Inspiration

5.23.13

When you’re a blogger, it can be tricky if you find yourself in an inspiration slump. It’s easy to get down on yourself for not being creative enough or having enough ideas, especially when it seems like everyone else has ideas coming out of their ears. But the truth is, sometimes you just need a little inspirational boost! And there’s nothing wrong with that. I have a few tried and true tricks up my sleeve that I’ve found to be really helpful for me; hopefully some of them help you too.

Travel. Hands down, my favorite way to get out of a rut. And when I say travel, I don’t mean that it has to be a big, glamorous trip. (Although I wouldn’t kick a big, glamorous trip out of bed for eating crackers.) It can be across town to your favorite restaurant. But whatever it is, get out and do something. See something new. Find a place you’ve never been. Or go to one of your favorite places to recharge! Because I work at home, sometimes I forget that I have to make my own reasons to get out of the house, and I’m always better for it. It unsticks me every time.

Read. Books, magazines, newspapers, other blogs, street signs, menus — whatever! I find that exposing myself to lots of other people’s ideas and creativity really helps to spark my own. It’s inspiring to know what’s going on in the world, and if you can translate that into something wonderful and new to blog about, then you’re on the right track.

Take photos. And I mean, take them when you don’t have to. Take them for fun! Looking for a shot when you’ve got a camera in your hand makes you see the world in a different way. You look for color, composition, scale, and all kinds of other interesting things. It can even just be your phone camera! Heck, I feel like Instagram is one of the most inspiring things I do right now.

Put pen to paper. Living in the digital world, it’s so easy to overlook it. But I always keep a book (or two or three) of notes — ideas that strike me, lists that I want to make, sketches of projects, and on and on. So when I’m stuck I can go back through my notebooks and pick up ideas that I forgot I ever had. Bonus points for using some really cool, inspiring stationery (I want this one!).

Obviously not every method works for everybody. But I really believe that if you do some exploring, you’ll find your own way to get inspired. Maybe it’s food, or drinks, or dance, or whatever. I haven’t really found a magic answer, but usually one or two of these things will help me get unstuck. Hopefully they’ll work for you too! And I’d love to know — how do you get inspired? xoxo

Bob Dylan // Design Help from HP

2.6.13

Image via Ninbra.

We recently started watching Parenthood, and I seriously can’t get over it! Do you guys watch it? I It’s become one of my favorite shows, not least of all because it may have the best theme song of all time — Bob Dylan’s Forever Young. The lyrics in that song are kind of everything that life should be.

So I started playing around on the computer and my obsession with Parenthood and Bob Dylan turned into a blog post. And this is the project that I designed using the HP ENVY TouchSmart! There also a little video below that shows the touchscreen in action while I was putting the post together. Check it out! And also, check out HP’s blog post about our project together, featuring quotes from all of the bloggers who participated (including yours truly). xoxo

HP from Chelsea Costa on Vimeo.

Music by Latch Swing.

I wrote this review while participating in a program on behalf of HP and received an ENVY 23 TouchSmart AiO and other products as a thank you for my participation.

I Am a Maker

2.4.13

Photo of me and Mr. Lovely by Justin Hackworth.

During and since Alt, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It was so inspiring to be there and see people working and pushing themselves to do more and be better. And to me, the most inspiring people were the ones who knew without a shred of doubt who they were and what they wanted. And it got me thinking about answering those questions for myself.

The deal is, I consider Lovely Indeed to be a DIY-focused lifestyle blog. I wouldn’t just call it a DIY blog because I have such a passion for so many other things, which is why I love to share with you about our travels, the food we eat, the shops I love, our married life, and on and on. I can’t just choose to ignore those things because the sum of them all is what makes up my life with Mr. Lovely.

And beyond that, I just can’t bring myself to say that I’m a crafter. Please don’t get me wrong — I love crafts and I love crafty people. DIY is what got me started blogging. But if I really think about it, I would call myself a maker. Because I don’t just craft. In our house, we make everything, big and small. I make cupcakes. I make music. I make accessories and I make headboards. I make up songs and dances. I make my family happy. I make adventures.

I’m still figuring out what all this means and where I can channel it, but as far as I’m concerned, this right here is a pretty handy place to put it all. And so I hope you’ll keep sticking around with me to see what I make next. Because once you figure out you’re a maker, you kind of don’t ever want to stop. xoxo

HP at Alt!

1.30.13

You guys know that HP is one of my awesome sponsors around here right now, and at Alt I had the chance to hang out with them! They took the work that I’ve been doing (along with a few other bloggers) on the HP ENVY TouchSmart, and featured it on an experience board, in one of the lounges at the conference. It was so bonkers to see my name up there with some of the bloggers that I love so much!

For my experience board, I shared photos and screenshots of all the programs I used to design a blog post that I have coming up! The programs that ended up being super-helpful for that were Paint and Fresh Paint (which is so awesome — it’s like fingerpainting on the touchscreen). I can’t wait to share the design I made, even though you get a little sneak peek of it on the experience board.

Stay tuned next week for the full design, and a little more about my favorite HP TouchScreen features! I’m devising a way to show you guys the touchscreen in action, and I think it’s going to be pretty cool! xoxo

I wrote this review while participating in a program on behalf of HP and received an ENVY 23 TouchSmart AiO and other products as a thank you for my participation. All opinions are mine.

Lessons Learned: Alt Summit

1.28.13

Images by Justin Hackworth.

Boom. That happened. Mr. Lovely and I are back from Alt, exhausted from the learning/hustling/partying, and inspired by the new friends/wise words/endless possibilities. Looking back at my Alt experience last year, it’s kind of interesting how very different my time was there this year.

I’m still so grateful and humbled to have had the experience to speak on a panel. I couldn’t be more thankful for my pals who came and sat in the front row so I wouldn’t be nervous, and for the fact that you couldn’t see my hands shaking when I changed the slides. (Come on, you would be nervous too!) And hopefully in that blur of an hour, we helped even a few people figure some things out.

There are too many highlights to try to remember, so I’m going to break it down to a few lessons I learned this week. If you were there too, I’d love to hear yours. And if you weren’t, hopefully this will serve to inspire you as well. Because I feel kind of ready to take over the world.

1. Always introduce yourself. Even if you’re shy or nervous. Most people are really nice.

2. Twitter is a supertool. Don’t neglect it.

3. It’s okay to give away some of your secrets in a community like this one. (Just maybe not all of them.)

4. And speaking of the blogging community, it’s maybe one of the coolest bunch of people ever. The creativity was so intense you could almost reach out and touch it.

5. If you’re not hustling, someone else is.

6. It’s okay to miss out on some things. Sometimes you just need to recharge.

7. There is no such thing as being over-prepared.

8. In order to succeed, you have to know your definition of success. Think about exactly what it is that you want, and make a path to get there.

9. Do first. Blog second. Make sure that you’re living a full life in the real world, and the online life will benefit.

10. Never, ever pass up a photobooth.

xoxo

Image by Smilebooth.

Do the Hustle

1.25.13

You guys! First of all, I just need to put it out there that our DIY and Pinterest Alt panel happened and we made it through alive! Seriously, we were all nervous like a bunch of dorks but we hitched up our britches and did the thing. Not gonna lie — I’m relieved that it’s done, so I can focus more fully on the rest of the conference. But it was awesome and I’d totally do it again.

And speaking of panels, I sat and listened to a couple of really great ones. And I think that the best thing I heard all day was from Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook, who I loved for just telling it like it is. (Sometimes we bloggers can get a little sugar-coated.)

When she said it, my brain went “Yes.” And it’s true in any discipline where no one is pushing you but yourself. If you don’t hustle, someone else will. All day yesterday I was looking around at the attendees, and you can see the people who are out there, doing the work to get the results. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, sometimes it’s hard, but it always pays off to do the hustle. xoxo

It’s Here!

1.23.13

I can’t believe it’s finally time to head to Alt Summit. After months of planning and prep, Mr. Lovely and I are heading out to learn, meet, and dream with bunches of other bloggers and creatives. The days will be busy, but I’ll try to give you a little recap here and there in case you’d like to keep up with us! I’ll also be tweeting and Instagramming up a storm, so be sure to follow me there.

I’ve got my work cut out for me at Alt. I’m not just going to the conference as an attendee, I’m also speaking! (Yikes, I’m nerveous.) But I’ll be sure to post a recap of our panel on Effective DIYs and Pinterest — and if you’re headed to Alt, you’ve got to come hear it in person! It’s going to be seriously chock full of amazing info.

On top of that, I’m also styling the dinner that MSN is throwing for some of the attendees, so keep an eye out for photos of the fiesta that I created! I’ll give you the low-down on some of the DIYs as well.

In any case, it’s a big weekend, so wish me luck. I’ll need it! And as always, I’m so thankful for you guys and the support that you give to me (and all of the other bloggers that you love). You’re the reason I do all of this work; I want to give you the very best content and experience I can. Here we go! xoxo