Sponsor Highlight: October Ink

Today, I am so pleased to introduce all of you to October Ink, one of my newest sponsors.

October Ink is a design studio comprised of the talented duo Morgan Rapp and Jayne Swallow. I was lucky enough to meet Jayne at a recent blogger meet up, and we totally hit it off. Once I got home and took a look at her and Morgan's work, I was floored by their talent. These two are the real deal.

Definitely go check out their portfolio! You don't want to miss it. They do branding, web design, and even custom wedding design, including invites, stamps, wedding websites, menus and more! I want to get married all over again just so that they can design it.

Let's get to know them a bit better! I have had the best time chatting with them. This is a spotlight you don't want to miss.

1. How did October Ink get started?

Morgan: October Ink was actually a lot of years in the making, now that I look back on it! Jayne and I grew up together, and even when we were little, we always loved being creative together. When we were kids, we would scrapbook in my parent's garage for house and talk about boys. We went to different colleges - Jayne pursued Graphic Design and I majored in Marketing and Art. When Jayne started designing wedding invitations in 2008, I started helping with the marketing side of things. Meanwhile, we were both freelancing separately with bigger projects, and then one day, we realized that we should combine our talents and October Ink was born!

2. October Ink is a partnership between two fabulous people - Morgan and Jayne. How did you two meet?

Jayne: We pretty much met in diapers. Morgan and I grew up down the street from each other. We went to the same schools, played soccer on the same teams, went to church together, and played in an awesome two-man band together.

Morgan: I can't remember a time when I didn't know her!

3. You both do a wide range of design work - branding, web design, wedding invitations, and more. Do you have a current favorite?

Jayne: I love it all, but if I had to choose one, I'd say branding is my favorite.

Morgan: Ooh, that is a tough one. I think right now, web design is my favorite. I think it is what has really helped our business grow and makes us unique in that we are designers who are also capable of implementing a client's online presence. It challenges me the most as there is always new things to learn. I love seeing the final product come together for the client, as well. Seeing their website launch really brings the project full circle.

4. What is your favorite thing about being graphic designers?

Jayne: I love being a graphic designer because it allows me a constant creative outlet. I also really enjoy the business and strategic aspect to design. You get to work both sides of your brain at once.

Morgan: I love interacting with clients and working with small business owners. Each client we have has a story behind their business and it is amazing to work with so many people who are just as passionate about their work as we are. I also love helping a client's vision come to life and seeing where the creative process take us with each project.

5. Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Jayne: I find it EVERYWHERE. In a pattern on a dress at the mall, vintage ephemera, blogs, pinterest, on packaging at the grocery store.

Morgan: So many places! One of my favorites would have to be Pinterest (of course), but lately, I have been feeling it is getting so over-saturated so I have been loving Dribbble.com even more. I also love to follow a few graphic designer blogs. A few of my favorites include Breanna Rose and DesignLoveFest.

6. When you're not working, what you do like to do? I see one of you is a self-described Downton Abbey addict.

Jayne: I think Morgan and I are both Downton Abbey addicts. I love my TV shows. Also, I love the outdoors. My husband and I love to snow ski, water ski, mountain bike, and road bike. I LOVE to travel. I love exploring new places and seeing the real culture, eating the real food, having a real adventure, etc. I think Scott and I wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if we went on a vacation and stayed in an all-inclusive resort. I think we'd get bored, and catch a cab to get some street food somewhere.

Morgan: My husband and I really enjoy dining at new and local places, as well as renting a good movie to unwind. We also love traveling, and trying new things when we can. I bought a DSLR camera last year, and love exploring photography.

7. Any exciting October Ink news coming up or on the horizon?

Jayne: Yes, we're launching our first wedding stationary line this month! Stay tuned for the new line on our website. We're also going to the National Stationary Show in New York City in a week! Super excited to mix and mingle with fellow stationers.

Morgan: We'll also be starting graphic design workshops in the Salt Lake area, and possible Denver this year, which we are excited about. Also, Jayne and I just happen to both be expecting our first babies in September, and we are excited about exploring that new chapter of our lives.

Seriously, you guys. You have to check them out. They are amazing.

Visit their website for more information on their work and pricing, and catch them on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Traveling Faraway and Close to Home

Today, Cal from Call Me Cal is here to tell us a bit about her thoughts on traveling. Cal and I share a love of adventure, and her blog and mine speak to the same notion that you can and should make travel your own. Make sure to check out her blog!

Traveling has been a passion of mine ever since I was a little kid. I grew up experiencing all different types of travel, from road trips to international travels, with my family and with my peers, and everything in between. These experiences have been invaluable and definitely shaped my interests as an adult. And when I have kids, I definitely want to travel with them as much as possible and expose them to difference places and cultures just like I was able to experience.

On the Lookout

Spencer and I started looking for our first home to buy a few weeks ago, and the whole process is crazy! Layout, location, the future, and of course, money - this is all we talk about now. I'm constantly perusing West Elm for furniture for the house that is not yet ours, and last night, Spencer read a book on expansive soils. I kid you not.

I think we found our place, but we won't know for sure for a few weeks. In the meantime, I think I'll start posting about home decor, design ideas, entertaining... anything that helps me stay sane through this process. Sane and excited.

Here are a few home blogs/websites that I've been visiting throughout this process. If you have a favorite, share below in the comments!

1. I want this chair from West Elm.
2. Erin's home tour is so inspiring!
3. I love how Jen and Kev painted their mudroom.
4. Filling my 'At Home' pinterest board to the brim.

And last but not least, we have a winner for the Ashley Ella Designs giveaway! Hilary of Young Texan Mama - congratulations! Can't wait to see the finished design!

Love Yourself Linkup / Your Words Matter

I struggle with positive feedback. I don’t really know how to accept compliments, and I get nervous when people give me praise for a job well done, or open up to me because I encouraged them. I never really learned how to deal with this type of communication because growing up, I dealt with so much bullying and negative talk. I always thought that people would say mean things about me. I never expected people to be nice, and now that I am an adult and I encounter really nice people with really nice things to say, I mostly don’t know what to do.

Last Monday, I published my recovery post on the blog. It was the beginning of a long story about my recovery from an eating disorder. I had been wanting to write a reflection on my first year in recovery for months, but it took me a really long time to even get up the nerve to start typing. Then, I started typing, and it took me a few more months to write the full story.

One day, I sat down at a table at Starbucks, and inspiration and bravery came to me like fire. The words flowed out so easily. Since I knew this would be a big step for me, I let the full post simmer for a few weeks. I’d leave it for a day, and then go back and write some more, make a few changes, and then leave it again for a week. On the plane to Boston, I worked on it from Kansas to New York - a solid two or three hours of editing and rewriting. Spencer read it through dozens of times, making suggestions here and there. It was a long process.

I could feel the nerves in my fingers and hands and arms buzzing, but I felt calm in my heart about the decision to tell the story. It was time. The day I put the post together in Blogger, adding in the photos that Rebecca took, I purposefully chose to schedule it out for two weeks or so. I wanted to have a calm head about it going up so that I could manage all of my social media, the linkup coordination, etc. without the panic of knowing it was going up in a few hours. I hit publish, and went to bed.

The thing I did not plan for was how mentally and emotionally unprepared I would be when it posted. With all the hustle and bustle of our house hunt, I nearly forgot that it was going up last Monday. When I woke up that morning and the tweets and emails and comments started rolling in, I began to panic. Did people like it? Did they hate it? Are they going to ignore me, judge me, criticize me? 

Throughout the rush of the day (because of course I scheduled 2,000 appointments the day I posted a critical and intensely personal story about my eating disorder on the internet for the world to see), my insides started to crumble. I felt like I was sleep walking. I told a friend that I felt like all I knew for sure that day was that my name was Anne and that I need to eat to stay alive. I just felt so unsure of myself.


The thing is, everyone was writing these incredibly powerful and encouraging words in response. That was what threw me off the most. It seems that as an intensely emotional and relational person, what I crave the most in my life is community and connection with others. But when I’m vulnerable and those connections start to form, terror strikes.

When you’re that open and truthful, you have to let all the walls down. People were seeing me at my most raw, and I was just plain scared that they would take advantage of that to hurt me.

No one hurt me. No. Everyone was kind and sweet and loving and gracious, and they said things like “You’re so brave,” and “I’m so proud of you.” Words that are like nutrients to my starving heart. Words that I needed to hear after 10 years of hiding shame and fear about my body not looking as it’s “supposed to” and not being accepted for my true self.

That Monday morning, my friend asked me how much of the encouragement I could take in to my heart. I responded with 5%. The great thing about her is that she is full of compassion. She said, That’s fine. Start with 5% and see how you feel this afternoon and later in the evening. Maybe you will be able to let more in.

When I finally sat down, closed my eyes, and let all the words soak in, I was able to take in more and more. And the friends and family and readers who opened up about their honest struggle to me in emails and comments and last week’s link up all inspired me to keep trying. Their bravery in exposing some of their struggles to the world in hopes that they could receive encouragement and also encourage others inspired me to open up my heart a bit more. There are really amazing people in this world. People who want the same things I do - to feel love.

So now it’s my turn to say it: I am so proud of you. I am so proud of you for your bravery, for exposing even the smallest sliver of your experience to others, reaching for loving connection, encouraging others to have hope. You are a strong and beautiful individual with gifts and talents and words to share. Your story matters. Your words matter. You matter.

Picking Blackberries

Anytime anyone mentions blackberries, I think of Oregon.

My parents never sent me to summer camp growing up. I didn’t like to be away from home, I had a hard time sleeping, I hated being dirty, and bugs were (and still are) the worst. Camp wasn’t my cup of tea. I liked gymnastics and swimming and popsicles and Disney Channel.

Somewhat in contrast with my childhood experience, I started training as an outdoor educator in college, and worked at a camp the summer before my senior year. It was a really hard job, being a camp counselor. Some of my friends talk about being a camp counselor, and they describe their life as if they had boundless amounts of energy and that the kids were always little angels. But I was tired that whole summer, and the kids wore me thin. I loved them so much, my campers, that is the real truth. But the work made me tired, and I am sure that parents around the world are saying That is how I feel everyday. Just you wait. I applaud you all.

There was this magical part of the camp that I worked at: wild blackberries. There were wild blackberry bushes everywhere. Berry picking is a thing in Oregon. People grow up doing this. Colorado does not have this tradition. The only thing I “picked” was a pumpkin, and it wasn’t even a real pumpkin patch. But these berries were magic berries. They were sweet and full and plump and shiny. 

Me and the kids would stop on our way from one activity to another to pick them off the branches and eat our fill. I started leaving time in the day for this because it often slowed us way down. We’d snake our arms between the thorny branches, reaching for the perfect berry. Sometimes, I’d sacrifice my arms for berries the kids wanted. Sometimes, they’d offer to do the same for me - their arms more slender, my arms longer. 

We had a slide at the lake, and at the top was a massive blackberry bush. I’d be lifeguarding at the bottom, and my co-counselor would be running the slide at the top. He’d pick berries and throw them down to me. I’d try to catch them in my mouth, which the kids thought was hilarious. I thought it was pretty fun, too, and I was 22. We got pretty good at it. If I dropped them, I’d pick them up off the dirt and eat them anyways. Sometimes, I’d convince the kids to go up and bring me some. They’d come back down with hands filled to the brim, and we’d share their pickings with smiles and laughs.

This was such a magical time in my life. From now on, blackberries hold a special, Oregon shaped place in my heart. When I eat them, I hear the campers singing and laughing and being noisy in the tent at night. I smell the hay from the barn, and feel the heat of the sun on my skin. I am forever indebted to blackberries, for the nourishment they offered my soul, for the love they facilitated between me and amazing people, for the experience of being a kid again.

Blackberries are magic berries. 



Photo by John Hanson.