There are plenty of family-focused blogs, lifestyle blogs, and food blogs. But have you ever ran across a blog that kind of covers all things children, family, fun, and food? Well, that’s what Katie Scheper is doing with The Little Things.
“The Little Things blog is one of those rare blogs that doesn’t really have a genre,” she explains. “It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that.”
Thanks to the freedom of a genre-less blog, Scheper is able to blog about whatever is of interest to her that she feels might also be of interest to other people too.
“If we eat at a great restaurant or do something fun around town, I can’t help but try to spread the word about it,” she says.
Whether it’s a delicious recipe that the family loved or a creative craft the kids did one day, Scheper shares it. In addition to recipes and crafts, Scheper says she also blogs about organizing tips, ideas for fun, and the family’s travels – whether near or far.
But all of this hard work that Scheper has put into her blog since launching The Little Things back in January 2009 came from an inspiration (or as she says, obsession) with taking pictures.
“I was a stay-at-home mother with small children, and an obsession with taking pictures,” says Scheper. “I read so many great blogs and thought that it might be fun to start my own blog to share pictures of the children and stories about our shenanigan with family members.”
Scheper admits, at the time of launching her blog, she didn’t really see past The Little Things being anything more than an outlet with which she could communicate with family and friends about the little things that were going on in her family’s life. “It wasn’t long, though, before I wanted to turn it into something more and speak to more people to share our adventures with,” she adds.
Now that her blog has become a much bigger part of her life, Scheper says that she hopes to help inspire other parents – inspire them to find things to do with their family. “Whether it be exploring an area of town they haven’t been to before, trying a new recipe, or even discovering a new game to play together,” she says. “Anytime I can inspire others to have fun or any sort of it is a win for the blog.”
In the 7 years since she started The Little Things, Scheper has a list of some of her favorite posts.
“I have to list ‘Our Favorite Homemade Pizza Recipes’ as a favorite because it’s the blog post I refer to the most,” she says. “Pizza is my go-to easy dinner, and it’s a crowd pleaser. My kids love to come in the kitchen and help on pizza night, my eldest makes the sauce and my youngest rolls out the dough.”
There’s also the post from a day she spent in Hamilton. “This is personally one of my favorite posts because something I love about the Greater Cincinnati area is that you can find so many interesting things to do and places to explore,” explains Scheper. “Until a few years ago, I had never been to Hamilton and never realized how many great things there are to do in that area. I love to discover new (to us) things to do and share that with others.”
Another one of Scheper’s favorite posts is Cheap Date Nights in Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky. “Date Nights are very important in our house,” she says. “I love hanging out with my four children, but getting out with my husband is important too. I started this list of cheap date nights for my own personal use, because we can’t afford to have expensive outings every week. After working on the list it occurred to me that I should share it with my readers because I’m sure we are not the only ones who want to curb costs on date nights.”
Aside from all the work she does on her blog, Scheper is also the founder of Cards by Katie. The inspiration for this Etsy shop arise when she was looking for a way to earn a little “fun money.”
“Whenever my family hosted a party I always took time to make special invitations for the celebration,” she explains. “When I stopped teaching in 2008 to stay home with my children I decided to turn that hobby in a small business.”
However, over the last 8 years, Cards by Katie has grown. There are new card designs added whenver inspiration strikes.
Scheper says she creates invitations, personalized stationery, holiday cards, and just about anything else her customers request. “I even have a section of my Cards by Katie Etsy shop dedicated to Photo Note Cards, so my photographs don’t just end up on the blog – they also become notecards sometimes,” she says.
Scheper adds that the goal with Cards by Katie is to create beautiful but reasonably priced homemade note cards. “Who doesn’t love getting a sweet note in the mail?” she says.
Scheper says that there are a lot of things on her list that she wants to write about or update on the blog. She also plans to spend the summer lining up giveaways to help liven things up and get people excited about trying new things and going to new places.
Learn more about The Little Things by clicking here. You can also follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.