share some things I’ve seen on the internet that are interesting (in my humble opinion).

♥ Hello! There are new Halloween prints and printables available in the shop to get you prepared for your favorite spooky holiday.

♥ I was very inspired by this video of Masako Wakamiya via Great Big Story. Masako learned how to code at 81 and calls herself an IT evangelist. She’s amazing.

♥ The very amazing Jessica Hische and Adé Hogue collaborated with twenty other artists to work on the Rise Up. Show Up. Unite! campaign to help uplift the Biden-Harris campaign and the results are stunning. The hashtag is growing quite rapidly on Instagram showcasing the talented work of so many people.

♥ Adanna shared a list of 16 affordable dresses for a summer-fall transition and she didn’t miss the mark.

♥ I’m late but Kristle Marshall’s amazing Small Business Directory is full of wonderful small businesses to support as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

♥ The ever-wonderful Grace Bonney has created a site where you can be a part of the Design*Sponge Good Company book by generating your own page.

♥ If you are a womxn founder seeking a collective group of like-minded individuals who will help guide and uplift you to help grow your mindset and business, Honeycomb is for you.

Around the Studio

♥ I’ll be speaking at the WPMRR Virtual Summit on September 24, 2020. This two-day conference is put on by the cool people at WP Buffs and spoiler alert: tickets are free.

♥ We talked to Marley of Marley’s Menu about how she started her food blog after being furloughed.

♥ I’m currently getting the 2020 Holiday Gift Guide ready to go. If you have small businesses you’re wanting to recommend, please comment below!

The post Links I Love – 9.18.2020 appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

Hey friends! It’s been a little over a month that I finished my first (maybe only?) 100 Day project. For those of you who are unaware, The 100 Day Project is a global art project that anyone can participate in. The goal is to create a work of a art every day for one hundred days. I was very much inspired after seeing Allie Lehman complete her 100 Day Project last year but as you know, I have a hard time being consistent with side projects.

I spent the whole year waffling back and forth on doing the project but when it was announced that it was starting on my birthday, I don’t think I had much more of a choice in the matter. I think I decided on Allie’s Heart + Hustle episode to go forth and make art for one hundred days. Spoiler: I did complete the project but through the process, this would prove to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done to challenge myself creatively.

Persistence is Challenging

Hi, I have a problem with sticking to things that aren’t a large part of my day job. It’s very easy for me to put things on the back burner, especially things that seem to only be for me. When I originally thought of doing this project, I really wanted to do charcoal pieces. I had a short period of time in middle school where we worked with charcoals and I really enjoyed it. It’s also something I’m not great at and I really wanted to challenge myself beyond my creative boundaries. Persistence is challenging enough. During the first month, I was more than happy that I decided to do something that was still challenging but not something I would get bored of.

Staying in Your Lane

By acknowledging that persistence was most of the battle, it allowed me to really look at my project for what it was as a creative challenge for myself.

• I’ve never worked extensively with watercolor as a medium prior to this project.
• I’m OK with lettering but it’s certainly not something I had time to practice everyday.

It’s so easy to get into the comparison trap, especially when dealing with such a widespread project. I spent day one obsessing over the hashtag and all of the amazing projects that were being done. I kept thinking why hadn’t I have been more original or clever but at the end of the one hundred days, I was actually pretty proud of that I stuck to the original goal. The less I focused on others was the more I enjoyed this project. Of course, I loved supporting the other creatives but in a healthy, noncompetitive way.

Don’t Create Excuses

Did I get to do this every single day? Of course not. By the last thirty days, I was so overrun with recovering from travel and trying to get work done that it was struggle to push through. However, I did learn through the beginning is to not make excuses for myself. It’s not easy being consistent but once I saw the value in the project for myself, I really didn’t allow myself to get distracted for small things. It was also nice to have a sort of “end of workday” before slipping into relax mode. I have some self discipline which I really have gained through creating fitness goals so applying that mindset to this was easier than I expected it to be.

Art is Hard

Art is hard in general. It’s not easy devoting myself to creating artwork outside of my work. I’m a designer and by nature, design is art with purpose. I know that’s subjective and not all design is meant to be art but my training in graphic design was based on my need to create art outside of a traditional medium. I’ve always been involved in writing, sketching, and moving into design was a great fit for me. However, creating art every day is hard. It wasn’t easy traveling with watercolors. They almost got confiscated at JFK airport. Playing with colors, negative space, technique, brushes were all things that I didn’t think I had time for and couldn’t have imagined myself loving beforehand.

The point is that art is hard, y’all. Support your artist friends. See their shows. Listen to their music. Comment on their photographs. It’s not easy being vulnerable and putting a piece of you out into the world every day. I hated it. I didn’t like that people were allowed to critique (not that anyone did) what I was doing. Receiving feedback isn’t the easiest for me which is why I enjoy creating and then shoving everything in a drawer. Creating art is an act of resistance and it’s true.

Moving Forward

What’s great is that I’m now able to move forward knowing I did something that I’ve failed to do in the past. I created one hundred piece of original watercolor lettering art. Were they all good? Of course not. Did I enjoy every piece? Obviously not. There are some things that I knew I was in a rush to create or was too tired to focus. The point is, I did something that I challenged myself to do which was my goal. I have shared some originals with friends or people who piece were created specifically for. However, this is the fun thing! I’m selling 50 of the pieces right here on Studio 404 Paper. These things are all different sizes, different papers, and so there’s crazy different prices. These are all originals so please know they were painted by my giant Shaq hands and I’d love for them to have a place to live in your spaces!

All month you can get them with free shipping using the code 100DAYS! Otherwise, I am always on Twitter and Instagram doing weird stuff. Every week, you can check in with me at Heart + Hustle Podcast. I will be announcing some other speaking dates soon! Until next time, shop small, shop local, and buy more art.

The post Things I Learned from The 100 Day Project appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

It’s April of 2017! I would also feel so apologetic about not blogging regularly or contributing to this space but as our business has grown, I’m more forgiving of not showing up here as much. Writing is something I enjoy but really haven’t had a ton of time to do so this year. We kicked the year off going at 100 mph and it hasn’t stopped since. One thing that I really wanted to talk about is podcasting! Heart + Hustle Podcast is over a year old now and it has really impacted a lot of things that I do in terms of business, collaborating, planning, and even creating. I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned in the past year in case you’ve been wondering about starting a podcast of your own.

Long-Term, Ongoing Projects are Possible

I’m probably not the only one who has issue doing things consecutively. I’ve done a few different projects and it’s always been difficult for me to continue doing things. NaNoWriMo? I make an attempt every year. I’ve never finished once. So the thought of doing a long-term project in collaboration with someone else did make me a little concerned. What would I do on the weeks that I didn’t feel like it? What if I’m not able to be consistent in terms of delivering good advice? What would we do when we will run out of topics? Thankfully, we’re sixty-five episodes in and I’m still as excited about this podcast as I was in the year before we even recorded an episode. There are definitely things that have helped me specifically continue to show up every week:

• Collaboration is key. For myself, it helps to have another person there on the journey with me. If I don’t show up, I’ll inevitably let Charisma down. Having someone else in the trenches allows me to do my best. If this was a solo project, there would be now way I’d still be recording.
• Keep things exciting. Every guest we have makes me super excited to show up and record. I always learn something new from these amazing people we’ve interviewed. By having different people to talk with, I never get bored, even if we sometimes talk about the same things.
• Focus on the week-to-week. I’m challenging myself to do the#100DayProject this year and I’m terrified. By having a podcast without an end date, it’s so much easier to focus on each episode individually. With my personal projects, I know that I have a certain amount of days to do something. I’m going into #100DaysofStudio404 with a day-to-day focus in mind and not the 100 days all at once.

People Collaborate Differently

I’ve been working with David for the entirety of our relationship so it’s very easy to collaborate. We have our own communication style, we understand each other when we’re at our best, and we know our strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, we didn’t inherit this information overnight. With every relationship, it takes time to understand the other person. With podcasting, it’s no different but in most cases, we don’t get time beforehand to know our guests. We’re collaborating usually on one episode. The technical work is all on our end. We, the hosts, have an expectation of what we’d like the episode to be but our guests, obviously, do not. Finding that happy medium to create content worth listening to is an act of collaboration that can be a little tricky at times. I’ve learned that everyone does things very differently and to manage my expectations accordingly.

• Be clear about expectations upfront. I think we’re still learning how to do this. As a podcast feature is an awesome opportunity, it’s also something people view differently. For some people, being on a podcast is an exciting thing and for others, it’s just another task on the to-do list. We try to make sure people understand that this podcast is really important to us and we want them to have a good time. It’s a work in progress but learning how to communicate early on helps things go smoothly through the recording process.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously. I feel as co-hosts, we’re both pretty relaxed with our guests. It’s always interesting when we interview someone or get a pitch from someone who is really letting us know that we’re benefitting from them and not the podcast episode being mutually beneficial. It’s helped me #STAYHUMBLE because I really don’t want to reflect that kind of character.

Focus on Quality Content

This lesson comes a lot back into this space, the blog and the shop. Our listeners really give great feedback on what we’re doing. (I know, we’re chatty in the beginning of each episode. I’m working on it.) Having an outlet to product quality content every week has really allowed me not to be too stressed about doing every single thing. I’m not updating social media all of the time for the sake of updating. I won’t be blogging just because I feel I have to. I really enjoy the act of curating and creating quality content. I don’t think I really would have been able to stick to this methodology without Heart + Hustle Podcast.

• People want quality content. Our focus for the podcast was to create something that reflected our voices. As two women of color, when we brainstormed early on, there weren’t any notable business podcast from a WOC’s perspective. We really wanted to change that narrative and apparently, people wanted those options. Now there are quite a few podcasts and people really enjoy the ones who put out quality content. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Do the best work that you can do.
• Do your best work. There are definitely episodes where I know I wasn’t putting in 100%. If you show up, do your best work, it will be a reflection of what you’re creating. Our episodes where the guests are prepared and we’re prepared always do the very best.
• Take your time. I don’t really think we’ve ever rushed an episode. By allowing each episode to come naturally, it makes for much better listening. I’ve learned to just do things and worry about the timing later. Since I’ve started this practice, I’ve seen things that I practice really improve.

I could honestly talk about podcasting forever because it has really changed my life in so many ways. I will be talking about it at The Blog Connect in only a few weeks on April 23rd in Philadelphia, PA! I’ve needed some travel under my belt this year and my third speaking gig of the year, is a great fit. I’m looking forward to meeting all of my favorite #PHLBloggers in person and seeing more of the Northeast.

The post Lessons I’ve Learned from a Year of Podcasting appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

Hello! It’s December and I’m here, around, and still functioning. This has been my quietest blog year in over four years. With only twenty-one posts thus far in 2016, I’ve been struggling to find the words to share here. This has been our busiest year in business and combined with a toddler, it’s made for very little time to do many other things. Today I’m here to play catch up and get everyone updated on what I did in 2016, besides blogging. I’m also going to talk about what are some regrets I had about 2016 and what I plan to do in 2017 to get back on track. Let’s review!

January 2016

January was so overwhelming! Being a new mom to a one year-old meant getting my butt in gear. We made the decision early on to put A in childcare at one and she started her first day during the first week. With David onboard at Sevenality full-time for at least three months at this point, we knew we needed to really get going to make 2016 a good year for business. I also decided to make 2016 the year I really kicked fitness in the butt which was a decision that would pay off in the long run.

Honorable mention: Launched the Heart + Hustle Podcast

February 2016

February was quite a blur to me. Heart + Hustle Podcast got featured on iTunes for the first time which was a huge surprise for us! We didn’t really plan on the podcast growing as quickly as it did but it was safe to say that weekly recording was taking over my life. Things obviously slowed down a bit more here. We also went down for our first trip to WordCamp Miami where David spoke on Improving the Project Handoff Experience. Miami is only a two-hour drive so we only did one day at our first of five WordCamps for the year. It was good to experience a road-trip with the toddler as she would be taking a few road trips this year on our behalf.

March 2016

March was the finalization of one of my favorite branding projects for The Lower School at Creation Kids Village. I worked on my first splash page design in Sketch which was an easier transition for me than I thought it would be. This project is near and dear to my heart as being a student of private school from K-12, it’s pretty cool to see the brand you designed on tiny backpacks and sweaters. I also had the pleasure of attending WordCamp Atlanta and speaking on Creating Content for WordPress. WordCamp Atlanta was so much fun and it was a good time to play tourist in my own hometown with my daughter. This was my first out-of-town conference public speaking and I learned so much!

April 2016

April really kicked off with me changing the direction of the paper shop by switching to brush lettering. I really enjoy the products I made in 2016, as they weren’t many, and very spread out. I really took a lot of time in the process versus just churning out products for the sake of doing that. Turning twenty-six was an adventure of its own. I also ramped up some fitness things, adding more running after meeting the fitness love of my life. I had the pleasure of being selected to do the same talk at the inaugural WordCamp Jacksonville. This was probably my least favorite travel experience and not because I don’t love Jacksonville, because I do! I learned a few things about traveling for us that we took into account for the remainder of the year:

• Airbnb location does matter (more so with kids).  Back in 2013, we stayed in an amazing loft just right outside of downtown Jax and had a great time. I found a loft in the same building but they were booked WCJAX weekend which sucked so hard. I ended up renting the bottom half of a duplex in Riverside. The location was still under development so there wasn’t much to do in the area. We were 5 minutes away from the venue which was awesome but the area wasn’t my favorite. It also wasn’t the safest, which would have been fine for us but not ok with a baby.
• No carpet please! This is also where I learned how much I hate carpet in Airbnbs. While our place in Atlanta had carpet, it was newer and more renovated. I just couldn’t handle the carpet, rugs, throw pillows, shaggy items without wanting to go over everything with a steamer. Our host was awesome but his décor wasn’t my favorite.
• Make the best of it.  After staying over one night, we decided to spend the next night at home, losing out on some money. It was the best decision. Our kid didn’t sleep at all that one night and Jacksonville is close enough to drive up. We spent the next day at the Ponce Inlet to recover for the lack of sleep which I recommend to every human who comes to Florida.

May 2016

May was very much a recovery month from all of the back-to-back traveling. I posted some amazing inspirational illustrators here. I spent a lot of time developing new relationships and really kicking the fitness into gear. It also began to get hot here which started to become miserable.

June 2016

June was such a tough month. It started out with promise but halfway through, Orlando had the roughest week it’d had in a long time. Dealing with the Pulse shooting was hard and took a lot to process for a while. We spent a lot of time just rallying around the local community by supporting small businesses, attending a vigil, and honoring the space. It’s still so strange, six months later, but it’s important that those lives continue to be honored. I think June was a little slow for work which resulted in doing some fun lettering pieces like the one above just for fun.

July 2016

July was wonderful. Every hot, boiling moment of it brought new memories. I usually abhor July because of how hot it is but this July was fantastic. We spent so much time with our wonderful friends, celebrating babies, and then getting on a plane to WordCamp NYC where I spoke at the United Nations building. I talked about how much I’ve always been obsessed with NYC and this was easily my favorite trip of the year. I will totally finish the part two of that post sometime, I promise. WordCamp NYC was also my favorite WordCamp of the year. We had so much fun meeting amazing people and getting to know the city my heart has dreamed of. I can’t wait to go back and I’m watching tickets like a hawk on Hopper. My sister also came down to visit which never happens so it was fun to see her get auntie time in.

August 2016

August was the hottest month and ironically the month were I spent the most time outside. I worked out a lot in August which helped me really get ramped up for my fall journeys. We didn’t do any traveling but I spent a lot of time with the Central Florida Lady Bloggers. I never really covered events here in this space but it was nice to review the restaurants at Disney Springs. I did two more events this year that I have to cover here (BAH) but I really enjoyed getting to know more bloggers in the area. I am always open to making new friends and stepping outside of my comfort zone worked out in my favor.

September 2016

September was my first BodyBack experience. After working out with Fit4Mom for a year, I decided it was time to invest in kicking things off. By this time, I’d already lost twenty pounds which I very much didn’t notice. Waking up at 5:45 am to get my butt kicked was tough but I don’t regret it at all. It kicked my fitness into a different level and I did an insane 100s workout twice and ran up four flights of metal stairs outdoors so I’m a champion of my own body. On a personal note, breastfeeding and postpartum hormones really made my body wacky so losing weight was so much easier when I stopped. I also got to attend and speak at FLBlogCon for the very first time. FLBlogCon is the largest blogging conference in the state and I can see why! Bess does amazing things in the community and the conference was no exception. I had a blast hanging out with all of my blogging friends and got to meet Pamela for the first time in person. We were sitting next to each other and I just called her out! She is such a dear blog friend now and I am so glad we met.

October 2016

Ode to October! Octobers are my absolute favorite. We survived Hurricane Matthew (baby’s first hurricane), I met the lovely Jamaya for the first time in person, celebrated my anniversary, and I ran my fastest 5K to date at 38:48. We also did a very silly thing by driving all the way to Little Rock, Arkansas for David to speak at Little Rock Tech Fest. After 18 hours in the car and crossing five states, we became delusional. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with Little Rock! I talked so much garbage about it and then didn’t want to leave. We also did the entire trip in only two days so we’re a little nutty. I wouldn’t trade this trip for anything in the world. So much good food, a fun kids museum, and a beautiful historic city overall. We will be flying back for our next trip for sure but we can’t say we didn’t survive.

November 2016

Only two weeks after LRTF, we drove back up to Atlanta for Blogalicious 8. The weather was fall perfect, the conference was overwhelmingly fantastic, and I had a great time. It was even more fun because Pam and Maya attended as well and I met so many bloggers I’d known from online for years. I was so inspired by the ladies at Blogalicious for being so beautiful and inspiring. I really left full of ideas and ready to get back to work. We also started sponsorships in October for the podcast which was new for me since this blog has never had a sponsorship. We spent the middle of the month at WordCamp Orlando where David spoke and I sat on a panel. November was a month of launching the new holiday line and also venturing into some more portrait shoots which are just a fun way for me to get creative.

December 2016

December has been challenging, not gonna lie. Business has been pushed back a lot into 2017 which looks phenomenal but it was preparing for this month which I haven’t had too much time to do. Also, I’m exhausted. I started dragging around the end of November and I realized we just did a lot of traveling this year, comparatively to last year. As of around the first of the year or so, I’d lost twenty-eight pounds total which has pushed me towards my fitness goals. I really was stuck in a rut with trying to figure out my next moves when really, I could have just chilled and reflect on how awesome this year was. Which is how I got here to write this post. I really needed perspective of what I did accomplish so I could feel less like I hadn’t accomplished anything at all. Isn’t being a creative so silly?

We’re just hanging out here planning for an awesome Q1. We have some cool projects lined up with some fun people. I’m super excited about them so much! I also finally went through the process of cutting off my hair or doing a mini big-chop. After almost two years of transitioning hair, it was time. So there are new headshots to be taken, new designs to be done, blog posts to be written, newsletters to be planned, and dealing with being the mom of an almost two-year old. 2016 was an adventure but I would be lying if I didn’t say I was ready for 2017. See you all in 2017!

The post Studio 404: 2016 in Review appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

I’m so excited to announce the launch of the Studio 404 Paper Spring 2016 Line. I talked about the background of the launch today on the newsletter and won’t go into many details here but testing a new style was very important to me. I really wanted to push myself creatively with this project and really make the shop a place to focus on things that really mean something to me.

Some of the styles were heavily influenced by my love of other designers, especially early 200s Betsey Johnson which you can see in the Happy Birthday cards. I wanted to focus on bright colors as well as muted ones which are polar opposites. I’ve also admired the work of fellow designers like Amanda Jane Jones and Belinda Love Lee who I have been in awe of for years.

I wanted to focus on inspiring phrases and textures which is why I mostly abandoned my brush pens for more of actual paintbrushes. Handlettering is dear to me and while I have used typefaces on some of the products in the past, I want to focus on making the best usage of my own style. I love that in today’s Heart + Hustle episode, Charisma made mention that while the line is very different, is still my style.

I’m very much looking forward to sharing more artists who are aligning with my vision in this space. I think my writing has evolved quite a bit this year in terms of business-thinking and sharing the most in-depth information I can as possible. I hope you enjoy the line as much as I do and continue to stay here for updates on some new products coming next week.

The post Studio 404 Paper Spring Line appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

A few months ago, we had the pleasure of having a long-weekend staycation in St. Augustine. We visited St. Augustine briefly a few years ago during One Spark. I do remember being a little underwhelmed but we did drive through it very quickly to visit the lighthouse. Well I totally ate my words last October when we rented an Airbnb right next to the beach and spent time walking around downtown St. Augustine.

I was not let down as history-buff being in the country’s oldest city. Everything was beautiful. The food was wonderful. The beach was perfect. The historic sites were wonderful. St. Augustine is surprisingly well-designed not only in the city’s architecture around a buzzing university but the focus on identity and print design sold me. There were so many small independent retailers which is unusual for most Floridian tourist destinations. It was great to support small businesses and get to live like a tourist for a bit. I will share some links of things I loved at the end but here are some photos of design inspiration that I was personally inspired by. Enjoy!

Kookaburra Coffee | Cousteau’s Waffles & Milkshake Bar | St. John’s County Pier | The Hyppo | The Floridian | One twenty 2

The post Inspiration: St. Augustine, Florida appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

Happy Monday! I’m so excited about today’s interview with a local artist I met at Artlando this year. It’s always been important to me to support local artists and with the weather now cool enough, there are plenty of local art festivals to attend. It makes for a great outing with a little one and allows room to allow me to be inspired. Andi was one of the few artists who was warm and welcoming. She didn’t mind my crazy lady invasion and was happy to do this interview. I’m so excited to use my platform to share Andi’s work and her story here and I hope you all enjoy her as well.

When did you become interested in design?

I became interested in Design when I realized I wanted to create things that would not only showcase my love for Jesus, but also my love for making everything pretty ! I also find it really relaxing and refreshing to create things, it recharges me.

How do you stay connected with the local art scene?

I have a lot of friends who create things around the area, so mostly through social media or by hanging out around social church events.

Which creatives inspire you the most?

Rifle Paper Co is definitely a big inspiration for me! It’s a dream!

What has been your favorite project in your career thus far? 

My favorite project so far has been creating a self promotional mailer for a class I took spring 2015. It was so challenging, yet really rewarding. It also made me realize how much I love lemons ! (:

How do you have a voice among all of the design trends? 

I believe the voice I have among other trends is just making sure the heart of my company and all art is the heart of Jesus. I want nothing to do with negativity. My goal is to encourage people by loving on them and letting them know the value that they hold. 

What has been your biggest challenge as a creative? 

My biggest challenge as a creative is being able to manage my time productively. I am always so busy with my jobs, school and with my freelance business. Life is hectic!

What advice would you give other creatives who are thinking about opening their own business?

Don’t be afraid to look stupid!  seriously, this is something I struggle with sometimes. Post whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want ! just do it !

Connect with Andi: Portfolio | Behance | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

The post Artist Showcase: Andi of With Love Andi appeared first on Studio 404 Paper.

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