It's Not Too Late!! Send Happy New Year Cards!

If you got too busy this year to send a Christmas Card, then show how fashionable you are by sending a "Happy New Year!" Card this year!!

CLOSED...for Holidays!

Quick Note: I will be closed until January 2, 2011 and will re-open (resume work on current clients, as well) on January 3, 2011.

Happy New Year and May God Bless you and your family as you have ours in 2010!!

Feature: Fairytale Princesses New Look!

Fairytale Princesses is getting a new "Winter" makeover (long time client) and is moving to a new chapter in their life with a new blog called "Faith, Love and Memories"...

Latest News - Holiday Designs/Cards/Invitations

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL!!!

Get ahead of the rush, Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa is around the corner so check out these deals!!

Holiday Freebies...

HAPPY FALL!!! The Holiday season is in the air, so...
Enjoy some of these buttons to decorate your blog, for FREE!!



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showcase

Birthday Invitation (private info has been blocked out)

FEATURED BLOG...

One of my latest customers was "Kelly's Lucky You". If you haven't stopped by her blog yet, you are missing out. She has some great contests, giveaways and more. Right now she has the BlogMania!!!

Kelly was a lot of fun to work with. She needed a new fresh look but with specific ideas in mind. Using her favorite "shamrock", we were able to create something she was proud of.

KELLY'S LUCKY YOU

She wanted a shamrock tree using the shamrock print she purchased through istockphoto, so I was able to create a tree for her. (does it look like there is more than 80 shamrocks on that tree? Trust me, there are! LOL!)

She purchased a special font to be installed to be used throughout her Blog.

Kelly also ordered a new Blog Button

She also ordered the new "Social Icon Bar" which you can see below the Sale details on Latest news.

Kelly ordered a Favicon with her favorite icon... Shamrock!!

She also needed a special business card template for mini moos and again had her exact idea in mind so I went to work to create her vision. MiniMoos has the neatest mini cards, check them out!!

With Kelly, we also did a completely new WordPress theme using the Atahualpa Theme and transferred her hosting to a new host account at DreamHost. (Dream Host has #1 customer service!!)

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Kelly and working with her and quickly gained a new e-friend. So stop on by her blog at http://kellysluckyyou.com!

Check out the latest and greatest for your blog/web!
The New "Social Icon Bar" w/codes.
You can order this custom to match your blog/web and items can be arranged and designed to your specific style/colors.  It is available in both horizontal and vertical and you can have rounded edges, straight edges or it can be designed in a circle.  You provide the links, I will provide the HTML Code for your widget! Its that easy!! ORDER YOURS TODAY!!!

NEW SITE UPLOADED TODAY!!!
As of Today, You will be seeing a "transformation" before your eyes!! I am uploading a new look for FALL, adding a refreshing new Logo and more, so check back later today or Monday to see the new look and new contests/giveaway and more!!

NEW!! Social Icon Bar! Only $20!!!

Tired of the old standard social icon links??

Well then you've come to the right place!!!
Order a Social Icon Bar!! (includes html codes)


Your Social Icon bar can be made to match your current blog design and includes up to 5 social links (your choice) for only $20 !!!
The Social Icon bar will include the html codes you need to make it active with all  your personal links to your social networks.

If you'd rather have social icon buttons, here are a few created for clients to match their blog... I can do the same for you and you will receive 4 buttons for $20! (click to see them in action on their owners blog site)

See me in action at Totally Temberton

See me in action at The Art of Being Mom

You can buy the social icon bar or buttons individually from the Ala Carte Menu or add it to a Starter Kit and/or Upgrade Package w/ Starter Kit from the Build-A-Blog ordering.


GET YOURS TODAY!!!

Latest Client - Totally Temberton!

Professional  (WP/Blog)

I recently had the wonderful pleasure of working for
Cara at Totally Temberton!!!

She wanted to created an attractive, colorful, whimsical
scrapbook style design. 

She received the Build-A-Blog for Professional Starter Kit ($60) &
added the Express Kit ($25)

and choose Social Icons Set, Post Divider, Sidebar Titles-12, Custom Header, Custom Background, Custom Font, Menu Bar, Grab-Me Button, & Favicon
She is using 4 kits...Pretty in Pink by Verena, Fresh into Spring by Verena, A Perfect Day by Graziela Mendez and How Does Your Garden Grow by Farrah. (purchased through PolkaDotPotato.com)

**if you are looking for a GREAT WP Theme,
then I highly recommend the Atahualpa theme.
It is USER FRIENDLY to make it easy for anyone. (especially designers!! LOL)

Stop by and visit her beautiful, fun blog at Totally Temberton

 

Space Available...

I have space available for 1 (one) WP client and  2 (two) blogger clients.
If you are only ordering individual ala carte items, you can order anytime. I fit those clients in around the Full Blog Design Clients.

Don't forget "BACK TO SCHOOL" is around the corner, so you might want to order a special Blog Button, or Back to School header for August/September!

A Special "BACK TO SCHOOL" Sale for all Blogger Headers - Only $25 (not including kit)!!!

(I appreciate everyone's patience while we are dealing with our 16yr old Daughters medical issues right now.
The prayers are especially appreciated. She sees a new neurologist tomorrow (Friday) that specializes in headaches so we are praying for some wisdom and knowledge from him that might help her with her 24/7 chronic migraines)

Life has bumps..

I wanted to let you all know that I appreciate so much the work you have sent my way.
At this time in our life we are dealing with a family situation with our 16 yr old daughter. She has chronic migraines (which means permanent, 24/7 all the time) and this has caused a lot of dr. appointments and things lately.

I saw this to let you know that my time is limited in what work I can accept at this time. I am currently working with two WP clients and some blogger clients. So at this time I have no openings for new WP clients but if you have a blogger site, I should have no problem finding a space for you.  If you only need an item (ad button, blog button, networking buttons, etc) this is definitely something I can fit in easily for you.

I appreciate your understanding and patience while our family is dealing with this issue. With the medical bills piling up, its imperative that i continue working and please know that all your orders are helping our family both with the adoption and now our daughters health/ medical bills.

She lives in pain 24/7 with a constant migraine that never stop and has been since Oct 2009. Her neurologists are trying but its a hit or miss and so far nothing has worked or helped but we are trusting God and hopeful.
The problem is that she can no longer read or write without pain increasing so she is at a halt with school and we homeschool. So we are trying to find new ways to homeschool her to not increase her pain.

Thanks to all my prior clients and future clients. I cannot say thank you enough for your understanding and patience and of course your orders to  help keep me busy and help our family financially. Every single order is a blessing to our family and we pray blessings on you and your family.

Thanks!
Jen

Tips & Tricks #4 - Blog Safety while vacationing

First I want to apologize for not having our Tips & Tricks in past 2 weeks. I went with my family on vacation and I make it a rule, never to announce when I am going for protection for my home and family.

These tips may not be received by all but its something everyone needs to hear.

This is a Tip I want to encourage more bloggers to use. Please do not announce (as tempting as it is) that you will be gone for a while.  There are too many predators, hackers, and just bad people that would like to do you harm.

Did you know that most of the apps for Twitter have a way for you to see who is "tweeting" around where you live? Yes!! You do not have to be a "friend" to do a GPS search on your phone app for Twitter to see.
What if you had "Leaving for vacation in the morning!!" on your Twitter status and someone decided lets see if anyone's vacationing this week!
All it takes is a bored teenager (we've had some 2 summers ago that were bored and damaged something on our house late at night and we have a super quiet neighborhood) for the summer come along and damage your property because they have nothing better to do. Thieves have it way easier now because we help them. We let them know when our home is going to be sitting empty. I have 3 neighbors watch my home but they are indoors and they sleep too, so they cannot protect you. Please do not announce you are away from home!

With today's technology it can be too useful in the wrong hands. So instead of announcing your leaving and PLEASE do not update with pictures of your trip and how its going until you are back. This is the same thing as announcing you are leaving.  Instead, do the following:

Tip 1 - Pre-Post

• 1-2 weeks before you are leaving, pre-type your posts for the week or time frame you will be gone and schedule them to post on those days you are gone. This way, it looks as if you aren't on vacation. 

Tip 2 - Safe Statuses for Twitter and Facebook

• Be just as careful on your status on Twitter and Facebook. Do not tell them how wonderful the beach is or your trip to your family, etc. Keep it more general like.. "having a great day today", "busy, busy busy" (they dont know your busy shopping on vacation!), etc.

Tip 3 - Posting Photos

• This is one I hope you really get. As tempting as it is, to share those adorable photos of your children, please protect them! So many predators, search for photos of children (especially for those summer shots in their bathing suits) and thanks to you, they can just take them and copy and save them to their harddrive. Then many of these photos are taken and put on the internet in terrible places. They also are photoshopped so PLEASE PROTECT YOUR FAMILY!!!!
• Do not think if you put a "NO RIGHT CLICK" on your site, that it stops them. It doesnt. Even I could easily take your photos from your site, its VERY EASY!
• If you want to share, create an album in Snapfish, Flickr, or Photobucket and put a passcode on the photos of your vacation. Please be smart and make it hard to hack that passcode. Use letters and numbers. Then only give it to the family you trust and ask them NOT to share it with anyone or you will have to remove the album.

We all want to keep our family safe and have a great summer, so please remember these 3 tips.  Pre-Post, Safe Statuses and Protective Photos.

Have a great SAFE internet Summer!!!

Baby Blog Buttons...Latest Work!

I've had sooo much fun making these new Baby Blog buttons.

Check out these adorable ones. Some have children that are now teens and still ordered them for their blog.

One client ordered the print size too and is printing them and framing them to put in their bedrooms.

Neat!! (I may try that!)

Order yours today!!!

They are only $5 or $4 if you order two or more.

You can choose the color scheme and all I need is the following info:

Name (can be nickname, given, blogname, whatever!)

Date of Birth

Eye Color + descriptive word (bright, dark, cheery, deep)

Hair Color + descriptive word (thick, short, spikey, curly, etc.)

Weight

Length

Time

3-word description (our precious girl, etc.)

For Adoptive Families that would like a "GOTCHA DAY" blog button, I will need the following:

Name (can be nickname, given name, blogname, whatever!)

Date of Gotcha Day (day you first saw your child to bring home)

City/State/Country (where you picked up your child from or their birthplace)

Eye Color + descriptive word (bright, dark, cheery, deep)

Hair Color + descriptive word (thick, short, spikey, curly, etc.)

Age (when you "got" them)

4-6 word description (loving, adorable smiling baby boy)

Newest Client Work...

BABY BLOG BUTTONS & Unique BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS are HERE!!!

Looking for a unique birth announcement for both your blog or print?

These are available as both a birth announcement for print OR as a  Baby Blog Button custom made.  You provide 7 details and I will create it to your request. Size: 150px (smaller sizes available by request) 

 

I am also making "GOTCHA DAY" baby blog buttons, celebrating the day we held our adoptive son in our arms!!! So all adoptive families can order a "GOTCHA DAY" Baby blog button for their blog too! 

It has the description of his hair and eyes, his age when he was ours (gotcha day), date of gotcha day, location of gotcha day or birth (your choice), and custom description of your child or phrase of your choice.

PRICES to Order:

Blog Buttons for both Birth and Gotcha Day Adoptions are only $5 each.
If you order 2 or more they are only $4 each.

Birth Announcements for Print / Gotcha Day Announcements for Print
You will receive a 4x6, 300dpi, ready to print digital file of your birth announcement/gotcha day announcement for only $8.
You can get them printed at your local printers or VistaPrint, etc.

Just go click on ORDER FORM to order today!!

It's also a great gift for your friend or family member that just had a baby to put on their blog or get gift certificate to order for Prints!!

STORE FRONT (Web/Business)

I recently had created a twitter background for this client, 

The Doves Nest.(see below)

They wanted to created an attractive web site "store front" for their e-commerce store that also linked to a couple new pages (about, local, contact) and wanted some special features at the bottom like a Twitter Feed and direct links to their Facebook and Twitter Pages, along with a News Feed.

They purchased the Build-A-Blog for Web Business ($100) and added the Express Kit ($25)

and chose Twitter Feed Widget, Social Icons, Titled Buttons and special Layout.

Visit their adorable store at http://www.thedovesnest.net

 

 This is a neat store that has Vintage, Shabby Chic, Cottage Style Decor for your Home and Restoration Hardware! 

"The Doves Nest"

 http://www.twitter.com/dovesnestdecor

Twitter Background

Tips & Tricks #3 - Backup-Part 2 - DownThemAll Plugin for Images

Last week, we talked about how we need to backup our blogger blogs.  I see that many of you enjoyed that Tip and tried it out.

This week we are going to learn how to use a neat tool called DownThemAll.
This is the neatest tool I've ever played with. You use it to quickly back-up/download all your images, videos and links from your blog.

How to Use Down them All

1. First make sure you have downloaded both Firefox Browser and the firefox plugin Download Them All.
Go to these two links to do that first.
http://www.firefox.com
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201/developers



*you will have to close the firefox browser after downloading the DownThemAll plugin so it can upload it into the Firefox browser.

2.  Okay, now that you've downloaded both the Firefox browser and the Download Them All Plugin, we can begin.

First open your FIREFOX browser because this plugin only works in Firefox browsers.

Second, in your firefox browser type the url to your blog you want to backup.

Third, you will now go to the top menu of your firefox browser and click on TOOLS, then choose DOWNLOAD THEM ALL Tools and choose Download Them All.

Now you are ready.

The Download Them All Tool Window should have opened and it will automatically add all the image links into the window.

Look at the top of the window and you will see 2 tabs. One is called Links with the number of links found in parentheses. The second one is your pictures and embedded images. 

Click on the Pictures Tab to see what you will be saving/downloading.

You will not want the http://www.google.com/friendconnect pictures becasue these are just your followers profile pictures. They should automatically not be checked to be saved.

Once you have chosen all the files you do and don't want saved, you can now move on to the saving process.

Below the DownThemAll list, you should see
'Save Files In:', click the folder next to that box below it.
Now a pop-up window will open up for you to go choose your folder or create one that you would like your files to be saved into. When you are done, click OK.
* there is a Make New Folder button at the bottom of the pop-up window you can use to make a new folder.

Now you can leave the Renaming Mask as it is.

Next, 'FILTERS'
You want it to choose both the Image and Videos.
If you do not want videos or images, just unclick one of them.
*this is a great tool if you only want to backup videos or only images with no videos.

Next, "FAST FILTERS'
You can leave this as is.

If you are ready, now just click START!
A pop-up window will open showing the Progress and Completion of all the images being saved.

*if you get a FILENAME CONFLICT! pop-up window, this means you have TWO images/videos with the same file-name. So you need to choose to rename it or overwrite the one that is saved(i dont recommend this one) or skip saving it. I like to choose renaming.
*if you have more than one file for this, then choose under "REmember this setting" _ Just for this session. and click OK.

when it is complete, all itms will be checked and in green and say 100%. You can now close that pop-up window.

And you are done!!

EASY RIGHT!?!?!

I know I personally do not want to lose any of my precious photos or images I have found and used in my blog posts.

GOOD LUCK and let me know how it went!!

Latest Work...

I have been blessed by so many ordering lately and as a 'new' thing I will be featuring each client on my site with a direct link to your site to help drive more followers/traffic to your blogs/sites.

Check out this great blog I had the pleasure of designing for, "The Art of Being Mom".

She has great giveaways, contests and great articles you won't want to miss out on!



 "The Art of Being Mom"http://theartofbeingmom.com/Wordpress Blog / Professional

http://www.twitter.com/annasmamma0702

Twitter Background

This is a request for a Birthday Invitation to her daughter's 14th birthday bonfire party. We used a kit that had a camping theme. She received this in 300dpi ready to take it anywhere to be printed by her local printer.

"Birthday Invitation" (print)

Here is another great website that won my recent Mother's Day Contest and got a Free Twitter Background! She holds regular giveaways and contests!

"Mommy Has To Work"

http://twitter.com/mommyhastowork

Twitter Background

 

 This is a neat store that has Vintage, Shabby Chic, Cottage Style Decor for your Home and Restoration Hardware! 

"The Doves Nest"

 http://www.twitter.com/dovesnestdecor

Twitter Background

This one I designed personally for my husband's Twitter account. 

He wanted something simple, masculine but showing off his family.

"Gregory Wright"

http://www.twitter.com/wrightgregory
Twitter Background

*note* - On all Twitter Backgrounds, I do my best to make sure they fit resolutions from 800px to 1900px.

Tips & Tricks #2 - How to Backup Your Blogger Posts

If you are like me and  have been on Blogger  or Blogspot as some may know it, since the beginning of time, well not quite the beginning of time but over a year or more...(me, since 2007!); you have precious information, posts you dont want to lose or may even want to use in a scrapbook.

So, how do you back-up your posts on Blogger / Blogspot?

Well there is really only one secure way to do this and it can take some time, but who of us doesnt have all the time in world to do that, right!? Not me!!!

So to back-up your Blogger / Blogspot posts, just do the following:

When you use your archive or labels, you notice on the URL it will list the latest N (number) posts from your blog for that search request (archive, label, etc.)

http://blogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=N
In place of the N, type the number of posts you want to show maximum of. If your blog has less than 1000 posts, you can save the whole page at one time. Just type the following, replacing with your blog address.
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/search?max-results=1000 OR
http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?max-results=1000

Now what??? Open a Notepad window (Start menu>Accessories>Notepad or Wordpad)
Now highlight all your Blogger / Blogspot post results and copy/paste them into Notepad.
Save them to your harddrive in a folder

Okay but what if you are like me and have over 1000 posts?
You will use the first URL and at the end just click Older Posts and it will give you the next 1000 results.

My advice for backing up your blog through Blogger, is to do this either weekly (if you are a daily blogger) or monthly.

Just imagine what you would feel like if you lost everything in your blog.

Now, how do you backup all your videos and photos? Well, if you dont use Flickr or Photobucket and Youtube for all your photos, graphics and videos, then I might suggest you doing that from here on out.
If you maximize your accounts with Flickr, Photobucket or youtube, just open another one!

Another great tool is called DownThemAll.  This is a Firefox Plugin extension, so if you don't use Firefox as your browser, just go to Firefox.com and download it for free. You can have more than one browser service. I have Google Chrome, IE, Firefox, Safari and Netscape, but my most used and favorite is Firefox because they keep up to date with the latest and are much faster!

Down Them All allows your to download all the images.  Just click here to go get the plugin and install. It will show up on  your tools or toolbar. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201/

Next week, I will feature using Down Them All and would love to hear your comments this week if you try it.

Okay, now I have to go back-up my blogs! See ya!

**TinyTip** If you are like me and busy and easily forget everything you really "want or need" to do, just put a weekly reminder in your google calendar to alert you to backup. If you don't want to back up weekly, you might still put in a weekly reminder just in case you "intend" to do it that week but "snooze" that timer that week and that way you will just get reminded again the following week and will hopefully be okay!!

Ready to Order?

Tips & Tricks #1 - Using Linkwithin.com to Feature Other Posts

Every Monday, I will be featuring a Tip or Trick for you to use on your blog to enhance or improve your blog! I know you are so busy, so just subscribe to my blog posts (theblogcafedesigns) or follow me, so you automatically get the latest each week.
If you have a tip or trick you'd like me to feature, just contact me with your idea or request!

How to Add Linkwithin to your blog
Have you ever visited someone's blog and noticed they have these neat little boxes that show other posts listed at the bottom of their post using Linkwithin?  

I personally, love seeing Linkwithin boxes at the bottom of posts. Using Linkwithin, helps you get visitors to stay longer on your blog and that is good for both your rating. You ad sponsors have a better chance of being seen if you use Linkwithin, because people will have more chances to notice all the great blog buttons and ads on your site.

So if you are a PR friendly site, sell ad space, Linkwithin is a great tool you want to use.

So, how can you use Linkwithin on your blog?

It is so easy. Just visit their website at http://www.linkwithin.com.  It's Free, and easy. It is actually a widget, that you place just below your "main post area" for those using Blogger. 

Just put in your Email address, Blog URL, Blog type (blogger, wordpress, etc) and choose a width (how many links you want to show).  If you have a dark background instead of white, you want to make sure you click that special link "My blog has light text on a dark background" just above the GET WIDGET button. 

So now, you've clicked GET WIDGET.. what now? 

Linkwithin is so easy, they have a quick tutorial of exactly what to do. They show you, based on your blog type (blogger, wordpress), step-by-step how to install. It's almost as easy as boiling water.

Are you ready to Linkwithin? Just click here to get started.  If you have any problems or questions, they have a support box at the bottom of the page or you can email them directly at support@linkwithin.com

Happy Blogging!