Business fun and a giveaway

For the last few years, I've had a business designing custom wedding invitations, programs, menus, birth announcements, birthday invitations, etc. I was figuring out the business side of things and getting a groove (and a steady customer base) when I got pregnant with Elle, was working two jobs and going to college for continued education. Needless to say, the design business didn't get a lot of extra love poured in to it, and aside from a few requests from friends and family over the last 2+ years, I hadn't been doing much business.

But last year, I attended a friend's wedding and decided to make her a special, personalized gift. I created a custom print based on her wedding invitation, and I matted it and framed it and gave it to the lovely couple. And they loved it. My friend has mentioned several times how special it was to them and how much they loved being able to frame the reminder of their special day in their home for years to come.

An 8" x 10" custom wedding print, matted and framed.

I started to think about other occasions I could give a gift like this - something so customized, so different and so appreciated. As I created birth announcement and anniversary prints, my design business, Media Bug Unlimited, was revived and revamped.

This time, I branched out and streamlined things by listing on Etsy and developing Facebook and Twitter pages. I don't do quite as many custom invitation orders anymore, but the custom prints have gained in popularity, and I love designing them.

What better way to remember your wedding day than
with a custom print of lyrics from your first dance?

I love working with my clients and seeing their orders take shape. And I love, love, love the positive feedback and repeat business I've received. I've designed company logos and blog headers since my unofficial relaunch, too, and am excited to see what new projects that future holds.

A birth announcement print to match a nursery done with a jungle theme.

I really, really enjoy the work that I'm doing, and I was excited when Molly at Stilettos and Diapers issued a call for giveaways last month. I love Molly's blog and have been a following for years, and I am pleased that my first giveaway is live for her "Celebrate the 1!" event - head on over and enter to win a custom print! And feel free to "Like" Media Bug Unlimited on Facebook, follow MBU on Twitter, check out MBU's Etsy page or e-mail me at mediabugunlimited@gmail.com.

Busch Gardens (P.S. Want to win something?)

Last week, I mentioned our trip to Busch Gardens.We had a ton of fun - there was a lot of concern that the weather would ruin the day, but the rain held off until we were almost home, and the overcast skies and windy weather actually made the park quite comfortable. We met up with all of my coworkers for our lunch, which was included in our ticket package, and other than that we pretty much just roamed the park on our own. Elle fell asleep in the gorilla exhibit - it was cool, dark and quiet - so she caught a much-needed afternoon nap that allowed us to spend the rest of the afternoon at the park without hysterical meltdowns.

Since we took Elle, we were kind of limited on the rides we could go on, which quite honestly was fine with us. We're not HUGE roller coaster people, and there are so many other things to do at Busch Gardens that we knew we'd be able to fill our day. I also think it was good that on our first trip there we weren't trying to cram as many coasters in to our day as possible - we could kind of scope out the scene for future trips sans kidlet(s) :)

Seeing the animals was a lot of fun - I fell in love with the hippos:

Elle tried - and fell in love with - cotton candy:

Elle was not so enamored by hay:

And a funny story: There's an awesome part of Busch Gardens that is Sesame Street-themed. There's a little water park area, several jungle gyms, rides and gift shops. All of the rides have rules about how tall your kid can be, what stage of development they have to be (sitting, standing, etc.) and other such things. One of the rules NOT stated on the signs? That you must be wearing shoes. It's Florida. Elle isn't walking yet. We don't do shoes. It would be one more thing to worry about losing in the park. On the merry-go-round, though, the operator told me that she could ride if she was wearing socks. He suggested that she could be wearing ANY socks. Like mine. So I took my socks off, and this is what you get:

As one other mother watching the scene told me: "You do what you gotta do." And now Elle has ridden on her first amusement park ride.

I've got a ton of photos from the day, but I'll leave you with these pages I designed with the My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software.

OK, I lied - I'll leave you with a chance to win your own copy of the My Memories Suite software :) Follow this link to read my review and see how you can enter to win. There's also a sweet discount code that will save you up to $20 on software and products.

Wheee!

I NEVER win anything. But I got an e-mail tonight that I won a tote bag from a fellow blogger. Made a night of laundry and cooking a little bit brighter :)