Ready or not the holiday shopping experience starts earlier and earlier. Starting October 22 we’re giving all of our followers early opportunity to be at the top of our “to do” list for all our holiday products!
On Oct 22 our top holiday products will be available for pre-order, including:
Custom Holiday Photo Cards
Holiday Paper Ornaments
Custom Holiday Stationery (Personal or Business)
Custom Mug Sets
Custom ‘Experience’ Gift Certificates
Simply visit our holiday page (available Oct. 22nd via Facebook and Instagram) and submit your information to be added to our pre-order list. Official production of our holiday orders begins Nov. 1.
It’s a countdown
Along the way be sure to check out our live videos across facebook and instagram as we prepare for a virtual launch of our official holiday production season.
Octane’s holiday products won’t be the only thing available for pre-order. Our friends at J.Row Everything have partnered with us to release some exclusive holiday apparel just for the occasion!
Be sure to follow @octandesigns for more awesome vendors to shop this holiday season.
Wands at the ready witches and wizards! Octane has partnered with Half Priced Books at both Tiverton and Hamburg locations to bring you the ultimate Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry party experience!
Accio Party
Participate in Octane’s Hogwarts Party Ultimate Giveaway! Win the following deluxe party for 8 guests:
8 Hogwarts House Invitations & Matching envelopes- you choose the house
1 ‘Happee Birthdae’ String Banner
Set of 6 Floating Candles
1 Faux Stone Hogwarts Great Hall Backdrop with floating House banners and Hogwarts motto
1 Set of 10 Hogwarts Crest Party Straws
1 Oversized Cake Topper (8×10)
3, 8×10 Framed Signs (You Decide What Text You Like)
4 Potion Labeled Bottles
4 Printed Food Label Tent Cards
OVER $150 VALUE! YOURS TO WIN!
Two Ways to Win!
OPTION 1 (Triple Entry Option):
Find the golden snitch hidden at your local @halfpricedbooks (Hamburg Pavilion) (both Tiverton & Hamburg locations)*
After months of praying alongside a team of independently amazing women business owners, I’m thrilled to announce our latest partnership with JRow Everything!
JRow Everything owned by Jacqueline Rowan is based in North Carolina and ships custom apparel and quilting products nationwide. Her tagline is literally similar to what Octane provides: “it’s everything”. What excites Octane the most about this partnership is the accessibility of new handmade products now available to our clients through our shop.
JRow Everything produces high end custom products such as:
Custom Quilted Blankets
Custom Vinyl Apparel
Custom Vinyl Accessories
Be sure to follow JRow Everything across INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK and continue to follow Octane’s blog as we feature more products.
J.Row Everything
Q&A with Jacqueline Rowan of JRow Everything
Q: What inspired you to get started as an entrepreneur?
A: Honestly, I never really intended on being an entrepreneur. My passion is the art of crafting and it’s something I can’t live without. The urge to share my passion with the world was what drove me to becoming an entrepreneur over time and opened doors that I never dreamed of!
Q: What’s your typical work day look like?
A: As a mom it seems as if I “work” from the time my feet hit the floor until my head touches the pillow… sometimes that doesn’t happen until 2am! Every morning I create a todo list for he day based off my calendar of events/orders to complete etc., working from priority on down. I do have squirrel moments throughout the day haha but it’s easy to get back on track. One minute I may be covered in saw dust the next I may be dressed up for a business meeting or rocking thread remnants from sitting at the sewing machine for hours! Each day is different which keeps it fun and interesting!
Q: Do you have a preferred clientele or are you open to working with anyone?
A: I love working and helping with people in general…That’s the joys of art. Working with everyone and their visions to create beautiful original works of art is beyond rewarding!
Q: What do you enjoy doing when not creating custom works?
A: When I’m not designing for clients… I love to art journal, read, write, binge watch Netflix & Hulu, or just chill out with my family.
Q: What’s your favorite food?
A: I’m a foodie… I see food… I eat food.
Q: What’s your favorite Movie?
A: Top 5: Harry Potter Series (book nerd), RENT, Singin’ In The Rain, Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park (the original).
Q: What’s one of you most memorable products you’ve done? (Or two, or three…)
A: I recently had a client pregnant with a “rainbow” baby that wanted a baby blanket designed and made that represented her journey. After suffering losses myself, I understood her journey and was honored to create a beautiful rainbow heart quilt for her.
I remember each quilt I’ve ever made… I feel as if I stitched a piece of my heart into each one!
We came. We ate. We conquered! Had a great visit to Crave Lexington in support of #ACAcakes sweet tooth booth at Masterson Station Park in Lexington, KY.
Branding is Everything
ACAcakes Owner Amanda Edwards had all the right style but needed help executing her plan on short notice of a food festival opportunity. Luckily she knew where to go to knock it quick and professionally!
Her laminated signage by Office Depot was grommeted for easy hanging and her banner printed by PrintLex offered quick turnaround. Design only business cards was a quick solution for her to print as needed before Octane quickly produced signature “sweet staff” t-shirts to complete the full branded concept.
Bring on the sweets
Amanda wanted her signage to pop but also reflect the playful energy she has as a professional cake artist! Her food not only looked good it tasted amazing! Did you try them?
Strawberry cupcake – signature strawberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting
Cookies & Cream cupcake – classic chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting topped with Oreoes
Of course we couldn’t NOT tour the grounds and explore ALL our tastebuds. Samantha Johnson of @SamanhattanPR didn’t skip a beat and was my grounds co-explorer as we ate all kinds of sweet treats and good eats! The grounds were full of activities for kids, families and adults.
As a diverse business Octane strives to provide services to clients who strive to increase diversity through its services and / events.
Recently, Octane owner Danielle Meadows Stinnett, alongside Samantha Johnson of SamanhattanPR and Shalon Thomas owner of Passionate Event Designs was selected to participate in the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business’ Von Allmen Entrepreneurship Bootcamp.
About the Program
The business incubator program runs for 15 consecutive weeks covering various topics from branding to business finances. According to their website the program is:
“Designed for creative and collaborative entrepreneurial learning, growth, and innovation. The “Entrepreneurs Bootcamp Program” is a one semester program designed to assess and validate the feasibility of a business concept, create a business model, and provide hands-on experience with real world projects. With a schedule of programs created to foster collaboration among UK students, faculty, clinicians, postdocs, and community mentors/entrepreneurs, the Entrepreneurs Bootcamp is open to those interested in immersive learning.”
Successful completion of the program concludes with a $3000 grant to the winning company/ idea business pitch.
Welcome to Kinship
Our business pitch is simple; we offer services that share and execute inclusion for festivals and events to incorporate diversity according to there needs. This is the basis of Kinship: “inclusiveness anywhere; diversity everywhere.”
Our team is still growing within the program but its foundational members share core attributes to execute the ideals and structure of our agency. Meet them below:
Samantha Johnson is no stranger to Octane and brings years of multicultural marketing experience to the group. As Event Director of ever popular community event The Night Market, Samantha has a natural talent for not only finding diverse talent but showcasing / marketing it wherever the party is!
Shalon Thomas brings years of event design to the group. Her specific background in knowing how to create mood by interior & exterior design on a budget sets the tone of the level of style execution we want to offer each client. From layout to lounge and booth decor, Kinship offer services that are welcoming, inviting and inspirational.
We are more than excited to see where this goes! Be sure to follow our Instagram accounts as we continue to progress in the program!
Transparent Moment: My birthday is today and I’m honestly in my feels. Days I’m so filled with purpose and others I want to never leave my bed. I’ve felt attacked all month by trial and circumstance to not feel worthy of celebrating myself, my success or my life.
#TrueFact: I get this way every birthday. It’s like my emotional purging before I make that uphill climb to being a strategic badass. I’ve been told this process is quiet normal for strong creatives. This time, you get to read through my process…
Feel Your Feelings
I’ve felt unvalued.
I’ve felt depressed & sometimes isolated or contained.
I feel unworthy.
See The Good
But I know (from the foundation of Christ) that on the other side of all this fear and anxiety is JOY (and peace).
Joy in knowing I’m alive today & I get to see others that love just as hard.
Joy in knowing others care and share in the positivity of healing others in the smallest ways.
Joy in knowing God loves me and that’s GREATER then the immediate satisfaction of the previous two joys…
My life is far from perfect. I struggle with the best of them. I’m living proof that God wrestles tirelessly in this realm. God is fighting for my good even when I don’t feel good in this season.
Reflections
Birthdays are hard because it forces me to look at things that aren’t always pretty. I feel guilt about things I woulda/ coulda/ shoulda done. But that is what also makes my life extremely rich and beautiful.
My life has been an ebb and flow of experiencing the best and worst of myself. As I’ve built my business I’ve also made eternal friendships and built foundations that could’ve only happened the way it did.
I’m incredibly grateful for each of you that have spoken wisdom and truth into my life. To my clients and friends that have gifted me direction and clarity this past year; thank you.
Hoping this next year reveals even deeper planting for my life, my business and everything in between.
NOTE: Depression is very real and can affect your everyday life. If you or anyone you love is experiencing signs of depression, seek professional help, offer this natural remedy article.
From meet n’ greeting a range of professional artisans, building marketing plans, 1:1 skill setting and more, Octane’s Summer interns are making some serious moves!
Career Aspirations: Computer Science, Graphic Design, or something related in those fields
Meet Noah McLellan
Lafayette High School – SCAPA
Likes: Art, visual art, animation, socializing, sketching, social media, movies, driving, sunsets, my friends, photography
Favorite superhero: Deadpool
Dislikes: Sour people, that feeling when you walk into a room with negative energy, people who bring down your energy, bad animation, art block, the relatability of mental problems on social media
Hobbies: Art, animation, drawing in cool breeze summer days, hanging out with my friends, driving to Louisville, the Law Of Attraction, shopping, creating
Career aspirations: Animator, have my own animated series, social media influencer, or both, online artist
Interested in being a summer intern in 2019? Email us for more info!
Octane was super excited to be a part of this years Wild Hearts Fun Run Superhero 5K benefiting Kerringtons Heart Inc at Keeneland this year, sponsored by UK Healthcare and Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital.
With over 600+ 5K participants and over 75 Super Sprinters this event was filled with superhuman abilities! The biggest part was fundraising $12,000 for children with congenital heart defects in Kentucky.
From caped crusaders to legendary heart heroes, let’s recap!
EVENT LOGO & BRANDING
Octane has designed this special event for Kerrington’s Heart since its conception in 2015. The organization chose a superhero theme because they believe that kids fighting and living with congenital heart defects are real life superheroes (and they are)!
For Octane this means pulling elements of comic book flair which was fun and challenging. Each year a different type of superhero was selected which means whole new color schemes and new artwork was created. The traditional logo for the event focuses on a traditional comic pop art with a beating heart in the center.
This year theme: The Incredible Hulk featured in the recent Marvel Infinity Wars Pt. 1!
MARKETING
Before we settled on the Hulk we were still playing around with the latest Marvel film Infinity War Pt. 1 and wanted to incorporate that feel in the initial teasers of the event. Phase 1 began with the FB cover and phase 2 with the theme and updated website followed. New this year was our first ever 5K Photo Filter created for participants Facebook stories!
VENUE
Its first event held at the former commonwealth stadium brought a few hundred people together to support kids and families in Central Kentucky affected by Congenital Heart Defects. As the event grew we found that Keeneland was a better location logistically for both our families and our sponsors.
This year the crowd was OUT! We loved how the barns helped breakup the various activities and sections of the race (Registration, Kids Metropolis, Awards Stage). And the course is absolutely beautiful! THIS is Keeneland!
Credit: Adam Padgett PhotographyCredit: Adam Padgett Photography
SIGNAGE, T-SHIRTS & AWARDS
This years theme was all about “Hulk Smash!” With that in mind we wanted all the awards to reflect the epic heroism of the Incredible Hulk.
All the awards of Best Superhero Boy and Girl were given hulk mugs with the event decal.
Earlier in the design process of the event, the race committee liked the idea of the rips and cracks of the hulk coming from his center, similar in mark to the hundreds of CHD kids and adults that have the iconic heart surgery scar across their chest, many enduring heart surgery within days after being born. The medals and t-shirts followed this design pattern with the iconic silhouette of the mean green machine.
All event sponsors were given autographed event posters from the Kerrington’s Heart Board of Directors as special thanks for supporting CHD families in Kentucky.
In my Russell Crowe voice; are you not entertained?!? (I seriously love that movie though!)
The Kentucky Derby (+ Cinco De Mayo) is right around the corner and I decided to break from my routine to create my own quick entertainment for the fastest 2 minutes in sports.
By ‘quick’ I mean single handedly designed, produced and photoshot. Whaaaaaa?
Here’s to juleps and Woodford on the porch, dreams of Millionaire Row and ALL the roses this side of the Mississippi!
Let’s get it started
So I initially got my wheels a turnin’ from this concept of a simple black, white and gold palette inspired by Rodin Designs. I love the sophisticated look of the color combo but also wanted it to be a little lighter for the Derby theme I envisioned.
My initial thoughts were: Invites & welcome sign, party table & reception table.
After not finding some specific items, I wasn’t sure if I could pull off the ideal look I wanted. Luckily I had just recently finished a quick Facetime Call with my fellow crafter, woodworker and cousin Jacqueline Rowan of JRow Everything whom I immediately called back for some quick designer advice.
After some camera flips and some frozen unintended video selfies (aka frozen camera), she totally refocused my vision with some quick fixes (switching out tablecloths for foil paper rolls and other simple things my brain was farting on) and I was rearing to go! I used one half day to stain wood and design the simple pieces and the next day to design the rest and assemble and start snapping some progress shots. I shared a few on my instagram.
Project Day 1
They’ll tell the story of tonight
Day Two was all about assembling the small stuff early. By early, I mean by 2:30pm before I completely switched gears to embrace a completely different profession; motherhood of 3.
I used my beloved Cricut Explore Air 2 to cutout all the pretty horses with gold foil cardstock from Michael’s and attached them to my straws for the glasses. Then continued to cutting out my removable vinyl for my wedding sign.
As I rushed to pick up my troop from the bus stop I remembered the horseshoe piece that was my intended focal point for all the smaller pieces. I decided to use that on the two color menus and the initial invitation for ALL the southern charm! I decided to roll with a sister font for the table tent cards at each setting, each with a fun derby themed phrase.
My personal fave, “I’m betting on you” and “You’re in my winner’s circle”.
Horseshoes, check.
Horses, check.
Bright & Sophisticated, check check.
Onward to the invitation suite.
To be honest I went through this process all wrong because it was the LAST piece I designed! Typically with a client the event logo is what I would complete before anything else but I felt confident about the use of the horseshoe. I wasn’t just any other client so that was my rationale going into this; cheeky I know.
My original idea was gold foil roses across the top but I decided to rock the simplicity of the horseshoe. I’ve noticed the trend of watercolor and foil & used that on this bridal suite. The gold foil Louisville skyline and cascading roses looks so beautiful with the red watercolor brush stroke. The picture doesn’t do it justice!
Back Back, Forth & Forth
So finally on the second day I assembled the reception table.
When you’re styling things you’re moving things around, inch by inch, sometimes even, breath by breath for just the photo. I was already between other business deadlines that day yet still I was determined to complete something for ME. Thankful that had Jacqueline on Facetime from North Carolina for on call “professional accountability & support”. Hence these pretty photos!
This is how we do it; DIY
Day Three is party day! I invited my mum and the kids for some fun upcoming derby day fun! First how about these cute signs? I was able to use some blank clear acrylic pieces I already had to make some simple vinyl based table signage (And We’re Off & All The Fixin’s) and I think it turned out wonderful! Using simple and open Kentucky phrases kept the convo going when the kids and Gigi carouseled the table. Lastly, I continued the striped gold foil paper from Party City and the wedding sign for the “married couple” to keep things consistent.
Strawberry Delight anyone? Those straws totally complimented the look of the bright and colorful derby style reception turned backyard derby party! Throw in a close enough Derby Pie and you’ve got a simple party!
Curating and cherishing memories is what I live for! Maybe this inspired you to do something simple or not so simple for a themed Derby Day event? Either way, this was fun for me!
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We’re a graphic design firm firmly planted to provide fresh logo design, driven creative branding, precise print collateral, and dynamic web design.
Plain and simple: we love what we do. Contact us today!
We’re the real creative connoisseurs. We are planning thoroughbreds that take the lead. We are experts in graphics, project management, sweet treats, amazing cakes, rocking photography, the dougie and righteous hi-fives. We assist businesses and individuals in building powerful brands for today and tomorrow. We are women, mothers and dreamchasers. We ignite cultural influence and believe in it like a cold Ale-8-One. This is Octane.
After months of praying alongside a team of independently amazing women business owners, I’m thrilled to announce our latest partnership with JRow Everything!
