4 Favorite Up and Coming Artists and Crafters

Nick and I love making things. This time of year is quite slow for us due to my other love (zip-lining and challenge courses). So I usually spend the summer gathering inspiration and sharing the creativity of fellow makers and artists. Here are my current fave 4 Artists/Crafters/Makers/Designers whatever you want to call them :)

1) LapelGuy
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LapelGuy

I absolutely love the description for this shop. Simple and to the point. LapelGuy is all about "Dapper accessories for the fashionable man." Elier Hernandez' take on men's accessories is stylish and affordable.There's even a set of Limited Edition Women's Earrings that some handsome gentleman might want to purchase for his gorgeous lady....Here are some of my favorites in order from top to bottom, the Flower Lapel Pin, The Lapel Bowtie, and the Women's Cotton Fabric Earrings. [RANDOM FACT ABOUT ME: my ears are not pierced :o]

2) Beebose  
https://www.etsy.com/shop/beebose

I've featured Beebose on my site once before but thought she was worth mentioning again, because not only has she added more to her shop, but she also has a SALE going on through the end of July!! Use the code FREESHIP01 for free shipping OR use the code NEWFRIEND001 for 15% off!! (Cannot combine the two offers) Also, make sure you mention in the notes that I sent you!!

Beebose has handmade jewelry and housewares from vintage men's ties. And I can personally attest to the quality, and uniqueness of the necklaces I have one of my own custom necklaces from the Beebose shop: 

Here are some more of my faves from her shop:

The Whale Magnet is so adorable. I want to get it for my ocean themed bathroom...alas I have nothing magnetic in there currently..

This mid-century inspired necklace has perfect lace details and colors to bring out the 50s fashionista in you!

3. mustarrrrd "design"
http://mustarrrrddesign.tumblr.com/

"PAIGE HANSERD DID ALL THIS, HEY. lol"

I've become really fond of prints and tapestries lately. And Paige put up some of her designs on tumblr. Some you can get as prints, stickers, tapestries, shirts etc. For more details shoot her an email at: mustarrrrd@gmail.com. Just at first glance something tells me that pizza must be a big part of Paige's life. But then again, if pizza is not a major part of your life, then you're not normal.  Take a look at some of mustarrrrd's designs by clicking here. Here are a few of my faves. Although, I have yet to get anything from her...I'm really eyeing this "greenery #1" "greenery #2" "greenery #3"  perhaps as a print to go on my gallery wall...

"girl with the pizza"

Classic.

And of course the "3am" fat food pattern illustration is making me salivate. 

4. The Gypsy Titmouse

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGypsyTitmouse

I stumbled across The Gypsy Titmouse while browsing through the Beebose shop. Come to find out they are actually friends! The Gypsy Titmouse are beautifully creative pieces of art by Jessica Sikora. Another artist that I have yet to have a chance to purchase from, but here are my picks from her shop!

This vintage framed print is gorgeous. One of the reasons that I fell in love with this artist is because of the use of color and birds!

Again, the colors are just amazing. And the use of different patterns in this Magpie Maiden piece is very whimsical and seductive.

You guys know I love me some nature. And Star Wars. And even though this isn't necessarily Star Wars it reminds me of Padme Amidala's outfit in the meadow picnic scene in Episode II.... So of course while this piece is actually called "Memories of Deer and My Forest Reign" in my mind it will always remain "Padme and the Deer" lol.

All these artists have such a broad range of talents and skills. I can't wait to own some of their pieces in my house and show them off to my friends!!

Making Money Using Things You Already Have- Your Phone and Your Computer

We are by no means rich or wealthy. We have the entrepreneurial spirit and drive and sometimes that means our money goes towards our businesses instead of things that we really want or need.  Like most people out there, we get by.

Some of our financial struggle is because of choices I (Kt) made when I was younger and stoopider. And then some of our struggle is just because life likes to kick you where it hurts. That's just how it is. We endure and we're happy. Living a simple life is often the most rewarding life.

So anyways, in our financial struggles I started to read up on making money, of course saving money, and doing this with things you already have. Like your smart phone, your computer, your skill set. I've been able to buy groceries, go treat myself to the movies and have a little extra spending money by doing some of these things below. Oh and don't worry- you won't be answering any questionable ads and you definitely won't have to use your sexy phone voice. These are all legit ways to score some quick bucks on the side.

I will be continuously adding to this list but we're going to start out with four that I've had success with.

1- Shopkick

For the shopping/scavenger hunt enthusiast this app is awesome! This is a point based app that allows you to earn points by checking in at stores that you already are going to, by purchasing products online, by looking through the lookbooks on the app, and by inviting friends!

Your points begin to add up and you can redeem your points for products or giftcards. I mostly redeem my points for giftcards to Target or Starbucks. This helps out with groceries sometimes, and I don't feel so guilty about spending money on an expensive coffee.

The best way to rack up points is to invite people to join and encourage them to shopkick a lot the first two weeks. The first two weeks your friends join you rack up 50% of their points. And they get some extra points too. The second best way to score a lot of points is to purchase products online. For example you earn 1 point for every $1 dollar you spend on target.com.

Start earning points now- go to the address below and sign up! Enter my referral code for bonus points! Earn points for just walking into stores like Target, Best Buy and Old Navy. Sometimes when I have time to kill I just go shopkicking. You can also earn points for scanning items at Target and other stores.
http://get.shopkick.com/shadow8550

2- ReceiptPal

Earn gift cards for just snapping a photo of your receipt! It doesn't matter where it's from or what you bought. Just snap a picture and you're on your way to earning points. 4 receipts = 100 points. Currently, their rewards list is pretty small. It's either Amazon.com gift cards or Restaurant.com gift cards. I'm not a huge fan of restaurant.com so I'm always working towards those Amazon gift cards!

3- AppTrailers

This one is pretty cool because it gives you points for watching trailers and videos that people upload and you can redeem those points for cash to your paypal account or you can redeem for gift cards. 5000 points= 5$ usually.  Downsides: it's very meticulous and slow and you're really only earning a few cents here and there but a lot of times I'll do it when I'm watching tv, or riding in the car so at least I' making a few cents here and there while I'm waiting. And again the best way to make money with this app is to invite friends to watch your videos, the more friends you invite the more points you get, the more points you get the more money you make!

4- Clickworker

Clickworker is a website that allows you to complete tasks on your computer. The tasks consist of small projects like searching something on Google and earning 3 cents here and there or bigger projects like data entry,  research, blog articles, etc. You become a Clickworker or even a Clickworker Recruiter by clicking HERE. Clickworker Recruiters can make big bucks faster if you recruit Clickworkers. You make $5 when each person you recruit makes $10! That's a pretty easy $5 bucks if you ask me!


This list will continue to be added to! Keep checking back for the most updated info on how you can make a few bucks on the side!

Decorating for the Choka Lifestyle

Most of you know that we love some vintage finds. So one of our new series on the blog that we will be starting is going to tackle the project of finishing decorating our apartment of one year. Our apartment is nice and cozy but it has been in decorating limbo ever since we moved in. Recently, I found this exciting 1970s Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book. This new series will be 16 parts, taking place over the next 16 weeks. We will be revamping our home taking advice from the tips and tricks learned from this 70s book.

The 1st Chapter is called "It's Your Home." It continues on, "It makes sense to begin your decorating ADVENTURE by defining your lifestyle....Your home is your very special place. Comfort comes first and includes beauty. Beauty is important because whether we realize it or not people avoid areas that are dull or not attractive...Atmosphere requires PLANNING."

This room has it all. Classic furniture, bold patterns, and tropical whimsy all rolled into one.

The first step is to figure out your life style. Are you "Carefree Party Givers", "Crafts People and Hobbyists", "Late Working Husbands", "Working Wives"? Once you have your lifestyle figured out, you want to chart your family activities.

Love this mod room with bold and bright colors!

Our activities typically consist of waking up, eating a really quick breakfast, going to work, coming home, plopping in front of the tv while eating and working on hobbies. We typically use our living room, kitchen and bedroom the most. The office is for work/hobbies and guests. However, lately we have been avoiding this room and methinks it's due to the lack of atmosphere. We have several ideas of a type of "atmosphere" that we want to display. And that leads us to the next step.

Details, details. Even if the details are simple, they can bring a room together.

Next is the budget plan.

"Develop your budget plan as fully as possible, even though your finances may not permit you to achieve all of your decorating objectives right away. By doing this, you will be able to avoid any hasty unwise purchases along the way."

I love that point. And for us this is key. We are on a very tight income right now and I have been able to set aside around $100 per month to go towards decorating and home furnishings until we get everything we need. 

The chair in this picture is obviously the luxurious item. When budgeting plan ahead for large ticket items

All the pictures above are from the book. I'll add pics of our apartment so far so that you can see good before and after pictures. How do you you like to decorate? What are your fave styles, tips and tricks?

Motivation- Hard to Come By?

I know from first hand experience that motivation can be hard to come by. Running your own business teaches you to find that motivation even when you think you're totally out of it. How do I get motivated?

Pinterest. Duh. I feel like I shouldn't even have to bring Pinterest up any more. But I'm sorry I love it. Once a hater, turned into a lover, Pinterest has fueled my mind with happiness, ideas, and motivation. Like my Fashionable Beauty board....It inspires me every day to dress better, carry myself with confidence, and be creative!

Friends. My friends motivate me constantly. If I am not able to be around my friends, then I literally suffer mentally and emotionally. If I can't be around friends, being around people in general will often do as long as I can have some sort of conversation or interaction with them.

The Weather.  The sun itself is a great motivator. It gets up every morning without delay and sets in the evening to end your day. It warms you up when you're surrounded by a cold, cold world.

Sometimes I come across people who have a really hard time getting motivated. I mean, sometimes I am that person. Often I think my medication is the culprit and this may be the same case for many others. But when a person refuses to find inspiration or motivation in anything how do you help them?

I like to find what they lost. What was it that made them so happy before and why did it go away? I am no psychiatrist or therapist though. So for those of you who help people get motivated what are some of your tips and tricks??

Nutrition Question of the Week

Since part of CHOKA's lifestyle is staying healthy and being as natural as you can I wanted to address a question one of my clients asked me today.

The question was about Spark (from Advocare). She said she had heard mixed reviews and wanted my opinion on it.

First off, there are thousands of nutrition products out there. Obviously, I have not tried every one so I am not an all knowing authority on every product. But I do try to stay on top of what it is current and trending and Advocare has been trending the past couple years especially due to Cross Fit and certain NFL players so I did know a little bit about it.

Second, I do not like "bashing" other companies because I know there have been people that have experienced a certain amount of success with certain products, including Advocare. And with that success comes a certain emotional attachment. So just know that this is based on my experience, my research, and it is my opinion. Do what you want with it. I know I've got a lot of friends  that use Advocare and love it. This is not meant to offend or start an argument. But since it's a question I get a lot I did want to address it. 


Is Advocare Healthy?

Short Answer: No.

Long Answer:

1- Look at the Ingredients
Anytime something comes with a label, I always tell my clients to read the label. Read the label for your macro nutrients and the ingredients listed. You can usually judge by the label alone if the product is going to be healthy and natural enough for you based on the ingredients. 

I tried Spark and some of the other Advocare products but once I saw the ingredient list, I knew it wasn't for me. I really try to stay away from anything artificial, and sucralose is in just about everything in Advocare's products as well as many weight loss products out on the market today. There are plenty of studies that show how damaging sucralose can be and how it is related to many diseases today. Ace-K is another artificial sweetener that is used and not particularly good for you as well. Natural and artificial flavors. Again with the artificial. Why use artificial flavors at all when you could be using natural. There isn't a whole lot out there on the effects of artificial flavors either. Mostly because there are those believe that a little bit here and there is not going to kill you. But where are the long term studies again? The ingredients listed in many of their products go directly against what nutritionists in general recommend to their clients.

2- Where do the ingredients come from?

Short Answer: Man Made Chemicals

Long Answer:

I also decided to not use Advocare's products because many of them are in fact genetically modified. This raises a whole other debate, but when it comes to soy and corn products I personally like them to be non-genetically modified. 

Apparently, the standard for testing the ingredients of the products is a little lax as well. Think back to the whole Jessica Hardy incident, an Olympic athlete who tested positive on the dope test because she was taking Spark. Lab tests came back saying there were trace amounts and it was so negligible that they thought it was ok to pass them through. I would guess they have revamped their ingredient processing standards since then, but still for a company to allow that to happen to an Olympic athlete is crazzzzyyyy.

3- What types of peer reviewed studies are avavilable?
Short Answer: Only a few

Long Answer: 

Just by looking at the label itself, I was not impressed. When I was offered the opportunity to work with Advocare products, I could see there was money to be made from it. It appeals to people who are either athletically inclined, want to lead a healthier lifestyle, and possibly looking to lose some unwanted inches. At the time I could have made a lot of money with them, I had people that wanted to buy product from me and I hadn't even started yet! In true Katie fashion though, I always research a company before I decide to work for them. If I'm going to be representing someone, even if it is a business I want to make sure that their standards are in line with my standards. Unfortunately, I found Advocare's standards to be off and misleading. There had been several product recalls, at the time it was very hard to get a hold of any research that had been done, and when I finally did it was research that was done and paid for by Advocare itself. There were a few shady things being approved by the company like using Dr. Oz's name illegally

Wrap Up:

So based on those things, I decided not to represent the company. I felt it was not up to my standards, and even though I could have made a lot of money from it, I decided against it because I didn't want my clients ingesting artificial, genetically modified anything.   

My clients aren't perfect, and I'm definitely not perfect either. I love my parmesan cheese fries and a juicy hamburger, and will totally eat some smores around the campfire. But the key is are you eating these things every day? With these products you are supposed to. And if it's something you are going to be ingesting every day you better be darn sure there's some studies to back it up, not just short term but long term as well, and that the ingredients aren't going to be damaging your insides.


Why listen to me- I am a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. I take continuing education classes every year. Went to school for nutrition for 4 years. Took 500 hours of school for fitness as well.  No I am not a doctor, but the image below just goes to show that even Doctors recommend things that aren't always good for you :) :

A registerd dietician would be the next step up as far as qualifications go, I of course would love to go in that direction, but do not have the time or the money right now to do so. So you can read up on a RDN's opinion on Advocare here: http://crave-health.blogspot.com/2014/01/Advocare.html

In summation, you're going to eat what you want to eat. Healthy or not. If you are wanting to put healthier things in your body go for the whole foods first and then supplement accordingly. If you need help, assistance or recommendations feel free to contact me!

Dreaming of the Ocean

You know at CHOKA we are inspired by oh so many things, it's hard to keep track. But one thing that always inspires us is the ocean. Obviously, we do not live near the ocean. But I love it, I really do.

We live in a two bed, two bath apartment that is quite perfect for us. I do wish I could hurry up and finish decorating the way I see it in my head. My bathroom/guest bathroom is supposed to have this ocean monster theme. Haven't quite reached it yet, but I'm definitely going to want to put this guy in here:




Maybe I'll get two, one for my bathroom, one for the living room wall that will eventually be like a gallery wall! I love the idea of this fish bowl, but I've never owned a fish so there's that... Next I'll add some ambiance to the room giving it the vibrant, colorful and mysterious hues that fill the ocean. With water candles! I can't believe I have spent nearly three decades on this planet and have not even heard of water candles once. I like that you can make them any color, as light or as dark as you want.

And to go along with the glowing theme I would pull out the Thumbs Up! Glow in The Dark Toilet Paper for special occasions. And by special occasions I mean when we have friends over, I'm not spending that kind of money so we can just be using glow in the dark toilet paper every day! 

I've had my eye on this guy for awhile. Of course he fits perfectly with the theme... from UrbanOutfitters.

That's enough about my bathroom-to-be for now. 
 In other ocean/beach related news...

I've always wanted to know how to skateboard or longboard, because it's basically LAND SURFING. And I've always wanted to know how to surf.

I never really got into those when I was younger. I was more into the aggressive skating or rollerblading. Nick was pretty into longboarding for awhile and something about wanting to live near the beach, wanting to learn how to surf, has made me want to learn the ways of the longboard! So we've been keeping our eyes peeled for some and I've found some that I think are pretty decent, and Nick's found a few that he likes as well. I have this weird thing about skateboards and longboards though, I know it shouldn't be as big of a deal as I am making it out to be- but the artwork on the board should be awesome! So I haven't found one that I really, ya know LOVE... until now! Check it out via Zumiez..

As a lover of almost all things Star Wars, I saw this, and I was like, "That's the one!" Haha. Such a geek, am I. Hopefully, soon Nick and I will be cruisin around on these guys and then we can take 'em to the beach and cruise along the sidewalks in the sun!! Aaahhhh can't wait!

When we can't make it to the beach for our ocean and snorkeling fill, we head down to the Georgia Aquarium. Check out these shots from the latest trip down there.

I've already forgotten the names of all the fish soo this one will be dubbed 
Bluey.

Seahorsey
Can you spot em?

Montez Sting Ray-y
(He reminds me of a happy spanish guy)

Jellyfish-y

Grumpy

Glowy

Maybe I can get one of these guys ^ for my fishbowl. :D

And these Jellyfish would go perfect with the glow in the dark toilet paper!!

Well obviously I am addicted and will not, cannot stop dreamin about the magical ocean life. So I will end on this note...

Favorite Fitness and Health Motivationals

Hello. My name is Katie, and I am a Pinterest addict. I am also a Stumble Upon and Instagram addict. The first step is admitting you have a problem right? I just love visually stimulating images and memes that make you literally Laugh.Out.Loud.

I follow a lot of fitness and nutrition pages and boards so I come across a lot of interesting fitness and health motivational images. Some of them seriously inspiring, others seriously funny.

Here are a few of my faves that help me push through the day, through the workout and through life in general. Got any recommendations? Send em over in the comments below!


 This is totally me...

 

Every day this crosses my mind:

The following only applies on cheat days!! Ha!

I try to picture her on Mondays (when I don't feel like doing anything) yelling at me to get busy...

So true...

You're probably thinking what does this have to do with fitness and health?? So MUCH! A lot of health problems are attributed to our state of mind. Happiness that is radiating not only makes you a healthier person but can actually make others healthier too!

Laughing and sleep are crucial to staying fit and healthy!

 Never quit!!

Bahaha. Love it.

These are my recent faves. I'll be adding to it for sure!!