Hello! And more... ;)

Posted on | Tuesday, October 4, 2011 | 3 Comments

I hope everyone had an amazing summer. I would have blogged more but summer is definitely the most busy time of the year. Usually, things start winding down a bit and I'm able to do some R&D during the fall/winter, but this year is particularly special as I have some completely new projects I've undertaken that I am very excited to share with everyone when they are ready.

Flowers from our summer garden.

In the midst of all sorts of projects, it came to light that several online stores have plagiarized my original text. I've also spoken with other creatives and designers who are experiencing the same thing. SO, I just thought I'd bring light to the topic - not just for me - but for others. Just want to point this out once, and hopefully never again. Not to sound too negative about anything, but it is definitely a huge pet peeve of mine when I've taken time to thoughtfully write something - anything - and someone else copies and pastes it into their own website. All the text on my websites are my original writings. I literally studied for years on how to write well from taking college courses to writing my own MA thesis with several professors as my mentors and editors. I only say this because writing is something you learn and develop. I don't always try to write as if it were going to be published, and I goof around at times with tweets and facebook posts, but when it comes to my business, I'm very serious about how I portray the business through writing. I've seen my self-written bio/profile copied word for word and I've seen countless instances of my business story, information and policies copied. Some people change one word here and there, but it's still a bit of a shame.

I know that there are many people who write for a living. I don't, but it doesn't mean that it's nothing for me to throw up some text on my website. For instance, my online policies were written and revised after a culmination of experiences over the last few years. Many times when I'm asked a new question or I have an issue, I'll adapt my policies to cater to my own experiences as they relate to the structure of my business and to accomodate my customers. It's really funny when someone just copies huge passages from my original writings and drops into their website - as if their experiences are exactly like mine.

It feels even more disrespectful, when designers in exactly the same industry copy my original text. You can grab some text from my policies, drop into a search engine and see for yourself. Examples (one of these things is not like the other): here, here, and here.

Sorry to go on and on about it, but it's annoying. I just wanted to say something so that anyone that might be doing it might read this and think twice. I had it really drilled into me when writing my thesis that you must credit your sources - you can literally get into some trouble if you don't. So for those copying my text, please don't. At the very least, link back to my site and give credit where credit is due. If you're having trouble writing, seek help or at least get in touch with me prior to copying and maybe we can work something out. Think about it this way. If you worked somewhere and put your hours in and then, when it came time to pick up your paycheck, someone else had already picked it up (i.e. benefited from your hard work and claimed it was their own) - wouldn't that suck?

Note: Might not keep this post up forever. Some links above I'm assuming (hoping) will change. Just having one of those moments... you know?

Out and about

Posted on | Monday, September 19, 2011 | No Comments

Matt and I went to Oktoberfest this past weekend and of course, ate a ton of food. We went later in the day so it was getting dark already and I wasn't able to take too many photos, but here are a few in addition to a couple other random photos from the weekend:

Part of our little sidewalk garden this year.

My newish Kate Towers dress. :)

Like us on Facebook

Posted on | Thursday, September 15, 2011 | No Comments

If you haven't already visited our Facebook fanpage, hop on over and click "like" to receive a discount code for purchases through twigsandhoney.com

Go HERE to visit our facebook page.
photo credits: Elizabeth Messina

New Wedding Dress and Bridesmaid dress line by Whitney Deal

Posted on | Monday, September 12, 2011 | 3 Comments

I love Whitney Deal's style and overall aesthetic. Everything she makes looks both lovely and comfortable. Her designs look effortless and oh-so-sweet. I've already loved her blog for a long time now and enjoyed reading about her experiences going to Parsons and developing her new line. Today, her new fall collection of bridal, bridesmaid and party dresses has launched! Definitely stop by her SHOP and check out all the styles. There are several Twigs & Honey pieces featured with some of her pretty dresses - very excited about that! Here are some favorites:

Lovely, right?!
Visit Whitney Deal's official website HERE.
Blog HERE.
Photo credits: Whitney Deal

4 years!

Posted on | Thursday, September 8, 2011 | 1 Comment

Today is our 4 year anniversary! Where did the time go? The weather is nearly identical today and Matt has some suprises for me this evening.

Love my husband.
photo credits: Paul Rich Studio

New styles for BHLDN

Posted on | Wednesday, September 7, 2011 | 8 Comments

Lots of new Twigs & Honey pieces just became available at BHLDN. Some new exclusives!

Bridal caps

Posted on | Friday, September 2, 2011 | 3 Comments

Some bridal caps I made this week. :)
Hand dyed lace... handmade and stitched silk flowers... hand sewn with lots of love...

Lovely Real Bride, Tara

Posted on | Wednesday, August 31, 2011 | 2 Comments

Love these photos from recent newlywed, Tara! She's wearing the Twigs & Honey Creamy bouquet:

So pretty, yes? Congratulations, Tara and husband! :)
Photo credits: Janet and Lisa of JL Photografia

Went to the fair

Posted on | Monday, August 29, 2011 | No Comments

Matt & I went to the Oregon State Fair on Saturday and had a great time. We drove go-karts, visited the booths, looked at lots of cute animals, went to the petting zoo (I got to pet a wallaby!), ate lots of yummy food and played some games.
Here are some outtakes from the photo booth - with our new monkey that we won from the dart booth. :)

Elizabeth Messina love

Posted on | Wednesday, August 24, 2011 | 1 Comment

I'm so happy to have such a wonderful friend in Elizabeth Messina.

View a super sweet and lovely post on Twigs & Honey on Elizabeth's blog HERE.

Pinterest

Posted on | Tuesday, August 23, 2011 | 5 Comments

After I was the last person to get an account on Pinterest, I've thoroughly enjoyed building image boards and finding and collecting inspiration. You can view our Pinterest finds HERE. Here are some recent pink colored discoveries. :)

1. Liz V. Photography 2. Pinterest 3. le blog de betty 4. Pinterest

New blog layout...

Posted on | Monday, August 22, 2011 | 5 Comments

I've been a little tired of looking at my blog for a while, but only just today finally revamped it a bit. I hope you like! I have a little more tweaking to do still, but hey... just about everything is a continual work in progress, right? :)
By the way, isn't this shot amazing? The gorgeous model is wearing a Twigs & Honey Glimmering Rhinestone Headband Style #132:

Photographer: Elizabeth Messina for Munaluchi Bridal Magazine
Dress: Monique Lhuillier
Headpiece: Twigs & Honey

Gone fishin'

Posted on | Sunday, July 31, 2011 | 3 Comments

It's been a very busy and productive summer this year. The one crummy bit has been the lousy Oregon weather. We have had a few nice days here and there, but this weekend, we finally had some real summer weather. I decided that Matt and I had to go do something that would maximize the weather so we went fishing. We went to the St. Louis Ponds, actually not too far from where we got married in '07. Perfect weather. Do you think we caught anything?

Busy summer!

Posted on | Saturday, July 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

This summer has been amazingly busy and I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to blog more frequently. I promise I have lots of exciting things in the works and sometime, when I have more time, I'll blog all about it. Although, some of the "things" are very top secret projects so those might be blogged about later. I hope everything is having a wonderful summer! -Myra

Etsy Featured Seller!

Posted on | Monday, July 4, 2011 | 13 Comments

I am so excited to announce that I'm an Etsy Featured Seller! Click HERE.

I started selling in my Etsy shop back in January of 2008 and was able to create a full fledged business shortly after. At that time, I was working a full-time job for the government and after 2-3 months of selling on Etsy, was able to put my notice in with my employer, left my job and started selling my handmade pieces full-time by May of 2008. I had often hoped (daydreamed?) to be a Featured Seller and was absolutely thrilled when I was contacted by the Etsy team.

Etsy has been an amazing venue for launching small handmade businesses. It's wonderful and inspiring to watch new businesses quickly take off and grow. I even encouraged my big sis to start an etsy shop of her own, and now that is basically what she's doing everyday. :)

After a short time, I launched my own off etsy online store and started getting a flood of wholesale requests. I curate my wholesalers to a manageable select list currently, until I have a few more workers, but it's been very exciting to build up a business from literally zero.

I currently have two contract workers (including my own mom!) and I think I've wrangled help from just about every relative I have at one point or another, but I have the most thanks going to my husband who has helped and supported me on my crazy venture these past few years.

I'm very excited for the future of Twigs & Honey as we've got lots in store for the future! I have so many secret projects that I promise to share once I can. Thank you so much to all the supporters and friends of Twigs & Honey AND thank you, Etsy!

View the whole Etsy Featured Seller on Twigs & Honey HERE.

A beautiful film by bliss* video productions

Posted on | Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | 6 Comments

I love Kristen*'s style and vision. She creates the dreamiest films through her company, bliss* video productions. She recently made this stunning video about Twigs & Honey. It was filmed back in May of 2010 in France during Elizabeth Messina's A Lovely Workshop. My bits were spontaneous, single takes and unscripted... :D

I hope you enjoy!