blogging
Giveaway winner announced!
Well, my FlourishCafe giveaway ended last night at midnight .. thanks so much to all of you who entered! (I’m including something for all of you, whether you won or not, at the end of the post, so don’t miss it!)
Using the random number generator at random.org, it picked 3 random comment numbers to be the winners. And the winners are … *drumroll please*
Congratulations to the winners! :D
For all the rest of you, even if you didn’t win, I want to offer you free shipping on your next purchase from my shop! Just enter the code “FREESHIPPINGFLOURISH” at checkout. :)
Thanks again to all who entered, and congrats to the three winners!
Celebrate the first anniversary of FlourishCafe!
Wow, a lot has changed over the past year for my little handmade business! One year ago yesterday, I opened FlourishCafe. At the time it was one of my three shops … With a Flourish, Flourish and Debonair, and Flourish Cafe. Now, one year later, I have finally found my niche, and have narrowed down to just Flourish Cafe! And to celebrate this first anniversary/birthday of my shop… it’s giveaway time! :D As well as more fun planned throughout the week here on my blog…
If you used to keep up with this blog, you’ll notice it looks very different. Originally, this blog was FlourishandDebonairBlog, to go along with that shop. Since that shop closed, I’ve been really rethinking what I want to blog about, and I’ve been working on getting this set up. I plan to officially launch this blog in its true capacity next week. In the meantime, let’s have a birthday party!
So, here’s part one of the celebration … I’m giving winner’s choice of ANY 11×14 print from my shop to THREE people! There will be three winners to this giveaway, and each one gets to pick an 11×14 print (or smaller if you prefer) from my shop. WooT!
Ok, so here’s how to enter … go to my shop: FlourishCafe.etsy.com and look around to pick a print you would choose if you won. Then come back here and post your choice in the comments, along with an email address so I can get in contact with you if you win. That’s it – you’re entered!
Want an additional entry? Post about this giveaway with a link to this post to your friends on Twitter or Facebook or Pinterest, then put a link here to your post in the comments! Make sure there’s a way for me to get in contact with you if you win!
The official stuff:
This giveaway is only open to participants 18 years or older, and only in the United States.
There will be 3 winners, each may choose any one print, up to 11×14 size, from my shop.
The winners will be selected randomly using random.org to choose 3 random comment numbers.
You must leave a way for me to get in contact with you.
This giveaway runs through 11:59 pm EST Friday, January 6, 2012.
You must enter by then to be eligible. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
So go look around in FlourishCafe and see what you would choose! Here are a few of the options below, but there are many more in my shop! And don’t forget to come back to my blog through this birthday party week – there’s more fun in store! :D
Go on, pick your favorite from my shop, and let me know in the comments to enter my giveaway –
you only have until the end of the day Friday, December 6th EST to enter! Good luck! :D
Aaaand we’re back! (with a whole new look!)
Wow, what a summer! It all started off with the sudden decision to move out of state in a couple weeks, and morphed into a couple months of whirlwind busy-ness. There was even a literal whirlwind, too, when a tornado came a right by our apartment! As promised, I did a good bit of running around like a (happy) chicken with my head cut off. But now we are moved, and very much enjoying it here. We’ve still got a few boxes here and there, but for the most part, we’re settling back into “normal” and getting right at home. Feathering the nest, and what have you.
And, really, that’s true of more than just our new apartment. My blog has also been in transition and is now moved to WordPress! (at last!) Its been another of those transitions that took a lot longer than I anticipated, but worth it in the end. I want to hand illustrate my graphics (like the brick walls to the side, and the icons right below the banner), and change things up a good bit. So feel free to saunter around and check out the new decor, but if you find an area I haven’t quite finished unpacking, please excuse the mess of moving – I’m still working on getting all the last little bits fully fixed up! I’m so excited to get my blog back up and running!
Soooo, whaddaya think??? (Oh, and please let me know if there are any bugs or if it doesn’t display right in your browser or anything like that … ah, the joys of coding.) Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of the new look!
Remembering the cost, and being thankful
 |
| A photo I took today: Memorial Day |
Memorial Day is more than just a day for car dealerships to have sales and for the rest of us to have a day off and eat hamburgers. We enjoy so many freedoms in our country, but those freedoms have come at a cost.
Our generation, I think, often has an entitlement attitude, that we are owed comfort and prosperity, but these things which we enjoy in our country have come with a heavy price from others. The freedoms we enjoy, the safety of a powerful nation, the stability of our economy (sure, we have recessions and such, but take a look at other places like Zimbabwe right now, and it’ll put a different perspective on what we consider “hard times”) – many soldiers have given everything to make our country what it is today. I am thankful for our freedom, and I am thankful to the service men and women who have sacrificed for the rest of us and remember them, especially today.
I hope you took some time out of your day to remember them as well. :)
What freedoms are you thankful for especially?
Personally, I am especially grateful for the freedom of religion.
Let me know in the comments what you are thankful for, and how you remembered our soldiers today!
How to create stand alone pages on your blog
See that bar right above here where it says “Blog”, “About Me”, etc.? I had seen lots of blogs had these handy stand alone pages, and I knew I wanted them on my blog (this was back when I was on Blogger). After a little poking around I discovered how to do it – its extremely easy, but the starting link is just not in a very obvious place.
Apparently I am not the only one who initially didn’t find it straight-forward – yesterday there was a request to explain how I did this. So here you go, Blogger users:
Go to the “Posting” page where you typically write a new post. Now look just under the tabs and you’ll see three options – New Post, Edit Posts, Edit Pages.
Click on “Edit Pages”. This will take you to the space where you can create/edit/post your pages. You can have up to 10 stand-alone pages in Blogger.
Click on “New Page”. Now you just write up your new page the same way you would write up a new post – same formatting/text box and everything. So simple! Whatever you put in the title is what will show up as the page’s name on your blog’s main page.
When you add a page, it will generally automatically add the pages widget. If it doesn’t for some reason, you can go in and add this widget on your “Design” tab page.
You can also choose whether you want the pages to be displayed across the top (like I have on my blog), or as a list on the side of your blog. Just drag and drop to widget on your design page to whichever place you want it to be.
The pages will be listed on your blog in the order you publish them, but if you want to rearrange them, just go back to the design page and click on the edit button of your pages widget.
There you can move the order around, or change the name of the “home” tab – for instance, I changed mine to say “Blog”. Click save and you’re done!
Hope that was helpful!
Do you have any other blogging questions?
Or any helpful blogging tips?
Let me know in the comments! :)
Hello blog!
I am excited to be starting this new blog! A little about me … my first and foremost identity is as a Christian, to serve God. Next, I am a stay-at-home wife to my wonderful husband, and mother to my three year old daughter.
I love to express my creative side in a variety of ways … I make jewelry from items that had a practical use in the past, I hunt for unique vintage finds, and I enjoy making illustrations. I also love to write, read and cook!
This blog will probably be various and sundry bits of all things I love. :)
Not the most recent photo, but this is our family. :)
