Pinterest and Blogging- ideas to be better at both

First, a short while back I read this post at Living Locurto and this one at Stitched Simplicity.

Really got me thinking...

Next, I discovered, after looking at my blog stats, that there were some "pins" linked to my blog with images I had used (and CLEARLY and PROPERLY sourced) from another blog.  That's when I KNEW it was time that I rethink this Pinterest thing.  Like this post, for instance.

Don't get me wrong.  I {heart} Pinterest in so many ways!  I really do.  I am not ditching Pinterest.

I have devised a "new" way to pin.  I thought I would share it with you.

Here's my new way to pin images in Pinterest:
1.  Pin from the original source.  As a courtesy, I do this.  But Pinterest does maintain the original source on repins, too.  It takes two more seconds to go to the source site.  I have the Pin It Bookmarklet installed in my web browser toolbar which makes it very easy to do this.
2.  I type the blog's name in the description of the pin.  Such as, "Awesome craft ideas from Someone Else's Awesome Blog".  A couple examples here and here and here.

Here's how I source images on my blog:

1.  Text explanation and/or reference.  Such as "Source:  Someone Else's Awesome Blog" or "I saw this awesome craft at Someone Else's Awesome Blog"

2.  Links to their blog.  Where I have typed the blog's name, I hyper-link to that blog.  

3.  Link the image.  In Blogger it is easy to link the image to a website.  I always make sure that the image links to their blog.  (vs. to my Pinterest boards or the generic Picasa Web Album that you get with Blogger)

4.  I will be more inclined to use another person's image if it is watermarked.  I will most likely opt for a text link only unless I can't avoid it.  In that case, I will ask that the image be pinned from it's original source.

Another step I am making a better effort with is watermarking my images.  If I even think it has the potential of being pinned, I am watermarking it.  

Now I *just* started doing this.  And I won't always be 100%.  But I am certainly trying my hardest to be Pinterest friendly with my blog.

I just *never* want to give the appearance that I am being careless with crediting images on my blog, pinning awesome ideas, or intentionally using someone else's awesome photo to gain pins/repins/page hits.  Because I am not.

And let me be honest here- a good portion of my blog's traffic comes from Pinterest.  Love that!  So please, pin away!  But I feel my stomach sink when I see that an image has been pinned in which I clearly stated was not mine.  I start worrying that the other blogger is going to be mad or think "why should she get traffic from my picture? I should be getting the traffic!"  And she would be right.  I am just trying to do

By the way, if you should decide you don't want any of your images pinned, you can add this code that Pinterest has provided.

I hope this is helpful or gets you thinking...
                    Have you tried any new ways to pin or credit photos on your blog?  I'd love to know.  I'm trying to stay "friendly" on both fronts- Pinterest and Blogging : )



Linking here:
~ Today's Creative ~ Mommy by Day Crafter by Night ~ Jillify It ~

no reply-comment@blogger means no reply to you, from me

Dear friends,

It always makes me sad when I get a great comment and then I click reply in my email and I see this: no-reply blogger@blogger.com


See, when you leave me a super awesome comment, blogger sends me an email to let  me know!  (awesome.)  Then I can read it right away. (awesome.)  But if your email address is not linked to your blogger profile then I can't email you back (not awesome.)

This is just an example...this is what i see:

I know that is not your email address.  It is not anyone's email address.  

Laura Beth from A Step in the Journey has put together a great tutorial on how to change this.

If you aren't sure if you're a no-reply blogger, then just please, please, please go and look at her tutorial and decide.  

I have a small blog.  And I do my very very best to reply to everyone who contacts me.  I just need your email.

Love, 

Kate

Liebster Love for Valentine's Day

I have been needing to do this for a while now.  A couple of months ago, I was given this award:

by 

Sky at Capital B

and

Heather at Sew Easy Being Green

Thank you girls SO SO much for recognizing my little blog!

Today, it is my turn to pass it along to some more great bloggers!  I couldn't think of a better day than Valentine's Day to do this.  I did receive this once before so I wanted to wait a bit before handing it out again.  

Here are the Liebster Rules:

Post the award on your blog.  The award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, to promote and encourage new friendships among the blog community. 

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your 5 picks for the award and let them know.
3. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogsphere... other bloggers.
4. Finally, the best rule of all, have fun and spread the love!

So today I am passing this award with this message: "I am loving what you are doing with your blog, and so keep doing it!  Together we will improve, increase our readership, and have fun!  Enjoy your Liebster award!"

1.  Katie at The Terpblog.  I read her blog because she is crafty, witty, and loves to run!  She has three kids- same ages as mine.  You may have seen her Owl Art several places lately.  She has been featured at several blogs recently!  

2.  Cath at Home Is Where My Heart Is.  It will not surprise you that this will be her second Liebster award either!  She has all kinds of goodness over on her blog, she is a very versatile crafter.  There are recipes, home decor, printables, gifts, etc.  She is a brand new blogger but already making her mark!  

3.  Randee at Randee's Organized Chaos.  This girl is a hoot!...Seriously!  I just met her and I love her!  She blogs about everything and it is fantastic!  I just recently got to sort of know her through participating in her blog critique and I am so glad I did!  

4.  Hilary at Measure Once, Cut Twice.  She is a new blogger and a newlywed!  Very exciting!   Already she is co-hosting a link party and participating in a Valentine's Blog Hop!  No wonder this is not her first Liebster Award : )

5.  Emily at BabyBerry.  I am sure she is as sweet in person as her blog is!  Just go see.  And she is really close to 200 followers so I had to give this to her soon : )  And if you need a new place to link up on Fridays, head on over to her party and say hello!

{Gettting Organized} The Blog!

We all know it is January!  Which means I, like many of you, am in the process of reorganizing my life, my home and my blog.  This is the month that we all rethink our goals and our outlooks and the placement of furniture in our homes!  You know you do! : )  How can we make our lives refreshed?  What goals can we set to help us stay in this refreshed state of mind?  You know, that kinda thing.

I have lots of new-ish bloggers who read here, so I wanted to share this helpful blogging tip today!

Well, one goal/resolution/idea/thing-I-want-to-do is to be a better blogger.  I have been a blog stalker for years.  A family blog writer for longer (and an inconsistent one at that!).  And now a craft and DIY blog owner for almost one year.  I can't say that my blog is hugely different today from when I started.  I mean, it is better.  Waaay better.  But I used to be a shoot-for-the-moon girl.  Apparently I lost that edge somewhere {I won't blame the kids...}.  What IS hugely different today from one year ago, is my blogging attitude.  When I started this blog, I was blogging willy-nilly or just 3-days a week at best.  I wasn't organized enough to keep up with more.  And I really didn't want to.  I was just "trying it on", if you will.  My blogging goal for last year was to just get comfy here.  And write (which always scares me!  Like, I only applied for colleges with no essays or very short ones on their applications, and I was an engineering major so I didn't have to write 20-page papers!  Had to do one for my MBA and nearly killed me!)  I have just always been afraid of my writing...too much and you tune me out...too little and you don't know what I am saying. {I just deleted like 3 sentences here that I thought were "too much"! see?}   My outlook today is different- I want better for my blog- looks, content, fun!  

One thing that has really REALLY helped me (so far) is using a blogging calendar.  It basically is just a simple list of what I want to post each day.  I do it in advance so that I can work on crafts and photos and posts well in advance instead of at the last minute.  I think these calendars have improved the quantity and the quality of my posts (so far).  

Thought I would pass along some nice blogging calendars that I have found on the web.  

I am currently using this one from Living Locurto:

Another nice one is here from Amy Bayliss.  I really like the monthly view.  I can set up the whole month by jotting an idea/topic in each date.  Then I can elaborate with the weekly one above.

And a third nice one that I found and printed out.  This one is from Evelyn Kate Designs.

AND...there are 3 more blogging calendars here at Simply Sweet Home!  Jerri did a great job of collecting calendars and blogging them all in one spot!  It was one of her most popular posts in 2011...hop on over!

from Oh the Lovely Things

I know not everyone here is a blogger.  So I apologize for being so narrow in my focus today-  gawsh!!  I think there are some changes to be made to these calendars, sure.  But I can cross out the headings and at least it is a platform.  If anyone has a blogging calendar they like let me know!
Happy weekend!

Linking here:

And the Liebster Awards Go to...

Again, Thank you to Michele at The Domesticated Mama for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award.

Like I said yesterday, I had never heard of "Liebster".  I read on Michele's blog that it highlights up-and-coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  So I fit right in to that category!  You can google Liebster blog and see what other blogs have won the award.

I am calling it a "share the love award" because I think that is basically what it is.  And remember, who doesn't love "love"?

I also think this is a way to connect with other new bloggers and tell each other, don't give up just because we aren't big-time (yet).  So now that I have accepted this award, I have also accepted the responsibilities that go along with it.

There are rules, in fact.

1. Show your gratitude to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet - other writers (and in this case, a fellow Mama!)
5. Best of all...have fun!!

Here are my picks for the Liebster Blog Award:  
1.  Kashoan at Krafty Kash
This girl was the first blogger to reach out to me.  She even invited me to do a guest post which I totally flaked on and never seemed to work up the nerve to do! But she is awesome!  She is a clever mother, etsy shop owner, and she is already taking her blog to the next level!  


2.  Amanda at The Little Giggler
Amanda was so kind to feature me on her blog. I think that was my first feature, too! She is super creative.  She comes up with things my brain would never come up with even if I tried really hard to think of something crafty!  She has a tad over 200 followers...I really wanted to award her anyways.

3.  Bethany at Pitter and Glink
A high school English teacher by day and crafter slash blogger the rest of the time.  I.love.it!  I think I would like teaching high school math someday...she could give me pointers on the big kids, since mine are very young.  Bethany has already done some really smart things with her blog!  Her blog looks great.  Her content is great!  Her photos are great!  She nailed it with a creative blog name.  She will be one to watch.

4.  Anna at Directions Not Included
Anna and her husband are remodeling their 1950s house and sharing all the details on their blog.  I love those home DIY shows on tv so this is just like that, for me.  I dream of one day gutting a house, or just a kitchen, to make it mine.  Anna also has lots of crafty ideas that she shares in between the major remodeling stuff (just blows me away!).  She is at 199 followers---you go girl!!

5.  Val at Living Out of the Box
Now, this is not a craft of DIY blog.  This is a blog about living life to the fullest!  Valerie is my dear, dear friend!  After you read her blog, you will wonder how I even know someone this awesome!  I know!  Val is living a dream life- jaunting between Colorado and Italy to study wine, language, and culture!  I met Val some 10 or so years ago when we were both Lieutenants in the Air Force!  But until she started writing on her blog, I really had no clue that she was such a TALENTED writer.  I bet she will write a book one day- something funny, for women, relatable, and brutally honest.  Check out her blog for some good reading!  Love you, girl!!

Hope you will agree with my picks.  Give them some love by following them, too!

Liebster Award? for me? That's Right!!

So.  Today, I am just doing the usual stuff...minding my own business...and I get this email.  From this gal.  Michele. Over at The Domesticated Mama.  And you will not believe what she said...Here, she was so incredibly kind to nominate my blog as an "up and coming blog" and awarded me with the Liebster Award.  I *heart* you too, Michele!

So honestly, I was a bit nervous.  I mean, Liebster- what is that?  So I googled it.  Yahoo-ed it, actually.  Could not find an origin for this.  I started to wonder if this was a joke.  But I found pages and pages of blogs that have received this award too.  And in turn, those bloggers nominate more bloggers for this award.  That's how it works.

So, in my translation, the Liebster Blog Award is simply a Share the Love Award!!

Who doesn't love "love"?  Well I do.  And it is so funny, this blogging thing.  Each time I have a day where I just think:

"I am typing an typing and I don't know if anyone is reading.  I am linking and linking and I am not even sure if anyone is really interested in what I am making.  I stay up late sometimes editing pictures and posts - for what?"  

... and not just anytime, but everytime I have a day like that I get some kind of reaffirmation the very.next.day.  It is that nudge that keeps me going.  It is the connections that I have made via blogging and commenting and featuring that am so grateful for.  My goal here is simple:  keep a blog to log my crafts, share ideas, and vent if I want to.  It's not my job.  I have a family.  My kids are busy.  I like my sleep.

Sorry to get a tad serious but it's true.  It was nice to get some positive words after my 2 hour trip to the grocery store today!  Not because I was buying so much food.  Nope.  My newly potty-trained 2yr old always has to pee!  He "need go potty" every other aisle, I think.  I even cut his drinking off an hour before today.  Oh well.  It's better than diapers...

Tomorrow I will nominate my Liebster Award Winners.  It is after 10pm as I write this.  And remember that part, where I like my sleep?  Well that's where I am headed now : )