Gift-Giving Made Easy

The month of July is always crazy busy for my family. Choose any day this month and we are guaranteed to have at least one birthday or anniversary marked on the calendar. My sister, both of my neices, my aunt, my dad, my stepdad, my mother-in-law, and I all have July birthdays, and my sister and brother-in-law's 10-year anniversary is today, as a matter of fact.

As you can imagine, it can be time-consuming and expensive to come up with thoughtful gifts for each of these occasions. It seems I'm always rushing around last minute to pick up a card and a gift, add some pretty wrapping, and send it in the mail. Can you relate?

This year, the Elle & Company Library has made gift-giving a thousand times easier. Gift ideas, cards, and gift wrap are always at my fingertips! I simply log in, print recipe cards or an art print on cardstock, and wrap it up. It saves me time, stress, and shipping costs, and the best part? I'm able to purchase a whole month's worth of gifts, cards, and gift wrap for $6.99! 

This week's new addition to the Library makes gift-giving even easier (and a lot more fun). I designed vouchers for thoughtful gift ideas, like a night of free babysitting, a day of pampering, or a free coffee date. They fit perfectly inside of a card and they're helpful for those of us who are on a budget.

And as of this week, you can even give the gift of an Elle & Company Library subscription! ( Click here to learn more )

Are you interested in unlimited to access to easy gift ideas? Subscribe to the Library today!

How to Start a Blog: Creating a Loyal Audience

It's easy to overlook your audience when 99% of blog work happens alone behind a computer screen. In blogging, your readers aren't right there in front you; you don't get to see their reactions and responses firsthand. But they're there. Even if you're new to blogging, they'll be there soon. 

Your audience should be affected by your blog, and your blog should be affected by your audience. After all, isn't that why you're blogging in the first place? Today's post is all about identifying and engaging your viewers to create a loyal blog audience. 

Identifying your audience

1. Look at yourself.

Chances are, your readers have a lot in common with you. Bloggers write about things that interest them, so looking at yourself is a great place to begin when you're finding your reader demographic. How old are you? What season of life are you in? What is your career path? What are your interests? You get the gist. If you were trying to market a business to yourself as a potential customer, how would you identify yourself?

2. Who do you want to read your blog?

Take some time to think about what your ideal readers would be interested in. What would they respond to? How old are they? Are they still in school or already on a career path? Are they creative? 

3. Who is currently reading your blog?

If you're brand new to blogging, you can skip this step. But if you already have a reader base, spend some time identifying your current readers and what they're all about. You may already have a good impression of who they are through feedback on your blog or social media. If not, try offering a reader survey to gather data.

Do you notice stark differences between your current readers and your ideal readers? This could be the perfect time for you to change things up and post something that your ideal readers would love. This may seem counter-productive, but sometimes you have to lose a few followers in order for your blog to grow over time. It's like that saying, "you have to take one step back in order to take two steps forward." 

Knowing who your readers are is important, and caring about their interests is always something you should strive to understand if you want to connect with them. 

Engaging your audience

The number of blogs out there continues to grow. A great way for setting your blog apart is by allowing your readers to interact with you. Make them feel like they are a part of your blog, too! Interaction creates a sense of community, community creates loyalty, and loyal readers are fundamental to the success of your blog. 

In their blog class, A Beautiful Mess had some great tips on how to get your readers involved in your blog:

Host a Q&A session

I love getting to know the ladies behind the blogs I follow. Start a Q&A and let your readers ask you questions. I did this in last week's Coffee Date, and I was so surprised by the questions that my readers asked me! Not only were they fun to answer, but they gave me an opportunity to connect with ladies who follow along with me.

Host a giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff. Giveaways are a great way to say "thank you" to your audience and they engage readers who don't always comment on your blog. 

Ask for help

One of the most important things I've learned through blogging is that you don't have to have all of the answers. You don't have to be an expert in the field you're blogging in; we all need help sometimes. Ask your readers for feedback or advice - you might be surprised by the amount of feedback you receive.

Offer free content

Like I said before, everyone loves free stuff. That's what blogs are! Find ways to give readers more of what they love. They will appreciate you going the extra mile to provide resources for them.

Here's another tip that has helped me: Take some time to respond to blog post comments. Readers have taken the time to write you a note, so let them know that you appreciate their feedback and keep the conversation going by responding to them. 

Identifying and engaging your audience is one of the most important aspects of blogging. Keep your readers in mind as you're posting. After all, they're the reason you're blogging in the first place!

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Seasoned bloggers: What are some ideas you've found helpful for engaging your audience? New bloggers: What questions about identifying and engaging readers did I leave unanswered? 

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Read other posts in this series:

Weekly Truth

Because we see our faults on a daily basis, it's easy to think that God would be upset with our actions and attitudes. I have a tendency to get discouraged when I fall short of perfection, thinking ugly thoughts or failing to respond with patience and grace for the thousandth time. I get ashamed, picture God's disappointment or anger with me, and try to hide from Him. Can you relate?

That's why Zephaniah 3:17 is one of my favorite verses. It reminds me of the life-changing truth that Jesus is a mighty One who saves those who trust in Him. And because of His sacrifice, God rejoices over me, quiets me by His love, and exults over me with loud singing. Me! The sinful girl who turns from Him daily, the disobedient daughter who just can't seem to get it right, the big mess who is very far from perfect.  

I can only imagine the sweet sound of God's loud singing over me some day when my work here is done. 

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Each Tuesday I design a new iPhone background with a different verse and share it on the blog. Seeing scripture several times throughout my day is always an encouragement to me - it reminds me of truth and helps me memorize new verses. Feel free to download, pin, and share these backgrounds as many times as you would like! 

Monday's Letters

Dear Mr. Hooker, I haven't been the best about my grocery store/meal planning routine this summer. But instead of eating out or waving the white flag with a last minute trip to Harris Teeter, we've been rounding up random ingredients for our own version of Chopped. Last Tuesday's basket ingredients were bacon, frozen rolls, and green tomatoes from our garden. Less than 20 minutes later, we had "pan-seared maple-cured bacon and fried green tomatoes on lightly toasted Sister Shubert rolls." Food Network ain't got nothin' on us. 

Dear Faith, Benson, Davis, and Anna Grace, you make being an aunt so much fun. You also make Virginia so hard to leave. Thank you for a weekend filled with hugs, crayons, story telling, face paint, giggles, sidewalk chalk, "giant parades", and birthday celebrations. I love being your "LaLa."

Dear Letters, this past weekend with family made me even more excited to write you each Monday morning. Until a couple days ago, I never knew that you were passed along between my parents in their dating years and early in their marriage. I had also never seen one of you that my dad had written to an old family friend when he was ten years old. You now mean more to me than a few funny stories at the start of each week - you gave me so much insight into my parents and past stories that I never knew.

Dear Jake, you rolled over this morning to tell me about your dream last night. "I had an epic beard. Like, the most massive beard ever." Early morning laughs make waking up beside you so much fun. 

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Each Monday I write four letters: two letters to my husband and two random letters to whatever else is on my heart each week. What originally started as a fun way to record events and funny stories pleasantly developed into a weekly habit of practicing thankfulness.

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Past Letters

Coffee, Anyone?

What do you do when your blog schedule gets rearranged? Roll with the punches and switch things up a bit - that's what! Yesterday I reached out to my Instagram friends and invited them to ask me anything for today's Coffee Date. They came up with so many great questions and it was hard to choose just a handful! Here it goes.

Andrea Pesce Photography

What did you want to be when you grew up? What made you want to pursue a career in design?

If you were to ask my friends and family, they would be quick to tell you that I've always wanted to be an artist. I was the child who could be entertained for hours by a few sheets of paper and a box of crayons, and I had quite the art supply collection (if I do say so myself). I love the saying "created to create," because I can't remember a time when I didn't enjoy drawing, creating, and making things pretty!

My parents have always been (and continue to be) supportive of my artwork. They allowed me to sign me up for every after school art program and they came to as many art shows as they could. I've been wracking my brain trying to remember a moment when I decided to pursue design as a career because it was just a given! After 18+ years of art obsession, graphic design seemed like the logical step for me.

What's your favorite color combination?

At the moment, I'm pinning everything white with pops of pink, green, orange, and blue. Clean, simple, and bright - right up my alley!

Where are most of the clothes in your closet from?

In college, I babysat for kids who had a young momma with great taste in clothes. And wouldn't you know, we just so happened to be the same size (hallelujah chorus). She had gone through her closet one day and had piles of clothes that she was getting rid of, so she kindly allowed me to go through them and pick out what I wanted. I kid you not, I came home with 1/3 of what's in my closet right now. I wore one of the dresses I got from her yesterday, as a matter of fact! 

As for the other 2/3 of my closet, they've come from a wide, random selection of stores. These past two years I've committed to scaling back on clothes purchases, so I've made choosing outfits a little game each morning. I've been trying to reinvent older purchases from Loft, Old Navy, and TJ Maxx with fun accessories and new color combinations. 

Since you're running your own business and create your own hours, how do you stay motivated to keep everything running smoothly?

I'm still trying to figure that out, now that you mention it! I'm learning that maintaining a schedule is crucial for staying on track and meeting deadlines. Now that I'm taking on client work through branding projects, I'm scheduling my days to look something like this:

• 6:00am  Coffee, quiet time, Bible study, & getting ready for the day
• 8:00am  Uninterrupted design time
• 11:00am  Emails, social media posts, etc.
• 12:00pm Lunch break
• 1:00pm   Uninterrupted design time
• 3:00pm  Blog post prep
• 5:00pm  Done for the day

As far as staying motivated, I've found that it's easy to be productive when you truly enjoy what you do. I love designing and blogging - it's actually become difficult to step away from it all at the end of the day and put projects down!

Jessica Mae Photography

What is you and your husband's love story?

Jake and I have known each other since the fourth grade. He was the cute new kid to our elementary school and I was the awkward, obnoxious girl who had a huge crush on him (we have my old journals to prove it!) During this part of the story, Jake normally jumps in to ask what girl didn't have a crush on him back then. He's a mess.

We hung out in the same friend group in high school and were always good friends, but we never dated each other. After graduation, we ended up at schools a couple hours apart - Jake at VMI and I at Virginia Tech. I would see him occasionally at church when we were both in our hometown, and I remember sitting in service thinking about who he would marry someday. That thought always made me a little jealous; I knew that whoever she was, she would be one lucky girl.

Jake and I reconnected during our junior year of college and he ended up asking me to a big formal dance at VMI. Our first date was anything far from typical: I wore a long white dress (VMI tradition) and placed his class ring on his hand in front of his parents and peers in a big formal ceremony. Who would have thought that less than two years later, we would be placing rings on each other's left hand in front of our friends and family? God had a sweet way of working things out. 

What are a few of your favorite things?

The sounds and smells of the coffee maker in the morning, long phone chats with friends, afternoon walks around the pond beside our Suite, and Homestead Creamery's lemon crunch ice cream, to name a few.

I'm visiting my family in Virginia this weekend, and my favorite thing today was waking up to the giggles of my 4 small nieces and nephews. Pure joy!