New Adventures

Welcome back to some of you and welcome for the first time for a few more!
I want to take a moment to introduce myself.  I am Haley and I am the business end of the perfectly decorated stick around here.  Lesli has a gift for design.  My gifts tend to be less beautiful, but just as important.  I am tasked with making sure her beautiful designs get to you!
A little history lesson for you:
This partnership was born over 25 years ago in an elementary school and a girl scout troop in a dusty little town in the middle of nowhere, west Texas.  I was the new girl, she would turn out to be my very best friend for life.  Fast forward some 20 years and we find ourselves married to soldiers who happen to also be best friends (talk about making life easy!).  A few babies, a couple of states and countries, and maybe even a pound or two later, we find ourselves on different continents, still leaning on each other for support and encouragement.  She had owned a design business, but hated the business end of it.  I had a work history in (you guessed it!) retail sales management.   My children were now old enough I was looking at going back to work, but wasn't sure I was ready to give up being home for them.  We both wanted to work toward something that would truly benefit our families long term, not just put extra money in the bank.  And a beautiful partnership was born.
If you've been here before, you'll notice a few changes.  However, one thing won't be changing and that is beautiful custom design created just for you.  If you're a new friend of ours, you can know that you will only receive the highest quality products and a unique design made just for you.  While we may sell pre-packaged (yet still exclusive) items at craft shows and vendor booths from time to time, you'll never receive a cookie cutter product when you order from us.  Many companies claim to sell custom party items and in reality you get the exact same thing as the other customers with merely a personalization.  With Markers and Mud you ALWAYS get a completely custom product.  You can know that no one else will have party decorations, Christmas cards, announcements or stationary like yours.
Lesli and I both believe that beautiful design and high quality doesn't have to be out of reach.  That's where this blog comes in.  Along side the usual business of contests, sales, up coming events, and exciting announcements, we will offer party tips and design ideas geared toward the woman with good taste AND a budget.  Fabulousness doesn't have to be expensive!  And while design and beauty are certainly life-enhancing, they are far from the most important things.  That is why Markers and Mud contributes to charities close to our heart.  Up first:  helping fund families who have chosen the path of adoption.  Lesli and I don't just share childhood memories, we share a faith that calls us to care for orphans.  This is one way we can help.
With so much going on and so much to offer, we encourage you to keep up with us on social media.  You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.  We are MarkersandMud at all four places!
We have many exciting days ahead of us.  I, for one, am super pumped to watch this take off!

Blessings,

Haley