Blogging made me do it! Featuring Elizabeth from The Mustard Ceiling

Today's guest definitely wears many hats. Do you know Elizabeth from The Mustard Ceiling?! She's not only gifted at decorating, but she's an amazing graphic designer and as of recent, you can go ahead and attached awesome photographer to her list of talents. When Elizabeth puts her mind to something, you better get out of the way! She's clearly going to do it with 110% of her being. Isn't that an amazing attribute?!

Here's what blogging has made Elizabeth do...

Sometimes I look around the house, or sit down at the computer to work on a new blog design and cannot believe the way my life has changed since I started blogging in January, 2011. Blogging has taught me a lot over the past year and a half and I cannot imagine it not being a part of my daily routine. Blogging has helped me learn to open up and take greater risks in my design choices and in the DIY projects. After working so hard to accomplish the projects around our home, I feel that if I really put my mind to it, I can accomplish it. For example, our Laundry room. Before blogging I would not have tackled a laundry room makeover. For 1) I never could have imaged how fun it would be to have a cute laundry room and 2)after a few days of stenciling I would have probably stopped the stenciling madness. I started the laundry room project because I won a stencil from Olive Leaf Stencils in a giveaway and had no idea where to use it. I thought, the laundry room is small, it won't take long to stencil and so the makeover began...this project took three weeks of stenciling! To date the laundry room stenciling has one of my most challenging projects to finish, but I LOVE it! It is not the most difficult project we have tackled, but the stenciling was really tedious and took a long time. Blogging has made me learn to sew (well, sort of). I am not an expert, but I can successfully sew a pair of drapes or pillows. Two of my goals for 2011 were 1) to start a blog and not give up on it and 2) to learn to sew. I started small with pillow covers and finally in May I worked up the courage to tackle burlap drapes for the dining room. I struggled through the process, but in the end, I think it is just what we needed in there.

Before

After

Not only has blogging made me more confident in my design choices and abilities, but it has helped me find and follow two new passions that I am sure I would never have found without blogging. One of my New Year's Resolution's this year was to learn how to shoot in manual mode on my DSLR camera. When I set out to meet this goal in January I had no idea how much I would grow to love photography. I started out hoping to improve my DIY project photos and fell into a new hobby. Photography really opens your eyes to the world around you, giving you the opportunity to view the world in a whole new light, to pay attention to details you wouldn't have noticed without a camera in hand. It has open up a whole new avenue of creativity for me and I hope to continue to grow my skills.

Self-Portrait downtown Clovis, NM

I have been trying to widen my range of skills, photographing everything from Downtown Signs to bucking cowboys at the rodeo we attended last weekend.

Finally, blogging has led me down a completely new and unexpected career path, which I absolutely love. When I started my blog a year and a half ago, I was computer illiterate. I knew how to turn it on, check email and shop online..that was it. In the first days of blogging, I became obsessed with learning how to create a design for my blog. I would sit glued to my computer for hours teaching myself photoshop. Then, I learned how to install a header on Blogger and finally managed to choke out a full design for my blog. As I sat for hours at the computer I realized I had no idea how many hours had passed, I would get lost in photoshop, loving every minute of it. That is when I knew I was onto something... I have taken blog design classes, photoshop classes, coding classes and have taught myself how to design on wordpress and I have been enchanted by every step of process. I still get giddy when it is time to start a new design, or install a design. My husband teases me about becoming a computer nerd. Never in a million years would I have chosen web design and graphic design as my career path, but I feel it is right where I belong. I recently celebrated my one year anniversary of opening my blog design business, TMC Designs. In some ways I can't believe it has been in a year, in other's I feel like I have been doing it my whole life. Without blogging I would have missed out on something great... Thank you Dana for having me today! I had so much fun thinking and writing about all of ways blogging has opened up new paths in my life. Looking back over the past year and a half, I am truly amazed at where blogging has taken me and am excited to see where the path leads.

I'm so glad Elizabeth shared with us today. If you're even halfway thinking of giving your blog a facelift, make sure you contact her. She's responsible for my design and truly was amazing to work with!