Leelou Blogs

GiveBack GiveAway Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 21 May 2012 23:55:03 PDT

Thanks again to everyone who played along with the giveaways. Now it's time to hand out all the prizes! It took me a while to gather up all the winners, (and when I say "awhile" I mean FOREVER) but it was worth it. Below are the lucky ones.

Giveaway Day 2:
Pintstagram poster: @jessaroni
Custom blog design: @jenevang

Giveaway Day 3:
Cell phone case: Lauren
$75 Tea gift card: Amy Kirkland

Giveaway Day 4:
Custom blog design: Lisa Johnson
$75 Zutano gift card: Caroline

Giveaway Day 5:
Hapari Swim Suite winner: Sarah Wadsworth
Jo Totes camera bag winner: Jennifer Gragg

I've contacted all the winners through email, Facebook or Twitter. Congrats to you all!

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iPad 3 Winner!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:00:03 PDT

So Who's going to win that iPad 3 you say??

Well, we should probably cut right to the chase. Everyone wants to know who won the iPad 3!!! After a painstakingly long process, we finally know who that is.
Drum roll please....

Helen Gullett...come on down!!!

Congratulations Helen! From cyber stalking her just now, I see that Helen lives in Ohio and is expecting her second child. Well Helen, this pretty little iPad is going to keep you very busy while waiting for that little one to arrive. Yay! I also can't find an email for you Helen! Please contact me ASAP!

I wish I could give everyone, and myself, and iPad 3! Someday, right?

Thanks to everyone who played along and entered. And a HUGE thank you to My Memories for sponsoring such an awesome giveaway! Check them out and love them with me.

Three more giveaways from last week are still live. If you haven't already, go enter to win! I will announce all the other winners later this week after the giveaways close.

Thank you all for following along, for your great comments and emails and just for checking in when you do. We'll keep the freebies comin!

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GiveBack GiveAway Day 5 - Hapari and Jo Totes Giveaways!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:45:48 PDT

Welcome to our last day of the GiveBack GiveAway! In case you missed our great week of giveaways, you still have time to enter! So far we are giving away:

And don't forget to grab our freebies from this past week! So far we have given away:

Thank you again for everyone who has followed along. Whether you've stuck around for several years or just found our blog today, we're glad you're here! We have 2 more giveaways and a freebie to wrap up our week.

The Freebie:

I got this idea on Pinterest the other day and thought free photostrips would be so fun to create. So I made some templates you can add your own pictures to. You can make tons with all differernt pictures. I'm going to make bookmarks for my kids and mama. They would even be fun to put Instagram photos in too. You can download them here!

The Giveaways:

How would you feel about getting a new bathing suit this summer? Hapari has a ton of super cute designs and styles to choose from. They even have mens and kids suits too. Hapari is giving away an $85 gift card so you can pick out the perfect swimsuit! Have fun shopping. There are so many great options!

Back by popular demand, we have another giveaway from Jo Totes! These camera bags are THE cutest around! They have organized space for everything you might need. They fit your camera perfectly (and all the extras you might need to go with it) as well as room for things like your wallet and phone. I'm so glad I saved this giveaway for today because Jo Totes has been sold out of many bags for awhile and just restocked them all! Plenty to choose from and new designs too! The winner of this giveaway gets to pick any bag they'd like.

To Enter:

I thought I'd spice things up with a different kind of contest today. We're going to play

PIN IT to WIN IT

Browse through Leelou Blogs and pin your favorite blog layouts, printables, buttons, tutorials, etc. onto Pinterest. Be sure to tag me (@Leeloublogs) in the description of the pin so I can count your entry!

You can obviously pin as many things as your little heart desires :) but I will count 5 pins from each person just to be fair and square.
If you aren't on Pinterest, that's ok. Just leave your email in a comment below for one entry.

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This giveaway is open until May 18, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. Two winners will be chosen by random.org. Good luck!

GiveBack GiveAway Day 4 - Free Printables

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:21:24 PDT

Today is day 4 of the GiveBack GiveAway week. We have another great freebie and 2 giveaways today! Be sure to check out our other giveaways from earlier this week (like the iPad3!) here, here and here. And for today...

The Freebie:

Here is a printable birthday kit you can use this summer to party it up. This kit comes with a Happy Birthday banner as well as one you can customize with any saying you'd like. Birthday invites, thank you cards, cupcake toppers, water bottle labels and a poster. (The cute kit I used to make these printables comes from the fabulous Michelle Underwood and is called That Was Yesterday)

This printable kit is kind of big so we've split it into 3 parts. Click the links below to download.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

*click here for printing tips*

The Giveaway:

There are 2 giveaways again today and we'll choose 2 winners.

The first one is another custom blog design giveaway this week! The winner will receive a completely custom blog design that is one-of-a-kind, just how you want it, designed by yours truly.

The second giveaway is a $75 gift card to Zutano. Get yourself or someone you know some brand new clothes for baby, toddler or nursery! They have the cutest owl sets right now!!

To enter:

There will be several ways to enter these 2 giveaways. Leave a separate comment for each of the things you do below for your chance to win!

Leave a comment sharing a fantastic Mother's Day gift idea. Mother's Day is only 3 days away people! I need ideas!
Share this giveaway on Facebook
Share this giveaway on Twitter

Be sure to check back every day this week for more prizes and giveaways. Grab the freebies from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday too!

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This giveaway is open until May 17, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. Two winners will be chosen by random.org. Good luck!

GiveBack GiveAway Day 3 - Free Blog Backgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:58:39 PDT

Well hi there. Today is day 3 of our GiveBack GiveAway. We have a week full of prizes and freebies for you, just because we love you dearly. Be sure to check out Monday and Tuesdays giveaways and freebies if you missed them! So far we're giving away an

As for today...

The Freebie:

We have 4 new free blog backgrounds for you. They coordinate with my new digital scrapbook kit called Hipster. Freshen up that blog look of yours for spring. Click here to check them out!

The Giveaway:
We have 2 prizes again today.
The Southern Belle Boutique is giving away a custom cell phone case. I think these babies are so stinking adorable! The Southern Belle creates a whole lot of custom items and it just so happens that they were selected to be included in the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Award gift bags. Pretty awesome right?

Have you checked out the Tea Collection before? They have THE cutest clothes! Their baby girl line kills me. I want it all! The good people at Tea are going to be giving away a $75 gift card to one lucky winner. I'm so jealous! They have clothes for babies, kids and women, as well as jewelry.

To enter:

There will be several ways to enter these 2 giveaways. Leave a separate comment for each of the things you do below for your chance to win!

Leave a comment telling me how often you change your blog design. Once a year? Once a week? Do share.
Share Leelou Blogs on your Facebook page
Sign up for our newsletter-

Be sure to check back every day this week for more prizes and giveaways.

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This giveaway is open until May 16, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. Two winners will be chosen by random.org. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor.

GiveBack GiveAway Day 2 - Custom Blog Design Giveaway! (CLOSED)

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:42:32 PDT

Welcome to day 2 of our GiveBack GiveAway! If you missed yesterday, click here to enter our iPad giveaway and grab some freebies!

Today is all about going Mobile. Recently, I'm an avid cell phone picture taker. This little modern day convenience has been my main source of picture taking this year. I know I should bust out my real camera more often, but phone pictures are just so easy!

The Freebie:
Since I'm a freak for customizing things...I'm on my phone an awful lot and it definitely needs a cute background for me to stare at. Today we're giving away 7 free mobile device backgrounds. One matches this months computer desktop and there are 6 more that you can set as your smart phone, iPad, Nook...any mobile device background. Click here to see them close up and save them to your mobile device.

Since I love to take quick pictures with my phone, I have recently discovered Instagram. I might be hooked. Do you Instagram? It's kind of like Facebook but with pictures. If you haven't started Instagraming, you should. It's a hoot. (You can find me at @Leeloublogs)

The Giveaways:

Our first giveaway today is from a company called Printstagram. They make some super fun things using your Instagram photos.
We're giving away a 20"x40" poster with 50-400 of your favorite pictures. I LOVE this.

Our next giveaway is a custom blog design made specifically for you. We'll create a unique blog look that is completely one-of-a-kind. (a $150 value)

To win one of these prizes, we're going to shake things up and have an

Instagram contest!

To enter:

Take a picture of where you live. Is their rain? Snow? The worlds largest catfish? 400 acres of corn? I want to see what it looks like in your part of the world.

Share your picture on Instagram and use the hashtag #LeelouBlogs.

You can enter 3 different times with 3 different pictures

(If you really have no desire to use Instagram, that's ok. We still want you to play along. Just use another network like Facebook, Twitter or your blog and post your URL in the comments below so we can check out your pictures and count your entry.)

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This giveaway is open until May 14, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. Two winners will be chosen by random.org. If social networking sites aren't your thing, but you still want to enter, just leave your email address in a comment and that will count as one entry. Yahoo for Instagram...and Good luck!

GiveBack GiveAway Day 1 - iPad 3 Giveaway! (CLOSED)

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:42:58 PDT

Welcome to day one of our GiveBack GiveAway week! We reached 10,000 blog followers and really wanted to say thank you by giving back. Each day this week we will have new giveaways and freebies.

If you haven't noticed...we're giving away something pretty cool today to kick things off. But first, lets hand out some freebies!

For today's freebies we have 4 new free blog backgrounds that match this months computer desktop wallpaper. Click here to check them, and the rest of our backgrounds out.

We also have 3 custom Facebook Cover photos that you can add your own photos to.

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And now for the giveaway! Instead of going out with a bang, we thought we'd start the week off with one. We'll be giving away an iPad 3!!! The AMAZING folks at My Memories wanted to join in on the fun, so they are sponsoring this iPad 3 giveaway! Yay My Memories!

Since My Memories was so nice to help us provide this great giveaway, I think it's only appropriate that we give them some blog love. There will be several ways to enter this giveaway. Leave a separate comment for each of the things you do below for your chance to win!

To enter you can:

-Like My Memories on Facebook

-Share this giveaway on Facebook

-Follow the My Memories Blog

-Pin your favorite kit from My Memories

-And for 5 extra entries: Download the free trial version of My Memories Suite, make something adorable and post about it.

Sound good? Lots of chances to win! Thank you again My Memories for offering such a great prize to my awesome followers! You can see why I love My Memories so darn much right here.

Be sure to check back every single day this week for more prizes and giveaways. We have some fun interactive contests coming too. Whoop Whoop!

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This giveaway is open until May 13, 2012 at 12:00 midnight EST. The winner will be chosen by random.org and can choose their color iPad of choice. If social networking sites aren't your thing, but you still want to enter, just leave your email address in a comment and that will count as one entry. I was not paid or compensated for this sweet giveaway...so if you win and really have no need for an iPad 3 and want to give it to me, I will gladly take it :) I love you and Good luck!

Free May 2012 Computer Desktop Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:44:35 PDT

Can you believe it's already May? I'm pretty sure this is one of the busiest months of the year. With school getting out, graduation, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, Cinco de Mayo and National Scrapbook Day this month, there is so much to do! Keep track of everything with our free computer desktop calendar. You can try out a few sizes to see which one fits your computer monitor best.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

And for those of you who like to customize your desktop, download these ones. There are 2 spots for pictures. If you need some help customizing them yourself, you can read my post here.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

These computer desktops are super easy to install. If you need help, check out my short tutorial so you can get this desktop on your own computer screen. I have instructions for a PC and Mac.

The kit I used for these wallpapers is from Michelle Underwood. It's her new digital scrapbook pack called Flirty.

-The banner I used in the desktop is from another one of Michelle's kits called That Was Yesterday.

-I realize that I forgot to add the 31st to the calendar and have fixed it now! Sorry!

-Desktop calendars are for personal use only. No commercial use or redistribution. Please contact me if you have any other questions about their use.

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Remember that starting next Monday, May 7th, we are having a week of awesome giveaways! There is a clue to one of our giveaways on our Facebook page. Did you see it? Have any guesses as to what it might be?? :)

Also, don't forget our Mother's Day Special that is going on right now!

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A Mother's Day Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:42:38 PDT

(Sorry, these gift cards are sold out!)

Mother's Day is several weeks away (on May 13th!) and I'm doing something I've never done before. A sale!

I have a blog design package that includes a custom blog header and background (for Blogger blogs) and am going to sell 40 of them for $40! We have to do a limited quantity or we won't have time to design them all, so as soon as the 40 gift cards are gone, they're gone!

This package is perfect for that special blogger in your life...Mothers, friends, sisters, neighbors...yourself... :)

If you'd like to order some of these gift cards for only $40, click the Add to Cart button below. Hurry and purchase yours before they're sold out!

This Mother's Day Special includes one custom blog header and background for any Blogger hosted blog. Gift cards can be redeemed from 05/13/12-09/30/12. No substitutions or refunds. Orders will be added to our queue as they are received.

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New Digi Kit and Free Photobook

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:40:03 PDT

I have a new digital scrapbook kit up in the shop!

Hipster is my new baby (it's the one I used in this months computer desktop) and it's on sale!
In fact, my whole digi shop is on sale for the rest of the month. You can check it out here if you so desire.

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Also, My Memories (of whom I love) was just featured on Lifetime. To celebrate, they're having a free photo book promo right now. You can order as many as you'd like. And with Mother's Day, Father's Day and graduations coming up, you should stock up!

You can click here for more details.

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Custom Wordpress Blog and Site Design

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:41:46 PDT

We have another big announcement this week! We are now offering custom Wordpress blogs and sites!

Previously, we only designing blogs for Blogger and I hated turning people away who used Wordpress!

A lot more work goes into a Wordpress design than a Blogger design...which is why I've stayed away from them until now. They take more time and are very expensive. I wouldn't feel right charging the "normal" price for them. We're all about a good deal here at Leelou.

After over a year of searching for THE perfect designer (I'm extremely picky), we found them! We are now partnering with Junelily for an AMAZING Wordpress deal!

Junelily can not only design like rock stars, they can code like no ones business. I was so impressed and happy to find them. Click here to get more details and check out Junelily. We are working closely together to bring you the best design at the best price out there!

When ordering, mention Leelou to get the sweet discounted price. We are really excited to offer this service now and can't wait to work with all you Wordpress bloggers out there!

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And now, we shall party.

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:35:14 PDT

I can't even believe it! This weekend we went over 10,000 followers on the blog! Holy smokes, you guys rock! I wish I had paid closer attention when we hit 10K so I could have had a grand moment of giveaways or given everyone a puppy or something.

I am super excited and have some ideas in mind of how we can still party though. I'm thinking a week of freebies and giveaways. What do you say? Since Digital Scrapbook Day is the beginning of May, I thought we could have an awesome celebration then. I'll line up some goodies and bring the party hats. You bring your bad self and buckle up. Cause it's going to rule!

Thank you guys a million for following along here in my happy place. What kind of giveaways and freebies would you be interested in? Leave your comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, email, smoke signals, singing telegram...any way you want. I'll try my hardest to round them up. Times a tickin' though!

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Custom Blog Design For You!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:30:00 PDT

I stopped taking custom blog design orders this summer, right before I had my baby. I thought I would be ready to roll again by fall, but my inbox has been OUT OF CONTROL. I've been trying for over 8 months to catch up and there is just no light at the end of the tunnel. SOOOO...I have 2 things to announce today...

First, we are officially open for business again!!!
Our waiting list for custom blog designs has been closed for months, and we are now ready to take on some new orders. We'd love to create a unique custom blog design just for you. Hop on over to our custom blog designs page to pick out a blog design, Etsy shop banner, Facebook cover, link button or any other extras you might be in need of for your blog.

Second, I'm officially filing EMAIL BANKRUPTCY. I'm starting fresh and hoping to stay on top of things this time. I apologize to anyone I couldn't respond to! Please don't hate me. I really did try my best, but after staying up til 2:00am for months and months, I finally have to surrender.

If you are in dire need of something, feel free to shoot me an email here. PLEASE remember that Blogger does not have customer service, but they do have a forum. If you have a Blogger specific question, I recommend looking there first. The bulk of my emails are directed towards Blogger questions and as much as I would love to help, I just can't keep up with the demand.

If you do have a question about my blog designs, printables, etc., I recommend looking through my tutorials first. They will help answer lots of questions faster than I can email you back.

If you still can't find your answer, contact me and I'll try to get back to the most urgent or applicable questions first.

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In further news, 2012 is turning out to be a big year for us! We have several more big changes coming in the next few months. We will soon be offering *Wordpress designs*, which I'm so excited about! We've had so many requests and have finally decided to do something about it. And it's going to be a killer deal, folks! Stay tuned for more details on that :)

You've also been asking to bring the *premade layouts* back, so they're coming! They should be here in May/June. We're doing them a little different this time to give you more freedom.

There will be many more changes here at Leelou Blogs within the next few months. Most of them will be behind the scenes, but will make navigating the site even easier.

I can't end this post without saying a huge thanks again to everyone who stops by. You rule. Seriously. This little blog is sure fun for me. It keeps me super busy, but it sure is cheap therapy :)

If you have a chance, check out the sponsors on my sidebar. They really are the reason why I'm able to keep all the freebies FREE. Just to host the images for my free blog layouts costs me almost $1,300 a year, so I'm thankful they're willing to help pay for them so you don't have to. Check out their great sites when you get the chance and tell them thanks!

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April 2012 Free Computer Wallpaper

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 08:12:20 PDT

Well happy April to you! I'm currently driving through Nevada and have had a heck of a time getting an internet connection so I could share the desktop with you today! Thanks to McDonalds, I'm finally connected!

Below is the April desktop wallpaper. This color combo made me feel a little springy and I am DYING for warmer weather. This will have to work until that heat starts to pick up.

Here is the desktop in 2 different sizes. Most computers use the wide screen monitor size, but you're more than welcome to try them both out and see which fits your screen best.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

And if you'd like to customize your desktop, download these ones. There are 2 spots for pictures. If you need some help customizing them yourself, you can read my post here.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

These computer desktops are super easy to install, like under a minute. Check out my short tutorial so you can get this desktop up on your own computer screen if you need some help. I have instructions for a PC and Mac.

The scrapbook kit I used to make this desktop is my latest digital kit called Hipster that will be released next week. I kind of fell in love with the little peacock. It kills me.
Enjoy!

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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!

Just For Clicks

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:13:25 PDT

Lets start off by saying Pinterest rules. It really does. But you should already know that by now. I find SO many things I want to do on there! If only there were more hours in the day. Or we didn't have to sleep. Or clean the house...

Anyway, first up are these adorable headbands. Please love them with me. I bought all the felt to make these 2 weeks ago and still haven't put them together. They will be so dang cute one day on my fat little baby.

My "office" is currently the office/den/family room right now. I dream of the day when I will have my own space all to myself. That's not coming any time soon, but when it does, I am DYING to make these cute shelves. They look pretty easy to put together. Made from shelf brackets!

I pinned this iPad case several months ago and my favorite sister got it for me for my birthday last month. I can't express how much I adore it.

I've never made a coffee filter wreath, but this one must hang on my door this spring. I am loving all the colors!

My boys scored on Lego's this Christmas and I am desperately searching for extra building instructions online. My dream was to find printed, laminated guides that are in a binder so I could just buy it and call it good. Apparently that doesn't exist though. If you know of any such wonderful thing, please tell me!

This will do for now though. The Legos website has lots of free instructions you can print off yourself.

On Monday I took a roadtrip to Utah and was in the car for 12-ish hours with 4 kids 6 and under. Sounds like fun, no? These sites totally helped though. One has tons of ideas for road trips and the other has lots of scavenger hunts. There are some travel ones in there that my older kids love.

I'm in Utah to teach at a workshop put on by My Memories. I'd love to meet you if you're in the area! I'm pretty sure there are a few tickets left. My class will teach you how to completely design your blog from top to finish. And it's super easy for anyone to do. Come join me!

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Spring and Easter Free Blog Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 02:30:03 PDT

It's that time again to switch up your blog look! Easter will be here before we know it. You can snag a free blog template to celebrate this week.

We have 4 new spring blog backgrounds and templates or you can choose one of our 25+ other spring designs to decorate your blog with.

You can find all of our blog designs here. Don't forget to update your twitter or mobile backgrounds with a spring design while you're at it!

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I'm on my way to Utah right now to teach at the My Memories Workshop! If you'd like to come, I'd love to meet and teach you how to customize your own blog! There's still time to register!

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Blog Design Workshop This Weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:40:58 PDT

Next weekend on March 31st, I will be teaching at a workshop in Salt Lake City! If you're in or around the area and want to learn how to make your own blog design, buttons, etc., come join us! There are several tickets still left.

Two other classes are also being taught on digital scrapbooking and photography from one of my favorite photographers, Jarvie Digital, so there will be lots to learn!

It's going to be loads of fun. Lunch and a FREE version of My Memories Suite (the digital scrapbook program I'll use to show you how to make a blog design) is included with the workshop! You can't beat that. Grab a friend, get a sitter, make it a date!

Click below to register today!

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Free Facebook Banner Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:30:02 PDT

What are your thoughts and feelings on the new Facebook timeline? Pretty confusing right? Yes. Which is why I haven't updated the Facebook cover photo on my page yet. It's my way of boycotting the change.

I do love the new banners they let us put up on top of our Facebook pages though. I'm kind of a freak about customizing things so I knew I needed to make some banners for you all as well.

I created 3 templates using the latest digital scrapbook kit I'm working on, and you can add your own photos and text to them. These babies are the freebie for My Memories this week. Head on over to their page to get access to the free download.

If you need some help customizing your own banner, you can see how I recommend doing that here.

Enjoy!

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$200 Giveaway from OREO

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 02:55:02 PDT

It's been brought to my attention that OREO is having their 100th birthday. I feel it necessary to devote a blog post to the ever glorious OREO...that, and the good people at OREO said to me

"Hey Leelou, your readers rule. You should tell them about our birthday."

And when they told me that I was literally eating an OREO at that exact same moment. I'm not even kidding. I take it as a sign.

So I need to know, what is your favorite kind of OREO and when did you start partaking in their creamy goodness?

This is my sister and I back in the day. I'm the cute one. When I was around 4 years old my older sister and I would sneak into my moms OREO cookies. My mom thought they were hidden and we let her believe that as long as possible. We of course had to twist them open and eat all the frosting first.

Then I tried my first double stuffed OREO. I'm not even kidding, I can't eat regular ones any more. Double stuff for life!

Do you have a favorite kind? My Dad raves about Banana OREO cookies he ate in Mexico. Have you heard of these? Is their truth to this? Because I so badly want to try one!

Anyway, like I said, OREO is celebrating its 100th Birthday by encouraging all of us to take a moment to slow down, and celebrate the kid inside. Come join the party with us for a chance to win $200! That would buy so many double stuffed circles of goodness.

To enter to win, just follow these two steps:
1. Add your photo or video to the OREO Moments Gallery
2. Come back & reply below describing your photo or video, and tell us about your earliest OREO memory

That's it. Then you can go check THIS out to help you celebrate :)

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Oreo. The opinions and text are all mine and are completely true and accurate. Because OREO cookies seriously rule. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

That time I made a magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 02:00:12 PDT

Once upon a time my e-besties and I didn't think we had enough to do...so we did what any other over worked mother would do and decided to create an e-magazine.

It something we do for fun and let me tell ya, it is a hoot. Come check out the spring issue of The Casual Blogger Magazine! Read your amazingly accurate horoscope, get some blog and photo tips, find some new blogs to read and lots more.

After you're done with that, you should really consider becoming a 1940s blog ambassador. Some amazing prizes could be yours if you do. Here is a little note from my friend Elisa that pretty much sums up why you should do such a thing.

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Hey all! Elisa here. As you know, the 1940's census is being released on April 2nd andFamily Search is trying to get bloggers excited about this super cool project. It is the nations largest community service project and to help you and I get excited so that we will spread the word they are giving away FOUR $50.00 Amazon Gift Cards this Friday, March 16th.

Right now, your chances of winning are SUPERB because very few people have entered to win. And, we want one of YOU to walk away with those swanky little gift cards.

What do you have to do to enter to win?

1. Sign up to be a 1940's Blog Ambassador.

That means that you get swanky cool buttons to put on your blog!
You get insider information about the census and what awesome giveaways Family Search is sponsoring.
Also, by being an Ambassador you can win MORE amazing prizes -- think iPad and Kindle Fire, people.
ITS FREE and it's just a super cool title to have. Being a Blog Ambassador is all the rage, yo.

2. Write a post about the 1940's on your blog. It can be about anything - the music, transportation, the war-- whatever you want and then hop over and leave a link to your post in their comments.

3. That's it. You will then be entered to win 1 of 4 $50 AMAZON gift cards!

Here's the thing: Family Search understands the power that we bloggers have and they want us to help get people excited to find their family members in the 1940's census. Even if you don't like to do Family History, you like free stuff, right? So, why not help them out for the next few weeks and win all sorts of cool prizes?

I know for sure that next week Blog Ambassadors will have the chance to not only win a brand, spanking new Amazon Kindle Fire, but they also have the chance to win a $100 Visa Gift Card or a $50 Visa Gift Card.

They are going all out people (I even heard word of iPad giveaways)! They want to get people talking about the 1940's.

Chances are pretty good you could have $50 bucks in your pocket this Friday so hurry up! Go forth and enter! Those $50 Gift Cards are calling your name(s).

-Elisa

Click here to go sign up to be a Blog Ambassador.

Click here to enter to win 1 of 4 $50.00 Amazon Gift Cards.

Giveaway ends midnight on Thursday, March 15th MDT.

Disclosure: We are just spreading the good news of this contest. We have not entered to win.

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Free Blog Backgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:00:03 PDT

According to my 6 year old, we have about a week and half left of winter. So before we break out the spring blog backgrounds, here are some new freebies we thought we'd share.

Take a new background for your blog today! Be sure to check out my updated installation instructions that are on each free layout and remember, blog backgrounds go in the sidebar of your blog. Blog templates go in the HTML of your blog. (Click here to see the difference)

If you install a blog background and a blog template, they will overlap each other and you'll have to delete one or the other. I get this question about 84 times a day, so I'll be sure to make a future tutorial on it for anyone who might be stuck!

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Free Digital Paper Pack for St. Patrick's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 03:00:08 PST

I create freebies for the My Memories Facebook page several times a month and make anything from printables to digital scrapbook kits to holiday banners. This week I have a free batch of St. Patricks themed papers. Go like the My Memories page to grab it for yourself!

Don't forget to register for my workshop too! I'm teaming up with My Memories to teach some classes on blogging. It is now easier than ever to design your own blog. Anyone can do it! Come hang out and I'll show you how. My nerd skills will be yours all day long. Anything you want :)

Plus, you get a My Memories Suite (the digital scrapbook software I swear by) for free! As well as lunch and a ton more. It will be super fun! Register now!!!

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Just For Clicks

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:14:25 PDT

I have found many glorious things around the web lately (via Pinterest) and wanted to share my top favorites at the moment.

This idea is so smart. Did you used to keep all your birthday cards growing up? Cause I did. And now they're in a Walmart sack under my bed, which does me no good. This, however, is much smarter. Get a 3 hole punch and put them in a binder for kids to look at whenever they'd like.

If I actually make a menu for the week, my table actually has food on it come dinner time. If I don't make a menu, it's pretty much up to my husband to throw something together last minute. That's how we roll. So in my attempts to be a better mom, I want to try this. Get baskets for each day of the week and put all the ingredients in there so you have no excuses at dinner time. You could even clip the recipes on the outside...oh the printables I must make.

This might be the cutest robot EVER. It kills me.

I was searching for some St. Patricks Day ideas on Pinterest and ran into this blog that had some really fun ones. I think I want to steal a couple and have a fun scavenger hunt or something.

When you have some spare time today, check out this collection of fonts. Because they are adorable.

So those are my tops current favorites. Check back soon for more fun goodies I run into online.

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Computer Desktop Wallpaper for March 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:02:30 PST

It's the 1st of March, so you know what that means. Time to update your computer desktop wallpaper!

This month is a bright design that you can upload for free to your computer.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

To add your own photos and customize this desktop a little more, download this one. If you need a little help adding your own pictures, see how I recommend doing that by clicking here.

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

1024x768 version | 1280x800 version

(regular sized monitor) (Wide screen monitor)

These computer desktops are super easy to install. 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.

I'll be coming out with the mobile version of this desktop soon!

The digital scrapbook kit that I used is from Michelle Underwoods pack called Camera Ready. Thanks Michelle for sharing!

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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!

St. Patrick's Day Blog and Twitter Layouts

noreply@blogger.com (Julie Macdonald) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:12:11 PST

We're cruisin' right out of February and into March, so it's time to update that blog design! Here are some St. Patty's free blog designs that you can quickly add to your layout. I even found some of my old school designs that I did back in 2008. You can get those here if you want. The instructions are a little different, but they'll still work.

While you're at it, grab a Twitter background to match.

If St. Patty's isn't your thing, you can always grab one of our other free blog layouts. We'll be adding about 10 new layouts this weekend, so check back!

Also...

Tomorrow is March 1st, so remember to come grab the free computer desktop wallpaper for March.
Enter the In A Pikle giveaway
Join a fun community project
Today is the last day my entire digi scrap shop is on sale!

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