There's absolutely no way you can walk away from today's post without learning something new! In fact, I don't think it's possible to visit today's guest's blog without learning something new and valuable every single time you visit.
Diane, from In My Own Style, is the queen of DIY tutorials. I just deemed her that title, but I'm sure you'll agree! I am constantly amazed at the creativity that oozes out of her pores and her ability to walk you through a project, step by step, is simply over the top.
I'm thrilled that she's sharing her time with us today. Ready to see what blogging has made Diane do?...
Blogging… I have been
at it now for 2 ½ years so far. I wanted to start a blog about 5 years ago, but
when I opened an account with Blogger I was just lost. I had no computer tech
skills at all and the learning curve was just too steep for me at the time. Fast forward to August 2009 and my desire to
be a blogger was just too intense, so I focused and for the next 3 months I
learned as much as I could about blogging.
My first post went out in early November 2009.
I am bringing this up
because Dana had asked me to take part in her “Blogging Made Me Do It”
series. If I wasn’t a blogger I would be
computer clueless right now. Blogging made me learn… Now I can honestly say that I am pretty computer
savvy – not quite a ninja, but I am amazed at all I have learned about the
technical side of the internet. I can
read “HTML” now and can edit a photo in Photoshop, make a blog header, button
and post graphics. Blogging made me do
it… it made me focus and use my brain in a way I never thought I could.
I write a DIY
Decorating and Crafts blog with a lot of tutorials and photos. I try to post 3 times a week, but sometimes
it just isn’t possible to get a project made, photographed, and then write
about all the steps on how to do it. I
had to come up with a way to make the process go smoother. I needed a space to work in that would allow
me to create and make things, a place to photograph them, as well as a place to
write about them. I am lucky that I had an office already in my home, but that
was designed for the way I used to work before I ever knew what a blog was. Blogging made me sit back and really think
how I could turn that home office into a studioffice to make all the steps required to put out a DIY tutorial
blog post go smoother. Hence I created
the “Creative Wall”. It is a wall that I
have hung all the things I need to make the projects that I post, plus a place
to take a clear photo of them, along with a desk to sit and write about it. If
I wasn’t a DIY blogger, I would have never created this wall.
Creative Wall
post:
Blogging has also
made me do a few projects that didn’t come out quite as planned, but I posted
about them anyway – you have heard of them- the “craft fails”. Where bloggers
show what didn’t work to keep it real.
I had made over a
chandelier in my dining room and it came out wonderfully. Having completed that
successfully gave me the confidence to do another brass chandelier that was
hanging in my foyer, but using a different method. It came out OK, I wasn’t super happy with how
it looked, but I posted it anyway. It
got mixed reviews, and I totally understood why. The funny thing - an editor at Apartment
Therapy liked it and it was featured on Apartment Therapy. If I hadn’t posted it, I would have never had
a huge increase in blog traffic and new readers coming to my site from Apt Therapy. Blogging made me do it… it made me take a
leap past the fear of thinking everything has to be perfect that I post
about. Putting what I didn’t think was
great out there for all to see was scary, but I learned that we all like
different things. It is the idea that
may spark someone’s imagination or inspire them – not the actual project
itself. Since
then the chandelier has had a few tweaks.
1st
Chandelier Makeover:
BEFORE
AFTER
2nd
Chandelier Makeover:
BEFORE
AFTER
Tweak on the 2nd
Chandelier:
And on a more recent note – just last week I was doing a post as part
of a Walmart/Plaid promotion where a group of craft bloggers were given a $25 gift
card to buy something at Walmart to then add our own style to with Plaid paints
and Mod Podge. I bought a rug and started painting it, until it turned into a
big mess late one night a few days before the post was scheduled to be
published. If I wasn’t a blogger I would
have just went to bed at 11:00 PM. But since I had to have a project completed
in two days and knew Walmart was open 24/7, I got out of my painting clothes
and into something presentable and I drove 30 minutes to Walmart to get
something new to paint on. It was a nice
trip - no traffic at all at that time of night.
I got home around midnight and started on the piece the next day. It is a saddle stool - it came out great and
I made my deadline just in time.
Painted Monogram Stool:
6 comments:
that craft wall is AMAZING!!!!!! and love the lights, too!
She is definitely an inspiration for me to step up my blog tutorials and photos! I remember her posting the idea for taking photos - brilliant!
Thanks Dana for asking me to be part of your series and featuring me. You made my day writing such a nice introduction about me and my blog. XO
My best- Diane
Diane is my favorite design blogger, for all the reasons you mentioned - her creativity, her problem-solving mindset, her clear posting style, and yes, I never leave her blog without learning something.
In fact, I want to say that reading Diane's blog has really changed me from someone who thought of herself as not talented or creative or skilled enough to tackle much by way of home projects, to someone whose first thought now is "how can I do that myself?" Again, more than any other DIY blog, she's somehow been the one who inspired me that yes, you CAN figure it out, and you don't have to do it according to someone else's rules or directions, and if it works, it's right. Thank you, Diane!
I love Diane! She started blogging just before I did, she was always one of my favs, her tutorials are right on, she is a real teacher!
I am not a blogger, but I sure hurry to read everything she posts. So many wonderful ideas and even I can understand her instructions.... she sure is the best as far as I am concerned. Most importantly, she figures out how to do 'it' inexpensively, which I count on a lot.
Thank you Diane.
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