I first saw these gorgeous pieces by WaterStone Succulents on another blog, and was immediately enchanted with their style and modern elegance. While succulents are currently a decorating trend, I’ve always loved plants and have a fairly green thumb. But I was most struck by the interesting dichotomy these crafted works suggest: they are, at once, so incredibly life-like and so incredibly artificial, and I love that.
Michelle Weddle, the artist behind WaterStone Succulents, has an amazing eye for detail, and these gorgeous plants look exactly like the real thing. But by adding dramatic shades of color, like hot pink, silver, and gold, she transforms something commonly seen into a piece of art, elevating it into a treasure to be enjoyed for years.
I love the modern look of these plants in my more traditionally-styled home, and I’m looking forward to the new pieces that will be available at Waterstone Succulents very soon.
So Shayla made my beautiful new header and I fell in love with it, and then I was lying in bed that night thinking that I should really take the next step. The one I’ve been thinking about since I moved to this self-hosted site.
When I first started blogging four years ago, my blog was a very private place to record random thoughts and feelings. I chose the name Cakewalk because it suited me completely. It was what Spell Check suggested each time I wrote my email address, a combination of my first and middle initials and last name. C+A+Kowalik=Cakewalk. And on forums I joined, I was always Cakewalk or Cakewalker, and I still am.
But now I’m here, at my new and permanent home, with my very own URL, and it just seems like the next, natural step to line things up completely. On Twitter, my new best friend, I’m @walkingwithcake. My email address is walkingwithcake, and that’s what my business cards say, too. The only place that doesn’t match is my header, the true title of my blog.
And now I’ve changed it.
I’m certain its significance means more to me than to you as readers, and nothing else will change about my blog at all. I promise. I’ve also changed the name on Bloglovin’ and Google+, so if you follow me there, just look for the new title and you’ll see it.
I feel like I’ve got all my ducks in a row now, and everything matches completely.
Piece of cake.
(And many thanks, again, to Shayla for putting up with my fickleness! If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, please do. She’s a reporter in a small Canadian town, and well, I don’t want to spoil the rest.)
I have a hard time accepting change, even when it comes to little things, but I’m challenging myself to take more risks these days. If I can change my lipstick, my nail polish, and my hair, then it shouldn’t be so hard to change my blog header, right? It’s been on my mind since I moved to this location, and thanks to the wonderful assistance of Shayla from Northern Exposure, I have a gorgeous new header that is so much fun. And pink!
Shayla recently updated her blog, and when I commented on it, I half-joked that I’d love for her to design a new blog badge for me, since the one I shared with her wasn’t anything special. She emailed me back offering to help yesterday, and sent me several different header designs today. I asked her to play around with this new picture, since I’ve been considering changing it, and now seems as good a time as any to mix things up.
I love my original header, the picture Ryan took of James holding my hand while we looked out over the lake, with Rhys still growing inside me. But my boys are older now, and while that was a wonderful moment that I’ll always treasure, I think it’s okay to move on to something that’s a bit more me right now. Plus, my new header is a picture of a wildflower field from Wildseed Farms, where we love to take the boys, and that is a wonderful memory, too.
I hope you enjoy my new header and badge, which is over on the right. I love supporting my fellow bloggers, so let me know if you’d like to swap badges.
I love that my name is now in lights!
