There are so many fabulous bloggers out there, and we want to highlight them on Cityline.ca. We’ll be profiling different lifestyle bloggers from month to month — they might write about food, fashion, beauty, décor, parenting, entertaining, gardening, you get the idea! For January 2015, we’re putting the spotlight on The Sweet Escape. Run by Melissa, we love her stunning DIY projects and creative décor ideas. Here’s our Q&A with Melissa:

When did you start The Sweet Escape and what was the inspiration behind starting the blog? How did you come up with your blog’s name?

I started The Sweet Escape in March of 2013 and “kicked it up a notch” to the blog you see today in September 2013. The blog was a way for me to create and share my own “sweet escape” from my daily routine which wasn’t super inspiring at the time. It started as an online scrapbook of inspiration that I had collected and has evolved to include mostly my own original content.

On your blog you write a variety of different posts, from décor to DIYs to recipes and more. What do you like about covering different topics on your blog, and what’s your favourite type of post to write?

I’ve thought about making the blog a little more focused but then I realize that would go against my personality. It’s really hard for me to pick a favourite — it totally depends on my mood. Like my blog, I’m kinda all over the place! If I ever do too much of the same thing I tend to get bored and I think that’s the same for those that read my blog. I would hate to feel like I can’t post about things that inspire me if they don’t fit under one specific category.

Tell us about a post (or two!) that you’re particularly proud of and want to share with Cityline.ca readers.

I’m particularly proud of some of my before & after makeovers. I’m an absolute fanatic about thrift store hunting and get so much satisfaction from taking something old and giving it a fab new & modern look. My favourite is this chair makeover that combined an old chair and old dress that I transformed into a super funky chair. It also got featured on the internationally popular site Design*Sponge which was a big deal for me.

And I can’t name favourites without mentioning the HUGE project I created this past holiday called Merry magazine. I gathered 15 of my talented blogger pals and took everyone’s awesome holiday projects and put it in the form of a beautiful online magazine to share and be inspired by. It was a big success and we’re all super proud of it. Stay tuned for a Spring/Summer 2015 issue!

What do you hope readers get from visiting your blog?

Like the title, I hope readers have a little sweet escape from their everyday when visiting my blog. I hope they leave inspired in some way, big or small, to be creative in their daily life.

What are some other blogs you love reading?

There are just so many fabulous blogs out there, it’s almost impossible to choose a handful. My fave blogger superstars are Design Love Fest, A Beautiful Mess, and Emily Henderson…just to name a few. Some of my fave smaller blogs are all the bloggers I worked with on Merry magazine of course!

What’s your top advice for other bloggers?

Well my advice differs depending on intent. If you’re blogging strictly for a hobby then there are no rules, just enjoy your little corner of the internet. If you’re blogging as an extension of a business and want it to grow, then you definitely have to treat it more like a job (that you love!) and take the good with the bad, but never lose sight of yourself or your personal brand. The best thing you can do to learn and grow is to network both online and offline. There’s so many opportunities out there to mingle: conferences, Facebook groups, meet-ups, media events, etc. Just be involved in some way! I’ve met so many great people from blogging, some of whom I now consider close friends.

We want to hear from you! Do you know a blogger we should feature on Cityline.ca? Maybe it’s you! Email us at submissions@cityline.ca and include “Cityline Featured Blogger” in the subject line. And don’t forget to include a link to the blog! Look forward to hearing from you!