Thank you and Happy Birthday Whitewood and Linen

Welcome, welcome everyone. I’m feeling a little excited over here today… Whitewood and Linen crafts blog turned one year old this week and thank you for being here today for this milestone! Actually and technically speaking, this little blog is just over eighteen months old really. In truth, it took me over six months to find the courage to press the publish button. In fact pressing that button was possibly one of the scariest moments ever. I mean, I can still recall now thinking, what if no one reads it? What if no one is interested in my little stories? What if I get rotten feedback or worse still, what if I’m trolled? What if people laugh at me? All nice and positive thoughts. I recall many a heart racing moment thinking I had broken WordPress or worse still, the world wide web. I drove myself and my family more than a little crazy. I mean, sharing private memories publicly is a little ‘out there’ for me, could I even do it? I am the mother who has a sense of humour bypass if I appear in one of my children’s home videos and can hear my own voice. “Don’t send that to anyone” I say “my voice sounds funny”. “Your voice always sounds like that Mum!” they laugh. Really, who knew? Yet my family and friends were as ever, super kind and supportive. They promised to read every week and tell me (kindly) if it was rubbish. And the longer I left it, the more I gave myself a great many reasons not to do it. And then one day, without warning, I had my brave moment. I pressed the publish button and you came and you did read it…

Initially I was to take you on a journey whilst we renovated our bungalow in the beautiful Hampshire countryside. I told how we would live as it was then for a year, watch how the light worked, play to its advantages. Take plenty of time to plan rooms in the best places, share highs and lows of building our dream home.

Soon after we moved in, we spruced up the kitchen, created a mud room cum utility and redesigned much of our back garden creating a long held dream of a tiny sweet orchard. Our budget was tight and I shared many a Cinderella moment with upcycled furniture from junk shops and eBay. I promised home styling tips on a budget and I shared some of my favourite second-hand books and china showing how I use them in my own home decor. I confessed a love for faffing and showed you some of my inexpensive and beautiful pre-loved artwork constantly on the move around our home, to brighten up new spaces. And of course I introduced you to Belle, my beautiful Shepherds Hut, my happy place and from where I am lucky enough to spend many of my days writing these stories to share with you.

And when our family focus changed recently and we put off the build for a while, I shared more of my crafty side with delightful ideas for gifts for loved ones like this beautiful handmade writing paper easily personalised to your own design and these firestarters guaranteed to warm homes and hearts. And I even showed how not to paint a fireplace and then how to make it all better.  And then there was Doris, brightening up a dark corner at Christmas, in Autumn and at Easter too. And sometimes The Spotty One was found photo bombing my stories and always, there was more Belle.

And as our Whitewood and Linen crafts blog reaches its first milestone, I wanted today’s post to be a thank you to you all. My weekly stats show so many of you read each and every week whilst others of you dip in and out as your busy lives allow. Whitewood and Linen has readers who catch up with our news when they have a few minutes and others who re-read old stories just because. I never would have imagined this little blog would become so cosmopolitan and its regular readers would be from so many beautiful and far away countries, many of these beautiful places I have only ever heard of. And although I always hoped to inspire with my stories, I never dreamt you would try some of my crafts and styling tips. And you do and I am humbled and grateful beyond measure. So thank you. A huge and very genuine thank you to you all, you know who you are.

I know it to be rude to tell your friends what you would like for a birthday present, unless of course they ask. Today though, I am going to break that rule for Whitewood and Linen. I am going to be bold and ask for another present please, since I know my gift already to be, you reading my blog each week. Today, I am going to be greedy and ask for more. I am going to ask for more of you wonderful readers to join in and leave a comment from time to time. Here on the blog, at the bottom of each post. Not just because I love to hear if you enjoyed a story, made a craft yourself or found a particular style tip to be helpful. It is also because when you do so more often, you tell the wonderful world of Google and it’s algorithms you are here and you are enjoying all you read. And because of that, this little blog gets to spread even further in the world wide web and perhaps even more readers may enjoy its stories too. Perhaps others will come to benefit from my own personal goal each time I write a story; a goal which is simply to inspire. And in the same spirit as receiving any other gift, I say now another heartfelt, thank you for any help you can give.

Over the next two weeks I shall be working behind the scenes making small changes to the Whitewood and Linen crafts blog to help widen its audience still further. For this non technical story-teller, this remains a daunting prospect. Pressing strange buttons remains somewhat unnerving. So it’s a two week break away from writing stories and much needed time to learn new skills for me. I shall be back with another short story on June 21st when hopefully we will all be in full summer mode and the sun will be shining brightly. In the meantime you can keep up to date with pretty squares on my daily Instagram posts if you like and my Pinterest page has even more inspiration for you too. Thank you, every single one of you x