About ABM

about_profile

Welcome! We are sister team Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman. Here at A Beautiful Mess our motto is:

Stay home + make something!

And that is exactly what we aim to help you do. Here, you will find over ten years of recipes and step-by-step tutorials for home decor projects, crafts, and easy to make recipes. Most of it is written from our homes based in Springfield, Missouri and Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to our website content, we’ve also written three books. We have a cookbook, Weekday Weekend, that we developed alongside two dietitians who have a series on our blog. We wrote a home decor book, Happy Handmade Home. And our first book is about our first love—photography! It’s called A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book.

Speaking of photography, we also are the creators of a few top selling photo editing apps: A Color Story / A Design Kit / Filmm / Template

If you want to learn more about what we write about, what our other businesses are all about, and the books we’ve written check here.

You can see our full time team below, we also work with some very talented contributors. We aim to not only write great content ourselves, but bring you the very best from other experts and talented folks.

We also started a Give Back Initiative that you can read more about here.

We hope you find some content to inspire you to make something, and remember life is better when it’s a little bit messy.

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meet the team!

Elsie Larson

Founder & Creative Director

As the Creative Director, Elsie determines the vision for the A Beautiful Mess brand. In addition to our website and social media content, she has also overseen numerous projects over the years, including a clothing line, a fabric line, a natural beauty product line, monthly stationary kits, three nonfiction books, interior decor for personal homes (as well as multiple STR properties) and much more. Elsie is also one of the hosts of the A Beautiful Mess Podcast. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Elsie is also a wife and mother of two adopted daughters. She currently lives in Nashville, TN.

Fun Facts!
Instagram Pinterest

Go-to road trip snack: McDonalds french fries
Favorite movie: Rosemary’s Baby
Celebrity crush: Steven Colbert
Guilty pleasure: Shania Twain
Non-blog hobby: Eating my way through Nashville
Childhood hero: Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman

Emma Chapman

Founder & CEO

Behind the screen, Emma runs the day to day business operations and management of the A Beautiful Mess organization. Beyond these tasks, Emma also creates content for the website and social media channels— her main areas of focus include recipe development, craft tutorials, and home decor. She loves to photograph much of her own content. Alongside her sister, Emma has also written three nonfiction books and is an avid reader. She is also one of the hosts of the A Beautiful Mess Podcast. Emma currently lives in Springfield, MO with her husband and two dogs.

Fun Facts!
Instagram

Go-to road trip snack: Heath bar
Favorite movie: Stranger than Fiction
Celebrity crush: Hugh Jackman
Guilty pleasure: Hot fudge sundaes, for no reason
Non-blog hobby: Reading and Les Mills Body Pump 🙂
Childhood hero: Donald Duck

Laura Gummerman

Staff Writer

As a full time writer at A Beautiful Mess, Laura has created hundreds of projects for the website as well as social media. Laura also co-manages the ABM affiliate program. She is an exceptional maker and crafter and she is a talented writer who allows her passion for researching methods and products to elevate her projects. She also photographs much of her own content. Laura’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including HGTV Magazine, Family Circle, Real Simple, and many more. She currently lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and daughter.

Fun Facts!
Instagram

Road snacks: Latte and Cheez-Its
Favorite movie: Charade or The Way We Were
Celebrity crush: Old School—Robert Redford, New School—Christian Bale, Young Buck—Liam Hemsworth
Non-blog hobby: Singing karaoke by making my husband play Amy Winehouse and The Cardigans songs so I can sing along
Childhood hero: Audrey Hepburn, always and forever

Jacki Moseley

Content & Communications Manager

Jacki manages and coordinates our website content, including daily blog posts as well as ABM’s social channels. She creates content round- ups and shopping guides, and co-manages the affiliate programs A Beautiful Mess uses. Jacki also assists with all sorts of tasks within the sponsorship program and digital publishing program and handles comments and communications within the A Beautiful Mess community. Jacki currently lives in Springfield, MO with her two Boston terriers.

Fun Facts!
Instagram

Go-to road trip snack: Sonic (tots forever)
Favorite movie: Rosemary’s Baby
Celebrity Crush: Pauly Shore
Guilty pleasure: Listening to 90’s R&B way too often
Non-blog hobby: Yoga and selling vintage decor
Childhood Hero: Willy Wonka

Claire Shaffer

Business Development Manager

Claire runs the A Beautiful Mess sponsorship program. Her role covers all sorts of responsibilities, including pitching and managing the sponsored content program (not only on the ABM website) but across all social channels as well. Claire develops relationships with brands to bring A Beautiful Mess products and special projects to life. She also has been known to make royal icing sugar cookie content to support the social channels. She currently lives in Kansas City with her husband and son.

Fun Facts!
Instagram

Go-to road trip snack: Twizzlers and Turtle Chex Mix
Favorite movie: If it’s Disney or Audrey Hepburn I’m good!
Celebrity crush: Chris Evans
Guilty pleasure:  Fixer Upper and Bones reruns
Non-blog hobby: Reading and running
Childhood hero: Lois Lane or Wonder Woman

Keely Rust

Product Strategy & Marketing Director

Keely manages the e-commerce side of A Beautiful Mess, including courses and our digital print shop—and she’s brought many other product offerings to life. She develops the marketing strategies and assets used for these products including newsletters, blog posts, and social media campaigns. Keely also writes for the blog and edits our podcast. She currently lives in Nashville, TN with her husband and dog.

Fun Facts!
Instagram
Go-to road trip snack: Seasonal Reese’s shape, the ideal chocolate to PB ratio
Favorite movie: That Thing You Do!
Celebrity Crush: Chrissy Teigen (we are BFFs in my mind)
Guilty pleasure: One Direction
Non-blog hobby: Making themed Spotify playlists
Childhood Hero: Harry Potter and Baby Spice, equally

Jeremy Larson

Audio Engineer + Videographer

Jeremy creates many of the videos you see on A Beautiful Mess, including the original music. He also records and mixes the A Beautiful Mess Podcast. Jeremy currently lives in Nashville, TN where he creates his own original music through his project, Violents. He is married to Elsie and is a father of two.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why don’t you post more meat recipes on the blog?

Emma develops the majority of the recipes on ABM and she is a “mostly vegetarian.” She prefers a plant based diet for health as well as some moral considerations. But you’ll find an occasional meat or seafood dish from time to time if you’re paying attention. 🙂

I’m coming to Springfield! Do you have a list of fun places should I visit?

Yes, welcome to our hometown! Here’s a list of a few places we love: To eat, we like Aviary Creperie, J.O.B., Gailey’s, Taylor’s Drive In and Casper’s. Our favorite coffee shops are The Coffee Ethic + Kingdom. Our favorite bars are Scotch & Soda and The Golden Girl Rum Club. If you have time to shop check out Staxx. Don’t forget to drop by Hurt’s for donuts!

I want to submit my home for your “At Home With” feature. Who do I email?

You can email us at submit AT abeautifulmess DOT com. Please keep in mind that during times that we receive a higher volume of submission we are not always able to write back to everyone. BUT if we do want to feature your home you will hear from us, so there is no need to follow up. Thanks!

Who takes your photos?

Most writers on ABM take their own photos in whole or in part. We also have a few awesome photographers we work with. We always credit the photographer at the bottom of each blog post. We started doing this a few years ago so our very old posts may be missing this info. But our aim is to update as we can. 🙂

Which iPhone apps do you use?

We are bias, but we love A Color Story for filters and other adjustments. Our aim was to make that the very best photo editing app on the market. We also love A Design Kit (how could we not?) for creating backgrounds, adding text, stickers, and other design elements to photos.

I love your photography! Can you share some tips?

We use A Color Story Desktop to edit all the photos you see on the blog. Looking for photography tips? Here are a few favorite past articles on this subject: Tips For Lifestyle Photography, Tips For Capturing Emotion In Photos, 5 Tips For Indoor Photos, 5 Tips for Outdoor Photos, 10 Things Not To Do, Tips For Pet Photography, Tips For Outfit Photos, Tips for Photographing Your Home + 5 Tips For Food Photography. You can see our full photography tips archive here.

How do you draw on your photos?

Most handwriting you see on the blog (including the banner) is Elsie’s handwriting. She uses the Wacom Bamboo Tablet. You can read about it here.

I’m new to blogging. Can you give me advice?

We shared some tips here, co-wrote an article for new bloggers with a blogger we mentored here and shared perspectives on our young industry here. We also have an e-course FULL of personal stories and advice for any new blogger looking to grow.

The best piece of advice we can give to a young blogger is to write the blog you want to read. Being good at anything takes time, and blogging is no different. Keep going, be consistent, and make small goals for yourself.

Can I post your DIY project or recipe on my blog?

Yes, but please follow these guidelines: You can post one photo of our finished project or recipe with a link to our original blog post. You also have our permission to pin our photos on Pinterest.

DO NOT post the entire content of any blog post, DIY step-by-step photos, or written instructions without written permission. A Beautiful Mess is protected by copyright laws.

If you are a print publication wanting to use a high res image or have any other questions about usage of a photo of ours, email support AT abeautifulmess DOT com. 

I want to grow my blog. How did you build a readership?

We built a readership over the course of many years. Some things that have worked for me are focusing on quality posts that take time to write and develop, being consistent (I’ve been posting almost every day for several years), and being myself. It’s a slow and steady process, not an overnight thing. We spend a lot of time planning and developing the ideas you see here on the blog. It’s the product of hard work, constant evaluation, and lots of love.

We have (and will continue) to share lots of blogging tips, which you can browse here. We also wrote an entire course on blogging, called Blog Life,  so if you are looking to become a blogger or grow your site you might check that out as well.