Omg! It’s finally here – the fresh, inspiring, and oh-so-rad NEW idieh design site! (Let’s just say we are for sure shaking our tail feathers!) It’s been a labor of love for the past few months, and I couldn’t be more excited to open the doors of the brand new, bright & sparkly website that screams the idieh design brand from head to toe. As the owner & founder of idieh design, I wanted to share more of my own story and the journey I’ve traveled to get here, as well as share inspiration to empower other totally awesome girls to own their story and live their style, too! Within the new and improved version of idiehdesign.com, you will find paper trails of pretty (wedding stationery galore), brand collaborations that have allowed us to let our true talent shine, and finally, all the designs we have available in our idieh design shop! And, you know it’s … Read More
A Day in the Life with Jessica Smart
My name is Jessica Smart and I started The Littles Life blog a little over a year ago in the hopes that others would be just as curious about the people behind some of the incredibly talented small shops and businesses that I’d found through Instagram. I’ve made so many wonderful connections and friendships throughout the past couple of years because of my initial interest in a product or shop that I’d accidentally stumble upon while on Instagram. I became fascinated with talented business owners after striking up conversations and learned that I really enjoyed getting to know these people! They all have a story and most of them started with a dream, no money, and sometimes hardly even a vision. Just a passion and a talent and the hope that others would find their shop, love their product, and want to support them. So many of their stories I’ve found … Read More
Spring Cleaning Your Social Media [Part 3]
So now that we’ve covered Parts 1 and 2 on how to find and build a killer social media audience, we’ve got to find a way to squeeze all those posts, tweets and pins into your already packed schedule. The best way to accomplish this is to schedule your posts! Now, I’m not saying to schedule EVERYTHING. You should definitely be spontaneous and tweet, post on Instagram or re-pin items as the moment strikes you while you’re going about your day. But scheduling can come in handy when there’s different content you want to put out there that doesn’t involve breaking news or instant inspiration. Here are some of the best rated social media management programs for all the #girlbosses out there: Website Here Social Media Connected To: Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others What It Does: You can monitor almost all of your social media outlets in … Read More
Spring Cleaning Your Social Media [Part 2]
Hey ya’ll! Welcome back to my multi-part series on Spring Cleaning Your Social Media! If you haven’t checked out Part 1, you should do that first 🙂 And in case we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda and I blog over at The Color Coded Life. On to today’s topic! After last week, we should now know who we want to target with our Social Media as well as where our fabulous ideal audience hangs out. Now we want to look at how we can find more of our dream buyers/readers/etc. on whichever platform (or multiple platforms) that they frequent the most. There are two main ways to do this and, whether you choose to do both or just one, either of them can help you both find your audience and track what they like and don’t like of what you post, tweet or share online. All forms of social media have search … Read More
5 Must-Have Apps for the Creative #GirlBoss
Every #GirlBoss has their arsenal of apps to keep them on track and help them remember every little thing (I get goldfish brain frequently–I’m telling ya!) There’s an infinite number of apps out there and honestly, I get really confused sometimes on trying to pick out which one is best for me. How many downloads does it take to find the perfect app?! Probably like 5. Instead of having to scour the app store, try these top 5 apps every creative freelancer and business owner need in their life! 1. VSCO Cam (Free) This will probably always be my #1! If you’re an Instagram junky (like me!) you need this app for minimal, yet impactful, photo editing. Curated filters that enhance the natural characteristics make your photos look like a pro photographer took them. I’m seriously obsessed, and if you haven’t gone over to the VSCO side, you definitely need … Read More
Expand Your Reach Podcast
This month, I did something I never thought I would do. Something a little bit terrifying (okay, a lot a bit terrifying), but super rewarding. If you guessed that I had a dance off with Usher, the answer is – not yet, but that’s still on the list of things to do. I guest starred on a podcast! I was interviewed by Dana Malstaff, founder of the Expand Your Reach podcast. Dana is a creator, innovator, strategist and a downright kick-ass #girlboss who loves Harry Potter just as much as I do. During our time, we chatted about my ‘why’ (& the journey I took to discover it), if I could do anything in the world what it would be, and how my dream of idieh design came to life. For more on my story, and maybe a thing or two that could add to yours, check out the podcast here: The Story Behind … Read More
Social Media Spring Cleaning [Part 1]
Any savvy #girlboss knows that utilizing social media effectively is crucial to her success. In my multi-part “Spring Clean Your Social Media” series, I am going to showcase the best ways to ensure your social media is doing the heavy lifting for you. Because who has the time to spend hours upon hours working on social media when there are a million other tasks to get done? Organizing your social media from the ground up will make sure you take your creativity to the next level. So where do you start? While you may think you should start with the programs or apps that allow you to post to several social platforms at once (and yes, these are awesome), the best place to start is to actually define your social media audience. Who are you talking to when you tweet? Who follows you on Instagram? Who’s pinning your Pinterest images? … Read More
cupcakeMAG Feature | Powerful Women to Watch
This month I was SO honored that wanted to do a Q & A with me to chat business, life, and what it means to be a true #girlboss. Not to mention, this wasn’t just any spring issue. It was the issue with Molly Sims on the cover. Freaking Molly Sims! She is a do-it-all, every day super mama which made me geek out just a little bit when I found out I would be featured in her issue. It doesn’t stop there. The always incredible Lara Casey is also in this issue! Lara is queen of Making Things Happen (also the title of her conference) as the Editor-In-Chief of Southern Weddings. I feel like I’m in a dream being surrounded by these rockstar women paving the way for girl bosses everywhere. If you want to with cupcakeMAG Editor-In-Chief, Casi, flip to page 50 of the spring issue. You can about … Read More
4 Epic Email Tricks For The On-the-Go #GirlBoss
I know for many of us, there are not enough hours in the day to deal with everything we want to do. On the outside, we radiate #girlboss, but it can be a struggle to keep up with everything we have going on. Personally, between my job, yoga, my blog and doing everything I can to help my child husband get through medical school – I could use a life assistant! Especially when it comes to all the emails I get for each of these areas of my life. However, if you’re like me and are saddled with those oh so lovely student loans and other realities, hiring someone to help you out isn’t really feasible. BUT, I’ve discovered four epic email tricks that will be like having your own virtual assistant, but for much less! Background: Have you ever looked at a text message, meant to respond and then … Read More
Small Business Branding // This Love Weddings
Faith of This Love Weddings, a wedding planning company in the Twin Cities, contacted idieh design with hopes of a brand overhaul, including the launch of a new name. Faith was feeling disconnected from her current brand and was struggling to attract her core audience. She wanted to infuse more of herself in her brand presence. And, while she knew the emotion and feeling she wanted it to exude, she wasn’t sure how to get there. After an intensive design process that asked the hard questions causing Faith to dig deep, we discovered many “ah-has” along the way. From refining her proposed color palette, to realizing her love for hand lettering, and, with a bit of resistance, realizing she had to go a little outside of her comfort zone, we ended on a solution that wasn’t anything close to what Faith had envisioned in the beginning, yet she couldn’t have … Read More