As I wrap up this week of Alt Summit posts, I find myself looking to what’s next. What is it I want to do? Where do I want to go? Opportunities are popping up everywhere I turn. I’m learning to say no to the things that don’t mesh well with my brand. And I’m excited about new collaborations coming in the future.

Right now there’s a gorgeous box (courtesy of Smock Paper!) of business cards sitting in one of my lucite trays. I find myself picking up that box and sifting through the beautiful cards over and over again. I think those are my favorite souvenirs from Alt.

Happy weekend to you all! I am so thankful for each & every one of my readers!

One of the recurring themes at AltSummit was “stop thinking about it & just do it already.”  Because frankly, if you don’t do it, then who will?

And as silly as it sounds, the first thing that came to mind was the idea I’d been tossing around in my head to throw a fancy party. A deck-out-to-the-nines dress-up party. You know the kind – odds are you’ve thought about it, too!  Bust out the sequins & glitter, put on those shoes you never have an occasion to wear them to. Heck, even put on that heinous old bridesmaid dress (appropriate since Bridesmaids was nominated!) and let’s give our acceptance speeches as we check out all the fab fashion and toast to the winners.  And Oscar night seems the perfect time to do it.

So mark your calendars & save the date for February 26th, OKC peeps. If you’re not local, why not consider throwing your own? We can have a fantabulous Twitter party along the way!

Ok, so I lied yesterday. I said I was going to talk about my favorite business card designs, but we had a slight issue w/ photos, so I’ll have to reshoot them today.

Moving on.

Today is all about new-to-me blogs that you should be checking out. This is by no means a definitive list of the amazingness I met at AltSummit! Also? If you attended Alt Summit, would you do mea  huge favor & comment on this post w/ your URL? My only complaint about AltSummit is that they didn’t give us a directory of all the attendees. Wouldn’t that have been helpful?

Little Pincushion Studio – along with fellow Virginians Petals in Prose, Art.Fashion.Furniture, Tribal Times. (the cutest girls you’ll ever meet – and the nicest, too).

Maiya – Design. Art. Robots. What else is there?

I LOVE Style&Pepper. Plus, I can’t wait to show you her business cards.

Best wardrobe of Alt Summit award goes to Mara with A Blog About Love.

Separated At Birth Award goes to The Alison Show. Y’all, she gave glitter nailpolish out with her business cards. This is my girl.

Blue-Eyed Yonder has the most gorgeous branding ever.

You can’t not love a guy who goes by “Uncle Beefy.”

These girls need no introduction. I absolutely adored everything they’re about.

Again with the fabulous branding – Michelle Edgemont is wicked talented.

There ya have it – and like I said, AltSummiteers, add your link to the comments below!

One of the things I was most looking forward to at Alt was having a fantastic reason to dress up everyday.  I experimented with bold color, bright tights, and pushing the boundaries on layering jewelry. And I loved every single minute of it. It really motivates me to be more experimental and fabulous in my everyday life. Get dressed up to go to the grocery store? Sure! Put on layers of necklaces to pick up Jude at school. Why not? Life’s too short to not be as fabulous as you can every single day.  It mostly reflects on how I feel about myself.

The biggest style challenge was the white party on Thursday night. Sure, there was a lot of grumbling about “how am I supposed to find something white to wear in the dead of winter?” But I loved that there was a sartorial challenge.

Check out Susan’s fabulous Zara frock. It was perfection on her petite frame.

And as for me, I went with a gorgeous Kate Spade Melody frock that I found on eBay. I believe it was from last summer, and I got a great deal on it. The color was just right on me — not too white — but it had great vintage appeal.

Then I layered on all the pearls & gold chains that I own.

The finishing touch were my Kate Spade Charyl sequin heels. I MUST find a way to integrate these into my everyday life!!

On Friday I sported this bright chartreuse dress from Old Navy  that is my new favorite. I absolutely adore this dress and got tons of compliments on it. I paired it with black tights, and gold accessories such as  my all-time fave glitter flats from J.Crew.

For the final night of parties, I brought the Tracy Reese cocktail dress that Simon bought me a few years ago. I absolutely adore that dress and look for any occasion to wear it.

But what was everybody else wearing at Alt? It was kinda funny to see how similar we all really are in our style preferences. It was all about bright jeans, hair up in a topknot, and some black-rimmed glasses.  In fact, there were so many girls in adorable bright green jeans that I had to track a pair down online. Can’t wait to get them in.

Check out this cutie. I LOVE that necklace.

I sat with the Girls with Glasses at the keynote lunch on Thursday, and I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed them. Not to mention the fact that their party Friday was pretty rockin’.

Again with the buns. And that fabulous leopard swing coat she had on. Ba-nanas.

So there you have it. A full wrapup of all the style awesomeness at Alt. Coming tomorrow: the best in business cards!

I feel like I’m coming down off the mountain high after the amazing experience that was Alt Summit.  Over this week I want to write a few posts about specific things related to  Alt, but today I at least want to get the ball rolling.

The bottom line is that going to Alt was the best money I have ever spent on anything for my career.  If you are a creative that blogs, or is even thinking about blogging, Alt is the place to be. I left Salt Lake City more pumped up about what it is that I do than I’ve been in years.

A few highlights:

Rooming with Susan! Here are the top 3 reasons that Susan makes the best roomie ever: (1) she played Robert Redford to my Meryl Streep in an Out of Africa moment as I washed my hair in the sink at our room (woefully lame waterpressure in the shower makes for an unhappy thick-haired camper).  (2) She believes in the power of ladies maids and brought me my coat, Downton-Abbey-style, when it started to pour snow unexpectedly. (3)She has a marvelously wicked sense of humor. We spent no less than three hours laughing at crazy.

Dressing up to the nines. Alt Summit was the perfect opportunity for me to dress more over-the-top than I feel able to in my everyday life. But it was inspirational and made me want to aspire to a little more glamour in my daily life.

Meeting “my people.” Everywhere I turned were fabulous, creative women, many of whom were moms. It reminded me that I do have an identity outside of being a mom and it encouraged me to keep pursuing creativity. Being in a group of 500+ like-minded women who were interested in design Plus it was fantastic to connect in real life with several people I already had online friendships with.

Building strategy. Where do I want to go next? How do I take my blog to the next level? What is it I want to do? Am I branding myself effectively? More than anything, Alt Summit was ridiculously educational with smart panels that encouraged you to keep pushing your creativity to the max.

Positive energy. I was truly pleased to see that Alt wasn’t going to be a snarky or competitive atmosphere. There was a positive, encouraging vibe to the whole event with the recurring theme that the internet is a big enough place for all of us. Each one of us is doing our own thing; we don’t need to feel stressed out or competitive over who’s getting to do what. Sometimes that’s hard with (large) groups of women.

BIG BIG thanks to my husband for helping me make it happen. He graciously took care of Jude on his own, which is hard to do when you’re running your business too.  I love you, honey.

Late Friday afternoon, I opened the front door & made the dash out to the mailbox. I opened it to find the typical bills, junk mail. But then – then! There was a large white envelope that I had been awaiting for quite some time. Inside was the newest issue of HGTV magazine and a kindly note from the editors thanking me for my participation. Yup – Pencil Shavings Studio made it to a magazine!

I was contacted a couple of months ago about having one of my iPhone cases featured in their February/March issue, but wasn’t guaranteed a spot. You can imagine how I squealed and did a happy dance out at the mailbox when I found it lying there, waiting for me!  I’m sure the neighbors think I have lost my marbles.

I think they only launched their magazine in the last half of 2011, but I really like it. Being a huge shelter magazine fan, this was right up my alley. Check it out the next time you’re magazine hunting!  Big huge thanks to HGTV! This seriously made my year!

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Nothing big happening this weekend. I’ll be catching up on work, taking Jude to a birthday party, and hopefully later today waiting in line at the health department to get Jude’s birth certificate. We went and visited school this week in anticipation of preschool next year (sob!) and I’ve been preparing all the pertinent application stuff. I seriously don’t feel grown up enough to have a kid who is in SCHOOL.

In good news, my mom is finally out of the hospital! She has improved SO much. I think where we were two weeks ago, and the difference is astounding. The neurologist said that he thought she’d make a complete turnaround. Now we have to work on getting her strong again. She’ll be attending physical therapy a couple of times a week.

Is anybody else ready for spring? This is the hardest time of the year for me because I love all the resortwear that the stores put out, but the weather is still way too frigid! I picked up this cute skirt at Anthropologie last weekend in Tulsa, and I positively adore it because it’s the perfect weight to wear in winter or in summer. Beautifully lined and delightfully full. It’s perfection. Definitely coming with me to Alt Summit.

Finally, it’s Friday. Which means that in my family, it’s French Fry Fryday.

What are your plans for the weekend, m’dears?

I can’t tell you how excited I am to hop on the plane to Salt Lake City next week! From Wednesday to Saturday, I’ll be attending Altitude Summit with a slew of other ah-mazing design bloggers. But the best part? I love it that so many from our excellent network of bloggers right here in Oklahoma City will be there, too. And? Susan (of Working Closet fame) and I are not only flying out together, but we’re roomies too. This morning, we had a closet date –  I had Susan come over and assess the items I’m bringing along and offer advice on what to pair with stuff. And can I just say that I was so validated when she said she just might be packing 2 full suitcases? Yeah. Because let’s face it – I’ve never been a carryon kind of girl.

Alt Summit seems to be the perfect opportunity to get dressed up every single day. And that, my friends, is right up my alley. I also particularly love that Alt gave us a sartorial challenge by letting us know in advance about the diner en blanc (the white dinner) where we are encouraged to dress in the appropriate all-white scheme to match the event. More on that later.

Ok. In my fashion arsenal, I’m definitely packing:
1. Accessories (jewelry//scarves//belts//etc). Accessories are always my secret weapon when it comes to fashion. Even the most basic tee shirt & jeans can be made fabulous by the right extras. And they don’t have to be expensive, either, to make a big impact.

stella & dot renegade necklace // jcrew flats // asos belt
2.Sparkly shoes & bright tights

Inspired by the styling at Kate Spade, I’m stepping out of my comfort zone & experimenting with bright tights with some of my more basic dresses & skirts.  I snagged a few pairs from Target and We Love Colors to wear with a few different dresses I’m bringing.

But my favorite item, hands-down, is this gorgeous pair of Kate Spade Charyl peeptoe heels that I scored on killer sale after Christmas. I plan on wearing these babies practically every day. The metallic sheen ensures it will go with everything. I’m even loving them paired with my ankle-crop dark denim.

3. Lots of dresses for the evening parties & mix-and-match separates for the daytime

I’m debating whether or not to pack this lovely Tracy Reese dress that Simon bought me the first year we were married.

I love its vintage appeal. The fabric is delish, too.

4. Cold-weather items (like my J.Crew townhouse trench,  gloves,  hat, and boots). It is Salt Lake City in the dead of winter, after all!

More than anything, I’m a little worried that I’m not packing enough cold weather items. But from the sound of it, we won’t be out in the elements very much, and I’m not planning on going skiing or anything.  Any previous attendees have any advice on coldweather gear?

It’s been awhile since I’ve shown a project that wasn’t related to my Etsy shop in some way. I’ve been so busy running my own show that I haven’t had time for many other outside projects!  This was a postcard invitation that I got to design for the OKC Orchestra League’s Symphony Show House. Every year they do an “undecorated party” where people can view the current year’s decorator’s show house in its “before” state.   Simon is the chair this year for the party, and it will be housed in an absolutely gorgeous 1920s-era house in Heritage Hills.

Simon’s been working really hard on pulling it all together to make it better than ever before. Not only will there be a variety of ah-mazing silent auction items, but he’s managed to lure several local chefs (from restos like Ludivine, Rococo, Stella, etc.) into participating as well. I LOVE supporting local businesses, and we have some exceptional restaurants here, so it’ll be exciting to see how it comes together.

The goal of the invitation was to give the idea of a theme without going overboard cheezy. So often themes can get out of control! I wanted the invitation to express the feel of the 1920s without blatantly screaming “FLAPPERS!!!” It was fun to experiment with a variety of type styles to get just the right mix of vintage and modern.  For budget reasons, we went with a postcard design and included pertinent details on the reverse.

Get more info on the Symphony Show House & the Speakeasy party here at their site.

I’m loving all of these large-scale prints on floors, whether it be painted directly, in tile, or as a carpet. It’s definitely an interesting way to make a showstopping impact.