Leelou Blogs

Free Valentine's Day Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:03:38 PST

Valentine's Day is one of my FAVORITE holidays. I am really good at making cards for every holiday, I'm just really horrible at printing them out and actually using said cards. It's the thought that counts, right?

This year I'm really trying to actually use the things I create, whether it's cards, banners...whatever. SOOOOO, here are 3 different Valentine's Day cards I've created for my oldest 3 kids this year. You can download the card templates for free and if you have a photo editing program, you can add your own pictures, names, etc.

I had lot's of fun creating these and hope you're able to use them!

My daughter will be handing out these Tic Tac Toe cards with a box of conversation hearts candy so the kids can play along.

I saw cards similar to this floating around Pinterest but couldn't find a download anywhere. I knew it had to be made. Lovin' the mustache. I'm creating a few more mustache printables but I'll shave them for later. Muahahahaha....whew. It's been a long week...

The idea for this nerdy card came to me in the wee hours of the morning. It was perfect for my techno loving 4 year old. Hopefully you have a special nerd in your life that can benefit from it too.

Feel free to take one or all of the cards above. You're more than welcome to share the link, but please use them for personal use only. I have some other cute Valentine's Day printables coming too, so be sure to check back soon!

-Don't know how to use the printables? Click here for some tips!

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Free Baby Shower Printable Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:19:14 PST

*UPDATE*

SOME OF YOU WERE HAVING A HARD TIME DOWNLOADING THIS PRINTABLE. I'VE FIXED IT SO IT SHOULD DOWNLOAD INSTANTLY NOW

I know about 97 people who are having babies within the next few months, so if you're like me, this free printable will come in handy! My friends at Peonies and Poppyseeds are awesome and have created this freebie for anyone to take.

This banner was made with my Lundstrom Park scrapbook kit and can spell out a combination of different things. Click below to download it and make sure to stop by Peonies and Poppyseeds to say thanks and to check out their other great freebies.

-Don't know how to use the printables? Click here for some tips!

-All Leelou Printables are for personal printed use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

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Be sure to grab this months free desktop calendar for your computer screen too!

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Blog Tutorial - Earnings and Blog Template

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:24:04 PST

We are almost done with our tutorial series on the new Blogger Dashboard. Today we'll focus on 2 features- the Earnings and Layout sections. Be sure to check out my past tutorials to get caught up!

First we're going to tackle Earnings. At no cost, you can place Google ads on your blog. You can choose what you'd like these ads to look like, change the colors and sizes, choose whether you'd like them to be just text or have images and place them anywhere on your blog.

These ads are targeted towards your blogs content and visitors. When they're clicked on, you earn money. Click on the Sign up for AdSense button in your dashboard to get started.

Here is a quick video from Google that will explain how AdSense works if you'd like a little more info.

The next thing we're going to talk about is the Template section in your dashboard.

Below are 2 screen shots. Click on them to enlarge the images and you can see the notes I added.

The Template page gives you the opportunity to customize your blog by choosing all sorts of things like the fonts, colors, sizes, arrangement of everything and so so much more. This is one of my favorite new features Blogger has for us. You can check out one of my past tutorials on how to customize your blog to get more tips.

The Template section is also where your blog HTML is located. Blogger even has a new feature where you can set up how you would like your blog to appear on mobile devices.

Then there is a collection of blog designs that Blogger has created. The top row features the newest designs that Blogger just released. They have some major pros and cons. These designs are very different. Some look nothing like the normal blog set up we are used to. They're fun and new, though. I have noticed that if you use Google Chrome as your web browser, these dynamic views are a little more detailed and look much better than they do on another web browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox. For example, when you use Chrome, you can hover over the pictures and they move, flip or change size.

One thing that kind of stinks about these fun layouts is that you're not able to access the coding. This limits how much you're able to customize your blog. I'm a customizing freak, so although these are fun to look at, they aren't something I would normally use. They also lack sidebars. If anyone is doing a 365 blog this year, where you post a photo every day, these are perfect!

If you have some time, make a practice blog and play around with them yourself. Very different, but kind of fun.

The Template page is also where you can back up your HTML. Always be sure to back up your current HTML! Especially when downloading one of my free blog layouts. That way, if something goes wrong you can always revert back to how you previously had your blog set up.

Hopefully that was helpful and can clear up some confusion for some of you. This new blogger interface is something I'm really learning to love. Catch up on my previous tutorials and follow along to see new ones each week!

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Blog Tutorial - Using Your Stats

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:03:06 PST

For this weeks tutorial we'll be talking about the stats on your blog. Using the stats feature is really beneficial and also fun. You can learn all kinds of crazy stuff. Before we start, be sure to switch over to the new blogger interface if you haven't already. It's super easy.

Start by going into your dashboard and click the Stats link over on the left hand side.

There are 4 sections under Stats. The first one is Overview. Below is a screen shot with what the Overview page looks like. The next image has some notes that I added to that screen shot that help explain some of the functions. (Click on images to enlarge)

The overview can be really useful in helping you determine what things people want to hear you post about, where your traffic is coming from and even what time of day your blog is viewed most.

Next up is the Posts section. This goes into a little more detail on how many pageviews your posts and pages receive.

The next section is Traffic Sources. This page is really cool because it tells you what other sites or blogs are sending traffic your way. You can also see what keywords people are googling that get them to your blog.

The last section is your Audience. This page shows where your traffic comes from. You'll be surprised how many countries pop up! You can even tell if someone is looking at your site through an iPad, Blackberry, etc.

All of these features can be fun and interesting to look at. They can also be very useful in helping your blog grow.

Study your stats to get the most out of them.

If you'd like to learn other features from your Blogger dashboard, check out my other blog tutorials in this series.

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Free January 2012 Desktop Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:17:38 PST

Happy 2012 everyone!!! Hope you all had a rockin' New Years. Anyone do something super fun? My husband and I turned on the TV around 11:55 to watch the ball drop. Then my husband continued his marathon of X Files and I returned to my computer. Don't be too jealous.

If it makes it sound any better, I was working on this baby below. The first free computer desktop calendar of the year. Download it today for your computer!

*UPDATE* I see that I forgot to add the 31st of January on these calendars. I've fixed them all now so when you download it, they will have all the dates correctly!

Click below to get this free January 2012 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

We also have a desktop background you can customize. If you need a little help adding your own pictures you can see how I recommend doing that by clicking here.

Click below to get this CUSTOM January 2012 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

Installing these desktop calendars is incredibly EASY. Check out my short tutorial so you can get this desktop up on your own computer screen!!! I have instructions for a PC and Mac.

Meredith Cardall is one of my favorite designers so I popped on over to her shop to check out the latest goods. I had several kits of hers that I wanted to use this month but then I saw this one called A Brand New Day and it was meant to be. Thanks Meredith for letting us use your cute kit!

I love the new year to get organized and set some new goals that I'll likely abandon in a few months. At least I have good intentions, right?

I found a couple excellent New Years ideas on Pinterest that you have to check out. So cute!
Click on the images below to find out about them.

I want to make these 3 things this month. What are your resolutions?

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All Leelou designs are for personal use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

Free Christmas Digital Scrapbook kit

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:30:02 PST

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a fantastic time around here and are partying it up with school still being out. Between sleeping in, playing games, gorging on sugar cookies and being completely lazy, I've had the most amazing vacation.

Santa decided to finally force me out of my comfort zone and delivered a much needed new computer, but now I'm having a heck of a time getting used to it. I do not do well with change! If anyone can tell me why Mac's screen colors are so different and how to fix them, that would be fantastic. It's throwing me off big time!

I'll be spending the week learning a new process and having anxiety attacks, but I'll be back next year on the ol' blog.

Until then...

I created a Christmas mini scrapbook kit that I'd love to share with you if you're interested. It will be free until Friday, so be sure to download it quickly! Have fun scrapping those holiday pictures :)

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Very Last Minute Gift Ideas!

noreply@blogger.com (Jaime) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:34:40 PST

Only a few more days until Christmas and if you're anything like me, you have about a million things to do! Having everyone out of school and all these treats at my house isn't helping me be any more productive either.

Today I have a couple last minute gift ideas. It's probably safe to say that it's too late to ship presents and have them arrive in time for Christmas. These gifts are all things that you can print off right away so you'll be sure to have them ready to go Sunday morning.

First up is THE CUTEST THING!

You have to go check out Lily and Thistle. What little girl doesn't want a personalized paper doll?

My sister just ordered some and she got to create a doll that looks just like her daughter. She ordered the whole package and was sent this great kit that came with the Personalized MiniMe doll and name stand, 6 adorable outfits, a reusable adhesive strip, a special "Keepsake Doll Set" that is signed and dated by the artist Hannah Stevenson, PDF files with custom doll, outfits, and "All About Me" pages for reprinting.

You probably couldn't get all the great extra stuff shipped in time, but order the PDF files and you can have it all emailed to you! I love this idea because when your kids wear out the paper dolls, you can just get on your computer and print them out again.

They even have a dress of the month club that sends a new outfit straight to your email on the first of the month. Lily and Thistle...Awesome!!

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Next cool download is My Memories Suite version 3. This is the latest version of My Memories Suite that just came out a few weeks ago. There are a bunch of great new features that I'll blog about soon, but this is honestly the greatest Christmas gift for anyone who wants to start digital scrapbooking or making printables and cards.

The greatest new feature of all is that YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN BLOG HEADERS NOW! The last version of My Memories Suite didn't allow you to customize a rectangular blog header, but I mentioned that they should add this new feature and they were awesome enough to do it!

To learn more about my love for My Memories and get yourself a $10 off coupon, click here!

Once again, this gift is a download and you can get it right away!

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I found these pretty packages on Pinterest this week and love them. I might try this on a few presents this year. My Mom would love it.

And if you're an over achiever, you can make these super cute felt flowers to put on top of your presents just because they're so cute. And apparently they don't require sewing, which works out pretty fantastic for me.

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Ladies, you might need to order a new dress for a spectacular New Years Eve party.

This dress below is called the Ashley dress and it is from Just Stop Staring. All of their dresses are original and vintage inspired and fit like no one's business. I'm not even kidding. I have seen Just Stop Staring dresses all over the Internet on a variety of celebrities and even on the red carpet.

The Ashley dress is my fav and has a fantastic waistline, cap sleeve and boat neck.

Well hello Ashley, wearing the Ashley dress. How ironic.

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Last funny thing...if you use Google Chrome (which I think everyone should use cause it's fantastic!) or Safari, go to Google.com and type in "Let it snow". Then wait a minute. And laugh. 'Cause that's funny stuff.

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Alright, that sums up my last minute gift ideas. Hopefully some of that helps. You are more than welcome to grab my Christmas printable kit or conversations cards for your holiday dinners too.

And don't forget to share your holiday traditions for a chance to win a $200 Target gift card!

I'll be hanging out with the family for a bit, but will be back next year with lots of great new freebies, blog designs and giveaways for ya.

Thank you all for following along this year. I love this little space of mine on the internet and it makes my day that you all stop by from time to time. I truly hope you all have the best Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

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What are your holiday traditions?

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:04:07 PST

We have a fun giveaway going on today! International Delight wants to know what your favorite holiday traditions are. Tell us and you could win a $200 Target gift card! Woot woot!

I started a new tradition this year and we are having SO MUCH FUN with it! Have you heard of The Elf on the Shelf? I saw the pictures floating around Pinterest for awhile and finally gave in and went to see what it's all about.

Basically, you adopt an elf that comes straight from the North Pole. You get to name him and every day he sits there and watches the kids in the house to see if they've been naughty or nice. Then at night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa.

When he comes back to your house every morning he's in a new spot and usually doing something pretty funny. My kids named our elf Booter Buttercheeks. He's a sneaky little elf and likes to hide in silly places every morning.

If you haven't seen this elf business, you've got to check it out! There are a TON of pictures on Pinterest of elves that do funny things. So many good ideas! (This is a good place to start)

My kids have loved this and we'll definitely keep this tradition going.

So now it's your turn! Tell International Delight what your favorite holiday tradition is for a chance to win that $200 Target gift card from BlogFrog.

Speaking of fantastic things, have you tried International Delights holiday flavors? Three words.
White Chocolate Raspberry.
I'm not messing around. Add some of that creamer to your hot chocolate this winter and it will rock your world.

TellTeTeTell International Delight what your favorite holiday treat is for a chance to win a $200 Walmart Gift Card.

Capture the flavors of the holiday’s in every cup of coffee with International Delight creamers. Available in a variety of flavors, such as Cinnabon, Almond Joy and Pumpkin Spice, International Delight can make everyday feel like a holiday.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions expressed are 100% mine and do not necessarily reflect the view of the International Delight Brand.

Just For Clicks - My Favorite Finds of the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:03:14 PST

Happy Saturday everyone! I found some more fabulous things online that I'd LOVE to share with you guys just for clicks :) I actually had a really hard time narrowing them down this time because there were so many awesome things.

I attribute half of my new favorite things to Pinterest, which is my new google.

Anywhoo, first up is this baby.
This is the most amazing menu planner I've ever seen. AMAZING. And they show you just how to make it and include recipes and everything.

These are the most beautiful stockings and it pains me that I can't sew to make them!

Dear sister,
I NEED YOU TO MAKE THESE FOR ME. Like, really really badly.
Love,
Julie

Ok, how seriously cool is this? It's an ultra sound app that you can do right on a smart phone. If I was a first time mom I would freak for this...although it's like $7,000! Yowsa! Still pretty amazing though.

I saw this "Tie it with a Bow - Hoodie" the other day on NoVae Clothing and thought it was so cute. Then I see that this weekend it is on sale for $32 smackaroos! That's over 50% off. Yes please. I found some other things like this stinking cute skirt that I must have as well. If you spend $50 you get free shipping and you'll get it by Christmas if you get it this weekend. FYI.

I will be downloading these babies this weekend. Love free photoshop goodness.

How great is this? It's a shoe box turned into a charging station. I need this for my whole family.

Last but not least, I ran into these iPhone/iPod chargers that come in seven different colors. The best part is that they're only $2.95!!! Merry Christmas.

Those are some fun things I found online this week. What'd you find? Do you make/sell/know of something awesome? Let me know and maybe I'll feature it!

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Join the Million Moms Challenge - You could win an iPad 2!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:32:42 PST

These last few months I've teamed up with ABC to help promote the Million Moms Challenge. Today is our last feature on their website and we're talking about children with health problems. I've never blogged about it here before, but my son has a few health problems. Come check out my post to see how we found out and got through it.

Have you ever had a child or do you have a child with health problems? Whether it's something big or small, come share your story! You could win several prizes...one of them being an iPad2!

The campaign has just announced an amazing new contest as well called "Imagine Me & You". ABC is asking expectant moms to submit a photo of their "baby bump" with a creative message. America will vote for their favorites from Dec 6 to Dec 15 on the Million Moms Challenge Facebook page, and for the every vote Disney Baby will donate $1 up to $50,000 to the Million Moms Fund!! The grand prize is a free trip to Australia for a private portrait session with world renowned photographer Anne Geddes, and the top 3 finalists will receive a year's supply of Huggies! That is AMAZING! For more info, check out this article.

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Blogger Dashboard Tutorial - Pages

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:00:05 PST

Did you know that Blogger now gives you 10 static pages on your blog? I can't tell you how fantastic this is. I'm going to talk about them a little today, so be sure to update your blog dashboard to the newest interface so you can join us!

Lets say you want an About me or a Contact section on your blog. Now you can fill out a static page to put all of this information in. You can get creative here and make any kind of pages you'd like and even choose to have these pages appear horizontally above or below your blog header or in your sidebar. These pages make it so much easier for your viewers to navigate your blog quickly and easily.

Creating these pages is a lot like writing a blog post. You'll first want to go to your Pages tab in your dashboard. (You can click below on the images to enlarge them!)

Click on New Page and you can either choose to create a new blank page or you can just create a tab in your new link bar, but have it link somewhere else. For example, this could come in handy if you wanted a tab on your blog that says "Shop". You could link that tab to an Etsy shop that you might have instead of linking them to a page on your blog.

After you create some pages, you can then choose how you want them displayed. Choose to put them at the top of your blog horizontally, in the sidebar vertically or you can even choose to not have the tabs show up on your blog.

In the Layout tab of your dashboard, you can go in and rearrange where you want these pages to show up on your blog and edit them too.

This is one of my favorite new features. Making a horizontal link list across the top of your blog is something most people want, but the coding to do it yourself can get pretty tricky. So it's great that Blogger made this feature for anyone to easily make a link list on our blogs. Organizing and easy navigation are 2 huge benefits to any blog, so hopefully this helps a little. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!

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Free December Computer Desktop Background

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:00:10 PST

Happy December everyone! Today we have the last desktop calendar of the year for you!

Click below to get this free December 2011 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

We also have a desktop background you can customize. If you need a little help adding your own pictures you can see how I recommend doing that by clicking here.

Click below to get this free Custom December 2011 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

If you don't know how to install these desktops then click here to find out how incredibly EASY it is to put this baby up on your own computer screen!!!

This digital scrapbook kit I used is from Persnickety Prints and they're giving it away for FREE on their facebook page right now! I'm not sure how long it will be up, so you'll want to grab it while you can. I LOVE the colors they chose. So cute!

-All Leelou Freebies are for personal printed use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

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Dashboard Tutorial - Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:14:35 PST

Today in our new blogger dashboard series we'll be talking about the Posts tab. Be sure to update your blogger dashboard to the new version if you haven't already.

The Posts section has a lot of information but it really does make blogging faster and easier. Below is a screen shot of the Posts page in your dashboard.

This is the same image, but with my notes explaining what everything is and does. Click on the images to enlarge them so you can get a closer look.

Take a quick overview of the notes I made above and you can understand this page much better. There is still a lot more to the posts section!

At the top of all the options on your dashboard it says New Post. You can always click that to immediately open up a new post.

This is what the post page looks like. The top is pretty self explanatory. Click on the title of your blog to be taken back to your list of posts. To the right of your blog title is the box where you can write your new post title. The following buttons to the right allow you to publish, save, preview or close the post. (Remember you can click on the images to enlarge)

Right below that is a tool bar. When you hover your mouse over these icons it will tell you what these icons can do but I'll briefly explain them a little too.

-Compose is usually used to write a post, but if you'd like to tweak or add some coding, you can click HTML to view the coding of your post.

-Undo or redo something you just did

-Change the font

-Change the text size

-Bold your text

-Make your text italic

-Underline your text

-Put a line or ~~strike~~ through your text

-Change the text color

-Change the background color of your text

-Select a section of words or picture(s) and click this Link button to add a link to your selection

-Upload images

-Upload video

-Ever seen posts that say something like "Read more >>>" This is a way of putting a short snippet of your post on your blog. Click this image (which is called a jump break) and it will require your readers to click "Read more >>>" in order to finish viewing the post.

-Align text or images left, center, right or justified

-Create a numbered list

-Create a bullet list

-When quoting someone in a post, select the text you want and click the quote icon to indent the text

-If you've customized your text and want it to go back to normal, click the Remove Formatting button

-Spell check your post

Along the right side of your screen there are Post Settings that you can customize too.

Labels: Categorize your post topics by adding labels to each post. You can add as many or as few as you'd like to each post.

Schedule: Immediately publish your post when you're ready or set the date and time that you would like your post to publish to your blog.

Location: Add your location to the bottom of each post if you'd like.

Options: Customize your post some more by allowing or not allowing comments. You can also choose your compose mode which allows you to put coding into your post. The you can choose whether you want that coding to show literally as text or if you want it to convert that coding. For example, my Leelou button on my sidebar, the button image is HTML coding that is interpreted to show the image. The box of coding below the image is literal HTML. It just shows the text so anyone can copy and paste it.

Hopefully that helped explain the Post section a bit more.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!

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Just For Clicks - 11-28-11

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:00:12 PST

I wanted to share a few fun things I've found around the internet lately, but first we have a winner for the Jo Totes camera bag giveaway!

Congratulations Rebecca!! I've got your email and you'll be hearing from us soon. Hope you love your new bag! Thanks to everyone who entered!

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I found this recipe for fried ice cream and I so badly want to try it. I loooove fried ice cream!

Have you ever tried to make it on your own? I'm a little nervous to make it, as I can barely make brownies from a box. If you have any tips before I give it a go, let me know! I see a very messy kitchen in my future.

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Have you heard of this website called Mother Glow? It's a site full of videos where people announce that they're pregnant. It is so stinking funny! I was laughing so hard that my husband had to come in and see what the heck I was doing. Mother Glow also makes 2 other sites that show videos of soldiers returning home and videos of marriage proposals. I haven't checked those out yet but my sister tells me they're amazing. If you have some down time you should totally go take a look. Great site.

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Speaking of babies, Walmart has a cool new feature on their site called Baby Steps. You can customize your baby's age and weight and they have short videos of some basic mommy tips and info. There is some great info for new mamas there.

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And last but not least...a few sewing tutorials.

I can't even thread a sewing machine, so I've taken it upon myself to request these fabulous gifts from my mother this year. Aren't they genius? An earbud case and a pocket for your phone so it won't have to be in the way while it's charging. I love them. Love love love. That's 3 loves. And according to Oprah, if you love it 3 times, you need it.

So there you have it. Some great things I ran across this week. Hope you found something that you like...or that you can force your mother to make for you.

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Want to see more fun things I find online? Follow me on Pinterest!

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Free Digital Scrapbook Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:43:10 PST

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Hope all of you in the states are having a great day with lots of loved ones and yummy food.

I'm so thankful for all the great e-friends I've been able to make this year and for all of you who stop by visit the blog. I wanted to make a special freebie this week for you. It's a Fun Fall mini digital scrapbook kit and you can get it exclusively over here. It's only available for one week though!

Have a great weekend!!

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Dashboard Tutorial - New Blogger Interface

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:18:09 PST

Hopefully most of you are using the new blogger interface by now. I personally was nervous about it at first cause I do NOT like change. I stick with what I know for the most part, but I was really glad I tried this out. The new dashboard has a lot of really cool features that make blogging easier and more fun. I'm going to do a series of tutorials to show you how to navigate the new dashboard a little bit. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll try my best to answer them all for you.

There is a new menu on the dashboard that lists all the important things you'll need to customize your blog.

I know we have brand new bloggers here and seasoned pros too, so I'll try to give basic info as well as some tips to help you all.

First off on the menu bar is the overview. The overview gives you a quick run down of your site. Below is a screen shot of your overview page and then another screen shot with some notes from me. Click on the images to enlarge them.

This page gives you access to everything that you'll need very quickly. It also gives you a run down of comments you might need to moderate, your blog traffic stats and the latest updates from blogger.

That's basically the Overview page. Pretty simple for this one. Just a good page to start on to give you the quick updates you might be interested in. Next week we'll go over the next step on the menu bar, Posts. This one has tons of info, so be sure to check back next week for that!

If you're not already using the new blogger interface, you should see my post on it here and make the switch!

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Swaggin Saturday - Jo Totes Camera Bag Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 10:51:11 PST

It's been awhile since we've had a little Swaggin in our Saturday right? We came upon something we tooootally love, so we thought we'd share it with you and throw in a giveaway as well :)

Have you heard of Jo Totes?

Like lots of you, I have a camera and lens that require a bigger case to fit in. I really wanted a camera case that kept everything padded and protected but didn't look like a big ol' backpack. I looked and looked for one that I liked and nothing caught my eye until I found Jo Totes.

So many stylish camera totes, so many color choices, and each one lined with padding on all for sides with super cute fabric.

I got the Betsy Tote in Mustard and FLIPPED when it showed up on my doorstep. It's amazing. Now, when I know I'm headed out somewhere that I will be taking pictures, I toss my wallet in my tote and it becomes my purse. I love this bag! I actually think I use my camera more now because I love taking it with me.

So onto the GIVEAWAY.

Ya want one? How about your choice of ANY of the Jo Totes camera bags on their site?!

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To enter this giveaway just go to Jo Totes and pick your favorite bag. Then come back and comment on this post telling us which one you want Santa to bring you.

Don't have a blog? You can still enter! Just leave your email address in the comment!

You can enter this giveaway once a day until next Saturday, November 26, 2011.

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This giveaway is open until November 26, 2011 at 12:00 midnight. The winner will be chosen by random.org. If you leave your email address we will contact you if you win. If you don't leave your email address please check back to see if you are the winner. You will have 48 hours to email us and claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize within the allotted time, we will take your swag and re-gift it to one of our closest friends. Or I guess we'll choose another winner through random.org. No purchase necessary. Thanks and good luck!

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Free Printables - Conversation Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:48:55 PST

Many of you are gearing up for a big dinner next week and hopefully you'll be surrounded with lots of friends and family...and tons of deviled eggs. YUM.

I've made a new free printable that I thought would be perfect for after Thanksgiving dinner when you're in your food induced comma. I've made 20 conversation cards that you can print off and pass around the table for fun and to get to know each other a little better. Each card has a different conversation starting question on it and they would be great for any family dinner, dates or long car trips.

You can also snag my Thanksgiving printables here. Perfect for some quick decorations, name cards, treat boxes and more.

-Don't know how to use the printables? Click here for some tips!

-The kit used in these conversation cards is from my digital scrapbook kit Lundstrom Park

-All Leelou Printables are for personal printed use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

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Free Christmas Card Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:32:49 PST

Last Friday I made 4 free Christmas card templates for the MyMemories Facebook page. If you'd like to download them you can click here. They'll only be available until Thursday night though!

All Leelou Printables are for personal printed use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

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What Inspires You?

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:40:42 PST

Today we're talking about inspiration. What inspires you? I was asked what inspires me to grow as a person and I didn't really know how to answer at first. So many options here.

One of the things that inspires me most are the stories I find online about REAL moms. No, not the ones that tell the tale of a mother of 5 who has 2 weeks of meals frozen in the freezer, a spotless 12,000 square foot house and children reading by age 2. Those blogs make me want to smack someone in the head :) Haha, I kid!...maybe.

I'm talking about the blogs of moms who make popcorn for dinner, drive kids around all day long, grab chicken nuggets on the way to the park and forget to wear their bras to the store once in awhile.

I'm totally inspired by normal women who have normal lives. Does that sound crazy? Yea, I guess. But it inspires me to be normal. It helps keep me sane when I worry about how I can't even cook toast. It helps make me feel less guilty for staying in my pajamas all day, playing Lego's while avoiding all household obligations.

I'm inspired by real moms to not get caught up with being perfect, but to relax, laugh or just breath when things get crazy. It's a great reminder to me to chill out and be grateful.

So now it's your turn. What has inspired you to grow as a person? By replying you will be entered to win one of two prizes! First Prize: $150 to a Local Spa, plus $50 Gift Certificate to the CerraBoutique. Second Prize: One of Five $100 Gift Certificate to the CerraBoutique.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cerra. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules.

Tutorial Where Did My Share Buttons Go?

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 03:00:13 PST

A few weeks ago I did a tutorial showing how to add social media icons (or "share buttons") to the bottom of your blog posts. Did you add them to your blog? They help your blog followers easily share your posts on their favorite social media sites. If you haven't put them on your blog, be sure to add them! You can find out how to put them on here.

Sometimes when you upload a new free blog layout, you can't see your share buttons anymore. They look like they're not installed but Blogger shows that they are. I know several of you said you had this problem and from what I hear it's just a Blogger issue that randomly occurs. Luckily it's so easy to fix and just takes a few seconds.

*If your dashboard doesn't look like mine in the pictures below, be sure to update your dashboard to the new Blogger interface. Click here to learn how to do that. It too is super easy and well worth it!

How To Get Your Share Buttons To Show Tutorial

You'll first want to go to your Template page through your blog dashboard. Once there we want to click on the Edit HTML button.

Your HTML box will pop up and in the bottom left hand corner it says Revert Widget Templates to Default. Click that link and save.

Now you can see your social media share buttons and they will automatically show up after ever blog post you publish.

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Exclusive Freebie - Get it while you can!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:29:47 PDT

Remember those birthday questionnaire printables I made? Well I made a few more in an exclusive download. They're only available until Friday and you can get them here if you'd like!

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New Free Blog Backgrounds Just For You!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:58:49 PDT

I promised some more freebies with my new digital scrapbook kit and here are a few. I have 5 new free blog backgrounds up today. You can click here to check them all out and grab one for your blog.

All of these blog backgrounds were made with my new kit that you voted on called Lundstrom Park. I hear that Saturday is National Digital Scrapbook Day so I've decided to put all of my scrap kits on sale for one week.

If you aren't a digital scrapbooker you should be! It's seriously a blast. Plus, it's pretty cheap and doesn't make your house a huge mess when your done. My favorite part is that you can undo things a lot easier digitally then you can with paper and glue! Give it a try this weekend if you haven't already. You can try My Memories Suite to get started. The software downloads instantly so you could get it ASAP. Plus, I have this coupon that will give you a steal of a deal. Whatever program you decide to use, you will love digital scrapbooking and all the sweet stuff you can make with it.

Enjoy the new blog backgrounds and have a fabulous National Digital Scrapbook Day!

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Apparently I'm a drug pusher

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:02:41 PDT

Hi. My name's Julie. And I'm a drug pusher. No, not the bad kind of drugs...just the good kind :)

I'm teaming up again with ABC News and the UN Foundation’s Million Moms Challenge to talk about epidurals...and how much I stinking love them.

Go to Million Moms Challenge to read my post about the miracle of modern day medication, and to share your own advice.

I'd love for you to learn about the Million Moms Challenge and help them reach their goal of 1 million supporters too! If you share whether you got an epidural or not, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and $50 donation in your name to Global Giving. It's always fun to talk about your babies so come share!

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November 2011 Free Computer Desktop Background

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:26:37 PDT

It's November 1st so you know what that means! Free computer desktop day :)

Last month a few of you were a little confused about how to download the desktops, so this month I've made it even easier. When you click on the free desktop calendar you want, it will automatically download straight to your computer. No wait time involved. Just one little click.

Click below to get this free November 2011 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

We also have a desktop background you can customize. If you need a little help adding your own pictures you can see how I recommend doing that by clicking here.

Click below to get this free Custom November 2011 desktop background for your computer:

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

I have a brand new tutorial that will show you how to put these free desktops right on your computer. If you've been wanting to use them but didn't know how (cough...cough...my SISTER) then click here to find out how incredibly EASY it is to put this baby up on your own computer screen!!!

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Remember a few weeks ago when I asked for color palate suggestions?

You all voted on this picture, so I've created a digital scrapbook kit (that I used in this months desktop calendar) that was inspired by this fantastic bedroom. My new kit is called Lundstrom Park and you can get it here.

We'll have some new blog layouts and free printables coming from this kit pretty soon too!!

All Leelou Computer Desktops are for personal use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use. Thanks!

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Leelou Blogs

Free Valentine's Day Cards

Free Baby Shower Printable Banner

Blog Tutorial - Earnings and Blog Template

Blog Tutorial - Using Your Stats

Free January 2012 Desktop Calendar

Free Christmas Digital Scrapbook kit

Very Last Minute Gift Ideas!

What are your holiday traditions?

Just For Clicks - My Favorite Finds of the Week

Join the Million Moms Challenge - You could win an iPad 2!

Blogger Dashboard Tutorial - Pages

Free December Computer Desktop Background

Dashboard Tutorial - Posts

Just For Clicks - 11-28-11

Free Digital Scrapbook Kit

Dashboard Tutorial - New Blogger Interface

Swaggin Saturday - Jo Totes Camera Bag Giveaway

Free Printables - Conversation Cards

Free Christmas Card Templates

What Inspires You?

*Tutorial* Where Did My Share Buttons Go?

Exclusive Freebie - Get it while you can!

New Free Blog Backgrounds Just For You!

Apparently I'm a drug pusher

November 2011 Free Computer Desktop Background

Tutorial Where Did My Share Buttons Go?