Hope Studios, the shop

Churning out holiday orders for the shop this month, get your order in soon if you need it before Christmas!

Click my shop button in the right column to get started. 

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Deadline Approaching!

I don't want you to panic, but there are less than 2 months til Christmas! This means there is 1 month until my order deadline for orders to be delivered by Christmas!

Head over to my Etsy shop (www.hopestudios.etsy.com) or email me if you need a gift this season!

Proceed with the rest of your month now...:)

Hope Studios This Week

Well, business has been good and picking up for me the closer we get to Mother's Day. I received my first Mother's Day order on Tuesday and hope to be better prepared for the rush than last year.

My Heartsongs Memory Plaques have been picked up by Redo The Room, an online custom bedding company. I'm up and running there and waiting for my first order.


I was talking with a customer about a quote she requested called "The Red Thread of Fate" and it inspired a canvas that is for sale in my Etsy shop.


I have also launched my new line of "MOM-tra" Plaques. You know, (mom) mantras to give you inspiration or get you through until bedtime! They are available in my Etsy shop, as well. If you have a "mom-tra" of your own, please share! If you want a plaque and don't see your favorite mantra, contact me to place a custom order.

You can enter to win a MOM-tra Plaque of your own by entering my contest to the right. Just click on the picture and it will take you to the link.




Below are a few of the custom orders I completed this week. Have a great weekend!

Hope Studios This Week

Some photos of the frame orders I've completed this week. I've worked on some new color combos and a custom family plaque. If you'd like to order your own custom frame or special project, you can visit my shop here or you can email me directly at jsneill@zoominternet.net.






20x20 inch Memory frames: $95 + shipping
12x12 inch Memory Plaque: $30 + shipping
11x20 Family Name Plaque: $40 + shipping.

Have a spooky Halloween!

Hope Studios This Week

I had all of these frames lined up to ship today and noticed that TypoUpright lettering is the clear winner of the popularity contest this week! You can see the colors warming up as I get my first fall orders completed. I predict lots of black, brown and sage in my future...





If you are interested in a custom Heartsongs Memory Frame of your own ($99 + $16 shipping) please contact me a jsneill@zoominternet.net today, or you can poke around in my online shop here. I've already begun painting some Christmas orders and can easily add you to the list. I'm turning over new orders in about 3 weeks to get on my schedule now!

Father's Day Frames

I just completed a Father's Day order that warms my heart. I love the secret language of family. Those little words you make up to speak to each other that no one else would understand, there is often a story behind each phrase that only you know. You are linked by this mysterious speak in a special way.

I got an order for just such a frame last week. She sent me the quotes and asked for my impressions regarding font. I knew exactly how I thought it should look. I wanted the lettering to support the feeling of the words and when I described what I was thinking she agreed.

I think these are beautiful reminders of this family's secret language that will be cherished long after these little children are grown and speaking these words to their own kids.

Happy Father's Day a bit early!
Contact me at jsneill@zoominternet.net to place a special order of your own.

Finished!

I had a big boutique order for 25 small frames I've been working on for the past week and I'm soooooo glad to be finished! Those little buggers are tedious!

I can't believe I haven't written about the Penguins in the Stanley Cup yet! It has been such an exciting Cup to watch with the overtimes and injuries, the pace is unbelievable! Wish us luck tonight because we want our Pens back home for the next game! Click here: Go Pens!!!!!

Mama Bear

Some of you may or may not know I suffer from multiple personality disorder. Fortunately, I have only one other personality and her name is "Mama Bear". You mess with my kids and I'll mess you up, is her motto. You can be family, friends, or a stranger at the playground, she doesn't discriminate. She is fierce and loyal and a bit scary. I wouldn't try to find her if I were you...

I was thinking about when and how "Mama" came to be and began thinking about my favorite poem/prayer I used to read during the later part of my pregnancy:

These Last Few Hours

It is important to me that I spend a part of the next few hours here alone with you in the darkness.

You and I will never be this close again.

By morning, you will be a tiny person all your own.

No longer the kicking, demanding bulge in my body that I have grown to love so well.

I pray God will safely guide you on your journey tonight,

And I ask him for the strength to help you all I can.

Again you signal,
You're impatient to be free,

It's time now...
I still can't read that without a catch in my throat and it was that night Mama Bear was also born.

I struggled through the night of my first child's birth with a wistful fear tinged with curiosity. I wasn't sure what this abstract idea of "baby" was going to be like and not sure I was ready to go there, but I was going - ready or not.

That night was a blur as were the next few days. I looked at my son with wonder and shock, we had made this person. I just couldn't believe it!

We spent the last morning in the hospital getting a diaper, sleeper, snowsuit, and hat on him (literally, ALL morning). Then we spent the afternoon trying to buckle him into his car seat, cover him, take him out, comfort him, put him back in... (ALL afternoon) and then we were off...reluctantly... and veeerrryyy sllllooowwwllllyyyy pulled into traffic from the parking lot. It was as if we'd forgotten how to drive, so careful were we of our precious cargo.

As we stopped at a red light about 100 yards away I was overwhelmed with emotion and this is what occurred to me: "I would jump in front of that truck over there for him." I said to my husband. He looked at me with tears and agreed and Mama Bear began to grow inside me.

She has been growing ever since and I still would take a bullet, lift a car, or stop a train for my boys. They were the best decision I've ever made.

Why all of this baby talk suddenly? I've be working with a customer who is decorating her nursery for her own baby and as I work on her frame I'm touched by my own memories and stories. I just love the quote she chose and I can relate to it as it's summarized in a way I couldn't express on that day in the car.

My Paper Making Project

I know a few weeks ago I wrote about my to-do list for the week and on it was to learn how to make seed paper. Well, it took some time to get to it, but I tried it this week and it turned out pretty cool!

First, I gathered my supplies. In this case, that was a blender, some leftover tulle, scissors, 2-3 homework pages from my kids' folders, some newspaper, some dryer lint, wildflower seeds, and an old towel.

Then, I ripped up the paper into about 2 inch pieces and added it to the blender along with the dryer lint and warm water. I blended it for a bit then poured the whole mess onto the tulle I had lining the sink. After that, I sprinkled seeds and forget-me-nots into the top and transferred the whole thing to a towel. I folded the towel over the top and stood on top of it to really squeeze out the extra water and flatten it out.

Here is the finished paper! A friend of mine mentioned getting a flower die cut and making them into little tags or decorations. They will really sprout if placed into soil and watered!


Well, that's my "Martha" moment for the week. In other news, the frame business is taking off like wildfire in the past month. I'm very busy, but really loving making something of this little business of mine. I got my Etsy statement this week and I made 22 sales in April and May seems to be following suit with 5 sales already. I'm feeling a little Mary Tyler Moore right now..."You're going to make it after aaaaaaaaaalllllll!" Check me out: http://www.HopeStudios.Etsy.com

It's That Time of the Year

Well, the June brides are out en masse and ordering many many frames! This is what I've finished in the last week and I think all of them are meant for wedding gifts! I remember my wedding and it really was the best day of my life. I listened to all the advice and really enjoyed my day. Really, that is the only advice I have for all the brides out there. Plan, plan, plan...but once the big day comes assign a trouble-shooter and let it all go. Even when things go wrong, it is a day to remember. Now, that we're all warm and fuzzy, let's take a walk down memory lane...Shall we?

Okay, it's the day of my wedding and I'm at the reception after a beautiful ceremony, at which I couldn't stop playing with my new pearl necklace and my nose wouldn't stop running. Fortunately, my videographer, our friend's dad, caught me on tape pulling a tissue out of my bra and wiping my nose then replacing it. Good times.

Anyway, after many drinks and dances and no food to speak of, I decide it's time for a potty break. If only it were that easy. I came back out and gathered a posse because I realized this was going to take some acrobatics. We all head back into the world's smallest bathroom stall and I cannot gain access to the vital area! It's buried under yards of silk and lace, a crinoline (for God's sake!), pantyhose (Gasp!), and fancy underpants... So, I just stood there digging under all of that to try to reach the bottom layer. I dug around (and found birdseed in weird places) and finally someone else pulled down my underwear since my hands were trapped with in the folds. My mom might have done that, who knows?

I had girls surrounding me each holding part of my dress and assorted other clothing, while I stood there helplessly trying to get my hands in there to reach the pantyhose and new underpants. I would have been embarrassed but we were all squeezed in there so tight with so much fabric filling the space that I just finally squatted with my arms over my head and got it over with. And thank God we were in the bathroom because laughing that hard really made me have to pee! So, all modesty aside I did my business in a small 3x3 foot space with 3 of my closest friends and vowed to drink nothing for the rest of the night!

If you have an upcoming wedding and are short on the gift end, check out my etsy shop at http://www.hopestudios.etsy.com/ . Oh, and Mother's Day is just around the corner and we mom love a handmade gift! (no one said it had to be made by YOU)

Busy Bee

Well, I'm bogged down with orders again so this will be brief...

I just made a connection with a customer who has ordered a frame for her wedding photo. It is the first thing she has done with her photos since she married and it makes me so nervous! We came up with a custom size and a great quote "Night and day, you are the one. Only you beneath the moon and the sun." Isn't it inspiring? I listen to these stories and I begin to feel those feelings all over again.

I also got an order of 3 mini frames from a repeat customer and I'm working on two other 20x20 frames! OH! And I almost forgot! A family plaque with the family name at the top and stick figures of each family member labeled underneath. I'm definitely adding these to my shop! Photos soon!