Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop 08.28.11

Oh, my goodness, friends! This week went by like a blur. With that said, welcome to our 22nd week of CBPH! Friends, after so many clandestine virtual meetings, I'm so ready to spill the beans. We secretly concocted a massive blog party, spearheaded by Ange at the Blooming Hydrangea, that will give you a chance to showcase each room in your homes, and of course, in my home, too. We called it Roomspiration and we're all hoping you can swing by on the set dates to share your beautiful rooms. As you can see, I'm scheduled to host a blog party on September 16th about bathrooms and may you join us then with all your beautiful bathroom posts.



Update: Here are the buttons of the participating bloggers:

  

  

  

 

Co-host
My co-host this week is Emily from Domestic Deadline. She's a SAHM to three crazy and fun kiddos who would rather craft than clean. She loves to sew, paint, decorate, knit, crochet, bake, scrapbook and mainly upcycle and re-purpose! A few months ago, she started an etsy shop, Harper N Co, to sell some of her creations, many which are fun collaborations with her children. Her blog helps her cross things off her constantly growing to-create list, "Mission Organization Monday" and "What I Made to Wear Wednesday" are fairly regular for her. As of this time, she might not respond quickly to your emails because she lives right by the hurricane belt so may you also extend prayers for her and her family's safety.

Blog Tip
Key Lime Digital Designs offers Easy Tips to Optimize Your Blog Design. Here's a sneak peek of what she said, "The header is the first thing people see when they come to your blog! It should ultimately represent what your blog is all about! The title should be big and bold." How true that is!

Favorite Blog
You clicked, inlinkz tallied. The readers' favorite blog post this past week out of 251 links, being the most viewed post, is Sunla Designs' helpful post on Mess Management Monday #4: Craft Room - Fabric Bolts. We all crave for organization and her timely post satisfied it.

Source: sunla-designs.blogspot.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

Some CBPH Features
I've been meaning to do a feature post of last week's CBPH Party last Thursday but because yesterday was Princess Two's birthday party, I know you'll forgive me ;)



You'll say, "Waaay too late!" but I can't let the week pass without mentioning these outstanding posts shared. Here we go.

This spray-painted sofa by Johnny In A Dress is such a novel and thrifty idea. Instead of buying a new couch, just paint over the old dark one.

Source: johnnyinadress.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

This is a stunning white fireplace conversion by 221 Vision.

Source: 221vision.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

Remodelaholic shared the progress of their stair risers. If this doesn't motivate you to get into a DIY project, my friends, I don't know what will.

Source: remodelaholic.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

Five Days Five Ways showed a great way to make good use of those egg cartons in her Egg Carton Flower Tutorial

Source: fivedaysfiveways.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

Last, but certainly not the least, is Jennifer Mohler's Chalk Board Calendar Tutorial. Check her out for the detailed steps on how to accomplish this.

Source: jenmohler.typepad.com via Homemaker on Pinterest

Our Party
To the main course of this post.
For those of you joining us for the first time, we only have 2 easy, simple rules:

1) Link up your creative post - can be a DIY project, decor, photography, crafts, recipes, poem, thrift finds, link party, or that informative syndicated post that can make us laugh, or cry - in short, whatever you're proud of! And if you like to link more creative posts, go for it! We'd love to see them :) (No links to businesses or giveaways. We have another party for these exclusively every Tuesday called Market Your Biz & Giveaways at 5 pm, PST.)

2) Follow as many blogs as you desire, preferably starting first with the one who linked before you and after you, before branching out, and let them know by leaving a comment. (Following me and the co-host will be very much appreciated, and we definitely follow back. Just let us know you're following.)

Displaying the party button on your blog, while optional, is very much appreciated :) It will help you remember to come back and link up to the the happiest blog party on the block (ahem!). It will also help others find their way to the party which we all love because the more the merrier :)

Link opens up every Sunday at 5:00 pm, PST and ends Friday at 11:59 pm.

Because I like something different, I'm using the reverse entry for inlinkz - so the most recent participant will show up as number 1, thus giving everybody a chance to have the #1 spot.


<center><a href="http://www.homemakeronadime.com/"><img border="0" src="http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae194/homemakeronadime/creativeblogbuttonjpg.jpg" /></a></center>
Friends, go ahead and get to know each :) One followed blogger is one gained friend. And please, don't forget to join my Market Your Biz and Giveaways blog party every Tuesday at 5 pm, PST. It's your chance for free promotion of your family-friendly business and giveaways.





Burning question: Did you hire somebody to design your blog look or did you do it yourself? Why? Please do share.

Yes, I hired Kim from 733 Blog to prettify my blog. I officially started blogging on September 28, 2010 when I did my About Me post, and from that point on, I've been reading ways to upgrade my blog's look. The downside is, researching about it and doing trial-and-error experiments on my blog took me forever, so I just decided to leave it to the professional. There are many blog designers who do a great job so as a starting point, you can check out 733 Blog, Happy Potamus Designs, Key Lime Digital Designs. And NO, I wasn't paid to mention their businesses here. Just helping you out for your blog design needs.

How about you? Have you had a blog redesign? What's your experience?