Sunday, February 24, 2013

Guest Post - Make Your Blog Work for You with the Right Payment Options

I am pleased to share with you my first guest post at I Heart Decorating!  This could not have come at a better time - I have a slipped disc in my back and crafting is the last thing on my mind right now!!
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Make Your Blog Work for You with the Right Payment Options

Guest post by Gretchen H
One of the biggest online phenomenons has been the blogging craze. There are people using blog websites to write memoirs, to write how-to articles, and to share creative ideas with family and friends. There are many stay-at-home moms who have found success blogging on the experiences of homemaking and parenthood, and many of them have developed products in these areas that are both fun and innovative. No matter what your blogging about, it can be a lucrative business to sell your products through your blog. The first step is to find out which payment option will be best for your site.

Remember, all payment processing services have fees, and some of the fees are monthly, annual, and with each purchase. It's important to be clear on what the fees will be with your service. One of the less expensive merchant services is one in which you do more of the processing work. A manual merchant service will require you to call in all of the credit card numbers and process them with your phone. This can save you money on monthly fees, and the savings can be in the hundreds of dollars per month.

If you don't have time for manual credit card processing, there are automatic processing services that work directly from your site. Someone can send in credit card information and the payment can be directly deposited into your bank account. Many people choose this options because it comes with less hassle. You can expect to pay more on your overall fees with this automatic service, but it will save you time. For low fees, you can look at a site like http://www.advantageprocessors.com/.

One of the easiest and most affordable payment options out there is PayPal, which makes it easy to take payments through PayPal. Many bloggers love the PayPal button on their site because it's easy to setup, and the fees are very competitive. PayPal offers fast processing, which means you will have funds from orders in your account almost immediately. This is a simple option for bloggers that don't process a lot of payments or are otherwise just getting started with their website.

When it comes down to it, the type of payment merchant you go with depends on what your blog needs and how much money you will have coming in. You will want to determine how much you can afford to spend on merchant solutions, and then analyze how much time you have to deal with processing orders. Then you can determine whether you want a manual service or one that works automatically.

www.mommybloggerdirectory.com/blog

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Happy Crafting!!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Happy Valentine's Day! Sight Word Bingo

Happy Valentine's Day!

I had the pleasure of organizing the Valentine party for my daughter's kindergarten class today!  What a joy these kids were!

During our room mom meeting in January, we came up with the idea of playing Sight Word Bingo during the party.  If you do a Google search for "Sight Word Bingo", there are tons out there to print off and use.  Could I do things that simple?  No!!  I decided to make my own bingo cards for the kids!




The kids all got some candy conversation hearts to use as the bingo card markers.  They loved that they could eat the game pieces!!



At our craft station, we decided to make some super cute Hershey Kiss mice that one of the room mom's found on Pinterest.  Really easy craft for the kiddos - 2 Hershey Kiss with a foam heart in the middle.  We also used a foam heart for the feet and I added googly eyes. 



The kids thought these were hillarious!  For some reason - mine looks more like an elephant than a mouse!


Hope your Valentine's Day was special!
Happy Crafting!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Valentine Tulle Wreath

I love tulle!  It just makes everything more girly and fun!  I have been seeing these tulle wreaths all over the internet and decided to make one for Valentine's Day to grace my front door.  Remember the Valentine Rose Heart Wreath from last year?  My girls have been "borrowing" the roses from the wreath; so what better way to repurpose it than turn it ballet-inspired Valentine's Day wreath.

Materials Needed:
*    Styrofoam Heart Wreath
*    Spool of Light Pink Tulle
*    Spool of Light Purple Tulle
*    Spool of Glitter Pink Tulle
*    Valentine's Day pick



 

Cut the tulle into strips of approximately 6-7 inches in length.  Slip-knot the tulle around the wreath; similar to how you would when making a tutu.  I also knotted the tulle in place after slip-knotting it around the wreath, just to make sure it stayed properly. 
Overall it took me around 1 ½ hours to tie all the tulle around the wreath.  When that step was completed, I took the Valentine heart pick apart and stuck it into the Styrofoam wreath in various places. 


Voila! 


Look what you can get for an hour and half of your time and around $10.  A super cute home-made Valentine’s Day wreath! 


Happy Crafting!




http://www.thethriftyhome.com

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Working Mommy's Schedule

For the past few months I (and my family) have been adjusting to a new schedule.  I went from working a "normal" 8-4:30 day shift to working a 2:30-11:00pm shift.  What a difference!  We were used to dropping the kids off at daycare / school in the morning; picking them up on the way home from work, me making dinner and then getting the kids ready for bed.  It was a schedule we had perfected and were comfortable with.  In September, I had the opportunity to take on a leadership role at work - which required me to change my shift.  Now, I am home for the majority of the day; take Madailein to school in the morning and have the rest of the day to do housework and play with Caitlyn. 

I learned early on that I needed to make a daily schedule that works with our new life schedule.  Along this journey I did some searching on the internet for a "working mom's schedule" and to my shock I had a very difficult time finding one!  So, I made my own:

The Working Mom’s Housekeeping Schedule



Monday
Make Beds
Dishes
1 Load of Laundry
Dust / Vacuum Living Room, TV Room, Dining Room

Tuesday
Make Beds
Dishes
1 Load of Laundry
Clean Kitchen
Mop Floors

Wednesday
Make Beds
Dishes
1 Load of Laundry
Dust / Vacuum Bedrooms

Thursday
Make Beds
Dishes
1 Load of Laundry
Grocery Shopping

Friday
Make Beds
Dishes
1 Load of Laundry
Clean Bathrooms

Saturday & Sunday


Have fun with family!


At first, I really held myself accountable for everything - but I learned that I had to give myself some grace!  Some days, it's so hectic that I just can't get the beds made or a load of laundry done; and that's ok!  This may seem fairly simple, but I thrive on making lists.  I think it's the satisfaction of being able to check off what I have accomplished so far!

Do you survive on lists too?  I would love to hear if you are a working mom and what kind of housekeeping schedule you have!

Happy Crafting !

Sunday, December 30, 2012

In Loving Memory...



This month has brought a lot of heartache to my family - a week before Christmas my grandpa passed away. In his honor, I dedicate this post and would like to share a lovely poem my grandma selected for his service:

The Broken Chain by Ron Tranmer

We little knew the day that,
God was going to call your name,
In life we loved you dearly,
in death we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you,
but in God we put our trust,
In times as difficult as this,
faith is such a must.

You left us peaceful memories,
your love is still our guide,
And though we cannot see you,
you are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken,
and nothing seems the same,
But as God calls us one by one,
the chain will link again.
 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Doll Tutu's - Revised!

Last year I ventured into the world of tutu's!  Huge hit with my girls, but not so much at our craft show last year.  For this years show, I decided to add a leotard with each tutu and jazz them up a bit - huge success!!!  On the Saturday of our show, I sold all the ballet costumes and had to make more for the next day.

These tutu's could not be any easier to make.  I simply use an elastic hair band and slip knot the tulle around it.  The leotards were a swimsuit doll pattern that my mom helped me to perfect (I made many before they fit the dolls properly!) 

I'm still undecided about whether the tutu's are a bit too long and foofy for the dolls; I may try a few a bit shorter and see which I like better.

  Holiday tutu with green sparkle leotard.


One of my favorites!  Burgendy and gold tutu with roses and a matching leotard.


Dark purple velvet leotard with white roses and a purple and white tutu.  Another cute one!



Green flower fairy tutu - yellow and green sparkle tulle with flower and pearl accents.
I am having so much fun creating these; each one is unique and fun!! 

Happy Crafting!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Ocean Cuties Baby Blanket

To get my Etsy shop running; I decided to make some unique embroidered baby blankets.  I typically sell these at work and thought about how I could enhance them to be even cuter than before!

In the past, I would embroider designs onto anti-pill fleece; then sew it together with a flannel.  Once my wheels started turning, I figured the next step into cuteness for these blankets would be to finish them off with a satin blanket binding or a quilt binding. 

Success!!  I think the binding gives the blankets just the right finishing touch, don't you?!
This Ocean Cuties blanket is one of my favorite.  I choose a soft white bubble chenille fabric for the top layer with the most adorable ocean embroidery.  Each corner has a different character: Octopus, fish, seahorse and a whale.


The back of the blanket is a snuggle flannel ocean print that is new at Jo Ann Fabrics!  I was beyond excited when I saw the bolt of this flannel!  The quilt binding compliments the colors in the print just perfectly!





Just one look at these ocean cuties makes me want to smile!! 

Happy Crafting!