Through Chelsea's Color-filled Vision!

So if you don’t know already….I just started my summer internship with Natural Life! I made the BIG move to Ponte Vedra, Florida & I’m already crazy about this beautiful beach town. I will be working for NL all summer working on Product Development & Social Media. I have been obsessed with NL since I was a little girl. Ever since I walked into the store & saw the gorgeous trinkets, bright colors, & of course the signature NL tassel. It was love at first sight! Natural Life makes “irresistible treasures” with a free-spirit style & positive vibe. They love to inspire others everyday…. to Give & Live Happy! The company was started in 1996, when founder Patti Hughes discovered her passion for making & creating when she began taking black & white photos of things she loved- adorable beach pups, Adirondack chairs, & cute words written in the sand. Here is the picture that started it all…

I have only spent one week with NL, & I am already in love. I believe in everything the company stands for. They truly believe that “it’s the little things that mean the most, that kindness really does matter, that you should always be yourself, do what you love, & try to make the world a better place!”

The NL family has really made me feel at home my first week. Day 1- When I arrived at the NL headquarters, I was greeted & introduced to the entire team. Everywhere I looked there was inspiration. The walls are decked out in vintage tapestries from Patti’s travels from all over the world, & bright tassel trim lining on every shelf. Even endless shelves full of gorgeous woven textiles & vintage trims from Peru. It was my dream come true.

After drooling over the color, & textiles I was rushed into two, back to back meetings with the team. Here I was wide-eyed & clueless…I thought my entire internship would be in a back room filing papers or running endless errands & getting coffee. They really wanted me to be apart of the team. Then the most amazing thing happened, they showed me my desk. That’s right my very own DESK.

They had everything all decorated for me, stocked with supplies, & cute little trinkets. Y’all know how much I love art supplies! Such sweet people, they really know how to make a girl feel special. Day 2- On day two I was feeling pretty brave. I pitched an idea to the owner & CEO. Yep, that’s right me the intern. Well she loved it & we are going to move forward with it for a fun little social media project. Here is a little sneak peek!

More to come with this…but any guesses? We had such a fun photoshoot, & it really gave me a chance to get to know Carolyn- the Brand Communication Specialist. Later on that day I had the privilege of working with Allison the Creative Director & professional crafter/ bedazzler. NL had just taken down the front window display at the flagship store in Jacksonville, & they had a lot of leftover display pieces they wanted to work into the front entrance of the headquarters. Allison put me in charge of creating a really unique & colorful entryway with these gorgeous handmade GIANT paper flowers.

After sorting through a sea of fiesta flowers, I was able to create this little masterpiece. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Throughout the rest of my day I worked closely with Allison, & the product development team. The highlight of my internship so far was ending the day with an entire meeting about pom-poms. These are my people. Day 3- Starting out day three I decorated another room called the “Think Tank”. Patti really liked what I did with the front entryway & had another room in mind that she wanted me to “makeover”. So of course I had to add more paper flowers & vintage woven tapestries all over the walls. Needless to say she was pleased! During the day I worked with a photographer to reshoot some photos for the line sheets, as well as photos for Patti’s inspiration/mood boards to stay organized. For the last half of the evening, I worked on painting displays for the Atlanta apparel market coming up in the next few weeks.

Day 4- Throughout the week I have been working on a ton of photo editing & social media projects with the team. I also worked with Adrienne- the Product Development Specialist on shooting photos for the Spring line sheet as well. I had the chance to learn how to organize the sample racks, & divide them into new arrival categories. This is important for the fall shipment, the November shipment, and the spring shipment. Carolyn gave me an assignment to work on a fun photo shoot for social media involving “Junk Market” jewelry.

To end the day we had a meeting regarding our preview, which I will help shoot in the following week. I am so excited because this is such a great opportunity to show NL my creative side. Lastly, I got the chance to work with founder/ CEO Patti Hughes on a project that she would like me to “re-work” for her. This is fun because it involves communicating back-and-forth with production & designing a whole new sample. I am so excited to go further with this project & I really hope I do not disappoint the NL team. I was even sent home with a little NL homework. Yay! Doing a fun project at the beach, so look forward for what’s coming next. Throughout this week I have really got a chance to know the NL product. My favorite product by far is the Giving Plate. This week has been a complete blast & I can’t wait to spend the rest my summer with Natural Life!

I’ll be posting at the end of each week with a recap of what I’ve been doing so keep an eye out here!