Blow out the candles. We’re celebrating a birthday around here. This month marks the one-year anniversary of one of the prettiest digital publications out there.
Celebrating Everyday Life with Jennifer Carroll was launched a year ago this month and this milestone issue is as stunning as ever.
The May/June 2014 issue has a most “Bee-coming” theme with several articles and crafts centering around bees like these wonderful, bee-inspired coasters.
Check out the issue to see how easy these are to make and gift.
It’s been fun for me to be a regular contributor to Celebrating Everyday Life and this anniversary issue includes my Birds and Bees Cookie Jar project.
You’ll have a blast making these jars and eating the goodies inside.
Of course, every issue features wonderful and impressive recipes and this Seeded Rosemary Roll recipe is no exception.
I’ve never thought of baking bread in terra cotta flower pots, but I’m definitely going to give this a try.
Looking back, this entire first year of publication has been filled with beautiful, glorious page after page of inspiration.
Just take a gander at the CEL magazine covers featured over this last year.
By the way, you can purchase the May/June 2014 current issue along with any back issues here.
Regular readers may recall, I shared an interview with my friend and Editor-in-Chief, Jennifer Carroll right after the first issue was launched 2013. Well, I thought it would be fun to share a follow-up chat to coincide with this anniversary issue and you can read my interview with her, below.
Jennifer says she’s learned a lot about magazine publication and I think you’ll find her candor refreshing and heartfelt as she reflects on this first full year as magazine chief.
Q & A with Jennifer Carroll, Founder/Editor-in-Chief
Lisa: Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been a year already since the launch of Celebrating Everyday Life. How do you feel about this milestone? Jennifer: “I can hardly believe that it’s been a year, the time has really flown. I set out with this idea to create a magazine that empowers and inspires women and I feel incredibly proud and yet very humbled that the magazine is growing.”
Lisa: It’s so obvious that a ton of work goes into every issue fine tuning and tweaking every little detail. How would you describe a typical work day for you as an editor-in-chief? Jennifer: “Yes, the level of detail is quite high but in this day and age, I feel that I have to keep it high for the magazine to be worthy of earning my readers hearts. My days are very busy and constantly changing – which fortunately suits my personality. I am always in some stage in the process of coordinating contributors, planning shoots, sourcing materials, setting up and photographing stories, editing photos, working on layouts, and more for the current issue and future issues simultaneously. My almost 25 years of event planning experience definitely prepared me to juggle so many different tasks at one time, that’s for sure!”
Jennifer: “That it takes a lot more time, money and help than you might ever imagine to launch something like this. Had I known then, what I know now, I probably would have run and hid… well, knowing me I would have done it anyway, but it’s been much harder than I thought it would be. Marketing has been a particularly challenging area for me as I’m not a natural self-promoter and I do not have a budget for traditional marketing. I am praying that God will send someone to help with marketing as well as distribution.” 
Thanks for stopping by.
See you back here next time.
Oh, Lisa! Thank YOU so, so much for being part of the magazine – your creativity is such a blessing to me! and for sharing about the magazine with your friends. I am honored 🙂 It’s really fun to see all the covers lined up together!! Hugs to you my dear friend!! ~ Jennifer