celebrate | Think Outside the Cloth

Today is one year since I started Think Outside the Cloth! Since I’m all about celebrating life’s little milestones I decided to throw on a DIY party hat and have cake. I also have some very exciting news! I will be hosting a bloggers networking event with two other great bloggers, Kristen (Twenties & Fabulous) and Stephan (Why I love Toronto). The event aims to unite those in the blogging community and I’m very happy to be apart of it.

This post will be a little different than the usual as I’ve decided to share some background about why I started this blog. I’ve always been a creative person at heart. As a child I loved drawing, creating, and doing odd things with clothes. As I got older that part of me faded into the background as I focused on school and work. A while ago I remember my father telling me “Shanel, one thing in life is KEY, Keep Educating Yourself” and that stuck with me. It’s taught me to always keep learning. Go to bed a little bit smarter than when you started the day, and with whatever you’re doing, or experiences that may happen in life always try and learn something from it.

Before starting this blog, I felt like I was caught in a repetitive routine of life, and I wasn’t growing or learning. I came up with the concept for this blog in December, 2013 while in the shower. I started thinking of DIYs and content, but it wasn’t until 5 months later that I actually got my gears in motion and started Think Outside the Cloth. There were many times where I questioned myself and made excuses; what if no one reads it? I don’t have a good DSLR camera, my pictures will suck! Is this stupid? I was also a bit hesitant, as the Internet is such a huge space. With creating and sharing content I feel like it’s putting a piece of myself out there, and with that there can be judgment. I brushed away all those thoughts and decided to just start and do it! I came up with the reasons of why I wanted to do this, and as cliché as it sounds I really do it as a way to express myself, and to execute the ideas that float around in my head. It’s taught me that whenever I’m doing a project and my mind becomes clouded with negative thoughts to just remember the mission, “the why.”

I’ve learned a lot since starting this blog, and I can’t say it’s been easy, there’s a lot that goes into making a post but I really like doing it. It really makes me respect bloggers who regularly post and share content. Think Outside the Cloth is definitely a work in progress, and I hope to continually improve it. If you’ve been delaying on starting or doing something remember why you want to do it, and just go and do it! No BS or excuses! If you really want it to happen you’ll find a way to make it work :).

Here are some of my most read posts:

DIY Body Chain