Do you ever get the feeling that the perfect house for your family just doesn’t exist? Like there’s nothing on the market that can meet all your needs let alone your wants? That’s the dilemma we are currently facing. We’ve been growing increasingly unsatisfied with our current home, but there doesn’t seem to be any other existing houses in our budget that will suit our needs. Unfortunately the next rung in the property ladder is well beyond a reasonable budget. So we’re getting creative instead!
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My big dream is to live in a cottage by the sea. I want the space and the air and the freedom feelings of country living. My husband would like to live downtown in a big city. Our dreams don’t quite line up. lol. So we need compromise!
Our limitations include maintaining a reasonable commute for my husband (under 30 mins) and staying within our current school district. We love our boys’ school and I don’t think my oldest could handle the disruption of switching schools.
Those limitations really narrow down the available areas we could possibly move to.
When we search for listings, we have been nothing but disappointed. The only homes available are either major fixer-uppers (which we’ve done before and no thanks) or are these horrible ugly McMansions that we wouldn’t want even if we could afford them!
This bundle of fat quarters arrived this month in my subscription from Stacked Fabric Company. I instantly went all squealy and excited when I opened the package, because they’re so cute! I decided to use these 4 fat quarters to make a simple DIY patchwork baby blanket for my nephew for Christmas. His bedroom is kind of an animal meets lumberjack theme, so I figure these tribal prints will fit right in! I’ve seen him bury his face into fuzzy blankets, so I think the soft minky fabric I used on the back will be a hit. 🙂
Start to finish, this DIY baby blanket took me about 2 hours. It’s nice to be able to finish a project in one sitting! That’s practically unheard of among crafters who typically have about 84 unfinished projects lying around at any one time!
A word on my fabric subscription. It’s like crack for crafters, I’m totally addicted! Every month I get 4 coordinating fat quarter quilting cottons. It’s a mystery bundle so I never know what’s coming, which is literally half the fun. It’s the absolute best mail! Stacked Fabric Company is Canadian owned and operated by the sweetest lady. (Who is not compensating me for singing her praises by the way, I just reallllly love this company!)
Ok, carrying on.
There really isn’t much to this DIY patchwork baby blanket, I kept it super simple. So the instructions are also pretty basic. If you have a fair knowledge of sewing, you should be fine!
If, like me, you’ve spent time researching the best way to use Pinterest to grow your business, then no doubt you’ve seen multiple blog posts such as “how to schedule a month’s worth of content in an hour and explode your blog!”. Well, I’ve read those posts and I call bullshit. Scheduling that much content takes closer to 4-5 hours. Plus I’ve tried all kinds of strategies that were supposed to ‘explode’ my views, and no dice. So I found a way to harness the power of Pinterest as a marketing platform for my online business without letting it become a huge burden and time suck. And the results speak for themselves. I get 2.2 million monthly Pinterest viewers using this simple Pinterest strategy! 🙂
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(This means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.)
I’m at a point in my business where I’m pretty tired of all the click-bait articles that promise me explosive sales and pageviews. I’ve clicked them and they’ve let me down. (Never mind the fact that most ‘how-to’ posts don’t ever tell you ‘how-to’ do anything. So annoying.)
Turns out there is no formula for making your business a success. You’ve got to march to the beat of your own drum so to speak. Your business, your rules.
So that’s what I’ve done with my Pinterest strategy. I’ve made it my own and this strategy has been working really well for me.
Here are some stats:
Monthly Pinterest viewers: 2.2 million
Monthly Pinterest engaged viewers: 75K
(these numbers fluctuate a bit but if they go down they always come back up about a month later)
I get an average of 10-12 new Pinterest followers a day. Some days I get close to 30!
Blog monthly pageviews from Pinterest: 25K
Pinterest accounts for about 30% of my Etsy shop views.
My sincere hope and belief is that this simple Pinterest strategy can work for you too.
But I’m not going to sit here and promise you explosive results. That’s crap and I won’t do it. All I can do is share the strategies that work for me.
Above are my personal stats, but Tailwind (the Pinterest scheduler I use, but which isn’t a requirement for this strategy to work) also publishes the Typical Results of Tailwind for Pinterest Members every year, so you can see exactly what the average growth rate looks like for their members.
What I do ask, is if you give my strategy a try, try it for a minimum of 60 days. That should definitely be enough time to see if it’s working for you. You should see your followers start to grow daily and your views go up dramatically.
You’ll know it’s working for you when the process doesn’t feel like a huge chore but you’re still getting great results.
It’s no secret, I love making stuff. Useful stuff, pretty stuff, stuff to gift. It makes me happy! So every year I plan at least one or two handmade Christmas gifts, plus a new decor item for my collection. Homemade gifts are the best in my opinion, so I rounded up this handy list of 25 Christmas gift ideas to make and sew. 🙂
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These Christmas gift ideas are all either free tutorials or patterns, all you need is the materials. 🙂
A lot of these ideas could work year-round too, not just as Christmas gifts. I picked some that are super Christmas-y but many would be great birthday gifts!
This is a sweet and quick crochet project that works up in a few hours. I love my crochet ankle warmers, they’ll be keeping me cozy in the winter months. I pair them with leggings and slippers and tea and a comfy bed. 🙂
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When crafting is your day job it’s important that you find ways to keep enjoying it and not burn out. So I craft for fun too. In the evenings my husband will look over at what I’m making and say “is that for work or for fun? It’s hard to tell”. lol
Crochet is a ‘just for fun’ craft for me. It’s repetitive and relaxing and I can take it with me on the go and the end product doesn’t have to be totally perfect. It makes me happy.
So just bear in mind that I’m not a professional crochet pattern-writer, hopefully it will still all make sense.
The other thing that makes me happy is being cozy. My ankles and feet tend to run cold year round, I’ve been known to sport my ankle warmers with sandals in the summer. What can I say, I’m a fashion guru!
So I made myself these sweet crochet ankle warmers to keep me toasty all through winter, spring and summer.
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