I love this chandelier. So much. I decked it out this morning, and here’s how it went:

Last weekend I decided my back patio looked less than stellar (gross, run-down and wintered-out). So I went out and got some new cushions for the furniture, added a cool white coffee table that I already had,  put up some big white market umbrellas and cleaned out the fountain. It all looked very lounge-like and sophisticated. (Although, I used bleach in the fountain which for some reason turned into the biggest mess of bubbles…so we had a bubble bath-looking fountain). That gave us the idea to run champagne through a fountain for a party, but that’s another story.

Anyway. After I was finished with my little project, something was missing: lighting.  Since I have closets full of decorating stuff, I went and found a really pretty white paper japanese style lantern from ikea, and a string of white Christmas lights. I filled the lantern with lights and hung it from the lath cover over the patio and it looked great. So great in fact, that I took lots of pictures (before and after) and showed all my friends that night at a party. They were impressed.

Enter fog and drizzle. I woke up the next morning to a very sad and saggy paper lantern that was falling apart. I was not happy. I went out to my garage (the decorating graveyard) and found this chandelier that used to hang in the entrance of the restaurant I had with my husband. Hmm. Maybe we could do something with this. It’s metal so it won’t wilt in the fog. I gathered up my 5 year old and headed to the craft store. On the way there she decided we should paint it pink. Perfect. Let’s expand on that.

Fruit, flowers, birds, crystals and pink and green paint. A little oil cloth will cover the candle-thingies (right now that’s just origami paper), so the whole thing will be completely waterproof – not to mention crazy, kitschy and over-the top.  It’s a masterpiece I tell ya.

Me + the 5 year old had a blast decorating it, (although I admit not letting her do much). We’ll have to give the bird a name, so if you have any ideas, let us know.

 * update 04/29/12: we’ve decided on the name Paris. It was a toss up between that and Louis.

What I’m wondering is, how does it happen? One day we see neon and think “eighties, yuck”, and the next day we want to cover everything in neon washi tape. Kate Spade and Ann Taylor have windows full of the stuff. Neon handbags, fingernails and shoes are everywhere, and as I mentioned before, it seems to be here to stay – at least for a while.  I’m guilty of going from yuck to yay (and then back to yuck again) overnight. The tricky part is that it’s SO easy to get caught up in the trend du jour when it’s comes to your branding. I mean, you’re ready to brand your business, and you start looking around at what’s out there for ideas, and there they are. Everywhere. SO MANY OPTIONS, so many trends.  I am all too familiar with this for myself and my clients. And then there’s Pinterest. Making it extra easy to stay current on what’s hot, and contributing to our design envy / excitement / overload.

Where am I going with this? I’m not sure exactly. It’s just that a few months back I could have cared less about triangle patterns, and now I love them, and I wonder when exactly that shift in thinking takes place. Triangles will go away, just like damask, so I guess what I’m saying is this: be careful. If your brand is too trendy, you will be sick of it in a year if not sooner. There are so many things that play into  design trends: fashion, color, travel,  people, television, books, food, movies, art, magazines – everything.

Want my advice?  Keep it clean, keep it current, keep it classic.  Add some fun, but make sure that your main branding (logo, tag line, fonts and colors) are solid and have staying power. Then change up a few elements or patterns here and there when you get bored. Making a decision and sticking with it is THE. HARDEST. PART. of branding, and hey – you’re creative; you have to keep it fresh to stay competitive and feel good about your business. Don’t fall behind on the trends, but don’t go crazy over them either. My 2 cents, as usual.

oh, and stripes and dots will NEVER go out of style. ever. Here’s a little collage of what I’m loving right now:

OH. And, they can be used as blog banners too. Secondly, we have new blog buttons. Cute, fun little blog buttons that can be used to dress up your blahg. {blah + blog = blahg}. We’re excited about these fun additions to the Dear Miss Modern Shop. We heart spring!

First of all, when I say ‘our” and “we”, it hasn’t been true. I have been running Deluxemodern and the Dear Miss Modern shop on my own since the beginning of February. That might not seem like a big deal, especially since really, I have only had actual help for the past 6 months. {and had been doing everything on my own for the past 5 years}.

But the last 6 months -well, the last year actually- have been, to put it mildly HUGE for us. {There I go again, with the “us”}. We have tripled our client base, opened the Dear Miss Modern shop , and have quite a lengthy client wait list. So to be suddenly faced with doing everything myself again was quite a shock. So many emails and questions to answer, all the social media stuff {have you noticed a lack of blog posts}? All the client projects and design, managing the wait list, bookkeeping, etc.

Let me be clear: I’m not complaining. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to feel creative when faced with massive stacks of “office” work that is truly enough for 3 people. The reason I’m telling you this: I decided to start the Logo-A-Day project right  in the middle of way-to-much-going-on-already. There are several explanations as to why I decided this would be a good idea: A). I’m crazy, or B). to make darn sure I didn’t start to slack creatively. I’m going with both. I knew that doing this would keep me creative while juggling everything else. And it has. Some logos have been more exciting that others, but they completely depend on my mood. I usually get up, get my kids ready for school, and while my husband is dropping them off, create the logo of the day in my pajamas, before even one sip of coffee. Sometimes (like today) I knew what I wanted to do before I got out of bed. Antlers. It had to be antlers. Yesterday I messed around with something I didn’t like for a good half hour, then did something completely different at the last minute and it sold within the hour. It’s fun, and I think some of you even look forward to it. I know I do. So if you sent an email and it took a while for “us” to get back to you, now you know why. Thank you for your patience. And oh yeah, we will be a we again starting this Tuesday March 20th. {the first day of spring} and I’m looking forward to a very sunny future!

Here are a few of my favorites, all of which can be found in the Dear Miss Modern Shop:

{The Bright Haute logo is from our Logo-A-Day Project, and can be purchased in the Dear Miss Modern Shop}.

*all photos {with the exception of the logo} are from Pinterest}.

Zipped file includes 4 photoshop files, an .eps file and an example jpg. Use for blog backgrounds, cards, or marketing material. Not for resale {but you already knew that}.

Do you really need a facbook landing page? What does it do, really? I asked myself this question, because honestly I couldn’t see the point. {just becuase everyone else has one generally doesn’t do it for me}.

I looked around online, and here’s what I came up with:

One critical part of increasing your likers is to have a landing page. Your Facebook landing page serves multiple purposes:

• Sets the stage. Your wall can be a fun, engaging space when you do it well. However, for someone less familiar with your business, it may feel chaotic and overwhelming. A landing page explains who you are and acts as an introduction to your Facebook presence.
  
• Explains the benefit of liking your business. Although liking a page isn’t a big commitment–just a click will do it–there will certainly be “like fatigue” as people are bombarded to like more pages on Facebook. A landing page can explain why someone should like your page and what benefits they may receive: discounts, daily tips, ability to engage with a brand or company they like IRL. (In Real Life.)
• Extends your brand(ing). Whenever you setup an outpost on a social media platform, you want to ensure that your brand is visible. In conjunction with your profile photo (the image on the left hand side of all your pages), your landing page can help establish your brand in the mind of your prospects and customers. Make sure that your brand’s personality comes through.
• Shows that you take Facebook seriously. It’s too easy to get started on Facebook, which is why every business seems to have a Facebook business page. Whenever you use a social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) you’ll get better engagement when you make your profile look “lived in.”

Let’s break down the answer to common question of `How do I get more likes?’ and examine how to create an outstanding landing page that attract more likes and build a thriving community.

Give them a reason to stick around. You should offer them at least one compelling reason to like your page—the WIFM (what’s in it for me) benefit they will receive from doing so. People get several page invites per day, and with hundreds of thousands of pages out there you need to let people know why they should like you over and above anyone else. Here are a few examples:

•  Like us for instant updates on {whatever you do-inset here}

•  Like us for early bird offers on our latest stuff

•  Like us for the latest news on {your business}

•  Like us to access one daily photo, idea, etc.

Create an extension of your website. A Facebook page is like a free mini website, so think of the landing page as the home page. It’s your opportunity to catch the visitor’s attention in four seconds or less with your unique selling proposition—what you do, why that matters, and who should care. Using photos, creative images, or videos are effective ways to do this. And people especially love stories that resonate with them.

Make it actionable. The beauty of a landing page is you can make it dynamic like your website. You should have a hyperlink to your website—and without overcomplicating the page—you can also showcase your key social media links.

Reveal yourself. You’ve likely interacted with a page that when liked, either revealed more information you or another page with a call to action. See the Suitcase Entrepreneur Facebook landing page, and it’s  really effective without overwhelming the visitor. This is something you can ask your designer to include in the landing page design.

Make it competitive. Who doesn’t like a good deal, special offer, or a fun competition? These sorts of activities work well to create buzz and engagement, while enticing visitors to click that “like” button. While you want to be careful to stay within the Facebook promotional guidelines, there’s no rule against using a competition to get people interested in what you’re doing.

You can create a branded contest or sweepstakes with Strutta’s flexible builder and design options. You can run this from a Facebook tab on your page, a microsite—or both. You can even build your own custom contest site or application on top of the Strutta platform. You can get started from $299. Strutta even walks you through a step-by-step setup process, where you can customize your promotion by choosing from a variety of contest models, allowing multiple media types (video, photo, audio, and/or text), configuring voting and judging options, and easily adding custom survey questions to gather data. Plus, it’s integrated fully with sharing on Twitter and Facebook, which means your competition is even more “sharable.”

SIZE FOR FACEBOOK LANDING PAGE: 540 PIXELS WIDE X ABOUT 600 PIXELS TALL {the height can vary, and is flexible}. I personally am not a fan of the big “LIKE US” with an arrow – my feeling is that people know how to use facebook, and if they want t like you, they know where the button is. That’s just me though.

We have facebook landing page templates in the Dear Miss Modern Shop, or you can create your own.

There are lots of companies that host these pages for free, and lots that you have to pay for. Some of them are:

pagemodo

shortstack

ripe social

north social

info from articles by:

Natalie Sisson

Rich Brooks

photos from pinterest