Weekend Design & Wellness Project
Reflection
Photo by: Aaron Burden @aaronburden
Reflecting on a moment in time can be a helpful way to be grateful for where you’ve been and keep focused on where you’re going. Take some time this weekend to write a few hurtles you’ve jumped through to get where you are today. Find some gratitude for your strength and even be in a bit of awe of your resilience. Life is challenging so reflecting on the whole picture can be rewarding. If you’d like a visual to support this idea, then take a look at Pointillism (also known as stippling), an Impressionist painting style. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac created this stippled technique as a branch of Impressionism Art. Millions of little dots are strategically placed so when seen from a distance it appears as one big picture. If you’re feeling creative, give pointillism a try. You do not need an art degree to pull this off. Stipple smiley face, the sunshine or a flower. Doodling has calming effects so it’s perfect for alleviating stress and anxiety.
Happy reflecting and stippling weekend!
Psychotherapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of several types of Psychotherapy.
Photo by: Hello I’m Nik @helloimnik
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT assists in replacing negative behavior or harmful thoughts with more accurate outlook and positive action steps.
CBT addresses disorders such as anxiety, trauma, depression, eating and a variety of emotional imbalances with physical symptoms.
In a CBT therapy session a qualified psychotherapist will guide a patient through the process of describing an emotion or dynamic that creates a disturbance in their life. The patient is asked to put physical characteristics on this emotion, such as what size or material would this be made of if this emotion was an object. The patient will be guided in “asking” this object what it is trying to tell the patient or what is wants from them. This technique minimizes the full body effects that anxiety or PTSD from a trauma can have by placing permitters and identifiable characteristics to then be addressed head-on. Once the confines of a “physical” description have been established, the patient is urged to journal about these experiences and continue to add any new insights that come to mind throughout the days following the session. Follow up sessions are important as there are many layers contributing to physical and lifestyle disturbances.
From my personal experience, psychotherapy has been the best and most effective form of therapy since it focuses on an individual taking full responsibility for everything they are and everything they have experienced. Psychotherapy deals with the actual events of a person’s story or past traumas in smaller doses. This allows for each session to be productive and the patient feeling like they’ve uncovered a hidden secret within them. It is normal for “homework” to be suggested to continue progression of new developments outside of the sessions.
When I took full responsibility for everything in my life, even things that happened to me, I was in control in how I moved forward. Whereas, with conventional talk therapy, the typical “blame game” left me more stressed and sad with zero answers. After a regular therapy session, I felt like I talked for an hour and dumped all of my “stuff” onto another person without much response, feedback or a next step. This did not work for me so I kept searching for ways to be guided in addressing issues and moving through them, create a productive plan and change what did not serve me. I also learned forgiveness for anything I could not control.
“Forgiveness isn’t approving what happened. It’s choosing to rise above it.”
Psychotherapy and CBT are very detailed topics and require further investigation. If you’re on a path to heal past from emotional traumas, consider looking into a form of psychotherapy that would best serve your needs.
Featured Designer
Todd Amos, Designer | Vinyl Artist | Snow Sculptor
Graphic designer, vinyl artist, business owner, snow sculptor, soccer player, youth soccer coach, Jeep enthusiast, devoted father and husband, Todd Amos has been chosen as our featured designer.
Todd Amos, Designer & Owner of The Vinyl FOXX
Many designers work behind the scenes and are rarely brought to the forefront. Graphic designers are part of a larger picture alongside a marketing team, web designers and production artists. The names of these individuals do not appear on the finished products that they spend hours, weeks, months and years tooling over every detail until client perfection is achieved. These individuals will likely never even appear on their company’s website. Behind the scenes creatives get satisfaction from being part of successful teams that rely on one another to evolve as a collective group in lieu of standing out for personal fame. (Although personal recognition wouldn’t hurt once in a while.)
Why Todd? Well, Todd Amos is a tireless designer and innovator who has devoted over twenty years as an in-house designer while creating his own vinyl design and printing brand, The Vinyl FOXX. His vinyl designs are sold on his Etsy store and make perfect gifts as well as branded corporate products. Todd manages to balance being the world’s coolest dad by bringing his kid’s imaginations to life with interactive snow sculptures while wooing his wife with handmade and up-cycled personal vinyl art for special occasions. Oh yeah, Todd has also been a youth soccer coach and trainer for 10 years and plays soccer in a few men’s leagues. Phew, Todd is on his way to earning superhero status.
Curious to know how Todd’s over twenty year design career has been? Well, Todd has spent the past 16 years with his previous company where he attributes a lot of his personal and professional growth starting as a mid level designer and advancing to Production Manager, then Sr Designer. As Todd rose within the company, their customer readership increased by 10%, and their sales increased by over 40%. Over the last six plus years, he was overseeing the in-house print and digital marketing department. Todd’s daily jobs consisted of managing multi-catalog production and scheduling, creating page layouts, cover concepts ranging from presentations to final photo shoots, designed product packaging, social media marketing, and product branding. Todd said that his attention for detail and high standards for organization helped him rise up in the department. Todd’s advice to designers in the making is to apply all of their effort into each position they hold regardless of the title or industry since it will create the foundation for many opportunities in the future. When asked is he ever stops moving, Todd’s reply is, “no, and I don't plan on it.”
Here is more about some of Todd’s work in his own words.
“A few of my favorite covers (in the slideshow below) were catalogs printed 20 times a year, each seasonal and different, printed up to 800K and were mailed all over the world. The cover of the customer catalog was the face of the company and something I took great pride in. I was involved with all of the studio production for the last twelve years and directing for seven of those years. I always went above and beyond to make sure I produced the best quality of work. From concept to completion, I created and directed each cover. As I was managing the design team and two photographers, I created shot lists, gathered and made props, scouted locations, screened and hired models, for in studio or on location followed by all of the digital editing.
The Holiday Front and Back cover was interesting as this shoot took me two days to set it up with one day to shoot. The Holiday Kids cover is special to me because I was able to have my sister’s kids as the models. I had to stage all of the gifts and even had to put together laminate wood flooring from Home Depot in the studio to have a Jeep rolled onto it. The real trick was finding a big enough Pine tree that we were able to cut down in October.
Then, there is the Barn Find cover which was cool because it's every “Jeeper's” dream to find an old jeep in a barn. This was shot on location and on one of the scouting days my team and I had to take shelter in that barn because of a random freak tornado warning. We came back the next day to shoot and even used the owner/farmer of the barn, seen in the background. The "father and son" are models.”
Thank you Todd, for sharing your story and behind the scenes insight into the hard work of a designer and small business owner. With your devotion and expertise, your future will be a continued success.
Please enjoy looking through some of Todd’s work below and be sure to check out his Etsy page The Vinyl FOXX where you’ll find his original designs. Connect with Todd on LinkedIn for your graphic design and art direction needs.
Print Design and Art Direction
Snow Sculptures - The Urban Foxx YouTube Channel
Self-Care for Setbacks
Photo by: Rob Wicks @robwicks
3 Survival Tips for Navigating Tough Times, Permission to Celebrate Small Wins and the Importance of Gratitude!
Life’s dynamic duo, changes and challenges, are inevitable and make up the pivotal parts of life’s story to be later told in the golden years. As for getting through the events that tell the eventual story, that’s a whole bunch of trial and error. Here are some things to think about before getting into the navigational tips.
Regardless of the events that occur, taking time to grieve the end of an era, a loved one or a part of who you once were is necessary. The best advice for grieving is to acknowledge and feel the emotions without over-masking them with a substance (alcohol, drugs, pharmaceuticals) or behavior (avoidance, shopping, overworking…). It can be challenging to regulate these coping strategies, but it’s important to try and limit them in order to move forward in as healthy a way as possible. There’s no judgment in the grieving process as just waking up the next morning is a success. Self-love and care is essential when recovering from a great loss and once the tears part for a moment these 3 survival tips will assist in launching you into the next chapter.
Assess - Create an itemized list or timeline of the events that have occurred. It’s okay to be sad and reflective, you’ve been through a lot, especially if you have children or you were betrayed or blindsided by the events that took place.
Dream - This is the time to think about those childhood dreams and big wishes for the future. If you had unlimited finances, what would you do right now? Where would you live? What would you do as a career or what philanthropic foundation would you create? This is your time to play and dream in a literal sense. Movement pushes energy and emotions through the body that transitions a mental state like no other method. Take this opportunity to play a game like a child, exercise or dance like an idiot in the kitchen to 80’s music. Just get moving!
Assemble a Plan - Now that the body is tingling and the brain has gotten a dose of oxygen, it’s time to put together an action plan. Keep this simple and within your current resources. This is where the big dream gets simplified into achievable steps. For example, if you want to travel the world and become a travel writer, you could start with your own town, closest city or with an activity unique to where you live. Explore and write about your experience and take it further with recruiting family or friends to join you. This could be the start to a new career. If taking a pay cut is necessary during this time, try to see this is as a “sling shot” step, where sometimes moving backwards can catapult you farther than where you were when you lost it all.
BE SURE TO…
Celebrate - Take note of your progress and celebrate what may seem like baby steps are actually really bigs deals when moving through a tough transition. Write down all of these milestones as they happen in order to review in moments of discouragement.
Express Gratitude - Make a list of every single thing you are grateful for in this moment. This list better include the smallest to the biggest aspects of your life from your finger nails to your home regardless of any imperfections. Express gratitude for all that has happened, good and bad because without it, you wouldn’t be able to grow stronger for your next steps. We are all an example and an inspiration to one another so be kind to yourself and to others. Everyone is navigating through something.
Here’s a small peak at a chapter (in progress) from my soon to be self-published book, “How to Make the Best F’ing Lemonade,” for a bonus perspective on moving through tough times.
PHOENIX MOMENT
Identify the alignment of events when everything seems to be happening all at once.
This is your chance to re-build and reinvent your life. Everyone has many Phoenix moments at varying and often unexpected times. We need to see these moments as opportunities to review, regroup, refresh and rebuild in a way that far exceeds our original vision. At this point, there is absolutely nothing more to lose.
It is valuable to have a few “down-on-the-ground,” full depletion of every emotion, reason, answer and excuse moments. This is where the good stuff we create is built upon. It is also like a game of “trust me” for yourself. The question is, can you catch yourself before you fall or do you need to break down completely to test your resilience? You are definitely much stronger than you think.
When everything crashes down around and on top of you—loss of a job, car, house, a friend or relationship, your glasses, keys or an ebay bidding war—you are experiencing, a “phoenix moment.” The moments in life where you are left feeling abandoned and naked in the “street,” with nothing to protect or save you from what could happen next. There is absolutely nothing left for anyone to take from you. The world you created is burnt to the ground and when your last justified tear falls, you will about-face and start walking in a new direction. This is an opportunity to single handedly rebuild your entire life brick by brick, moment by moment. It’s all yours and you can create whatever you want. Sometimes, it’s necessary to make the decision to light the match that will burn down everything as you knew it to start again. This is survival.
Photo by: tina natalini from the Montreal Botanical Garden 2010
The Lotus Flower emerges from mud and is a perfect representation for the human experience. Enjoy this Lotus Flower (I give permission to download, save and share this photo) to remind you of what’s to come as you navigate through many tough times in life. Feel free to share this with someone who could use some visual inspiration.
Staging is Believing
Here are 3 1/2 ways to warm up your staged home and 3 of my design pet peeves.
1. Textiles add dimension, coziness and warmth. This is not ground breaking design news. However, it's how and where the textiles are used that really communicate the feel of home. For example, a knitted blanket gently tossed on a large chair under a window with a book on top of it creates a moment that most people want to have at home. This is a warm snapshot or a glimpse of a moment for a buyer to experience while touring your home. Sometimes people need a little permission to have something special for themselves. If a buyer sees that you take time to relax and enjoy a book all cozied up in this house, then they will feel like they will finally be able to have that...in your house...if they buy it.
*The value textiles can add to a staged a home is impactful personally to a buyer and financially for you. The impression you create in your home staging now becomes an expectation for a buyer during their search.
2. Baskets are your friends! Not only do they add aesthetic texture, they serve two main purposes, training and storage. Place baskets in the known drop zones in your home. This will train you and your housemates to keep clutter off of surfaces. It will also help to locate lost items since you already know what items gather where. Once the clutter is under control the baskets then serve the purpose as the go-to spots for specific items.
*The value of baskets is time saving while being visually pleasing.
3. Life's Accessories. Add a sweater, grocery shopping tote and/or a kid's backpack to an entryway hook along with a pair of clean shoes by the door. This is how we live on a day-to-day basis so feel free to display some real life items in the house to show that real people can live there.
The value of portraying normalcy of human life and activities puts people at ease and reduces the pressure for perfectionism in their own lives.
1/2. What year was your home built? Bring in an item reflective of that era. If its a new build, then choose a design style or period that appeals to you. Find an item that reflects the feeling of this era to bring into your home. It can be a color, a small accessory or a piece of furniture.
*The value of finding your design style is the beginning of creating the feeling you want each time you enter your home or space.
3 of my design pet peeves:
1. Flippers assuming they know what buyers want. Hint: It's not builder grade anything nor is it the flipper's favorite colors.
2. Trendy or dated before the house is listed, kitchen backslashes! i.e, Tiny square tiles in metallic or beige, horizontal and arabesque.
3. Grandma Granite. Just stop it. Please!
*Bonus Peeves:
-Beige box houses. (Blaaa, boring cookie cutter)
-Stark white ceilings with bold colors on the walls trapped by 6" mouldings and baseboards...6" each for 8' walls. (Eh, eye sore)
-Different bold colors in every room. (Anxiety inducing)
-Varying heights of kitchen cabinets none of which reaching the ceiling. (Merry-go-round cabinets, dizzying to the eye)
-Crown moulding in mid-century homes. (No!)
Warning: These are my own opinions and irritations. I am having fun here and in no way do I mean to offend anyone's personal style or taste. We all have our own preferences. Creating a personal space that brings you happiness is all that really matters. My goal is to help you find your personal style so you don't have to live a cookie cutter life.
How does your home make you feel? Can you apply these tips to your home while you are still living in it? Leave a comment below.
Happy Staging!
OPEN HOUSE!
Every home for sale should have a signature scent that brings the entire home’s feel or vibe together. Rather than using toxic air fresheners try adding an essential oil diffuser to the home the day before an open house. Choose light, natural and delicious scents such as; lemon, vanilla, peppermint, white tea… Be sure to go light on these flavors since the scent of the home works best if it’s subtle, enticing and warm. Too strong of a home scent and people will be running from the home with a headache.
Natural Scent Recipe:
2tbs Vanilla extract, 1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice (Meyer if possible)
Place in small soufflé dish or ramekin in the oven on 150 degrees.
Start this a few hours before the potential buyers arrive and leave on throughout the day.
(natalini’s custom “Om Spray” essential oil room spray and hand sanitizer is available upon request)