REPURPOSING YOUR CHRISTMAS DECOR FOR THE WHOLE YEAR

‎So, valentine's day have come and gone and I had lots of fun. Finally was able to give by hubby the gift he wanted most (thanks to you all who shared some gift ideas with me). I was chilling (can't remember where exactly) one hot evening, and was thinking that I hadn't posted anything on interior decor  in a very long time, so  I decided to check out the web for some inspiration. Of all the sites I visited, this one stood out to me - patiencebrewster.com. She is an artist and illustrator known for her unique Christmas ornaments, holiday decor and gifts.  ‎ Now this is totally new to me, but I always aspiring for something new was inspired by her to come up with creative ideas to repurpose Christmas decorations for use all year round, instead of packing them up till another Christmas. I have decided to do this for each month of the year, starting with this month, (though it's almost over).

For this month, the month of February, the month regarded by many if not all, as the of love. I have been brainstorming to come up with a creative idea for Valentine’s day. Redecorating in the shape of a HEART is what instantly comes to mind, but that one is already taken and a bit cliché. Going with a "V" seemed a little bit too obvious, even though a heart shape without the top part leaves us with a "V" too. I then thought about arranging the decorations in the alphabets that spell LOVE, making the V more pronounced to represent valentine. Finally, I decided to leave the proverbial "box" to think, guess what I came up with? 

I thought about synonyms, antonyms, homonyms and I came up with a homophone - Heart vs. Hat. You could redecorate in the shape of a Hat! What do you think of that? Crazy creative right? Well, if we weren't repurposing Christmas decorations, then you could use your hats (for those of us who have lots of hats) to decorate in the shape of a heart. As for what specific colours to use, that's easy. Valentine's day share some similarities in color with Christmas - red. Alright, that's all I could come up with for this month. Hope you love it.

Cheers

BLOGGING FROM A - Z APRIL CHALLENGE

So, I entered into a blogging challenge. I have never done one before, not even a blog hop. This one though caught my attention and initially it was a bit tricky to figure it out. It is about blogging with topics from A – Z for the month of April. You also have to choose a theme to blog about e.g. if you decide to blog on food for the challenge, you’d write about recipes and cooking e.t.c. for the whole month. So, for someone like me who writes on many random topics, this is already a challenge (I even left a comment complaining about this on the website that features the challenge). 

Anyway, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it. (Maybe I’m a bit competitive). So, I started thinking of what theme to go with. Initially, I thought I’d go for décor, food or fashion, but it was too plain for me. Besides, I could never think of enough topics to write on for an entire month, (felt exhausting trying to figure the topics out already). I decided to go with my niche (in real life), medicine, but then, I felt it would be so me. Finally, I settled for my daily experiences. It could be fun I thought. (I have enjoyed writing my few posts under the label “daily experiences" already). I realized at this point that most of my time was spent in the hospital and as such, my daily experiences were going to be mostly about hospital stuff. With a smile (like the cat that got the milk), I knew I had my theme for the blogging challenge – MEDICAL DRAMA. 

That sounds fierce right? Anyway, that is what I came up with. I won’t be anything like what you are used to watching on TV though. Nothing like grey’s anatomy or house or scrubs, but I’ll do my best to keep you entertained. It would be me, relaying daily experiences or just my experiences in the medical field so far, also of people in the hospital. These people could include me, my colleagues, other members of the health team, and sometimes even patients (identities withheld of course). It would be stuff worth writing and reading about too.

I sincerely hope I can finish this challenge. I also wish you would come on this journey with me and share the experience, every step of the way. Ok time to go, fingers crossed, wish me luck. To join the challenge, click here. It's going to be so much fun! Already, there are over 500 blogs signed on.

Cheers....

BLOGGING TIPS

Hello everyone,

This is something I learnt from +Divya Uikey P. I realised it helps us get a lot of information from one post. Basically, all I have to do is gather links to some very nice post that could help improve our blogging. So, I'm back again with more tips on blogging and learning how to improve your blog

1) Blog hop - engage and participate

2)Unique header - http://ab4b.blogspot.com/2013/10/our-guide-to-making-unique-header.html (blogging for bloggers blog)

3)Free photos for your blog - http://socialmediatoday.com/mycreativeteam/166847/top-19-free-photo-sites-bloggers (Harry Hoover)

4)Back to top button - http://www.smtutorial.com/2013/12/Back-to-Top-button-on-blog.html with  +Divya Uikey P. This is the site you go to if you are a newbie to blogging. She has so much to offer, I just couldn't put it all in this one post

5) Want to learn how to create adverts/banner with blogspot? then visit theses sites

• Advertising on your blogger blogs - http://www.wazobiablog.com/2013/01/how-to-add-random-ad-banners-widget-for.html
• http://www.advancenaira.com/2013/10/how-to-place-advert-banner-on-blogspot.html#.VDbzvWddVnR
• http://www.ngbuzz.com/index.php/topic,1092.0.html

6) If you want to really really make money online as a blogger or even be a successful blogger, then this is where you go - http://notopoverty.com

That's all for now guys. Unfortunately, couldn't find anymore. Either I didn't look well enough or people aren't be creative with blogging or maybe there is absolutely nothing new to learn anymore. Hit me up if you've got any useful links.

Cheers......

LOVE ADS, LOVE TRAFFIC? BLOGGERS BEWARE!

Hello everyone!

If you are a blogger, doesn't matter if you are a newbie or oldie, or even planning to start, this post is for you. This is simply because we all crave two major things, traffic and then ultimately cash. We also know that the money comes from advertisements and ads come from increased traffic to your website or blog.

We all get excited when we notice traffic to our sites and most times we try to link back, mostly as a favour to those who have visited. Severally, I tried to open up the sites and all I saw was the "error" page. Two main sites I noticed were "adsensewatchdog.com and vampirestat.com". Stupidly, when I saw adsensewatchdog.com, I actually thought it was related to Google adsense. After a lot of error messages, I decided to stop checking or opening to sites. So some weeks ago, suddenly, I got curious and decided to search Google for the sites. What I found was amazing and scary to tell you the truth.

I found out that there were lots of these kind of websites that boost traffic to your site and make it look like you had real visitors and you are there grinning and feeling cool with yourself that you made a little impact, not knowing that they aren't actual views. Secondly. I found out that some of these sites are actually malware that could affect your blog or even computer. I am sharing this you because I believe it is a vital information and we need to be more careful when linking back.

For more information, check out the link below:

http://www.conanhughes.com/2013/11/bloggers-beware-of-these-sites.html

DAILY EXPERIENCES: I HATE TRAFFIC, I LOVE TRAFFIC

Odd topic for a blogger right? How could I possibly hate traffic? Well, read to the end of the post and you'll understand. Traffic - we all crave it. We check our pageview stats at least 10 times a day. We open and read every post that goes "5 ways to build traffic" or "10 quick ways to attract readers to your blog", and all those kinds of posts. We join communities and create them to promote our blog, just so we can build traffic. Use every available social media -Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn e.t.c. to promote our blog and build traffic. How could I then even think to say that I hate traffic? I must be out of my mind.

Well, stop holding your breathe now and take a breather. I actually loveee traffic. That was since I started blogging though. Prior to that, the word "traffic" only meant trouble for me. Two major forms come to mind

• TRAFFIC JAM: This goes with the following in my mind's eye
• Lateness to wherever I was headed
• Burning up of my fuel
• Running down of my battery, if I make the mistake of turning off the ignition and leaving the radio on
• Scratching or bashing of my car. (This for me is the absolute worst). The tendency of this happening is becoming frighteningly frequent. This is because the "okada" (bike) riders that were a means of transportation to so many people, were suddenly ban from the roads. (I am not saying they were wonderful drivers). But, now everyone has taken to the roads with their learner signs, ready to bash you and apologize and expect all to be well. 
• CHILD TRAFFICKING: This is the second type of traffic I hate, simply because it's a form of child abuse. It reminds my of stories told to me as a child of slavery. In my mind then, I thought it was a thing of the past. Long gone and buried. Little did I know that it still existed around me and continued to do so up to my adulthood. Hope it ends by the time I hit middle life and old age.

So dears, you see I was right to hate traffic, but I truly, absolutely love blog traffic. Tell me what other types of traffic there are, so we all learn.

Cheers.....

LEARNING ON BLOGGING

You can never learn enough about ways to improve your blog or how to build traffic or even how to make the most out of your Google+ account. I learnt a few new things in the passed few months (those that my usually experimenting couldn't do for me. I have decided to share this knowledge incase you have been struggling and you don't know who to ask or how to go about the issues that bother you most. Here we go;

The first problem solution that came to me was how to moderate my comments so that the comments on my Google+  posts are also visible on my blog. +Joy Hancock from the blogging for bloggers blog  helped me with this. To do this, 

• Go to the left side blogger dashboard.
• Click on "Google+"
• Select or Click on the third option. Also select one or both of the first two options to share your posts to Google+. They are listed below for your benefit
• automatically share after posting?
• prompt to share after posting?
• use Google+ comment on this blog
• And you are done

The disadvantage is that all the communities you shared your posts to on Google+ appear on your blog as a comment, whether or not your post has been commented on. Clicking on the third option also means you may lose the ability to moderate comments on your blog.

Something else Joy taught me was where to get those cute "follow" and "share" buttons. Visit www.addthis.com to get yours now. A site to get free photos to like wikipedia or www.morguefile.com  also.

The second and third solutions came through the help of +Incredible Divya. They are "how to schedule your posts"; and "how to post to blogger tabs". The links to these solution are shared on the article "something new, something borrowed... and it's not about wedding". This is the blog to keep abreast with if you are a newbee and want to improve your blog.

What I learnt on Wednesday morning as I got ready for work was how to get your own domain name. It was gotten from a new member +Sierra Calah  to my Google+ community (Keep Blogging It). The post is featured on the "something new...." article with appropriate links.

It's Thursday today and I learnt how to add the bloglovin widget to my blog by +Laura Greenwood from the blogging from bloggers' blog (read to the end before you apply my method). I already knew the basic use of html on blogger. What I didn't know was how to get the widget. Even after I signed up for bloglovin. There was no "pop-ups" to add a widget to your site. I decided to search Google for "bloglovin widgets". I love short cuts! Lord have mercy! Of course, numerous answers showed up. I clicked on the most relevant one. A "pop-up" appeared asking me to type the name of related blog. I typed "blogging for bloggers". A list of sites came up in another "pop-up". I clicked on one and the usually HTML mumbo-jumbo appeared. I copied and paste in the HTML space in the layout of my blog as thoroughly described by Laura and voila! I have a bloglovin widget on my blog. Nope! I don't. I only succeeded in adding bloglovin widget to someone else's blog to my blog.

You know what they say "if you don't get it right, try, try again" and so I tried again. This time I went to the home page of bloglovin and logged in. Here are the steps I took;

• Join and Login to bloglovin
• On the top right hand side of the page, place your mouse over your profile photo
• Select "your profile"
• Edit your profile
• Click on "add blog" and Add your blog's URL on the space provided
• A new page appears when your blog has been found  
• Select "claim blog"
• Type in your blog's URL again on the pop-up window
• A new window appears telling you to publish a new post with the code provided
• Copy the code, go to blogger dashboard, new post, paste and publish - this enables bloglovin to link to your blog
• Go to your photo again and select "bloglovin button"
• Select the widget type you like and that best fits into your blog and click on "get thus icon"
• Click on "Add widget" on the pop-up window that appears.
• Another window opens again with the usual safety warning. The heading "add page element". Click on "add widget"
• It immediately takes you to your blogger dashboard - layout
• Save arrangement and view your blog.

A thorough description of the "HTML" process by Laura is featured on the "something new....."article.

It's Friday today and I didn't learn anything new but somethings I've learnt over time has been in my subconscious mind. It occurred to me today and I decided to add it to the post.

1. You don't have to publish something everyday to build traffic unless of course your blog is a daily blog, news or entertainment blog. Even at that you can choose to have a day off, I chose Sunday. Believe me, I tried it once, for a couple of weeks and it was very hectic. I even tried posting 2 new posts everyday but that was because I added a "daily experiences" section to my blog. Of course, I learnt the "difficult" way. Just post regularly. I have decided upon 4 main posts for 4 days a week because I write on a variety of subjects and each day has its post. If I miss a day for some reason, well I guess I'll let it slide. Also if something happens that needs to go on the daily experiences, then I post more than 4. Basically it's all about doing what works best for you.
2. Schedule a timing for your posting. Note when you have the most traffic and post at that time. I used to post my blogs at anytime. As soon as I completed my work on an article, bam! it gets posted. Now I can work on many articles and schedule them for posting according. Scheduling reduces the pressure of a deadline and the fear of not posting and losing traffic when you may be out of touch.
3. Don't bug your head with thoughts of "no adverts" yet. They'll come, just write great content and build your readership and traffic. Loyal readers are the people who keep coming back to your blog. They aren't coming back to see your ads, no reader does. The ads are on almost every website.
4. Do you know about the usefulness of the 2 L's yet? (Label and Link). Label your blog article according to what categories they belong. Also, add links to refer readers to previous blog articles. They both help readers navigate your blog easily.
5. Read in a blog that we need to back-up our blog incase it is hacked. Yet to learn the process of it exactly. When I do, I'll definitely hit you up with the info.

I'll stop here for now, but I will  be bringing you more information on blogging as soon as I get them. In the mean time though, check out either or all of the blogs listed above for a guide to proper blogging. Didn't have all the info when I started, wish that I did. To know all about my blogging experience so far, click on the link. Blogging is definitely not for the weak and feeble hearted, that I also learned.

Cheers.....

SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED....AND IT'S NOT ABOUT WEDDING

I've been very busy on Google+ lately, visiting other blogs too and learning some incredibly new stuff (learning on blogging). I seem to have gotten almost all the solutions to my questions about blogging this week and then some. It is therefore true what the holy Bible says about "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened up to you".

Usually, it's enough to comment on the blog or 1+ or reshare the post on Google+. These under-listed blog articles made me change my mind about just re-sharing though. I believe they deserve a bigger recognition and audience and I'm here to do my bit. Read through and let me know if you don't think so. Remember we are here to help each other out.

• Painting with stencils by +Holly Makowski  - http://diyideablogs.blogspot.com/2013/11/painting-your-floors-with-stencils.html#SuVDQV4Gl07yefSc.99
• Schedule Posts on Blogger by +Incredible Divya  - http://connectionwithmedia.blogspot.com/2013/11/Schedule-post-on-blogger.html
• How to post in blogger pages by +Incredible Divya  - http://connectionwithmedia.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-to-post-in-blogger-pages.html
• How I got my domain name by +Sierra Calah  - http://www.beautyqueenuk.co.uk/2013/08/how-i-got-my-own-domain-name.html
• Our guide to adding bloglovin to your blog by +Laura Greenwood  - http://ab4b.blogspot.com/2013/11/our-guide-to-adding-bloglovin-to-your.html
• Tips to increasing your miles per gallons by +Rahul Sharma  - http://www.webologypedia.com/2013/10/miles-per-gallon-or-mpg-comparison-22.html (I had to treat my car better after reading his blog). He also has cool information on blogging and social media

If you have gone through and you believe you have a post that can make the cut and is worthy to join the list then hit me up on my emails (visit the contact tab) and send me a link to the post.

Cheers....

TIPS TO IMPROVING YOUR BLOG

Not that I'm now an expert at blogging to be giving out such advice, NO!!!! far from it, but a new acquaintance had asked me to look through their blog and give them advice on how to improve it. When I initially got the request, I was quite thrown out of balance for a few minutes then I decided - why not? You see, I remembered having some problems when I just started blogging. I was new to the whole Google experience and didn't start using Google+ until many months after I started blogging and got comfortable with it. Most times still, I have difficulty with finding topics to write on and when I eventually do find one, I need to find the right name for it (A CATCHY TITLE) and then make the content great for my readers.

My blog was entirely designed by me and it still feels incomplete to me since I don't have all the facebook and twitter buttons and have no idea how to get those cute little ones that line the top right hand corner of the site. I am shocked and then faltered sometimes when I do get complements on the blog design. I guess I try. I started my blog I'm sure like most people did theirs without help and went for the simple template. I didn't have enough content anyway to go for the more dynamic views. I am a restless one (God help me!) I had to explore to find out what other people's blog looked like. I visited numerous blogs and saw their different designs and content and I went back to the drawing board. 

I began by changing my template, the simple was too simple and I also went about customizing the template. I choose font colors and size for headings and all. Then I attacked the sidebars. The fact that I didn't have popular posts or an archive and adverts didn't deter me. My blog just had to look pretty at least. I put up a clock and a slide show, an about me and blog archive never the less *lol*. I was happy. I began first by just uploading pictures of my work, then later writing. I discovered I loved writing too. I always tried to add at least a photo to each post. If I didn't already have one, I Googled and got one.

I learnt never to copy and paste anything directly into my blog post. If I did,  I always retyped it and delete the initial copy this is because when you copy and paste directly, the font from where you have copied is retained and it makes the post disorganized during reading, with some fonts tiny, others big and it looks haphazard. It also has it's own background color usually white or cream different from the one in your blog I also learnt to write in a manner of conversing, like I was speaking to a live audience (that's because your audience-readers are live). I put my content into paragraphs, I believe it makes it easier to read.

If you forgot to write something in your post, when you remember, you can always go back and edit it and update.

Finally, don't make your content overly lengthy, the reader may get tired halfway through and maybe the best part it yet to come - who knows. If it gets to lengthy then break it up into parts. That's more posts for you anyway. 

So, to improve your blog, basically do the following

• Make it beautiful to look at
• Great content with a nice title
• Neat as regards font size and paragraphs
• Don't copy and paste directly, copy and retype
• Add photos to posts
• Communicate with your readers in your write ups
• Don't make the content to long, avoid boring the readers.

I hope this helps. This is for you +Daniel Kim. I'm honored by your request.

Cheers......

COMMENTING ON MY BLOG POSTS

I got a message from a friend saying they wanted to comment on some of my posts but they couldn't since they didn't have Google accounts. The first thing I noticed was that because I  activated Google + comments, it restricted non Google audience from commenting. So, I deactivated that. Now I have some good news for you. To comment on any of my posts, simply follow these simple steps;

• Click on the "No Comment" or "comment" icon
• Enter your comment when the dialogue box opens up
• In the tab below where "comment as" is written, click and scroll to anonymous
• You can include you name and country in the Comment so I know 

Thanks for reading and commenting.
Cheers!

MY BLOGGING EXPERIENCE SO FAR

If I told you that approximately 9 months ago, I knew next to nothing about blogging, would you believe me?  A friend of mine once told me it was kinda like a website where you write down all that came to mind. This description sounded like a diary to me and I personally am not one to keep a journal much, I really did try to. And when friends of my younger brother Dupsie of "theeyeofdupsie" blog and her elder sister, Ofure who came visiting and tried to talk me into opening one I was reluctant, mostly because I didn't have a clue what to do with the blog once it was opened. Anyhow, they convinced me to start blogging, persuaded me that it would get my designs on beddings noticed by a larger audience. They said "if you have nothing to write, just post all the photos of jobs you've done". And so, I got started.

I posted photos a few times with minimal descriptions and decided I wasn't satisfied with just that. I thought to myself, "this blog was opened because I wanted to showcase my products and increase my business opportunities / clientele".  What I didn't know was that people might just think they were photos gotten from the web. Then I started getting trickles of pageviews. Believe me I thought I'd just start this instant and a thousand people would see your blog and make comments and order the products. That didn't happen.  I had to start informing friends about my blog. So, to make people believe I am as good at decorating as my photos say, I decided to write articles about designing. Another thought crossed my mind, people will simply say "so, it's all from her note in whatever design school she attended or could easily have gotten them from the web". Now don't get it mixed up, the web has its advantages.

At some point, it seemed like I was running out of topics to write about or discuss and the Easter/ April fools period came around, and for lack of what to do I decided to write about my experience during that holiday, guess what? People responded to that. At that instance, It dawned on me that even though people want to know how to decorate and redesign their homes effortlessly, they also want to feel like they know the author of the blog personally.

So, I decided to add some personal musings occasionally and to upload videos of jobs I carry out. I decided also to add so health topics especially pertaining to lifestyle, some articles on food and fashion and anything I feel like talking about that might benefit others. At this point I also decided to use some web pictures. I also joined some Google+ communities and I've made some acquaintances maybe even friends and they've been so helpful. I hope my little experience helps anyone who wants to get started on blogging and have absolutely no idea how to go about it. Cheers!