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At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

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July 15, 2012

Talking Shop with…Vicki of Curly Willow Collections!



Today we are shining the spotlight on a super talented woman and friend! We have been so honored to have Vicki of the Etsy Shop Curly Willow Collections


and of the blog Vicki Designer Joyful Expressions!

Vicki creates some of the most gorgeous digital items, prints and one of a kind graphics.  Items like these: 

Kitchen, Art Collection, Print, Coffee, Fruit, Stock pot, red, brown, green, yellow
Kitchen Art Collection

and these

Keep Calm and Carry On Art Print Poster Collection
Keep Calm Collection

and gorgeous note cards like this darling one:

Modern Stationery Greeting card Pink Hot Pink Abstract Quotes
Modern Stationary

and our most favorite design of Vicki’s…are gorgeous At The Picket Fence business cards!



We were so thrilled with the design Vicki created for us, and we got so many compliments on them! People actually said, “oooh you all are the ones with the mason jar cards!” So, we know they were getting noticed…and rightly so!  We thought it would be fun to find out a little more about Vicki, the woman behind this fabulous shop! Welcome to the SPOTLIGHT Vicki! 

1. What led to your decision to start your own small business?

I was creating a lot of custom work for bloggers through a blog I shared with my best friend. It was more of a home and garden blog with room re-dos and decorating, but I wasn’t really great at that so I wanted to move my art, card and pattern designs into a more creative arena. So, I decided to open an Etsy shop. After I investigated other Etsy shops I loved, most shop owners had a blog, a facebook and twitter accounts. So, I moved away from the shared blog and opened shop to see what I could do.

2. From where do you draw inspiration for your products?

I love creating. I think I enjoy creating images that speak to people, whether it’s custom work, like when I designed your business cards, or working with someone to design a blog brand that takes their ideas, words, and colors represent them completely. Plus, my bonus creating time is designing for myself. Taking inspiration and making some sort of art print/poster that embellishes someone’s space. And when someone buys that, well that’s just the icing on the cake. I recently sold one of my new kitchen prints to a gal in Germany. This was a very sweet sale for me, because that is where I was born. So, I felt like a little piece of me was going home.


Retro Art Print Poster Coffee Cake Geometric Turquoise

3. What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment as a small business owner? 

My biggest accomplishment is that people like what I do. The heart of every artist is the ability to create. We must be able to do that or a little piece of us dies. The bonus is having someone like what you do. I don’t love everything I create… But, I do love everything I put in my etsy shop and my only hope is that someone else likes it too.

4. What is one of the challenges you face as a small business owner?

For me, since I am working full time now, the time to creative is so minimal. I miss being able to do it daily. 

5. What advice would you give to someone interested in starting their own business?

My biggest advice is just START! As you move forward, you will evolve, your shop will evolve. I try not to worry about making the money. I’m not the best business person. I’d love to improve that, but there’s only so many hours in the day, and it’s not a priority for me yet.

Spring Art Print Poster Ball Jar Floral Robins Egg Blue Bloom

THANK YOU SO MUCH VICKI for sharing this invaluable advise and insight into owning your own shop!
We are honored to have you as a sponsor and a friend! 

We hope you’ll take a moment to pay Vicki a visit at her blog and her shop! We know you’ll find something that catches your eye!
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Susan (My Place to Yours) says

    July 14, 2012 at 11:23 PM

    So glad you ladies featured Vicki! You may recall that she’s the sweetheart who — unsolicited — created the Bloggers for Hope button I keep on my sidebar … and some printable Valentines, too. She’s such a giving person, and it’s nice to see her creativity well-received.

    Reply
  2. Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions says

    July 15, 2012 at 12:04 AM

    Vicki’s got some great pieces! I won one of her Keep Calm prints and picked the “create” one. I’m actually showing it off in my most recent post about my craft/sewing room! It’s a great piece to have right outside the door.

    Reply
  3. Dawn says

    July 15, 2012 at 8:55 PM

    Vicki does beautiful work! I especially love that last piece “bloom. . .fill up daily for optimal growth”

    Reply
  4. Karena says

    July 16, 2012 at 1:01 AM

    I love to hear about the small business entrepreneur making their dreams come true! yay Vicki!

    I think you will like my new Giveaway from Royal Design Stencils..

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

    Reply
  5. carol says

    October 19, 2012 at 10:03 AM

    thank you for taking the time to share
    cheers carol

    Reply
  6. philips coffee maker says

    December 14, 2013 at 12:03 PM

    Since the benefit of the single-serve Keurig K-Cup coffee machine, coffee lovers have been appreciating just-brewed coffee one cup at a time.
    Instantly, your counselor instincts begin to shout for you to climb to her and ask her just what the problem is.
    cooking, air treatment, cooling and cleaning products.

    Reply

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Yesterday on the way home from school I had the ra Yesterday on the way home from school I had the radio tuned to my daughter's favorite station and a song that was playing had a line in it that really stood out to me. It made reference to a 'season of the sticks' which I think its safe to say must mean winter. I thought that was such an accurate, albeiet kind of depressing, picture of this time of the year.

While we definitely have more than our fair share of evergreen trees here in Oregon, we also have plenty of trees and bushes that are reduced to sticks during the cold months. But, this morning as I looked out my kitchen window, greedily sipping from my mug of coffee, I marveled at the beauty of the winter sunrise. The sky was all pinks and oranges with frost on the rooftops and a little bit of fog. And, I realized that part of why it was so amazing is because I could see it more clearly through the sticks. The bare branches allowed me a view that I wouldn't be able to see if those same branches were covered in leaves. Being stripped down to almost nothing revealed something magnificent.

We have seasons of the sticks in our lives too, don't we? Times when we feel as though we've been stripped bare and left exposed. It's easy to think that this is a place where all is ugly and dark. And yet, just like the winter sunrise was more visible because of the bare branches, the vulnerability we feel in the winter season of our souls allows us to get a glimpse of beauty that we wouldn't see otherwise. In the lush, warm seasons it's so easy to become comfortable. But in the bare, cold seasons we recognize just how much we need to rely on the One who placed the stars in the heavens and is sovereign over all.

If you feel like your soul has been stripped bare and you've been left exposed and vulnerable, may I encourage you today to ask the Lord to help you to see the beauty in this 'season of the sticks'.

“Answer me quickly, O Lord! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul." Psalm 143:7
I just went to make my mid-morning protein shake a I just went to make my mid-morning protein shake and grabbed a banana out of the freezer and was about to put it into my shake before I realized it was a frozen egg roll. Sooooo that's how my day is going so far! 🤪How about you?

It's honestly fairly representative of my state of mind these days as I can't seem to make the date on the calendar match the date in my spirit because it feels like it should be January 45th. Every year this month drags on and every year it seems to surprise me for some reason. In addition, my heart just feels heavy as I witness a lot of darkness and sadness around me. So, I'm choosing to control what I can control by making my house feel as cozy as possible, relishing the sunshine whenever it dares to peek through the clouds, gathering inspiration for warmer weather projects and, most importantly, resting in the comfort of the sovereignty of my Father.

“God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that everyone he has made may know his work..." Job 37:5-7
What if you could do something at the beginning of What if you could do something at the beginning of your day that would be a gift to yourself later on? That’s what we’re talking about on this week’s Tip Tuesday! #tiptuesday
The sun decided to make another appearance today! The sun decided to make another appearance today! It’s been such a lovely Sunday. Chocolate croissants for breakfast followed by church then naps/football/reading/etc and soon we’ll be heading out to dinner with friends. These are my favorite kind of weekends. Hope yours has been lovely too! 🌿
Yesterday was stormy and cold but today the sunshi Yesterday was stormy and cold but today the sunshine is breaking through the fog and my house just seems happier. We definitely needed to see that light streaming in through the windows and it’s a gift I don’t take for granted.

And yes, there are still twinkle lights on my mantle because those help when the sunshine goes away again. ✨
Happy weekend! The rainy and gloomy weather here i Happy weekend! The rainy and gloomy weather here in the Willamette Valley has me feeling less frustrated about my migraine forcing me to just snuggle up indoors and these flowers in my kitchen are lifting my spirits. What are you up to on this holiday weekend?
It’s time for TIP TUESDAY! This week, I’m offe It’s time for TIP TUESDAY! This week, I’m offering a gentle reminder from my own parenting experience after feeling my heart pricked with conviction about what was waiting for my daughter every day after school. I hope it will encourage you! 🌿#tiptuesday
The day after Christmas I found myself laundering The day after Christmas I found myself laundering and folding all of the linens we used the previous night as we hosted my husband's side of the family for dinner and other festivities. As I laid out each cloth napkin and folded them one by one, I couldn't help but be struck by what a simple, yet meaningful, task it was. It's such an honor and privilege to be the hostess and, at this stage of my life, I realize that this has almost one hundred percent become my role now. Our parents are in their 70's and have either downsized significantly or simply don't have the energy to take on hosting duties for a large group. I could resent this. I could feel overwhelmed by it. But, instead, I'm choosing to embrace it knowing that, someday, I too will pass the hosting torch and I hope that I will be welcomed with love and attentiveness. So, I fold the linen napkins, taking pleasure in the way all of the creases line up and how neat and tidy they look in the drawer of my dining room buffet. These seemingly simple chores are part of the lifeblood of homemaking and my attitude towards them can either be one of gratefulness or grumbly-ness (yes, I'm making up words now). 

And I’m choosing gratefulness. 

“This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.” (Elisabeth Elliot⁣)
Welcome to Tip Tuesday! I’m so excited to be kic Welcome to Tip Tuesday! I’m so excited to be kicking off the year with a brand new series! Each weekly installment will feature a tip for everything from your home to faith to parenting to family life and so much more. My goal for 2023 is to have far more personal interaction with this community while continuing on with the mission of weaving together all things heart and home. I hope you enjoy this first tip and I’d love to hear from you about whether or not you decorate for winter! 
#tiptuesday #organizing #winterdecorating
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. H “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” 

Here’s to beginnings. Happy new year friends! May you experience the majesty and sovereignty of the Lord in 2023 like never before! ✨
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