1: Tea and Cakes shoes ♥ 2: Tinsel Town skirt ♥ 3: Gavotte #43 dress (I love the white bow bustle!) ♥ 4: Pineapple Crush shoes ♥ 5: Hot Fudge hair comb ♥ 6: Premier dress (great sleeve length) ♥ 7: Charm School shoes ♥ 8: Roja nail polish ♥ 9: Maple dress (paging Joan Holloway…beautiful portrait neckline) ♥ 10: Pistoia dress flats ♥ Baciami striped dress

Shabby Apple also gave me the opportunity to share the code NEWYEAR with you–use it at checkout for 20% off your order! The sale lasts through the entire month of January, so bookmark your favorites and pick up some cute new stuff to put some pretty in your late winter wardrobe.

Happy Wednesday! What’s the best thing that happened to you today?
xo
meg

One thing I am proud of is that I believe that I do make the most of my time, of every day I have. Whether it’s a carpe diem thing or an existential crisis thing, I don’t know, but I do not remember the last time I felt like my time was wasted. That I was bored. That I would rather be somewhere else. I just don’t do that–I think I have one life and I have the responsibility of controlling the outcome, so being honest with myself about what I really want to make of it is a heavy commitment for me. But all I’m doing by avoiding the thought of solid life goals is avoiding admitting what it is I really want.

Here are fifteen commitments I am willing to make. Here are fifteen things I can’t wait to do in my lifetime!

1. Write two books

This is happening. The first proposal is almost done and off. I have an agent now and I never thought I would really see this happen. Ack ack ack ack ack!!!

2. Design a shoe and a line of purses

I want to meet someone who will help me design a beautiful pair of shoes. The perfect shoes. Ones that will show up in people’s outfit of the day blog posts all over. (Is that weird? Isn’t that the picture of modern marketing?) And I would save one new pair on my shelf in my closet for Alice to have when she’s older. I think that creating bags is very similar to creating clothes as far as color balance, pattern, and attention to detail in construction. I think they would be the perfect compliment to my clothes, pieces for my readers and fans now to buy and keep forever. Pieces that your grandkids would pull out of your closet and play with when they visit. I take so much inspiration from my own childhood, and the memories of my grandma’s closet will be with me forever. The thought of being a part of another child’s memory is very motivational for me.

3. Live in Berlin for a year with my child

Traveling as a child was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life, and exposure to international cultures is increasingly valuable as our world gets smaller and smaller. From our post in Berlin, we can spend weeks in Italy, Russia, Norway, Crete, Egypt, China…it’s just another flight. This is actually one of my main financial goals at the moment and I have my eye on my travel account!

4. Plan a surprise party for a friend

5. Teach a class in Berlin

6. Love my home

I don’t love my house. I don’t feel relaxed when I come home. I don’t look around and love everything I see. A few months ago I met Holly Becker of decor8, and I work right next door to my friend Jessica’s interior design showroom Birdhouse Collectible, and they are influencing me to take more ownership of my home and see it as an evolving space. I want to invite people in when they come to the door and host people for dinner whenever I want. I think it’s a totally achievable goal. I have committed to leaving the house looking my best every day and I do it. It’s nothing more than giving my environment the attention I give myself, and I will be better for it!

7. Have a housekeeper

Okay, this has always been my dream. I have an assistant…I think having a housekeeper is totally in the realm of possibility.

8. Design a line of stationery

I dream of seeing little ribboned packages of my letterpressed stationery on a shelf in a store.

9. Inspire Alice to love herself and protect her health

Nothing would please me more than raising a confident, happy child. She can be any religion. She can marry anybody. She can go anywhere to school. There will be tiny disappointments for me through her life, but as long as she knows her worth and respects herself, as long as she knows she is beautiful, I will be a completely successful parent.

10. Go on a road trip with my mom

11. Host Christmas

Is this crazy? My mom would be horrified that this is a goal of mine.

12. Keynote a major conference

13. Make a connection with my relatives

I feel close with my parents and brother, but the rest of my extended family sometimes seems more distant. I want to grow closer to them, get phone calls from them, and get advice from them when I need it. I’m not sure how to begin with that but I hope that in years to come, I can find more confidants and friends in my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

14. Make a connection with Martha Stewart

Everyone has an opinion about Martha, but I admire so much about her. From pioneering making do-it-yourself cool to her unapologetic business savvy, she represents everything lifestyle brands can be, everything working mothers can have, because she paved the way for it. No, she wrecking balled the way for it. I have fantasized about doing a spot on her show, or even working for her, but I would like to start by someday meeting her.

15. Leave Omaha better than I found it

Omaha is my passion. I love this city and I have its people to thank for so much of my motivation that has led me down the path of this amazing life. I think often about running for city council someday or getting into local politics in some way, but I think that the best way I can help Omaha and its people is by having my businesses here and continuing to improve them. Princess Lasertron is my passion that grew here, and CAMP was created absolutely FOR Omaha. I want to inspire people to love this city, and–more importantly–live in this city to benefit our whole community.

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway.
Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health.
Want to enter?
Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

a late summer vacation at the lake

“Make it Pretty” is our mission statement at Princess Lasertron, a reminder to take care of the details, only do work you can be proud of, and add magic to someone’s life every day. Read more to learn about the origins of Make it Pretty and what first inspired it.

When I was growing up, I wanted to become a stay-at-home mother. My mom was. Her life seemed perfect–she starched napkins while watching tv, she paged through cookbooks and printed recipes off of our new laser printer that she taped inside the cupboards. She put surprises and notes in my lunch that she packed every day, and signed me up for every kind of camp and class every summer–painting, pottery, rocketry, acting, you name it. She built forts in our living room with all the neighborhood kids who came over, and brought plates of sandwiches and carrots to the picnic table in our backyard when we all played outside. She was never embarrassed to drop us off at school in her pajamas or serve breakfast for dinner. Sometimes our house was messy. Sometimes we lay in bed all day watching movies and ate nothing but cereal. But all the time my mom did her best. Every day.

In college, I became close with one of my professors who teased me about my dream of being a stay-at-home mom (he still does whenever I see him). I worked really hard in college. As the semesters went by, I developed a work ethic that I had never seen in myself before–studying things I enjoyed, taking the time to develop lasting knowledge, and doing my work right. Finishing my assignments in a way I was proud of, not merely the way my professors expected. Then when I started Princess Lasertron in 2005, my early success felt like proof that this strategy of determination and mastery was on the right track. Unnoticed by me, my ambitions gradually shifted from re-living my mother’s life to defining my own. I loved the gratification that came with purveying “pretty” to women on the most meaningful days of their lives.

Our class sizes at Dana, where I went to college, were usually between 4-10 students, and because we had such intimate class sessions our teachers were very challenging–more strict and scrutinizing than other professors I’ve had since. I majored in something that sounded most fun to me and I cared a lot about the material to the point of obsession. I would find articles about sub-topics in our studies and ask to present them to the class. If I needed a source for a paper, I would track down the country’s top authority on the subject and ask for a phone interview. If we had to do a final presentation, I reserved the auditorium, designed invitations, and offered a seat to every student and staff member to watch. I had a lot of fun challenging the limits and I didn’t find that it really took that much more effort. It only took creativity. When I had an assignment or task, I ignored the way I was asked to complete it and asked myself, “What’s the right way to complete this?”

“Make it Pretty” is the seed of inspiration planted by my mother to live every day in a way that I can be proud of. It germinated and flourished with the mixture of hard work and creativity that struck me in college. Make it Pretty is the motivation to inspire others to seek joy and be their best selves. It’s noticing what’s possible. It’s taking a moment before you finish something to make it a little better.

dress rehearsal: models standing before our preview show

making sunshine: at a shoot for omaha fashion magazine with photographer bill sitzmann

assistants, dressers, models, and stylists: getting ready in a loft apartment before our fashion week show

fog machine from our shoot with rock n' roll bride.

my tabletop at work

As an adult now I know that my dream wasn’t to copy my mother’s life. All I wanted is to embody the spirit of happiness and satisfaction that I saw in my mom. I had a joyful childhood because my mother was joyful. The lesson she taught me is that living slower, respecting imagination, and taking inspiration from the nurturing of something so small, so innocent, so curious and optimistic–whether Alice, my own daughter, or the “inner child” in my psyche–is one path to a fulfilled–and pretty–life.

xo
meg

This year I am designing my second line of party and wedding dresses. Being able to do this represents the fulfillment of many goals for me–the desire to make a career out of my creativity that I had since I was a little girl, to feel like I am positively influencing the confidence and happiness of others, and to challenge and question the limits of my potential. Many deeply inspired moments led to this collection of dresses, and there is one visualization I have held in my mind and has influenced my thought process so much in the last several months:

♥

There’s a young girl in a big department store for the first time. The floors are polished, and she is happy to hear the short heels of her blue patent leather shoes against the tile, tap-tap-tap-tap-tap, as her mother’s boots take longer strides next to her. Her red wool coat is unbuttoned, and her mittens are off, though they hang out of her sleeves by a string that connects them across her back. She reaches her small hand up, and as her mother takes her hand she feels the soft fur on the cuffs of her mother’s sleeve.

From the shining faceted perfume bottles on the pristine glass counter tops to the rows of jewel-toned pantsuits and sheath dresses, the tall towers of delicate feathered hats to the perfectly cuffed pants of the men selling shoes, the young girl is captivated by the newness and perfection, the fantastic colors and thoughtfulness paid to every detail as she follows her mother through the store. As they exit the department store onto the busy street in the chilly gray air, the girl pulls her away from her mother to stuff her red mittens back over her hands. As she pauses, she turns and notices for the first time the window display in the storefront. Dozens of fuchsia and orange balloons anchor the sides of a Lucite table, and a crystal chandelier hangs overhead. Rows and rows of silver paper chains festoon the ceiling, and she can see them tied to hooks inside the window with red and white twine. The girl’s eyes finally fall on the centerpiece of the window–a mannequin in an emerald green dress standing in front of the table in happy dotted tights and brown paper bags at her feet. A small cake sits atop the table, and place settings for two have been set.

“That,” the girl thought, “is exactly who I want to be when I am a mama.”

♥

When this vision began coming to me almost a year ago, I thought I was seeing myself. I had those blue shoes. I held my mother’s hand. And I grew to become the woman in the window–the person I always wanted to be. But in recent weeks I have realized it’s not me–it’s you I see. I see you marvel at new things every day–new places, new colors, new textures, new people bustling around you–it’s your fascination that inspires me every moment. It’s your wonderment and awe. You are that girl.

My muse is the notion of becoming the woman I always wanted to be. It’s the thought of seeing the world the way we did when we were little girls–imaginative people who have never been told what isn’t possible–and rejecting the disappointment of mundane adult life. Each phase of life is almost a lifetime in itself, and the love we share has been fostered over many, many lifetimes–from my girlhood in my blue shoes, heels clicking against the linoleum at school, to your conception and birth and the moments we will share together for lifetimes to come.

My promise to you is to nurture and protect your confidence and imagination throughout all of your lifetimes. I promise to show you how to love yourself and honor your health and beauty. I promise to show you that your fascination and curiosity are gifts that will serve you through your whole life, and tools to become the woman you always wanted to be. I promise to trust you to navigate your world, and empower you to trust yourself. And I promise to play with you forever.

Someday when you are older and you feel put down, or out of motivation and energy, or frustrated that you are unable to make magic happen, I want you to remember yourself as a little girl. I still remember myself as a little girl–I am still that person. She is still here. And Alice, the person you are as a child will always be here. The curious, bossy, delightful person you are now–before you ever broke curfew, before you ever worried about getting a bad grade, before you thought about about gas prices or finding a parking spot, before you had to remember where you put your wallet or lipstick, before you were hurt by anyone who said they loved you–is the person you can always trust, because she is the person who knows you can become anything.

xo
mama

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I’m hosting a benefit for the Nebraska Aids Project on the 27th and our guest of honor is Mondo Guerra from Project Runway!

The cost is $7 which includes hors d’oeuvres, a drag show, and a little meet and greet with the fabulous Mr. Guerra. The beautiful and indomitable Kat Williams from Rock n Roll Bride will be there too and you’ll also get to see the pieces from our new dress line.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mr. Lasertron had a birthday. We had cake and food from our friends Denise and Isa and got our parents to play celebrity.

Alice likes to color. I helped with some of it.

Our sweet intern Allie is heading back to college. (She made the poster above!)

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I also finally sent out the packages from our giveaway week–congratulations to winners JoAnn, CaLynn, Brittan, Ani, Rachel, and Amie! Want to see what they won? Nothing earth-shattering–just some fun packages I put together.

Books: Signature Styles by Jenny Doh (with my felt flower cuff bracelet project on the front!) and The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.

Creativity: A crepe paper flower kit from Martha Stewart, and some vintage odds and ends from around my studio

Home: Alice’s Cook Book by Alice Hart (how could I not??), an awesome candle from Caldrea, and a tiny measuring tape to keep in your purse for when you are thrifting frames and furniture!

Learning: Brain Games for Dummies–I have this book and it serves as a time waster/coloring book for Alice, depending on who needs it more–and a box of stationery to send notes to faraway friends.

Friends: Two matching pairs of sunglasses from Betsey Johnson, and two bottles of matte nail polish from Nicole by OPI.

Beauty: Rosemary mint hand lotion from Pure & Good, Fleur de Corail perfume from Lolita Lempicka, and a few face mask samples. Tee hee free samples.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

More later. back to work.

xo
meg

One of my favorite new online magazines is Inspired Ideas from my sweet and generous friend Amy Powers. Three issues in, and I’m already hooked on its cute tutorials, gorgeous layouts, and the original sketches and doodles (from Pamela Keravuori!) that tie it all together. Amy has long been a creative inspiration of mine, and she asked me to be a contributor to this issue’s summer craft happy theme. My girls Shannon and Emma and I took supplies with us to Spirit Lake last month and came up with a great tutorial on how to make felt cupcake toppers that would work for a birthday party, baby or wedding shower, or even as a wedding favor. The issue comes out today and is only $3.99! Let me know if you make our cupcake toppers and share the pictures!

Here are a few outtakes from our tutorial and the picnic we had afterward to eat the cupcakes.

I encourage you to check out Inspired Ideas, a great online magazine chock-full of dozens of tutorials that anyone can create and draw inspiration from.

xo
meg

The concept for the table was simple: a neutral, natural base (in the wooden table, white paper, and kraft Easter treat bags) with brilliantly colored small details (in the flowers, paper balls, and favors).

I lined the edges of our thick wooden table with paper. It served as a placemat, a drawing surface, added visual interest. Also, leaving the middle of the table bare adds some form to the function.

I filled kraft bags with Easter treats, wrote each person’s name on the outside, and tied each one to a chair back with yarn. Each place setting also got a tumbler, a champagne glass for mimosas (or a new bunny sippy cup), a jar of crayons, and an ice cream-shaped bottle of bubbles. As the platters of french toast and cinnamon rolls dwindled the white paper became more scribbled-on, and the bubbles came out to bring a playful end to the meal.

My mom is usually the host of holiday get-togethers, but she and my dad are en route to Florida for the shuttle launch! My mom won tickets from NASA on twitter and she gets to sit in a special group of people in the verrrrrry front of the gallery where she will livetweet and blog the entire experience. You can follow her journey in the MotherShip, a gigantic rock star motorhome, on Twitter and on her blog! My mom Mary Beth is an amazing writer and she will make you wish you were there.

xo
meg

♥ House of Turquoise features beautiful homes and rooms in every shade of teal ♥ This scratch off world map from Urban Outfitters ♥ Chevron ♥ My new chairs from Birdhouse Collectible–they’re going to be off the chain in my living room ♥ Alice walking ♥ The Foundary — it’s like Gilt for interior design and the company is based in Omaha! ♥ Planning a party where everyone can give a 5 minute demonstration of something they know ♥ Vintage lab glass ♥ Gold flatware ♥ Metallic Wallpaper ♥

I love this drawing Erin Human sketched of me while I was speaking at Awesomecamp last week!

Playing Celebrity at game night yesterday

A new pin for reader Emily B.

With Eric at CAMP

A boutonniere I made for my friend Dusty’s 30th birthday

The struggle to make inspiration your own affects everybody because whether you are designing dresses, websites, creating programs, or coming up with a business plan, we are often tempted to tiptoe down the path traveled by somebody before us in the hopes that they won’t see us. Deep down, we know that’s wrong, but how can we appreciate and honor the inspiration of others and create something unique?

I don’t have to explain how unethical it is to copy another person’s design or idea. There is a real person behind every design. A person who needs to make money to support their families, to hire employees (and support THEIR families), a person whose work represents their true passion. Our ideas are our capital and copying it results in lost revenue, lost jobs, and missed opportunities whether the copier’s intentions are good or not. How many of you have had your work ripped off before? It stings.

So I though of my best tips and advice for taking inspiration from one source and applying it in an original way to your own work.

1. Practice telling yourself that you are creative and your own ideas are good enough!
So blogging is obviously an amazing platform for the creative community, but when we immerse ourselves in our feed readers a little too much, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with inspiration and feel like we will never be good enough to compete with that. That we’ll never make anything that great. Take a step back though because it’s just as likely that other people are saying that about YOUR projects. Inspiration is not a competition.

2. Figure out what exactly it is that draws you to a certain design.
Start by making a physical collage or using a image clipping app (I love imgfave and pinterest) to collect photos that represent the inspiration you would love to recreate. Then look at the images and try to figure out what it is that draws you to that style. It could be a typeface, texture, or a color, or a common detail like eyelet lace, brushed metal, or natural wood. Use that knowledge to branch out of what has inspired you and think of other things you could incorporate and claim as your own.

Wedding pinboad from Dublin09

3. Don’t constantly refer back to your inspiration source.
The more you look at an inspirational photo or object as you are working on your own project, the potential for creating unique work diminishes. Definitely keep those pictures in a file somewhere, or put one up on the wall and change it often if you like to see them. But don’t become obsessed with someone else’s image.

As time goes by since you have seen the pictures, you start to remember what it is about them that really spoke to you in the first place. The nuances and tiny details blur in your memory and you start to remember the big picture, the things that made you love the photo. Then you are better able to focus on which elements you can adopt into your own work.

I surround myself at work with inspirational materials rather than photos–glass jars and cups of sharpies and markers, prints from past photoshoots we’ve done on the wall, strings of paper chains hanging on the ceiling, various collections–I have vintage textbooks, polaroids, action figures–whatever floats your boat. I like to switch it up from time to time too to keep the vibes fresh.

4. Collect inspiration from a variety of places.
Some trends get reblogged and shared so many times that they become really commonplace and expected. If you let a trendy style influence you too heavily, nobody will see you as an innovator.

So turn your eyes away from the screen and onto something else. Drive for an hour in one direction and then get out of the car and sketch. Pick up a magazine title that you wouldn’t typically read. Or just call a few friends to go grab some pancakes and listen to what they’ve been up to lately. Those personal, individual experiences aren’t things that other people can right-click-save-as into their inspiration folder.

5. Draw inspiration from the original designer’s creative process rather than their work.
Sometimes what first inspires an original work is a process or a technique rather than a “big picture” vision of a finished product. Have you ever started making something and then realized how you could apply the same method to another project? When I first figured out how to make our posie flowers, it was that ruffling and folding technique that inspired me to make the cuffed corsage bracelets. Two completely different projects with a similar process.

Figure out what it is about the technical aspects of your source of inspiration that makes it beautiful. How was it created? Can you uncover anything about the technique used? Is there a biography about designer? Can you find more information about their personal motivation? If you can learn about the original designer’s personal process, you can use that information as a tool as you create your own work.

What frustrates me most when I find copies of my work online is when the copier absolutely mutiliates my process and the finished product looks like crap. I think, wow, I hope nobody sees this second-rate workmanship and wrongly associates it with my brand. There are a million ways to reinterpret my designs, and I am always trying to reinterpret them too. Nothing is worst than getting stale.

6. Don’t copy yourself!
When we figure out what works for us, what makes money, what gets results, that is a huge triumph as a businessowner or artist. But it’s also easy to fall into the trap of forgetting to keep challenging yourself, and it won’t be long until the next young whippersnapper comes up with an improvement on your tried and true method. Be the first one to improve upon your own inspiration. Reframing or redesigning your own work will also help you learn more about your craft and get a better grip on your own process.

Inspiration is one of the main reasons I work. I love that finding and sharing beauty every day is part of my job description, and I feel that I am making the world a better place if I can make something that will bring happiness to someone else.

xo
meg

If you have one, share a picture or a post of something you were inspired by and how you made something unique and personal with it!

another outfit styled at scout

With Bill Jones from Jones Bros

Eric with his phone, and me with my dozen Jones Bros cupcakes (and humongous homemade marshmallow in the to-go cup)

A look at the paper sculptural art of Omaha artist Yinghua Zhu

Bunny boots

♥ real housewives of omaha ♥ my nine month old baby ♥ my new coat in my favorite colors ♥ string cheese ♥ homemade dish soap ♥  ♥ dark grey nail polish with a heavy coat of gold glitter on top–my new power manicure ♥ just realized I own 3 gold clutch purses and NEVER use them…that changes this week. ♥ wendy williams. period. ♥ waterford vase we got for our wedding full of dice ♥ wooden wick candles ♥ liz’s bow belt tutorial ♥ cuddling to sleep with my little tiny beanbag ♥ the cute guy who works at the locksmith. hi, josh. thanks for saving me today. ♥ speaking of wendy williams, the new season of ru paul’s drag race. do you know you can watch online?! ♥ custom rubber stamps–there is a factory down the street from my office and they do SUCH great work! ♥ homemade banana bread–I’ve made three batches this week ♥ a new box of wine to keep on my desk (mom of the year) ♥

The crew at CAMP

the best guest room

wonder woman makeup mailed to me by reader kari!

everyone wants homemade ice cream made on the porch in a coffee can

Eric and I giving our talk at Meet the Pros earlier this week, Badassery at Work: Creativity, collaboration, and coworking.

xo
meg