Which Blogs do You Keep Reading & My New Favorites

As many of you probably have already discovered Google Reader is no more. I've always gone to all of my favorite blogs directly so I actually never even used my reader so needless to say I'm not too heartbroken about it.  But for all of you who are mourning Google Reader may I suggest using Bloglovin. 

To follow my blog with Bloglovin simply click on this little button!

As I imported all of my current reads into Bloglovin I decided it was a good opportunity to clean house. I feel like during each stage of my life I've responded to different types of blogs. Do you feel this way? Some of the blogs that used to be daily reads don't appeal to me as much anymore simply because I'm in a different phase of life or my style has changed or maybe the content isn't as good. Either way I weeded through the blogs I don't read anymore and kept only my favorites. I also have been adding in some of my new favorite blogs. I have been discovering so many great new bloggers on instagram lately. Usually I'll fall in love with someone's lifestyle on instagram and eventually find my way over to their blog because I want to see more! I wanted to share a few of my new favorites with you today! 

My sister first introduced me to Hailey about a year ago and instantly fell in love with her and I'm sure you will too. She and her hubby travel the world taking amazing pictures and making incredible videos.

I think the thing that got me hooked on Jen's blog was her authenticity. She is a really talented writer and just recently quit her job as a reporter to stay at home with her baby. She highlights and celebrates women on her blog and I can't get enough! 

If you want to read a blog that will inspire you and make you laugh you have to check out Alison's blog. She is like a witty Martha Stewart. I also feel like she's putting the cool back into crafting. 

I love checking in with Small Fry daily. Not only is it an adorable blog but it was also started by three girls from my high school which makes it even more special to me. They are making motherhood look stylish, beautiful and fun! They come up with simple crafts and highlight real women and give great advice on dealing with motherhood. 

I am a sucker for light and bright photography which is why I adore Ginger's blog. She showcases life as a mom as being beautiful and joyful. I feel so happy every time I stop by her blog.

My friend Megan recently started an adorable children's blog. Sweet Little Peanut is full of crafts, parties and fashion for little kids. I've already tried a bunch of their ideas with Jett and I can't wait to see what else they come up with! 

What are your favorite new blogs to read? Any old favorites that you'll never get sick of? 

And don't forget to follow my blog through bloglovin! 

The Tips I Learned at SNAP That Changed My Life!

If any of you follow me on instagram (@kirstenkrason) then you know that I spent the majority of my week last week at the SNAP conference. It was amazing. I went last year but I was pregnant and still not feeling 100%. This year I felt like I could really have fun and enjoy myself. I love getting to catch up with blogging friends and meet new ones that I've been following for awhile. I also felt like the classes were amazing!! After each class I'd text my husband with phrases like, "this class is changing my life!".  I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on how the blogging world works but after I go to blogging conferences I'm always reminded about how much I don't know. The blogosphere and social media world are ever-changing which is why you can never say you know it all. 

 Class #1 // Google + - Carolina, Always Expect Moore

Everyone keeps saying that Google + is the next big thing so I keep trying to get myself motivated to be on their more. Are any of you on there? You can see my profile here.

- You can create live stream videos on your blog using google + hangouts. 

- The people in your own circle will come up first in your search engines. Basically it's very important to build a large community on Google + for SEO purposes. 

// picture from Heather's Pinterest Boards 

Class #2 // Pinterest - Heather, Whipperberry    &  Jamielyn, I Heart Naptime

Amazing, Amazing, Amazing. I couldn't write fast enough in this class!

Heather

- Are your photos going to make it in a Pinterest world? So true. Let's face it. We are living in a Pinterest world. For your blog to survive you have to be viable on Pinterest. 

- Your descriptions on Pinterest should have call to actions.

- Create negative space with your photos. The eye craves negative space. 

- Try and make your blog photos in portrait layout whenever possible. These take up more space on Pinterest and in turn are more likely to be viewed. 

- Make sure you pictures portray your brand. Someone should see a picture and instantly know it's from you. Also think about the type of watermark you want to use and where you want to place it. 

- Use no more than 3 different fonts on your Pinterest images

Jamielyn

- This is the best tutorial for adding a "pin it" button to your pictures on your blog. 

- You have to engage on Pinterest. Comment, like and repin! 

- Pin only the best and most beautiful images so your boards look well curated. 

- Holidays are HUGE. Be pinning for Holiday pins about 2 months in advance.

- picMonkey is a great site for creating pinnable collages for your blog. 

- Timing is everything! Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are the best days to pin. 7-11 am and pm EST are the best times to be pinning. There are sites out there to let you schedule pins. Pingraphy is a great one. 

- If a pin is sponsored you need to add #spon or #ad to the description.

Class #3 Monetizing Your Blog - Beckie, Infarrantly Creative  

I'm not gonna lie this class was WAY overwhelming. Most of it went over my head but I did get some great gems from it!

- Sidebars are premium ad space! Clean it up! Get rid of anything that you absolutely don't need. 

- Work with numerous ad networks not just one. 

- You should have about six ads on your blog. 

Class #4 Collaborating with Brands - Mandi, Vintage Revivals  - Melissa, The Inspired Room - Kate, Centsational Girl  

Awesome class taught by some of my favorite people! I LOVE collaborating with brands so I was all ears for this one. 

- Make a list of all the brands you want to work with and set goals for how you are going to make it happen.

- Respond promptly! They will move on if you don't. 

- Keep in mind these companies have budgets they need to maintain. 

- You need to disclose sponsored posts at the top and not just the bottom or on your sidebar somewhere. 

Class #5 Instagram - Susan, Freshly Picked , Shelley, House of Smiths, Rhonna, Rhonna Designs 

I really really needed this class. I feel like I got to Instagram so late in the game (stupid android). I have been working hard to try and figure out how to increase my presence on instagram and take better pictures but it seems like it has been a long process... 

However I have been improving slowly but surely. For example these two pictures are from my instagram feed. The second one was Jane first thing in the morning about 7 months ago and the first one was a picture I took a couple of weeks ago. It takes time to learn how to use a camera and figure out lighting so I know it's okay to give yourself some time to figure it out. 

I also think that instagram is like blogging. It takes reading other blogs to figure out what you are supposed to be blogging about and how to do it. It takes following people on instagram to get a hang of how to do it, what kind of pictures to post and how many pictures to post. I'm still figuring it out. 

But please, follow me on Instagram! I promise I won't disappoint! 

So here are the best tips I took away from this great class...

- Make things Pretty! People look at ordinary things all day long, give them something pretty to look at. 

- Get a camera lens cleaner and clean your iphone lens off.

- instagram about 4 times a day. Don't overgram. 

- Make sure your giveaways are simple and to the point. Don't make them too long (about 48 hours). 

- Don't ignore your haters or bad commenters. Address their concerns. Turn them into fans!

- Include questions or call to actions in your posts to get engagement from your followers. 

- Comment and reply to comments! You need to be active on instagram. 

The best tip I took away was from Susan. She talked about instagram karma. If you are helpful to other people and kind it will all come back to you. Be gracious. Tag others whenever possible and share the love! 

They also shared some of their favorite apps. 

- Bubble Frame

- Shape Plus

- Afterlight  (I love this one. Captain is my favorite filter)

- Fuzel

- PicTapGo (also LOVE this one)

- Text Mask

- Rhonna Designs

- Diptic 

I also took some great classes on photoshop and photo styling which were seriously amazing. Did you know I've had photoshop elements on my computer for two years and never used it! I learned the most basic things which are going to totally transform the way I edit pictures from now on. 

Have you ever attended a blogging conference? Did you think it was worth it? 

If you liked this post you might also enjoy What I Took Away From Alt. 

My Experience at Alt 2013

Can you believe this was my THIRD year attending Alt? As bad as it sounds I feel like it took going three years for me to finally figure it out and enjoy myself. The first year I had NO idea what I was doing. I floated from thing to thing with absolutely no goal or purpose in mind. And then last year I felt deathly ill with morning sickness. I didn't go to any of the after parties or really talk to many people. 

Here are the reasons this year was the BEST EVER year for me at Alt. 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

 1. I was excited.

I laugh when I look at this picture Justin took of me on the first day. But I swear my face probably looked like this the majority of the time. The first year I went I was excited but mostly anxious and last year I was so yucky and sick. This year I was super excited. From sun up to sun down I was loving life during Alt this year. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

2. I actually went to the Wednesday night dinner. 

Believe it or not the last two years I have skipped out on the dinner. It's hard for me to leave my kiddos for two full days of Alt so I never make the wednesday night sponsor dinners a priority. This year I went to the Minted dinner and had a blast. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

I got to sit next to Natasha from Minted during dinner and it was amazing. 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

Minted has always been so good to me and great to work with. Natasha is so sweet and the whole  night we talked about her cute new baby and her adventures living in Hong Kong. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

The thing I loved most about attending the Minted dinner was getting a chance to talk to bloggers in a more intimate environment. I made friends that I was able to connect with all throughout the conference. Which leads me to my next point...

photo by Brooke Dennis

3. I made LOTS of new friends. 

One of my very favorite things to do in the world is to meet people face to face that I've known through blogging. You get that opportunity all the time at Alt. I've been reading Courtney's blog, A Thoughtful Place, for years now and we've emailed back and forth a few times but it was SO cool to get to meet her in person. She is super sweet and I so wish I had gotten to chat with her more. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

We love each other so much we even decided to match on Friday! 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

 I partied hard with Alycia and Diana at the Clue party. I even crashed their hotel room to get ready for it. 

I feel like every spare second that I had I used to talk with people and get to know them better. My FAVORITE thing about Alt are the people that attend. There are so so so so many talented people that inspire me in so many ways. I probably chatted a few people's ears off (sorry Tauni) but I feel like I could talk to fellow bloggers forever. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

4. I got to chat with old friends.

I love this picture of me talking to Amanda. She has been to every year of Alt with me and I feel like Alt wouldn't be the same without her. She lives in Southern Utah so I don't get to see her very often. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

Did you know that I have known the amazing Emily Frame for years?  She has always been gracious and stylish and beautiful. I loved getting to chat with her and other bloggy friends all during Alt. 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

I think this picture is THE BEST because Amy and Melanie are two of the nicest people in the world (cant' you just see it in their smiles?) Melanie is one of my favorite blogging friends that I've known for awhile and Amy is a brand new blogging friend that I got to meet during the summit. 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

5. I ate lots of yummy food

Since I was so sick last year I hardly got to enjoy all of the yummy treats. The food at Alt ROCKS! Don't tell anyone but I stuffed like 10 of these truffles in my purse and took them home with me. They were amazing. 

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

6. I networked. 

This is a picture of me at the Better Homes & Gardens Roundtable on Friday morning. I really put myself out there this year in terms of networking which is something I have never done in previous  years. I came prepared with ideas and I came away with a newfound determination to find ways to work with brands I love. I am determined to connect more with brands this upcoming year. 

photo by Brooke Dennis

 photo by Justin Hackworth 

7. I spoke! 

The only reason I even got to go to Alt this year was because I was asked to be a speaker. The summit sold out so fast there is no way I would have been able to go otherwise. I had the most amazing time speaking with my fellow panel members. I'm not gonna lie I was pretty nervous about it but it went great! I'm saving more info on the experience and what we talked about for a separate post. (get excited) 

All in all it was an AMAZING few days. I hope you are not sick of hearing about Alt yet because I'll be posting more of what I learned later! 

H.O.T. Product Party

 I was so excited when I was invited to attend the Mom's Best H.O.T Products party last week by Melanie and Tana. Their new site Mom's Best H.O.T Products features great new products for kids and moms.  

While we were there they had some really fun products on display. We were asked to go around and review a bunch of products. Since I have a baby on the way there were lots of great items to look at. I swear every time you have a baby thousands of new products have been invented so it was great to see what's new. 

We even got to take an item home to review. I got to take this adorable book and pet monster from Worrywoos. Jett loves it. Each monster comes with it's own book. I've been reading it to him every night. 

You can check out all of the products we reviewed by going over to Moms Best H.O.T product. Make sure you vote for yourself!

Dinner catered by Marleys and dessert from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. I ate way too much but I couldn't help myself! 

All photos by Bri.

Alt Recap

me, caitlin and amanda 

I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Alt this year. I was so excited to go but the morning sickness hit me earlier than I expected. But lots of prayers and zofran later I managed to show up for the two day conference and I'm so glad I did. 

photos by b.a.d. photography 

I hung out with Caitlin Creer and Christina mostly but I was able to chat with some friends that I met last year and some new friends that I met this year. 

photo by moss + Isaac 

Alt is fun for a number of reasons. The people are interesting, the atmosphere is exciting the food and hotel are amazing and the all of the speakers are so inspiring. 

photo by Justin Hackworth 

Ben Silbermann from pinterest shared his inspirational story and received a standing ovation afterwards. It was truly amazing and an experience I'll never forget.  Let me just say that Ben is one-of-a-kind. I've never met anyone like him.

His speech was so inspirational and he got a well deserved standing ovation at the end of it. 

There were a few panels I really enjoyed this year. 

Jenny, Kirsten, Morgan Satterfield and Emily spoke on a panel The Ins and Outs of Interior Design blogging. I was really interested in Jenny's portion. She talked about how she always though the blog and the separate design business were really hard to manage at the same time but she realized that the business fed the blog and vice versa. I agree. It's so much easier to find things to blog about when I'm working on client projects. She also touched on spending 10% of your time on inspiration ie. blogs, pinterest, magazines.. and 90% of your time on perspiration meaning actually getting out there and shopping, working on clients homes or your own home etc. 

Photo by b.a.d Photography 

Emily Henderson gave some great tips on styling your projects for photographs. This was advice I really needed. A few of her tips that I liked:

- It's okay to show stems in vases

- If you have tight flowers use a blow dryer to open them up a bit.

- Combine open and closed flowers in a bouquet to make it look more natural. 

- Create asymmetrical shapes

- Don't use gerber daises unless it's for a kids room or party. 

- Use lots and lots of pretty books to style. 

- Fake or half eaten food is a no-no.

- Square objects should be straight on and have stuff on them. 

I also enjoyed the panel by Erin, Danielle, Meg and Sarah on Building Relationships with Ad Networks and Sponsors. 

I feel like sponsors and giveaways are still a mystery to so many people. There are new rules coming out all the time on regulations and laws regarding these things and the only way I get to hear about them is by going to things like Alt. Honestly I'm still a little confused. Basically I know that I need to start doing some research before I do any more giveaways. You can read some more info on what I'm talking about here. I also learned about the types of sponsors you should be taking. Make sure they are a good fit with your brand and blog. Make sure they are honest and have values as a company. You can even think about having some kind of document for them to sign stating that they are such. Go into blog advertising as, "Once I take money from you you are on my team and I will do everything I can to help you make money". Don't be a person that will just take any sponsor or any giveaway. Know your worth. 

Friday morning I attended a round table discussion on Tax and Accounting for bloggers. I'd been looking forward to this one. Caroline Devoy spoke at this table and she was really knowledgeable. Basically you can write off what you blog about if you feel it is promoting your business or is a business expense. You need to be careful though as to how you label things. Make sure you call them "Creative Supplies" 

photo taken by Justin Hackworth photography 

One of my favorite panels last year was Growing Your Readership so I decided to go again this year. Jordan, Kelly, Nicole and Maggie spoke at this one. Some of the points I liked from this one:

- A well designed blog is a prerequisite now. Have a professional look and make yourself look bigger than you are. 

- Blog about what people are searching for on search engines. For example holidays, big events like the super bowl etc. 

- What's your story? Are you the girl who is building a house, fixing up a house, starting a business, writing a book etc. 

- If you have a good idea put it out there immediately before someone else does it even if you don't have the idea perfected right now. 

Jordan gave the best advice on my opinion on growing your readership. She outlined ways to actually post original content.

- Design beautiful layouts for your posts. Take a normal photo and add a beautiful graphic. This will also help your pictures get pinned.

- Blog about your experiences. No one else can have the experiences that you have. Experiences with travel, clients, in school, in your everyday life etc. 

- Share expertise. If you are an Interior Designer teach people how to become better designers. If you are a party planner guide people on planning the perfect party etc. 

- Post from your own research. Find ways to pull inspiration from the past and put your own spin on it.

I attended lots of other great panels but those few were my favorites. I hope I get to attend next near and I hope to see you a lot of you there!  

Wow that post took me like a whole week to write.  I would work on it for 5 minutes and then take a nap or get something to eat or just stare into space. Seriously I'm a mess right now! I hope you enjoyed that recap now I am going to go watch some t.v an lay on the sofa.

Caitlin Wilson Textiles Signature Pillow Giveaway!

I'm sure you've all seen Caitlin's new fabric collection! It is seriously amazing. I love her signature pillows that come in either the deco pattern or the signature pattern. 

Today Caitlin is giving away a signature pillow of your choice! Check out her website to choose your color, pattern and size! 

To enter this giveaway leave a comment with which pillow you would choose if you won. 

For an extra entry become a follower of Caitlin's blog. 

This giveaway ends Tuesday January 17th.

Thoughts on Pinterest and my New Favorite Pins

Pinterest is quickly becoming everyones newest obsession. Sometime I wonder if it's replacing blogs.  What do you think? I used to check blogs first thing in the morning but now I find myself hopping on Pinterest as soon as I wake up. 

Are blogs still needed? Sometimes it scares me think that Pinterest is quickly becoming everyone's favorite ways to find DIY ideas, beautiful images and inspiration. I think it has given all bloggers a wake up call. No longer is just posting pretty pictures going to cut it. I think now we are all needing to find new ways to stay original. Somehow we need to show you things that you can't find anywhere else. 

What are your thoughts about it? 

In the meantime here are a few of my very favorite pins as of late. Enjoy! 

Jamie Meares is my favorite. These stools are amazing. 

image via Canadian House and Home 

Okay that's it. I want a yellow kitchen. Love the floor, love the subway tile to the ceiling and love the dark countertop. Love it all. 

Okay, seriously? There are no words for how much I love this dresser re-vamp done by The Southern Eclectic. 

via Katie Armour, the neo-traditionalist 

I love love love the colors of this home. It's weirdly similar to my own house. Maybe that's why? 

I love this outfit so much I pinned it twice. 

And finally... 

This ikat bowl from C Wonder is calling my name. Love it!

2nd Annual Alice Lane Blogger Holiday Social

Last night was our 2nd annual Alice Lane Holiday Blogger Social. It was so fun! Alice Lane came up with the theme "Merry Christmas Darling". They came up with the most beautiful invitations to send out. 

There was a handmade vibe and the name tags reflected that. 

The spread! 

We knew we were inviting a lot of creative people so we decided to do a gift giveaway. Everyone brought a handmade gift to giveaway. 

We drew names to see who went home with our gift. 

I won this adorable fabric deer made by Kim from Third Floor Design Studio.  It's being displayed in my kitchen right now. I love it! 

Jessica, and Michelle from 4 Men, 1 Lady with her guest Erin Miller from Designer Blogs. 

Alice Lane also came up with the most amazing favors. 

Sweet little biscuits and jam. I had mine for breakfast this morning and it was heavenly. 

Thanks to everyone who attended. Here is the list!