My Creative Blog:
family

Ok, it's time to get really real with you. About us and our blog. It involves a little something we like to call:

We recently received a very nice comment from a regular follower that prompted us to write this post. Before you read it, I have to say that we were very grateful for this reader's honesty, and the sweet way she voiced her concerns. There's nothing we love more than good, honest feedback from the lovely people who visit our blog every day!

Ack! She nailed our current dilemma right on the head! Let me give you a little back story…when we started this blog a little over a year ago, we did not anticipate it interrupting our lives at all. It was just a place to throw all our ideas and projects. We literally thought that only our moms would read it. Then came Nate (not once, but four times!),

Crafting with the Stars…

local TV coverage, newspaper articles (you get the point) which equalled rapid blog growth. AND WE LOVED IT. All of these amazing opportunities meant that we were doing loads of projects, pouring hours of our time into the blog, and spending a lot of money to keep it all together. The blog is the most important, most rewarding and most fun thing we do (yes, even more than the Nate Show! It's our first love.), so we make every effort to put 5 great posts out per week. We LOVE this blog and it has become bigger and better than we ever expected.

But here's where our dilemma comes in: In addition to the blog, we both work other jobs, raise a bunch of kids and try to be good wives, friends, daughters, sisters etc. Realistically we could not possibly keep up the pace we had been going for the first year, even though we would like to. Not only did this little blog take a lot of time away from our families, but we also spent a lot of our own money to do all those projects! We need to find a better way. We are trying to adjust our own expectations (which, believe me, are sky-high!) and are experimenting a bit with our posts.

So what does all this mean for the blog you love to read?
1 You'll probably see only a few DIY projects a week from us. Instead of scrambling to come up with a DIY project just for the sake of having one to post about, we're being more intentional about our projects so that they're well done, and have a purpose in our homes.

2. We'll be highlighting our wonderful sponsors every once in a while to expose you to their awesomeness and also, to express our gratitude for their support of our blog that allows us to keep doing our projects. Don't worry we won't be throwing them in your faces at every turn, and we promise to only accept sponsor whose products we absolutely love!

3. We might host a guest poster, or highlight other blogs we feel like are worthy of notice! The design blog world is like a family, and we want to promote other people, like others have promoted us!

4. We'll keep bringing you our thoughts on all those fun, crazy and fabulous design trends out there, and how we're incorporating them in our homes!

So, in conclusion (are you still there?), we are crazy about this blog and all of you, and hope to continue doing this for a long time, and even (crossing our fingers) turn it into a full-time job. We hope you'll stick around for the long haul, and be understanding as we try to find balance and a system that works for us.
And now, a question for all you bloggers/mothers/wives etc. out there: How do YOU find balance?

P.S. We'll be doing a follow-up post on our top tips for Part-Time Bloggers, so get excited!; )

We all love Pinterest… there are so many ideas and cool people to be inspired by. I wish I took the time to do more of the projects I see, but honestly this lil' old blog takes a lot of time, so I don't do as many as I'd like to (sounds weird that a DIY blog would take time away from DIYing, but it's true!)

Today I'm excited to introduce you to two people I adore. Meet my adorable sister-in-law Kelly and my awesome brother-in-law Bryan. This cute couple lives in Ohio, so we miss them 24-7, but we have a blast when we're together.

I also have to introduce you to their little stud Jax. He's our one and only nephew and we think he's the best!

Okay, so why are we having this Mangin Family blog reunion?? Well, Kelly is not just a Pinterest addict, she actually does what she pins! {Gasp!}
On our recent visit to Ohio, I felt like I was walking through a Pinterest Museum. It was too awesome not to share. Kelly has some creative friends and family, and between them all they have done so many fun projects for her home. So without further ado… Welcome to Kelly's Pinteresting Home! State Artwork Kel is from OH and Bry is from PA.

Aqua Painted Pedestal Table Kel got her table and chairs at goodwill for $75 total. Add aqua and white paint and you have an awesome statement piece!

Funky Pendant Light This was one of the first changes Kelly made to her kitchen when she moved in!

Crossword Names Takes 2 seconds, but is so cute as an accessory. It's just a frame turned chalkboard.

Kitchen Office Space She removed the wall cabinets, added open shelving, and did some adorable accessorizing. Kelly claims she can't decorate, but I'm pretty sure you'd all beg to differ!

Spray Painted Faux Antlers Kel is super lucky to have a Hobby Lobby right around the corner. These beauties came from there and got a coral spraypaint treatment.

Simple Printables She doesn't just PIN free printables, she actually uses them… imagine that! A simple piece of twine, some clothespins, and voila!

Modern Painted Chandelier Bye Bye Brass, hello funky green. The circle bulbs are just right and add a cute modern flare.

Window Frame Kel found this awesome salvage shop in Springfield, OH. They have windows galore!

Family Rules and More Printables Kelly and Jess both have the Be Happy print. You can get it at Sprik Space.

Magazine Paper Frame & Vase These two were purchases, but I liked them too much not to include them. If you're patient enough you can make your own!

House Numbers and Hooks There are so many things you can do with frames, and digital paper. Our favorite site is Moo & Puppy!

Yarn Wreath You know I'm the"anti-wreath," but this one is really cute! I love the homemade pompoms

Paper Flowers Kelly's friend Amy made these for her and they match her aqua table so well. Jones Design Company has tons of paper flower tutorials!

Clip Hooks Are you seeing a clothes pin trend? They're affordable, easy to use, and cute!

Fabric Lined Shelves Kel took plain bookshelves from drab to fab with this blue fabric. Her shelves always look so cute! Her sister gave her the frame with the subway art and has it loaded up with a print for every season/holiday.

Unique Gallery Wall These cool rounded frames are from Ikea and the doorknob is from Hobby Lobby.

Growth Chart I love this growth chart that Kelly's sister made for her. It's exactly like this one from Miss Natalie. No time to make one? You can buy one on Etsy for $56.00.

Last but not least, check out this fabulous fabric choice for a DIY headboard!

What do you think? Are you inspired to go look at your pin boards and actually do a project? I know I have a list a mile long that I want to do now! I also have to tell you that Kel had no idea I was snooping around her house taking pictures, so none of this was staged or cleaned… this is real-deal, everyday life and I think it's great!
Have you turned a pin into a project? Share the link, we'd love to see!

Only following on the blog? You're missing out. Use the buttons below to join in on all the fun!

Occasionally, Jess and I do or see a project that is deserving of the"Try this Now" title. The project needs to be super simple to execute and have a major awesomeness factor. We know it's easy to have an ever-growing DIY list, but these babies are projects that you should try right away. We've started a page on the blog where we'll catalog these super-simple projects, including today's Family Valentine's Idea. So be on the lookout for our fun Try this Now logo. TRY THIS NOW PAGE

I was browsing the Target dollar bins and spotted these cute mini mailboxes. We have a little over a month before Valentine's Day, so I decided that we were going to create a little family mail center!

Here's the plan… we set these mailboxes in the family room with a stack of blank notes where anyone can leave a note for the kids and they can leave notes for each other. We're encouraging them to write something nice to one of their siblings each day.
Of course I wouldn't leave you hanging without free printable notes of your own! You can download the ones I created HERE.

I printed them on plain,old computer paper, but I think they're pretty cute!

I had bought one mail box for each kiddo and some Valentine's stickers. I pulled out some washi tape and a bunch of Sharpie markers.

After dinner last night, the kids went to town decorating. They were really into it!

The best part wasn't the decorating though… it was seeing how excited they were to write each other notes! Kira is really sweet and put so much effort into her brother's note.

Here are a few of the notes that are going to be read this morning…

Kaden is honestly the best big brother on the planet!

He actually wrote 2 notes for Cal!

I'm really excited about the next month and how excited my kiddos are to send each other thoughtful notes. We're not a super touchy-feely family, so this is one way we can do Valentine's Day on our terms!

Are you ready to Try This Now? Will your family be getting a Valentine's Mail Center?
Linking up to: I Heart Naptime

Last Fall my sister, Chrissie, and her family moved here from Indiana. She had gone out there for college, (Taylor University) and ended up staying out there for 10 years. We are only 18 months apart and have always been extremely close, so the distance was not fun at all. I have another sister, Rachel, who is older than me, and the three of us are very best friends. I LOVE having my sisters close by. It is such a blessing to us, and our kids! Watching the cousins grow up together is super fun, and I can't wait to see how they interact as they get older. Anyway, all that to say I love that Chrissie is lives only 10 minutes away. And even more so now that she and her husband have started a new business that is beyond cool. Introducing…

You know those photobooths at the beach that are always so much fun? I've actually posted about my love for them here, so as soon as they mentioned their idea, I was totally on board. Race Street Photobooth offers a full-blown, portable professional photobooth that adds a fun and exciting activity for any group of people, anywhere. I'll get to that later, but first meet Chrissie and her husband, Kirk:

Adorable, right? Last Sunday they let Monica and I mess around with some fun props to try out the photobooth, and let me tell you, there were some hilarious, hideous, cute and crazy photos that came as a result!

We both couldn't get over how clear the pictures are (I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the camera they use-Canon Rebel T3i DSLR- is better than mine), and how quickly they were printed off. Seriously, in under one minute we had two copies of our photostrip (one for her and one for me!), which would be awesome at, let's say a wedding, because the bride and groom could keep one copy and the guests could take one copy home with them. 

Aren't we so sophisticated in that first picture? Why yes, yes we are, thankyouverymuch. The photos can be printed in black & white, which is my personal favorite, or in color with a choice of a white or red background. Monica's going to kill me for this next one, but I couldn't resist:

Ok, I take back the sophisticated thing. We're dorks. I could sit in the booth for hours and not get bored. Not that I have done that…yet. Race Street Photobooth serves the greater Philly area, and New Jersey. We're thinking of having them bring their photobooth into our neighborhood on Halloweenl so all the kids can get pictures in their costumes. Wouldn't that be fun? Honestly, the options are endless with this thing and will make any event memorable. For more information about their packages, check out their website. Plus, they're offering a special for EC2 readers! Mention EC215 to receive 15% off the package of your choice!

So…What event do you have coming up that needs a photobooth?; ) 

Well, it's been two awesome (and far too quick) weeks since our little man arrived, so I thought I would give you a glimpse of the tiny person who has stolen our hearts. He surprised us by making his appearance almost four weeks early, but he's healthy and growing like a weed! You might remember that when I announced this pregnancy, I had mixed emotions. But those days seem long gone because I can't imagine life with out our new addition.
This is Bennett:

Of course, I had to call in my friend Stacy from Salvatori Photography to snap some pictures of my baby before he grew out of that fleeting newborn phase. Stacy is also the one who set up an awesome gender reveal photo shoot for us.

This girl does not disappoint! Photographing newborns is no joke- it involves a lot of patient waiting, a space heater, and four adults trying to position a floppy head. I gotta say, though, she had a pretty cute subject to work with!

I seriously can't get enough of these pictures! If you need ANY kind of special event photographed and are in the area, you need to call Stacy. You won't regret it! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since Bennett came so early, I didn't have the chance to finish his nursery, but in the last few weeks we've made some progress. I should be able to reveal it to you later this week, but here's a sneak peek of what we have going on…

Can't wait! A big thank you to all of you who have wished us well and congratulated us on our new baby- we are so grateful and feel so loved. This blogging community is seriously the best. <3

Since you all enjoyed the free canvases we shared last week, we thought we'd give you a little treat this week too! We love hooking you up with freebies!!

Have you heard of Paper Coterie? If you have, you're way ahead of us since we've been hiding under a rock and didn't know about their fabulousness. Basically, they sell super cool, trendy, fun ways to document and record all the important moments in our lives. Photo books, greeting cards, birth announcements, planners, journals. Awesome stuff, people. Check it out:

I Love Swatchbook (Great Father's Day gift! 30 pages, only $15!)

Memorykeeper (perfect for storing kid's artwork!)

Set of 12 Hello Cards (a personal favorite!)

Live the Life Planner (Calendar + Notebook + Personal Pics = Awesome) Here's what Monica picked with her $15:You might remember that I got an iPhone last month and I'm loving up Instagram (You can follow me at eastcoastcreative) well I saw this journal and knew it was for me.

I used four pictures that make me smile and voila. I plan to use it as kind of a prayer journal. Life can get a tad busy sometimes and often I don't take enough time to talk to The Big Guy. I find that writing helps. I loved that I could choose a fun font (I'm a font snob) and text, so I named it,"Hey God, It's Me Monica" (a little play off of Judy Bloom).

Here's what Jess picked with her $15: Ok, we're lame because we both picked journals, but I just started a new job (as a Trip Coordinator at the same continuing care facility I've been working at for the last two years) and I know there will be tons of details, little reminders, and future trip ideas I'm going to need to jot down on a regular basis, so this will be the perfect fit!

Simple, clean and of course, features my favorite picture of my kids ever.

Here's how you get your Free $15 at Paper Coterie! Click HERE and then use the code GIFTFAVES at Checkout!
So what will you get with your $15?? Let us know what you choose! Have a great weekend!

{If you didn't hear, The Real Housewives of Bucks County are now East Coast Creative (Get the story here ). You'll still be getting all the DIY, Design, and Monica & Jess that you love, but change your favorites to www.eastcoastcreativeblog.com Thanks!}
Last week we got real with you all and shared some of the struggles of a PTB (Part-Time-Blogger). You can check out the post here, but basically we're trying to figure out how to write a successful, growing blog, when it's not yet your full-time job (Notice we say"yet"… girls can dream right?!?) Due to the huge response we got from so many PTBs, we thought we'd share some of what we've learned along the way.

Pre-plan your posts. We spent about 6 months blogging by the seat of our pants. Ex: 10pm on Monday one of us would be DIYing a project for Tuesday morning. That still happens occasionally, but planning out projects ahead of time, helps us balance out the type of posts per week (DIY, Design Trends, Recipes, etc). It also helps cut down on our time shopping for materials. When you know what projects you're working on for the week, you might be able to cut your Lowes trips down to 2 or 3… sometimes, it used to be 5 or 6!

Using a simple Google calendar is a must for us because there are two of us that need to know the plan. Seeing the month or even two weeks at a time planned out makes things seem nice and manageable!
Check your Memory Card. Don't check to see if it's working, check to see what's on it. Jess and I have commented numerous times that we take more pictures of projects than anything else. Before blogging, I was a camera junkie. I had it with me all the time and we had awesome pictures of our kids. About a month ago, I decided enough was enough. Blogging was getting in the way of family pics. This is a peek at my April 2012 photos in Picasa.

Not one single picture of any of my kids, or even a single human for that matter. Ugh! I made a decision to be intentional and take more pictures of people than things! Here's a peek at May 2012 so far (and yes, I started May's folder about a week early)

I'm happy to be more balanced in this area, and really it's not about the pictures, it's about where my focus is and what memories I want to preserve… projects or people?? I'm choosing people.
Find a Blog Mentor. Officially or unofficially, having someone that you can ask blog questions to is so helpful! Beth from Home Stories A to Z was the first blogger we were able to reach out to with questions. She was always so helpful, even if our questions were silly or kinda obvious.

Having someone that knows the ropes and is willing to give you support when you need it is essential. Don't be afraid to reach out when you have questions. (You can even ask us, but we're still technically considered rookies)
Recently, we got an"Official" Blog Mentor. We write once a month over at Beckie's blog, Infarrantly Creative. That started a relationship that has helped us more than we ever could have imagined. Once a week we conference with Beckie about all things blog related. This lady is amazing! We give her a topic we want to talk about and 60 minutes later we have about 5 pages of notes and are so invigorated and full of ideas and things to try!

If you want to take your PTB to the next level, consider reaching out to someone that you think would make a great blog mentor. It'll rock your world!

Prioritize.
This sounds so obvious, but believe me, once the blog world sucks you in (in a good way, of course!), everything else can take a back seat. Decide what's most important to you, and what things you're ok living without. Actually write your priorites out on paper. It helps! For example: I made a choice to stay home with my kids (I work 10 hours a week outside of our home), so I only blog during their nap time and after they're in bed. Truth be told, I barely open the computer until 1 PM. However, I've had to give up sleep (low on my priority totem pole) in order to keep my top priorities straight. Give and take, right?

Learn when to say Yes and when to say No. We're still learning this one, folks, but here's are our thoughts about it. For the entire first year, we didn't say no to anything. And we're happy about that. Our lives were absolutely crazy, but we firmly believe that to grow your blog (just as you would a business) you have to put yourself out there, put lots of time in and keep your face forefront in everyone's mind. Doing that for the first year gives us the luxury now of choosing what's best for us and our blog, and occasionally saying no when it's not a good fit.

Source: oprah.com via Marivi on Pinterest
Be Consistent. It doesn't matter if you plan on posting twice a week or five times a week, but be consistent. Our favorite blogs are the ones who post on a regular basis- it's what keeps us coming back for more! We don't like to guess when someone might be posting, and we figure you don't either, so we do our best to post five times a week. Side note: if you want to grow your blog, posting often is key! Readers will come back if the content is different each day. You'll definitely lose readers if you post once every other week. It's just the way it is.

Step Away from the Computer If you're anything like us, you'll understand why this is important. We are constantly thinking about new projects, upcoming posts and events, how we can better grow our blog etc., so we could literally sit for hours and hours and hours at the computer and STILL have stuff we want to do. One of the best things that happened this year was our Mexico trip- a forced time away from the blog. And guess what? It was fabulous! We both thought we'd miss blogging terribly and would go through withdrawal. Not so. Real life is so much fun, and you might miss it if you sit on your rear all day staring at the screen.

Stop Comparing Not gonna lie. We went through a slump where we compared our blog and projects to another fabulous blogger. No matter what we did, or how great our projects were, we still felt like they didn't measure up. It stinks and takes away all the fun of blogging. We realized that there are millions of amazingly talented people out there, and someone is always going to be doing something more creative than we are, but who the heck cares?! We do what we do because we love it, and from what we've heard, our readers are pretty happy with it too. Every person has a gift- use yours to the best of your abilities and move on!

Source: imgfave.com via Sarah on Pinterest

These are just a few things we've learned along the way. The PTB dilemma is still something we're working on, but it's come a long way from where we started. Who knows, maybe someday we'll have a Full-Time Blogger Dilemma! That would be wonderful!
So what other tips would you add to our list?