Celebrating some BIG opportunities and announcing a little SECRET!

I have some exciting news to share about some changes as well as a few awesome opportunities coming up! After a year of "rest" in 2015 and taking several months off from LSP to have my baby girl and just really enjoy time with my family, this year has been shaping up to be a busy but wonderful one! I just wanted to share some things with you that have made me oh so happy!

First off, a big change is coming soon-hopefully by May at the latest! I'm working on a whole new website where pretties can be purchased directly from my main site rather than having to solely go through my Etsy shop. I will still keep my Etsy shop open but my focus will now be on my main domain website which will turn e-commerce in a couple of weeks!

Next, I have some wonderful features coming up that I'm so giddy about! In May, I have a feature with Green Wedding Shoes with photography by Leighanne Herr, in June, a feature with Magnolia Rouge with photography by Mallory Dawn and in September, a print feature with Bridal Guide Magazine!

I also get to work with Tyler Rye (his work is stunning) with his upcoming workshop by sending him a few bridal pieces for the styled shoots. 

I recently had the opportunity to work with the oh so talented Kristen Booth once again by sending her a couple pieces for a styled shoot in Ireland which turned out BEAUTIFULLY! See more photos here! It was magical! This shoot featured the Sienna Floral Crown.

I am also working on a DIY with Afloral that I'm excited about! I will be creating an ombre floral chandelier...stay tuned!

Also, this year I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with the best selling author and mama friend, Amy Kavelaris of the new children's book, Bloom with Mi! I've designed and created several bloom crowns to coordinate with her heart warming book for little's about sharing our gifts and talents we've been given. You can get the book here. As of right now, I don't have a listing in the shop for this crown but you can order one by email at lovesparklepretty@aol.com.

There has been so many other wonderful blessings poured out on our year so far and I am so incredibly thankful to my Lord and Savior for each and every one!

I share this because I'm still learning to celebrate my wins no matter how big or how small they may seem. Love Sparkle Pretty has turned from a small creative outlet to a business that has opened so many doors, opportunities and connections that I never thought possible over the years! Thank you to everyone for all of the continuous love and support! <3

Self Worth, Value and Beauty-A Maternity Shoot to describe the DIFFERENCE

I have been asked what makes my crowns so different from the several that have since come out since opening my shop back in 2011. I can give several answers (and have) but a few that I'd like to share today can be expressed through these beautiful maternity photos of Nicole Davidge taken by Savannah Kate. 

Last year, I had the wonderful pleasure of creating a custom crown for Nicole for her Spring wedding as well as coordinating crowns for her bridesmaids. Before that, I also created crowns for her styled shoots for her photography business, Southern Shutter Photography. Now, Nicole just had her first little love-sweet baby Nixon. I am so honored to have been a part of Nicole's journey (even if it's just been a small part). I am so incredibly blessed to be able to work with the brides that I do. I don't just create floral crowns. I create keepsakes that can be treasured for years to come. My pieces are meant to be worn time and time again through engagements, weddings, maternity photos, family photos and even passed on to our daughters. These past few years, I have been trying to per-fect my designs to be loved and handled. I have gone through different blooms to use the highest of quality, added new techniques including hand stitching and now even adding sealant to the tips of many blossoms to keep from any possible fraying. 

The difference is in the details and the time I put into each piece. I want each woman to feel something when they wear one of my crowns or veils-a feeling of self worth, value and beauty.

Nicole is wearing the 'Leigh' Floral Crown from Love Sparkle Pretty.

Photography: Savannah Kate Photography

Dresses: Sew Trendy Accessories

Hair: Cheveux by Robbie Meshell

Makeup: Bel Viso Makeup Artistry 

SHOP REOPENING!

The shop is officially reopening June 1st! 

I've been on maternity leave from the shop since the very end of February to welcome our sweet girl to the family. (I wrote about her birth story recently). 

Thank you for everyone's patience and support as I've been taking this time off to enjoy with the family. Excited to reopen with some new pretty pieces! So, let your friends know (brides-to-be, momma's, little loves, etc.)!

{RECAP} Vintage Delight Shopping Social

I have so much catching up to do on the blog and figured I would start with the recap of Vintage Delight Shopping Social that I helped host last month!

It was so much fun being able to set up one of my first "booths" for Love Sparkle Pretty and mingle with some inspiring women. A big thank you to the others that also hosted this event, Kristen, from Chariot Marie had lots of gorgeous vintage clothing available, Vivian of Etablir Shop not only opened up her space for the event but also had tons of stunning vintage rentals and pieces available (that pink vanity I used in my booth was hers)! There was also some delicious handmade ice cream available from Miniscoops (seriously good! I bought some Basil and Walnut ice cream as well as Coffee, Cookies & Cream) and beautiful vintage jewelry was showcased by Mel Scouts.

I loved how all of our aesthetics pulled together to create an inspiring space and a fun little getaway for ladies to do a little shopping. Each hour we also randomly chose names for several fun giveaways including a $100 gift card to Etablir Shop, a pair of vintage earrings from Mel Scouts, a floral dream catcher from Love Sparkle Pretty, a $100 towards vintage clothing from Chariot Marie and several other giveaways! We even had a glam photo booth which was definitely well used for photos with friends, props and silly faces.

Here are a mix of photos I snapped as well as several taken by Kristen Booth to capture the day. Thank you to all who stopped by to make this event a success!

If you are interested in coming to the next event, leave your email in the comments below.

 A huge thank you to Fleuretica for providing such beautiful floral arrangements for the event!!

 A reminder, if you are interested in coming to the next event, leave your email in the comments below.

Vintage Delight Shopping Social {So Cal Event}

On November 16 in Industry Ca, we are bringing you 

Vintage Delight Shopping Social

"Get all dolled-up in your best vintage finery, and stop in for a lovely afternoon at Etablir Shop. Come browse vintage clothing and jewelry from Chariot Marie and Mel Scouts, as well as hand-made adornments from Love Sparkle Pretty. Also featuring ice cream from Miniscoops, a glam girl photo booth, hundreds of dollars in giveaways, music, and MORE!"

See more details and GET YOUR $6 TICKETS HERE!

Photography Credit: Kristen Booth 

{IG Auction} A Winter-Inspired Children's Crown for a Good Cause

From November 4th-8th, Pamela from MacDonald's Playland will be hosting an auction on Instagram to help raise money for children and women affected by homelessness and domestic violence through their charity, Project Lead Kindly. You can follow along with the auction at @AuctionLeadKindly on IG here to place your bids. TODAY IS THE LAST DAY!!

To help raise money for PLK, I've created a one of a kind children's floral crown created with peach, ivory and sage green hues with a bit of gold detail. The crown is attached to 2 ivory shear ribbons for an adjustable fit for ages 3-10. This pretty piece is also lined with soft felt fabric for a comfortable wear paired with a little one's favorite outfit. The starting bid is just $10 so follow us on IG at @LoveSparklePretty and @AuctionLeadKindly to stay up to date on the auction. Place your bid on the crown HERE-Remember, today is the LAST DAY!

Speaking of charities, there is another that is dear to me, Operation Smile. While I was going to school to become a nurse, I remember learning about different congenital defects that can happen within developing fetuses-one of them being the cleft lip and cleft palate. There are several difficulties and infections that can occur with someone who is born with this, including difficulty eating and speaking, ear disease, dental problems and more. Since I was in school then, I was able to help out with this charity just by renting some of my textbooks from Campus Book Rentals (you know how expensive it is to buy textbooks these days). They donate to Operation Smile with each book rented!

For over 30 years, Operation Smile has been performing safe surgeries for those in developing countries suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate. What's even more amazing is that those performing the surgeries and providing healthcare for these underprivileged children are all volunteers! So beautiful! You can read more about this cause right here.

Below are just a couple of children that have been positively impacted and treated by Operation Smile.

Lucas, a sweet 5 year old boy from Brazil got a new start and was able to attend school once again after being bullied for his cleft lip. Read more about his story here.

Precious little Chisomo from Malawi, suffered from malnutrition due to his cleft lip and cleft palate but was finally able to get his surgery done after regaining health. Read more of Chisomo's story here.


What are some of your favorite charities and causes to support?

**A portion of this post his been sponsored but all of the opinions and statements are my own. I truly believe in both of these causes.**

An Interview with a Photographer and How I Started Love Sparkle Pretty

A couple months ago after visiting the Creative Live studio for a marketing class, I was contacted by sweet photographer and filmmaker, Sarah Shotts from Arkansas. I was so happy that she reached out to me about doing a little interview and becoming a Preferred Vendor on her website. Honestly, it's amazing how the internet can connect people in positive ways!

Below is just a peek of the interview. Read more about my story, what inspires me, what I love most about what I do and more right here.

How did you get started making floral crowns & bridal accessories? 

Back in 2009, my husband and I got engaged and once I started planning the wedding, I realized that I craved a creative outlet. From doing all of the floral design with my centerpieces, bouquets, corsages, etc. to creating coordinating flower hair clips for all of my bridesmaids as well as my veil, I fell in love with all of the different pieces you can create to bring a wedding together.

Once my husband and I got married in 2010, I kept creating flower clips for friends and family as a hobby and first opened up my Etsy shop with floral hair clips. During this time I was also attending school full time to become a nurse. Once I got accepted into nursing school, I had to completely leave my craft room to focus on my studies as well as our brand new little baby.
After several months, I realized that I intensely missed my creative outlet. After much prayer and support from my husband, I decided to leave nursing school to pursue my first passion and reopened my Etsy shop.

I started working with photographers which allowed me to expand and cultivate my design ideas. From these photo shoots, I was able to start re-branding and learning the path that I wanted Love Sparkle Pretty to take.

I found my niche in designing pieces that make romance dance in photos and bring special moments together. I love sending these pieces to others around the world that will adorn them on days they will never forget.

Hop on over to Sarah's blog, A Love Letter to Adventure to see the rest of the interview here.

{Photo Shoot-FBF} My First Collaboration + How to Get Photographers to Photograph Your Product

 A couple years ago when I made the decision to leave nursing school to pursue my passion of creativity and design, I had to learn new skills and what it would take to run a small business. Amongst experimenting with sewing and making different accessories, I started creating new pieces from single flower clips to floral crowns for styled photo shoots. I handcrafted these pieces specifically for shoots without the intent of actually selling them because at the time, I didn't think anyone would actually buy crowns (thankfully I was wrong).

After I had made my first crown for a shoot with a local photographer, I was approached via email by Jennifer, a part-time model in Canada. She was working with Sarah Sovereign on an upcoming shoot and wanted me to create a floral crown for their vision. This was my first collaboration outside of CA and outside of the states. I wasn't sure how these things worked but it was the start of my networking skills and I dove right in.

I remember feeling like a little sponge a few years ago (I still am) trying to learn everything I can and since I craved beautiful photos of my pieces (a cell phone just doesn't cut it all the time), I found ways to collaborate with talented photographers.

I've been asked by a few business owners how to go about getting photographers to take photos of product. I know it can be a bit nerve wrecking at first but if they aren't asking you, you ask them! Find photographers whom you really admire their work, fit your brand aesthetic and would genuinely photograph your product (I wouldn't ask a wedding photographer to photograph handmade pillows if that's what you do). Ask them if they have any styled shoots or would be interested in shooting your pieces. The worse they can say is no and you move on but if they say yes, send them your product, include a return label if requested (most photogs will graciously mail it back to you) and once they have sent you the photos, remember to share them and give them credit! It's a 2 way street. They get their name spread and you get yours. Plus, if you made a great connection, you can work together again in the future.

Here is one of the first shoots I collaborated on and since it reminds me of Fall, it seemed like a good time to share. Thank you again Sarah Sovereign for your pretty photos and thank you Jenn for reaching out to me!!

See more of this photo shoot here.

Photographer: Sarah Sovereign

Floral Crown: Love Sparkle Pretty

Model: Jennifer

DON'T FORGET!! The Fall Sale in the shop ends on Saturday! Get 30% off your order using the code, "HELLOFALL" at checkout.

The Shop has REOPENED + New Logo + Blog/Website Design

The shop has REOPENED! 

Since Monday morning, I've reopened the Etsy Shop after a month and a half long shop vacay. During this time, I was catching up on orders, reevaluating plans and creating new ones, making a few design changes and resting while spending much needed time with my family.

You can read about a few things I've reflected on and learned here and here in previous posts.

I've also been making some new design changes to the website and blog (logo, headers, colors, etc). As far as navigation goes, I'm trying to make it easier to look through different blog posts by subject-since I'm a momma, wife, shop owner, creative, etc....I share quite a bit of different topics so you can now go through my TABS at the top and see different drop down menus to browse by. I'm still categorizing posts but many of them are complete so you can ponder and read away! Let me know what you think too and if it's pretty accessible.

I hope you adore the new look as much as I do, I wanted a clean, elegant yet clean looking logo and space to share my little world. Now, it's time to create new labels, tags and business cards! 

Photography Credit: Kristen Booth

Floral Crown: The 'Charlotte' by Love Sparkle Pretty

Floral Adornment: The 'Julia' by Love Sparkle Pretty

Model: Julie Story She's an amazing graphic designer for photographers!

{Small Biz} Hiring, My Brand is a Reflection, North Stars and Priorities. Part II

Back in July, I attended a Marketing for Crafters Workshop with Tara Swiger in the CreativeLive studios. We went over a heck of a lot of info that really got me thinking about how to apply it to my own small business. This is Part II of what I've learned these past couple months as I reflect.

See Part I here covering, I don't want to be a corporation, valuing my time and pricing.
See my trip to the CreativeLive Studios in San Francisco here.

I have a different view point of hiring. I have hired a few times temporarily and I thought that the only task I can hire for is to help me create pieces to catch up on current orders. After having a difficult time giving up so much control (or at least feeling like it), I realized that there are so many other tasks that can be delegated to make life just a bit easier without giving up a large portion of design aspect such as packaging, shipping, organizing, etc.

It's a bit nerve-wrecking for me if somebody else is creating something that I have to stand behind. I felt like I was giving up so much control and I've realized that as far as design and creating pieces goes, I need to keep myself in this process wholly. I will always have my own techniques and certain ways of doing things from years of experience and it seems a bit difficult to teach these (I also learned I'm not a great teacher of my work either). I'm so used to doing something a certain way-that most of the time, I don't notice that I do those things until somebody else is doing it differently.

Hiring can be a huge weight off someone's shoulders and it is if you pour the time into teaching someone who is really passionate about the work as you are. If you are looking to grow your business, hiring is also a large factor in doing so but for me, as far as production goes anyway, I've come to terms that I want to be behind each piece that goes out, I need to be. If you read Part I, you would see that I don't want to be a corporation anyway so I don't need too many hands creating LSP pieces (contrary to what others may think). I just may have to increase turn around time and that's OK.


My brand is a reflection of myself. Trying to be or copy anybody else's brand and what they do to market, etc. is not only being untrue to your customers but also to yourself. Find what works for you and do just that. This does not mean however, if your business fails or something doesn't work that you are a failure. It's easy to tie ourselves to our work in this way and beat ourselves up over missteps. What this does mean is that you created your brand to serve you-not copy somebody else's work and style. People can tell when you aren't being genuine.

What aesthetic do you like? What type of customers do you want to attract? What words do you use to describe your pieces? When it comes to marketing, what message is most important to you to convey? These are some questions that are important to answer to build your brand.

Just because you want the numbers or sales like someone else doesn't mean you have to act as a chameleon and blend in with their brand and style. Even if you did exactly what another brand did to market and sell, both businesses would still be completely different when it comes to numbers, sales, etc. So, you and I need to be true to our own work and creativity.


What is my North Star? It took me a while to understand this question when Tara Swiger first asked this of us. It totally made more sense when she asked, what qualities guide your business?

For me, when I think of my business as a whole, the qualities that come to mind are Romance, Beauty and Femininity.

Romance because I work with a lot of brides as my primary market as well as moms-to-be and those renewing their vows after several years of marriage. There is a tremendous amount of love in each of these relationships and I want my photos, pieces, descriptions and style to depict the love that is between each of them. I want someone to see something that I've made and immediately picture themselves wearing it on the day they say "I Do" to the man of their dreams or wearing it in the photos anticipating their sweet little child.

Beauty because I want to make someone feel beautiful as soon as they adorn a creation that I've made. Nothing makes me happier as a creative designer to hear a customer describe how wonderful one of my pieces made them feel as they wore it (and didn't want to take it off).

Femininity because as a woman, each crown, veil, headpieces etc. is designed with the feminine heart in mind. I love creating with soft, dainty and lady-like components. The Lord made us women for a reason. Why not embrace the details that come with it?

What qualities guide your business?


At the end of the day, what is truly important? It doesn't matter to me how much money I made, how much work I completed or how many followers I have if my family isn't happy and God isn't at the center of our home first and foremost. Of course there are goals that we set for ourselves and plans that we'd love to complete in our small business journey but if I completely put this little business before my family and my relationship with the Lord, all of this work is in vain.

None of this will last forever anyway so pour your time into what really matters and set your priorities. It's easy to forget what's really important when you're all caught up in work and "making your dreams come true". Keep a reminder of your priorities at your desk, on the wall, on a post-it on your laptop, or another easy to see spot.

If you over work yourself, you will get burnt out and stressed out. Believe me, this has happened to me plenty of times which is why we need to learn to value our time in these seasons (see this topic here and here). I am currently on a shop vacation with a large part of my reasoning having to do with getting burnt out with working too much. Sometimes we need a break and that's OK...actually it's essential! We need these breaks to refresh our minds and re-organize the matters that are most important to us.

What's most important to you?




See Part I of this Small Biz Reflection and what I learned at CreativeLive here.

The other topics I've covered are:

• I don't want to be a corporation or large-scale company
• I need to value my time
• Pricing

{Sneak Peek} of the NEW Fall Bridal Line

I've been talking about a new bridal line that I will be launching in a couple months. I've had all of these ideas in my head for a while and I am now finally able to make them tangible and come to life! Although, I still have quite a bit of work to do, I am hoping to get these pieces done by the end of August to launch as the Fall 2014 Bridal Line. With lots of hand beading, crystals, vintage-inspired rhinestones, intricate lace and delicate champagne tulle, these pieces are unique and the designs are something that I haven't created before. 

I wanted to share just a little teeny tiny sneak peek on what I've been working on with more details to come.

{enjoy}

I am completely and utterly in love with this cream colored Chantilly lace. So intricate and feminine!

Just started this new design which is still in the works with quite a bit more details that must be added. So far, I've hand sewn several clear rhinestones set in antique bronze to this piece that I am so excited about!

This piece wasn't actually intended to be a part of the new line originally. It was inspired for an upcoming bridal shoot but once I started hand stitching several different laces and soft chiffon fabric together to create this veil, I was enamored with it! The complete piece isn't shown in the photo (the front is still being created) but with it's pretty details, I knew I must add this to the shop collection.

This oh so lovely floor length chiffon veil and floral crown combo was created as a custom order for a bride recently. Again, I fell in love with the design. Seriously, some of my pieces have come from the inspiration of my amazing clients! After receiving quite a bit of inquiries on this piece, I will be adding this veil to the shop very soon as well.

There are so many more details that need to be put together to make this collection complete & cohesive but I am so excited to create and see them come together.

What bridal trends are you most excited about?