Haven Conference 2013

August 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 22 Comments

I can now say I have been to a blog conference. It was everything I thought it would be and so much more.

For those of you who might wonder what a blog conference is, it is an event over a few days where bloggers come together to learn, network, and inspire one another. I went to the Haven conference in Atlanta that was geared towards other DIY and crafty bloggers. It was awesome.

I roomed with one of my really good friends, Erin, at DIYontheCheap. We had a blast!

For 2.5 days we ate really well, were around gorgeous decor, and learned so much. I met so many incredible people and hung out with some of my favorite bloggers. It was like a dream. I am so thankful for this weekend.

Going into it I felt a bit drained from all the travel, foster care training, and getting back from the beach the day before. I felt I didn’t have much time to prepare, although I did have my business cards ready to hand out. I was tired, knew another homeschool year was coming quickly, and was wondering how I was going to balance it all.

I knew the weekend was going to be huge when I felt my heart opening up in the first session.

Ana White was the opening speaker and I love what she said. One thing that stuck out to me was “be good at one thing…good enough at everything else.” It’s so easy to get discouraged and over whelmed at all the components of having a blog. When she said that, there was an immediate freedom for me.

I went to lots of sessions where I learned so much. My head is spinning-in a good way. I’m still processing all I heard, and I have lots of ideas and a to do list a mile long (that I am excited about). One of my favorite sessions was a hands on session with Ryobi power tools. Getting hands on with some tools gave me confidence and took some of the intimidation away that powerful tools can bring. I can’t wait to use my new miter saw! Stay tuned to hear more about it.

After two days of hearing and absorbing information, staying up late talking, mingling with other bloggers, and eating lots, we were a group of tired bloggers. I think every blogger in that conference left tired yet excited and inspired.

I came home with so many goodies that I can’t wait to start using on some new projects! The sponsors of Haven were incredible and blessed us all with so much!

I actually won one of the giveaways from Home Depot, and I literally squealed with excitement! I got an incredible basket of products that I have already started using. I am obsessing over it all, but the solar mason jar is my favorite!

As I went about the conference, I was constantly encouraged by other bloggers about my story. I had friends new and old ask about my family, homeschooling, and our journey to foster care. My heart was uplifted. I can easily question our life style on hard days, yet this weekend I was encouraged that our way of living is inspiring others to go for their dreams as well.

The closing talk for the conference was a challenge to use our gifts and skills for good. It was all I could do to not cry through the whole talk. It felt like everything that I had been feeling and processing all weekend was brought together.

I love to craft and do fun projects, but more importantly I love to inspire. I have a renewed sense of purpose. I am excited to continue to share my projects and ways I decorate our home to be a warm welcoming place, but I hope through it all I can share parts of our story and journey that inspire you. We are not perfect but we are trying to live simply. walk humbly. and love Jesus and people. Thank you for caring and being in it with us!

Thank you to Haven and everyone who attended for creating and being apart of something so marking on me. Thank you to YOU for being in this journey with me!

Now, a little something for one of YOU! I mentioned in my Haven Is Coming post that I would have a way for you to win some of my swag. Here is the deal. On my instagram feed during the conference a fun conversation started on “how many bloggers does it take to use a saw?” Enter the answer in the comments below to be entered to win some of my swag: Ryobi Flashlight, Rust-oleum Spray Gripper, and a roll of 3m painter’s tape! I will use random.org to pick the winner on Friday!

If you went to Haven, and we didn’t get to meet, I wish we had! There were so many people who I wish I had gotten to meet. We needed two more days 😉 Please introduce yourself, so we can kind of meet here!

Haven, Here I Come!

July 31, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

We just got back from St. George Island and had the best time hanging out with my extended family, playing on the beach, and swimming in the pool. Those were great summer days. We got to catch up with people we love, meet our new nephew/cousin, and just relax.

I will be posting more about that trip and the fun we had with my big family (including the boys’ fishing trip where they caught a shark), but first off I want to tell you what I am excited about.

Tomorrow, I leave for my first ever blog conference. I am so excited. Attending a blog conference was one of my personal goals for 2013. It might be the only one I have almost accomplished, but that’s ok. I’m going and so excited about it! There are so many wonderful bloggers going that have become real life friends that I can’t wait to hang out with, as well as some pretty awesome bloggers that I can’t wait to meet.

Haven, is a conference for DIY bloggers, and I know I will learn so much attending the sessions and from talking with everyone else. I plan to come back and hit the ground running with all kinds of new ideas and inspiration! So stay tuned!

I can’t wait to share with you about my time at Haven, but if you want to follow along with me, while I’m at the conference, be sure to follow my twitter and instagram feeds. For those who follow along, you will get a chance to win a prize next week – don’t miss out!

Thanks so much for checking in, and I will be back soon!

Thank you so much to my amazingly talented and servant hearted sister-in-law, Christina, for working and using her talented photography skills for us while on her “off” time. We are blessed by you, Someplace Wild!

iBlog Sneak Peak: Simplicity

May 14, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

The three winners of my iBlog giveaway are: Rachel R., Tara T., and Karen B.

I will be in touch with each of you! But wait, everyone is a winner today… Here is a very short excerpt from my chapter to give you a preview of the kinds of info shared in this e-book.

As you know the internet is quite large. There is a lot of content out there and more being produced every single day. The truth is, there is a lot of noise and a lot of content that is competing with yours.

Fortunately for you and for me the majority of content publishers out there don’t get the idea of simplicity. Rather than pulling back and creating something special, most sites just turn up the volume. Tons and tons of sites end up becoming hectic and busy billboards. You know the sites I’m talking about. You don’t know where to start and you just end up moving on because it hurts your eyes to stick around.

Remember we are talking about Curb Appeal. I am all for really fun, unique, and detailed posts. However, is your design simple? Intuitive? Easy to navigate? Is it easy to load?

Here are a few ideas on simplicity:

Navigation: I would encourage you to limit your site to have 4-6 tabs or pages when it comes to the navigation. Once you get beyond 6 tabs you can end up with lots of layers or nested navigation. This can be too much for someone to digest. It ends up looking busy.

Widgets and Gadgets: You can install a number of elements into your site that can assist with simplicity. WordPress calls them Widgets and Blogger calls them Gadgets. To put it simply these are plugins you can install into your site to help its functionality.

Mobile Responsiveness: Massive amounts of web content are being viewed on these tablets and smartphones every single day. Yet the majority of websites are not mobile responsive. Mobile Responsive is a design or a plugin that will adapt the layout of your site for a mobile device.

Load Times: If you are anything like me, if a page doesn’t load in about 5 seconds, I move on to the next site. I consider something to be wrong with it. I would suggest a Load Time plugin. There are a lot out there, find the one that suits you. The primary idea is that it will prioritize the order in which your content loads. Text first, pictures next, advertising last, etc.

Easy to Contact: As your blog grows people will want to contact you. It may simply be through a comment on your blog or the desire to send a personal message. Either way, make sure that your readers can easily contact you.

One of the primary elements of your design can be found in your consistency of creating new content. Think about your blog like a magazine. As you stand at the check out lines the new covers of a magazine draw your eye. Imagine if every week for several months the magazine covers never changed? Eventually you would lose interest because “I’ve seen that before.” But at the end of the day it’s about what is inside your home (aka blog) that makes it truly special. Be smart in your initial design, tweak as you go along and learn more, but keep the consistency of fresh new posts at the forefront of your work and your site will turn out just fine!

I wanted to share a few tips and encourage you that I think this e-book is a great read. If you didn’t win a copy, You can still buy one here.

Thanks so much for all your support!

iBlog Book Giveaway

May 12, 2013 By Erica Deuel 8 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day sweet friends!

I am so thankful for my sweet mama and the awesome job she did with me and my eight siblings. The older I get the more I realize what a sacrifice she made and incredible job she did. I would not be the kind of mom I am today with out her guidance and love as she helped mold me.

I am also incredibly grateful to be a mom. My three sweet kiddos make me laugh everyday as they are a joy and light in my life. As they are still young, I know Mother’s Day can be a big task for the dads out there. Thank you Matt for making me feel so loved today. It’s been an amazing day.

Homemade pancakes out on our deck,

homemade cards that made me teary,

a little family thrifting,

a picnic lunch at a new park,

and now I am blogging.

I am so blessed.

Now on to some exciting news for today… I am honored to be a part of a new e-book. It is my first public work to be out there to buy, and I cannot believe it. I was so blessed to be chosen to collaborate with 29 other bloggers to make iBlog.

It is a new e-book all about blogging. With nearly 400 pages and 38 chapters it is a how-to manual on blogging. A few of the chapter titles are: Getting Your Blog off the Ground, Building Your Brand, How To Get Traffic, How To Get Subscribers, Guest Posting, Link Ups, The Power of Attending a Conference, How to Write a Blog Review, and Time Saving Blog Tips are just a few of the many awesome chapters!

The chapter that I contributed is Blog Design 101. You know my amazing husband helped me write this, but it is something we are both really proud of. I have been holding off to reading this e-book until I had a good chunk of unpacking done. I think I will finally get to start it this week! I am so excited!

Will you read it with me? With the content being everything you need to know about blogging, I know I have a lot I could learn. I am honored my name is mixed together with so many incredible bloggers on this production.

Today, I get to give away three copies of this book! I am so excited! If you would like to enter to win one of these three copies of iBlog simply let the rafflecopter widget load and enter as many ways as you want. I will release the winners to this giveaway this Tuesday. There isn’t much time to enter, so enter now! Happy Mother’s Day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you don’t want to wait, you can buy your iBlog e-book today for $7.99. To help support me, please buy it from this link. 🙂

If you haven’t entered my Mohawk Rug giveaway there is still time. Finally, the winner to my “how many boxes did we pack” is Cheryl Gannaway. Her guess was 108 and our final count was 114 boxes. Great job Cheryl! I will be in touch!

I hope you are having an amazing Sunday with your families. I am off now to go back and hang with mine.

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Happy Mother’s Day sweet friends!

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