The Story Behind Our Logo Picture

We are linking up to Art with Jenny K. for this blog post and letting you know the story behind our logo picture.

When we were preparing for last year's TpT conference we started to think that maybe we should get business cards. We realized that we did not think about branding or anything like that when we started our TpT store. We still don't have a logo we like (stay tuned because that is in the works). Our brand is currently represented by a family picture.

We were trying to decide if we should have separate TpT stores or just have one store so we only needed to pay one seller fee. We are frugal and on a budget, so the one store idea won.

When we first filled out the TpT account profile we were thinking the "Profile Picture" was like a profile pic on Facebook and we weren't really thinking of it from a marketing standpoint . . . "Store logo" was not what we were thinking.

We chose our family picture with us both leaning against the pole because we could both be fairly centered. I also thought it was fun to show we are a family and people would know that if they buy from us they are helping us provide for our family.

There is more story behind the photoshoot that our "logo" is from.

Want to hear it?

That photoshoot was something I had hoped for for awhile, like years. Remember we are frugal (cheap, like, I use the JCPenney $3.99 a photo sheet coupon, cheap) and yet I had admired Karey Michelle's photos for a long time and said that someday she would take our family pictures. I waited until our second child, Miss Outgoing, was born and could sit up.

I had told Miss Responsible (our oldest) that she would get to choose what she wanted to wear but I was meaning she would get to choose from my selection for her. The day of our pictures she walked out of her room wearing her Cinderella dress and she had completely accessorized her outfit all the way down to a veil (a hand drawn handkerchief craft from VBS), a "wedding" ring (a broken plastic ring from a goodie bag), and her dress-up heels. When I tried to explain what I had planned she started to get upset since she had been planning her outfit for a few days which I realized her intentions with that pile of clothes after she came walking out. I decided that I would prefer her to be happy than dressed all matchy matchy with us and hoped that I could slowly get her to strip away some of her accessories and possibly change into a different outfit.

When we arrived, Karey, the photographer, acted so excited about Sarah's outfit and Sarah was beaming with pride.

I got a little emotional and realized I almost took that away by making her change because these were our pricey pictures and people normally have matchy-matchy outfits in these types of family pictures. I vowed that I'd always let my kids choose their outfits to document their style and personality.

Our logo picture was taken near the middle of our photoshoot after we had walked out in a field of yellow mustard seed flowers. I remember those flowers had pokey things on them that were itchy on our legs.

Miss Responsible had stripped away her accessories and she actually matched us since her Cinderella dress is also blue. Miss Outgoing was quite tired and we were trying to keep her content for the pictures. You'll notice she isn't smiling or looking at the camera . . . But she isn't crying :).

Our logo pic only has two children in it. We actually have three. When we started TeachersPayTeachers we weren't yet pregnant with our third child, Miss Monkeygirl (she is a climber now and was quite the mover even in utero). Our brand is currently represented by a picture that is missing one of our kids.

Miss Monkeygirl

At the end of this month we are going back to the same field, if the mustard seed flowers are there, and trying to reenact the picture but with all three of our girls. Jonathan and I will be wearing the same shirts but we will be surprised with what our girls choose to wear.