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Happy 1st Birthday Bluesky Kitchen

Happy 1st Birthday, Bluesky Kitchen. Hello everyone.  Welcome to the party!

Happy-1st-birthday-bluesky-kitchen

I can’t believe I just typed that title. One year ago today in 2015, I launched Bluesky Kitchen. What started as an occasional, “I don’t know what I’m doing” place to write a bit about cooking and crafts in 2014 was reborn into a real, honest to goodness blog with a real logo, pretty colors and fonts,  posts, and pages, and photography that I hope is getting better every day.

The Beginning

One year ago, I hardly knew what Pinterest was, had never heard of Instagram, had never heard of DSLR, CTA, or SEO. I didn’t know what MailChimp or PicMonkey were, much less how to use them; now they are two of my best friends.  I was truly what is called in the blog world, a newbie, a blog baby.

Today I have active and growing Pinterest and Instagram accounts. (Thank you so much to all you who are following; love you all.) My email subscribers have grown ~ love my community who open my newsletter The Bulletin every week for extra recipes, cooking lessons, and cooking videos. (Please sign up ~ that’s a CTA!) Readers to blueskyathome.com continue to grow, giving me the confidence and commitment to keep writing and taking pictures and cooking and completing projects that might have stayed as visions in my head. As a creative person who loves to stay busy, I can occasionally get a little lazy. (Sometimes I like to do nothing more than read a good book, watch recordings of Outlander or Grey’s Anatomy, drink sweet iced tea and munch popcorn.)

People to Thank

*the fabulous ladies who put on Haven Conference and the blogger instructors for sharing their knowledge and giving me the inspiration to begin this blogging journey.

*the wonderful Cristina of Elan Blog Studio, my talented web and graphic designer, who took the vision of what I wanted my blog to look like and turned it into reality. And who is always there to answer my silly questions. The fact that she lives on the other side of the world has never stopped her from being there for me.

*the talented and generous Kirsten Thompson of Sweet Tea LLC and The Mason Jar who teaches about all things e~mail marketing and other blogger topics. We share a love of sweet iced tea, we both live in cities named Dallas, and we both have black Labs. And she thinks I’m “stinkin’ cute”. Love that girl.

*my Lone Star Sisters, my Texas blogging Facebook group, some of the sweetest ladies I know.

*my blogger BFFs Holly, Diane, Kristy, Gloria, and Christine; we met at Haven 2015, formed Southern Haven Tribe, launched Your Inspired Design Link Party. They have been so supportive, informative and inspirational this past year. Our group has evolved the past year, but they were with  me at the beginning.

*and last, but not least, Sweet Shark, the most supportive and patient husband a blogger girl could have. He has snapped a shot when my hands were covered in food, waited on dinner while I finished writing a post, made drinks for me to post about (That was not a hard task!), moved stuff around for photos, and proof~read posts and caught typos and weird wording, and so many other little things, I can’t count.  His encouragement is unfailing and constant. I know most bloggers couldn’t have this crazy career without a supportive partner, and I’m so blessed to have mine.

The Reason for Bluesky Kitchen

When I started Bluesky Kitchen, I wanted to share with readers my love and experience in cooking and my passion for creating a beautiful home, with a bit of humor thrown in. I hope that I have provided you, dear reader, with cooking lessons, recipes, DIY and paint projects, home tours, party ideas, tablescapes, and travel experiences that have been beneficial, instructional, and inspiring. It is my goal going forward to provide even more and better content for YOU. Better photography, better ideas, better benefits.

A Give Away

In celebration of our (me and Bluesky Kitchen) 1 year birthday, I want to give one lucky reader a prize ~ my very first give away, Yeah!  This book, Kitchen Hacks, How Clever Cooks Get Things Done (from the publishers of Cook’s Illustrated) is over 300 pages jam~packed with useful, practical cooking information and tips that will make life in your kitchen more enjoyable and efficient. I love my copy and I want one of you to have it, too.

kitchen-hacks-book

Just enter the give away below. It’s open for 1 WEEK, ending next Sunday, August 21st at midnight. I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday, August 24nd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Until then, grab a cupcake (These Red Velvet ones are from Susie Cakes.), and check out my version of How to Make the Best Red Velvet Cake.

happy-1st-birthday-bluesky-kitchen

Pour a glass of sweet iced tea and enjoy the party. I know I am.

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8 Comments

  1. Congratulations! You have come so far in just a year! It took me so much longer than that to get up to speed! Thanks for sharing your good and exciting milestone at Celebrate Your Story!

    1. Chloe, since I just started, I feel so far behind the blog world. Since I’m not in my 20’s, 30’s or 40’s, I have this sense of urgency to get things done quickly. Maybe I’ll be the Grandma Moses of the blogging world!

  2. Congrats Mom! So proud of how far you e come and amazed at how hard you have worked. Your dedication and vision are admirable… Thank you for being an example of persistence and grit. Love our paint project time together too!

    1. Thanks, sweetie. Remember that you were the one who suggested I start a blog. Just wished I had started in 2009 when you first mentioned it. Better late than never. We’ll do more projects in the future. Love, Mom

  3. Happy Bloggy Birthday, Carol. I’m amazed you have learned so much so quickly. How neat to hear about your husbands fabulous support and all the supportive friends.

    I’m glad to have met you recently in the Alfresco Blog hop and am enjoying your blog.

    1. Bonnie, thanks so much for your comment. I am lucky to have a supportive husband and best friend. Fortunately, he doesn’t care if I ever make a penny, just as long as I’m happy sharing and blogging. Lucky me. Blogging is definitely a journey of persistence and endurance. We have to focus on the effort and the results will come.

  4. Carol, we just never know how we’ll find wonderful friends in this world! I’m so glad to have found you through blogging. Congrats on a job well done!

    1. Stacey, I’m so glad you found me too. And through you, I’ve met so many other Texas bloggers. It’s like a pebble on the water. The circles just keep getting bigger and bigger. Thanks so much.