candid thoughts on sponsors and courtesy items

I've had this post sitting in my drafts for a while, but I suppose doing this post the day after a sponsored post is rather appropriate.  Talking about sponsored/courtesy items is a topic that I think many bloggers don't feel comfortable talking about, or are not even sure how to talk about or what they'd say, exactly.  Honestly I think many bloggers fear what their readers will say or some sort of backlash for discussing this kind of "taboo" subject.  I can't say I haven't felt similar feelings, but it is a subject that I think about frequently, as a sponsored, monitized blogger, and I think being open and honest about it is a good thing.  Everything in here is merely my own experience, as I'm sure there are many different ways people do things, some good, some bad.  I can only speak to what I believe and have experienced.  So here is my story.

I started accepting sponsors in January of 2010 as a way to raise money for my Brave trip, and as a way to be able to make an income while I was on the road.  After I settled in Tacoma, I started working for Freckled Nest, on top of blogging, and I also got another job as a barista to supplement my income as a designer and blogger.  The time I spend photographing outfits, recipes, and projects, editing photos, writing copy, responding to emails from both readers and sponsors, and being active on social media is equivalent to at least a part time job.  Since leaving on the Brave trip, any "normal" job I've taken has been for the purpose of supplementing the income I make designing and blogging to allow me to have the time necessary to do what I'm passionate about-- which is blogging!  I love being able to do this blog every day, and am so thankful that can do so.

First off, I'll define what I mean when I say courtesy or sponsored item, since sometimes there is confusion as to what that even means.  I mean that the shop/company has given me the item with the understanding that I would wear the item on my blog in a style post, linking back to their site in the outfit details.

In the past two years of having sponsors, I've received thousands of dollars worth of clothing courtesy of those sponsors.  Pretty much every single item of clothing I've received has been chosen by me.  Sometimes sponsors give me a list of items they'd prefer I choose from, but by and large, they've allowed me to choose what I wanted to style, when it came to receiving a courtesy item.  Would my style be different if I hadn't received sponsored clothes?  It's possible.  Is my style completely and 100% "me", right now?  Absolutely.  Do I think that some bloggers change their style in order to receive free clothing from sponsors?  Probably. It's disappointing and unfortunate, but I'm sure it's sometimes the case.  Personally, I've turned down offers to receive courtesy items if the shop/company doesn't reflect my personal style, or if I couldn't figure out a way that I would style any of their items.  Usually this isn't the case, since most shops who choose to sponsor me recognize that my style matches up with their merchandise and, likely, the style of their customers.

Many outfits I put together are composed of articles of clothing or accessories that I've received from various sponsors over the past two and a half years.  I would venture to say there are more things in my closet that I received courtesy of a shop than items that I went out and bought.  Did I receive them for free?  Yes.  But also, no.  I work hard on my blog.  Like I said, the time spent working on Delightfully Tacky is probably at least that of a part time job.  So in exchange for that work, sometimes I receive actual money from sponsors who purchase ad space, but sometimes the payment comes in the form of clothing, or a clothing allowance.  To be completely honest, Dan & I don't have a clothing allowance included in our budget because my monthly sponsored clothing is enough that I don't have to shop.  Instead of getting paid money, and then budgeting that out into a clothing allowance, I don't give myself money in our budget for clothing.  If I want something other than what sponsors provide me, I usually thrift it.  I try not to put together outfits that are comprised wholly of sponsored items from one shop, but it happens.  I'm not going to not wear an outfit I enjoy because it's comprised solely of sponsored items.  Perhaps I'll look like a walking advertisement for that shop, but if I love the outfit then why shouldn't I be a walking advertisement?  The amount of times I've been a walking advertisement for Target, or Ruche, or ModCloth is too many to count, but I honestly love the styles that I've gotten from those shops (and others).


So, do I buy my clothes like I used to before I had blog sponsors?  No, I definitely don't.  And yes, that's kind of weird.  Maybe even really weird.  If someone had told me when I started blogging that I would receive any clothing courtesy of sponsors, I would've been blown away.  I didn't set out with receiving sponsored clothing as my goal.  I just put together outfits I loved, and tried to figure out my style along the way.  I'm completely flattered that companies and shops that I love choose to send me clothing.  I only work with sponsors that I feel comfortable working with.  If a sponsor request even feels weird, or sketchy, or "off" I'll decline.  There have been only a couple times when I've gone ahead with a sponsor that felt kind of weird and it wasn't good.  I've learned to trust my gut.  Even if everything else seems good to go, if I feel weird about it, I won't move forward.

Are some courtesy items more expensive than I would typically spend if they weren't being given to me?  Yes.  I'm very frugal when it comes to clothing, which is why I'll typically go thrifting if I want to buy new clothes.  So sometimes courtesy items are items I wouldn't buy if I was laying down cold hard cash for it.  I've even received items that I didn't know the price of until I looked it up when linking to it in an outfit post and was kind of astounded at how spendy it was.  Again, I know that's weird.  It's weird for me even.

Here's the economic fact about sponsors.  They sponsor a blog because the believe that blog can drive traffic to their shop or website.  And ultimately, they want to drive traffic in order to make a profit.  Whether it's ModCloth or a brand new handmade etsy shop, a sponsor purchases an ad and sends courtesy items to increase exposure of their shop, with the ultimate goal of the blog's readers seeing the item, wanting the item and then purchasing the item.  So, the bigger a blog's readership, the more exposure the sponsor will get, which is why it appears that "bigger" blogs get more sponsors.  They do!  They have the sheer quantity of traffic that will get more clicks to the sponsors site.  This doesn't mean that if you have a smaller blog, that sponsorship is out of the question.  A lot of smaller etsy shops or blogs can't afford to sponsor a larger blog, who have higher prices for ads, so they'll look for a blog that is more affordable to sponsor.  A smaller blog will often have lower prices on their ads because they can't offer the amount of clicks or views that a larger blog can.  My ad prices are lower than, say, A Beautiful Mess, because I can't offer as many clicks or views as that blog can.  But my prices are higher than a blog with less traffic, because ultimately the sponsor is paying for exposure.  And the cool thing about sponsoring blogs is that you can target a very specific demographic when sponsoring a blog.  Outdoorsy blogs are sponsored by outdoor companies, vintage blogs are sponsored by vintage shops, wedding blogs are sponsored by wedding planners and photographers.  And it opens up the ability for smaller etsy shops, and the like, to being able to advertise their shops.  A small etsy shop probably can't afford to advertise on Martha Stewart, but could totally advertise on a blog where the readers are likely to enjoy that shop's products!


I know not everyone likes seeing ads or courtesy items on blogs.  Some bloggers are very anti-sponsorship, while others make a living off of it.  In my mind, it's a personal choice.  If you feel that having sponsors or receiving courtesy items would compromise the integrity of your blog, there's no rule that says you have to do it.  I've personally felt incredibly blessed to be able to work with the sponsors I've been working with over the past few years of being a monetized blogger.  This is just my own story, I don't know the perspective of other bloggers, other than the few I've talked to personally.  I'm all for transparency and honesty when it comes to blogging, which I think is a good precedent in all walks of life, really.  I realize that sometimes blog readers aren't aware of the behind the scenes stuff when it comes to blogging.  Yes, I make money from blogging.  Whether it's through the ads you see in my sidebar, clothing I receive courtesy of a company, or the very occasional sponsored post (which means I was paid to write the post), or commission off of affiliate links (meaning if you purchase an item after clicking the link from my blog, I get a percentage of that sale), or e-courses, I make money off of this blog.  I don't know if that will still be the case next year or in five years, but for now a portion of my income is from blog related activities.  I do my best to be honest and careful about how I do my sponsorships, but I know that you can't make everyone happy (especially on the internet).  If you have any questions about sponsorship, or if you'd like to start monetizing your own blog I'll do my best to answer any questions you guys have in the comments.  And if any of you are monetized bloggers, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comments as well!

SILVER & GOLD // a sparkly winter gift guide

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Tis the season for sparkle and shine!  Whether it's a holiday party, or a new years eve bash, there's always a place for something sparkly this time of year!  There's a serious lack of sparkles in my closet, mostly because the amount of parties I attend during the year is pretty minimal.  I have one sequined dress which comes out a couple times a year at the most.  So far I have a few holiday parties on the docket this season, so something sparkly might be in order!  I compiled some of my favorite silver and gold goodies from ModCloth to share with you guys, in case you're looking for a present for someone who enjoys a sparkle or two... or, you know, for yourself!  

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This gift guide is sponsored by ModCloth

the perfect tree

I've featured some of Parker's work here before, but these photos were just too good not to share.  Besides, tis the season for Christmas tree spam, right?  These photos make me wish that I was a little boy all bundled up for a christmas tree hunting trip with my Dad.  I'm always amazed at how Parker evokes such tangible feelings in his photographs.  Parker mentioned in his blog post that, since these photos were shot for the Kinfolk Magazine winter issue, they had to be shot back in July.  It's pretty incredible that he evoked that cozy, rubbing your hands together feeling, even though it was well above 70 degrees when these images were created.  Head over to his blog to see the rest of the images, or pick up a copy of Kinfolk!

  all photos via Parker Fitzgerald

our first christmas tree

Man, it's felt like forever since I last blogged.  I guess it wasn't really that long ago but life has been so saturated with moving and getting things set up and fixing stuff that the last week has felt like two weeks shoved into one!  We got to go to a second Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday at Dan's aunt and uncle's house, which was really wonderful.  Actual Thanksgiving was kind of weird, being out of town having dinner with a bunch of people none of us knew, so it was nice being able to sit around a table full of people we knew and loved.  Oh, and eating a second Thanksgiving dinner?  Yeah that was awesome too.  More food-oriented holidays need to happen throughout the year, seems like they're concentrated in the winter months.
Dan's aunt and uncle gave us a wreath, and once I got that little taste of Christmas, I had to go out and get a tree.  Last year our house was way too tiny for a real tree, so this is our first time getting a real live tree!  With all the craziness of moving, going to an actual Christmas tree farm was a bit too much to take on, so we decided to just hit up one of the nearby tree lots and grab one real quick.  The El Camino proved to be a valiant Christmas tree hauler.  

dress + shoes/courtesy of modcloth :: coat/thrifted :: tights/target :: necklace/handmade scarf/h&m :: bag/courtesy of rouge & whimsy :: photos of me by Dan
I wore this outfit to Thanksgiving, but I liked it so much, I changed it a bit and wore it again the next day.  It's definitely not warm enough to go sleeveless, but I couldn't find a cardigan or top to go with the dress, so I only briefly shed my coat for these photos.  My closet is basically just an explosion of clothes on the floor right now, so putting together outfits is a bit challenging.  I'm hoping to construct some garment racks in the near future for our closet so I can finally hang stuff up!  Lots of DIY projects in the future!  
So far we're totally thrilled with the new house.  It's kind of amazing how well this house retains heat.  In our old place if we weren't wrapped in blankets or standing right next to the heater, we were freezing.  I kind of feel bad for the new tenants.  I think I might write them a letter letting them know about all the silly quirks that place has.  It was so strange seeing it all empty and cleaned out.  We had a carpet cleaner come out, so it seriously looked like we had never been there.  As annoying as that place could be, it'll still always be our first home together, and I get a little sad driving past it.  We're in that weird phase where you almost drive to the wrong house because you're just so used to that place being "home."  It's still a bit odd to pull into a new neighborhood, but we've already had neighbors introduce themselves and it's starting to feel more like home.  Once there aren't boxes strewn about everywhere and furniture isn't in temporary locations, it'll feel more settled.  For now, we're still tripping over boxes trying to get to the fridge.  But we have a Christmas tree!

we're homeowners!

So, if you guys follow me over on instagram and twitter, you probably already know this, but... we're homeowners!  Hooray!  It's been a long, arduous, exciting, exhausting, frustrating process the past 6 months, but we feel like we ended up with our dream home and all the hassle was totally worth it.  It's pretty bizarre to be sitting inside our home.  Like, these our our walls, we can do whatever we want to them!  I can knock that one down if I want.  I can paint it, I can tear up the floors, I can do... anything!  I'm almost paralyzed with the freedom, I'm not sure what I want to do now!  For now, we need a few items that will require an Ikea run.  We went on a thrift adventure yesterday to look for a few things and got some necessities.  I have my very own studio space that have absolutely no furniture for, so I'll have to design that space from scratch, which is pretty thrilling, actually.  The Winne has it's own special parking spot, too, which is so much better than having to park it in the backyard with a nasty tree right over it, making it all gross and dirty.  The poor girl need some cosmetic TLC, as she got a bit grimy, but there's a faucet right next to her, so I can give her a bath and a good scrub now!

I feel like we're still in that "new parent" stage where we're afraid that if we leave the house for more than an hour we'll come back and it'll be burnt to the ground or something.  Oh, the heavy weight of responsibility.  I'm excited to get to know this house, though.  I'm certain we'll have to fix many things, and we already know that we need to replace the siding as it's in pretty rough shape, but there's something about fixing up your own house that just feels so rewarding, even if it's hard work.  I can't wait to show you guys some peeks at the house.  It's a total wreck right now, with all the empty boxes still laying around, but things are coming along.  Oh!  And we have a living room that has a perfect spot for a Christmas tree!  Christmas tree farm, here I come!