Blog Podium Inspiration = House Tour Completion

I had SO much fun at Blog Podium this weekend and learned a ton about how to monetize a blog.  Nicole Balch of Making It Lovely (one of the first blogs I ever subscribed to) gave an honest, relaxed, and informative keynote.  The ever-amazing Lindsay (of Aubrey and Lindsay's Little House Blog) and Jen (of Rambling Renovators) blew my mind with the fun, professional, absolutely-perfect event. Seriously - I want to be them when I grow up - FOR REAL! (as my 4-year-old keeps saying).   I went home with a huge to-do list for Wicked & Weird and will probably be tweaking things for months to come, or until my energy runs out.  Today I FINALLY got a chance to pull together some photos and text for my House Tour page that I made the link for months ago.  Hooray!

There are many great recaps of the conference out there, and if you are at all interested in the busine$$ side of blogging, I urge you to take a look:

1. Interior Groupie 
2. September and Sun
3. Bijou and Boheme
4. My Daily Randomness
5. Adding the Finishing Touch
6. Gallery No. 8
7. The 236

Here are some of the lessons that I will be taking to heart:

• Stats aren't everything  I have never considered to be "worthy" of advertising because I am such a small blog.  However, big numbers aren't the only thing the larger brands are looking for.  They also want to find blogs large and small that are a good fit content-wise, writers who are well connected to the 'scene' and are well-informed with a professional-looking blog, and bloggers who are engaged and engaging, with comments, tweets, and conversations.
• Oh Canada!  Brands large and small, international and domestic are looking to target geographically.  Let readers know right off the bat where you are writing from and that you are Canadian.
• Tweet Tweet Twitter Twitter  Be active and consistent on Twitter.  Many brand marketers are short on time and need to be on Twitter anyway for their job.  It makes things much easier if they can find you where they are and can see that you are engaged with the community.  Have a great Twitter List that shows you are connected with people these brands want to reach.
• Do your homework Reach out to brands you want to work with, don't wait for them to find you in a sea of blogs.  Research their products, their projects, and their style so you can prove that you really know them when you make the pitch and aren't just cut and pasting their name into a generic ask.
• Dress for the job you want  I have always tried to dress for the job I wanted and not the job I had.  I may have been Marketing Coordinator, but if people were looking around at all the coordinators in the city for a Marketing Manager, I wanted them to know in a glance that I was professional and prepared and ready to step right up.  So when Nicole said "Looking bigger than you are is the best way to get bigger than you are" I knew exactly what she meant: have a blog that looks established, that has a consistent feel to it, and write honestly and authoritatively.  
• Don't quit your day job  Errr, too late for me! :)  But I have confirmed my suspicion that while I can definitely make a little bit of fun money from the blog ("Canadian Tire money" as Christine said) I won't ever be earning a full-time income from it.  At least, not in Canada, and not now.  Things may change!

So you may notice a few changes here and there, and maybe a few ads popping up on the side.  (If you are interested in some seriously cheap test ads, let me know!)  I would love to hear if there is something about my blog that makes you come back, something you think I should make sure to keep up.  Likewise, if there are posts you just skip through when you see them, let me know that too!  I am crazy curious about what you all think about the stuff that I put out there.  Maybe I should start paying for comments?  Oh wait... that's actually the opposite of the idea... right.  I guess I won't be keynote speaker anywhere any time soon. :)

An Encaustic Encounter

Yesterday was cold and everyone in our house was sick.  I had agreed to attend an all-day encaustic painting workshop but I was thinking seriously about not going.  I was tired, had a wicked cough, and almost no voice.  However, I had committed to going and I knew there weren't that many in the class so I got my butt in gear and made my way to the Distillery district where Joya Paul has her studio. 

I am SO HAPPY that I did not bail on this!  Joya is so much fun and a great teacher, and the two other gals in the class were hilarious.  And I discovered that encaustic painting (painting with wax) is THE BOMB.  It just has so many possibilities - there are so many ways of working the wax, so many potential applications... 

I went armed with some printouts of my photos and the intent to do a piece of the boys.  The photo above is actually a composite photo that required some work in Photoshop - I had one photo with Will in focus and the other with Cam in focus and had to put them together.  Joya helped me glue it to a board and then I mixed some colours and did some layers trying to blend in the edges of the photo.  I am pretty pleased with it (although part of me finds art like this a little cheesy...sorry...).

But from my first practice piece in the morning I was hooked.  HOOKED.  The others went for a coffee break and I kept on going.  They went for lunch and I kept on going.*  I tried all kinds of things, from etching, to drips, to collage, to building up layers, scraping the wax away... I did abstracts, textures, representational things... I blew a fuse using the heat gun.  I was in the ZONE people.  

The stuff I brought home is not going to be hung in any galleries any time soon, but the experience of giving in to every creative impulse from 10 am to 4 pm was such a joy.  It solidified what I have come to realize are essential truths for me:  I love MAKING stuff, and I love working with creative, inspiring people.  Whatever I end up doing next, I have to make sure that it includes these two elements.

Practice piece 

Practice 2 - Blossoms

High Park Blossoms

Ripples

White on White

Tangles

Beneath the Surface

thoughts reel

I think you should all call Joya immediately and book a workshop.  Bring your friends.  You can thank me later.  In fact, I may see you there - this encaustic stuff is addictive!

*Not long after they left for lunch, Joya came running back to get me - President's Choice was filming a commercial and there was a free BBQ with any kind of burger, all kind of fixings, salads, chips, dips, drinks, ice-cream - you name it!  Galen Weston was walking around chatting to people and handing out food.  It was delicious - the ice-cream sandwiches made with the cookies are unreal. I ate enough lunch for 6 people.  :)

The Almighty OPRAH

On Monday afternoon/night, thanks to the ridiculous generosity of my friends Lisa and Mike (you guys ROCK!!) I found myself basking in the presence of the one-and-only Oprah Winfrey.  The 5-hour line-up also included Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Iyanla Vanzant, and Bishop T.D. Jakes.  I have never been to a revival meeting, but I am pretty sure they wouldn't feel much different.  There were a lot of AMEN!!!s, whooping and hollering, women shaking and crying, and at one pont we all stood and held hands, raising them up with a mighty yell.  It was AWESOME!

Never mind that we got in line at 3pm and got to our seats at 5:10 (the event was supposed to start at 4).  At least it was one of the warm days and the rain held off, although the wind was fierce!  Never mind that by the time we got there we sat in the back of the 9,000-people audience, squinting to see the stage, let alone the people on it. Never mind that the hotdog we scarfed down while waiting in line was the only food I had until I got to Union Station at 11pm (and had a nasty breakfast wrap).  Never mind that because of the crowd-control, the speakers' times were shrunk to 30 minutes each instead of an hour.  The fact that these people could generate such a powerful vibration in a huge warehouse of a space spoke to their gifts as speakers, and the resonance of their words.  Iyanla in particular was really fantastic, her enthusiasm completely contagious.

Oprah herself was impressive.  This woman is a PRO.  She was just the right amount of gracious - she acknowledged the effort it took people to get ready, to get themselves looking gorgeous, to make their way to Toronto, and to stand forever in line, all to see her.  It was a kind gesture, and most importantly, it felt genuine.  To watch the taping of the show, it was managed down to the second, with each speaker having a segment, questions from twitter, comments from the audience, and contributions from Skype.  Oprah was unflappable, professional but personable, making everything feel spontaneous and of-the-moment.  She joked about how tiny she must look to those of us in the back, she laughed about the height they put the chairs to minimize the difference between her and (6'8'') Tony Robbins, she ribbed those in the audience who had gotten pedicures for the occasion - "Oprah ain't never gonna see your toes girl!"

I could not stop thinking of Gran and wishing she were there with me.  How many times did she call me randomly at University and start off with "Sweetheart, I was watching Oprah..."?  

"Sweetheart, I was watching Oprah....and if you were a lesbian, you could tell me."  

"Sweetheart, I was watching Oprah...if you are doing drugs, you have to tell me."

"Lisa honey, I was watching Oprah...and I just had to call and tell you how proud I am of you."

Thanks Oprah, for prompting all those wonderful, and sometimes hilarious phone calls. xo

She was also great at distilling the sometimes heady discussions into "snackables" - small digestible summations of the conversation.  Some of my favourites were:

• Forgiveness is being able to able to give up the hope that the past could be any different.
• Until you clean the wounds of the past, you will continue to bleed into the future.
• Holding on to resentment is like holding your breath - you'll eventually suffocate.
• Don't strive for success, strive for significance and excellence, and success will follow. 
• There are 'Gallon" people and "Pint" people.  You have to adjust your expectations of someone based on their capacity (They might be giving their all).  And if you are a Gallon person, you can't have only Pint people in your life.
• Empowering your past robs power from your present.
• And my favourite: Forgiveness is a laxative for the soul.

Look for these all prettied-up in Pinterest soon. :0  Thank you again Lisa and Mike for giving me this tremendous experience.  I feel like it gets more amazing the more I think of it!  Did anyone else see the Mighty Oprah?  Did you have any A-HA moments?

Photo School V to Z

V is for Valentine

I have to admit, I definitely lost steam towards the end of the Foto School.  For some reason I just couldn't seem to find the same time to think up the shot, prep it, and edit it as I did at the beginning.  But I soldiered on and didn't miss a letter, although some of them are less than perfect (i.e. I wish I could have worked on them a bit longer!).  Here are the last of them, and I am throwing in a couple of extras I worked on but didn't submit.  I am also going to do another post and feature some of my favourites from the other class members (they were sooo good).

W is for Wedding Ring

W is for White Wine

X is for X-amining the Menu (yes, I know it isn't REALLY...)

Y is for Y-Stick (we have a collection...)

Z is for Zzzzzzzzzs

If you missed them, here are the links to my posts with the rest of the letters of the alphabet:

• A to D
• E to I
• J to N
• O to U

All in all it was a lot of fun and I can't believe how much I learned about my camera and about photo processing.  Thanks to Tristan and Michelle for all their hard work in coordinating it, and to all the other fun photographers in the group who kept me so inspired - I can't wait for the next one!

Photo School O to U

O is for Orchid

Wow, this photo-a-day thing is intense.  I spend forever setting up, forever taking photos and adjusting settings, and forever in photoshop making it just right.  I think my husband is going to be very happy when it is over.  That being said, I cannot believe how much I have learned this time around.  Practice makes perfect, and while I am far from perfect, I am certainly getting in lots of practice - on my camera and in photoshop - which is invaluable.  I realize my photos have no distinctive theme or look, but that is because I am experimenting so much with each one.  I have my favourites - when I get to the end I would love to know if you do too!  Here is my latest instalment:

P is for Paperbacks

Q is for Q

R is for Running

S is for Sand Dollars

T is for Tulip

U is for Upstairs

Photo School J to N

J is for Japanese Tea Set

Wow, this Souvenir Foto School* course is going quickly, and there are days it is all I can do to get a photo in in time.  I am actually not as happy with these as I was with the last batches - they were all rushed and don't feel like they are as good as I would have liked to make them, but that's life I guess - sometimes great, sometimes crap!  Fear not, I won't bore you with a litany of all the flaws I see in each one.  I do like the one of the boys, their expressions are perfect, and I want to munch on those chubby little legs**.  The 'M is for Music' one of course is me (I was holding the camera in the other hand to take the shot - rest assured it took more than one try to even get myself in the frame) so I don't like it.  Yes, I know I am too old to be so neurotic, but the truth is I am always shocked to see that what I look like is so different from what I think I look like!  I am sure if it was someone else's face in the same photo it wouldn't be so bad.  As a reminder, my theme is A Few Of My Favourite Things***.

K is for Kiddos

L is for Lemon Tree

M is for Music

N is for New Brunswick

*This awesome course is taught by Tristan of Besotted Brand Blog and I LOVE IT and her.

**What on earth is the connection of women wanting to EAT adorable children?  Rather twisted really...

***Do you have that song in your head now?  No?  How about now?  I do.

Photo School - E to I

E is for Elephant

Here is the latest instalment of my photo course* - E to I.  I have been spending more time thinking first about how I want my finished photograph to look, then setting up the shot, then editing.  I am happy to be able to put to use much of what I learned in my Photoshop Course at Toronto Image Works.

For E, I had a lot of elephants in our house to choose from - we must have at least 30 carvings, statues, photos, pillows, you name it.  I even did that painting for Cam's room.  But I had a vision of our soft little elephant that both boys snuggled with at some point, and I imagined a nostalgic, warm-and-fuzzy depiction of childhood/babyhood.  For F, I remembered the bright multi-coloured Mardi Gras boa I got on a night out with my friend Dan and decided on feather.  But the bright red was so unnatural, I pulled out all my photoshop stops and achieved more what I was aiming for - light, soft, etherial.

F is for Feather

The original image

For G, I started by shooting a vintage globe I have, which was fine, but I wanted to step outside the box a little bit, and ended up doing a self-portrait of sorts to capture my grandmother's gold necklace, something I remember her wearing all the time.  I am happy with this one - other than the sun damage it shows!

G is for Grandmother's Gold Necklace

H was one I knew I wanted to do - since my theme is My Favourite Things, I took the stone shaped like a heart that Chris found years and years ago while we were out for a walk and set it against the setting sun.

H is for Heart in Hand

While I was editing it, I could not get Jann Arden's song out of my head: Feet on ground / Heart in hand / Facing forwards / Be Yourself.  Aaaaand now it is back in there...

For I, I of course did my iPhone.  I once headed out of the house without it and just about had a panic attack/turned around to get it/pulled over and tore the car apart before I found it in my purse.  Yes, it's an un-healthy attachment.


So there you have it.  I am working on J tonight and am not feeling very inspired.  I was thinking jewellery, but I want to capture My Favourite Things, not alert potential thieves to Stuff Worth Stealing.  We shall see what I can come up with.  Let me know if you have any feedback or ideas for me!  There seem to be a LOT of letters left...

Souvenir Foto School

I am very excited to be partaking again in Miss B's Souvenir Foto School!  I had so much fun last year and learned so much about my camera and especially photoshop.  The other students are super-creative and talented people who help to critique your work and make it that much better.  I am not sure how many spaces there are, but you can sign up here (cost is a mere $30!).  Let me know if you will be joining too!  I will leave you with a few amazing photos created by Miss B of Besotted Brand Blog (she is so good!):