Super Shop Shout Out! ['Moldy Goods' String Art Sign]

I'm a sucker for tradition. Overall, I'm a pretty contemporary in my living and thinking but there's just something about the "traditional" that keeps me coming back. One way that this happens is with our wedding anniversary. For those who don't know, every "year" of marriage has a type of gift associated with it and each one has a "traditional" and a "modern" option. For example: Year one is either paper (traditional) or clocks (modern). Year two is cotton (T) or China (M), and so on. See a full list of them here

[photo credit: jhendonphotography]

Because I'm a crfty person, I usually like to DIY a gift for my husband. We don't usually give gifts (even at birthdays or Christmas) so this is my time to shine. I made a Photo Anniversary Map (my most popular blog post ever!) for our 1 year [paper], custom cornhole bags [cotton] for year 2, a travel bag [leather] for year 3, planted landscaping [flowers] for year 4, and we went hiking [wood] for year 5.

But this year- year 6 was a toughie. IRON. My husband doesn't really like decorations and any sort of garden or landscaping sign would just be in his way for mowing. While searching on Etsy I stumbled across this string art design with a barn on it and it all came together! I'd have a sign made for his tool shed! It's decorative yes, but in a special kind of way in his special building. I have experimented with string art before and it's harder than it looks so I opted so hire this one out.

[This is not a sponsored post. I just happened to find this seller online and paid full price for my item. I am blogging about it only because I was so impressed and wanted to share it with you all. If you need a custom sign made, consider supporting this shop!]

I'll be honest with y'all, I was a little skeptical. The seller had just joined etsy and didn't have any sales yet. But her work looked so beautiful that I gave her a shot and I am SO GLAD I did! I chatted with her about what I thought I might want (a sign that said "Tyler's tool shed" and maybe a little wrench or tool on it to add something besides words). She got back with me right away and offered her thoughts. She ended up saying she could cut the wood INTO THE SHAPE of a wrench if I wanted! I was blown away. That was going to look so cool! We continued to chat more about colors and string/nails vs. painted on words. I commented that I need to have something with nails on it because it was a gift for our "iron anniversary" and even though most nails aren't made with iron anymore, I was accepting it as my loophole!

Do you know what she said? She responded, telling me that now she HAD to include at least a few real iron nails just so I could have some iron on it. I had accepted my "loophole" and she was willing and offered to go out of her way to do this for me at no extra charge. She ended up findind some iron hooks and used those instead. Talk about above and beyond customer service! This woman could have just said "that's so funny, what a good idea to get that 'close enough' to iron" but instead she offered ways to make it real for me.

She also took extra time to mix a little black paint in with the red to make it more distressed looking since we were going with that sort of "barn feel".

Her communication was quick, her customer service was exceptional and her work is just amazing. Like I said, string art is harder to do than it looks and she did an awesome job. My husband (who is not easily impressed with stuff like this) was amazed at how she was able to make different fonts out of the nails and string. He said "it's perfect, I love it" (which is a pretty big compliment from him!) Did I mention that she worked super fast to get it done? (she was going to hurry and get it to me before my anniversary but being as it was like 2 days away because I procrastinate I told her to just get it done whenever no rush- ha!) and shipping ended up being about half of what she thought it would be (and about a third of what I had originally thought it might be) so she obviously didn't fluff the shipping up or anything.

Oh, and my kids AND husband really enjoyed popping the bubble wrap she used! tee hee hee #thegiftthatkeepsongiving

I don't think I have ever written up an entire blog post about a product that I have tried that was just stumbled upon, unsponsored; I love this shop that much. If you are in need of a custom sign, don't hesitate to message Koa (shop owner of Moldy Goods) and support her etsy shop. ;)

What do you and your spouse do for your anniversary? Do you make or give gifts? Go on experiences/adventures to celebrate? or something else? I better start thinking about next year's gift already, it's a tricky one too (Copper). Maybe I'll go with the UK traditional gift of Wool and adopt a pet sheep!