We are busy gathering speakers and organizing sessions for our 2013 conference!
Please keep checking back for updates!
Ana White is a mother and homemaker from remote Alaska. Tired of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, Ana took scrap boards leftover from building their home, and made a bed. The bed turned out so well, Ana went on to furnish her entire home with DIY furniture, using basic tools, off the shelf lumber, and easy techniques. After years of building furniture for friends and family, Ana discovered blogging and began sharing her plans for free with the world. Three and a half years later, Ana’s plans are viewed 8 million times a month, and she’s recently released her first book, The Handbuilt Home. Not just a furniture builder, Ana and her husband have DIYed their home, garage, cabin and the Momplex (a duplex for their mom’s to share). There’s nothing Ana would rather be doing than building something with her family.
Ashley Mills writes at thehandmadehome.net where alongside her husband they share their love for creating a home and the never-ending adventures of parenthood. Suffering a serious aversion to piles of laundry and Comic Sans, she considers herself well versed in the fine art of chasing her three littles, sarcasm, and wearing paint in her hair. The handmade home : creating a haven for the very day.
Beckie Farrant is a Midwest gal and mom of 2 living in Indianapolis, IN. She is a tri-blogger (yep three blogs!) at Infarrantly Creative, Knock Off Décor and Roadkill Rescue. Beckie loves turning items most people would throw away into usable and beautiful décor for her home. She has hundreds of tutorials on handmade gifts, home décor and knock-off projects and loves to inspire other women to do-it-themselves.
Brittany, Pretty Handy Girl ”If a human being can do it, then there is a 95% chance you can do it too,” is Brittany’s mantra. She relays this self-empowering message via her popular blog, Pretty Handy Girl, instructional videos, and public appearances. Pretty Handy Girl features tutorials about home improvement, home repair, decor, and crafts replete with step-by-step instructions and photos. Her informative manner has earned her a position as a Lowe’s Creative Ideas Blogger as well as writer for Yahoo! Real Estate and TLC’s Parentables. Brittany’s cause is clearly being recognized. PrettyHandyGirl.com was ranked in the Top 10 DIY blogs and Woman’s Day magazine recently featured her organized home workshop in her garage (built from scratch and with a few donated Habitat ReStore cabinets.) She’s currently embarking on the biggest DIY project of her life…building her own kitchen from the subfloor on up!
Brooke is the owner of All Things Thrifty, a fun website of never-ending projects cluttering up her garage. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time at the lake with her family, sipping Diet Coke (with coconut) and snacking on peanut butter M&Ms. Brooke has a master’s degree in corporate and interpersonal communications and is a former college professor. She currently lives in sunny St. George, Utah with her husband Dan and her four kids Oaklyn, Connelly, Londyn and Creed.
Carmel is a Southern California girl who fell in love with a blue-eyed boy with a southern accent and followed him around the country until they finally decided to put down roots in the bluegrass. She chronicles her adventures in transforming their fifth house into a home on her blog aptly named, Our Fifth House.
Cassie is a DIY and design-obsessed Texas girl, and lover of travel, fashion, sarcasm and Mexican food. When she’s not hanging with her sweet and funny family, you can find her kicking the ’80s out of their home, one budget project at a time, on her blog Hi Sugarplum!“
Cassity is the blogger behind Remodelaholic. With a degree in interior design and two whole home remodels under her belt, she started a blog to document their third home transformation. Now working on their fourth home remodel, she and her husband both work on the blog full time, while juggling life with two young daughters!
Courtney, a mom of two, is the author of A Thoughtful Place where she dishes on affordable DIY projects for decorating, entertaining, and organizing the home. She recently started her own interior decorating firm with her sister in Orange County, CA. While not working on home projects, she enjoys traveling, date nights, bike rides with the family, and kick boxing.
Court Tuttle is a Utah based SEO mega-geek, a husband and proud father, and owner of both The Blog Builders (where he helps people to learn to grow their blogs) and The Keyword Academy (an SEO training school). He also authored SEO For Creative Bloggers™. Court’s work has been featured on some of the biggest blogging and SEO sites on the web including SEOmoz, Problogger.net, and JohnChow.com
Emily is the author of the aptly named blog, Emily A. Clark: design. simplified. A wife and mom of five, she details her adventures in decorating their home amid the chaos of every day life. She also shares easy and attainable design ideas, believing it isn’t necessary to have a huge budget or be exceptionally crafty to create a beautiful home. Her home has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens and on sites such as Apartment Therapy, HGTV.com and the Home Depot blog. She resides with her family outside of Charlotte, NC.
Atlanta-based interior designer, writer, and philanthropist, Erika Hollinshead Ward lives for creativity. She worked in the design-build industry as an accountant before turning her passion for interior design into a successful business (Erika Ward Interiors). As the author of internationally recognized blog, BluLabel Bungalow, she chronicles her interior design projects and encourages homeowners move from inspiration to action. In her community uses her decorating prowess as the co-founder of Room Service Atlanta, a non-profit that decorates transitional housing for those experiencing hardship. In her spare time, this busy wife and mother of four enjoys exploring new cuisine and places off the beaten path.
Gina created The Shabby Creek Cottage in 2009 to chronicle her and her husband’s journey of remodeling her childhood home. She blogs to help people embrace their space, no matter what kind of house it is on any budget. She is also the author of the upcoming book How to Start A Home-based Etsy Business.
Heather is first and foremost a wife to the love of her life and a homeschool mom of two. Heather co-authors the blog At The Picket Fence with her sister Vanessa. A self-taught DIYer who isn’t afraid of power tools, Heather’s home has been featured in magazines such as Romantic Homes and Better Homes and Gardens. She serves as a HomeTalk Ambassador as well as a regular contributor to Houzz.com, FOLK Magazine Blog, Celebrating Everyday Life Magazine and Southern Belle Magazine. Heather loves to share her passion for navigating the waters of blogging with both new and seasoned bloggers.
Jen has always had an admiration for all things crafty, storage & home related, and now taps into that love daily as she applies it to her fun family life as a wife, and mom to three growing boys. She also shares her passion with the world via her blog, IHeart Organizing. Her home was recently featured in Better Homes & Garden’s Storage Magazine, and she is also a contributor to the Better Homes & Garden’s Style Spotter’s Blog. Jen loves integrating lovely storage & organizing solutions within her home’s décor, & most of the time that means hacking a piece of Ikea furniture or making her own storage to save some money and create something unique to her home
Katie Bower is the jedi-knight of the quirky ’everything’ blog called Bower Power where she catalogs her home renovations and crafts, photography tips and her boy’s random acts of awesomeness. She is slowly making her house a home, figuring out how to do motherhood, and laughing her way through this ride called life.
Kristen Duke brings photography and DIY projects together in her creative and colorful blog, Capturing Joy. Written from her bright yellow desk in her home in Austin, Texas, Kristen shows readers the happy side of raising a family, photography, fanciful parties, yummy desserts and home projects. A mother of 4, Kristen loves to see moms on both sides of the camera lens: snapping pictures and getting in the photos with their kids. She helps readers take their family snapshots to the next level with her photography books (SayNO to Auto and Get Focused!) and showcases how to decorate with pictures in an ongoing series. Kristen carries her camera everywhere, loves her hot pink jeans and never turns down white chocolate chip cookies.
Lindsay is a color-obsessed, stay at home mom of two, who’s transforming a blah blah builder’s beige home into an inspiring and eclectic space with her husband Tom. They live outside of Austin, Texas where the temperate climate allows them to DIY year round. Lindsay has been blogging since 2008, when she started Living with Lindsay.
In the 23 years she has worked for home & garden magazines, Lisa Mowry has produced more than 1,000 features for national and local magazines. She is the Atlanta editor for such well-known publications as Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home and Decor, as well as a dozen other of BH&G’s special interest magazines…titles such as Do-it-Yourself, Country Gardens and Kitchen & Bath Ideas. Lisa has also been a regular contributing editor to Atlanta Magazine for 16 years and has written articles for Southern Living, as well. Before her freelance career, she was the senior editor at Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles magazine.
Mandi Gubler is a DIY/shelter Blogger known for her fearless approach to all things Do It Yourself. She is a self proclaimed thrift store junkie, craigslist stalker (not the killing kind) and garage sale maven. Mandi started her blog Vintage Revivals in July 2010 with zero DIY/design experience. Mandi believes that true style has the chance to emerge when you stop worrying about what everyone else is doing, will think, or might say, and do what makes your guts grin. She has been featured on The Nate Berkus Show, TLC’s Craft Wars, placed 3rd for Best DIY/Design Blog on Apartment Therapy’s Homies, and has been featured in numerous online and print publications. She lives in St. George UT with her husband, 2 daughters, and a garage full of an ever growing lifeform called The Hoard.
Marian, aka Miss Mustard Seed, is a youth pastor’s wife, mother of two little boys and a lover of all things home. In addition to authoring her self-title home décor blog, she is an antiques dealer, freelance writer for HGTV.com and designer of the Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint line of DIY products. Marian’s first book, Inspired You, was published in November of 2012. Her work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Women’s Day, Cottages & Bungalows, Flea Market Style and Romantic Homes.
A lawyer by day, design and decor lover by night, and mom to the most delightful 3-year old son ever, Megan is passionate about fitness (and chocolate!) and couldn’t live without her girlfriends and morning coffee. She’s been blogger for nearly three years at Honey We’re Home, sharing her love of keeping things beautiful and organized at her house.
Michael is a lifestyle blogger, designer, and entrepreneur. On his blog, Inspired by Charm, he is armed with a fearless approach, a splash of color, and a whole lot of passion. From decorating to baking, Inspired By Charm is all about making everyday life more beautiful.
Myra is a passionate creator of beauty both in her home and in the homes of interior design clients. She thrives on creating a beautiful life as a devoted wife to her childhood sweetheart and mommy to two little men. After beginning several blogs in the last seven years, she finally found her “sweet spot” writing at My Blessed Life where she inspires readers to creatively thrive at home through diy projects, crafts, recipes and healthy living.
Sandra Powell has been transforming homes for the last decade and is currently remodeling her fifth home. Sandra shares her progress as well as DIY tutorials and project plans on her site, Sawdust Girl. Sandra uses her remodeling and carpentry experience to design custom built-ins and help others build amazing projects in their own homes — saving thousands of dollars creating high end, professional results.
Sarah Macklem is a Home Stylist from Detroit specializing in interior design for real people. Sarah writes the design blog, The Yellow Cape Cod where she offers daily design advice, project tutorials and inspiration. TheYellowCapeCod.com also provides affordable custom online design services for real people nationwide.
Two sisters transforming their homes on a budget, and sharing their love for DIY along the way at their blog Shanty2Chic. They hope to inspire you to grab a paint brush, pick up that scary tool, and get to work!
Sherry Petersik writes the home blog Young House Love with her husband, where they share the good, the bad, and the ugly as they make their house a home while wrangling a chatty toddler and a moody chihuahua. Their book, Young House Love, came out last fall and was a New York Times Bestseller (much to their complete and utter shock). Sherry enjoys long walks on the beach and has never met a ceramic animal that she didn’t like.
Stacy Risenmay has a successful home décor blog called Not Just A Housewife. She is a DIY lovin’ stay at home mom of four little boys. She writes about fixing up her small 1938 cottage style home. Stacy does everything from building furniture, painting, gardening, organizing, and an occasional recipe. She has been featured in several magazines including Better Homes and Gardens. Her goal is to inspired her readers to take risks. Great design doesn’t have to be expensive. Having a small space and small budget forces you to be creative.
As a public relations and social media practitioner, Tauni has spent more than 12 years handling communications and events for an array of clients, from the NBA and Olympics to corporate groups and politicians. Today she handles online marketing and social media for American Crafts. Tauni blogs at SNAP! Creativity and organizes an annual conference for professional bloggers.
Wendy Hyde is a professional interior designer who started writing her blog, The Shabby Nest, as a way to share her many decorating ideas with like-minded people. She loves creating high-end looks on a shoe-string budget. Wendy believes there are no design dilemmas only creative challenges that help her think outside the box!
