This month has been wild! We threw one incredible party here with of some of the best posts we’ve shared yet. I’m feeling oh so ready to take on another year as editor now! This month I also pushed past my shyness (yup, I have those problems too) and challenged myself on a bunch of levels with some excellent help. So as if I needed MORE reasons to party here are a few of the reasons I am wearing a party hat and mixing mojitos once the girls are asleep tonight.

Reason to party #1:

My first ever screencast & design related tutorial was SO fun and I got such great feedback there are definitely more to come.

Watch the screencast here & let me know what you think!

Reason to party #2:

I was interviewed by Srini for BlogcastFM and shared my blogging journey in my first podcast and live interview.

Take a listen to our interview here.

Reason to party #3:

BOOK LAUNCH! And was it ever incredible, almost 100 copies of Cultivate Your Creativity are out there hopefully stirring up all sorts of creative ideas. A million thank you’s to everyone who has bought the book for your support! Many thanks to Mayi Carles of Heartmade for inviting me to guest post and share the story of the book + some sketches and to Zoe of A Quick Study for her wonderful post showing how she used one of my worksheets to make an important jump from one rock to the next.

Grab your copy of Cultivate Your Creativity here (psst-only a few more hours to pay what you can/want/will).

Reason to party #4

I turned the tables and interviewed Srini about his relationship marketing e-book + invited him to co-host our #omhg chat.

Listen to our interview here + get in on a special offer for Oh My! readers

Reason to party #5

I got over my camera shyness with the help of Mayi Carles + cupcakes & bunting & sparkly microphones. Go watch our interview-I am pretty sure our cheerfulness is contagious (in a good way).

Come join our party & see me on screen here!

Reason to party #6

Oh My! Handmade has the most generous, talented, loving, and wonderful contributors + readers. None of this would mean anything without you. Thank you is not enough to explain how much this year of posts, comments, tweets, emails and new friendships has meant to me.

There were a few contributions this month that really humbled me with how much time and creativity went into them. Special thanks to:

• Alexandra Franzen for coming to party with us and share her sparkling, confetti dusted, but still practical  advice for celebration worthy copy.
• Mayi Carles for being such a true friend + being the best blog birthday sister anyone could hope for, but also for her sweet illustrated (just for us!)  hooray/its a party gift tags.
• Bridgett of Perideau Designs for designing an exclusive (and extraordinarily cute) complete printable party set
• Lisa of Moxie Pear for her raspberry lemonade cupcakes printable set.
• Debra of Vintage Paper Parade for her carnival party printables
• And all of our contributors for the goodness they shared this month!

Its almost sad to say goodbye to this theme-but I’m also tired out from all the excitement! We’re going to slow down a bit for August and travel through time to explore the heritage of handmade. I’ll reveal the details of our theme tomorrow but in the meantime go scrolling through the last 30 days of posts and the links above. I hope these posts remind us all that parties aren’t just fun, they are also food for the soul.

Cheers to a year well spent, to another 365 days of posts & to many more adventures and friends made along the way!

Here is a little sweetness to end the party and send us on our way-my girls taking a minute to smell the flowers:

Ila & Sela taking time to smell the flowers from Jessika Hepburn on Vimeo.