paper's gotta brand new mag

I am so excited about this magazine! I just received my first issue {missed the premiere issue} ... I saw it around at the NSS and knew it would be different. It's just a fresher look at the industry today and seems to have more focus on small boutique owners {love their use of 'mom-preneur'} and small design companies.

And really, isn't that what we're after? Unique and exquisite products? You're not going to find them at the Louie Awards {don't get me started ... that's a whole other post!} or the previous conglomerate industry mags.

I especially enjoyed reading "To Blog or Not to Blog" ... For me, starting this blog was a hard decision {and a bit of a costly nightmare to design a seamless look with our website ... thank you imagehat studio}, mostly because I hadn't yet been drawn into blogosphere when we started talking about it. Eric had the idea, and as I researched more about blogging 'professionally' {as I have a personal blog, that's sole purpose is to keep family & friends up-to-date on the kids} and got addicted to bloglines and my favs while our site was being finished ... I decided it would be a refreshing addition to our website and the store.

It's much more work than I anticipated, and more addicting than I ever thought possible {am I a freak??} ... but also rewarding. It's a great spot to tell more about who I am and why I'm doing what I'm doing.

The thing I've really been struggling with {and have from the start} is how much personal to throw in with the 'professional.' I mean ... with 4 kids, 4 dogs, 2 horses I'm not without personal blogging material!

But anyway, the reason I enjoyed this article so much was the take-away ... Ez from Creature Comforts said it well, "Successful blogs make someone feel a personal connection with the writer, so if it's just to drive sales, it may not get many hits. Don't make it about the products, but what inspires them. It's easy to tell if a blog is forced, and it quickly becomes obvious over time."

Holly at decor8 summed it up best for me ... "And while it's great to talk about your business, don't make your work the entire focus of your blog."

And so my friends, while I promise not to over-indulge myself with potty training, pre-school starting, big-girl bed stories {well ... maybe big-girl bed stories}, I do look forward to sharing a bit of my personal adventures, design, and life inspirations with you. In fact, I've been holding back sharing photos and info on the addition we're working on ... I think I'll put together a post on that over the weekend. Thank you Stationery Trends for helping me out!

I really have enjoyed sharing with you over the last couple of months. And the response I've seen has been overwhelming to me. So a huge thank you to all of you that have been tuning in! God's blessings to you ...