a new year for systems, not resolutions

well, hello there! happy 2014! i hope all of your holidays were filled with joy and abundance and love and laughter and good wine and plenty of pie. and now that all that’s over with, and our attention inevitably draws towards cleansing.. well, everything – our health, our careers, our relationships, our closets – i thought i’d share what my new year focus is for 2014.

 

instead of resolutions, instead of goals, instead of deadlines (though not the ones set by my clients – of course, i’ll still adhere to those).. i’m setting systems. consistency is the name of the game for this year; developing clearly outlined, manageable, workable systems for my career and my health that i can plug into and remain committed to, no matter the outcome. i read this great article over the holidays that put a lot into perspective for me – goals have a way of making you feel like a failure if you don’t succeed. systems have a way of perpetuating success, validating positivity, and ultimately sustaining motivation. even after you achieve a particular goal, it can become very easy to fall off the building you worked so hard to create.. or to stand atop it and not know what to do next. with creating a system, if your consistent action is to build a little bit every day, eventually you’ll have created an entire city of structures.

 

so – for jilly ink, creating a system for reaching new clients, developing new relationships, venturing out into new industries, honing new and old skills, and making work – regardless of pay – every day is my focus. i can only believe that investing time in my business is the best thing i can do.

 

what are your focuses for the new year?

wedding guest book: revamped

i love the idea of a wedding guest book; a timeless record of all the people you’ve loved and cherished enough to invite and spend $70 a plate on at your momentous wedding day. a space for everyone, the young, the old, those just walking in, and those a little less sober than when they walked in, to write pages upon pages of just how happy they are for you on this next chapter of your life with your partner. theoretically, it’s lovely. in reality, what actually happens to it? maybe you read it once – maybe once a year on your anniversary – maybe one third of the pages are filled, maybe no one managed to spill wine all over it at one point in the night. regardless, it’s usually put away after the big day, with the photos of the wedding taking precedent as the day’s record.

but, what if there was a different way to keep track of your loved ones in attendance? and then, instead of putting it away, it’s displayed, framed, hung for all to see and marvel at? well, a dear friend and former coworker of mine commissioned me to make such a piece for her this past week, and i’m delighted to share it with you.

modeled after a snapshot she sent of another guest book she’d seen, this is a print with a cutout vw bug, and lots and lots of little 3d balloons for guests to write their names on. afterwards, whitney and scott can frame this and hang it up; a gorgeous reminder of the love they shared together, and with their family and friends! congratulations whitney and scott!

the wedding march, a soiree event

yesterday i had the most amazing opportunity to be a part of the vendor list for the wedding march, an event hosted by soiree weddings and events of chicago. soiree, spearheaded by the amazing tiffany munster, and aided in a large part by the talented molly blonn and rebecca niziol, brought together an impressive array of talented chicagoans to curate a wedding event at the gorgeous floating world gallery space. the event included a florist (see: stemline creative), sweets services (sugar chic designs), dj, photobooth company, photographer, stationer, catering company (fig – so delicious), bridal workout gurus, and many more.

for my part, i was asked to script and create menus for the center stage table that stemline and tablescapes put together. i had so much fun drawing these up, and then deciding on names for all the guests. i’d love to work on more projects like this, so if all you brides out there need calligraphy services for any paper portion of your wedding, i’m your girl!

 

sunday ceremonies (on a monday)

good evening everyone!  i hope you’ve all enjoyed this gorgeous mlk day as much as i have.  warm weather and sunny skies in mid-january is a bit of a tease, yes, but one i’ll gladly take right now.  i’m a bit late on my sunday ceremonies series, but i just came across these gorgeous photos of a wedding featured on green wedding shoes.  the day was photographed by erik clausen, and took place in beautiful chandor gardens in weatherford, texas.  my favorites are these taken with a light blue chevrolet:

the colors in these pop, and i love the simple yet classic details.

stunning, right?  the bride’s dress is from pronovias (where, coincidentally, my very good friend rochelle also found her dress for her wedding this july), and her lovely bouquet is a mix of billy buttons and daisies.  to see more photos from this sun-kissed day, check out green wedding shoes!

back to work tomorrow – have a great week everyone!