HOW IT BEGAN...
/ Ad • vent / The anticipated arrival of a notable thing, event or person.
*Friends & Family - I'm so incredibly pumped to be *DAYS AWAY* from fully launching my #obession turned #sidehustle! However, before I spill the whole can of beans, since "advent" is all about "anticipation", I'd like build some! Over the next few days I'll be sharing how my fascination with Hobby Lobby's scrapbooking paper aisle turned into my new small biz #AdventStudio and I'd feel super loved/honored if you "liked" my page and came along for the journey!
It was about 5 years ago around 7:30am by the Des Moines River when a really cute guy got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. It was time to plan a wedding! The realization hit me fairly quickly that I had no idea what I was doing, but I had my mom and Pinterest - both containing much more expertise on the subject than me. It took a bit of creative planning to find a date, but eventually one was set - Memorial Day Monday, 2012. Thanks to it being on a Monday, most of the details fell into place fairly quickly and easily; however, one of the last few items on the list remained - our wedding invitations / stationery.
Being a full-time Graphic Designer at that time, I knew our wedding stationery was something I wanted to tackle myself but I had no idea how much I would enjoy it! From walking through the aisles of inspiring patterned papers and embellishments until I found the right pairing that went exactly with the colors and vibe of our bash, to playing around with the format and fonts of the invitation design, to having a craft night (yay!) where we pulled everything together into a small work-of-art that we were able to mail to all our family and friends - when it came down to it, it wasn't just one or two things that I enjoyed about the process, I was delighted with every step! But my fascination didn't stop with our invitations, this idea of designing stationery spilled into our wedding programs, seating chart, menus, table numbers...you name it. If it was a wedding element made of paper, I figured out a way to design it on my own.
Fast-forward a few years I've realized, as I gawk at every piece of wedding stationery during my#sidehustlesaturdays as a second shooter (assistant wedding photographer), that my fascination with stationery hasn't subsided. To be honest, I have a box sitting upstairs full of stationery I've collected over the years to prove it. (Yes, if you've gotten married in the past 5 years and I've attended your wedding, I probably still have your wedding invitation.) And through the past year of encouragement and hard work, it's time to make what's been in my heart and head more than just a closet fascination with papers and printed goods.
For a while, I tried to appease this fascination with crafting hand-made greeting cards and selling them at local craft fairs. It was a fun little side-hustle that I really enjoyed! I learned a lot. Had a ton of fun. Met cool people. Bonded with my sister-in-law (who co-hosted our booth at craft fairs). But got burned out really quickly and realized I wanted something bigger.
Enter in *Advent Studio - A Stationery Co.*
When coming up with a business identity, I knew it had to encompass both what my business was about and my personal values. "Advent", a word that describes a season of anticipation, fit perfectly because it's defined as being the period of time in which you *anticipate the arrival of* a wedding day or special celebration and being with those you love - or the arrival of the stationery itself being delivered to your or your guests' mail box. From a personal perspective, "advent" describes my time here on Earth where, as a Christian, I try my best to live out Matthew 28:19 and share the words taught in Ephesians 2:8-9.
