Jen Causey Kidder, the visionary founder and primary creative force behind the prominent DIY wedding and craft blog Something Turquoise, has officially announced the sale of her platform to IJWT Media. This strategic acquisition marks the end of Kidder’s 12-year tenure as the site’s lead editor and chief executive, a period during which she transformed a personal passion for crafting into a leading digital destination for the bridal and maker communities. The transition comes as Kidder prepares to shift her professional focus toward the private education of her children, a decision that highlights a growing trend among successful digital entrepreneurs seeking a realignment of work-life priorities in the post-pandemic era.
The Strategic Acquisition of Something Turquoise
The acquisition by IJWT Media, a diversified media organization, ensures the continuity of the Something Turquoise brand while providing the capital and human resources necessary for its next phase of growth. According to the terms of the agreement, the existing editorial team will remain in place, supplemented by a new cohort of contributors tasked with expanding the site’s content pillars. While Something Turquoise has historically focused on the DIY wedding niche, the new ownership plans to aggressively scale into broader lifestyle categories, including home decor and childcare projects.
IJWT Media has signaled that the brand’s core identity—centered on high-quality, actionable craft tutorials—will remain intact. The influx of new talent is expected to increase the frequency of publication and enhance the site’s presence across social media platforms, particularly Pinterest and Instagram, where the brand has historically maintained a significant footprint. For Kidder, the sale represents a successful "exit," a goal often sought but rarely achieved by independent bloggers who started their platforms during the digital publishing boom of the early 2010s.
A Twelve Year Chronology of Digital Entrepreneurship
The trajectory of Something Turquoise serves as a case study in the evolution of the "creator economy." Jen Causey Kidder’s journey began nearly 14 years ago when she was working as a professional hairdresser. At the age of 22, recognizing a desire for career autonomy and a passion for tactile creativity, she set a long-term goal to monetize her crafting skills. This transition was not instantaneous; it required an eight-year period of foundational work, skill acquisition, and brand building before the platform could sustain her as a full-time endeavor.
Since its formal inception approximately 12 years ago, Something Turquoise carved out a unique space in the wedding industry. By focusing on "Do-It-Yourself" projects, Kidder tapped into a market of budget-conscious yet style-oriented brides. The site became known for its meticulously photographed tutorials, providing step-by-step instructions for everything from handmade invitations to custom bridal party gifts. Over the last decade, the platform survived numerous shifts in the digital landscape, including the rise of video content and major changes to search engine algorithms that marginalized many smaller independent blogs.
However, the growth of the business eventually collided with the complexities of managing a large household. With a family comprising four children and an extensive array of domestic responsibilities, Kidder noted that the demands of maintaining a high-output digital publication had become increasingly difficult to balance. The decision to sell was precipitated by a "change of heart" at the end of the previous calendar year, leading to a period of soul-searching regarding her long-term maternal and educational goals.
The Economics of the DIY Wedding and Lifestyle Market
To understand the value of the Something Turquoise acquisition, one must look at the broader economic context of the wedding and crafting industries. The global wedding market is valued at over $70 billion in the United States alone. Within this sector, the DIY segment has seen sustained growth as couples seek to personalize their ceremonies while managing rising inflation costs.
Furthermore, the "hobbyist" economy surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, with platforms like Etsy and Pinterest seeing record engagement. Something Turquoise sits at the intersection of these two lucrative markets. By providing free, high-quality content that drives traffic to affiliate partners and advertisers, the site represents a stable asset for a media group like IJWT Media.
Data from the digital publishing industry suggests that niche blogs with established authority and high-intent audiences (users looking for specific "how-to" information) are increasingly being consolidated into larger portfolios. This allows media groups to leverage "economies of scale," applying centralized SEO strategies and ad-tech stacks to niche properties to maximize revenue.
The Shift Toward Homeschooling and Parental Devotion
A primary driver for this transition is Kidder’s commitment to homeschooling her children. This decision reflects a significant demographic shift in the United States. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of homeschooling households doubled between 2019 and 2021. Even as traditional schools reopened, many families opted to maintain a home-based or "unschooling" approach, citing the desire for a customized curriculum and stronger family bonds.
Kidder’s proposed educational model for her children is comprehensive, involving a blend of traditional home studies, specialized classes, and experiential travel. She characterized this move not as a retirement from work, but as a reallocation of her "most valuable" resource—time. This "soaking in" of the formative years is a sentiment echoed by many mid-career professionals who are currently participating in the "Great Realignment," choosing lifestyle and family over corporate or entrepreneurial scaling.
Official Responses and Community Impact
The announcement has garnered significant attention from the blogging and wedding communities. While Kidder expressed the emotional difficulty of "letting go" of a brand she built from the ground up, the reaction from her audience has been largely supportive. Many long-time followers have noted the rarity of a founder being able to hand off their "digital baby" to a team that intends to honor the original mission.
In her final communications, Kidder emphasized her gratitude for the community that supported her transition from a hairstylist to a digital media mogul. "This experience has been so special to me," Kidder stated. "While I’ve definitely shed my fair share of tears in letting go, I’m also so incredibly excited for this new chapter of my life."
The team at IJWT Media has expressed their honor in taking over the mantle. By retaining the existing staff, the transition aims to be seamless for the end-user. The introduction of new contributors is slated to begin immediately, with an increased focus on "wedding, home, and baby projects," effectively broadening the site’s demographic reach beyond just the "bride-to-be" and into the "new homeowner" and "parent" categories.
Broader Implications for the Digital Media Landscape
The sale of Something Turquoise highlights several key trends in the 2024 media landscape:
- The Professionalization of the "Mom Blog": What began as personal journals in the early 2000s have become sophisticated business assets. Founders like Kidder are now treating their platforms as companies to be built and eventually sold, rather than permanent jobs.
- Consolidation of Niche Media: As the cost of acquiring traffic through social media advertising increases, media companies are finding it more efficient to buy established brands with "organic" search traffic and loyal email lists.
- The Hybrid Education Movement: The move of high-profile entrepreneurs into the homeschooling space provides further cultural validation for alternative education models. It suggests that the flexibility of the digital age is now being applied to child-rearing as much as it was to remote work.
- Content Diversification as a Survival Strategy: By expanding into "home" and "baby" categories, IJWT Media is attempting to solve the "churn" problem inherent in the wedding industry. Most users only engage with wedding content for 12 to 18 months; by adding lifestyle content, the brand can retain those users for years as they transition into new life stages.
As Jen Causey Kidder prepares to publish her final post on Monday, the digital crafting community watches the end of an era. Something Turquoise will continue to operate, but its transformation from a founder-led blog to a corporate-backed media property is a definitive sign of the times. For Kidder, the success of the sale provides the financial and temporal freedom to pursue a new mission: the bespoke education of the next generation. The legacy of her 12-year project remains in the thousands of tutorials that will continue to guide makers, even as the woman who dreamt them up moves on to a more private, yet equally creative, endeavor.
