She believed she could, so she did.  Looking for inspiration in my favorite place: Polyvore, my eyes fell about those very words.  And suddenly everything seemed to come together.  In a matter of minutes.  My hands began to work faster than my eyes could keep up with and before I knew it, I had an inspiration board laid out before me.  An inspiration board that did exactly what I hoped it would do: inspire me.  Inspire me to create, to grow, to evolve, to develop, to brand.  To be who I am.  To own who I am.  To be proud of who I am.  To be.

This is the very inspiration board.  It literally makes me smile.  :)  While at WPPI last week, Promise Tangeman said something that really spoke to me.  “Let what you wear inspire your brand.”  Brilliant!  While I am in love with the idea of Anthropologie (my brand was heavily inspired by this company), to be completely honest, I don’t shop there.  I don’t wear their clothing, however, I do love to look at it.  :)  It is completely unlikely that I will ever shop there because truly, it isn’t my style.  I am a simple dresser.  I love black and gray.  I love pops of color in moderation.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a slight obsessions with stripes.  I can’t explain it, I can only say that it is an absolute truth.  I live my life in flats.  If I could wear knitted boots on a daily basis, I would- because they are comfortable!!  Vintage patterns remind me of my grandma’s sewing room, a place I used to play in when I was growing up.  :)  I have a collection of vintage jewelry and cannot stop myself from pouring over all of the goodies in etsy- a place I have purchased several of my pieces of jewelry from.  I love comfort- one of my favorite songs is entitled: “Comfortable”, and I love that I am able to make my clients 100% comfortable.  :)

My brand had to stand for these things because they make me who I am.  And my brand is me.

I am absolutely in LOVE with Showit because they allow me to carry my brand through to my site.  There is no disconnect, which cannot be said for all websites.  Showit allows me the freedom to create a site exactly as I want it to be.  I created my new site in less than 2 days, start to finish.  Seriously.  Showit rocks my world!!  :)

And so a brand is born.  I pulled the new color scheme directly from the inspiration board.  My main color is gray and I have accented with pops of color.  I designed a new background in Photoshop showing off my love for stripes.  :)  My logo received a mini-makeover to match the new color pallet.  I made linkable buttons using my signature font- one that actually resembles my very own handwriting.  I also used stitches throughout my site because of my fond memories of sewing with my grandma.  :)

As stated before I love comfort.  I want my clients to know as much about me as possible, because the more they know, the more comfortable they will be with me.  I am an open book in more ways that one.  I love sharing who I am with my family, friends and clients.  I am a huge believer in inspiration, as it feeds my soul and keeps me dreaming.  I will be adding to this section over time, as we have some fun ideas, so be sure to check back often!  :)

I have considered separating my website into 2, a site for Portraits and a site for Weddings.  The whole idea behind that is to make it easier for my clients to find exactly what they are looking for.  However, I honestly believe that having 2 sites would actually complicate things for my clients.  What if they want to know about a portrait session price while booking their wedding?  Why should they have to go to 2 separate locations?  I am a Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer.  Period.  One home for the two things I built my business on.  To me it just makes sense.  And I hope it does to you, too.

Thank you so much Promise for inspiring me to better brand myself and be who I am.  Thank you Showit for giving me the tools to showcase both.  :)

She believed.

She could.

So she did.