I am all of those things. And it’s all thanks to a fabulous e-course I’m doing run by the lovely Holly from Decor8 and her always-inspiring co-teacher Leslie from A Creative Mint. It’s called Blogging Your Way and is meant to be about blogging, but I’ve found it’s much more than that. It’s like a personal life coach/therapy session/creative brainstorm/great chat with friends and other creatives. And it couldn’t have come at a better time. As I touched on before, my excitement about the new year somehow didn’t happen and it was like all the stresses, frustrations and over-it-ness that comes with the end of a year didn’t magically go away when January 1 ticked over and instead multiplied. By lots. Then my blog and email disappeared, I got sick and in-between it all I also had a little case of the mean reds (Breakfast at Tiffany’s anyone?!). But it’s all gone and my new year, new energy, new hopes and new goals all begin now. And it was mostly due to inspirational words, informative podcasts, creative homework and fantastic tips, advice and information that has got me all enthusiastic about a lot of things – and of course, my blog is a big part of it! And so, I’m back to getting creative. I have projects planned, a lot of (re)decorating to do around here, I’m helping my sister style her wedding, I’m trying screenprinting and playing around with Photoshop, I’m forcing myself to look at my camera’s manual to take better pictures and I’m having fun doing it all. Which is the main thing!

Back to the course, this week’s homework was to create a moodboard – by hand; no digital tricks allowed! – that represents how you see your blog or how you wish for it to look and feel. It had to be in a folder, a book or on a pinboard – somewhere you can keep it and refer to it again, so it’s a little less 3D than I’d probably normally make it (but I had to keep a few things in there for the picture!). It features my own work and some of Zak’s (he wrote “family” and these are some of the many drawings I found throughout my Amy Butler journal!), samples I’ve used around my home, images that I absolutely love, a few bits and bobs I use in my crafty projects and my fave ever magazine cover (the first issue of Domino). If I could incorporate a little of all this in each of my posts, I’d be happy. Here is a little close up of each side.

I think it sums up what The Happy Home is about – or what I hope it’s about. I hope you come here for a little inspiration, for projects and creative ideas, for renovating and decorating processes, before/afters, successes and disasters, and I hope you enjoy a few snippets of my family life. It’s a little more colourful than my home (!) but I’m starting to work with colour a teeny tiny bit more. Especially because I want to paint my living room floor white and have been given the ok by Steve as long as I “do something about the lack of colour”. So I have been warned! I’m going to try and use this moodboard to help me with colour and pattern…

So, do you think it’s a close representation of what you see here? Or am I off with the fairies?!

{all images by Belinda Graham for The Happy Home}