Modern Monday::Red Letter Words

I’m really excited about this Monday’s feature as it’s for a sweet woman by the name of Dee who is the creative mastermind behind Red Letter Words. Dee creates wonderful wall art with designs ranging from weddings/anniversaries to nurseries. When I first spotted her work over on knack I knew I had to have one. Immediately I purchased one of her popular sellers which fits perfectly in our downstairs hallway. See for yourself here. OK enough of my ramblings, let’s meet Dee.

Pssst…read all the way to the end for a nice surprise.

Tell us 5 interesting things about yourself.
If you and I were in a dance-off, you would win. I have lost my sewing machine. I haven’t seen it since 2003 when I was sewing a wise man costume for my son Christian’s pre-school class. I decorate my house mostly in red for Christmas so that I can leave the decorations up until Valentine’s Day. I have lots of time-saving tips like this. I love to cook and bake and my entire family watches the food network together. I like surprises. But only when I have been given enough hints about said surprise so that I can plan appropriately. I totally feel like I cheated on this question because I just cut and pasted from my Facebook 25 Random Things About Me list I made this winter:)

How and why did you create Red Letter Words?
Red Letter Words was created out of a desire to have God’s word in my home and not being able to find anything in the store that fit my style. One day my oldest daughter brought home an art project where she wrote the things she was into (which was the color orange and caffeine). She was so proud that she made it and the words on it meant something to her. I thought yes – art should be personal and meaningful.

Where did the name originate from?
There are bible editions where the words spoken by Jesus are printed in red type. Redletterwords is about having the un-changing truth of the Word as art in your home.

What is a typical work day for you?
There is nothing typical about my days:) My family keeps me busy – I have a great husband, 4 awesome kids and a new puppy so I design stuff when I can at night or when everyone else is already busy.

How do you keep distractions at bay?
I find that if I am getting distracted, I stop doing what I was trying to do and go do something else. Then after awhile, I come back to it and finish up.

What are your best selling pieces/designs?
The Two are Better than One and We Love because He first loved us – lots of people like to give these as wedding gifts. Any of the travel prints, especially New York City and London but everyone has fond memories of someplace so lots of different cities are really popular. Also Hannah’s prayer which reads I prayed for this child and the Lord granted me what I asked of Him- lots of ladies love this print for their babies rooms especially if they had a difficult pregnancy.

Who/what are your inspiration?
My husband and kids inspire me, God inspires me, traveling inspires me, new restaurants, paint colors, scarves and shoes inspire me. Really there is inspiration everywhere. Sometimes I overload with inspiration – my notebooks are full of things I want to try or prints I want to design.

Do you have any business advice that worked well for you that you’d care to share?
Habbakuk 2:2 says to write the vision down on tablets and make it plain to see so that those who read it can run with it. I started redletterwords.etsy.com in August of 2008, in September I sold my first print shortly after that I started writing down the vision of what I wanted to accomplish that month.

Every month the vision at the top of my list is to have people be reminded how very much God loves them and cares for them and that He has a good plan for them. And every month I get emails from women saying how much a certain print affected them.

What are your favorite hobbies?
drinking coffee with my husband, cooking for and hanging out with family and friends, playing card games and Clue with my kids, scrapbooking, bible studies, swimming across the lake, photography, decorating, hiking – although I should say walking because I really only like a nice paved trail that isn’t too steepwhere there is virutally no chance of running into a snake or mountain lion.

What’s currently on Dee’s wish list?
My family is happy and healthy and growing in wisdom and favor everyday. Honestly I have everything that I could ever need.

Name your top website/blogs.
www.colorincprolab.com
www.thepioneerwoman.com
www.aliedwards.typepad.com
www.etsy.com

Dee has been gracious enough to offer one of her 12×12 gallery wrapped prints to one lucky winner. Rules are simple:
1. Visit her website and choose which 12×12 print you would get if you won.
2. Come back here and leave a comment by Thursday, August 20th 11:59pm EDT.
3. To double your chances tweet about this giveaway and come back and leave another comment
4. Winner will be announced on the blog Friday August 21st.

Thank you so much Dee for letting us know more about and for the awesome giveaway!
website :: shop