2 QUICK changes that will make your blog more social and memorable!

 

Today I’m going to share 2 very easy and quick tips to make your blog appear more friendly and social to others, and more memorable.  These tips are for those of you using Blogger…sorry I don’t know much about Word Press but I assume the steps would be similar.

 

1. How to get rid of “noreply-comment@blogger.com”

When someone comments on my blog I love to respond via email. It’s easier for me and I feel like I can write more personable responses.  It also ensures that the commenter sees my response in case they don’t go back and check the comment feed. 

I get so sad when someone leaves an awesome comment and I go to email them my awesome response and I’m hit with “noreply-comment@blogger.com”.  That means that I can’t respond to you via email! Boo! 

And if I can’t respond to you rest assured that there are many other bloggers who haven’t been able to respond to your comments as well.  It sort of makes you appear a bit anti-social, like you’re saying “don’t respond to what I have to say.” And I bet that’s not your intention at all, and you didn’t even know that is how you were coming across.

So here is the QUICK (we’re talking 30 seconds friends) fix to that problem.

1. Click on your Blogger profile from you Blogger Dashboard

2. Click “edit profile” in the top right corner

3. Check “show my email address”

That’s it!  Just make sure that the email address that is currently set is the one you want comments sent to.

 

2. Personalize your Favicon

In this blogosphere with more and more DIY/craft/recipe/sewing blogs popping up each day it’s vital for your blog to have a trademark image/font/slogan that makes your blog memorable.  One easy way to add a distinguishing image to your blog is be personalizing your favicon.

What’s a favicon you ask?

It’s that tiny image that appears next to the web page name in a browser. 

If you haven’t added a favicon of your own it will automatically be that lovely orange and white “B” image.  Boring!  A favicon is your chance to create a signature “image” that will be seen each time someone opens your blog in their browser.  For example, when we see that red and white play button we automatically think “You Tube”.  Wouldn’t you love to have someone see your favicon and automatically think “_____________”

                                        insert your blog

Here’s how to add a personalized Favicon:

1. Create a square image.  Choose an image or font and color that is already used a lot on your blog.  Using any photo editing program, or even Paint, create your image.

I use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro but there are plenty of free programs you can download like Picnik, Foto Flexer, or Picasa.

Here are the dimensions of my favicon:

 

2. Go to your Blogger dashboard and click on “layout”

 

3. Click on “edit” on the Favicon bar

 

4. Click “Browse”

 

5. Select your previously made favicon image

 

6. Click “Save”

 

7. Your New Favicon should appear now! Woo hoo!

 

I hope you’ll take 10 minutes and use these 2 tips to make your blog more memorable and easily accessible to all!

 

I’m spreading the word here:

Mondays: Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Homemaker On A Dime, The Tattered Tag, The DIY Showoff, Home Savvy, Be Colorful, The DIY Home Sweet Home, Mad In Crafts, The Girl Creative, Polly Want A Crafter, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Making The World Cuter, Skip To my Lou, Debbiedoos, Get Outta My Head Please, My 1929 Charmer, Serendipity and Spice, Delectable Home

Tuesdays: Coastal Charm, Cherished Bliss, Confessions, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Tip Junkie, Topsy Turvy, Sassy Sites!, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just A Housewife, Homework, Today's Creative Blog, A Sort of Fairytale, Our Delightful Home

Wednesdays: Blue Cricket Design, Sew Much Ado, Eisy Morgan, My Girlish Whims, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Handy Man Crafty Woman, The Thrifty Home, Lil Luna, Organize and Decorate Everything, Southern Lovely, Primp Your Stuff

Thursdays: Saved By Love, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picketfence, Rhinestone Beagle, Momnivore's Dilemma

Fridays: Remodelaholic, Serenity Now, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Chic On A Shoestring, 504 Main, Miss Mustard Seed, Happy Hour Projects, French Country Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Fun To Craft, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Freckled Laundry, Common Ground, One Artsy Mama

Weekends: Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time On My Hands, Lady Bird Ln, Embellishing Life Everyday, Homemaker in Heels

Quick fix casserole: Ground Turkey, Cream of Mushroom Soup, and Tomato

 

It’s 5:30 P.M.  You’ve just gotten home from work or errands and that question that has crossed your mind so many times before pops up again:

“What’s for dinner?”

You freeze up in fear knowing that hungry bellies are waiting for an answer, but you don’t have one.  You quickly scan through your pantry and fridge and realize that you haven’t been to the store in a week.  Basically, you’re in trouble.

We’ve all been there before, right?  Well, today’s recipe is your life saver.  It’s ingredients are items that you most likely will always have on hand in your pantry and fridge and it’s super easy to make.

This recipe actually came about one night when I faced the same aforementioned problem.  I put together what I had and this recipe was born.  Dave loved it so much that it’s affectionately known as “Dave’s Casserole” around our house. (you can see it here on my new menu board)

 

 

So here are the ingredients you’ll need:

   

2 cans tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes      Shredded cheese (I’ve tried using cheddar and       1 or 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup           mozzarella and both taste great!)

 

       

Pasta (any shape will do except             Ground turkey (you could also use ground beef instead, for spaghetti or linguini)                         this is just my preference)

 

That’s it! I bet you have most of those ingredients on hand at anytime.  The ingredient that makes this different than just your regular baked pasta dish is the cream of mushroom soup.  It adds a great flavor and creaminess to the recipe.  I recommend using two cans, but if you’re not big on the mushroom flavor you could just add one.

 

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Step 2: Fill a pot with water and set on the stove to boil.  You will need enough water to cook one box of pasta.

 

Step 3: While the water is warming up, add your ground turkey to a skillet.  You want to use one with the tallest sides possible.  Break it into chunks and brown over medium heat.

 

If you’re new to cooking ground turkey it’s good for you to know that it doesn’t actually “brown.” It turns more of a grey color when it’s cooked.  If you keep waiting around for it to “brown” then it will be overcooked.

 

Step 4: Drain the fat from the ground turkey (or beef if that’s what you’re using)

Step 5: Once your water is at a rolling boil add some salt to the water (for flavor) and a dash of olive oil (to keep the pasta from sticking to each other).  Then, add your pasta.  Cook until al dente (or slightly firm).

 

Step 6: Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water and then place your cooked pasta into a 9x13 pan.

 

Step 7: Place the drained ground turkey back into the skillet you used before.  Add the cans of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and cream of mushroom soup to the ground turkey. *You could also add some shredded cheese to the mixture add this point*

 

Step 8: Mix the ingredients together and cook over medium-low heat until it begins to simmer.

 

Step 9: Pour the meat/tomato/mushroom mixture over the cooked pasta in the 9x13 pan

The liquid from the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce will allow the mixture to seep down into the dish, covering all the pasta.

 

Step 10: Cover the casserole with shredded cheese.

I actually prefer cheddar cheese, but mozzarella is what I had on hand.  You can be as liberal or as stingy as you want with the cheese.

 

Step 11: Bake in your pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese on top is melted.

 

After removing from the oven let the casserole set for 5-10 minutes and then serve to all the hungry bellies in your home!

 

 

 

Have you marked your calendar…?

 Trade School will start on March 6th. Kelli and Kristi from Lolly Jane Boutique will be kicking off the series…I.Can’t.Wait!

Here are some of our “teachers”:

• Kelli and Kristi @ Lolly Jane Boutique
• Holly @ Bella Nest
• Linda @ It All Started With Paint
• Zoe @ Creative in Chicago
• Dana @ Cooking At Cafe D
• Stacey @ A Sort of Fairytale
• Nicolette @ Momnivore’s Dilemma
• Lizzie @ Pretty City Things
• Amy @ Whisperwood Cottage
• Heidi @ All That Brings Joy
• Rasonda @ Lake Cottage Dreams
• Danni @ Silo Hill Farm

 

DIY Plant Stand (from a bar stool)

Here’s my guest post from Bella Nest’s Drab 2 Fab Friday in case you missed it!

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It’s no secret that I have a love for making over discarded furniture.  It’s even better when it’s free!  Where would you find free furniture you ask?  Well, it might be waiting right outside your door.

I’m talking about in the alley.

People leave all sorts of things in the alley, and sometimes they just need a little TLC to really sparkle and shine.

And the alley is exactly where I found my latest project.

I was walking to my car one day after work and I spotted some items in the alley on the other side of our parking lot fence.  There was a small dog or cat kennel, some scrap wood, and a bar stool.

The scene of the crime. (Photo taken with my phone, hence the bad quality)

 

As soon as I saw the bar stool I immediately thought “that looks like a plant stand.”  Don’t ask me why that popped into my head.  So I stuck my arms through the bars of the fence, grabbed the stool, and shimmied it up and over and into the trunk of my car.

 

Yeah, that’s right.  I’m one of those people.

Here is the stool that I took from the alley:



I probably thought of a plant stand because this stool seems unusually skinny and narrow.

Here is a close-up:

Notice all those little nails?  Such a pain to take out!

 

To begin the transformation I removed the seat from the rest of the stool.

 

Then, I took off the L brackets and began removing all those stinkin’ staples and nails.  There were lots!

This pile is only half of all the nails and staples!

 

About 30 minutes, and 3 blisters, later I was ready to take off the old leather covering.  My plan was to take off the cover and re-use the original wood from the seat.

 

However, when I pried up the leather I found this:

 

MOLD!

And lots of it!

There was no way I was going to even try and scrape this off.  The whole seat had.to.go!

So, I had to improvise a new top for my plant stand.  Luckily we had some already cut pieces of MDF from another project we will probably never finish haven’t gotten to yet.

It fit perfectly!



Now that I had all my wood ready, it was time to paint.  I used some white paint, from Martha’s discontinued line, that I already had in the house.



All the wood got 3 good coats and were ready to go!



I wanted to give the top of the plant stand a little pizzaz so I decided to add a chevron pattern.  Gotta love chevron, right?

I’m a don’t-like-to-measure-eyeball-everything kind of girl, so for making this pattern I just used painter’s tape and eyeballed the lines.



It’s not perfect, but I wasn’t too worried since most of it would eventually be covered by a plant.

Before I painted it grey I used a gift card to smooth down the tape to make sure no paint could seep under.  Seeping paint=not crisp lines.



Next came the grey.  I used a sample-sized pot that I had purchased when testing out colors for my topless table.





Now the trick for getting crisp lines is to remove the tape when the paint is just dry to the touch.  If you wait too long you’ll end of peeling some of the paint up.

Not bad for eye-ballin’ it, right?

 

 

Now you probably noticed that the grey paint could use another coat.  I did go back with a small craft brush and fill in the parts that needed it most.  But again, a plant would be covering it so I wasn’t too concerned.

 

Then came 2 coats of poly to seal the paint and protect it from any moisture that might come from the plant pots.

 

The last step was to attach the chevron top to the rest of the stand.

 

{Enter my tool man-Dave.}

 

He drilled long screws down through the top into the legs of the stand.

 

 

 

All done!

But what is a plant stand without a plant???

 

I wanted to go with something that was cheery and vibrant green.  I really don’t know much about plants so my only criteria was the color and a plant that only needed medium light.

 

 

 

I went with this sunny yellow pot because I knew it would go well with the grey and because it’s such a happy color.  Oh how I long for spring to be here!!!

During the day our curtains are closed since we’re at work.  So, this guy will not be getting this much light during the week.

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty cute, right?

The total cost for the plant stand was zero point zero dollars.  Total cost for the whole project was $15.00 ($5.00 for the plant and $10.00 for the pot).

So, do you have any old bar stools laying around that you could convert to a plant stand?

Have you searched the alleys around your home for diamonds in the rough?  Well, get a’lookin’ cause there are great things to be found!

 

Don’t forget…

be sure to spread the word about my Trade School series that will start on March 6th. I’d love for you to grab my button (right on my side bar!) and spread the word.

 

Here are some of the great bloggers that we get to learn from:

• Kelli and Kristi @ Lolly Jane Boutique
• Holly @ Bella Nest
• Linda @ It All Started With Paint
• Zoe @ Creative in Chicago
• Dana @ Cooking At Cafe D
• Stacey @ A Sort of Fairytale
• Nicolette @ Momnivore’s Dilemma
• Lizzie @ Pretty City Things
• Amy @ Whisperwood Cottage
• Heidi @ All That Brings Joy
• Rasonda @ Lake Cottage Dreams
• Danni @ Silo Hill Farm

 

 

I’m linking up my plant stand to these awesome parties:

Mondays: Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Homemaker On A Dime, The Tattered Tag, The DIY Showoff, Home Savvy, Be Colorful, The DIY Home Sweet Home, Mad In Crafts, The Girl Creative, Polly Want A Crafter, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Making The World Cuter, Skip To my Lou, Debbiedoos, Get Outta My Head Please, My 1929 Charmer

Tuesdays: Coastal Charm, Cherished Bliss, Confessions, My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia, Tip Junkie, Topsy Turvy, Sassy Sites!, A Bowl Full Of Lemons, Sugar Bee Crafts, Not Just A Housewife, Homework, Today's Creative Blog, A Sort of Fairytale, Our Delightful Home

Wednesdays: Blue Cricket Design, Sew Much Ado, Eisy Morgan, My Girlish Whims, Savvy Southern Style, Someday Crafts, Handy Man Crafty Woman, The Thrifty Home, Lil Luna, Organize and Decorate Everything, Southern Lovely, Primp Your Stuff

Thursdays: Saved By Love, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Somewhat Simple, Yesterday on Tuesday, House of Hepworths, Beyond the Picketfence, Rhinestone Beagle, Momnivore's Dilemma

Fridays: Remodelaholic, Serenity Now, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Chic On A Shoestring, 504 Main, Miss Mustard Seed, Happy Hour Projects, French Country Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Fun To Craft, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Freckled Laundry, Common Ground, One Artsy Mama

Weekends: Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Nifty Thrifty Things, I Heart Nap Time, Lolly Jane, Too Much Time On My Hands, Lady Bird Ln, Embellishing Life Everyday, Homemaker in Heels