The Inspiration Board: link party 38

It's link party time! I’m so happy that you’re here– whether you’re sharing a project or looking for inspiration - welcome! I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to. I’ll be going through the projects and featuring some in the spotlight on Friday.

A few rules:

• Link up your own project - something you created, made, did, etc. 
• Link to a specific post, not your blog home page (No Etsy shops or giveaways). 
• Grab a “homework” button and include it somewhere on the post you’re linking, on your home page or a page of link parties. Or, if you prefer, add a text link. 
• Follow homework. You’ll find the “Follow via Google Friend Connect” gadget on the right sidebar. 
• Please visit the other links that intrigue you and make someone smile with a comment or two. 

I’m ready to be inspired and can’t wait to see what you’re sharing this week. 

Don’t forget to add my button somewhere on your blog. Spreading the word helps bring more visitors to your linked project. 

<a href=" http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="homework" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjSbbA0SOqesA5DHID0I2xl7oOAjtbIFcAeh3DMql6FzRborOFgbaGtPfC36n4P2XimbCewe-uE_YrJzA0JxCjQ_6ifYvJlKf9fw8nFunAdoeuAn-d1hP8_XVPE4ohV3whBUTItFY8TJy/s1600/Homework+Blog+Logo+Square+outline+2-1.jpg" height="125" width="125"/></a>

Want to host your own link party? Click here to sign up for InLinkz

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

 

Fresh Look: white candle holders

I’ve been obsessed with lightening and brightening some of my knick knacks lately. And white is my color of choice.



I found these candle holders at the dollar store. This isn’t the chain dollar store – this is a dollar store where most items aren’t really a dollar. Note the price stickers at $1.59. In fact, a lot of items are way over a dollar. But for $1.59 they were still a good deal.



I probably would never have picked these or even noticed them. But I’ve been on the hunt for some interesting candle holders that I could paint white.



I toyed with the idea of leaving some of the detail chippy and distressed looking but in the end I went with all white. I painted these using leftover white glossy house paint and a small paint brush. For the little crevices, I used a very small art brush. I'm sure they could be spray painted but I was worried that the paint would run as I tried to get the crevices coated. I tend to be heavy-handed when I spray paint…



I’m working on my kitchen hutch and have slowly been replacing my knick knacks with various white objects. I keep moving things around but it’s not quite right yet. I’m going to keep working on it but I think the one of the candle holders will end up there.

Honestly, is there anything a coat of paint can’t fix?

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

Grow Your Blog: blog hop

We hope you enjoyed the Grow Your Blog series. As we wrap up the series, we would like to give you the chance to introduce your blog.

• Link up your blog - your main blog URL.
• Stay and mingle and meet some new bloggers.
• Follow homework {or one of the series contributors} - my Google Friend Connect {GFC} widget in on the right sidebar.

I can't wait to meet you!

This is a Blog Hop-Grab the code here!
Feel free to grab the code and add the blog hop to your blog. Join the fun!

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

The Inspiration Board: link party spotlight ~37~

 I had a little glitch in my linky code this week. If you came to link up early Tuesday morning and the link tool was missing, I hope you were able to come back and join the fun. If not, there’s always next week. For those of you who were able to link up and for those who came to visit, thank you, thank you! I truly appreciate each and every visit, comment and link.

As we say goodbye to pink & red, Cupid and hearts, we can look forward to warmer days and  the variety of projects that spring will inspire.

For now, here are a few projects in the spotlight this week.

Unused space becomes functional with a built-in desk by It’s Overflowing. A perfect little command center in the heart of the house.

 

This was a “duh” moment for me. I have tons of shells. I have paint. Why didn’t I think of painting them? Home Sweet Homemade cheered herself up after a craft fail by making these shells extra pretty with pearly white paint.

  

I love this decoupaged table by Design Megillah. The gold and white striped tissue paper is such a pretty choice and the glass top gives the table a elegant, finished look.

This is a great organization project by Eat Sleep Decorate. Get rid of all the bulky DVD boxes and skinny them down by using CD sleeves. The movie covers were folded in half and slipped into the sleeve for easy identification and then alphabetized with cute ABC dividers.

  

Darling hot chocolate and crafting party by Ode to Inspiration. Hot chocolate, cookies, cake and crafting – my kind of party. There are so many pretty details you’ll need to click over and check them all out. 

This is the happiest and cheeriest entryway I’ve ever seen. Meeha Meeha painted the wall a sunshine yellow and then hand painted the retro dots on the other walls. This would surely brighten anyone’s day.

All my favorite breakfast items gathered together in a yummy flaky cup. Oh my goodness! Bacon, egg and cheese breakfast cups by Adventures of our Family.

  

 

What little girl wouldn’t love these lace crowns by Rook No. 17? These would be great for dress up, costumes, birthday parties and more! The best part – Rook No. 17 shows us a nice short cut using the microwave. 

Great photography art by Little Green Bow. A trip around the city captured the letters L-O-V-E in different scenes. A thoughtful gift and wall art that can be done even if you’re on a budget. 

 

A lovely way to display buttons. Shabby Art Boutique used about 100 vintage buttons to make this pretty vintage button ball. The varying shades of white buttons are so pretty but any color would make a pretty display. 

 

This week on the Inspiration Pinboard

{one last look at hearts}

1. Fabric Heart Box – One Perfect Day

2. Heart Toast – Jacolyn Murphy

3. Chalkboard Pendant – One Art Mama

4. Marshmallow Heart – Jacolyn Murphy

5. Coffee Cozy – Moore Minutes


 

If you were in the spotlight, please feel free to grab a button.

<a href=" http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="homework" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXKM4yQr9oUN7GwFux5BITknFYg1so-bdRvyvaBjWBTFrjlH943I7g401-x4gi3eWzlMzyZJjiZUszNBy3GpPcUkBQg_zNqqFY7fpE7ASpwP3nnNI250E6lTch-PcLFuJQzEqyDRYK4Yg/s1600/Featured+Button.jpg" height="125" width="125"/></a>

Please come back next week for another link party.

Link parties are held every Tuesday.

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As always, thank you for visiting.

 

Carolyn

Etceteras: capiz shell tidbit stand

Even though it’s the middle of February, the beach, warm days, shells, starfish and coral are on my mind. I can’t wait for warmer days!

I found these capiz shell plates at the dollar store and bought four of them. They’re decorative pieces so my plan was to use them as décor and for projects. Now I'm thinking I need to go back and get some more of them. Even though you can't eat off of the, they would look pretty under a soup bowl. Definitely need to get more.

The first project that came to mind was a cake stand or tidbit stand. I know the blogosphere has inspired us with just about every type of plate and candle holder combination imaginable but there’s always room for one more. 

I used a plain frosted glass candle holder and added mother of pearl shells to complement the beachy-shell look. The shells already had holes in them {they were upcycled from a pair of sandals} so I strung them onto embroidery thread and which I wrapped around the stem. 

The plate and candle holder are held together with E-6000 glue. 

 

 

DIY cake stands or tidbit stands are so fun to make. I would love to know who actually came up with the original brilliant idea.

Thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

I happily link at the parties listed here and 

      

Growing Your Blog: pinterest

Photo source

I’m participating in a series about Growing Your Blog organized by the lovely Kelly at LiveLaughRowe. The series which started this week is covering some hot topics including; link parties, conferences, social media, guest bloggers, giveaways, advertising, keeping and engaging readers and my topic, Pinterest.

Photo source

 

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, brace yourself and start using one of the best tools to come along in a long time. Pinterest is a place to bookmark your favorite sites or pages from your favorite sites. However, instead of bookmarking or favoriting the URL, you pin an image from the site onto one of your pin boards.



You can name your boards and group them into categories; crafts, home décor, recipes, places I want to visit – whatever you want to pin. This is a snapshot of one of my boards.

Photo source

That’s the basic idea of Pinterest – pinning things that you want to reference later or want to share. A visual bookmarking site. However, an interesting thing happened along the way.

Photo source

Pinterest has turned into a powerful tool for bloggers. Suddenly, Pinterest is the number one referral source for my blog. Here’s how it works; someone visits your blog and pins an image from one of your posts. The image links back to your blog and the pin gets repinned multiple times. The result is multiple hits to your blog.

Photo source

More and more bloggers and blog readers admittedly are becoming addicted to Pinterest and there is a lot of potential for visits to your blog.

Here are some ways to encourage pinning and blog traffic:

• Add Pinterest buttons to your blog {follow me on Pinterest) and posts {pin it}.
• Keep and maintain a pin board dedicated to your own projects. You should be aware that Pinterest Etiquette frowns on pure self promotion. Here’s what they say: Avoid Self Promotion - Pinterest is designed to curate and share things you love. If there is a photo or project you’re proud of, pin away! However, try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion.
• Join Pinterest groups, parties and challenges. There has been a surge of these activities lately. Link parties and challenges where you make something you saw on Pinterest often times with a winner being selected. As with link parties, these activities could bring more viewers to your blog.
• Follow other user’s pinboards and gain more followers of your boards.
• Pin responsibly. Pinning and repinning can sometimes get sloppy. Whenever possible, pin from the original source just as you would want one of your images linked back to your site.

Photo source

For me, Pinterest first and foremost is still a way for me to visually catalog inspirational images and projects. The icing on the cake has been the traffic it has generated for me.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my insight into Pinterest. Tomorrow, head over to Imprintalish  for information on giveaways and advertising.

 The Grow Your Blog series continues all week with an exciting finale on Sunday to help you grow your blog. The participants are hosting a blog hop link party where you can introduce your blog. Join me on Sunday, February 19th and Grow Your Blog!

As always, thanks for visiting.

Carolyn

Etceteras: clipix

How much time do you spend online? As a blogger, I spend a lot of time visiting websites, researching information, looking for inspiration, shopping and more. I have to admit that I’m a note taker. I try to stay organized and keep notes in an idea book or a to-do list but often times the scraps of paper and post its start to take over.

That’s where Clipix.com can come to the rescue. I’m definitely more of a visual person and often times don’t even remember if I’ve bookmarked a page or where the little scraps of paper are. With Clipix I can keep all my favorites and bookmarks neatly organized on clipboards.

You can customize your privacy settings so you can share your clips with everyone, your friends or only yourself.

  

Some great features include the Syncboards where you can create and clip with friends and family in real time. There’s also a drag and drop feature to rearrange your boards onto Multiboards. With Multiboards, you can group multiple clipboards by category. This would be a great feature for some of my crafting categories. I’ve already created a general project clipboard but I’m planning to create Multiboards with categories like, paper crafts, sewing, printables, décor and gardening.

 

  

You can use Clipix for so much more. A board for vacation ideas, kid’s activities, articles you plan to read later and the list goes on. There's also an iPhone app so you can clip on the go.

 

  

Check out Clipix and start getting organized. Just drag the clip button to your tool bar and start clipping.

clipix

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