blogging Archives - Spoonful of Imagination

The shop is open!

October 2, 2020 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

It’s been almost 12 years since this blog was born.

It began in the spring of 2009, as a way to update our extended family on our young, growing family. This was before apps and phones became the big way to stay connected that they are today. We had a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old and were getting ready to travel the USA as part of Matt’s job. One day I shared one of my crafts and thus was born the Spoonful of Imagination re-branded as a DIY blog. It was such a fun hobby/border line side gig for years.

In the spring of 2016, God gave me a vision of opening an art studio. It came out of a hard season of fostering two separate hurting boys, moving away from family, and landing ourselves in a new small town. Opening an art studio was nothing I had ever thought or dreamed of but after years of encouraging others to create through blog posts, videos within craft kits, and hosting ladies nights out of our house…it all made sense as the next thing. We opened the Spoonful of Imagination Art Studio in April 2017.

It felt like over night I went from a stay at home, foster, homeschool mom to an entrepreneur running up hill and scrambling to figure out how to be a working mom, a start up business owner, and an advocate for continually educating the importance of the creative process in our small mid-west town.

It was beautiful. It was hard.

It is fulfilling. It is confusing.

It is also everything in between.

We opened the art studio to exist to overcome boundaries and redefine art as a critical and healing component of community life. That is our fancy way of saying we help take away reasons why people might not be enjoying the creative process. It’s been a dream that only God could write. We are definitely still in the midst of running it and trying to figure out how it can best serve our community. I have learned a lot, yet I know I am still a work in process trying to lead a small, non-profit art studio.

Leading this studio through a pandemic was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but also one of the things I am most proud of. As we have come out and up of an extremely hard season, I have realized I need to re-exam priorities in my life and work less. Running the studio consumes a lot of time in my life, head and heart. A lot of parts of the gig is why I wanted to start it, but there are lots of hats and others parts that are not in my giftings and are extremely hard to carry. I’m lucky to have a job I am so passionate about, but even in all the good…it can be too much. That is what leads to burn out, and between you and me…I have been hovering on that line.

I have missed creating. This blog was born out of sharing my journey and creations, but I haven’t had a lot of time to create for the last four years. Opening an art studio and learning how to run it has been a lot, but the COVID-19 pandemic has taught me I need to make regular time to create and need more space away from my work.

My mental health and spirit are better and more balanced when I practice what I teach. So, I started creating again and then had things to sell again. One thing led to another and I was dreaming for me again. I was dreaming and it wasn’t for a workshop or for the studio, but it was for me in what I wanted to make or what I wanted to do. I felt my spirit awakening and life breathing into it. As a result, this little online shop of my creations is now back open.

It is my place to play. I aim to use recycled, inexpensive and creative materials to make things that spread love and joy in this broken world. I hope this shop inspires you to create, and maybe you find something you love!

Thank you for journeying with me and being here after all my years a way. If you too are weary from work, I hope you will do the work of finding time and space to do life giving, soul filling activities that breath life back into you. You are worth it!

Keep imagining the possibilities!

Launching a New Chapter

January 28, 2019 By Erica Deuel 3 Comments

We started blogging a little over 10 years ago. I know for sure because we started when I was pregnant with Jeremiah who turned 10-years-old a few months ago. It all started as a way to stay in touch with our family and friends while we were spending a lot of time on the road. In between my family updates, I started posting Friday Project Spotlights as a way of sharing simple DIY craft projects for my friends to do with their kids. With no attempts to market these posts, somehow they picked up a groundswell of momentum. Before I knew it, hundreds of people were tuning in each week to craft with me. We rebranded from our family blog into Spoonful of Imagination and those hundreds became thousands. It’s so humbling. Truly. As someone who struggles with dyslexia and the fear of stringing words together, it never stops surprising me that people keep showing up.

This blog has stretched me to grow and try things that I would have never ever imagined. Matt and the kids have gone from cheering me on to becoming my partners in this platform. They have helped me write, build, take pictures, brainstorm, share my posts, develop craft kits, ship out items from our shop, and eventually build a non-profit art studio. What a ride!

But we are keenly aware that it would have never happened if it weren’t for you – our loyal friends, readers, and fellow creators of Spoonful of Imagination. Thank you. No seriously… THANK YOU!!!

As we’ve grown and our kids needs have shifted and changed, I’ve honestly put this space on the back burner for a while. For those of you who have felt that shift, I’m excited to announce that is about to change.

With Matt working full time in video and film production and me working full time at managing the art studio, we’ve both found that our creative energy is being poured out like never before. We are so thrilled and privileged to be able to help so many people and organizations create. What we have found though is that we need to have a creative project that is “ours.” Something that we can do together, as a family. That brings us back to here, Spoonful of Imagination.

Now, as an all-hands-on-deck team, we are working on putting together new content for you, our loyal friends and readers.

We will have new posts and DIY tutorials just like the one I posted the other day. But it’s better than that! Starting today we are launching (well kinda re-launching, but I’ll get back to that in a minute) a YouTube channel dedicated to Spoonful of Imagination vlog content!

This is something we’ve been talking about, dreaming about, and planning for months. Oh my goodness, let me start by saying, “RESPECT!” to all of the faithful YouTube creators out there. We have spent a lot of time studying other channels out there. We have learned so much from people like Peter McKinnon, Casey Neistat, Art Hub for Kids, Matti Haapoja, That YouTub3 Family, just to name a few… and we’ve decided to toss our hat into the vlogging ring. We have a couple of new videos on the channel now. You’ll also see some OLD videos. We decided to leave some of those up for memories sake and to serve as a reminder of how far we’ve come.

Here’s a quick introduction from Matt and me just sharing the heart behind the channel and our vision for what we hope to accomplish. It’s the most boring video we will create, we promise. After this, it starts to get super colorful and very fun.

Like everything we’ve always done, our desire is to help other people create. We believe there is life changing power in being creative and if we can encourage someone to add a Spoonful of Imagination to their life, then we consider that a win!

Here’s our first DIY Tutorial. Enjoy! Oh and as we’ve learned from our YouTube mentors, please subscribe to the channel, like the videos, and share with your family and friends. Your comments, likes, and shares have been the fuel that have kept this blog going for so long. We would be honored to have you join us in stoking the fires for this latest chapter of our journey!

Letting Others In

July 23, 2014 By Erica Deuel 14 Comments

One of my life issues is emotionally closing up when I’m going through something hard. It is easier for me to put up walls than be real. I don’t know if it is from a heart that wants to protect itself from being vulnerable or from fear of letting others see me hurt. Letting people help me is something hard to accept as well. I feel like the two are somehow connected. Maybe letting people in is asking them to carry the burden of hurt as well, and I don’t want that.

Can you relate?

For five months, we have pulled back from a lot of life. As we adjusted to being foster parents and have walked through some fires with our foster son, we have done life closely with one another. I think a lot of it was because our plate has been so full we literally couldn’t carry much else, but as you can imagine other areas in my life took a second seat to carrying for our foster son and our three biological kids. They have been my world.

As Haven 2014 (Haven is a local DIY Blog Conference) was approaching, I struggled with should I sell my ticket or not. My family and foster son had been my world. They were the priority and all else took a back seat. Did projects really matter? Was my blog a silly thing to invest in? I wondered how I could emotionally switch from my family/foster mindset to a mindset to dream and talk business for three whole days.

I decided to go, largely because one of my best friends would be there and the ability to catch up with her was exciting.

So I went. I walked in with a heavy, hurting heart. I was on fumes, and I knew it. I know I was probably a little more quiet than last year. But, being real about where I was and at peace with it, was actually good for me.

For three days, I got to laugh with friends, dream up new ideas, be inspired, and poured back into. It encouraged my soul every time someone asked me about our family, said they were inspired by our foster parent role, and were encouraged by how we were living. I felt loved, carried, and slowly I let some girls in. They allowed me to be real, cry, and hurt. Thank you Christina, Angie, and Erin for walking through fire with me and giving me laughs along the way.

As a result, I felt loved and felt this spark light back up in me that was born to create and dream. I remembered in a fresh new way why I love blogging and why I love this community that blogging brings me.

The hotel was beautiful, the food was amazing, the swag was incredible, the bloggers were so kind, and the brands were generous. Last year, I largely was big into networking and experiencing it all. This time I relaxed, enjoyed, and it was much more about heart level, life changing conversations with sweet friends with a touch of learning. It was just what I needed.

It didn’t hurt that I learned from some of the best there are as well. To know people on and off the web is a huge gift.

I missed my family greatly, so there were lots of texts and selfies sent back and forth, but I am so thankful I had this weekend away. There is more to me and my life than just my family. We need community. We were wired for it.

If you have been following me on Instagram, you know I came home from Haven to find out that our foster son is leaving us. Tomorrow, he will be moving to a great aunt’s house. Although my heart is breaking, I feel like God has been slowly preparing me and our family for this transition. I have a peace. God is so gracious to us. I have gotten to know this sweet great aunt, and have the very rare pleasure to now call her friend. We will see this sweet boy that has become part of our family again.

As we have walked this road, I am continually amazed by the love poured out. I have not perfected letting others in, but I am trying. I am in a continual journey to become a better version of myself and who God created me to be. That alone is the perfect project.

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!

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