Pure Love

Hi everyone!

Goodness, it’s been such a long time since I’ve written anything. I’ve been busy soaking up all the love I can get from my 3 babies (and recently going back to work full time). Some of you may know that since I last wrote, I welcomed another sweet soul into my family; a little girl! She’s quite literally a bubble of inherent joy; always smiling, dancing, singing, hugging and blowing kisses. Becoming a mother for the third time reaffirmed my parenting philosophy and technique… which I have long wanted to share with the world but never really quite knew where to start.

Recently, a very dear friend of mine helped me realize what pure love is and boom! it hit me… that’s the absolute best and most concise way to explain how I parent. Pure love. What is pure love you ask? Well…

Pure love is freedom.

The only absolute truth,
is pure love.

Pure love is free.
Pure love is grateful.
Pure love is kind.

It does not remember the past,
it does not know the future,
it only feels the present.

Relinquish control, give freedom.
Overcome fear, be grateful.
Make peace with your inner truth,
show kindness.

You are beautiful.
You are unique.
You are valued.
You are safe.

Feel, trust, let go,
and shine your light as bright as can be.  

Be,
pure love.

I think as parents we get caught up in our own fears and expectations; fear of judgement, fear of pain, fear of failure, fear of rejection... the list goes on and on… and it’s because of those fears that we seek to control, leaving our kids unable to deal with their emotions and leaving us completely drained.

I’ll let this information sit with you for a while. Think about it, and if you have any thoughts or questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below. I’ll be writing more posts about this, and how I parent my children in the near future. My purpose isn’t to pretend I’m a better parent than others, but simply to provide other parents with alternatives to help them through the challenges of parenting.

Favorite Posts of 2015

2015 has been crazy jam packed. I seriously outdid myself and I'm very happy with the progress I've made as a blogger, professionally, and most importantly as a mom and wife.

This time last year I was on mat leave with my 6 month old, just starting to introduce solid foods, still breastfeeding while trying to potty train a 2.5 year old. I still had no idea where I wanted to go with my blog and I was worried about going back to a job where I didn't feel valued or appreciated.

Since then, I've returned to work to a new team that I love and respect, had to get readjusted and organized with a new full time work schedule with kids (I miss them so much all the time it's hard for my little heart!), I've also dealt with loss, weaned off breastfeeding and finally took the first step in turning my blog into a business by creating this styled photography course for bloggers and creatives (which is on pre-sale right now, launching Feb 1st!).

Now for the fun part! Let's have a look at some of the most popular posts of 2015 and some of my own favorites (you can also check out my most popular posts of 2014 here).

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DIY: Clay Animal Head Succulent Planter

Isn't this planter the cutest thing you've ever seen? I've been playing around with a whole bunch of different mediums this year and plan to keep experimenting this year too: felt, clay, watercolor, hand lettering, crochet, sewing... there's just so much to do and so little time to do it all in! This planter was definitely my most favorite project of 2015 and I plan on sharing more adorable little things like this with you in the near future!

How to do hand lettering, the easy way

Hand lettering has been reborn this year it seems. It's become this new "cool thing" everyone must try. I'm definitely having fun with it (I even made a quick tutorial and video of my process for you!), and now that I know how to digitalize my creations, I plan on selling some of my hand made prints as downloads. I'm super excited about this new venture, but first, I need to finish launching my blog photography course.

Must-Have Photography Kit for Bloggers

I've had a lot of questions about the gear I use and how I take my blog photos over the years so I've started sharing some tips and tricks on blog and small biz photography. If there's any question you'd like me to address leave a comment below, you can also check out this free photography course I made just for you guys!

6 Simple Ways to Get Serious About Blogging

This post was pretty much a hint as to where I'm heading in 2016. I really want to get serious about my blog. What do I mean by that? I want to create a live and thriving community, I want to make more friends and a strong support system. I also want to make more money from my passion (because, hey, who doesn't?). I have so many things planned, like info products, worksheets, guides, free stock photos and a whole bunch of other things, maybe even physical products! Are you ready to get serious with your blog? Is there anything you'd like me to share with you?

Sweet Coconut Lemonade

This drink was one of my summer favorites. Coconut and lemon sounds weird doesn't it? Strangely though, it's crazy delicious. If you haven't tried it already, I dare you too. Try it! I want to know what you think. This drink is packed with nutrients, vitamins and essential minerals. It's an awesome thirst quencher and energy drink too!

Apple upside-down egg free cake recipe

In 2014 we started an apple picking tradition and I really wanted to keep that going in 2015. It makes for an awesome day of picking apples, eating fresh corn at the farm, riding tractors and baking yummy apple pies. This year I wanted to mix things up so I also made tons of apple puree and this delicious (and now famous) apple upside-down cake with NO eggs (for those with egg allergies like my son!).

DIY: Sugar skull candy bowl

Since I got a lot of comments on my Halloween apothecary in 2014. I wanted to do something super cute and original again in 2015 so when I saw this boring skull at the craft store, I was like BOOM! found my idea! The previous year I had dressed up as a "day of the dead" sugar skull girl and I loved it so much I wanted to recreate it as a decor item; which ended up serving as a candy bowl. Don't you just love when things have 2 purposes?

The ultimate Easter egg hunt

This year, my oldest turned 3 and it's been so much fun creating new games and activities during the holidays. When Easter came around, I knew I wanted to do a chocolate hunt, but I didn't want to just do the hide and seek game, I wanted something a bit more involved. So I created this ultimate Easter egg hunt. It's super fun, there's eggs just like that, there's plastic eggs with nothing in them, and there's eggs with little notes in them. So much more interesting, especially when there's older kids around (ahem *cough* adults).

12 easy steps to a tantrum free home (toddler edition)

In my role as a mother, I've noticed that I have quite an nontraditional approach to motherhood and parenting. Both my pregnancies and deliveries were completely natural and unmedicated, I exclusively breastfed both of my babies and made all of their purees at home, and I adopt a positive parenting attitude (read: punishment, consequences and privileges do not exist in my world). I really want to share more of my journey because I truly believe there is no reason to be so harsh with children, or to be scared about all the choices and responsibilities that come with being a mother. 12 easy steps to a tantrum free home is one article of many more to come about how to guide children positively through life.

A guide to recognizing food allergies for moms

Lastly, since my egg free vanilla cupcake recipe is so popular (like, it has literally gone viral - it's the post that brings the most traffic to this blog), I decided to add an egg allergy guide download to my post and see how many people are actually interested in that... and you know what? I get so many downloads every day! So much that I actually think it would be profitable to write an ebook or a course. Would that be something you'd like to see? In the meantime though, you can check out my guide to recognizing food allergies for moms.

So that's about it. Those are the most popular posts of 2015 with some of my favorites sprinkled in. Which one is your favorite?

6 Reasons Why Your Blog and Business Needs Quality Photos

Quality photos are a must for your blog and brand.

How many times have you landed on a website, blog or business, and clicked away a few seconds after the page loaded? What made you click away?

For me, it's usually visuals; pictures, colors, and design.

Unless I already know and respect the blogger or brand, I will rarely waste my valuable time if the content isn't well presented. If you don't have time to invest in me, then I don't have time to invest in you.

I will usually click away if:

• photos are under or over exposed.

• photos are tiny (or random sizes) and not justified with your text.

• photos don't speak to me, as in; "eat me" or "buy me" or "make me".

• photos don't follow a consistent theme or design.

• photos are blurry.

These are a few examples, but you get the idea

Hello, World!

Photography is a very important part of blogging and owning a creative business.

Photos convert a passerby into a reader and a potential customer into a buyer. It's your best chance to stand out in an overly saturated online world.

Here are a few examples of gorgeous photography:

• Design is Yay

• A Pair & A Square

• Rach Martino

• Jenny Highsmith.

Tell me you're not converted.

Have you ever made an impulsive online purchase because the item looked so damn good in the pictures?

Or maybe you cancelled an order because the quality of the images on the site were so bad it made you feel like it was a scam.

Let me make this clear:

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

It sucks, but it's true.

In every aspect of our life and even more so online.

If I haven't convinced you already, here are 6 reasons why your blog and creative business needs attractive photos.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.

Look at the first few pictures on your website right now. What feeling or words come to mind? Is that what you want your reader or customer to feel or think?

Let's be clear here, content is obviously very important; no words = no bueno. People don't come to your website for pretty pictures. They obviously come for content, or a product description.... but they'll never get to your amazing work until they go through that initial picture or graphic. 

You Only Have 7 Seconds to Make a First Impression.

Did you know that? Crazy right? So if content is the only important thing, how do you expect to make that 7 seconds cut? You better have some crazy first sentence!

Having quality pictures helps; A LOT. Sure, if you have no content, you won't retain readers or buyers after the 7 second mark, but if you can't keep them there long enough to read your content, then what's the point?

Pictures Make your Content and Product Shareable.

Um, hello. If you have no pictures (or none of quality) then how do you expect raving fans to share your awesome content?

Sure, there's twitter, but aren't we all more likely to click if it comes with a super enticing picture ? ... and think of the power of Pinterest! You're totally missing out.

Quality Pictures make you Stand Out.

If you're using stock photos that everyone else is using, then you're just another blogger.

Buuuuut, if you take the time to gather props that match your brand, and to style unique photos with items you love and use, then it becomes unique! It becomes YOUR brand.

People will start to recognize it through the way you style, shoot and edit your images. When they see your work on other platforms, they're more likely to click and return to your site because you've built trust...which brings me to #5.   

It Builds Trust with your Readers.

Let's be honest here, a brand looks way more legit when the photos look professional.

If you take the time and plan each one of your photos (or get them professionally made), new readers (and returning fans) are more likely to trust that you are an expert in what you do.

If your work looks like you just grabbed your camera and snapped some blurry photos without even trying, it's kind of a turnoff and makes your brand look very amateur.

Don't get me wrong, everyone loves seeing behind the scenes shots, and real videos of you, especially when trust is concerned, but when it comes to your regular content, you need to put in some effort because first impressions matter (see #2!).

Quality Pictures will Increase Engagement on your Blog and with our Brand.

This one point alone pretty much sums up all the rest. People are much more likely to engage when beautiful, high quality visuals like pictures are involved.

Readers or customers will stick around and browse for your site for longer, they're more likely to buy, more likely to share, more likely to ask questions, more likely to believe you're an expert, and more likely to return!

If you need some help getting started with photography, you can check out my must-have photography kit for bloggers and you can download my 12 free stock photos below. Stay tuned for more!

What's your opinion on pictures on a blog or website? Does it affect how you interact with the brand? I'd love to know! Comment below to share your thoughts with me.