When blogs first started appearing, many of them took the form of online journals. It wasn’t unusual to find blog posts written about a family vacation or for someone to share their thoughts about virtually any subject on the web. I was never really one of those bloggers. At least not fully. Documenting my life in journal form never felt natural to me. I don’t necessarily see my blog as an online journal but rather as a vehicle through which I can share tutorials and creative inspiration. However this website is perceived,you can’t deny that there are pieces of me here in this space.
Regardless of the topic or theme of a blog, bits of its contributors are present. Personal preferences are subtly hidden within the choice of font, color palette, photography and logo choices. Every time you write a blog post, part of your voice gets documented. If you create a video, your style of speaking and presentation skills are recorded and shared. This documentation may not be obvious, but you can’t deny that it exists within the website branding. In a large part, knowing what I loved and what inspired me made it easier for me to create this site. I wasn’t stuck worrying about website trends or which color palette was the right one. I just knew what I liked and I went with it.
If you are at that stage in which you are branding your own website, you can easily do so by finding your own loves aka. favorite things. There are a few ways to go about that: lists, bullet journals, art journals, vision boards. Pinterest is a great way to go as well. I keep a board of things that inspire me and that I can use to continue the MSE brand.Recently, I chose to approach this exercise with a scrapbook page.
Though I am a memory keeper, documenting me falls by the way side. I tend to focus on my family first, me second. Yes, there are bits of me in this web page. However, I am not sure everyone reading it would count it as a form of memory keeping( especially since it is more in article and tutorial form rather than in journal form). When it comes down to making scrapbook pages about me, I need a bit of accountability. It helps me to have a community of support with inspiration and challenges to help me move forward. This year I joined The Awesome Ladies Project creative team. My participation in their community will ensure that I get more of me into my scrapbook albums, but it will also play another important role for my website. In essence, I kill two birds with one stone. I document me while also putting the things I love into a sort of vision board( scrapbook style).
My Life Right Now by Christy Strickler |Supplies Patterned Paper, Die Cuts: Simple Stories; Letters: Pin Paislee; Pocket Card: Cocoa Daisy; Wood Veneer: Studio Calico, Cocoa Daisy; This scrapbook layout was created for The Awesome Ladies Project. A full tutorial and accompanying article is available in the Awesome Ladies Project VIP area. I am proud to be a member of the Awesome Ladies Project Creative team!
The things you love and find important can and should be reflected into all aspects of your life. That can include your website. Many places talk about authenticity. What better way to be authentic than to add a little more you to your web design and writing! In my case, it means pulling from favorite motifs and colors that appear in my scrapbook pages. I invite you to take a little time to do a creative exercise. Pull together images of the things you love or write them down in list form. You don’t have to create a scrapbook page. You just need to be able to see what you love in some sort of physical form. What you will have at the end of the exercise is the start of a branding kit with a bit more of you in it.
From time to time, revisit this exercise. We all change and grow personally. Some of our preferences stay the same. Others change. You website brand should evolve along with you. As an added bonus, you will have a bit of yourself captured and documented which is a wonderful thing.
Now that I have a scrapbook page about my favorite things, I can go back and compare it to the last one that I made a few years ago. I can see that some things remained the same while others changed. I can choose which of those changes to implement within MSE. Changes are coming. I am just not sure what exactly or when, but now, at least I have a starting point from which to make those decisions.
I’m not a big scrapbooker… I have tried and I am just not that creative. However, I have found that I don’t put myself in photos, candid photos of me are not taken with the kids or husband … I’m always the one behind the camera! I should work on that. My kids, grandkids and myself when I’m much older, will want photos of me!
I am sure you are more creative than you give yourself credit for. I have a bad habit of staying behind the camera. It’s something I need to work on as well.