Simply Squared Designs offers a variety of custom built, distressed picture frames. Each frame is first imagined, then created. They are meticulously hand crafted and finished with a multi-step distressing process. We offer a variety of colors and finishing techniques. Donnie completed the Rocky Mountain Painting School where he learned a number of faux finishing and painting techniques. We apply these techniques to our products as well as refinishing furniture. Our customers are able to choose the size, color and finishing technique that they want. For more information or to place an order contact us at mistyhld@yahoo.com

6.09.2009

Summer Goodness


Welcome, summer! It's HOT, but I love it! All of the yummy fruits that are in season, the green grass, and all of the fun, feel good feelings that come along with it. These frames are so cheerful and bright. They certainly fit in with the season! The colors remind me of those bright, delicious, sugar filled sno-cones! So, go ahead, enjoy the summer goodness and all it has to offer!


Sorry, these yummy-licious frames were part of a custom order, but we would love to create them for you too!

5.05.2009

Craziness and some down time...well sort of!

Hi Everyone! Hope everyone is doing well! Things are good with us, we have been so very busy with art shows and home shows. I have a few home shows booked for the month of June, but I will not be able to book anymore for June, and probably July. We have dedicated those 2 months to nothing but building frames and working on some new ideas. We have 12 big shows booked for the fall and we have about 5 more that are pending...waiting to hear back from them. So, we have decided that we HAVE to build up a lot of stock! There will not be enough time in between shows to build. The time in between shows will be for custom orders.
We have been telling customers 3-5 weeks for custom orders, but are going to have to change it to 5-6 weeks. I hate to do this, but we have so many orders waiting to be filled. If we told you 3-5 weeks, we will have it done in that time frame, the new timeline is for orders placed today and later.
What we've been doing...This past weekend I went to Franklin, TN for a show and Donnie went to Colombus, MS for a show there. Craziness, huh? We have Canton coming up and then we head to Hernando, MS for a show. After that, it's a vacation for us, then some down time...well not really, we'll be building that stock we keep attempting to do :)

4.06.2009

Someone Famous...

This past weekend we were in Huntsville, AL for Spring Market. And guess who was there...nope, guess again...the one, the only, the very talented VERN YIP!
He spoke at the Girls Night Out and I was SO close to getting a picture taken with him! But I didn't get one :( I ran back into our booth to put lipstick on for the picture :) and when I ran back out, he was gone. GONE. Nowhere to be found! But hey, at LEAST I got to see him, right?!?!
Hope everyone is doing well! We'll post some more soon!
8x10 3-in-1 frame
Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography

3.25.2009

Kelly, a loyal customer!

Custom order for Kelly
"Swoop" frame with bead board and rope trim
Kelly was one of our very first customers years ago! We have built several frames for her, over the years. We always enjoy working with her and were happy to create this combo of frames for her!
This frame was completed several months ago, but I'm just now getting around to getting a pic from Kelly and posting it! She has the big "Swoop" frame in the center the two, 5x7 bead board with rope trim, on each side.


3.12.2009

new tags, new friend

We have a new friend...and she's AMAZING! She is super crafty and is now making our tags for our frames. One less thing I have to take the time to do, plus hers are much cuter! Her name is Shauna Rogers of Lemon Drop Studio She is so easy to work with and seems to be super organized (I admire anyone that is so organized, it seems so far fetched for me!)
Thanks Shauna for featuring us in a blog post and we are so excited to have found you!
You can find Shauna and her fun paper goods (and more) here...Lemon Drop Studio
go, check out all of her goodies and you can thank me later ;)
Here's a sneak peek at some of the fun...



3.11.2009

Home again, home again


11x14 double whimsy
photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography
Hi folks...we're home from Cottontail's Village in Birmingham and appreciate all of you who stopped by our booth. We had a great time and enjoyed meeting all of you.
We are staying busy with our spring shows and home shows. Between the two, we do not have a free weekend until June! So, thanks to all of our "fans" who keep us busy and on the go! We really enjoy traveling around and meeting lots off fun people!

2.20.2009

Pieces & pics

4x6 opening
"pieces" frame
16x20 multi colored bead board with trim

5x7 opening, double whimsy (trim around pic and outside of frame)
photo by Allison Muirhead Photography

4x6 multi opening "swoop"

Half window pane, fabric covered bulletin board with coordinating fabrics

1.12.2009

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We have enjoyed our time off but are excited to start a new year doing what we love, and of course we can't start a new year without some new designs!!! So, be checking back...they are not in the works yet, but will be soon. There's nothing very exciting to post about right now, but we do have some of those cheesy New Years Resolutions...
1-we are going to try to get some sort of stock built up. We often have people wanting to come see what we have in stock and we never have more than 2 or 3! So, we are gonna try to get lots of frames built up, so we don't have to kill ourselves getting ready from show to show.
2-organize, organize, organize...we have no choice, we have to become more organized :)
3-last but certainly not least, we have to commit to ourselves, to take time to rest. There are times we are so busy, that we do not get in the bed until 2 in the morning. Not only are we exhausted (Donnie especially b/c he still has to get up and go to work) but it's easy to get burned out during those times. We love what we do and do not want to get burned out, so rest and some time off occasionally, has to be a part of the process.
We are looking forward to another great year!

11.23.2008

pics...


Here are some frames we took to Handworks. We try to take new designs to each show, so our customers will be pleasantly surprised to see a new design! The frame above is a 11x14 opening. We call these our 3 in 1 frames. We actually build 3 frames then stack them on top of each other. Kind of time consuming, but we still like them!
Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography

5x7 opening...3 in 1 frame

photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography

Same frame as above, just different color combo


This isn't a new design, just one that we haven't posted yet. It's a 5x7 opening "dowel" frame

Ho! Ho! Ho! A little something to get ya in the Christmas spirit ;)

Thanks for making Handworks a great show and we look forward to seeing you at Gingerbread House and Holly Days (Vicksburg) Dec 5 and 6.


11.17.2008

Superman...

Superman...that's Donnie's new name! Keeping up with all of the shows and filling orders, there's no other name for it. We had 5 home shows last week...you can call me crazy, but it was a lot of fun! Thanks to all of the hostesses who throughout the year have opened your homes! I hope ya'll had as much fun as I did. I already have bookings for February and March. So, if you are interested, go ahead and inquire.

For those who have placed orders and have told us that your not in a hurry to get the frames, you just need them before Christmas, don't worry, we have not forgotten about ya! We have a whole list of ya'll and PROMISE to have them to ya before Christmas!

Just a reminder about Christmas orders...please, please, please, get them in as soon as possible. We are so sorry, but we will not be able to accept any Christmas orders after November 23.
We will try our best to stick to that deadline, but we are receiving orders daily and will soon be "filled up" So, please do not delay, go ahead and order today! HA! I didn't mean to make a cheesy rhyme ;)

We are preparing for Handworks this weekend. The dates are November 21-22. Come by and see us.

10.24.2008

We are in...

We are in Tupelo for Celebration Village and will be here until late Saturday night. I can't believe it, but we remembered to bring our camera and take some pics of our booth and some frames. We will be in Ocean Springs next weekend for Peter Anderson Festival. If you are in either of these areas, come by and see us!

This frame can be sold with or without the mat. It is a 14x16 opening with a fabric covered mat opening of 8x10 *photo by Allison Muirhead Photography*



Fabric covered bulletin board with ribbon



This is our booth at Celebration Village. It has already been a great show and is not over until Saturday evening!


16x20 bead board with trim

Big Girl Room...

We are currently working on a "big" girl room for our "little" girl. I found the cutest bedding at Pottery Barn Kids and wanted to create a frame that would coordinate with the bedding, without being too matchy matchy.
So, here's the frame...11x14 bead board "flip flop"
I pulled the blue, green and pink from the bedding.
We ended up taking this frame with us to Tupelo, Celebration Village...it is for sale until the room is complete! Maybe this is why I don't have any of our frames in our house! :)
*Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography*


And, here's the bedding.

I found these great sisters that do some amazing stuff! Check them out at ETSY...http://www.NeedleinaScrapStack.etsy.com. I also have their blog listed under friends and favorites. These letters are an example of their work and will go in the new room as well. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the little birdy...so cute. They do all sorts of vintage arts and crafts. They are also gonna make me some shams to go with the bedding. I'm so excited! I am now addicted to etsy. We are thinking about creating a store through etsy, but simply just do not have the time right now. If we decide to do it, it will be after the first of the year when things slow down a bit (maybe :)). We will let ya know.

10.07.2008

Here are a few pictures that Donnie took very quickly at A Day in the Country (Chapel of the Cross) Thanks to all who came out. It was GREAT!!! We look forward to seeing all of you at Canton as well!

Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography
8x10 opening with "double" whimsy trim
I feel like I say this each time we post pics of some new stuff, but I really think this is my favorite frame! I love it. Looks great anywhere in the house! It is quickly becoming one of our more popular frames! Also, check it out in the black and white version below.

Photo by Allison Muirhead Photography
this is also an 8x10 opening with "double" whimsy trim



The ever popular bead board frame. This frame is a 16x20 opening with LOTS of detail. There is "blocky" trim around the opening, "slats" of bead board, and it's hard to see in the pic, but the outer trim is painted white to match the trim in the center.

A 5x7 multi opening "totally whimsy" frame

Sorry, this isn't the greatest picture, but we wanted to give you an idea of one of our new designs. We will be doing lots more of these, and not only in the multi's, so we will have some more pics of this style soon!

We have lots of Christmas orders coming in each day, and we still have plenty of upcoming shows left this year. So, there is some time left to get your orders in for Christmas. We will post a date s0on, as to when we will no longer be taking orders for Christmas.




9.22.2008

frames for a wedding

Just thought we would post this pic, with a big thanks to Kimberlee Miller Photography :)...

http://www.kimberleemiller.blogspot.com/
One of our sweet customers from California used our frames as table toppers, numbering the tables for guests.

Amy, it was a pleasure to work with you! We wish you and Jeremy the very best!

9.15.2008

MIA

Hi Everyone..we've been MIA lately. We have been so busy...not complaining, just swamped right now with orders and all of the fall shows. So may of you have asked about the adoption. We have started a separate blog for the adoption. Our business is growing at a VERY fast pace, so we will keep this blog for the business, and have a seperate blog for adoption news. As many of you know, we have built these frames for about 5 years now along with other artistic projects. Before, it was a side job for Donnie, now he says he's gonna have to quit his job just to keep up...sometimes I have to remind him of those wonderful benefits that come along with his job. Retirement, GREAT insurance...just can't give those up! So I guess he will have to adjust to staying up all hours of the night working!
Our latest news...we met some other frame vendors...with our name!!! They were so very nice and we enjoyed meeting and talking with them. We love meeting and getting to know other vendors (not just frame vendors!!!) Love all of the artists out there! So, we have decided to change our name...before, it was just a side job, now it is a rapidly growing business and we embrace this time to change our name and take on new ideas! We strive to give you truly unique frames...with our new name, you will see LOTS of new and original ideas! We have a name in mind, but will not share it until we have decided for sure :) STAY TUNED!!!
Will post some more pics soon.
Here is the link to follow our adoption journey.
http://www.adoptingfromkazakhstan.blogspot.com/

8.17.2008

This will be hung above Scout's bed! Hope you love it, Scout...your mommy did :)
OUR swoop frame with white distressing and some green accents

7.30.2008

It's been a while, huh?!?! We are so sorry, we have just been soooo busy with shows and filling orders.Not a lot of spare time on our hands these days! We also have a bad habit of completing orders and/or new designs and forgetting to take pictures before they're gone! We did manage to get a few shots of some frames we recently completed. Happy looking :)
Window Pane fabric covered bulletin board

Window pane bulletin board





3D Ball Frame with 8x10 opening

photo by Renee Reedy




5x7 with double whimsy trim...photo by Allison Muirhead


LOVE this frame! Isn't it fun??? these photos were donated by an artist/photographer (Barry Simpson) from our church to help us raise money for the adoption. Thanks, Barry :) 5x7 multi opening with whimsy trim


6.13.2008


Another "Slats" frame
5x7 opening


5.13.2008

It's been a while...sorry

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. Things have been a bit crazy trying to get ready for all of our spring shows. Canton was a local show we did and it was really good for us :) Thanks to everyone who stopped by! Our church (The Journey) also had a booth set up for us and all of the amazing artist in our church donated items to sell. All of the proceeds are going for the adoption!!! Thanks to all who took the time and donated their artwork for us and our baby (who we will meet one day :) We are blessed to have such a wonderful church community!
We are constantly trying to come up with not only new, but original ideas. Having an idea and actually getting it done are two different things! But, we will try to post some pics soon. We love to hear our customers say "these are so unique" it makes us feel like our efforts are worthwhile :) So we keep on truckin'
Some info on the adoption front...Things are SLOW when it comes to adoption. We began this process January of 2007. WOW!!! It took us 8 mos to complete our paper work and it has been in Kazakhstan since August of 2007. We thought we would be traveling around late spring or early summer. We are content to wait for God's timing. Kazakhstan is a very popular country right now especially with China changing rules and regulations, it's harder and harder to get in that program(China), so people are going to other countries. And...Kaz is a popular choice. That's good news...it means many more children will be place in loving homes! Praise God! We will keep you all posted when we receive any news! We will probably do a separate blog for that (we will post the address.) A blog for when we travel, when we meet the child, etc...for those of you who want to follow the process.

4.08.2008

Here are some custom orders recently finished

Not sure if you can really see the detail, but this frame is made of slats.
8x10 opening black distressed
p.s. wave to Donnie, he's standing behind the frame :)
"pieces"
this frame was not a custom order...it was an experiment and we love the way it turned out.
It is made with the bead board from really old houses

Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography
8x10 Extrovert


5x7 opening
The Introvert

The introvert 11x14 opening

Framed bulletin board
love it with the black frame!!


***NOTE***
All of these frames are distressed using the "classic old frame" technique. Kind of like paint peeling off. This is the technique we normally use on our frames, unless otherwise specified when you place a custom order.



3.27.2008

Fun with Frames and Color

Striped "Square" Frame
Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography

The Extrovert
Lime Frame with Fluted trim
Photo by Jeanelle Caraway Photography



Black Distressed with Whimsy Trim
Photo By Jeanelle Caraway Photography





One of our "swoop" frames
The Introvert (swoops used as trim)
Photo by Kesha McBay/Carved From the Heart Photography




one of our "square" frames
Black distressed with multi color trim
Fabric covered mat
Photo by Allison Muirhead Photography



The Extrovert
Brown with pink whimsy trim