facebook tips for business pages

Trying to mix it up a bit and share business related content along with my hobbies and every day life posts. If you have a role in managing a business Facebook page, this information is direct and super useful:

Mari Smith and Shortstack are two of my very favorite resources for social media management. Click image to view larger. Pin It

2013 project life pages

Again, I do not adhere to Project Life in the true sense of the word as I record my memories monthly and/or as a special occasion warrants. With that being said, I have moved on to 2013 and am really embracing this style of record keeping. There are so many great digi products available both at reasonable prices and for free. Now that I am not working with a specific digital scrapbooking site, I am allowing myself to purchase and enjoy products from new sites and designers. The designs are inspired and plentiful!

First up, January:

Most of this is from a new site, Pixels and Co. LOVE them! I also purchased new templates which has made making pages easier and better designed, with a much stronger end product.

And one more highlighting Olivia's first dance competition:

(click on photos to view larger)

Who is your current favorite designer? What digi scrapbooking site do you love right now? Pin It

a tasty crockpot meal

I am one of those people who struggles with the crock pot. I WANT to love the taste of the food as much as I love the convenience factor but all too often I am disappointed. I have long suffered from many of the dishes I make in the crockpot having the same off/odd taste. I think I may have finally cracked the code...I was overcooking the food. Since figuring this out, I have had a few successes. I have made the following meal twice and it is by far my favorite. It is so good that I can say it actually tastes very similar to my mom's roasted pork loin! Give it a try.

Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast Recipe

And for awhile I had been sharing commentary on recipes and projects that I found on Pinterest and actually made. I must have inadvertently deleted that board. So this dish is kicking off a new board. Visit it here: ::PINNED IT, MADE IT BOARD::. 



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current contests on pinterest

I want to also begin mixing in some business and social media related content on my blog. So many things that are interesting from a social media strategist perspective are often of interest to many others as well. Like Pinterest Contests...who would not like to win one? So many of us are active Pinterest users, why not participate? Here are few current contests:

Learn more ::HERE::.

 Bust a move to enter :: THIS ONE::.

Visit my collection of contests on Pinterest ::HERE::. Pin It

a pinned it, made it update--

Let's start with the perhaps not so good--

I wanted to like these healthy, breakfast type muffins, I really did.

I listed out the changes I made on my repin. But you can read it right here too:

#Oatmeal #Cupcakes: 3 mashed bananas (the riper the better!), 1 cup vanilla almond milk, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp baking powder, 3 cups oats, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 3 tbsp mini chocolate chips (or blueberries)]:: made these tonight. Subbed baking soda and 1/2 c. Vanilla Yogurt bc I didn't have baking powder. Plus I had plain Almond milk. I think they may be better cooled and with a little sweetener. Glad I used choc chips. And wish I knew the nutritional values...just how healthy are these?

So, they were oddly moist. Perhaps from the yogurt? I subbed the baking soda and yogurt because I did not have baking powder. And they needed a bit of sweetener for me. The bites with chocolate chips are manageable but those without are not so good. At all.  I have eaten two but I doubt the other 10 are ingested. 

Now the next item I am sharing is delicious. Hear me: DELICIOUS. I will go out on a limb and say they are the best cookies I have ever made and possibly ever tasted. I made them in late November when my mom had surgery. She loved them too. 

If I were not faithfully counting calories, I would make these again ASAP.

These do not qualify as pins I have made, but here is a short list of good things getting me through my semi-restricted diet:

Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee-Mate. I like it hazelnut coffee.

Greek yogurt. I am using this as the base for a lot of things. I add about a tablespoon of dry ranch dressing mix to one container and use that as a veggie dip. I have added a tsp. of low fat mayo but found I could not taste the difference, so now I eliminate it.

This salmon. It is pretty flavorful and at 140 calories per serving it is a winner. It is also very easy to prepare.

Bonus: I discovered yesterday that one Dove chocolate heart (milk or dark chocolate) is just about 40 calories. Good news!

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back in time:: september 2012

Buying new goodies gets the creative juices flowing! The new P& CO is offering $1 deals each week. Be sure to get their newsletter to see the additions. I got these cute cards and whipped a September layout right up.

My September 2012 layout:

and I got these for kicking of 2013:

Three dollars well spent!!

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project life:: finishing 2012

Yep, I am the most sporadic blogger. Ever. But today I am back.

Below are my recently completed 2012 digital scrapbook pages. I took a Project Life-ish approach in that I am using the style, adapting it to digital and completing at least one page per month. I am closing in on the end of this project and I am excited because I love what I recorded for 2012 and am even more inspired to begin 2013. There are so many great products available.

November. 

December.

I have used product from all over the place. Cathy Zielske, Persnickety Prints, Ali Edward, AC Digitals and many more. 

The biggest update to these pages is that I bought pockets by Valorie Wibbens at the Lilypad. I LOVE these! 

How are your pages coming? Are you finished with 2012? I could choose to never be finished but I am instead choosing to be content with the 1-2 pages per month that I have completed.  

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a combination of good things

1. My mother in law gave me PhotoShop Elements 11 last week. I installed it on my new, Windows 8 laptop (this is a post for another time but to sum it up: learning curve is steep).

2. After Mass on Christmas Eve, we had our pictures taken quickly and got lucky with a few good ones.

3. I stumbled across a great assortment of Project Life quote freebies on Elise Blaha's blog.

1+2+3=a new timeline cover photo...

I hope you have had a great Holiday. We surely have. I cannot wait for a great 2013.

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getting my merry on-

There have been fancy parties for work...

plenty Elf on the Shelf shenanigans...

treat making of the sweet and savory variety...

 

Mason jars for sweets.

 

Tree shaped veggie pizzas for an annual ornament exchange...

Admittedly, since Friday it has been hard to find any spirit at all. The sadness over the shootings in CT is crippling. My girls and I have been speaking openly and praying fervently. I know of nothing else to do.


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2013 calendars for gifting

This is my 4th or 5th year for making calendars for my family members. My love of digi scrapbook stuff + picture taking always makes this a given. But this year I have worked more, taken most photos with my iphone instead of my DSLR and I find myself with less time to make this tradition happen. About 10 days ago, I thought this would be the year I did NOT do them.

And then I saw these awesome 4x6 printables from Eighteen25:

And we did an impromptu at-home photo shoot that resulted in a handful of worthy pictures of the girls, dog and family. 

Last year I gave simple 4x6 photos that contained a monthly calendar and were joined by a 4x6 magnetic frame and acrylic easel. Easy peasy.

So to capitalize on the Eighteen25 freebies and last year's framing options I devised this plan...

I retrofitted an 8x10 calendar template from Scrapflower to include one photo of my girls and to print at 4x6. Making this:

into this:

I printed all freebies from Eighteen 25 and included two more photos (one of just my girls and one of our family). I spent just under $15 for all of these at Costco and I will have a total of 10 sets to give (and 1-2 for myself!).

Today I quickly packaged them in a cello bag and added a bit of washi tape and they are ready for giving! Woot Woot and Merry Christmas!

Past calendars:

I hope this gives those of you who think it may be too late for handmade gifts an extra push. Pin It

I'm bringing Blogging back!

I miss it. I am not sure who will remain as followers after my very sporadic performance over the last few months but that doesn't matter {much}. Perhaps the biggest void is personal because when I sit down {so rarely these days} to work on recording memories, I do not have this digital diary to consult. As my kids get older it may be that I share less about them both because as a pre-teen, one may not want her photo and life details broadcast and secondly because I have a truly duel role now as a mom and a person fully back in the work force. The good news is that while the photos may not be of my kids specifically, that date stamp on the posts jogs my memory as does the meal I may have prepared or craft we created. That is enough of a creative boost for me to easily plug in details to our family scrapbook.  I also am immersed in social media and have interesting clients and colleagues who expose me to new information daily. I plan to share those kinds of tidbits here as well.

So as an attempt to finish off 2012 in strong fashion here are a few glimpses of what has been going on!

I am still a Pinterest enthusiast. I have added a board for items I actually make, bake, create or in some way complete. I add in a little commentary as well. Here's the latest:

Creamy Banana Sour Cream Cake. 

Very yummy. Easy to prepare. My downfall is that the cakes did not release well from the pans. Boo!

Another fun board that I add to regularly is Contests On Pinterest. I do this because I like to participate in some of them although I have yet to win. I also collect these because I am involved in planning and executing contests like this for clients and I like to see what others are doing and especially see what works well and what doesn't. 

My shameless plug...please participate in the Fresh Express Salads Sweepstakes on Pinterest. There is one running now through the end of November and another will begin December 1. Click ::HERE:: to enter. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

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meal plan monday: 9/24

It's going to be an odd week but since I have one or two things planned, here goes:

Monday: Pasta with cherry tomatoes and basil. My basil plant is still kicking!
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast Recipe

Wednesday: Dinner out as we are all going in a separate direction.
Thursday: Shelby's Choice! Her sister will be gone on a school trip.
Friday: 6:30 Basketball game so we will likely order pizza after.

I volunteered to make 4 dozen Cream Puffs for a school/church event on Sunday so I'll be spending most of Saturday on that. Easy recipe but it does take time to bake them.

 (Betty Crocker)

More meal plans ::HERE::.





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my project life*ish instagram page

(click to view slightly larger) 

 Today I completed this page that contains 9 instagram photos taken in the month of June. I am hoping in the years to come that pictures really are worth a 1000 words because this is just the bare minimum when it comes to memory keeping. And in the words of Ali Edwards, I am OK with that.

Just to see what exactly I have gotten recorded for 2012, I placed an order for 12x12 pages at Costco today. I have 13 pages to be printed and I already 4 in my possession. That takes me to 17 for 2012. I have told stories through July of this year. Yes; I have a lot left that I would like to do but I am happy when I review what I have accomplished.

Are you a chronological scrapper? Do you always say I will never catch up? Funny because I think I am a pretty Type A personality but I just don't let myself go there when it comes to this. Go me...giving myself a break!

Now for a Type A story...I cracked the crown off my back tooth last Saturday. At the dentist on Monday he said that comes from clenching teeth during the night from stress. I have tried to take a lot of deep breaths following that news. I don't feel stressed in an overwhelming way but this is evidence that it exists. Working through that :) Pin It

Pinterest: Pinned It, Made It

It's been awhile since I shared my Pinterest successes! I made two recipes this week that were both very tasty and so simple to make.

First, Pea Salad:

You can find the Pea Salad Recipe ::HERE::.

Last night I made this amazing cornbread from two Jiffy mixes! Jiffy is fun and retro. Those boxes have never changed, have they?

You simply combine one cornbread mix and one yellow cake mix PLUS all the ingredients listed on each box.

Thirty minutes later you have this! Find the recipe ::HERE::. 

I have never made cornbread in my life but I do eat it on occasion at restaurants. This was as good.

Pinterest is not a waste of time when good food is the result. That's what I tell myself!
 

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Monday Meal Plan 9/10/12

With the kids back in school plus a much busier schedule, better meal planning is a must.

Monday: BLTs for the adults and bacon and toast for the kids. The girls and I have to be out the door by 5:15 for dance classes so we will eat and leave cooked bacon behind for Dave.
Tuesday: Cheesy Mostaccioli from the freezer, salad and garlic bread. 
Wednesday: Another busy night with after school activities. Grilled Cheese and fruit for me and the girls before we leave.
Thursday: Insanely busy night will likely mean a drive thru meal.
Friday: Grill out at home. Hot dogs and Italian Sausage with sauteed onions and peppers.

The temps are starting to cool off a bit so I may make chili over the weekend to divide up for meals on the go.

View more meal plans here! Pin It

Project Life Instagram Page

If you follow along with the *official* Project Life products, you will see they are introducing page protectors that house square photos for people who use/adore/are addicted to, Instagram.

During last weekend's predicted non-stop rain and then finally actual rain, I created a template for 3" square photos. I began with a page of all May photos and I had to work hard to whittle it down to just these 9 because I took a lot of iPhone photos that I "instagrammed". This is very straightforward and the photos are enhanced with just a few digi scrap products, all from {Scrapflower}.

Do you use instagram?
Do you print them or scrapbook with them?


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digital scrapbooking freebies

Over the past few days, there have been a few freebies that I do not intend to pass up. Top of the list, CD calendar templates from Persnickety Prints. Each year for the past 4-5, I have made calendar gifts for my family at Christmas. This is not optional, it is an expectation!

I love the simple, graphic nature of these. Family: close your eyes because this will be this year's design! A few shots of past years:

2009

2011

2012

Also available beginning yesterday, are some awesome journal cards, perfect for Project Life. Scrapflower is having a blog buzz. Start ::HERE:: to  get the freebies. Here are a few samples:

available on ::Facebook:: 

available on ::Facebook:: 

Here in Ohio, we are expecting lots of rain from Hurricane Isaac over this long, holiday weekend. I am hoping to spend some of my time indoors being creative! 

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