Birthing a Pallet Table Prop ~ Part 1

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday. If you haven't noticed, I decided to take a little unscheduled blogging break to spend more time making stuff for the holiday rush and to spend more time with my family. 

Now that I'm back I thought I'd publish this again to refresh your brain and get you ready for part 2. The fun part in my opinion, painting and distressing it. So here it is. Look for part 2 next week!

There she is in all her glory... and paint that dripped down the leg that I didn't notice until now LOL

Before I can tell you guys how I managed to get my table so fabuloso looking by distressing the wood – we’ve got to have a table to paint first!

At my day job we have a warehouse & with a warehouse comes piles of pallets. So I stole a few – 3 to be exact. Well not really “stole” I had permission of course. I picked them the same size (that’s pretty important). You have to have that many because the wood panels across the top of the pallet are spaced out quite a bit and to have a table that’s not totally full of holes you have to have them closer together also you will need to take the 4 sides off of the remaining pallet and use it as the legs.

So that’s step one - Choosing the 3 pallets. Then rip out all of the panels on all of them (be careful, it’s really easy to break them). The easiest way we found to take them out is to very carefully hammer from the opposite side on each end of the panel until they fall out. Then you have to remove all of the existing nails.

Step 2 – Take all of those panels you just smacked out of your pallets and put them right back on LOL. Not exactly where you found them of course, much closer together this time.

My hubby and I banging away at the table... FYI I'm terrible with a hammer

Step 3 – take the one of the remaining pallet frames and take the frame apart. The frame is generally a lot sturdier than the panels on top so you can use the frame’s 4 pieces as legs! Make sure all 4 pieces are the same length… or you’ll have one jacked & wobbly table. Then take the pieces and wedge one in each inside corner. I recommend attaching them with at least 2 long screws each. They seemed to hold better than the nails we used.

Whabam! Magic! You have a table… a free one might I add if you already have nails and a hammer. All natural, all free, all recycled, all good! I’ll show you how we painted the wood next!

Inspired - Elliot Erwitt Photography

Source: auggie tolosa via flickr

As a recent assignment in my latest photography class I had to choose my favorite “historical photographer”. After Googling and reading books from the library for a few days, I chose Elliot Erwitt. If you aren’t familiar with his work I encourage you to take a look at his website (click here) To my surprise I choose someone who almost always shoots black & white when I love color so much.

There’s 2 major reasons I picked his photography – I have more but let’s be honest, you don’t want to spend all day reading my blog. 

•1^st is his sense of humor (mostly due to perspective) – He has an entire collection of ironic/funny photos titled “phototoons”.

• 2^nd he loves dogs and does great photos of them.

Part of my assignment was after choosing this photographer is to take a photograph that emulates what you like about that photographer’s work. Elliot Erwitt has several photos oh dogs from the prospective of the ground featuring the dog in full frame and a portion of the owner’s legs. I highly encourage you to do a google image search of  “Elliot erwitt dogs” to see what I’m talking about.

Anywho- Here’s some shots from my attempt to re-create that myself.

Say hello to my husband's feet

Romeo (right) has a gangsta lean & Molly (left) is in deep concentration

I like the angle and the expression on his face in this one

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Lots Of Shots

This weekend, for the first time I had 2 photo shoots in ONE day! It was exciting and exhausting. Both models are brand new to Innov8ive Knit's modeling team and I am so pleased to have them join the group! Saturday morning before the southern sun got high in the sky, I had the pleasure of working with little miss Abigail. She is a whole 4 months old and has the most gorgeous blue eyes! I had her modeling the newborn owl hat in pink. I can't wait to get the photos up in the store. Expect to see it within the next few days.

After I got home, I squeezed in a little grocery shopping and a nap then headed across the bay to the beautiful Spanish Fort to photograph the next brand new model to the team. Kristen is a gorgeous blond haired, green eyes bombshell. Not only is she a beautiful model, she is a trooper like no other! We spent hours in the very hot hot hot southern air and even did a little stomping through some woodlands to get shots for not 1, not 2, but 3 products. She didn't complain even a smidgen. We had an absolute blast.  Kristen is also an aspiring photographer as well and is taking classes with me. Here is a quick look into the shots from the very long, hot, and oh so fun shoot.

I am so thrilled that I have an excuse to be off work to get in some much needed rest AND the time to focus on my store it is easy to forget why I have the time off in the first place. This time is set aside to celebrate the freedom of being allowed to take time off of work and the people and families who have given everything to make that possible. So while we should all enjoy this time we are so blessed to have, make sure to pay tribute and say thank you for the opportunity to be able to do so in the first place. Have a great holiday weekend and check the store periodically for new listings now that I have some great shots for them!

Innov8ive Knits Marvelous Models

As many of you know, I am in the process of getting my photography certificate from the University of South Alabama. I am working on perfecting my photography skills so I can ultimately photograph every item that appears in my store or website. Not only do I enjoy taking and editing photos, I think it means a lot more that I am involved in every aspect of my store and don't let someone else take control of my creativity.


I've always offered incentives to my models as a Thank You for participating but I really wanted to step this up a bit. It's a big deal to me when someone volunteers to work with me on making my store the best it can be. 


As a result of my wanting to show how much I appreciate all of my model participants I have developed a "club" of sorts to group all of my models in. This club will be called: Innov8ive Knits' Marvelous Models or IKMM! 


Here's whatcha get as a model!

•  All the models get copies of their edited photos without my logo to do with them whatever they want - I have had models frame my photography in their home and even  include them in Christmas holiday cards.
• Each time a you are used as a model you receive a 15% discount coupon that is good for a month to use on any item in my store as well as use towards a custom item. Also get get free hand delivery since you are local. That means no shipping fees for you!
• When I add a new item to my store IKMM's get an EXCLUSIVE full 24 hour chance to purchase that item before it becomes available to the public. 
• Any time that I run a sale on my products IKMM's are able to receive an additional 10% discount on top of the sale price (this can not be used in conjunction with a modeling coupon)

How to Participate:

• I am currently needing models male and female in ALL ages.
• If you or your child(ren) are interested in participating, please contact me.
•  Include in your email: name, age, contact info, general availability, and a photo of the interested participant. If you are a parent of the submitted model please make sure to mention that so I know who to keep contact with and am not trying to email a toddler :)

The Nitty Gritty:

• As a model you must be OK with my using the photos from your session in any way I see fit - for Innov8ive Knit's Etsy listings, FB page (including tagging), Twitter account, any and all advertising/marketing material, etc. Be confident however your pictures will never be used in an inappropriate way. This business is family friendly and portrays a clean, safe, and professional environment.
• IK has the right to cancel this club at any time rendering all coupons and promotions void.
• IK has the right to add or remove any of the members at any time. This is mainly to assure that the club is not abused and is fair to all participants.
• Last but not least have a great time! I love photography, and interacting with you guys. 

Here's some examples of photography that I have done for my store if you haven't checked out my FB or Etsy store before:

 No experience is required for this and it's a fun way to get some pictures! I have a lot of openings at the moment so if you have any questions or are just curious please don't hesitate to contact me!

Self Portrait

As part of the photography class I am in I had some homework to do this week. One of the assignments was to do a self portrait. I didn't want to get all dressed up slap my camera on a tripod and take a pretty picture. I wanted to show myself as well the real myself.


I am not the kind of girl that really enjoys getting dressed up all the time (don't get me wrong I enjoy a good dress every now and then) but usually I spend my weekends in my pajamas, not fixing my hair, not putting on makeup, and knitting every second. This is when I am the happiest. So that's exactly the way I wanted to show myself. So here's my self portrait!

Here's the real me- Messy hair, knitting needles, pajamas, and not a smidgin of makeup. It's not the prettiest picture I've ever taken but it's certainly realistic. This is the happiest state of me.


I think this was a really good exercise even if you aren't a photographer or want to be one. Think about yourself - the real yourself and grab a picture of it. When life is getting you down, your job is bleeding your creativity, anything, whip that picture out of what you REALLY are and get back to it.


"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never give up fighting" - e.e. cummings 

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Easter Weekend

This weekend is for celebrating and spending time with family. Blair and I spent the weekend together doing just that since we are officially FAMILY now! So exciting! 


This weekend we also did a little house hunting. We have been looking for a house to rent for some time with very little luck. Since we are in the Coast Guard and won't be around for too much longer, it's not very safe for us to purchase a house so we are renting because we have totally outgrown our apartment- especially with all of my yarn and equipment I have acquired while starting my business! This weekend we may have found a winner! I'm not getting my hopes up too high or going to go into describing it too much because nothing is set in stone as of yet but I can't say how excited I am to have FINALLY found a place we are remotely interested in putting an application in at. Fingers crossed all goes well and I can have a much better suited office and have the kitchen space to put out all of our new great appliances we got as wedding gifts. They are still in boxes and I regularly drool on them preparing for the day their great exteriors can meet the fresh air and get used!


I am proud to say that this past week I submitted applications to craft shows for the first time and have chosen a few more to apply for in the near future. Although I am not guaranteed any spots as of yet I am hoping to hear from some of them soon - fingers crossed again. I've got a lot of finger crossing going on these days.


Last but not least I did a little photography for the newest addition to my store with a very fun little man! Here's a sneak peek at how they turned out.

Speaking of modeling, I am putting together something very fun and extra special for my modeling participants. I am in the process of earning my photography certificate through the University of South Alabama and have decided that I want to take as many of the photographs for my store and business as possible instead of contracting the job out. I enjoy taking them and think it adds a little something special to my store that the entire process is a work of my own! I am always looking for local models (Southern Alabama area) to wear my work and am putting together a special program/incentive for those that would like to participate. It is still in the works but it you would like to be included or know/parent someone who would please feel free to contact me. It's going to be a lot of fun. I need males and females of ALL ages!

Mrs. Doten has arrived!!!

Happy day!!! I'm back from my wedding and honeymoon and am just glowing with all of the excitement. Now I am officially Mrs. Doten!! We had a small and personal wedding on a golf course (Blair's favorite activity). Of course a billion things went wrong (wrong flowers, wrong cake, etc.) but it was still wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing! Here's a few pics that we have gotten access to by our AWESOME photographers since then!

http://www.yourstorytellers.com/?p=7162

This next pic is one of my favorites! This is an idea I found on Pinterest and absolutely fell in love with it. Blair and I were both traditional in believing that he shouldn't see me before the wedding... didn't mean that I couldn't see him though!

http://www.yourstorytellers.com/?p=7162

I wanted to be able to get that private moment that a "first look" shot has but without ruining the surprise before the aisle. This ended up perfect. We held hands and talked about our hectic morning of getting ready apart and had a small break of relaxation and shared our happiness before our big moment. It was one of the most fun moments of the day to see that big cheesy grin on his face to hear my voice, he totally rocks my world. 


After the wedding festivities we went home and prepared for out honeymoon where our plane left at the butt crack of dawn in the morning the next day... and I have a guilty confession to make: we so watched "Pretty Little Liars" on our wedding night because we thought it was the season finale and wanted to see who "A" was before spending time in the Caribbean. Season finale was the next week and we totally missed it anyway. Thank goodness for DVR! 


In a flash it was morning again and we headed out to the beautiful St. Thomas! It really was something else, more incredible than I could dream of and a description wouldn't really give it justice. I will say though that our hotel room was right on the water. And by "right on the water," I'm not kidding. We literally could open our hotel room door and 2 steps later we're on the crystal clear blue beach.

This picture was taken right from the balcony/porch area of our room at sunset.  Just about every sunrise and sunset looked like this. It was so amazing. 


Like all good things our honeymoon had to come to an end. But on the bright side that means I'm back home and running the store again! After some much needed vacation time, I feel so refreshed and have some extra spark behind myself to really take Innov8iveKnits to the next level. I've got some extra drive and passion behind me that I lost a little while juggling a full time job, my true passion (Innov8iveKnits), and planning a wedding. 


I am so proud of where my new business has gone in the small amount of time that I've been running it and feel now that I really have it in me to tackle all of the things I want to do with it this year. I won't spill it all in just this one post (so you'll have to follow me to hear all about it) but this year will be full of tackled goals, new product, and fun things for all! That means YOU too!


I know this post doesn't have a ton to do about the business, but all of you who follow me feel like close friends and I wanted to share these special memories with you because you guys are the ones who make my dreams of being a business owner possible! You rock by the way!


My new life as Mrs. Doten is bright and full of possibilities. This year I start a new family and build my new business of my own. - Dreams really do come true.

Picture Sunday

Ok well I know I said that I was going to spend today taking pictures and learning to apply the new things I've learned in my photography class. It hasn't been cold at all here in Alabama all year and of course today of all days I wake up and it's basically under 40 degrees and windy as I'll get out ALL day! It's beautiful and sunny but I sure as heck don't have the urge to get a nasty cold a month out before my wedding. Needless to say, as tempting as it is I know I would be miserable out there in the cold so I'll have to post pone that to another day and spend the afternoon knitting instead (no complaints there). I did however do one of the class assignment because it requires me to be inside :)


The object of this assignment is all about lighting. Be inside a room, position your object/model near a window with the light raining in and capture the highlighting of the light on one side right next to the darkness on the other.  I've seen a lot of pictures done this way and it looks really neat when done right. Here's mine: 

In all of these if you can't already tell the light is coming in from the left (that's where the window is).  Usually at this point I would load them up into photoshop and mess around with the brightness and other settings but since this is for a photography class, I figure I should leave it alone so I can be shown where to most make my improvements from my un-altered images. 


On the other hand I did want to share with you a few blogs that I have recently been turned onto while learning more about photography, and even more so photoshop. I'm a little more handy with that program then I am with a camera (although I am by no means a pro at either). I have another blog I want to share with you, but I'll bust that out another time - Keep you on your toes!


The first blog I want to mention is The Coffee Shop Blog. She posts free photography tutorials, free actions for photoshop, and free scrapbooking designs. Did I mention it's all FREE. I have downloaded a few of her actions and used them myself and they are really great. All of the files come with the action and/or scrapbook design along with instructions on how to use them. This blog makes it almost impossible to screw it up- VERY user friendly and FREE. Did I mention it's FREE??  It is definitely worth checking out! Here's a link to a page of the site where all of the free goodies that they've ever posted are available- there's a ton of great stuff: The Coffee Shop Blog Freebies.


I hope you guys enjoy! Time to go spend the rest of my afternoon knitting.

I'm BACK

It seems like I haven't written a post in a MILLION years. Things have been so busy over the last few weekends with wedding showers!!! I've been so blessed to have all these special showers and wonderful people who wanted to come and spend these special moments with me. I never thought that I would enjoy blogging so much but I have really missed writing to all of you! Here's a picture of one of the coolest cakes I've ever seen and it was at my lingerie shower!

A friend of one of my bridesmaids made it and it was amazing! She does it for fun on the side and it was just as amazing in person as it is in this picture, not to mention it was DELICIOUS. 


I've officially started knitting up some jewelry. It's still winter now (according to the groundhog) so it's still chilly enough for scarves and hats and all those traditional knitted items but the warm season is right around the corner and I'm getting prepared for the season! It's not done yet so I can't show you yet but imagine a red cowl-like necklace with lots of texture and shape! I think many of you will be surprised with how this will look and I can't wait to share it with you guys.


Since I've written last I've also finished the bearded beanie and it's gotten over 100 views just this week. I'm very excited and wanted to give you guys a special thanks because ya'll are the people that make it happen! 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/92300743/bearded-beanie-hat-hand-knit-and-crochet

Now that I have all of my showers out of the way I should be back to blogging on the regular until it gets to my wedding! Speaking of my wedding I want to remind you guys again that the store will be closed a bit from March 8th -22nd for my wedding and honeymoon. 


I'll be taking some pictures to get some assignments done for my photography class tomorrow. I'll share the fun and pictures from it soon if not tomorrow as well! I started taking the class out of necessity to get good photos for my store and have started to really enjoy it as more of a hobby. Hopefully I will have some cool things to show you. If all else fails and they all suck (which is quite possible I'm a newbie) I have been turned onto some very cool people and blogs as I have been learning this thing called photography and will share them with you as well. 

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Trip & New Endeavours

This weekend I made another visit to one of my closest friends up in Auburn. We always have such a great time together. She just found out she's having a little bundle of joy and I will be making her new addition a special blanket. I haven't started it yet and she hasn't picked out the colors but here's what the pattern will look like:

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/iHodge/tumbling-blocks-blankie-80661ad
(not my picture or work - see link for details)

I think this is SO cute and I can't wait to get started on it for her!

I had a little excitement of my own this week as well - my first international order. Innov8ive Knits is officially international. That is so exciting for me. It's amazing how many people from how many places get to see my work. 


I have 2 things to thank to my special sale this week and a tremendous jump in my views & favorites. For the first time I tried out Etsy's search ads. For a reasonable amount of money I got approximately 14% more views than I would have without it. Along with that, I went through and re-did my listing titles and tags to improve my SEO (search engine optimization). It certainly made a difference in my stats this week and I'm very pleased with the results.


Another new thing that I've gotten involved in is that I'm now a proud boutique partner for Oleo O Models (click me).

 This is a great little modeling business that provides precious models in professional photographs for small business like me. I will be sending out a few of my flower clips for some of the models this coming Tuesday. The girls I chose are cuter than cute and I can't wait to see what I get back! 


I started my photography class this month and once I complete it, I plan to take a large chunk of my store photography myself on local models. I enjoy photography and being self sufficient is exciting and important. Up until this point all the photography on my site has been mine. I an excited to get some professional shoots as well as looking forward to improving my skills in photography as well.


I have a lot of things to tackle this week. Hopefully this week will be as productive as the last! 

Weekend Wrap Up ~ Stocking up on Stock

In trying to keep up with my goals for the month I have recently added 3 more items to my stock. One of which has sold before I was able to take good photography of it. I'm very excited to be making strides towards my goal. I did a photo shoot for the 3 items yesterday. Here's the results.

All but one of these items are currently available for sale in my Etsy store. Check them out here:
Tan Ear Warmer: Click Here
Green Ear Warmer: Click Here

I'm very excited to be tackling my monthly goals and I'm so excited to be adding all of these great items to my store.