Valentine's Day, being that oh so commercial day of showing others how much you love them, is just around the corner. What a better time to shop local and handmade right? Here are a few items that make great Valentine's Day Gifts at Gypsy Beard Studio.




1. Vintage Cameo Necklace - You can't go wrong with jewelry guys! Vintage jewelry is even better!
2. Beard Oil - The perfect gift for your bearded man. And you'll love how it smells! (in store only)
3. Custom Hand Painted Shoes - These are one of a kind and hand painted! ( In store only, but email for more info!)
4. Table Globe - For the vintage collector or vintage decor lover. (in store only, but email for more info!)
5. Hand Crochet Beanies for your kids! (in store only, but email for more info!)
6. Art prints & Canvas - Art is always a great gift.
7. Vintage Comic Books - (In store only, but email for more info)
8. Retro Beauty School - Ladies the perfect gift for your man is beautiful pinup style photos of you! We will be holding our workshop before Valentine's Day for anyone interested! More details here!

You can also now pick up gift cards for in store or online! For more info contact us! When you order online you'll get your packaged wrapped up nice and pretty.

Hope this gives you a few great ideas! Help support local business and handmade artisans by shopping local and handmade!

So.

2015, let's just say that its been rough so far. Financially and personally. The novelty of owning a my own business is wearing off and I feel myself finally caving a bit to the exhaustion of working two jobs 7 days a week. The shop has been open almost 6 months so the "new car" smell has worn off and its really time to start treating it like a business, and not just my "dream". Even though my shop is both my dream and my business, it's been pretty easy to sit back and enjoy the fun of it all. But now that we aren't so new anymore and people are starting to know who we are, it's a different battle.  We have to tweak our advertising and bring in new products to get people coming back as well as get new customers in my door.


This was also the first year that I filed my taxes as a contract worked PLUS a business owner.  (I'm technically a contract worker at my day job. ugh!) That was a HUGE change for me this year and definitely a learning experience. Though it could've definitely gone worse, it was not like the previous years where I got my refund and was able to to cover all those extra costs and debts. I have to treat my money very different now that I am a business owner.

I've been following the podcast "Love Being Boss" by two wonderful biz ladies that I really admire: Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson. Anyways, this particular podcast titled "What To Do When You're Freaking Out About Money", which I am and was doing at the time. (Don't you just love when you come across the right inspirational post at exactly the right time when you need it?!)  And this quote stood out to me:


Basically, you should treat money like energy. In the science world, or Wikipedia, energy is defined like this: energy is a property of objects, transferable among them via fundamental interactions, which can be converted into different forms but not created or destroyed.

A huge highlight for me at Gypsy Beard Studio is all of the pretty art from local artists. We've been running on empty in the art department lately, so I'm very excited to be able to include some of my own pieces! I've always wanted to open an art/print shop and I've finally been able to. These will be for sale soon in the shop too, but for now they're only online on Society6. Hope you like them! My favorite has to be the first one that says "Not All Who Wander Are Lost". Which do you like? More to come!

2014 was a huge year for me. I took a lot of risks and made a lot of choices. Some bad, and some good and some that I just wish didn't happen at all. But when you take huge risks some things don't always go according to plan right? Ha! I've been going over last year and thinking about 2015 and what worked and what didn't work so that I can approach this year's goals full force. Here we go:



My best friend and I took an adventure to New Orleans! It was a life changing experience for me. I loved finally getting to explore the Garden District, French Quarter, The Cemeteries and The local historic plantations! My instagram photos from the trip are some of my favorite.













Our House Situation- We loved our house originally, and were planning on renting to own but our roof has leaked several times and we've come into so many plumbing and electrical issues we know it's definitely not the right decision. So we are once again in the market.

 Losing Clients- I've had many awesome clients this year! But of course, the ones you lose or that things don't work out with are always the ones you remember. But you live you and learn and realize what kind of clients aren't for you.

Quitting soccer :-( - I knew when I started planning opening my shop that I was going to have to give up playing soccer because of the practice and game times. I miss it like crazy but I can't complain!

Here's to another year of firsts and moving forward!


 

------EDIT-------
The date of this event has changed to February 7th.

I posted last week about how excited I was to be hosting my first ever Retro Beauty School work shop. Well if you happen to be local or even if not and feel like driving, we're giving away a seat at our work shop for free to one lucky winner! You can enter below! The more options you do, the more entries you earn! Many options can be done every day up until the end of the contest so share away for more entries!