How can Pinterest grow my blog? On Monday, I introduced you to Pinterest with my beginners guide. Now, I want to tell you how you can use Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog. Pinterest was small start-up business 18 months ago, yet by the end of last year it had grown seven-fold in the space of a few months. It’s unusual because 70% of its users are women- almost unheard of in the Web Services market. [source] Because it of its visual … [Read more...]
What is Pinterest? A beginner’s guide
What is Pinterest? Pinterest is an online pin board of ideas and inspiration. If you, like me, have a stash of pages torn from magazines in a corner of your house somewhere (they *ahem* might even be categorised and alphabetised) then this is the 21st Century format. It’s based on the age old premise that a picture tells a thousand words. And it’s a gift to those of you lucky enough to have a tablet, where images play a very … [Read more...]
Printing snowmen and other things to do with bottle tops
The promised snow has yet to fall in our neck of the woods, though I have seen evidence on Notes From Lapland Lancashire that there is some further North (and West). But we did have some appalling rain and hail this morning which rather cramped our plans to get out on the beach for some fresh air. Before Christmas, as is our tradition, we sat down to make cards for family and God-parents. Because we have a local charity that collects plastic … [Read more...]
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
I am new to slow cooking. In fact my mantra of late has been fast cooking: the kind of cooking that can be whipped up in twenty minutes from when I come downstairs having left The Girls screaming put The Girls to bed to when DH walks through the door. My life involves short-cuts and cheats (hence the -esque in the blog title, in case you were wondering). Now what better cheat could there be than to take a bunch of prepared ingredients, … [Read more...]
Haggis craft for Burns’ Night
DH and I took The Girls to the supermarket this weekend, which is something we rarely do. Remarkably, things went smoothly. Even more remarkably, the staff gave DH a voucher as a 'goodwill gesture' from the management: the man in front of us was short of money and DH very kindly made up the difference. If this is an example of the level of service you get in a Waitrose then I shall spend more time in there: at the very least I want to try out the … [Read more...]
Snowflakes from cupcake cases
I like making things from cupcake cases almost as much as I like making things from corks. Just before Christmas I saw a really lovely snowflake wreath on Pinterest. It sat around in the back of my mind for a while until one afternoon when The Girls were unexpectedly occupied and I was twiddling a cupcake case in my hand, when the idea came back to me. So, you know how to make paper snowflakes, right? I had to think about it for a minute, … [Read more...]
Mistletoe reinvented: Kiss-letoe!
Before Christmas Mum in the Madhouse made some beautiful Mistletoe from felt, which I loved, and pinned. Looking through my pins the other day, I noticed LBG also looking. "What's the Mamma?" She asked. "Mistletoe" I told her "Miss-a-toe" repeated Dimples I then had to explain what it is and why we use it. "Kissy-toe" quoth Dimples. Which is how I found myself this afternoon cutting heart shapes from a bright pink … [Read more...]
