A New Little Peep

I love these shoes. Sometimes it's very hard to send off a pair of shoes, especially knowing they are in my size. This was one of those pairs.

I have a very talented friend, Jessica, who I used to work with, and go to college with. People used to ask if we were sisters. And that was a high compliment, because, the girl is beautiful!

Jess has a very successful photography business called Love Tree Studios. You can see some of her incredible work here.  While admiring each other's work, we came up with the idea of trading shots for shoes. And recently, I was in my old home town for a visit, so what better time to get that done? You can see the results of the photo shoot here.

And for her pair of shoes, we agreed upon something new for me. Women's peep toes. And now I have to make myself a pair. Because I love them. And now, I miss them. Now to find the time, right?

Happy Ever After Shoes

I suppose it's confession time. Way back when my husband and I were a young married couple, we watched the first season of the Bachelorette with great regularity and I must confess we were passionately rooting for Ryan to win. We were happy too when Trista and Ryan made it to the altar, and I have to say, all these years later I am thrilled that they are still happily married with two wee ones adding to their joy.

I wasn't going to try for any more celebrity gifting opportunities for the time being. I am swamped and the last opportunity didn't turn out well at all. But, when Trista said she'd love to receive a bag from The Artisan Group, she insisted that the mailing address be included for each participant so that she could mail a hand written thank you note.

Now, that is just delightful. It's thoughtful, and considerate and in this day and age a rare thing indeed. It reminds me of Roy Rogers who went broke and took extra jobs playing in bars just so that he could pay the postage required to answer every piece of fan mail he received. I liked that.

I ended up designing them on my anniversary, so I was pretty much in a romantic state of mind. Taking inspiration from the flowers from Trista's wedding this is what I ended up with:

Romantic, no? The fabric I used (which used to be a pair of pants) has a silver sparkle to it. 

  The flowers I have fallen for. I love how almost over the top romantic they are. Given her fairy tale romance and wedding, and the fact that she is living out her "happy ever after", I thought princess type shoes would be entirely appropriate.

On another note,I have to tell you how much I enjoy the photo taking after I make a pair of shoes.

It's another outlet for my creativity.

  I love capturing the "personality" of each design with the camera. Does that sound crazy?

  And even the editing process. I live where there isn't much sun most of the year. So, bringing the pic to life after snapping it is sort of thrilling to me.

Anyway, enough waxing poetic. I hope that Trista enjoys her shoes. And I will share when I get that handwritten thank you.