Well, It’s a pretty big day here on House of Earnest – We’re turning TWO!  It’s been a whole two years of tips, tricks, decor, DIY, parties, entertaining, flowers, and festivities.

I honestly cannot believe that we’ve had so many successes in just two short years – if you’re new to House of Earnest, or love a blast from the past, here are twelve of my top projects from the past year – snoop around, enjoy, but keep scrolling down for my goals from the past year, how I did on them and what my goals are for year three.

My goals for this past year were as follows:

• Improve my photography (and consequently my photographic documentation that I post)
• Start a couple of regular column-style posts (one is coming tomorrow!)
• Learn photoshop (got it for my birthday last week, so now I’m ready to learn!)
• Post more fun DIYs (and get one in print!)
• Post more original ideas and content that you won’t see splashed across every other part of the internet
• Get more reader interaction going on
• Tweak and refine my branding, graphics, and site design.
• Collaborate with some other bloggers to increase the variety and voice of the blog
• Secure some amazing sponsors!

I can honestly say that I’ve accomplished every single one of these goals – and here are some examples!

ONE I got photoshop one year ago and my photos drastically improved, here is a before and after. TWO Have and Make was one of the more popular columns, but Style Splurge and Details With were also fun, regular columns we did in 2012.  THREE I spent close to 4 hours making each of the little photos above flash words when you hover over them with your mouse.  I’ve taught myself a ton of things on photoshop, but being that I cam completely self-taught, I’m taking a class this Saturday as well! I’m pretty excited for it! FOUR If these top twelve DIYs from last year aren’t proof enough, I don’t know what is.  And I’ve had four of my projects in printed magazines! Woohoo! FIVE I’ve really tried super hard at this goal.  I hate the idea of reblogging a photo that you’ve probably seen ten times on Pinterest, so I make it a huge priority to post mostly (90%) my own photos and my own content.  No scans of magazines here, new, fresh ideas that are carried out by me. SIX I would love to still improve on the goal to increase reader interaction.  I’d love for the comments on each post to increase and for more discussion to get going. SEVEN I completely revamped my site and my branding.  If you don’t remember what the old site looked like, I’m not going to remind you! EIGHT I would like to collaborate a bit more with others, but my Details With column, the Trade & Made post series, and the 24 Merry Bloggers posts all count toward that goal. NINE I’ve currently got some amazing sponsors! Benjamin Lowry Photography, Betty Means Business, and a host of other non advertising sponsors help me get you the best content each day – A huge thanks to them!

All of this just means that I’ve got to make some even bigger goals for year three, and boy are they big.  Here are some of the ones that top the list:

• Team up with some national brands for collaborative tutorials or DIYs
• Foray my way into some video or TV opportunities
• Improve my photo styling
• Meet Martha Stewart (I’m not sure where or how, but I’m confident an opportunity will arise!)
• Find a good balance between inspiration, tutorials, and real life projects
• Bring you more ideas, tricks, and tutorials you won’t see anywhere else
• Super secret goal #1
• Super secret goal #2 (cheating isn’t it?)

While my two last goals are some of the biggest, unfortunately, they’re not totally honed and ready to be unveiled.  As soon as I do unveil them, however, I’ll add them to the list.

So if you’re still reading by this point, I just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for another year.  For coming here, reading my ideas, and trying them too. Nothing makes me happier than to see that you guys benefit from the time I spend putting together this site and hearing your feedback and comments. So, to round out my longest post of 2012, I’d like to as you to please take a quick little survey (just 8 questions) to help me continue and improve House of Earnest.

 CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY (thank you a billion!)