It's no secret that our generation is flooded with entrepreneurial fervor. By the time I graduated college, a large chunk of my peers entered the workforce with a "side hustle" or two to make ends meet in a bleak economy. We at StyleMutt Home firmly believe that small businesses should band together instead of compete against each other because...

“A rising tide lifts all boats”

— John F. Kennedy

Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful for the large businesses that we've partnered with over the past. But it's these small businesses that really make some serious magic happen with nothing more than their personal grit and determination. So it's even more titillating (yes I said it) when you can combine some serious small-business-sized forces to do something really, really fun.

Brittney Rossie

Brand and Business Strategy

The Silk Mill

Event Venue in Fredericksburg, VA

About Blank.jpg — StyleMutt Home

Furniture + eDesign

So what do you get when a curated rug vendor, a brand and business coach, an epic factory venue, and yours truly band together in support of each other? A beautiful display of small business collaboration and...

a really, really fun photoshoot

A while back, my dear friend and business guru Brittney Rossie connected us to a new small business in our area to see how we at StyleMutt home could help them grow. An email brainstorming session later, we had cooked up this cockamamie scheme to do a photoshoot to promote overall brand exposure and also exercise our collective creative muscles.

But to do such a photoshoot, you need an epic location. And I new just the place...

The Silk Mill

which also happed to be my wedding venue

With such a large factory space, we could easily set up some fun vignettes featuring our products:

The rugs were obviously the star of the show.

But one of our made-to-order benches in camel + nude did get to play a supporting role to those delicious imported rugs and kilim pillows.

As if the opportunity to play with some gorgeous rugs wasn't enough, Aly from Wool + Twig was a HOOT to work with! She was seriously up for anything - including some fun headshots.

Both with and without her actual head lol

Scroll through these images to see just some of her amazing inventory:

After seeing her carefully curated collection in person, I couldn't help but bring home another pillow child.

We certainly had a lot of fun behind the scenes

And I'm not ashamed to admit I did a few carpet angels the first chance I got... They were soooooo plush....

But the fun doesn't stop here. Wool + Twig was generous enough to offer us stylemutts a juicy discount for 3 days only!

Just click the image to shop her entire inventory and enter the code STYLEMUTT at check-out to get 30% off your purchase! Happy rug and pillow shopping mutts!

Psst! There's a new Etsy shop on the block!

BohoStock is a little dream I've had for about a year, when I started saving up for a legit camera. Last Winter I began taking a little bit out of every payment I received through StyleMutt Home opportunities and after spotting a mega deal on Ebay right before Christmas, bought a Nikon D3200! It's a whole new world, for sure.

But back to the dream - One of the strongest desires Cate and I have had for StyleMutt Home is to join in with others in this industry and be a part of something greater than our cozy corner of the web. We've been so blown away by how open and welcoming the design community has been, both local and global. Creatives supporting creatives isn't just beautiful, it's powerful!

For this reason, I've been wanting to find a way to support my fellow small business owners. I don't know a lot about designing and building an entire website, but I understand branding. A strong brand is vital to clenching that first impression and building a relationship with your supportive community, whether it's clients, sponsors, followers or readers. And if you're workin' with a phone camera, as many out there are, (until now our entire existence here at StyleMutt Home has been through the little eye of our iPhone cameras), it's even more difficult to fill your site and social media with images that give the professional, clean look you desire.

I created BohoStock to offer images for other creative small business owners to use to strengthen their brand. Our ready-to-use images are clean, fresh and inspired by nature. Stock images have been growing wildly popular as the need for them continues to grow, but there are very few that appeal to the modern bohemian. If you prefer wood tones and fresh greens to black desk supplies or romantic blooms, these stock images are for you, my dears. Use them to refresh your logo, clean your home page, or send messages regarding upcoming events, giveaways, winners, etc to your business' following community. Many of these images are also designed with enough space for a print if you're in the art industry and would like a fresh, consistent way of displaying your prints for your own shop, (here is a fantastic tutorial on layering images in Pixlr if you need some help)!

The BohoStock Etsy shop is filled with 30 some images ready for immediate download, (free from text and watermark). Now, go and have your business your way!

Thank you all so much for stopping by!