Minutesmatter Blog - Page 11 of 28

I just received the Winter/Spring issue of the House of Fifty Magazine. Check it out! Another great issue. The magazine covers everything from food to decorating. The photography is fabulous.

I loved the oil paintings by Holly Irwin. The Party would be a great oil for a dining room. Holly’s paintings depict a simple and more peaceful life. I would love gazing at these beautiful oils everyday. It definitely would be calming to the soul.

"The Party"

"City Park"

Do you have a new iPad? Did you know you can view our webinars from your iPad? Download this FREE app from iTunes. Once you have the app installed on your iPad or iPhone you can simply click on the meeting link in your inbox and the GoToMeeting App opens automatically.

Super easy to join! Try it for our next webinar.

Important note: if you’re viewing via a 3G connection you can quickly use lots of your data plan. Therefore, I recommend only viewing a webinar when you can connect via a WiFi connection.

How cute are those girls? Okay, maybe I am a little bit prejudice, since those are my two granddaughters. After Casey took the photo this morning, I asked her to send me the photo so I could add some special effects and a caption. We also talked about making sure we always took photos of their “First Day at School” and how they would love going down memory lane as they get older.

I posted this photo on Facebook and Kelli Chitty chimed in to say “Much to my daughter’s chagrin I take pictures of all her firsts – even first days at college each year – first time voting, first day of work. lol! Even at 22 I enjoy taking her picture.” I totally agree with Kelli only photographs have the ability to capture these precious moments.

Camera+ not only serves as your camera, it also does photo editing, once you’re finished editing then you can choose from a variety of frames and finally add a caption. Why captions? Well maybe you wouldn’t want a caption on every photo but captions definitely have their place. Have you ever looked at one of your photos and wondered where it was taken or when? What about sending a client a photo of the project you just completed with a “Thank-you” caption? On the photo above, I used the FX Effect “Amelie,” which enhanced the color in this photo.

I love this app! It is only $1.99 on the app store. It has over 27,985 “5-Star” reviews. It is definitely one of my all time favorite camera/photo editing apps.

Want to know how to use this fabulous app? Watch this 12 minute video on YouTube.

– See more at: https://minutesmatter.com/2013/08/photo-apps-favorite/#sthash.caTNTQ2C.dpuf

Another killer video from Marie Forleo. This video is for all of us entrepreneurs in the interior design business that can get a little too involved in our work from time to time. Sometimes, we need to be reminded to step back and smell the roses and make time for the important people in our lives.

Create memories with your loved ones that will make you smile for years to come. Those memories instantly add happiness to my day the minute they enter my brain. In fact, one just popped into my head. As we were driving one day with our granddaughters, my youngest granddaughter, Morgan called out to me GG? Since I was in the passenger side of the front seat, I looked back at her and said honey that’s not my name, my name is “DG.” If you could have seen the shocked look on that sweet little face. She said, Wha’ya name? Jerry and I got so tickled, because we realized that she suddenly thought she didn’t know my name. 8-O I love those memories.

Another great video Marie.

| Click to enlarge & read notes |

I installed Rapportive over a month ago to my Gmail account and I love that I can see instant feeds on whomever I am emailing at that moment. This week, I was emailing a friend and noticed in Rapportive that my friend’s daughter had been in a car wreck. I instantly went to Facebook and responded. This great tool will help you develop a better rapport with clients by commenting on relevant events in their life. Try it, if you’re using Gmail you’ll love it!

This is a free tool for Gmail accounts and added as an Add-on in your current browser. If you’re using Firefox as your browser > click Tools > click Add-ons > click Get Add-ons > enter Rapportive in the search box > click Install > restart Firefox. Register for an account with Rapportive and sign into all of your social media platforms. Visit Rapportive’s website for more details.

Look for my article soon on Why Gmail?

I heard about this great magazine “House of Fifty” from a fellow blogger Lauren Liess, Pure Style Home. The magazine released an app yesterday for the iPhone and iPad. The App is free, however, each issue is .99 cents. Their magazines are published quarterly. The Holiday Issue is now available for digital download or can be purchased via the iTunes store after you download the App. Both formats are .99 cents. Great buy.

Click on the image above to view the archived copy of their summer and fall issue. It’s FREE!

They also have a great blog you can check out. I purchased the Holiday Issue for my iPad; my favorite part of this issue so far is the Advent Calendar and the Candy Cane place card holders. They have the most creative ideas I’ve seen for creating advent calendars. Love the idea of promoting more family time. They even provide some templates.

The article gives lots of different design ideas for Advent Calendars. I loved the matchbox idea.

How cute is that candy cane place card? So simple! I think we’ll use that idea for our family Christmas Brunch this year.

After you check out their magazine; please comment and let me know your favorite article.

Here are my final photos in the High Point Market Fall series.

~ Owen Mortensen ~

| Owen Mortensen ~ “Stand Above the Rest” (these are pressed and dried flowers) One of my favorite exhibitors |

|Owen Mortensen ~ “Choosing Sides” (cute title) |

| Owen Mortensen ~ Dried seed pods from the Golden Rain Tree (very unique art) |

~ Lester Furniture Mfg ~

| Lester Furniture Mfg ~ Now that’s a sectional, I think I counted 12 people could sit on it |

~ French Laundry ~

|French Laundry ~ Love the look of the sofa, but wonder if I would feel claustrophobic |

| French Laundry ~ Love the spindle legs and arms |

| French Laundry ~ Very cute bed, I thought it was a coffee table at first |

~ Arthur Bailey & Co. ~

| Arthur Bailey ~ Customized upholstered furniture |

| Arthur Bailey ~ Another tufted headboard |

~ Mastour ~

| Mastour ~ Exquisite customized rugs all styles |

| Mastour ~ There was a constant stream of designers ordering rugs from him (this photo does not do justice to his rugs) 🙁 |

Here is the next series of photos from High Point.

I forgot to mention in Part I of my High Point blog that I took all the photos with my new iPhone 4s. With the 8 Megapixel camera the resolution is fabulous. I was shocked at the quality of the photos. I didn’t even have to wag my Nikon SLR camera around at market this year.

~ Peninsula ~

| Peninsula ~ This company had some of the HUGEST (I know that’s not a real word) lamps I have EVER seen |

|Peninsula ~ Not only did that have the HUGE lamps but many lamp had glossy laminate shades |

|Peninsula ~ Another huge lamp; I was fascinated by the size of these lamps |

| Peninsula ~ Great velvet sofa |

| Peninsula ~ I think this lamp stood almost 5′ tall; these things could double as a bodyguard |

| Peninsula ~ Beautiful bed |

~ Saddlemans ~

| Saddlemans ~ Very high quality cowhides |

~ MSM 4 Imports ~

| MSM 4 Imports – Lots of great iron pieces |

| MSM 4 Imports – Loved this rectangular light fixture; great for a rectangular table |

| MSM 4 Imports – Great consoles |

| MSM 4 Imports – Coffee table |

| MSM 4 Imports – Iron benches just a your cushion |

Many of our family members have served in our military. In fact, both my mom, my dad, my brother and my sister-in-law served in the Air Force. Jerry’s dad was a Ranger in the Army and my Grandfather served in the Army. One of Casey’s grandfather’s served as a gunner for the Navy and the other grandfather served in the Army. We are so proud of our family members many of them actually went to battle to give us our freedom that we enjoy today. We are so thankful for all the Veterans that have served our country. Today, my niece’s husband is coming home from Afghanistan and the best news is my niece is pregnant and trying to hold off delivering their baby girl until he arrives. Who could ask for a better Veterans Day?

|Haute House ~ Tufted headboards were everywhere |

High Point Furniture Market was busier than ever this fall. Since Minutes Matter is in the Suites of Market Square I couldn’t help but notice that almost all three floors were full of exhibitors. We’re on the ground floor and, of course, it is always the busiest and I love that because it makes those 11 hours days go by so quickly. Okay, maybe not that quick. Did I mention as an exhibitor you’re at market for six straight days? We met lots of very talented designers and most of them were very busy with work and most designers were only at market for two or three days. In fact, we were so busy this market I only spent four hours visiting exhibitors in the Suites of Market Square. This is the first market I wasn’t able to sneak away and visit the C&D Building and the IHFC building.

| Very unique ~ If I could find their business card I would definitely share it |