One for the bloggy readers today! Things I learnt in no particular order: The best time to tweet your posts is between 2pm and 4pm. Post titles – don’t be...
Crumbs! I cannot quite believe that a few weeks shy of my blog’s first anniversary, I have been nominated as a Finalist in 2 categories in the National Mum and...
Welcome to my new blog feature – Bento Babies! What could be more fun when you have just come back from a holiday than an airport themed lunch! Sammy met...
My Sammy, he is so unpredictable. When I asked him which book character he would like to be for World Book Day today, I expected one of the classics that...
It’s hard being 3 almost four. You are expected to be a little sponge taking in everything pre school and parents lovingly teach you. When September comes, Sammy will be...
At first we thought the empty tables were a sign of a sad time ahead but just around the corner were a collection of sellers all with incredible finds. A...
Brooklyn is a part of the city I have always wanted to visit. The L train takes you straight into Williamsburg and you could spend an hour or four roaming...
The best time to tweet your posts is between 2pm and 4pm.
Post titles – don’t be scared of long titles. Think search engines, can they find your post? Does it relate to what you have written? I know my posts sometimes have anecdotal titles, nice for readers, bad for search engines.
If you have children, make sure you list their ages in your About Me page, and if you don’t have one set one up. This helps companies who may be interested in you working with them and their products assess whether your family is suitable. (I also think it helps to know their genders too even if it may be obvious from photos as lots of bloggers use code words or funny anecdotes instead of their real names.)
If you don’t use Pinterest you should! I wrote a post a while ago here which may help. Have a board just for your blog and keep it at the top of your boards page. Then repin to others that are suitable so you are the original source.
Keep your photos for Pinterest Portrait style and use text on the image to let people know what they are viewing, no matter how obvious it may seem. They are far more likely to be viewed this way as they are easier to navigate on someone’s mobile phone feed.
Use Pingraphy to auto post your pins to Pinterest. The majority of users are in America and view their news feeds when we are asleep. Pin what is topical even if it’s from a long time ago. Now is the time to repin those Easter ideas!
Annie is not in the least bit intimidating. Considering her profile in the blogging community I thought it would be impossible to say hello, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Jess has the most beautiful eyes. Like stop you in the street beautiful.
Give your Facebook readers more than just your post links. Lots of Facebook users don’t use Twitter and don’t have a blog. Ask short simple questions to encourage group discussion so your page is somewhere more than just a blog post list.
Post a large photo to Facebook rather than just the link to the post which will only include a small excerpt picture. Make sure in the photo description and first comment you link to the post url address.
Alex has a textbook round bump and was head to toe in stripes, I knew we would hit it off.
Tom, Becky’s husband is an excellent presenter and not in the least overwhelmed by a room full of women like I’m sure some men would be.
Don’t be shy. Everyone no matter how many readers or followers you have is in the same boat. I sat at the front with Emily and Jo and even if I came across as a little keen I didn’t care! Introduce yourself! You only have about 3 minutes to chat to anyone anyway in the breaks, so what terrible thing could you possibly say in that time?!
Watermark your photos. This is something I don’t do, but I might come up with a smaller logo rather than a long text line.
White balance. Use the features either your camera or your editing program gives you. Take your orangey evening photos to daylight wonders.
Give feedback. The only way these events are well attended, respected and get better is by giving constructive feedback. I was disappointed so many bloggers didn’t turn up on the day. I see lots of tweets about bloggers who cannot afford to go to the paid ticketed events so take advantage of the free ones!
The informal yet formal style of presentations with everyone encouraged to chip in with questions worked really well to relax the atmosphere and create discussion and debate.
My tip – don’t forget anything you write on the internet can be seen, by anyone. If you are hoping to work with positive parenting brands be positive!
Follow or no follow links. To be perfectly honest at the end of the session I still was thinking of saying “Erm sorry I don’t follow” even though the presenter spoke very eloquently. Find the Tots100 guide here.
My tip – be yourself. Smile and clap, loudly. It shows your appreciation!
Crumbs! I cannot quite believe that a few weeks shy of my blog’s first anniversary, I have been nominated as a Finalist in 2 categories in the National Mum and Dad Blog Awards. It’s a huge deal in the blogging community and if you read my blog and are even remotely tempted to start your own – do it!
This has been an incredible year, I have found a depth of passion that I didn’t even realise I had and have been introduced to some incredible people.
I am completely and utterly over the moon about the Finalist nominations and am delirious at the thought of meeting some of my favourite fellow bloggers at the awards ceremony in September.
I hope my blog will continue to grow and make me a better Mama to my boys, who sometimes have to share my focus
even if it makes me a lousy wife sometimes.
I am so grateful to everyone who has supported my online obsession and if you honestly think I deserve the award then vote for me! You’ll find me in Best Craft and Best Photography!
You have until the 26th March to vote so don’t delay this blogger needs you! Click to VOTE here.
What could be more fun when you have just come back from a holiday than an airport themed lunch!
Sammy met us at Heathrow last month after his holiday with Granny and our trip to America!
His first preschool lunch after we got home featured:
aeroplane shaped ham sandwiches
celery chunks
a shot of grape juice
peanut butter cracker stacks
dried mango
fruit jellies
vegetable crisps
I raided the playmobil airport set too for some sweet extras in his suitcase box! The flags were perfect skewers too. He ate the lot!
You can join in with sharing the love of Bento by finding out more about the principles and some hints, tips and ingredient ideas by going to my page Bento Babies.
So you can’t have missed it, it was my sister’s Baby Shower on Saturday!
I will post lots of pictures this week as well as writing up my day at Blog Summit, (I did take my instant camera and got a few snaps!) letting you in on my new blog feature Bento Babies and I am desperate to get back my roll of Lomography film I shot in New York! I did promise a video from the burlesque show in Atlantic City but I am still deciding on whether it is too smutty!
I wanted to share 3 ideas today which were super cute.
Date Stamp – Guess the Date
I saw this idea on Pinterest and adored it. I realised I had the perfect background picture for my ‘month’ on my office wall. It’s a page from a nature book I picked up in a charity shop when I made Halloween Book Pumpkins! I scanned it in and placed a calendar page over the space in the middle and added a title. You can pick up a feet stamp from here. Feel free to download mine if you are planning a baby shower.
I have become slightly obsessed with bud vases since I have started plotting my new venture idea. I found 6 in my favourite charity shop, Worle Hospice for 75p each! I kid you not! Beautiful crystal vases which when displayed in a group together look so pretty. I used two, which actually are a matching pair, on the buffet table (that’s a post coming later this week about how to plan a party table but here is a peek) filled with gypsophila and narcissus daffodils.
Nappy Wreath
I actually decided to do this idea after I found this record on ebay, when I was randomly searching for beehive bits.
I was thinking of how I could display the record and I won it around the time of my husband’s birthday, where I used records to decorate the house! I knew I had some metal florist’s wreathes left over from Ollie’s Olympic 1st birthday party and used string to create a frame for the nappies.
In their secret mail I had asked all the guests to write a message on a newborn nappy and post it back it me. Roll your nappy top down and secure with a small elastic band. I alternated between washi tape and ribbon and hung the record as the pièce de résistance! After the shower, they can untie the nappies and they have some sweet and funny messages to entertain them!
They do not have a hook on their door so I hung it from the entrance way above a cute bumble dressing up outfit I found!
Today I shall be amongst lots of other keen bloggers at The Tots100 Blog Summit in Bristol.
I shall try and remain cool and collected but really I will want to rush around hugging a lot and saying “oh it is so nice to meet you!”
Blog cards are a good way of promoting your blog and a calling card for any sponsors who may attend the event.
I decided as my blog is so little compared to some of the great parent blogs out there, my blog cards would be simple and just a hint of my style. Capture by Lucy is my Facebook name, Twitter handle and url address so one ribbon fits all! I like curious things that make you think, so here is what I came up with.
And I’ll have a sweet badge on too. Works for my email mama@capturebylucy.com! Even if I don’t hand out a single one I can keep them for the next big blogging conference BritMums in June!
Something extraordinary happened last night. the Finalists for the National Parent MAD Blog Awards were announced. I am deliriously happy that I am a Finalist in both the Craft and Photography categories! 65,000 nominations were received across all the categories so I am eternally grateful for anyone who nominated me! I can’t quite believe it yet and as I finished this post last night, I realised this idea today combines my two passions! I am quite giddy at the thought of attending the awards ceremony in London in September! Watch out for more updates on that soon.
My Sammy, he is so unpredictable. When I asked him which book character he would like to be for World Book Day today, I expected one of the classics that we read over and over.
But no. He wanted to be Tom Foley! A little 7 year old boy who learns to play tennis! We bought the book at least a year ago and it does get read at least twice a month, but I never expected him to want to dress up like Tom!
Costume : round glasses, frizzy hair, red shorts, blue t-shirt, red socks and green shoes and of course a tennis racquet.
A trip to the local joke shop and charity shop and we were sorted! Shame the glasses only lasted 2 minutes before Ollie pulled off one of the arms off. A bit of cellotape and we were sorted.
Anyone for Tennis? by Shane McG is a funny story with jokes that are obvious enough and funny for a 3 year old.
It’s hard being 3 almost four. You are expected to be a little sponge taking in everything pre school and parents lovingly teach you.
When September comes, Sammy will be in the ’4 rising 5′ bracket and whilst I love that he is a Spring/Summer baby, the difference between him and his peers may be quite daunting.
He loves to learn and I aim to try out a different game at east once a week that challenges him and teaches him something new. It usually involves a crafty idea and if possible, gets us outdoors. (I normally post these ideas on a Tuesday if you want to follow them.)
This week he’s been questioning his left and right when we put his shoes on at the door. Your left and right is something you just, well know. I don’t think there are many tricks, you can contort your right hand 180 degrees to resemble an ‘r’ and your left makes an ‘l’ with an outstretched thumb, but it’s basically something that just clicks at some point. Although my Mum did teach us a song “Left left, I had a good home but I left. Tis right I left I left last night.” You time the words to your footsteps. I remember this as a happy childhood memory but the words are a bit sad really!
I was cleaning up the wooden kitchen from the wendy house over the weekend and needed a pair of rubber gloves. The only ones I had were a novelty Christmas pair, complete with marabou trim, but inside was a cardboard pair of hands! Perfect for my left and right game.
Cut your own hands from cardboard, draw round your hands for an extra bit of fun, make a spy hole, get your little one to write a few L’s and R’s and away you go!
We spied all sorts in the garden. Sheep, Little Nan’s wendy house, Dada cutting the grass and a beautiful sunset. First we tried both eyes then he covered one eye and we talked about what we could see from the left eye then the right.
At first we thought the empty tables were a sign of a sad time ahead but just around the corner were a collection of sellers all with incredible finds.
A vintage counter, which I haggled and got for $6, which looks fab on our console table in the lounge, a vintage Fisher Price microscope set – $2! It will be a perfect present for Ollie in the summer as he is having a Doctor theme birthday!
My brother bought 3 retro EXIT signs for his new home office as a cool piece of wall art for $5, a metal stag’s head and my sister in law got some great bits for a bridal shower party she is hosting including a genuine mason jar, box of c200 envelopes for $2 and 12 painted milk bottle vases for $2.
I was sorely tempted with the old camera collection and the old window frames, which would make awesome picture frames but bearing in mind anything we bought had to go in a suitcase, the heavier bulky items had to stay for the next bargain hunter.
A real experience and I can’t wait to go back in the summer when the better weather will bring out more stall holders!
