Happy 2 Year Anniversary to the Blog!

I cannot believe it's been two years since starting For the Love of Character. Part of me feels like it was just yesterday and part of me feels like it's been around for ever and is a part of who I am. I have absolutely loved sharing these home improvement, party planning and life experiences with all of you. My readers are what drive me to keep going when I've hit a road block. I think "I have to get this done! I don't want to disappoint those who follow me and myself!" I do have to apologize that this year I have been some what lacking on the number of blog posts, but with growing the shop, Love of Character, I have had to choose quality over quantity with the chosen posts. I promise year 3 I will make more of an effort and share the exciting details of everything going on!

This year has been a challenging, stressful, yet rewarding year in my life. My day job has had a lot going on causing me to work lots on interesting and challenging projects. I started an online shop and tried to help it grow while maintaining it to fit into my schedule. My husband and I of course have also been trying to continue with our home projects. It's been a busy year! Let just say, I've been busy building lots of character! You all keep me going. My family, friends and supporters drive me to push myself, get things done and try my best at all that I do. Obviously, at times I struggle (yes, the staying up way too late catches up to me. I'm not a freak of nature who doesn't need sleep like some of you think) and I have to push myself to wake up and go. This blog and my little shop give me so much joy though, I truly enjoy my late nights of crazy updating you and filling your orders!

To celebrate the fabulous anniversary of keeping up this little blog I love having in my life, I want to share some of my favorite posts to recap!

I of course have to start with the room that inspired me to even make this fun little blog, our sunroom!

It is still one of my favorites and I love spending time in there. It was the very first room we redid in this casa and I adore it!

Second up is the Fancy Nancy Party I threw as a surprise 50th birthday party for my fabulous mother! I got back from our honeymoon and pulled this thing off in a couple weeks and loved LOVED putting it together:

Moving forward a few months, we redid our at the time office and that room took our home improvement skills to the next level (from so-so to ok we are figuring out some things). We ripped out and replaced the carpet ourselves, painted the chalkboard wall and configured a small space:

I loved that makeover and at times miss our little space, but I truly love the studio space we have now because it has more space to handle the growing business:

Next up to throw back in some parties, I have to say my favorite are the Valentine's Parties! I absolutely love hosting a party that includes good treats and a craft:

2014 -

2015 -

Definitely similar styles with the crafty filled tables!

For the next space recollection, I have to share the living room reveal because that was probably one of our most popular redos:

One of the most popular all time posts that I have on this blog is my good friend's bachelorette party! Best part about this party, is that it inspired a whole business thanks to those little pink boxes!

To finish off the trip down memory lane, I want to show the booths I've had over the past year and how the little box business has grown:

Holiday Galleria 2014 - Had a selection of hair ties offered at a friends booth and it was a great first learning experience:

Up next was my very first full craft show Craftacular:

Then a small school craft fair:

And this past month I went back to Holiday Galleria, except on my own!

Each show has had its own learning experience and I have enjoyed the road along the way. If they have taught me anything, it's that I have amazing supporters who make me feel like I can tackle it all!

It's been a great two years and I have learned so much about myself, my limits, home how tos and hostessing. I have loved sharing the journey with you and I hope you continue to follow along. I really do have some exciting things to share with you all coming up and I promise to make time to do so! Check back in for pictures on our finish (yes finished!!) kitchen island, the progress on hope to be finished soon powder room (longest project ever), another fun pop up opportunity for LOC coming very soon and more! Big things are happening over in this casa and I want you all to be apart of them. Thanks again times a million for supporting me on this crazy adventure. Hopefully you have built some character along the way!

Lots of Love,

Patio Party - Dustin's Graduation Celebration

Time to play catch up on life happenings now that the show is over! First thing I wanted to share was the fun patio party we hosted to celebrate my husband's completion of grad school - such a smarty pants! We were so excited to throw a shindig on the new patio and have a night with our family and a few friends. Decorations were simple and complemented our patio cushions, as well as the sunroom guests entered from. That's right, with the new stairs, people could go outside from the pretty sunroom - finally!

I purchased these colorful paper lanterns from Amazon and then we hung them from our cafe lights. Under $10 and added great pops of color.

Furniture set and outdoor rug from World Market. Each summer they release an affordable patio set and for $130, this works great!

Love our acrylic glassware I scored at TJMaxx. After a few drinks, a couple people dropped their drinks and it's great when you don't have to worry about broken glasses!

Now time for some people pics so I can show off the family we love so much!

How adorable is my grandma! My Aunt Mary was in town and we were happy to have her for a party at our home.

Proud Mama!

Dustin's dad and mentor...you are catching a pretty good sneak peek of the new island! More details to come.

My adorable "niece" (aka cousin's baby) Leni! Can you believe how big she's gotten? She was the life of the party.

Seriously the cutest.

We are so happy that we invested in a big patio for our backyard. It has added a room to our house and we love being able to entertain in our backyard. With the fire pit Dustin put together, we can hopefully have some cozy fall fires out there!

Lots of Love,

Holiday Galleria Rundown

Wrapped up one the best weekends of my LOC career! Getting a booth at Holiday Galleria was one of the best decisions I made for my fun little business. It was an absolute joy putting together a little mini pop up shop and showing off all the fun finds and creations LOC has to offer. Then when I heard people say they love it and that they wanted to spend the day with me in my cute booth, I felt such a sign of relief that this side gig I've put so much effort into it was loved by others. 

With all of that said, I could not have had as much fun, success or even have been at HG if it wasn't for my AMAZING family and friends! My husband helped me stuff confetti pops, put together boxes and move everything (plus dealt with the house being a hot mess!), my mother was by my side for most of the weekend fine tuning my retail skills, and my friends were helping, shopping and spreading the word. Wichita has blessed me with the best people! For all of you that stopped by, gave me words of encouragement and shopped: THANK YOU!!!

Now time to show you folks that weren't able to stop by some fun pictures from the shop!

People walked by the bar cart with the fun tea plates and couldn't believe it when I told them they were paper! I love our fun party products and was so excited that everyone else loved them too. We sold out of so many of tea party products! The plates, teapot cupcake stands and flatware were some of the hot items of the weekend. Customers - I cannot wait to see all of your fun party photos from using the pretty products! Please make sure to share and I'd love to do a blog feature on your parties.

Little Boxes of Character were a hit too! It brought such a big smile to my face when someone purchased one and I was able to wrap them up with special touches for their occasions. I'm excited for the special orders to come from people liking the idea and wanting to find an event that called for a pink box!

Hope you enjoyed a deeper look into the fun weekend had at Holiday Galleria. I want to end this post with another much needed thanks: Thanks to friends and family for the support, thank you to my fabulous vendors, and thank you thank you to my many customers that I had so much fun meeting! I hope that my products bring a smile to your face when you use them, gift them or share them. I would love to work with you all again in the future!

Lots of Love,