New Year! New Look!
THE WHISKING KITCHEN 2.0!
What?! Is this real life guys? I can’t even believe I made it past The Whisking Kitchen 1.0! This first year of blogging has been killer! I’ve loved having a space to express my creativity and bring you all something beautiful! To all my viewers, you keep me going! All my lovely commenters, every one I read is like opening up fan mail and I just ooohh and ahhhh all over you. Seriously thank you so much! I hope you love this website even more and continue reading! I wanted to share with you some insight and things I’ve learned through this first year of blogging!
BLOG DESIGN / LOGO DESIGN by Abagail Halstead!
Blogging is hard work // Anyone who tells you other wise is lying. Creative development takes time and work! Each post is carefully crafted and planned. I start out with a document of inspiration and ideas for each post. Then comes hours of recipe development, styling for each unique recipe, carefully crafted photography (aka getting the best natural light I can find!) and hours of editing. Not too mention the hours staring at my computer and piecing it all together. For all you bloggers that crank out 5+ posts a week, my hat is off to you.
Being able to work from home is so great! // Yes, it is hard work but I also have the ability to do it almost anywhere. When I’m not styling and shooting in my apartment I can take my work anywhere and it’s almost more inspiring! Like right now I’m writing this post from an airplane (I think I’m somewhere over Utah…) and believe it or not it gets my creative juices going! I also love knowing I can wake up, put yoga pants on, make a French press of coffee and get to work right where I live. That isn’t to say sometimes it can be hard to keep myself on track. I’ve learned a ton about my work habits while working from home!
I switched from blogger to square space // My first year of blogging my website was hosted on blogger and while it was simple and a great starter platform I was ready for something more. On squarespace I can customize my content more and still have a beautifully clean layout. They charge $12 a month but it’s honestly really worth it! I was able to import all my content pretty seamlessly. Let me know what you guys think!!
BLOGGER 2015
SQUARE SPACE 2016
Keep yourself on a schedule // Post it’s, to-do lists, a detailed calendar, however you want to do it you should keep yourself on schedule! As a new blogger it is easy to not post for a week or two if you don’t have a proper schedule for yourself! Maybe you will post desserts on Mondays and cocktails dedicate to Fridays?! About a week before a new month starts I usually have a pretty strong schedule/ idea of the content that I want to produce.
Don’t sell yourself out / sell yourself short // I get a lot of weird sponsorship opportunities, NO! I do not want to model swimsuit for you on instagram, uhhhh. So stay true to your brand and true to yourself. It’s easy to get caught up in an opportunity that arises. Staying true to yourself is so important in a blog! You want your voice and your style to shine through and not get wrapped up in recreating what everyone else is doing. Be you, and what you produce will really stand out!
Don’t let it consume you // I mean unless you really want to. Having a blog means you’re on social media constantly and sometimes (especially when I’m out to dinner) I have to tell myself to put the phone down and enjoy the moment. Social media will be there, this evening won’t always be.