We’re thrilled to have Dana of The Wonder Forest as our blogger for the month! When we first found Dana’s blog and started following her we were impressed by the design of her blog. But not only. The Wonder Forest is a go-to for anyone looking for beauty and style resources, great pictures and blog tips.

She wrotes “Blog wonderful” an e-book for both the beginner and novice blogger and with this commitment in the blogosphere we couldn’t resist to ask her to share a bit with us about her blogging experience!

Tell us a little about Wonder Forest? How did it all start?

I started my blog as a way to share my handmade shop at first. After a short time posting newest releases, I found the purpose of it rather dull. So, I decided to start sharing more about myself and transformed it into a lifestyle blog as I got more comfortable putting myself out there on the web!

How has blogging affected your career?

Blogging totally changed my direction. I am a web designer, and always have been, and when my design company started losing momentum, I searched for other ways to enhance my career. People always commented on my blog’s design and would ask if I would design their own blogs, so I started offering my services and now 90% of my client base is bloggers!

Any exciting upcoming projects you can tell us about?

I recently opened up a design shop at www.envye.com, where I sell pre-made Blogger templates, business card designs, logos, and Photoshop Actions. My latest release, Envye Essentials, is a whole Photoshop action suite that was built to help other Bloggers and photo enthusiasts easily and quickly edit their photos with the click of a button. Other than that, I am just working on launching more design related things for that shop.

What advice would you give to aspiring, up-and-coming bloggers?

I’d say to always be genuine. You don’t have to try to be like every other blogger out there. Try to find something unique to make yourself stand out. Share your own talents and passions and people will follow!

So, you’re a web designer/graphic artist, you have a handmade shop, and you co-own a supply shop as well. On top of all this, you’re also engaged! How do you organize your time around all that?  Do you have any tips for time management and productivity for all the very busy blogger out there?

People ask me this ALL THE TIME! The only answer I can give them is that I guess I’m a great multi-tasker?! I’ve always been a person who has 20 things on the go at once, and honestly it’s how I stay productive. I don’t like to stick to one single project as I bore easily. Basically I’m a designer first. That’s my career and what pays the majority of the bills. I take that very seriously and work my other projects around it. By day, I am a designer, by night I work on the supply shop and just pack up orders if needed, and I’ve recently started dedicating Sundays to just planning out what my blog posts will be for the coming week. I would tell others to try to divide their time up like this as well. I also keep notebooks and a huge whiteboard in my office with to-do items all over it and check them off one by one.

Can you tell us a little bit about Blog Wonderful, your e-book? How did you decide to start writing?

I started writing Blog Wonderful when my visitors started emailing me asking me how I grew my blog so fast. I started documenting things that worked for me, and things that didn’t… as a “new girl” on the blogging scene. I think it is a really helpful reference guide where I share what to do, and what you absolutely should not do if you want to take your blog to higher levels. You can pick up a copy in my shop http://shop.thewonderforest.com.

What has been your favorite moment as a blogger so far?

Getting to work with some of my favourite brands is always fun. I really love the emails and relationships I’ve made though. Sometimes when you’re having a really crappy day, you can just read through sweet comments or email another blogging friend who understands what you’re going through, and things don’t seem so bad.