Monday, April 29, 2013

$5.00 Wal-Mart Frame Made Pretty

 I recently decided to re-frame the above print. I had one of those plain wood Wal-Mart frames that I had gotten for $5.00s in my closet.
 I spray painted it all gray.
Once it dried I used some off-white paint watered down and brushed it over the entire frame.
 I let the paint dry....
 Once that was done I sanded to create that chic look.
 I then used some coordinating fabric I had on hand behind the print.
I think it looks great! And I love having a fresh look and adding a little more life to items I had around the house. 
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

My Kitchen Wall Art

 I love old things! There's something that draws me to a pile of old stuff. My garage is full of old things that we're placed there before we lived here. The fun part is that a lot of the finds in there have ties to my family as we live on the family farm.
 
I found the above molding in our garage and I'm pretty sure they we're in my Great Grandmothers house before it was remodeled.  So I decided to give them some dignity back.
Now their hung in  my kitchen and I LOVE them!
The plates we're also my Great Grandmothers. Makes me think of her every time I see them.

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Monday, April 15, 2013

A Little Cow Love






Our cows get little attention here on my blog, but they are really such a big part of our families everyday life. I love that it's a activity that we all do together (well... Chris does the work side of it but the kids and I get to tag along).
Happy Monday!

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

50 Ways to Market Your Website


Here are 50 Simple, Yet Effective ways to Market Your Website!

  1. Bumper Stickers http://www.makestickers.com
  2. Pull-tab Flyer's (Make one in Microsoft Word)
  3. Business Cards http://www.vistaprint.com (You can get 250 free + S&H).
  4. Make or buy t-shirts with your website address for you and your kids.
  5. Message Boards
  6. Free Classifieds (Free works, it just takes a lot of time.
  7. Ezines
  8. Paid ads both online and off.
  9. Make bookmarks and ask to leave them in your local library.
  10. Create a Co-op with other business owners.
  11. Newsgroups
  12. Word of Mouth (friends and family).
  13. Create a signature line for your outgoing emails.
  14. Inexpensive lapel buttons.
  15. Create pens with your website and leave them with the cashier after writing a check.
  16. Welcome New Baby cards for local Hospital's. (You can add a coupon or a sample of your product for the new mom).
  17. Create a tri-fold educational handout about your business or mission.
  18. Welcome basket with samples to new-comers in your area.
  19. Put a business card in all of your outgoing mail.
  20. Create a Car Magnet. Make sure it's in block print and easy to read.
  21. Fishbowl idea! I love this one, You ask a local business if you can leave a fish bowl along with a sample of a product/prize. At the end of the month collect the bowl (with all of the names) and draw a name for the prize. You will have a bunch of names of folks who are obviously interested in your product.
  22. Flyer's/coupons in your neighbors doors. (FYI: it's a federal offense to put anything in someones mailbox).
  23. Buy a pre-inked stamp with you website address and stamp all of your outgoing mail. Do you know how many people see that envelope before it reaching the recipient? A LOT!
  24. Make a bag for the gym or a diaper bag with your website address while your out.
  25. Have a ball cap made with your website address.
  26. Depending on the type of business you have you can tailor this idea... Buy flower seed packets (10 for $1.00) with a label that says "I'm in the business of helping others grow" Then placing them in flower pots and leaving them at local businesses.
  27. Use sidewalk chalk to write your website address on you drive way for others to see as they drive by.
  28. Reply to spam emails with a friendly link to your website.
  29. Give a stack of business cards to family or friends in different states and ask them to leave them at their favorite spots.
  30. Create a cute profile along with your website link for any chat rooms you visit.
  31. Facebook fan page is a must!
  32. Pinterest marketing.
  33. Tweet, tweet, tweet!
  34. Use your products, take photos and share those photos on your social media accounts.
  35. Use vinyl lettering on a sun visor for your vehicle with your website address.
  36. Have a blog with links back to your website.
  37. Create a YouTube account along with your URL.
  38. Use websites like http://www.socialoomph.com to set up pre-timed social updates.
  39. Ask to be a guest blogger and be sure to include a link back to your website in your bio line.
  40. Press Releases.
  41. Submit your URL into search engines.
  42. On your voicemail message leave a friendly message including your website address.
  43. Create business card magnets with your URL and stick them to anything metal.
  44. Enlist your kids and hand out flyer's/samples at local parades with your website.
  45. Use vinyl lettering and add your website address to your kids wagon or stroller.
  46. Comment on others posts/tweets/updates and include your URL.
  47. Purchase postcards with your website address. A bit bigger than your biz cards and wont get lost as easy.
  48. Give gifts with things you offer with your business along with a business card so others know where to get it.
  49. Be ready for Halloween with cute bags of candy along with your biz card.
  50. Attend local trade shows, craft fairs, etc along with a both to showcase what your business offers.

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Lilian's 6th Birthday

 Our Lilian is now 6! We celebrated with some friends and a cupcake themed party.

 I made this fun Happy Birthday Banner.
 Love seeing all of the photos of her and how she has changed over the past 6 years.
 I used the scraps from our Happy Birthday Banner to create frames for the photos.
 We had a fun Cupcake pinata and bubbles wrapped with these cute Cupcake labels.
(I found them HERE).
 
 Our pink cupcakes I made and found the cupcake liners and picks local.
 It was so fun to watch the kids with the pinata!
And no birthday is complete without opening gifts.

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Monday, April 1, 2013

Simple 2X4 Project

Here's a fun 2X4 project that I recently did.
 I painted the 2X4 white....
 Made a stencil with my Silhouette (Love that thing!!!)
And when all of the paint was dry I used a bit of sand paper to rough up the edges.
 
Have a Great Monday!
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Friday, March 29, 2013

The Most Important Factor for Your Webpage = TRAFFIC and how to get it!

My guest blogger today is my Awesome sister and mommy to these two cuties!  



If you have a new blog or business you might be wondering how to get one of the most important factors to make your page successful- TRAFFIC! Traffic is going to be all the people that stop by and visit your page. You want new visitors, targeted visitors, and visitors that will always come back! Here's a few interesting tips to get high traffic to your page:
1. Use Social Media
Think about the millions of people using social media in today's world! By simply sharing your page, there is a possibility of all of those people seeing it, so use every site to promote your page and use it as free advertising. Popular sites include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+. The thing I love about Pinterest is that it's SO popular, and it's very simple to upload a picture and post from your blog or page. But make sure you always have your link in that picture so readers are always directed back to your page! A tip for getting more viewers from Twitter is to use hash tags (#), which will let more Twitter users see your tweet even if they aren't following you, which in turn could direct them back to your page.
2. Link, Link, Link!
ALWAYS leave the link back to your page on things you are posting. Whether it be pictures, posts, pins, emails, tweets, everything! The more you make your link visible, the higher possibility of getting more traffic to your page. Whenever you have a new post or picture on your page, make sure to share it with social media sites along with your link, so they will be easily able to get to your page with one simple click.
 
 
3. Interact With Others
Another way to get your name out there and receive traffic from it is to always interact with other people on their pages. Leave nice comments, 'like' their posts, retweet their tweets. You can even just stop by their page and simply say "Hi!", and then all of their viewers will be curious as to who you are. It's just another way to let your name be seen, which equals traffic to your blog. Another good idea is to be a guest blogger on someone else's blog.
It's a great way to let new readers learn who you are and what your style of writing is.
4. Be Consistent
Timing and consistency is a very important aspect in getting traffic and keeping that traffic returning to your blog. The general number of posts is one or two postings each week. If you do 20 posts in one week, your readers might become overwhelmed. But in the same sense, if you only do one post a month, your readers might forget about you. Keep them wanting more! The same goes for social media activity, keep it consistent or you might become more of an annoyance (or a ghost!) to your readers. Along with being consistent you want to make sure you have new catchy information that will entertain your readers and keep them coming back to see what you will have next time.
Good luck on getting your traffic! :)
______________________________________________________________________
Jessie is a full time stay at home mom of two beautiful daughters Charlie (2) and Erin (4 months) and believes it is so important for her to be at home with her children while they are growing up. Although it may mean less income, the values and morals being taught to our girls are more important.
 View more great blog posts like this on Jessie's Blog, Follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest or Check out her Mark Store!

Thanks again Jess for sharing your tips with us!
 
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Click HERE to learn how You can be a Guest Blogger on 4MyKiddos.