A good amount of the LaBella Flora graphics I’ve been working on over the past few weeks have a certain distressed or aged look to them. If you’re not interested in spending a lot of time in Photoshop manually brushing a texture, there’s a quick and easy way to create good looking textures that can be scaled and re-colored in Illustrator.

Here’s how I created the distressed background you see in the Persnickety Clothing graphic above.

First, find a good quality image of a worn surface. Try image searching with words like ‘aged, texture, distressed, surface’. Be sure to pick an image with a high amount of contrast. For example, the image I selected is a light green surface with dark brown distress marks.

Open up your image in Photoshop and changed the image mode to grayscale (Image>Mode>Greyscale). If you want to alter the image at all, now’s the time. Feel free to add brush marks, erase parts of the image, anything you’d like to do to make the texture more unique.

When you feel like it’s ready, go back to Image>Mode and select Bitmap. A dialog box will pop up and you’ll want to set your options to 300 pixels/inch and 50% Threshold. Hit Okay and you’re almost done.

Finally, you’ll want to make sure you save this file as a TIFF (File>Save As>Format:TIFF). This will allow you to then place the file into Illustrator, adjust its color, and layer it into your design in progress.

-Matt

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Well, not really, it’s kind of just a regular story. Forgive me for that totally misleading introduction.

I actually grew up, for the most part, near Auburn, IN. I went to school here and, before starting work at LaBella Flora, would still visit the area regularly to see friends and, you know, eat at Applebee’s. I went to college in nearby Fort Wayne, a town with considerably more Applebee’s restaurants.

After finishing up my Bachelor’s Degree, I spent the next two years or so learning a lot about screen printing. I worked in a shop in Champaign, IL and then came back to Fort Wayne to work for a local business designing t-shirts for all different sort of customers. Screen printing is fun and I’ll always have a passion for it. But, you know, sometimes you just have to make a change.

It’s been awesome making the transition to LaBella Flora Children’s Boutique. In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve been involved in photography, social media, web design, email newsletter design – stuff I never had the chance to do elsewhere. It’s definitely a challenge for me to create designs that reflect the style of LaBella Flora or designer girls clothing brands, but I love working outside of my comfort zone. And, I’m learning so much because of it.

Plus, everyone here is super nice. So, that helps!

-Matt

I am a sets person, I must admit I like to buy my clothing as well as my childrens clothing as a set. As my children grew I would find sometimes a piece or two would still fit from the previous season. Often, I would purchase another top or pant to pair with the item and all was good.

I am a huge fan of Persnickety clothing , I know how hard it is to part with my childrens clothing when they have outgrown a special piece, so I can only imagine how hard it is to part with your Persnickety clothing (my youngest daughter is 15, sadly no Pernickety clothing in my house). Therefore, I decided to shop for a new piece of Persnickety clothing to go with an “old” piece of Persnickety clothing. While we only have a few items left from fall 2011, I was able to make this adorable little girls outfit using the Ivory Peasant Tunic top from the fall line and the Persnickety Olivia Pedal Pushers from spring 2012. Now for accessories, I added the adorable green scalloped belt and VIOLA, one very cute , little girls outfit. I am not completely sold on the two shoe options I show in the photo, but I do like the way the silver looks with the pretty blue fabric in the ruffled hem. I would love to see how you or your little darling has mixed and matched her little girls boutique clothing to make new outfits.
-LaDonna

Living in Indiana requires flexibility with weather, and this year has been crazier than usual. The usually chilly March was unseasonably warm bringing early, unexpected blooms and high hopes for the rest of spring. Those expectations were dashed as quickly as they were formed as the beginning of April brought back the cold. Today I traveled to Ohio after work to watch my three young cousins in their evening track meet. As soon as I arrived at the track field I quickly realized I had allowed the sun rays warming my car to deceive me as the bracing cold wind swept through the plains. Wether passing through the day time or cooling off in the evenings, chilly breezes come along with this time of year. Luckily I have a great go-to jacket that is perfect for spring and goes with almost any outfit! Jackets like this are hard to find but they are one of the most valued spring time pieces. My “magic” jacket is a soft leather in a neutral, dark olive green featuring a great fit at my waist and a hood incase it rains. I wouldn’t enjoy spring as much without it!

Looking for the perfect “magic” jacket for her spring closet? Well what kind of designer girls boutique would we be if we didn’t carry at least one?! Vintage inspired designer Persnickety Clothing has created one of my favorite jackets I have ever seen. Seriously, if I could, I would wear this jacket all year long! The Persnickety Taylor Jacket offers an adorable shape and fun print neutral enough to go with anything she wants to wear! Which LaBella Flora outfit would you love to see this jacket top off?

-Katie

Well, not really, I have been with LaBella Flora Childrens Boutique since day one. While, not new too LaBella Flora I am new to blogging. I look forward to sharing a little bit about myself and my family plus talking about the pretty girls clothing that is “hanging” around our girls boutique .

We also have a cause at LaBella Flora that is near and dear to my heart, helping children. Over the years we have partnered with various orphanages, providing assist for immediate needs. As we have grown so has the ability to become involved even further. Our goal is to come along side an existing orphanage which we can help expand or start a new one. A board of wonderful people has been formed and we are now working to find the location. I will be traveling in May to one of the possible countries and cant wait to share my experience and photos with you.

LaBella Flora was “born” over 7 years ago, after my short hiatus from retail to be at home with my youngest daughter, Savannah. After all 3 of my little darlings were in school full time, I felt the need to go back to work. It has been a fun and crazy wild ride, we now offer over 80 designer girls clothing brands and I still hand select each and every item offered on our website. I love each trip to market, spending days looking for just the right take me home gown , as I know how special coming home from the hospital can be. The days pass so quickly, before you know it they are shopping with you for the perfect dress to wear to a father/daughter dance.

While preparing for my first blog post, I thought I should include a photo of myself. After looking at many options, I decided I havent taken a good photo in close to 40 years, so I am including one of my favorites. Please feel free to guess my age at the time of this photo or for that matter my current age. (dont worry I wont be offended)

Happy Spring!
LaDonna

Hey, Internet! My name is Matt and I’m the new graphics/photo guy here at LaBella Flora Children’s Boutique. I’m also the only guy at LaBella Flora Children’s Boutique, as Katie mentioned last week. But, that’s probably a subject for a whole different blog post! Today I want to talk about things to look out for when you’re creating a facebook cover photo for your company or personal page.

1. Before you do anything else, you should determine the dimensions of the image you plan to upload. Facebook graciously provides that information in their help section. Images should be 815 pixels wide by 315 tall. You can upload an image as small as 399 pixels wide, but keep in mind the image will stretch to cover the designated area.

2. You’ll also want to make sure that your image is less than 100 kilobytes. Facebook will accept larger file sizes, but will compress the image to prevent long page load times. This results in a huge quality difference between the image you see in your graphics program and your cover photo.

3. Be certain that your image is saved as RGB. This goes for pretty much anything you plan to post on the web. But, it’s a simple step that can sometimes be overlooked.

4. If you are having a hard time getting a clear and uncompressed look from your uploaded image, consider taking it back into your graphics program and pulling back your red levels just a bit. There seems to be a general consensus that Facebook compression doesn’t handle reds very well. So, this could be the solution to your problem.

I know I was a little uninformed when I first set out to create our current cover photo, so hopefully you’ll find these tips useful in your effort to create a cool cover for yourself!

-Matt

They opened up the large doors, and we were on the hunt! Top on my list was a bag to carry around my Macbook and work papers and a new duffle bag, while one of my best friends Jocelyn was looking for two new diaper bags, and some purses for her and her mother. Spending just over an hour in the large expo room, I had successfully found my new work bag and an extra large duffle, as well as some beautiful folders to help keep me organized! Thankfully our time spent in the checkout line was only 20 minutes (it has been known to be 4 hours long before) and we were out of there by noon!

There is something so satisfying about finding exactly what you were looking for on a shopping trip, but I hope visiting our site is not as chaotic as a large room filled with product piled on tables. We love to hear how we can make your shopping experience better, because we understand how frustrating some shopping trips can be. If you ever have any questions about an order, sizing, or a brand, we would love to help you out! Simply email us through the “Contact Us” Link or give us a call at 260-927-9951.

-Katie