The million dollar question in life. How do you balance it all?! A while back I was feeling super uninspired with stories and asked what you all wanted to see on Instagram. There were quite a few requests to share more BTS like life updates. Others also requested BTS on what it’s like running an ETSY shop. Some also wanted to know how do I balance a job and two small businesses.

How I Balance Working Full Time, Running a Small Business and Blogging

I am not sure there is one true *answer* for this because I think we can all agree life can get insane, busy and hectic sometimes. For today’s post, I am going to do my best to describe how I split my time/balance working a full-time job, running an ETSY Shop and blogging!

The simplest answer would be that I really don’t. Some days I feel tossed by the wind and cannot focus on one task. Sometimes, all the to-do’s are running through my head. There is some organization to the madness though. It’s amazing how much more time you have to get tasks accomplished. Especially if you prioritize your time, block schedule and not get sucked into Netflix/scrolling on social media.

One of the best tips I could give would be to concentrate on 2 specific tasks at a time. For me that would be working on a project or task for Island Jay during the day. Then concentrating on one task for either my blog or my ETSY shop once I am finished with work. I absolutely cannot focus on all 3. If I work hard on blog posts during Sunday, my ETSY shop gets less attention and vice versa.

Right now, I work full-time at Island Jay, run the Sunshine Style Co. ETSY shop and run this blog, Sunshine Style. My ETSY shop and blog are tied together. I use my blog and Instagram to promote my ETSY shop, new blog posts and style content.

How Many Hours Do I Spend On Each One?

For my main job at Island Jay. I can work anywhere from 25-40 hours a week. How many hours I work each day and week are always different depending on how busy we are.

For blogging, I spend about 5-15 hours writing blog posts. This includes “online shopping”, promoting on social media, creating Instagram stories and making reels.

My ETSY shop I spend about 5-10 hours a week.

Working Full Time for Island Jay

My main job is working for Island Jay. It’s a beach apparel and accessories company for parrot heads, those who love the beach life and enjoy drinking before 5, haha! This is how I make the majority of my income and can pour my own money into growing my small business. It’s always my main priority during the work week. I am our customer service manager and run our Instagram and Facebook pages.

Before I started this remote position last April, I had prayed for a job exactly like this one. It’s remote and a very flexible job. I can stay away from my computer for an hour to two and record a new reel, shoot blog or ETSY product photos or write a blog post before work. The flexibility is 100% the main reason I can juggle all 3 without loosing my mind. My job is in e-commerce/retail, so some weeks/months it’s insane and others sales are super slow. This allows me to dedicate more time to my businesses. Everyday I am grateful I have a job like this where I can grow my ETSY shop and blog!

Blogging

Oh, I just love my little blog! It’s truly a labor of love. There have been months were I would blog almost everyday or at least 3-4 times a week and I felt so proud. After a while, I realized I cannot keep up with that and since this is not my full-time job, I had to let those expectations go. I work on new blog posts on Sundays in the morning or before I start work for Island Jay during the work week. My writing flows best in the mornings so I try to use that to get lots of writing done.

How I Monetize without LTK

This was a question from Instagram! I actually have LikeToKnowIt (@sunshinestyleblog), I just do not actively promote it. As a brand, I want all of my traffic to come to my website. Instead of sending traffic to the app, I send it to my website. If you click the “Shop My Instagram” tab on my website, you will see all the outfits and sale picks on a LTK Widget that I past onto my website for easy shopping.

Reward Style is like LTK’s sister. The two work together to make it easier on bloggers and shoppers. I use Reward Style’s links to link to the majority of products on my website. If you click on a link on my website and buy something, I make a very small commission. Let’s say I post this $39.99 yellow Target dress. I will make a $2.24 commission. That means I have to sell 18 dresses just to make $40.

Numbers aren’t everything but the more engaged audience you have, the most you will make. It is not a get rich quick scheme at all! Bloggers who do it full time work super hard! I actually make more money with my ETSY shop right now.

How I Deal With Tech/Maintenance

Tech and accouting are my least favorite parts about running a business. As soon as I grow enough to hire experts, I will! Basically I get my domain from BlueHost and pay for a website host. If this is flying over your head, Youtube is a great teacher!

Through local connections, I have a small tech business who hosts my website. If I ever have issues, I will reach out to Alberto who owns the company (we met years ago and he helped design my website when I first re-branded) and have him fix errors. Rarely do I need his help but when I do, it’s included in what I pay him yearly. If I were a bigger brand or company I would be hiring out for tech help to not ruin my website or delete important info!

How to Create New and Interesting Blog Content

Oh, creating new content is always something that is at the top of my mind! Sometimes inspiration will hit when I am in the shower, driving or working. Usually I try to plan around each season. Spring and Summer are most in line with my brand and what I like to say, “time for my brand to shine!”.

Sometimes it’s not that profound. I will order a new dress or cute shoes and create a new post all about that outfit, style or trend. Like next week I have a post going up with a new J.Crew Gingham print dress and most likely will include a few other cute gingham print pieces.

Taking polls on Instagram is always helpful too! When I ask what you want to see or need help styling, I usually get great feedback! Someone asked for affordable preppy outfits and that sparked a bunch of new ideas and tells me you want to see sale finds and budget friendly pieces. I just wrote a new post all about affordable long sleeved tops that was sparked by that question.

What It’s Like to Sell on an ETSY Shop

Selling on ETSY has been a huge learning curve! For those who are new, I handmake coastal and resort inspired accessories! I had to learn how to upload products, take clear and bright product photos, pricing, ETSY ads, shipping fees and I even created a @sunshinestyle.co account to promote new products!

I run this small business super part-time. During my lunch breaks are usually when I will sew and fulfill orders. USPS will pick them up from my mailbox in the afternoon, so the pressure is on to get the order packed before the mail truck shows up! Orders are pretty consistent and I get a few a week. Weekends are when I will try out new designs like the Gingham Knot headbands!

What Type of Fees does ETSY have?

Their main fees are listing fees, transaction fees and shipping fees. Shipping costs around $3 (for the items I ship) and the other fees start at $.20 and go up to $2.00. When I list a new product, I will be charged $.20 and when a customer buys a products, I can be charged up to $2.00 for the transaction.

Before I switch over to my own website, I wanted to start on ETSY for the ease! You cannot beat a platform that already has millions of users on it daily and the fees are super reasonable as I grow and learn more about a product based business.

You can also pay for ETSY ads that start at $1/day and max out at $25. I tried ETSY ads and was loosing money and not actually getting enough sales to generate a profit from them so I stopped them. I have enough of a social media following, I can promote my products for free and have just as much success! As I grow more or start my own website, ads are definitely something I know will be worth it for an advertising fee, especially Facebook ads!

How Do I Design New Products?

If I am being completely truthful, the first striped scrunchies I ever made were designed from striped seersucker fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby at a great price! There was no fancy design concept and I used what I had. I had a budget, limited fabric was available during Covid and knew I wanted to keep in line with my brand by makin colorful and coastal scrunchies! Once I found the striped fabric that matched my brand, I got to work!

To save time and generate excitement over my products, I decided to start releasing small collections with accessories that match and enhance each other. So far I have released a striped, citrus and gingham collection! The next collection I will release will be a coastal collection for summer. Between then I will probably introduce a few bold striped headbands and fruit accessories! I really just focus on trends, seasons and pretty much wing it hoping it will work!

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

Let me know if you have any other questions! I would love to add them!

The post How I Balance Working Full Time, Running a Small Business and Blogging appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

A recap of the year is one of my favorite posts to write and put together! It’s always so fun to look back, see all the good that’s happened, how I grew, lessons learned, understanding how to deal with unmet expectations and to get excited for the new year and all the possibilities it can lead to. Does anyone else love even numbers?! Not that 2021 won’t be a great year but 2022 sounds so much better to me!

2020 started off pretty yuck for me. I was on a short term teaching contract at a local high school and truly hated it. I don’t even like to use that word! But I tried teaching an older grade thinking it might make me happier than teaching middle school and it was the most dreadful morning commute knowing I’d have to go and teach. No matter how hard I tried to make the best of the situation, it just was not working.

In early January, I was called into the principals office (uh oh, ha!) and was told that my last day teaching would be January 17th. Since my contract was short term, I knew I could be “terminated” at any time and my job was not guaranteed. When he told me my last day, I felt nothing but relief and was literally so happy. Naturally I am more of a risk taker and not having a job didn’t concern me as I saved a bunch knowing the future was very unknown.

So basically 2019-early 2020 were not my favorite and I had been looking for a full-time job for over a year. It came with lots of self doubt, sadness and feeling constantly defeated. Then the pandemic came and it pretty much threw off any plans I had. God kept reminding me that even with so much uncertainty, there were still possibilities!

2020 actually turned out to be better for me than 2019 and for that I will be forever grateful. I’ve seen it from both sides, for some 2020 was truly a heartbreaking and tough year and for others, it brought some of the most joyous and happiest moments. Just know, if 2020 was tough, I have been praying for you and there are better things to come!

January

It’s weird to type out “pre-Covid” and pretty much “post-Covid”. January to March were pretty normal. I went to Florida State University for college and have always wanted to take a trip back. During my Christmas Break, my sister, friend Makayla and I drove 5 hours to Tallahassee to go and explore my old stomping grounds! It was a fun, quick trip and we got to enjoy some cold weather! That’s the infamous Westcott Fountain in the photo above!

In December, I wrote an article for Space Coast Living magazine all about embracing the holiday season. I was super proud of this accomplishment and it was my second article to write for them. It just felt so professional! It’s under my January column because I think I didn’t pick up a copy of the magazine until the next month!

February

There’s not many photos of what I did BTS in February but so much of my time was spent job hunting, writing resumes, reading books and going on interviews. My plate was pretty full and I was determined to find a job in Palm Beach. I interviewed for a bunch of companies down South and waited a bunch and practiced lots of patience. If only I knew what was about to hit in March.

I also spent time creating a website/photography portfolio and launched The Sunshine Studio to offer social media management and photography to clients and small businesses. Turns out my instincts were right and landed my first client shooting branded product photography for her.

Something really fun that happened was that I got to do an Instagram takeover for my local LOFT store! They released a bunch of Spring styles and had me come in, style a few looks and shoot them for their Instagram. Tonya is awesome and she helped shoot some of the photos on my phone! We had lots of fun and I think I was there for over 5 hours!

To be completely transparent, I was not paid a dime. This is a hard reality for me to swallow in the “influencer” industry. Sometimes to grow, it means doing things for free and other times, I feel like the work that goes into a job or opportunity, bloggers/influencers are not completely valued. Imagine going to work and bring asked to do a 5 hour project then they give you a free product or a discount to buy one of their products! The ROI is not always worth the work/time.

Of course, I’m super grateful and it does help build my “blogger resume” and I said yes because I LOVE LOFT and used to work there. It’s also a great lesson and helps me ask hard questions like, “Is this opportunity worth the work? Are both brands getting something out of this? How does this bring value to my readers?”. This is a good example of the glamour behind Instagram! Maybe I need to be a trailblazer and change this with my own brand!

March

Oh March…we had no idea what was coming! During the beginning of the month, I met up with Emily and Hailey, a few Florida blogger friends to shoot some photos for Space Coast Living Magazine. We had a blast at The Colony Palm Beach on a rare cold morning taking photos in our swimsuits.

Just a few short weeks later, life kind of turned upside down. Pretty much everything was a blur and I don’t remember much from here to June ha! What I do remember was feeling happy that I got to travel to Palm Beach and took those photos just in the nick of time!

Oh April! I turned 30 in April and wanted to have a Covid-30 Birthday party to make light of the situation. Everything in Florida was officially closed and we were spending all of our time at home, so I thought…why not?!

One really great thing that happened was that I landed a new job working in e-commerce for Island Jay. After so much unknown the beginning of the year and job searching, I finally felt at peace with my next step and loved the company. With everyone at home, online ordering was insane. The company was experiencing crazy growth and it kept me busy the entire summer learning all the ins and outs.

June

Look, I skipped May ha! Really, I don’t remember what happened between those few months. Looking in my phone, there is nothing noteworthy to share about! My article and the Space Coast Living magazine photos came out in the June issue which was exciting! This is also the month I started planning and preparing to sell my handmade scrunchies. I made the blue striped I’m wearing in the photo above and tested it out for the month to make sure the quality was up to my standards!

July

July was a really exciting month! I launched Sunshine Style Co. and mailed out my first scrunchie orders! Work was super buy all summer long and I felt like I was working non-stop in a good way. It kept me occupied and I also started to help manage the Island Jay Facebook and Instagram pages. Everything that was happening was super exciting and I felt nothing but overwhelming gratitude and happiness. For so long, I’ve prayed and prayed to work in e-commerce and start my own business and it was happening right before my eyes!

AUGUST

My sister got engaged in August and found her wedding dress just weeks after! This photo was taken after she said, “Yes to the dress!”. We all wore matching shirts from ETSY. Hers says Bride and ours say, Brides Babes.

Like, I mentioned, things I have prayed for for so long were all happening so fast. Shore Bags, a sustainable coastal brand, had reached out to me to shoot and style some of their bags back when I was teaching and I didn’t have the time. During quarantine I reached back out and was able to create a bunch of content for them! The screenshot above was their main header image of me holding one of their bags!

SEPTEMBER

Again, not much happened in September. Work was not as insane as summer, places were opening back up and I started making handmade scrunchies and matching face mask sets! One of my friends on Insta made the suggestion to create matching masks and it was a great idea. They were instantly a hit!

I spent time figuring out ways to grow my new business and was just excited and happy to be able to create fun accessories. My family and I also started watching Outlander and we became obsessed! Anyone else love Claire and Jamie?

OCTOBER

After spending so much time at home I was so ready to get out and explore. my friend Ashley and I planned a quick trip down to Palm Beach for the weekend! We stayed in Lake Worth at an Air Bnb, went to the beach and rode bikes! I wrote a helpful guide on what to do in Palm Beach in less than 24 hours that also recaps our trip and gives some fun activities and places to eat at for a day trip.

November

I guess you could say my family and I had the travel bug. We decided to rent a cabin in North Georgia and celebrate Thanksgiving together! There ended up being 11 of us and we had the best time hiking, playing games, sitting by the fire in the cabin and exploring the 20 acre property we stayed on. The trip was so much fun, I was genuinely super sad to leave and wanted to stay longer!

Bealls Florida reached out to me for a fall campaign and I got to shop some of their fall decor and clothes in store and style it for Instagram! This was a really awesome opportunity that I was so grateful for and got excited every time I truly felt like this blogging thing and all the work is actually paying off!

December

Didn’t December just end?! Recapping January felt like it was soooo long ago and also like it just happened. December felt normal for the most part. The scrunchie business was going really great in Dec (Hey Christmas orders) and it got me excited for what’s to come with my small business for 2021.

We had a drive by shower for my sister and had a blast! It was so much more fun than we expected. My friend Alyssa and I are her maid of honors and borrowed this photo backdrop from a friend who has tons of wedding props and decor!

My family and I ended the month with a small Christmas at home!

If your a new reader, you can check out my 2018 recap here and my 2019 recap here! Both include lessons I learned, reflections and helps you get to know me a bit better!

What I’m most grateful for are all the slow moments of 2020, like sitting by my pool eating dinner after a patio work out, sewing and crafting and hanging with my family and playing so many card games. Being able to start 2 new business was also a huge surprise and something I am thankful and excited for every day!

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post 2020 Recap and What I’m Grateful For appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

Meet the easiest fall craft, DIY velvet pumpkins! Even if you are a beginner, this is a super easy project for any skill level! To get into the fall spirit, I asked my mom what craft we should do and we both agreed on making our own personalized velvet pumpkins after stocking Pinterest! I am pretty sure this is “the” craft project to do this year because finding dried pumpkin stems was harder (and way more expensive) than I imagined.

First, let’s talk about how cute they are! They instantly stand out in a room and make it feel so festive! I wanted to make sure mine were colorful and matched my tropical and coastal decorated room. We spent maybe an hour total on making 5 pumpkins and that included, cutting, sewing, stuffing and gluing! The mess is super minimal and it’s fun to be able to personalize the fabric and figure out what size you want your pumpkins.

My decorating style compared to my moms is super different. She loves traditional fall decorating and all the warm colors. I love color, tropical vibes and like to decorate with non-traditional colors and prints. I only have a teeny tiny bedroom to decorate now and I can only image how much fun it must be when you have a whole house! I used a yellow velvet fabric and she used a burnt orange velvet fabric from the same ETSY store.

I ordered my mom and I 1 yard each of the yellow velvet and burnt orange fabric and we had plentyyyy left over. I made 3 yellow pumpkins total. One was large cut from a 15″ plant stand top I traced and the other 2 were on the smaller side cut from a 11″ plate! We could only make 5 pumpkins because I only bought 5 stems. I read somewhere that you can use stems from spaghetti, butternut or acorn squash as well! So save those stems if you make squash soup soon! I plan on drying out the stems from pumpkins that I carved this year and will save them for next year so I can make more velvet pumpkins! They would make amazing gifts!

How to Make DIY Velvet Pumpkins

There is no way I can take credit for this awesome tutorial. Jann from Newton Custom Interiors did all the hard work and I used her YouTube video (mostly for the sewing visual) and this blog post for all of the materials I needed.

The hardest part of the entire project was sewing the pumpkin fabric shut. Watch the Youtube video and make sure to pay attention to that part! Again, it’s a beginner project and you don’t need to have extensive sewing knowledge to be able to make a pumpkin. Honestly, you could butcher the entire sewing part and it would still turn out okay because the stem covers any mistakes!

Keep in mind all you need is 1/2 yard of fabric. It can easily make 3-4 pumpkins. A full yard will make 5-10 depending on the size circle/pattern you use to cut the pumpkin. I bought 1 yard and have way to much left over, so I plan on making scrunchies!

Materials Needed

• 1/2 Yard Velvet Fabric (I used this yellow velvet and this burnt orange velvet fabric)
• Pumpkin Stems (Ordered mine off ETSY from Perkypumpkins! It was 5 for $17)
• Heavy Thread
• Needle
• Fabric Scissors (regular household scissors work just as fine!)
• Polyester Fiberfill
• Hot glue gun
• Dry rice or beans

Instructions

1. Cut out your circle shape.
2. Thread needle and knot double strand.
3. Hand sew a basting stitch all the way around the circle of fabric.  Gather up fabric.
4. Place 1/4 cup of rice or beans in the bottom of the pumpkin.
5. Fill the pumpkin with polyfill.
6. Tighten basting stitches to close the pumpkin.
7. Make a couple of stitches across the opening to help close it.
8. Take a stitch to the bottom of the pumpkin and back up to the top.  Knot your thread (watch the Youtube video for extra help!).
9. Hot glue the stem onto the pumpkin. Covering the opening and stitches.

Shop DIY Velvet Pumpkin Supplies

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post How to Make DIY Velvet Pumpkins appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

Pausing on outfit posts today to bring you 10 random facts about me! Style content is my favorite and your favorite as well but every time I do a personal post, those are the most popular posts by a mile! I get it though, it’s relatable, helps you get to know a person and I always feel more connected to someone when I know more about them and their story! I’d love to get to know you a bit more too!

1.My real name is Katie. I always get asked if it’s a nickname! The only people in my family who call me by a nickname are my mom and sister. Sometimes, they will refer to me as “Kate’ but I rarely even notice because it pretty much sounds like their saying my name ha!

2. When I was 11, I was told by my cheerleading coach that I looked like a frog doing a back handspring. It made me so angry, I tightened up, launched myself back and ended up completely breaking/snapping both bones in my right arm. The great thing was that I felt no pain, like absolutely none and it did not puncture the skin! Never will I forget starting 7th grade with a giant plaster cast then getting braces just a few months later.

3. Okay this one is a little embarrassing. Back in 3rd grade, I used to love Pokemon. My mom would record it for my sister and I on a old school VRC tape. We would watch it when we would get home from school. I even had a Pikachue figurine with a Pokeball that I would put in my cubby e at school. HA!

4. I didn’t have my first boyfriend until I was 25! It’s weird to publicly admit that. In high-school, I would have been mortified to ever say that out loud. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in boys, I was just extremely shy and none ever asked me out. Looking back, I am glad my first relationship was as an adult and I don’t feel like I missed out. Plus, I escaped all of those awkward tween relationships and learning curves.

5. One day, I dream of owning a frenchie! I grew up with a pug named Muffin and he was the sweetest thing ever! Even if people didn’t like dogs or thought pugs were ugly, they loved Muffin! I have heard that frenchie’s are a great breed and super similar to pugs plus I think their just adorable!

6. In 2020, I started 2 business selling scrunchies at Sunshine Style Co. and a product photography and social media management business called The Sunshine Studio. I also landed a new job at Island Jay after a long job search for almost a year. It all happed right around the time Covid started shutting everything down and is nothing short of a miracle! For the first time in a while, I really love my job!

7. In 7th grade I was in a more hands on program and I won an award for having the most creative design for a Rube Goldberg project! Here’s a great link that explains what a Rube Goldberg machine is! It’s basically a machine that uses chain reactions to complete a task.

8. As a kid, I was always super shy and had a huge fear of public speaking. It took years for me to get out of my shell. Now if people meet me, they never believe I used to be so different. Becoming a teacher and having to stand up in front of kids pushed me out of my comfort zone so much and I pretty much had to overcome speaking in front of people!

9. My dream is to live on the river or waterfront property! Somewhere on the East Coast!

10. I had to wear braces from 7th grade until 10th grade! I was 12-16…that’s 5 years! If anyone ever compliments me on my smile, I always silently thank my mom and dad for paying for those braces! My overbite was so horrendous (not joking ha!) my origiinal orthodontist wanted to break my jaw and do surgery on me. Luckily, we found an amazing dentist/orthodontist that altered my jaw without surgery!

I LOVE learning and reading random facts about people! What’s something interesting or random about you?!

The post 10 Random Facts About Me appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

For Christmas, my sister gifted me AirPods and my life has never been the same! They are a complete game changer, especially if you avoid taking phone calls just so you don’t have to holding the phone to your ear. What I was most excited for besides the actual AirPods was picking out a cute case!

Rifle Paper Co. AirPod Case

I literally avoid holding a phone to my ear. I feel like it restricts my freedom and I like to be hands free! Even if I’m shopping, I almost always have a backpack or crossbody for the convenience. Now, I know AirPods are a pretty penny. Almost anyone I talk to says their worth it! My sister was soooo nice giving them to me as my main Christmas gift and I couldn’t be more grateful. They are absolutely worth it and I use them weekly, if not daily.

The best part about getting a new fun electronic is putting a cute case on it. Do you remember getting a new case for your flip phone when you were a teen? That was the coolest thing ever! Getting a new AirPod case is basically the same thing as an adult. There are sooo many that I love. Mine was a present and it’s from Rifle Paper Co called Clear Wildflowers. They make the cutest cases in my opinion. I love the garden party and the strawberry fields case (both under $25)!

3 Reasons Why I Love My AirPods

1. I can take work phone calls with my AirPods in and still work on other things. During the workday, I have to wear a head set and always wait as long as I can before I put it on. The piece gets stuck in my hair and I wish the software I used for work was compatible with Apple. When my boss calls me, I will usually run and grab my AirPods if their not next to me and chat hands free. The freedom is amazing!
2. They hold a really long charge. I charge mine about every week and their super user friendly!
3. It gives you privacy. I am always voice texting my friends. We love it because it gives you real life conversations without actually being next to each other. Sometimes, I want to listen and other people will be around so I just grab my AirPods and listen away.
4. They stay in when you workout! I will go on runs and never have to worry about them falling out. Sometimes I will even brush my teeth when I am wearing them and (mostly) don’t even worry that they will fall into the sink…HA!
5. You can walk about 30 feet before they loose connection! This is really what I love about them. Hello to being completely hands free! You can walk around, make dinner, clean, grab something from another room and you can still hear what you are listening to.

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

Do you have a pair of AirPods?! What’s your favorite feature about them?

The post Cute Air Pod Cases + Why I Love Them appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

I’m excited for a much more personal post! If you know me in person, I am extremely open and honest person. Over time I have learned to be wise with what I do share and what I don’t share on the internet. It’s better to go through things and learn from them before I just lay it all out! Today I wanted to chat about a topic that has been on my heart lately, which is expectations and life not working out as planned. I feel like I have been the queen of unmet expectations the last few years.

Did you know that only last year, I was working at a dental office, making only $13.00 an hour and pretty much hating my life. Hate is such a strong word that really isn’t in my vocabulary but that’s how I felt about my life and the way it was working out for pretty much a year and a half.

In 2018 my teaching job ended and for an entire year and a half, I was a substitute teacher, worked at a dental office and landed a short-term teaching job. I felt like a failure in every area of my life. My savings account was drained, my dreams felt crushed and no matter how many new jobs I interviewed for, not a thing worked out.

I’m an engram 3 wing 4 and love success and accomplishments so this long season really hit hard. My emotions were everywhere and it was a pretty low point in my life. I felt sad, depressed and irritated almost constantly. By 30, your whole life is supposed to be figured out and measure up to some invisible standard created by an invisible guy, right?!

I was not married, didn’t own my own house, lived at home, had a low paying job, drained my savings account and hadn’t struck oil and became a millionaire by age 20. Slightly kidding on that last one. It felt like I worked hard for nothing. I constantly reminded myself, “you have nothing you want Katie, you are a failure”.

When you scroll through social media, it can feel like everyone is getting married, traveling, moving, getting exciting new opportunities and I felt like a lump on a log. When I wasn’t happy with my own life, it felt like somehow my life was stagnant and everyone else was moving forward. Wow, even just reading this I can see the lies I believed. Everything felt like a struggle and no matter how hard I tried to change things and prayed, it seemed to stayed the same.

Over my life, I can look back and see how the things that didn’t work out were really huge blessings in disguise and bigger and better things were to come. When starting to write this post, a bunch of past examples popped into my head and I am actually really happy they didn’t work out like I planned.

Some things that didn’t work out like I expected:

In 9th grade I tried out for my Highschool cheerleading team and didn’t make it. I was devastated and cried for a day. I cheered competitively for 3 years then I tried out my senior year again and made varsity! Turns out I loved competitive cheer way more and am glad I didn’t cheer for HS for 4 years!

After I graduated, I thought I would move to NYC and become the next Whitney Port from The City and be an editor at Teen Vogue or work as a buyer for a major fashion label. Turns out I realized I love living on the coast to much and hate cold weather ha!

I thought my first boyfriend and I were going to get married. Looking back, I am so grateful we broke up. He was a major jerk and we didn’t want the same things in life.

All the jobs I applied to after college until now and was told no. Looking back, the jobs I did get aligned perfect with my personality, grew me and pushed me to the next step in life.

Not being married in my 20’s. This one is still something I have had a hard time with. I never imagined I would be single in my early 30’s and had to let go of big expectations and the way I planed my life to go. This is something I still don’t have figured out and am in the “thick of it”. If you feel this way about being married by a certain age, know your not alone.

Being in quarantine in 2020. Pretty sure everyone is on the same page with this ha! Maybe it could have been predicted but I am sure no one was expecting or wanting it to happen.

Two Years Later

Fast forward two years, I work at a job I love for an e-commerce website called Island Jay which sells beach apparel (so me), I stared my own photography businesses called The Sunshine Studio, have been able to shoot for some brands and I just landed my first major client!

The photo above was a photo I styled for Shore Bags and it’s so fun to see yourself on the first page of their website! During that weird season, I still blogged on here and have started selling handmade scrunchies! I wish I could have told myself 2 years ago where I would be now because I never would have believed it.

Going through that hard season really made me realize to be grateful for what I did have, pushed me to try for bigger adventures like starting my own businesses and I had to trust God more with my life and know that He really cares about the little details of my life. The hard season was worth it all. I am doing things I have been dreaming of for years.

Be Grateful for What you DO Have

Gratitude can go a long way. It’s super easy to reflect on what you don’t have but there is so much you do have if you look hard enough. Bring single I have plenty of time to dedicate to whatever I want. I also am super healthy, have the best family ever, get to eat lots of tasty food and God has provided small opportunities along the way to get to where I want to go.

Be Willing to Change and Make Changes

Wow, this is the one area I would encourage you to really chase after if you feel stuck or want your life to head in a different direction. I know God helps us along the way but we do need to take action and baby steps to get to where we want to go.

God gave me the idea to start The Sunshine Studio 6 months into substitute teaching and I sat on the idea for almost an entire year. There was so much fear and I was afraid of failure. My life might have changed faster if I stepped out in faith. I read books, stepped out of my comfort zone constantly and kept pushing myself even when I didn’t see a finish line.

Know God Has a Perfect Plan Just for You

There’s a book in my room by Rachael Cruz (Dave Ramsey’s daughter) that is called, “Love Your Life Not Theirs“. It has been sitting on my, “junk bean bag chair for months” and last week I used it to prop up my phone to make a new Instagram reel and though its such a good reminder. Pretty sure that was God getting my attention saying, “Katie you need to hear this!” Your life might looks completely different than someone else’s but that’s the great part. God really does have unique and special plans for each one of us. Know he cares about your dreams, hopes and desires!

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post What to Do When Life Doesn’t Work Out As Expected appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

I am soooo excited to announce the launch of these nautical inspired bow hair scrunchies! They are all 100% handmade by your’s truly in Florida! Ever since I posted about the hair scrunchies I made on Instagram as a quarantine sewing project, my creative wheels have been spinning. You guys loved them! I’ve been working hard behind the scenes on this new fun project!

This is seriously a dream come true! If you know me, you know I have always wanted to own and design my own clothing line. It’s in my blood, I know I am meant to design! I am on my way to making my dreams happen and I am so happy you are part of the journey!

Shop Sunshine Style Bow Hair Scrunchies!

When I was designing the scrunchies, I knew I wanted to release them during my favorite season, summer! You all know I love color, sunshine and am so inspired by the ocean and growing up in a coastal town. There was no way I could design a product without stripes! The scrunchies come in 3 colors: pink and blue seersucker and yellow and white stripes!

You can remove the bow and just wear the scrunchie as an accessory or hairtie! I have been styling them to match my outfits and love picking between which color I want to wear each day of the week! It feels like the first day of school all over again! I designed them to be worn on all of your end-of-summer adventures, weather your traveling to a coastal town or enjoying time in your backyard!

Shop Sunshine Style Bow Hair Scrunchies!

Thanks so much for being so excited! There would be no Sunshine Style without all of you! I cannot wait to see how you style your scrunchies out “in the wild”!

Use code SUNSHINE for 10% off of your first order!

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post Introducing Sunshine Style Bow Hair Scrunchies! appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

Something I have always been really passionate about are women owned small businesses! Specifically female owned businesses that focus on fashion, accessories and beauty products. As a girl whose always dreamed of owning her own business and recently starting my own, I find it so amazing at all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes, the stories of struggle and success and the heart behind why they do what they do.

I love supporting small businesses and always feel so connected to them! When I buy something, it’s the best knowing where the products were sourced from, where all of the profits are going and watching them grow from the ground up! It’s so inspiring! Wearing their products makes me feel proud! Today I thought it would be really fun to show off some of my favorite small businesses, some local to Florida and all female owned!

Sea Marie Designs

This is a new to me business that I discovered on Instagram. Sea Marie Designs sells coastal inspired accessories, bags and gifts like tea towels and napkins . I’m wearing the Traditional Rattan Top Knot Headband in Nautral. They just released the cutest rattan bag with blue and white striped handles that I am eyeing!

St. Armands Designs of Sarasota

Kristina is the owner of this adorable company and they are based in Sarasota, Florida located on the gulf coast. I am pretty much obsessed with everything she sells!!! There is an entire page dedicated to rattan, raffia and bamboo statement earrings. It’s like she designed them for me!

I recently bought the natural lido pom pom earrings from her and they are the cutest earring for summer! So far I’ve worn them during the work week to feel put together and styled them, with dresses and girly tops! You can find St. Armands on Esty here.

The Tiny Tassel

Okay, so Mimi the owner of The Tiny Tassel seems like the sweetest and most joyous person ever! Her Instagram feed is full of color! She makes handmade tassel earrings and her mom designs and sews all of their garments which are insanely well made and beautiful! They are based in Charleston, so it has Southern charm mixed into everything they create.

She basically blew up and experienced tremendous growth when black owned businesses were being shared across the internet a few weeks back. People, The Everygirl, Southern Living, Popsugar and Michael’s to name a few shared her small business. I had followed her for a while and was so so happy to see another female entrepreneur experience rapid and national growth!

Jaye Bird

Jaye is actually my college sorority sister. We met when I was 21 (I think) and instantly became friends. She is the sweetest, most humble and talented artist. After graduating, she followed her passion and opened Jaye Bird, a creative studio that specializes in watercolor wedding invitations and paper goods. When she told me she quit her job and went full-time with her company, I remember being soooo excited for her! My favorite print in her shop has to be the Monstera Leaf Print!

Shore Bags

This is a really new company to me. They reached out to me about a year ago to see if I wanted to shoot some product photos for them and instantly fell in love with their sustainable and coastal inspired brand. The bag above in the Bazaar Tote made from jute and canvas with leather handles! If you have any travel plans soon, they sell amazing travel/weekender and boat bags!

Bess and Color

Last but not least is Bess and Color. I belong to a local photographer and small business group called Tuesdays Together. I met Jessica the owner through the group and she wanted to create a non-toxic, USA made, vegan and cruelty free nail polish brand. All of their colors are super unique and for Christmas my friends and I all gifted each other this nail polish. We have about 8-10 bottles together and share them all. My favorite at the moment is the Zissou Blue Nail polish for summer!

I hope you enjoyed all of these small female owned businesses and have some new favorite e-commerce store to shop! I really enjoyed writing and creating this post. If you know of any other small businesses that you think would make a great addition to this list, please email me at sunshinestlyeblog (@) hotmail (dot) com!

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post My Favorite Female Owned Small Businesses appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

Thought it would be a fun idea to show you how I curl my long hair super fast with an IGTV!!! This tutorial takes me less than 20 minutes every.single.time! A few weeks back I was brainstorming for non-fashion related content and asked you all if you’d like to see this hair curling tutorial and some said yes. If you know me or have only followed me for a little while, I am not a beauty expert or queen. Makeup and hair is not my forte at all. That’s why I find the quickest and easiest ways to do anything to speed up my getting ready process!

Leave it to me to get ready at the very last minute possible. I am extremely low maintenance when it comes to anything beauty. In middle school, I would spend two hours blow drying my hair and straightening it, just for it to get especially disgusting in our Florida humidity. My hormones then made my hair horribly frizzy and nothing helped. Ever since then, I never spend more than 30 minutes on my hair.

Especially now that I’ve been working from home, it’s air dried hair and no makeup. Even for this hair tutorial, I only use Moroccan oil on my hair and no hairspray. If you ever see my hair curled on the blog, I 100% used this easy tutorial. Even if you have semi-short hair, you should still be able to curl your hair the same way!

The Tools I Use to Curl My Hair

Remington Pro Curling 1″ to 1.5″ Wand ($29.99)

Bedhead Curlipops 1″ Wand ($29.99)

Moroccanoil ($34.00)

How I Curl My Long Hair with a Ponytail

1. Put Your Hair in A Ponytail. I usually gather my hair on the bottom of my neck and loosely twist my hair tie so I have a really long ponytail to curl. If you put a “high” pony in like cheerleading style, you won’t have as much hair to work with.
2. Section Your Hair into 1 Inch Sections. Next I will section and grab an inch of my hair and wrap it around the wand.
3. Once Finished Curling Entire Ponytail, Let Hair Cool Off. I usually will walk around my house and get ready or iron my clothes if I need. Because lets me real, if I am taking the time to curl my hair, it’s usually for something fancy.
4. Take Out Your Ponytail and Curl The Front Sections. This is probably the most important part. Grab about 1-2 inches of hair and wrap around the wand. I will curl these pieces longer to make sure the curl holds really well.
5. Run Your Fingers Through Your Hair. I am really going for the carefree, sexy, Victoria’s Secret, beachy curls. I am a chill/laid-back person and I want my hair to reflect that. Once it’s cooled off, I comb my fingers through my hair to relax the curls.

Watch the full IGTV here!

A Little Tip: If you have a fancy wedding, event or photo shoot, curl your hair tight with your 1″ wand and don’t touch it until you arrive to your location. Then, right before you get out of the car, run your fingers through your hair.The curls will last much longer!

When I drive down to West Palm to take blog photos (2 hours south of me) or have a wedding, I will purposely curl my hair and leave it in very tight curls until the very last second. If I do it to soon and I need to have it look good for photos, my hair will fall a bunch. Most days I am A-OK with wavy curls but in this case, the longer they “set” the longer the curls will last.

Have you curled your hair in a ponytail before? Do you have any tips for curling long hair? Leave a comment!

The post How to Easily Curl Long Hair in 20 Minutes appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.

Another week down. Check. I kind of love reminiscing back on the days when all I had to worry about was what swimsuit I was going to wear, who I was going to hang out with and the fun carefree attitude you have when you forget what day of the week it is during summer. Even though I am still working, I find it so fun forgetting what day of the week it is. Brings me wayyyy back and makes me feel 16 again.

Good thing I remembered tomorrow is Friday (writing this as I watch Below Deck as we speak). These lists are such a fun way to reflect on the week and look for the little joys in life that make me smile. Now that I am thinking of it, I am getting package I ordered tomorrow with a woven headband I have had my eye on. It really is the simple things!

8 Things That Brought Joy This Week

ONE // Nothing is more exciting to me than getting off of work early and going for a swim! On Thursday I finished up all of my phone calls and emails and swam for a few hours then had a pizza night with my family. Best pizza of m life! My little niece and nephew came into town for a few days during the weekend so it was the perfect excuse to catch up!

TWO // 2 for $3 Justin’s Cashew and Almost Butter cups from the health food store. There’s no denying it, I LOVE chocolate with my entire being and if you have never tried this brand, you need to! Originally I went to get more loose leaf tea and was even more excited when I found chocolate on sale!

THREE // Taking morning walks around my neighborhood. On Instagram stories, I mentioned that I had changed my morning routine a bit during quarantine. After I’d sleep, I would wake up, eat breakfast, read my Bible and journal sometimes then start on work until lunch. I knew I needed to move my body beforehand for my own sanity and to feel more productive. Now I take a 15 min walk around my pool or my block and it is just so relaxing to start the morning off right.

FOUR // Shopping for fabric online! Two of my favorite bloggers, Carly and Ashley are putting together an event on Instagram Live on how to make DIY hair ties! I was so excited when I heard about it, I instantly started browsing fabrics and have narrowed it down to a few. Can’t wait to show you all! Little tidbit about me, I was a fashion/culinary teacher for a year and learned how to sew in high school! I’m giddy about putting my sewing skills to use with a fun craft!

FIVE // These striped beach towels that are on sale for under $5. Crazy steal! I am sure they are not the most amazing quality on earth and most likely a little thin yet still super cute! I have some products to shoot for a brand and may buy a few of these towels to add some color!

SIX // Finishing all three seasons of Dead To Me. Have you watched this amazing show on Netlflix?! A recent widow (Christina Applegate) searches for the hit-and-run driver who killed her husband. The shows are each 30 minutes which means you can breeze through a season in no time. It’s filled with both humor and slight suspense. There’s a billion twists and turns and keeps you guessing.

SEVEN // Having a giant group chat with my family. My little niece put 9 of us in a chat and it’s just so funny. My phone had over 75 texts the other day and I am a 0 inbox kind of girl. HA!

EIGHT // My sister sending me videos of the little 3 month old girl she nannies. She has olive skin, dark black hair and her mom dresses her in the cutest outfits with matching headbands. She is such a talker and has a smile that lights up the world. Nothing is cuter than a little babe!

Lots of Sunshine,

Katie

The post My Sunny List No. 3 appeared first on Sunshine Style | Florida Fashion and Lifestyle Blog.