It's Personal {+ a giveaway}

A few weeks ago I began a new job as a merchandiser for a really special company called Chloe + Isabel.  I can't wait to tell you what I love about this company and why I've chosen them, but first a little personal note...

I've been debating a home based business vs. giving private music lessons again vs. a real job out there in the "real world" for a long time now.  As explained in a recent post, I've been in a funky season.  And in this season, I've had a lot of time to evaluate my life, the hopes and dreams I've carried with me since I was a kid and the things I'm good at.  In the midst of all of my planning and striving to find my niche, one small little thought continues to nag at my heart, "Take a risk.  Put yourself out there."  That thought makes my skin crawl.  I've put myself out there and it hurts.  

When I first began this blog, I never intended to fully let people into my life, nor my heart, and I certainly wasn't going to share my music.  But I've been playing it safe for a while now and things aren't going the way I thought they would go.  I truly truly truly feel that, that small nagging voice is the one I need to listen to, so rebranding PPS and making it all a bit more personal is a BIG step for me.  It's huge in my world, but I'm excited about where things are headed.  

That said, I'm also moving forward with pursuing more opportunities in my music.  A career as a recording artist has been my ultimate dream as long as I can remember and it was put aside once B & I got married.  I knew God was calling me to find confidence as a wife and to invest in my marriage, so I laid down a lot of things that I was passionate about and really good things came as a result.  The cool thing about God-given gifts though, is that often times He only calls us to lay them down for a season while He prunes and perfects other areas of our lives.  It's safe to say, I've been pruned and I've been prepared and I think my heart is ready for more.  Ready to dive in and give it my all and ready to open it up to whomever may benefit from the lessons I've learned, the life I've lived and the pain I've experienced.  Life is messy and life is good - and it's meant to be shared.

So this is where Chloe + Isabel comes in.  Chloe + Isabel caught my attention a few months ago and I just couldn't forget about it.  I'm always looking for ways to supplement our income and for years, I've dreamt of owning my own business.  The more I learned of c+i, the more I realized it was a great fit for my life in this moment.  It's a fairly new direct sales jewelry company based in New York City, that empowers and trains women to be creative entrepreneurs.  Each piece is designed exclusively for c+i in NYC and is handcrafted, nickel free, lead safe and backed by a lifetime guarantee.  Not only is the jewelry beautiful, unique and made of high quality (some organic) materials, but they've set their merchandisers up for success.  From the ground up, they've designed a website that each merchandiser can personalize and use as their own online boutique.  And they don't let just anyone become a merchandiser.  Each merchandiser is approved and interviewed before being accepted, ensuring that geographical locations aren't saturated with c+i merchandisers and that we fit the brand just as much as they fit into the lives of their merchandisers.  It's truly a fantastic company, one I'm proud to be a part of!  Over the next few weeks I'll be building relationships with local businesses, charities and events to partner with as well as selling the jewelry through my online boutique.  Feel free to take a look around, do a little shopping and a little dreaming.  If you create a free account, you can add things to your cart (aka wish list) and potentially win those pieces through my promotions or through hosting your own pop-up shop (email me for more info about that if you're interested - in Cali or not).  C+I pieces make for great gifts, so remember me when shopping for bdays, graduation, mom's day, sisters, girlfriends, Christmas, etc.  

So where's the party?!

To celebrate this new and exciting season, I'm giving away one of these beautiful leather wrap bracelets to anyone who spends $50 or more in my shop using this link.  If you shop + share my link {or this image} via your social media outlets you gain extra entries {just be sure to leave a comment below with a link to your extra entry, so I know to add it to the giveaway}.  All orders over $100 get FREE shipping. Winner will be announced Friday, September 20th.

Thank you so much for your friendship, encouragement and support as I follow after my dreams and venture out into new territory with the blog, my music and the business.  I'm really excited to follow hard after my Creator and can't wait to see what He has ahead.

PinkPeonyStyle.com Reborn....

What's Next??

Now that the Calvary West craziness is winding down, I'm moving ahead full speed with PPS.  You won't see as many posts as usual over the next few weeks, as I'm making a LOT of changes.  Are you ready for this??  PinkPeonyStyle will soon be sporting a beautiful new blog design, a more regular post schedule, more info about my music ministry and life as a pastor's wife and a worship leader, and a whole lot of beautiful home decor, design, fashion, and healthy recipes!  I couldn't be more excited about what's ahead!

Join me!

PinkPeonyStyle.com is building a community of creative and passionate women who desire to share their gifts, while empowering and inspiring others to be who they were created to be!  Want to join in on the fun??  Over the next three weeks, I will be searching for and building a team of creative women who have a passion for all things design, home decor, fashion, food, art, music, and/or photography.  If this sounds like YOU, please take a moment to contact me via PinkPeonyStyle@gmail.com.  

Tell me how you would like to contribute, why you would be a great fit for our team and how/when you can best be contacted.

Become a Sponsor

Interested in what will soon be happening here at PPS but don't have the desire to be a regular contributer??  Or have a business, product, blog, ministry and/or website that you would like to promote via PPS?  Become a sponsor via {for a limited time only} FREE advertising space or sponsor a giveaway to one lucky PPS reader.  Please e-mail PinkPeonyStyle@gmail.com for more information regarding sponsorships.

Tell me about your business/blog/product/ministry and how you would like to sponsor PPS.

I hope you're excited!  The countdown is on & PinkPeonyStyle.com is about to be reborn.  Don't miss out on the fun - join the PPS fb page,  PPS twitter, become a follower via blogger or email updates ---> or add PPS to your Bloglovin feed --->.

Lots of love - 

- image via 

Christmas, moving, and other things...

Wow, the days are slipping away.  Christmas is on our heels and our big move is just around the corner!  I'm done working and taking the time off to prepare for the cross-country move.  All is falling into place except for one (in my opinion) MAJOR thing - housing.  :-\  So many people ask if we're excited and what not, yes, of course we are - it's an adventure....but there's that homemaker thing inside me that's just itching to find a cute little (affordable) place to call our own.  Having a pup in tow isn't exactly making the matter any less difficult.  He's a great little guy, but convincing a home owner that I may just have the best doggie in the world is an entirely different story.  Humph!  What to do?  What to do?  Trust God.  It's all I can do.  He's provided everything else thus far, I'm sure that's on it's way.  The planner in me just wants to know exactly where I'm headed and what I'm doing.

Since my last post some of my precious students participated in my Christmas recital.  Oh my goodness, it was the sweetest thing!  Each student played (piano, guitar, or sang) two Christmas songs; I truly couldn't have been more proud.  I was a little nervous there for a few kiddos, but they all got through their songs and they did such a fabulous job!  Here's a photo one of the mom's snapped:  (Don't they look precious in all of their pretty dresses?  Some of them even doused themselves in glitter for the event!  Oh girls! ;)

In other news, lots of baking has been going down in the Collyer kitchen.  Last night was a pinterest inspired bake-a-thon with gfree Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies & a Tiramisu Roulade.  Ummm, sugar overload?  I think yes!  My kitchen is still doused in powdered sugar - Blakely's enjoying the new sweet flavor the tile has acquired.

You can find the recipe to the cookies here and the roulade here.  (A little tip if you plan to try the roulade - I actually added chocolate chips to the layer of marscapone cheese for a little added sweetness since there wasn't any sweetener in the cream...it turned out perfect!)  The cookies are for our neighbors and the roulade was for hubby's work Christmas party.

And lastly before I turn in for the evening....we had a friend take a few Christmas pics & thought I'd share.  Hope you're enjoying the holidays!  If I don't make it back to PPS before Christmas (cause this whole moving thing is just consuming me), MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lots of love....