3 years of blogging, 3 years of headers, and a bit of the adventure

As we traveled last month I realized….hey, I’ve been blogging for exactly 3 years now! I can’t believe it’s been that long (and still so short?) I hope to keep it up for years ahead of us. And though I’m not super sentimental when it comes to birthdays, I thought this was a good excuse to celebrate the last 3 years with a journey through blog headers and a bit of MADE history.
I started MADE because I needed a place to catalog my sewing projects and ideas–my own online portfolio.
After Owen was born in 2007 and I got in the swing of two kids, I started sewing again and was sharing projects on our family blog. But then the project posts became more frequent than the family posts. So I thought…why not have a separate spot for the projects? Then the people who are actually interested in the sewing stuff can find it all in one place. So I jumped on Blogger and created a new site.

Then I needed a name and a header/image.

I wanted the name to be simple, not too wordy, and to describe what I was doing..which was sharing projects that were finished and completed (rather than things I hoped to make). So I thought, well, this is what I’ve made.
MADE.
And that was that.

I created the mint green header above, which sat on the blog for probably a year. Pretty simple and still one of my favorite colors.

For that first year of blogging, it was mostly friends and family stopping by, leaving encouraging words and comments. It wasn’t until I posted my first tutorial, The Shirt Dress, that I saw a big jump in traffic and realized that the blogging world is really a community, with everyone sharing ideas and linking to each other. So I continued sewing, sharing what I’d MADE, and the blog continued to grow. I eventually changed up the header, adding more color. Makes me want to eat rainbow sherbet.
For the next two years I kept sharing tutorials and ideas and trying to improve my photography, since that’s probably my favorite part of the process. I love the sewing and sharing. But finding a way to make it look interesting through photos is most fulfilling to me. I also started using project images in my headers (Modern Leaf Pillows and Super Snowflakes).
Fast forward 3 years to today and the blog has become more than a hobby (and definitely a full-time job). But because I really love doing it, I don’t mind staying up till 2am placing tutorial photos in order or tweaking html code to get a widget just where I want it. I’ve been blessed to watch my hobby turn into a small business. And I hope it continues to go to bigger places…..with more Celebrate Series, new ideas, and larger creative aspirations.
We’ll see what happens!
And what happens is largely due to YOU. So seriously, I hate to get gushy here but thank you for stopping by! You guys really, truly keep me motivated to keep “doing stuff”–as my husband puts it.
You guys make me excited to put an idea out there in cyberspace and to see how it’s received. You give me great feedback. And of course it’s fun to feel like you have thousands of friends. I wish we could throw a blogging party for everyone and just hang out eating peanut m&ms and diet cokes. Maybe one day.
Okay, this post is getting long.
Just a few more headers to finish the collection…..
This is one of my favorites, for Celebrate Yellow. I had an image in my mind of those yellow beads and when I laid them out….it worked!
I wish Lucy’s spray-painted shoes would fit forever. They were so cute. But I’m glad I have a picture of them.
Winter Christmas lights:
I got bored in January and needed to switch it up again:
Our biggest Celebrate theme yet! The BOY, part 2
This is another favorite header. I guess I like spelling out the name with tangible items–a fun challenge.
We did an impromptu BOY week this summer.
This was supposed to go up on July 4th but I spaced it. So uh, please enjoy it on July 26 instead.
Stripes are always on my mind.
And I couldn’t decide on these last two for the new header so I’m sharing both.
Thanks for making this blogging life a great community experience for me and everyone out there. I never knew I’d be emailing with moms around the world, who are in the same walks of life, sewing and raising kids, and we’d have so much in common (though we speak a different language).