Day 2 - Calligraphy and Bead Rolling

So, last night was great!  I spent a few hours getting to know Shelley better and immediately came to the conclusion that I love her!  We seemed to connect very easily and I am quite comfortable around her.  I see a lasting friendship and I am so excited about that.  Her husband, Corrigan is super cool as well.  I love their heart for ministry and the mindset they have for it.  They are so relational.  And their kids are like over the top cool as well!   This is Ember - she just turned 3 and she's a riot! So very cute!

 This was taken this morning - she and Jackson came to visit me in my room before work began.
 All of the Artisans arrive at work at 8 am.  It's so amazing to watch them - they just fall into their routine.  Everyone has a job and they all get busy.

Shelley picked out 5 artisans to work with me today.  She wants to begin a line of greeting cards for her Boutique and wanted some of them to be able to write nicely in them.  So - we had a little Calligraphy class!  I was a bit nervous at first simply because I have never worked with a translator - but we had fun!  They picked up on everything immediately and worked all morning.

They were awesome!

 While I was teaching Calligraphy, a group were unpacking boxes that came in on the ship yesterday!  I was so excited to discover that some of them were ours.  The timing was perfect!  God is so good!

 They spent the entire morning separating them by size, color, etc.  They were spread out all over the floor and furniture.  I let them know that this is what my house looks like before I send them!

When the artisans were finishing up their practicing - two of them wrote me a sweet note.

"Happy Best day for that you come in ApParent Project Miss Cami"

Totally made my day!

 Cutting the cereal boxes into strips for the beads.  They can get about 50 beads from one box.

 Covering them with a varnish.

 The artisans pulled me in and let me try rolling the beads.  It's hard!  By the time I finished these my fingers were cramped and sore.  I was told "Nice job for my first try" but these didn't make it through quality control.  Everyone laughed at me - including me!  It was great fun but I have an even greater respect for what they do.

 These were the ones they were working on!  Much better - and much, much faster!

Rolling

They cover them with glue, let them dry and then put a varnish over them.

 These are the ones that were varnished today.

Aren't these beautiful?  These are the new beads made from the clay here in Haiti.  I'll have photos of what they are doing with them later.  AWESOME!!!

I finished off my afternoon working on new signs for the boutique.  So honored to help in this way!

So far, day 2 is a huge success!  I love it here.  Until next time.......

Calligraphy by Cami has been Published!

I've known about this for quite a while and have had to keep it quiet until the publication came out.  It's been so hard!!!!  There is this really cool online wedding magazine here in Jacksonville and I have been privileged to get to know the owners via Facebook.  I submitted an article about Calligraphy during the Spring/Summer and they accepted it for publication!  Right before Christmas, they contacted me to have the video produced to go into the article.

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I have been!  This is a wonderful opportunity for my business and I am very proud to be a part of something so beautifully put together!

So - take a look by clicking on the link below the photo and let me know what you think!

 Jacksonville Wedding Styles Only Magazine

The entire magazine is interactive and full of great ideas, photos and helpful tips.  Take your time browsing through but make sure you stop on pages 21 & 22 to see yours truly!

 

I still have Christmas and our vacation to blog about - those are coming shortly!  

Happy New Year Everyone!

New Business Cards, Sneaky Leprechauns and A First BSA Camp Out

I'm so excited about my new business cards.  I already shared them on my Calligraphy Blog and on Facebook, but wanted to put them on here as well.  

I work with a fantastic group of Wedding Vendors at The Wedding Party and a few of them worked with me to help me create this card.  I wanted something classy - something me.  So, Tammy Sybelnik of The Wedding and Portrait Photographers took photos of my hand and my Ink Well.  She then edited the photo to give me the sepia color and get it ready for printing.  Then Laura Parish of Celebrated Occasions worked with me on font design and printing.  I think it turned out awesome and I cannot wait to get them in and begin to pass them out!  Definitely a business card I am proud of!  Thanks everyone for your talent and expertise!  You guys are amazing!

On a different note ~ Yesterday being Thursday, it was also St. Patrick's Day.  On Thursdays I volunteer in Anne's classroom and when I walked into the class, all the kids looked like this:

I LOVE IT!  Evidently Lucky the Leprechaun had stopped by and left some clues behind.  After following them all, the kids came to a pot of gold and each received their very own gold coin!  Special gold, of course, that can only be passed out by Leprechauns and is not able to be spent.  But the kids had so much fun.  I wish I would have had my camera to get a class photo.  All 18 of them with these on was hysterical!

Spring Break has officially started for us today and Jarod leaves tonight for his first 2 night BSA camp out - without Russell.  Cub Scouts are all about family camp outs and Russ always went with him but now that he is an official Boy Scout - dad stays home.  He's been practicing how to put up and take down his tent all by himself and rolling up his sleeping bag all by himself.  I think he's got it down.  He'll be working all weekend on earning Merritt Badges and his Tenderfoot rank in the New Scout Program.  He'll be gone from 6:00 tonight until noon on Sunday.  Right now I'm okay with him going alone - we'll see how the weekend progresses.  He is very excited and I think he'll do well.  I'm anxious to hear all about it when he comes home.

Until next time.........

Awards, Strep Throat and More......

 
I am very excited that my plaque arrived in the mail today!  What an honor this has been.  My business is crazy busy but I'm not complaining - much!  LOL!  I know that this is a blessing from the Lord and I am still in awe of how far He has taken me in just 6 years.  A simple hobby made into a growing business.  And I still get to be at home and fulfill the role God has called me to - wife and mom.  God is so very good.


I spent the last two days working on a snap shot look at our life.  If you haven't read it, click the tab above (under the title photo) that says "The Story of Us".  I have also added a tab to go directly to all the ApParent Project shipping information so you don't have to file through all of my blog posts to find it.

These are the things I do when I have a little extra down time.  Anne is home with Strep Throat.  Poor thing.  This is her first time to have it.  Oddly enough, Jarod has had it 4 or 5 times in the last year and she never did catch it - until now.  Of course, Jarod is fine (as of this moment anyway).  Anne is much better today and I think she is enjoying her down time as well.

Just to catch you up a little - Meggie is feeling much better and is back to her normal self.  She wound up staying at the vet for two days because she refused to pee and give them the urinalysis that they needed.  Stubborn little thing.  Held it for 36 hours!  I wonder if there is a Guinness record for that?  Sorry - Jarod brought a Guinness World Record book home the other day - it was fascinating!  Anyway - we all missed her while she was gone and are glad to have her back home.

Jarod has his first Boy Scout activity last Saturday.  He and a few of the other Scouts from Troop 650 spent their morning picking up trash along side Knight Boxx Road here in Orange Park.  It was his Troops way of helping to keep Clay County beautiful.

He is now working on a fund raiser to help pay for Scout Camp this summer.  We have been highly impressed by his motivation and so far he has earned $83.00 toward his camp fees.  Way to go Jarod!!

I guess that is about it for now.  I need to get off of here and get to work on all of the envelopes I have stacked in the other room.  I literally have a wedding a day to work on this week.  Until next time......

5th Grade Colonial Day

Things have calmed down a bit in some respects now that Christmas is over but have picked up in others.  The decorations are put away, we've celebrated Anne's Birthday and now I move into my crazy Calligraphy season.

My phone began ringing on January 3rd and I'm booking weddings clear into October!  So excited though!  This is going to be a great year!  Of course, winning the 2011 Best of Weddings Award from the Knot.com will help that significantly.  The winners list was posted on the web site today.  I'm thrilled!

Last Sunday I spent the day at the Bridal Show at World Golf Village.  The January show is the largest of the year.  I talked until I was hoarse and passed out a ton of business cards.  I always love those shows!




But, life at home continues the same.  School, work, etc.  Today was no exception.  Usually, I spend my volunteer hours at the kid's school in Anne's classroom, but today I got to help with Jarod's Colonial Day.  What fun we had.

Jarod's class just completed a big unit on Colonial America and they finished it out with a Colonial Day Celebration.  The kids received extra credit if they dressed the part and we parents manned the booths!   Jarod and I set out yesterday to find a white shirt.  Thank goodness for the Salvation Army!  $2.99 for a fancy shirt - can't beat that!  The vest was mine.  One of those saved from the '90's when vests were popular.  Actually, it's the only one I saved because my mother had made it.  Just couldn't part with it.  Jarod was proud to wear it knowing it was made by Grandma.

 I got to work at the Quill Pen Booth!  How fitting is that?  I had so much fun!  The kids got to try to write with real feather quills and ink. 

 The Cat's Craddle Booth - (String Games)  This is Jarod's "Witches Broom"  He was so proud!

 Dipping Candles

 Writing with the Feather Quill.  He's a lefty so he had to work from right to left so as to not get his hand in the wet ink.

 The kids all decided they like their modern pencils better!  It was fun to watch them all try.  I was this age when I learned Calligraphy at a Medieval Fair at my school.  You just never know.......

 Hot Apple Fritters!  Yummmm!

 Virginia Wheel Dancing!  This seemed to be the least favorite of all.  You know - they had to hold hands!  

Jarod and I danced together at the end.  No photos of that though.  It was such a fun morning!

Until next time.......

Christmas Gifts

I mentioned in my last post that we are making gifts this year as a family.  Coming up with creative ways to honor one another.  This was one of the ideas that I know the Lord gave me and I'm so excited about it!

I took their names, looked up their meanings and then Russ and I sat down and came up with a 'life verse' that would go along with it.  Something that we want them to see in their rooms.  To read over and over and for the scripture to permeate into their lives as they grow older. 

I absolutely LOVE the way they came out and I just had to share with you!

The calligraphy is done on an 11 x 14 parchment in Brown ink.  I found frames at Wal-Mart that already had the mat in them.  I think I'm going to begin advertising these as well!  Sooooo excited!!!!

Best of Weddings Award and Other Fun Stuff

I received a phone call last week that Calligraphy by Cami had won the 2011 Best of Weddings Award from The Knot.com.  What an honor and a privilege.  I didn't even know I was in the running.  They survey all of their brides and the vendors with the highest remarks are the recipients of this award.  I guess it's kind of like a "People's Choice" Award.  I was floored!

I started my business 5 1/2 years ago as a way to help our family when Russ was working his tail off as a pest control technician.  It was a Commission Only Sales job that he took in between ministry opportunities to provide for our family. He worked 6 days a week - sometimes 12 - 14 hour days and we never knew what kind of money he would bring home.  We couldn't budget anything!  And the Lord opened up the opportunity for me to take my hobby and create a small business.  A friend, who knew I did Calligraphy, asked me to address her son's wedding invitations.  Knowing that we were struggling financially, she offered to pay me.  She wouldn't take no for an answer so I got online and began researching what other Calligraphers charge.  I quickly realized that I too, could begin this kind of business from home.  I never thought that it would be as successful as it has become.

Today I sit here amazed at all of the exciting projects I have done, all of the wonderful people I have met, all of the friends I have made, and how the Lord has taken a hobby that my mother taught me when I was 12 and turned it in to a successful business that allows me to be at home with my children.  I look forward to many more years of helping clients Add a Personal Touch to Their Special Occasion.  God is good! 

On a different note, the kids went to Nana and Papa's yesterday while Russ and I ran some errands.  It was a beautiful day here in Florida so Uncle Ray took them outside to play in the leaves and do a little hiking.  He sent me these pictures this morning and I thought I would share them with you.

 Raking leaves in Nana's yard.  I would like to say that they were helping out - but they really had ulterior motives........

 Who can blame them - a big pile of leaves is so tempting!

 Hiking with Uncle Ray!

Thanks for taking them Ray!  They always enjoy spending a day with you!