2 HOW TO: SEO Optimization on Blogger Blogspot

I was contemplating writing up some tips and tricks for improving your SEO (search engine optimization) on your Blogger blog when I came across this article that I thought was pretty easy to follow and gave some good information.  Go take a peek and feel free to let me know if you have any questions!  Let's get your blog to that almighty first page!

11 Hey-Hi! I'm 29!

My older brother Sean, and Me (at 3 months old).  It's OK, you can laugh.  I looked like an alien.  Check out those EYES!  I was born 7 lbs. 13 oz. and within a month I had gone to 5 lbs.  I was all eyes and ribs for the first year of my life... and bald.  That is all the hair I had until I was 2.  My mom said I was cute... she is the only one.  HA!

Today I turn 29.  I've never been one to care about my age and I've always been referred to as an old soul.  I just can't believe I'm 29.  

0 And the Plaid Giveaway Winner Is...

If that is your smiling face below then you won the Plaid FolkArt Extreme Glitter Paint Pack!

Congrats Ariana!  Check your Facebook messages for one from me! And don't forget to visit the Plaid Blog for lots of fun ideas.
I am heading out for my birthday weekend camping extravaganza!  Ready to get my rest and relaxation on in my new camper!

2 FFF: Come Together Kids

We are taking the new camper out for a fun-filled camping weekend and I might just have to do this for the kids:

 Cool, right?
Come Together Kids shows us how it's done with her tutorial, so make sure to check it out!This could be fun  for adult parties too!

3 What are little boys made of? #70

Grab the button!

<center><a href="http://733blog.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yA_6K7ea4aE/S2MN8810hYI/AAAAAAAABXo/fW6dM7Ksyos/s320/WALBMO.jpg" /></a></center>

Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

2 Sugar and Spice #69

Don't forget to enter the Plaid Paint Giveaway!

 Grab the button!

Copy and paste into your blog.

<center><a href="http://733blog.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yA_6K7ea4aE/S6130M3H_II/AAAAAAAABuI/Sl7dtOkX0C4/s320/SugarSpice.png" /></a></center>

The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

80 Plaid is here with a giveaway!

You all know Plaid, right?  The arts and crafts company?  Yea, that Plaid.  Today they are here to show off their new FolkArt Extreme Glitter paint colors.  I mean, can these get any better? Aqua, Confetti, Fuchsia, Royal Blue, and Champagne - LOVE.

Wouldn't you like to try out these colors on a new project?  Maybe paint that old stool, or stencil a design onto your child's door.  Or maybe paint a circle on the wall and buy a clock kit, and some vinyl numbers and make yourself a wall clock.  That's what I want to do.  I think it would look cool... but I don't really have a place to put it... Right - back to the giveaway!
Plaid is giving away a 5 pack of these new paint colors to one lucky seven thirty three reader!
All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what you would use the paint on.
For extra entries (leave a separate comment for each):Check out the Paint Me Plaid blog and let me know a project you find there that you think is coolLike Plaid on Facebook and let them know seven thirty three sent youLike seven thirty three on FacebookFollow seven thirty three
Giveaway ends this Friday at Noon EST.
Good luck! 

3 Just checkin' in!

First - who watches True Blood?  Are you loving this season?  I read all the books prior to watching the show, and I love to see how they do things different.  The part of Eric loosing his memory was one of my favorite parts... and I love how Alexander Skarsgard is representing it!  Holla' to the Fang Bangers! So not much crafting going on here right now.  However I did want to take a moment to say thanks to all the well wishers.  It was great logging into my email and having a ton of get well wishes, it helped make the days better.  And for those that asked: knee surgery went well.  I had an arthoscopic surgery check on the plugs I had put in during an modified OATS (used cadaver plugs instead of my own cartilage) procedure back in 2005.  One of the plugs was in perfect shape, unfortunately the second one was not.  It was cracked and basically I have some bone on bone action which is causing lots of pain and grinding.  This surgery told my surgeon that I will need a second, much more intense surgery known as an allograft.  I will be put on a donor list, and when a match is found for my size, they will harvest cartilage from the cadavers knee and will size it to the defect in my knee (my surgeon took my measurements this past surgery).  They will have 30 days to harvest the cartilage and implant it into me.  I'm not ready to take that plunge yet... the recovery period is 8 weeks on crutches and 6 months to 1 year until back to full activity.  That's a long time to be out of the exercise game for me!  Plus being on crutches with young kids is never fun.  AND the PT involved is pretty intense.  After my last surgery is 2005 I had to go 3x a week for 2 months, 2x a week for 2 months and 1x a week for 1 month!  Lots of time AND money! That was a lot of info, but that's where I stand.  Sort of in limbo at the moment.
My husband is also in MD for the week, so its just me and the kiddos.  And my birthday is this weekend and we are taking the new camper for a long weekend, so although I won't be posting many crafts here, I will be thinking of you all and I will be excited to see what you have to share during Sugar & Spice Wednesday and What are little boys made of Thursday!
Wishing you all a great week!  And because no photo posts are no fun: 

My little one playing in the boat the hubster boat me so I could still float in the pool and not submerge my knee.  Isn't he thoughtful?  HA HA - and yes, I used it!

8 Beauty Up those Crutches

 {please pardon my appearance - this is 1 day post surgery.  Do notice my hair (well sort of - not the top, but the bottom) - I used the sock bun process and even though I did it quickly and with basically dry hair, it held so I can't wait to try it again! And why the crooked pics?  Because my 13 year old sister takes all her pics that way!  LOL - thanks Chris!}

The night before my recent knee surgery I pulled out my old crutches that were in my parents garage.  Turned out one of the pads had crumbled.  Mind you these really weren't THAT old.  I had another pair of wooden ones so I took the pad off from one of those and put it on the crutch.  It fit fine and it would have been fine as it was, but to be honest, I was sort of embarrassed by my ghetto crutches!

I decided it would probably be pretty easy to make a quick cover.  I brought the crutches downstairs, grabbed some scrap fabric and got to work.  The first cover I made involved two pieces of fabric that I cut into a square, marked up so that I sewed it into a hexagon, cut off the access corners, flipped inside out, sewed the sides shut and put onto the crutch.  It worked perfectly and I liked it... until I went to do it again and realized I didn't have enough fabric.  DARN.  Pawing through my fabric stash I came across a belt I had made for a sundress that was a total FAIL.  Eyeing the belt I realized it would be SUPER easy to turn it into the crutch pad cover!  And now I'll share what to do with you!
For my standard adult crutch I needed the following:
15" High x 25" Wide piece of fabric

Fold it in half and sew down the long edgeTurn your tube right side out

Center your seam in the middle and iron your tube flat.

Lay your crutch down and figure out where you want to make your cuts.  You don't want your narrow part to go in anymore than the edge of the top of the crutch pad or it won't fit over the pad.  I used a ruler and lined it up just outside of the widest part of the crutch and made a mark with a magic marker.  Do this on both sides of the crutch. Using pinking shears cut from that mark up to the corner of your fabric.  (I then used this as a template for my second crutch pad cover and cut that out as well).

Fold your fabric in half, matching your cut to your other mark and cut the other side.

Sew up each of the sides and flip right side out.

Cut some velcro and sew it on either side of the inside of the pad cover.

Put it onto your pad and VOILA, bye-bye ghetto crutches!  You have stylin' crutches and no one will be the wiser that you have one brown and one gray pad!  COUPLE OF NOTES: Adding batting in between the two layers would be a great way to add some extra padding and comfort.  Again, this was a last minute project for me so I didn't bother - plus this time around I'm only on crutches for three days.  Maybe my next surgery where I'll be on them for 8 weeks I'll do so.  I'll let you know how that goes!  And I considered making covers for the hand rest portion of the crutch but decided against it since it was 9:30pm the night before my surgery.  But if you want everything to match I know it would be very simple to create a tube to wrap around the handle and either sew it shut and take the handle off and put on the handle OR add a piece of velcro to secure it.  Lastly, I used flashy fabric for the first attempt, but alas I didn't have enough to make a second, so went with the blending in gray damask instead.

1 The Hot Spot Boutique Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Hot Spot Boutique $20 store credit is #7 - Tisha who said"i like hot spot boutique on fb. :) (and i let them know you sent me!)"

Congrats Tisha!  You should be hearing from The Hot Spot Boutique soon!

2 FFF: Our Small-Town Idaho Life

I love when you guys send me your awesome projects!

Rachel from Our Small-Town Idaho Life sent me this Refinished Table she did and I gotta say, I love it!  And her photos are beautiful and fun to look at too!   Head on over HERE to see how she made this great transformation - don't you love that new table top?!?

1 What are little boys made of? #69

Grab the button!

<center><a href="http://733blog.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yA_6K7ea4aE/S2MN8810hYI/AAAAAAAABXo/fW6dM7Ksyos/s320/WALBMO.jpg" /></a></center>

Party Guidelines: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project and 2) Enter your blog name and in paranthesis add the name of your project so we can clearly see what it is 3) Don't forget, these should be BOY RELATED (Big Boy projects are accepted too)! AND PLEASE grab my button!

16 Sugar and Spice #68

Right now I am currently starving because I'm not allowed to eat because I am going into the OR for knee surgery this afternoon.  So please distract me with your amazing projects!!!

 Grab the button!

Copy and paste into your blog.

<center><a href="http://733blog.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yA_6K7ea4aE/S6130M3H_II/AAAAAAAABuI/Sl7dtOkX0C4/s320/SugarSpice.png" /></a></center>

The party guidelines are: 1) please link to your blog post (not your blog main page) so people can go directly to your project 2) Don't forget, these should be GIRL RELATED (can be for us grown up girls too)! 3) AND PLEASE grab my button and add it to your post so that other crafty ladies can come join the fun.

21 The Hot Spot Boutique: A Giveaway

The Hot Spot Boutique is a little shop that sells fabulous boutique hair accessories for you or your little one.  All of the hair bows run around $5-$6, so are adorable AND affordable!

You can visit The Hot Shot Boutique's Facebook page to view all of their available items and pricing (click Photos, THS Boutique). THS also has these adorable petti rompers for only $15 (not including shipping):

The Hot Spot Boutique is giving away a $20 store credit to ONE seven thirty three winner!
To enter to win:
Mandatory: Like The Hot Spot Boutique on Facebook and let them know seven thirty three sent you.
For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):Like seven thirty three on FacebookFollow seven thirty three
Giveaway ends this Friday at Noon.
Good luck!

2 Teensy-Weensy Self-Promotion

I try not to OVER-promote my blog design business on my craft blog.  However, I am super excited over this newest design and wanted to share. If you have a shop or are looking to create a website but don't want to pay high hosting or designer fees, then you want to see this.

I designed the above site for Amber, the baker behind Simple Sweet Cakes {keep in mind that not all of the pages have information yet, but Amber is working diligently to get her site up and running 100%}.  This site is hosted on Blogger!  So for $10 a year, Blogger will give you your own domain name - pretty affordable, right?  And for a starting cost of $70 (going up August 1), you can have a design created and installed by me.  Once the design is installed (or even before) you can enter all of your information. That's right!  No contacting a webmaster anytime you want to make a change to your site.  Just login to your Blogger account and make the change to the text yourself!
And of course I still love bringing your design ideas onto the screen for all of your amazing blogs, so stop over at seven thirty three - - - custom blog design if you're interested in getting your own one-of-a-kind design!
And make sure to stop back in here today as I will be posting a giveaway for a fun little shop!

4 GREAT WEEKEND and another Adult Bib.

We had a really great weekend and I hope you did too! What made it so great?  Well for one, the weather was amazing!  Mid-80's, shining sun, clear skies.  But we also made the decision to purchase a camper so that we could go camping with my parents and my brother and his family (both have travel trailers).  So Saturday we loaded the kids into the car (minus my oldest - she in on vacation in Maine with her grandparents... what a surprise she'll have when she gets home!) and took off to check out a couple of dealers.

After searching for a few hours we finally found this 19' Trail Cruiser Hybrid that we settled on.  It is a great unit that sleeps 8 and had a great price (after a little haggling).  I'm pretty excited.  So Happy Birthday to me because this is what I got as an early birthday gift!

{View of the inside from my bed.  Behind that door is a full bathroom with potty, sink and shower.} On Sunday my mom, little sister and I went shopping for all of the supplies that I would need.  I found some great purchases at The Christmas Tree shop!  Plastic cups, plates and bowls (all BPA-free), utensils, etc.  I also ran to Dick's and picked up a canopy, although I WAS disappointed because they didn't have any feathers.  FEATHERS?!?  I REALLY want to try the DIY feather extension in my daughters hair, and I was certain Dick's would have them, but alas, they didn't.  Oh well.  

All in all it was a great weekend.  I didn't get much crafting done... although I did get a lot of pool floating time!   I did make a couple more adult bibs for my Husband's Gram upon her request.  I revised my template and am happier with the result (for the tutorial, go here).
I cut my fabric like this:

Versus this:

 

{Notice the new tapered straps, versus the squarer straight ones}

It sits a lot better along the top and it doesn't cover the arms so much, which was a problem with the last one.

{Guess I shouldn't have cocked my hip because it made the bib lay funny, but what do you want with a self-portrait at 6:50 in the morning when I need to be out the door at 7?  Not to mention my hair and my shirt looks odd since you can't see the belt... OK, I'll stop!}
I must be still half asleep or something since I'm posting all these darn-awful pics of me today!Hope it provides you some entertainment! 
Have a wonderful day! And technically I'm taking a vacation this week because I am having knee surgery on Wednesday.  Not sure how much crafting I'll be getting in this next weekend, but we'll see!