Trend Tuesday // Indiana or Bust

(As you can tell by my Sum Up Sunday post this is not what I wore at all! I had this all set out to look cute & comfy...but the lack of AC in my baby Regal made me change my mind.  In my heart though, this is what I wore lol)

So it's Tuesday here I wanted to share with you want I wore on my way up north to Michigan for our little pit stop.  We loaded everything in the car on Saturday and proceeded to sew up the dotted yellow line to Michigan over the next 13-15 hours.  Like our trip before, I though we'd never get there.

I decided to dress comfy & casual as I'd be sitting for 8 million years front seat of my little baby Regal.  When we were little we never really wore comfy clothes when we went on road trips.  I think it was an unspoken rule that we weren't allowed to wear pajamas or anything.  But on Sunday, I decided that I'd wear the closest thing to PJs I could get away with: leggings as pants.

That's right, this girl wore leggings as pants & stopped at gas stations, restaurants, etc and wasn't ashamed one bit.  Also, I wore a trusty denim shirt...because, you know...I love denim shirts:

What I Wore by fivesixteenthsblog featuring long sleeve shirts

We're in this pit stop I like to call Michigan until our house is ready to move into.  I've got some exciting art work to share with you, some lovely home decor inspiration, & am pretty much just stoked to be with my man for a while!

Hopefully in this month long pit stop I'll be able to get official business plans going for Five Sixteenths & have the fall/winter shop all updated with comfy cozy knits!

This weekender bag you can find here but if you're down for DIYing your own, here's a lovely tutorial from A Beautiful Mess!

I have posts scheduled (so you're not missing Five Sixteenths!) & am working on designs/shop stuff over this pit stop but am sort of taking a blogging break.  If you absolutely must get a hold of me, try tweeting me....I'll probably get back to you much sooner!

What do you wear in the car on road trips?

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Make it Monday // Pixelated Print DIY

Hooray!! It's my first Monday in Michigan!!  If you missed it you can check my Sum Up Sunday post from yesterday.  I've rounded up all the sweet tea there is in Michigan & am finally comfortable to say that I've made it.  Zach & I have moved into the little apartment above the garage.  Its been a long while  of packing & unpacking....but we did it.

Last Monday I shared with you a Vacation Poster DIY & today I want to share with you another photo print DIY using one of the photos from last week:

This is the photo I used as the example in using Pixlr-o-matic.  This photo is my favorite!  I took it right before I knew exactly how big Lake Michigan is!  I wanted to use it in other way so I started playing around in Picasa & came up with this:

This pixelated look is super cool! To do this, run your photo through Pixlr-o-matic if you want different colors (that's what I did) or use the image as it is.  For this example I'll use the image as it is.
Open up your image in Picasa & apply the pixel feature, sliding the bar named Pixel Size all the way to the right.

Then, if you wish, add text.  The fonts I used were Anchor Yard Regular & Bebas Neue.  Anchor Yard Regular has cute little anchors for the number characters so I chose to throw one in there.

Another pretty cool piece of art that we can hang in our house from our vacation!

We are going to be in this Michigan Pit Stop for a little while until our house is available.  So far its been nice.  Perhaps this evening I'll go for a dip in the pond & a walk down the dirt road.  Honestly, Michigan is a lot like Virginia.  They both are very, very pretty.

Enjoy your Monday!

If you'd like to check out some other Travel DIYs peep here.

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Sum Up Sunday #59

Well, it's official....I am in Michigan.  In fact, just a little while ago, we finished unloading the truck & everything is either in the garage, in the apartment, or still in my car (whoops!).  Here are some scenes from the drive:

Waiting to pack the Uhaul

Adios Virginia

Through Pennsylvania

The start of rain on the Turnpike

Moments later it began to pour.  Zach was filling up the tank!

A tiny baby rainbow

Sunset through Ohio

We got to Michigan around 2:30am...then we promptly crawled in bed.  There is just something about being around Zach that makes me want to snuggle all day! Today we did get up & he showed me around.  I now know about Michigan lefts, that Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday, & where Office Max is.  Hopefully I'll learn my way around better.

This month is going to be filled with getting Five Sixteenths in gear.  I think I am going to take new product photos because everything looks like it's from different shops...even though I love the photos I want to make it more streamlined to match the blog designs.  I don't really want to open up a second shop for that.  I have thought about moving to Storenvy but I am just not sold on it yet!  But more professional looking PDFs for clients, cohesive stuff all around, etc.  Pretty vague 'eh?

I am glad I know where Office Max is because I am going to get to work on my business binder (I'll touch on that later!) & I need to print some things.  I am FINALLY going to set up my printer after having it for a year!!

Well, I hope that you've had a great weekend! I am glad I am finally in Michigan.

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Surprise Visit

Yesterday I got a text saying that I would be able to see Zach last night.  We had originally planned to see each tonight....but his boss's wife went into labor so they had to cut the business trip short!

So around 9pm last night I came home to my man with a bouquet of flowers.  It was wonderful!

I couldn't be more thrilled!  This was the end of a 3 month journey.  To read more of our Long Distance journey, check these posts.

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Scenes From Moving

Well folks, it's Wednesday & that means that tomorrow Zach will finally be in my life after 3 months of skype dates.  We've come so far & learned so much about each other that I can't even put into words.  I know that on Thursday evening when I see him nothing will compare to that emotion!

I've been packing (as you know) for the past 3 weeks or so & just wanted to share with you some scenes from my life & what I'll be missing (sorry for the blurriness, I don't know why my phone all of a sudden doesn't want to take good pictures!)  I don't know how people make moving look so pretty! I've been taking pictures with my phone to document it and they aren't coming out well:

First I'll miss the pottery studio & friends I've grown to love over this past year.  It's been wonderful to finally learn to make round things.  In college, I hand built because I could not throw! But now I am so confident! I've learned so much! I've also seen some incredibly talented people come & go from this class.  It's been a great experience.

Scenes from around our house: Camp furniture in the living room & boxes piled high in the spare room.  It's been a mad house!  We got Katie moved out for the most part this past weekend & now it's just up to me.  I have little bits I still have to pack & will hopefully get done with tonight.  Here are some pictures of Katie driving a giant Uhaul back & forth from the Uhaul place to our house & to her new house:

You can see that she is one tiny little lady.  She had the seat pushed all the way up & needed a phone book to see over the steering wheel almost. (just kidding.)

I am going to miss this little man terribly! Since I only shared puppy parent duties with Katie & her husband...I guess he has to stay with his momma.  He's such a little helper & a great snuggler.  Now to convince Zach we need a baby tiny dog....

There was also a week long going away party in my honor.  I am so lucky to have good friends who need very little excuse to get together for good food & drinks.  We met at the best Mexican Place in Williamsburg on Friday,  then the best Chinese Food Place in Williamsburg followed by Putt Putt on Saturday, & topped it off with drinks at the best Bar in Williamsburg.

So this week has been a crazy whirlwind! I can't wait for tomorrow though, its going to be exciting!

Have a great Wednesday!

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Feature Interview - Katie from Muddy Pup Pottery

Well goodness gracious it's Tuesday.  I am so antsy for this weekend I can hardly control myself!  I'll be packing up & heading to Michigan in T-minus 4 days.  Yay!  Today I want to share with you the lovely lady behind Muddy Pup Pottery, Katie:

1. Why did you start blogging? I used to write a lot in journals when I was younger and loved to go back and read over my thoughts over the past week, month and even year.  I decided I wanted to get back to writing my thoughts, and sharing useful tidbits I've found over time.  

2. What is your favorite part about blogging & the blogging community? The connectivity and collaboration.  I love seeing what other people are doing and getting ideas from theirs.  I know I may not always have the best ideas by myself, but with a little inspiration who knows what could happen!

3. What is the hardest part about blogging? Not doing it when I'm at my 9-5 job.

5. What is your favorite feature on your blog? You know, I really love all aspects of it.  I have had my own website URL for at least 10 years, and converting it into a blog styled website was the best decision I ever made.  If I had access to $5,000 of software on my home computer, that would be awesome.  But really, who wants that when you can edit your website for free and host it for 1/10 of what it was before?  Plus, I get the pleasure of blogging, networking, and connecting with other people like myself.

6. Give us the best blogging advice you've ever received? I was once told to remember why I blog and continue to blog for that reason.  I know lots of people write about what they thing people want to hear.  But if you're writing because it makes you feel good, then who cares!   There are so many people out there who think differently and have different interests than you that you can never please everyone, so why not start with pleasing yourself!

The Muddy Pup Himself

7. Give us the best advice on life you've ever received? Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.  It's silly but that's the biggest thing I remember my dad always telling me as a kid.  Now that I'm grown up (supposedly grown up...) I have to remind myself of this all the time.   

8. What is your favorite fruit? Mangos.  Or kiwis.  Wait, it's gotta be strawberries.  Oh, but I love watermelon with a dash of salt.  But then again I love love pineapple...

9. What is your favorite color to wear? Honestly, black.  I love wearing lots of different colors, but you can use anything to jazz up black.  But if I had to pick a color it would be turquoise.  It's so bold and happy.

Well there you have it, a few fun things to get to know Katie from Muddy Pup Pottery.  If you'd like to connect with her, head on over to her blog, visit her shop (it's on vacation because she's moving but there is some awesomeness up in there!), follow her on twitter & facebook!

If you'd like to be a feature sponsor on Five Sixteenths for the month of September (August is already filled) pop on over to see the perks, then shoot me an email!  Have a great Tuesday!

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Make it Monday // DIY Vacation Poster

Guess what....there are only like 4 days left until I load alllll of my stuff in to a Uhaul & drive up to Michigan.  Can you believe it? I thought this day would NEVER come :)

While packing I found a few intagram prints from postalpix or our Michigan trip.  More specifically of our trip to Lake Michigan.  I was thinking about ways to use them in our new home & what more I could maybe do with them & this collage idea came to my mind.

Today I want to share with you how to make a cool poster style picture using Pixlr-o-matic, Picasa, & Picmonkey.  I've found that Picmonkey is a great go-to, cheap & fast if you will, photo editor.  All in all, you'll need 9 vacation pictures.  I used some pictures I took with my DSLR & some pictures I took with my iPhone.  If you need some good tips to remember when using your iPhone, check out some iPhonography posts.  Sometimes its the only camera you have with you, so make sure your pictures count!

You can add a bit aging or different colors to your photos with a great online resource, app on your phone, or even download it to your desktop: Pixlr-o-matic.  I have the desktop version & the app on my phone its a pretty cool appl & I played a lot with it on our Michigan trip!

Once you've gathered your 9 photos you can start.  This is my favorit photo of my bunch because it is the moment that I came upon Lake Michigan...right before I realized it was huge! I love this photo because I captured my own surprise:

Open it in Picasa & crop it square.  You don't have to do it square but doing so will allow you to make the image into circles when you edit it in Picmonkey.

Open Pixlr-o-matic either on your desktop or on the website.  I first found this really cool retro photo editor for my iPhone.  It has tons of filters & effects to make your photos super vintage.  I love the filters because it colors the photos nicely.  Some are better than others.  You'll need about 9 different colored photos in all but play around with some choices...it won't hurt!

Here are some of my favorites: Aladdin, Anne, Bob, Greg, Harry, Josh, Julia, Soloman, Tom, Sana, Kevin, & Sun.  You may have to click the more option to add the rest of the filters to your set.  Just choose filters you think are really super awesome & apply them.

Next, go to picmonkey & chose the collage option. Upload your photos & fill them into a square collage template:

Adjust the spacing to 0 & change the corners to 100% round.  Then save the image.  You can use Picasa to add text.  Add a quote or something that reminds you of your trip.

I chose You're never too far from home because I feel that this picture represents a lot about Zach & I: He's never too far from home because we will be close to Lake Michigan, the lake he's known the best while living in Michigan, & I'm never too far from home because I love the water & couldn't imagine living in a place with out it.  (If we moved to like Arizona...I'd just be so sad all the time!)  So both of us know that there is a little part of home involved in that lake.  I plan on matting & framing this for our new home!

So there you have it! You can use a different picture for each square if you'd like but I like the repetition.  I'd love to make more of these from each year OR maybe even make a big one from 9 years of going to the lake...thats a lot of years!

Well, I am off to pack more things.  Wish me luck!

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Reading Sponsor Spotlights // On Considering Third Party Ad Management

With the growing trend of using third parties to help with advertising I've been faced with a huge question: Should I do it?  It would be so much easier than organizing by hand, coding, etc...but would it be helpful?  I've found a few bloggers that use the service don't do sponsor spotlights on their smaller ads since they are coming & going with no group start date.  I also know that a lot of blog readers don't really read sponsor spotlights because it may not be the content they are looking for.  So today I want to share with you 4 reasons why I read sponsor spotlights:

To Find Other Bloggers or Shops:

The biggest reason why I read sponsor spotlights is because I love the blogs I read & want to find more blogs to read.  There is a ton of inspiration out there from DIY's to how to deal with life and I love finding them.  Maybe there is a blogger that lives next door to me & I would never know if I didn't connect with them through the blogs that they sponsor.  It's a great way to add more blogs to your reader or find more people to interact with.  I also wouldn't know a shop existed if it didn't sponsor a blog that I read.

Because the Sponsors took time to Advertise:

A lot of work goes into advertising even if it's just for a small spot.  Sometimes the small spots on huge blogs will help you out a lot more than the hugest spot on a blog closer to your numbers.  These guys are testing the waters for their brand.  They are trying to learn what to do, where to do it, & how to do it best.  If they seem interesting, I go over & give a click.  After all, that's what their looking for...support!

Because the Blogger took the time to Feature:

The blogger took time to generate the post because he or she wanted to share these guys with you.  He or She wanted you to get to know these rad people that have supported him or her through the month on their sidebar.  They went through the trouble of advertising, going through submissions, approving them, & promoting them.  It's a lot of work & I appreciate the dedication to sharing quality with readers.  Though it's not a post that is always on their blog, it's still a post that counts!

To Find Other Blogs to Sponsor:

Reading sponsor spotlights introduces me to a whole new blog I might like to sponsor in the future.  Maybe I have found the best blog to sponsor through another blog just because I've read the spotlight post.  Perhaps this new blog fits perfect with my target audience, has ad rates in my price range, & has a spot available!  If they hadn't been mentioned & I hadn't clicked over, how would I know?

Additionally, I also try to click through the sidebar sponsors on my favorite blogs just to see what my fave bloggers are into.  The best recommendations come from friends, so why not go see what your blog friend recommends.  Reading sponsor spotlights is as much about you as it is about the blogger & the sponsor. It's a three way relationship here & I do think it's important.

So what do you think? Do you read sponsor spotlights of only the Feature or Large sponsor?  Do you even care about the other smaller guys?  How about on blogs waaaayy bigger than myself....do you feature the smaller guys? Why or why not?  Maybe you only factor it into social media campaigns?

I am considering going to a third party site but I don't want to not feature the people who so graciously want me to show them off.  I've been exploring other options for featuring but maybe I am just behind the times.  I often feel I don't catch up or keep up with trends well enough....

I'd love to know your experiences & what you think!

If you'd like to sponsor Five Sixteenths for the month of August, head on over here to find out more & then shoot me an email!

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Fan Friday #66

It's Friday y'all & these days couldn't pass soon enough.  There is a chance that I might be seeing Zach a bit sooner than what we originally thought...he may be coming this way for work.  We'll see...

As you can see by the dumb count down clicker I have there in the bottom of the side bar, I am very anxious & excited to get this move over with.  I am still packing a bit & am hoping to get everything together soon.  This weekend I'll be helping Katie move into her new house & hopefully packing up more of my things.  I think that her moving out before me is really going to show me what is mine & what is hers!  Then I just have to kick my but in gear & do it!

Today also kicks off Epic Moe Weekend which happens to be a 3 day event starting with dinner at the best Mexican place in Williamsburg tonight, dinner at the best Chinese place in Williamsburg followed by Pirate Golf on Saturday, then the weekend concludes with Mug Night at the best bar in Williamsburg on Sunday.  Can't wait for the food coma.

Anyway, here's what I'm loving this week:

Katie from Muddy Pup Pottery shows us how she used her logo doodle as a great error page.  She's got a DIY & everything! I love this because she translated her hand drawn doodle into different parts of her site.  How nifty!

This Junk Mail Art DIY from Mod Podge Rocks is so cool! Turn all those fliers into something wall worthy.  I don't know when Zach & I will be getting our first junk mail but I am all sentimental like that & I'll probably turn it into art!

This post on Shrimp Salad Circus showed me things I didn't even know I could do with Blogger or Facebook! While I see Facebook as a necessary evil, I at least feel like I am taking advantage of what it has to offer now!

Link Love

++ I've been thinking about cutting my hair like this but it's not curly & I'd have to curl it everyday to make it look right.  Unless.....I got a perm (??)  Has anyone ever gotten a perm? Is it worth it? I just love those bangs! ++

++ More Fonts to Love....I can't keep track of the ones I've downloaded.  I just love finding them so much though! ++

++ Jen from Motu Viget has this feature called Why Not? where she just asks you to do something because...well...why not? I think you should do one thing, each day, that scares you.  Because, why not?++

++ Miss KB's August Call for sponsors is just darling.  The image she uses is perfect!  I can't decide if I should go ahead with another month..she's just been so sweet to me!++

++ If you'd like to sponsor Five Sixteenths for August, let me know! I've got all the Medium spots open & some small spots.  Check it out here & let me know! ++

Phew.... I can't wait to be in Michigan..I really can't.  I am loving also that my countdown is counting down! :) I just can't wait.  Who wants to come help me finish packing?

Enjoy your weekend!

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Meet the Medium Sponsors!

This month I have some pretty rad Medium sponsors over there to the left.  I want to take a moment & let them introduce themselves!

Amber from Sooner Surrender

I'm Amber, living in Indiana with my fiancé and our sweet pup Harry. I love to crochet, read, write, cook, be outside, and spend time with family and friends. I blog about my daily life, weight loss efforts, things I enjoy and my faith. I hope you'll stop by and say hello-I'm on the left!

blog // facebook // twitter

Josh & Ken from JK Photography

Ken & Josh are a Jedi-Padawan team of photographers located in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. This two man team rounds off their photog skills with a passion for sports photography, macro, & landscape photography. Ken & Josh work towards creating ethereal & magical photos to encourage you to experience the world through their side of the lens.

website // facebook

Susannah from SusannahBean

blog // twitter

If you see anything you like, go on ahead & check 'em out!  If you're interested in sponsorship please view the rates here & then shoot me an email! I'd love to have you over for the month of August!

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