Haven 2016 - 5 Big Tips on Creativity
8:32:00 PM
Last week, I got to go to Haven. Haven is a DIY and home décor
blogging conference held in Atlanta, Georgia every year. This was my second
year; I told you all about my first year at Haven here. You may be wondering
why I want to share my trip with you, especially since you may not be a
blogger. The answer is simple: my purpose here is to help you feel free to
create, and to help you create a beautiful life. That’s why my tagline for this
blog is “creating a beautiful life together.” These are the very simple concepts
that really impacted me this weekend and I think will help you, too.
Have a plan in mind, and be willing to change it.
Each year, when I go to Haven, I have a plan of what I want
to do for the sessions. There are always a group of DIY classes and a group of
blogging classes. This year, I ended up changing one of the classes I was going
to take to the Advanced Photography class taught by Aniko from Place of My
Taste. It was literally the best class I took (even though there were a lot of
amazing classes).
Even if you are an introvert, a meeting of like minds will help you.
I’m an introvert that needs time alone to recharge. However,
this year I roomed with 3 other girls. We all met last year when it was our
first year at Haven. These girls are amazing. We laughed a lot and cried some
too. Even though we hadn’t seen each other in a year, it was like having a
slumber party every night with 3 other girls who got exactly where you were. As
one of my roommate said, the relationship we have with each other is the best
conference swag. Kim from Hunt and Host, Sandy from Pink Tool Girl, and Laura
from Wildwood Vale are awesome ladies with great blogs.
k |
| L-R Laura, Me, Sandy, and Kim, with 2 of our friends Deb from Lavender Lane and Jess from Domicile 37 |
Also, this year Haven added a Mentor program. I happened to
be in the group led by Sarah from Thrifty Décor Chick, who I have literally
followed for longer than I have been blogging. These girls were amazing! A big
shout out to Jennifer Rizzo who calmed me down when drama from home threatened
to ruin the whole conference for me. It was also great to get a perspective
from girls who have been blogging from a long time (Sarah and Jennifer), as
well as meet some bloggers from NC in my group (Tasha from Designer Trapped in a Lawyer’s Body, Lynn from Nourish and Nestle, and Jess from Domicile 37 even
though she’s moving soon).
Always look for new ways to be creative.
Last year, I spent a lot of time looking to improve my blog
and become more comfortable with blogging. This year, I really felt like I
needed to recharge my creativity and look for media that I either wasn’t successful
with in the past or had never tried.
So I checked out wood turning with Rockler right off.
I also tried paint techniques with Amy Howard at Home.
Decoart has a bunch of new products that I haven’t had a chance to try, but I am going to check all of them out. I went to a class with Marian, Miss Mustard Seed herself, to learn about her milk paint, and I’ll also be trying out Old Fashioned Milk Paint and their Safe Paint Line as well. I experimented with Quikrete in their class. Believe it or not, even though I work with concrete in my day job, I’ve never done anything hands on with the material, until last weekend! I’m looking forward to trying it out in new projects ASAP. And I did a water color class. I’ve always struggled with that kind of painting, but Lucy from Craftberry Bush was amazing and showed some basic techniques and we all walked out feeling amazingly relaxed.
Always look for ways to improve.
I learned so much in photography and styling. I’m hoping to
start implementing these ideas soon. I’m also hoping to improve my blog’s social
media presence. These ideas may be focused on my blog, but really, we should
all try to become better at something.
Stay true to your purpose
This came from John and Sherry from Young House Love.
They were the speakers for the closing ceremony, and they talked about life after blogging. They talked about how they lost sight of why they started the blog – to try new things and be creative, and were more concerned about being “safe”. I really resonated with this since my main reason for starting Architecture of a Mom was because I didn’t feel like I had creative outlets for me, and now my purpose is to keep trying new things and be creative for me….but still show you, my reader, how you can be creative and try new things, too.
They were the speakers for the closing ceremony, and they talked about life after blogging. They talked about how they lost sight of why they started the blog – to try new things and be creative, and were more concerned about being “safe”. I really resonated with this since my main reason for starting Architecture of a Mom was because I didn’t feel like I had creative outlets for me, and now my purpose is to keep trying new things and be creative for me….but still show you, my reader, how you can be creative and try new things, too.
I love to party! Sometimes I link up my posts to Serenity Now, Organizing Junkie, Tidy Mom and these link parties! You should come party with me and check out some awesome new bloggers!
0 comments