baby steps, baking & the styleberry brand journey

You can gauge the state of my mental health by the amount that I bake. No joke. When I am seeking clarity I reach for flour, butter, sugar & the stand mixer. Baking is a very peaceful thing for me. Cooking is a necessity. Baking is therapeutic. Plus, then I get to make someone smile, because I never eat what I bake…I give it all away.

I have been baking a lot lately. Baking & thinking. Processing everything going on. I forgot to update my babycenter.com page & got an email this week saying my baby was 12 weeks old. & that sent me into a baking frenzy. As much as life is sunshine & lollipops around here, there are still plenty of moments of sad. I think a lot about what life could have looked like. What is looks like now. How I am going to heal. This is not a short process & it is taking time. I am doing a lot with my hands, which gives my mind time to flow where it needs to in order to heal. Making stuff is helping. It’s all about baby steps. Baby steps towards feeling like myself again.

I took a long break from baking because it was not what I wanted or needed to do for almost an entire year. But once I started up again, everything came flooding back to me. This brand was born in my kitchen. I spent plenty of nights thinking & piecing together what everything was going to look like in my head. It was comprised of all the little details that I love. My favorite colors. My favorite feelings. My favorite activities. My values. I kept my notebook with me everywhere I went & I finally found a direction.

I love hearing how brands came to be, especially if there was some sort of evolution. I love seeing growth, change & development of ideas as they evolve. So here’s my short story:

This blog started back in 2007. It was a blogger blog first called “tres chick” then “a creative space.” It’s where I posted my creative projects. Just for fun. Baking, painting, faux finishing, traveling. It was just me & what I loved. 2008 came & I moved to Texas. Quit my corporate job & tried to find what was next. I got certified in Home Staging & started a staging/color consulting business. This brand was developed with that end point in mind. I was baking a lot & loved style (of course). I wanted something different. Something that I hadn’t seen before. I wanted a logo that was simplistic & stood on it’s own. One afternoon I was baking my favorite cranberry oat muffins & it came to me. Just like that. The marriage of style & baking…the two things I loved most at that point in time: styleberryHOME. BINGO! & off it went.

Over time things have changed. I found photography. I called it styleberryPHOTO. My goals were Fresh. Modern. Simple. Bright. Refined. I made that happen & created a visual brand that sat alongside the styleberryHOME brand, but was brighter. Then, I backed away from photography [the business] because being a mom is where my heart is. & chose blogging as my top non-mama activity. I feel like it is just about time for a brand facelift & I hope to have one sometime soon. But for now, I like the way it feels around here. There is order & a pretty simple structure: styleberryFOOD. styleberryHOME. styleberryMOM. styleberryPHOTO. Everything fits under one of those. It’s nice & simple like that. :)

So it has been a journey. With very distinct brand choices along the way. I like where it started. I like what it has become. For now, no more cute square business cards. I have my adorable little moo minicards when someone asks what I do. I love them. They are the ultimate non-business business card. ;)

so…what does “styleberry” mean to you? What do you think when you hear it? I’d love to know. All the little words & perceptions are bringing me great clarity–so thank you, to those of you who have already shared your opinion with me!

 

Hi! Hello! I am Shawna, the founder of Styleberry Blog. This creative corner of the internet has become a learning haven for moms and creatives, offering a warm and encouraging nudge to those who wish to be better and do better, but often don't know where to start. From Decorating to DIY to Diapers and Paleo-ish Dishes, I strive to make the complicated simple and empower women to take action beyond their personal comfort zone. I subscribe to the Shine Theory & so strongly believe that we shine when the women around us shine and mutual support—lifting up instead of tearing down--will always be the culture here. Are you in? I hope so! Beyond the computer, I run Styleberry Creative where I work with clients to create low fuss, high function spaces that are pretty and practical in San Antonio, Texas and beyond. I LOVE making a house a home. My own studs out renovation is now complete and I am now back to working with clients. Please don't hesitate to drop me a line if you'd like to work together! I hope you’ll join me on this fun new adventure! Xo.

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