Another Weekend Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.

My last little weekend giveaway was so fun I thought I'd do another one. Dawn Farias from Almost Ready Blogs has created a really simple and cute fall design that I just love, so I decided to buy it for someone this weekend.

How to enter - just leave a comment letting me know how many times you have changed the template on your blog (just curious).

The giveaway will end Sunday, November 1st, at 9:00 PM EST and winner will be chosen using Random.org.

Okay, I can't stand it, I love to give away things and this template is so affordable (just $5) so I am giving away two again, as I did with the last weekend giveaway. The winners are Owl Momma and Life of a Barefoot MomLady. Congratulations, ladies!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

6 4 

Timestamp: 2009-11-02 02:17:35 UTC

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, the end of my busiest month with Usborne is coming to an end. Tonight is my last event for three weeks and I am so looking forward to the time off. Not only will my house appreciate the extra attention, so will my blogs. Thank you for being ever patient.

I have blog statistics measured for BBD by SiteMeter and I can see that many people stop by here every day and some of them stay around for 30 minutes or more. The average visit fluctuates between 7.5 and 9.5 minutes, so that means most people come here and stay a little while. That pleases me so much because that means bloggers are finding it useful.

Thanks and I'll be back soon!

Beautiful Blog Series: Have Joy

Surprise! I finally have a Beautiful Blog Series post to share! Not that there aren't tons of beautiful blogs out there to choose from, but rather I haven't had time to blog about them.

Today I am featuring Have Joy, a delightful blog by Nikki. She is a single mom of two beautiful daughters and is getting her masters in Marital and Family therapy. She writes on her blog as a way to remember, during the ups and downs, to always Have Joy.

Nikki's blog design is so simple, yet beautiful! It really just makes me smile. Simple colors and simple graphics, put together so nicely to create a design that is pleasing to the eye and heart! Nikki does an excellent job of keeping her sidebars tidy, and everything is positioned in a way to be very user friendly.

The designer who created the template for Have Joy is Kristin at Simply Whimsy Designs. Her portfolio is full of delightfully elegant designs. She is also the author at Designs So Pretty, a gorgeous blog itself, which features pretty blog designs every day.

Congratulations, Nikki, on having such a beautiful blog! If you would like to share this feature with your readers, here is a button you can use in a post or on your sidebar.

<a href="http://beautifulblogdesigns.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i526.photobucket.com/albums/cc341/saludamom/bbdfeaturebutton1.jpg"/></a>

Let's Have a Giveaway!

This Giveaway Is Now Closed

Winner will be announced shortly. 

I haven't had a giveaway in a few weeks and I just feel like having some fun, so I am giving away a premade template by Smitten Blog Design. It is the design they call "Autumn Letters" and is perfect for the fall season. I love it because it is simple and classy yet warm and inviting.

(Click to see larger image of template)

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment telling me if you are current follower/subscriber or just someone passing through. This giveaway is a short one, ending tomorrow night, October 18th, at 9:00 PM EST. I will notify the winner via email and purchase the template and have the instructions sent to them.

The winner will have to install it herself, but the instructions are sent with the code for the template and are VERY easy to follow.

This little giveaway was such a fun thing to do, and so well received, that I decided to giveaway TWO of the templates! The winners are Adventures of a Somewhat Crunchy Mama and Zhongshan Road. Congratulations, ladies! As soon as Smitten Designs emails me the code for your templates, I will forward them on to you. Please let me know when you have the template installed so I can come ooh and awe at it.  

Please Note: I will be doing some surprise little giveaways now and then to "bless" those who follow and to keep everyone on their toes so make sure to check in often or follow via a blog reader. Click on "Follow Me" in the sidebar or click on the orange heart. 

Tutorial On How To Use Blogger's New "Read More" Function

A Guest Post by Dawn Farias

FIT MORE POSTS ON A PAGE!

INCREASE YOUR PAGE VIEWS!

LET YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH STAND OUT!

INCREASE THE RATE OF SHARING ON YOUR POSTS!

Read more »

Sharing a Blogger Blog Gets Easier

The folks at Blogger are really stepping up to the plate and making Blogger blogs even easier and more user friendly. I know that Word Press blogs are all the rage, but honestly I have had a harder time understanding it and am reluctant to switch over. Anyway, I found out about a new feature Blogger came out with and I have been meaning to share it for weeks.

At the top of your Blogger blog, there is a navigation bar that "Search Blog, Flag Blog, Follow Blog and Share." "Share" is the new feature I am "sharing" with you today.

Okay, first, below is a screen print of BBD, with the "Share" button circled and an arrow pointing to it. I do this so that everyone can see plainly what the heck I am talking about.

(Click on image to make it larger)

If you click on that Share button, a little box will pop up and you can click on how you would like to share the blog you are visiting. The options are Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader. I like the Twitter option best, so that is what I am going to use for the tutorial. Below is a screen print of BBD and the Share box that pops up.

(Click on image to make it larger)

So, now I am going to go share this post on Twitter so you can see how it works. The screen print below shows a screen print of my Twitter page. I added the "Simple tutorial on how to use Blogger's "share" button at..." the rest was what popped up when I clicked on Twitter in the share box.

(Click on image to make it larger)

There are many times that I when I am blog hopping and I come across a really useful or funny post and I want to share it on Twitter. Before I used Bitly.com (LOVE that program and will share about it another time) but now I can just click on the Share option in the Blogger navigation bar and presto!

Hope this tutorial helps a few of you. Hey, maybe you can even "share" BBD on Twitter for me. That would be awesome! If you do, please @amandapadgett so I can see your tweet and share the love back for you too!

Now, I realize that it does squat for the WordPress users, and I promise I am going to try to figure out that platform so I can be of some use to you, I just have so little time for blogging lately that it will have to wait a while longer.