Disclosure: I am writing this post in exchange for a discounted conference ticket; however, all opinions are mine. Have you ever thought of starting your own blog? Maybe you already have a blog and want to take it to the next level? In addition to the satisfaction of being able to communicate with adults while still being a stay-at-home mom, I've loved the unique experiences that blogging has afforded me. I actually started this blog after … [Read more...]
Our whole family has enjoyed watching the first season of the series, "When Calls the Heart" on the Hallmark Channel. We can't wait for it to return for Season Two in 2015! About the Series From the Hallmark Channel website: “When Calls the Heart” tells the captivating story of Elizabeth Thatcher (Erin Krakow), a young teacher accustomed to her high society life, who receives her first classroom assignment in Coal Valley, a small coalmining … [Read more...]
This past weekend, I volunteered at the 2014 Chicago Marathon. It was the first time I'd been to the marathon and it was more exciting than I had imagined. Before I went I read that there would be over 40,000 participants and over 10,000 volunteers but it really didn't register for me what that meant in terms of crowds. Wow. I was assigned to water stop #3 at the 5 mile mark to hand out water to the runners. I was amazed and so … [Read more...]
Twitter Party Alert! #GameTimeGoodies 1/28 12:45 PM ET - NEW Prizes of $3,500+! The playoffs are in full swing and so are the opportunities to watch the game as a family, with friends or the whole neighborhood. Do you have big game parties? It so much fun to watch a game with a crowd. And a big part of the fun is the game day food. Football fans of any team love pizza, ice cream and other treats from Nestle! Our family is Chicago … [Read more...]
About the Story It's 1755 and settlers are moving West. The American Indian is finding their world destroyed and they are fighting back. White families that settle in frontier are being attacked. American Indians are raiding homesteads, killing the men and capturing the women and children. The Leninger family was counting their blessings of a bountiful harvest in the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania in October, 1755. Based on a true … [Read more...]
I know you all have been anxiously waiting for us to announce the winners of the Spring Follower Giveaway Tour.... the winners are.... Grand Prize: iPad 2 - #7100 Francine (entered on Family and Life in Las Vegas, yahoo email) Second Prize: $500 Cash - #9965 Marla (entered on Little Yayas, hotmail email) Third Prize: $350 Cash - #12582 Crissy (entered on Marvelous Mommy, gmail email) Fourth Prize: $150 Cash - #21604 Kristin … [Read more...]
Visual Serendipity Design is a full service graphic design studio for web and print. They specialize in blog designs for Blogger, WordPress.org, WordPress.com and Joomla. They offer Flash works as well as print design. Are you interested in learning to do your own design in WordPress? Visual Serendipity Design offers workshop-type classes on how to design for the Thesis theme and CSS using free themes! Check their site for the latest … [Read more...]
I went to the site Blogs by Heather to prepare for writing this post, well, 20 minutes later, I'm back to start writing. Heather obviously knows about blogs and how to engage readers! Blogs by Heather is a one-stop shop for all things related to blogs. There are fantastic posts with advice on how to create, design, and maintain a successful blog, as well as many free tutorials on blogging. But I'm getting ahead myself again, here's more about … [Read more...]
Krista Owens, of Ritzy Design, found her love for design when she had her first child and opened her own web store. Shortly after opening, she discovered that she LOVED designing the store more than she actually liked having the store itself! She realized that she never got sick of doing it and could design for hours. She truly took the sage advice to do something you love! Here's a brief introduction to Krista and Ritzy Design: Krista … [Read more...]
Emily Murray of Blogaholic Designs started designing blogs almost a year ago and has built a successful business doing something she loves. At Blogaholic Designs, she offers custom blog design, free backgrounds, buttons, templates and is just in the process of launching a Social Network for bloggers! Her advice to bloggers looking for a new design is to do your research before you finalize. Choose a look that will compliment your blog niche … [Read more...]
"You may never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have." The World As I See It is a new design site and Margaret says she will do whatever she can to make your design perfect! The quote above is from The World As I See It, and from reading many of the posts there, you can get a good feeling about the tough choices and courage of this young designer. I encourage you to spend a little time and explore her site - … [Read more...]
If you are looking for one-of-a-kind, custom graphics, Erin at Samantha's Day Blogger Design can help you! Erin is an artist who draws all her cartoon people herself and does not use iStock. This insures one of a kind artwork and blog design for her clients. Please go look at her incredible pencil sketches - under Drawing Services. Examples from the portfolio at Samantha's Day: ( I love this first one!) Enter here to win a … [Read more...]
Get to the Top of Google without SEO Gimmicks Everybody wants to know how to get their site on the front page of Google. There is a way and it doesn’t cost money and doesn’t require a new plugin. Discover the simple habits that will get your site to the top of Google over and over again. SEO Gimmicks Two major topics have emerged about SEO since the Google algorithm changes a few months ago. One topic covers ways to organically grow your … [Read more...]
"I graduated with a Master's Degree in Web Development the year our twins were born. I am a stay at home mom, married to a wonderful husband for nine years. With the chaos of newborn twins, I was unable to find the time (and energy) to delve into web design. Now that they are slightly older (3 years old) I have larger chunks of time to work. I am really a computer geek at heart so I love having the excuse of developing a site so I can be on … [Read more...]
Zany Dezines started with Amber and her mission to provide fellow bloggers with new and creative designs that were both fun and affordable. After falling in love with web design in high school, she’s taken her love of making things pretty to the blogosphere! From your first look at the Zany Dezines website, you can tell that the designers love to have fun. The colors are the first thing I noticed and... fell in love with. They are bright … [Read more...]
April, of A Mommy's Sweet Blog Design, has always enjoyed creating and designing things - from baby blankets to little girl tutus. Family and friends have always told April that she has a good eye for design. Before having her two beautiful children, and even more now, she has a passion for computers... learning as much as she can about them and finding new software. There are free tutorials at A Mommy's Sweet Blog Design to help you with … [Read more...]
