www.craftbloguk.blogspot.com

www.craftbloguk.blogspot.com

My brand new blog is up and running and I'd be so pleased if you could all spread the word for me :o)  It's a directory of uk blogs but it will have blogging tips and interesting features that will hold interest for everyone from the crafty blogosphere! 

x H

UK Handmade Gift Guide - Valentines Day

Click to launch the full edition in a new window

Flora Dunwoody is at it again - she just can't stop shopping!

Please take a look and comment over on the UK handmade blog which is fab and responsible for producing this guide.  Karen Jinks is the founder of UK handmade and after the success of the xmas guide featuring the Dunwoody's and their dog - asked if I'd mind helping out with this one - I hope you all enjoy it.  Big thanks to Karen for doing such a great job of editing the mish mash of notes I gave her into this beautiful guide.

x Hilary

Folksy Friday Mini Treasury - It's time to...

...buy a new watch!

Clocks, pocket watches and time pieces are most definitely on-trend at the moment.  Steampunk has been around a while now but it just takes a Blockbuster movie like Sherlock Holmes to arrive on the scene and now fob watches are selling out everywhere - I expect to see them in Top Shop next!  Here are a few chosen from Folksy's finest - all images are clickable for more details.

More Folksy Friday's - Please check my side bar for the Folksy Friday Club where you can see lots more picks from other bloggers!

Folksy Friday Mini Treasury - Keep warm...

...and Snuggle up in a Blanket

Why not turn down the central heating and invest in a knitted blanket. Warm, snuggly and environmentally friendly too.  Buy a big one and snuggle up with a loved one - what a great idea for a valentines day present!  The work that has gone into these beautiful blankets and throws is incredible and with these freezing temperatures they are worth every penny and every laborious stitch!  (ps. cot and baby blankets make excellent knee warmers for grown ups too)

All of the work above has been handmade by artists resident in the UK and is available for sale at http://www.folksy.com/ please click the images for further details and to search for more beautiful creations.

More Folksy Friday's

• Fairly Girly - Yellow
• Beady Pool / Veryan - Seaside
• Niche - Tea & Cake 
• Ellie's Treasures - Rabbits
• Muddy Bare Feet - Birds
• Helen limbrick - Mitts
• Top Floor Treasures - Matryoshka Dolls
• Cakes Knits and Cosies - Sweets
• SevenSeventyOne - Retro
• Crafty Jemima - Hangies
• Your Folksy Friday blog here?

I love all these different themes we come up with every Friday!

Please let me know if you also have a Folksy Friday blog, I would love to add your links to my regular Friday posts, the more the merrier!

Connect your Blog to Facebook with Networkedblogs

Do you have a Facebook fan page and a blog? 

You can now connect the two so that your blog posts are automatically posted to facebook fan page...  it is so easy to do you just click on this link http://networkedblogs.com/ which will take you to the networked blog site and click on the the big orange button that says add your blog.

You can choose to have your posts automatically posted to your wall and all your fans, or you can just have it posted to a new tab called blog on your fan page.

Do you also see the large follow button - well, it's another way to make connections - exactly the same as google friend connect that most bloggers have, you have to insert the follow widget into your blog to verify that it belongs to you but after that you can choose to remove it. I've kept mine, well just to see if anyone clicks it!

I discovered networkedblogs whilst I was joining in with the latest link love phenomena where you add a discussion called 'links' to your facebook page and invite everyone to post their links, encouraging a mass link swap follow fest kind of chain reaction - well that's the plan! You have to take some time to go and look at everyone's links mind otherwise you wont see the benefit. (blimey that sounded mumsy, don't forget your hats and scarves too!) My facebook page is www.facebook.com/haptree - please feel free to add some links and become a fan and I'll be sure to fan you back!

Add more Gadgets and Widgets in Blogger

This is a simple breakdown of how to maximise the areas you can add gadgets or page elements in your blogger template.

Take a look at all the places I can add gadgets in this screen shot of my 'layout'.  At the end of this post I'll let you know why I think having all these spaces for gadgets is useful!

As you can see I can add gadgets all over the place and there are a few customisations in order to be able to have this many, but there is one really easy way I have found to immediately add more gadget space just by changing a simple 'no' to 'yes' in a few places.  I've also added some links to enable you to convert your two column blog into a 3 column and 3 footer column blog like this one.  But try this simple trick first!

How it's done!

Open up the 'layout' tab of your blogger dashboard,  now go to 'Edit HTML' part of your blog layout.

Use Ctrl and F to search for the following - showaddelement='no'

Everywhere you find this change it to showaddelement='yes'  if you haven't made any adjustments to your template you should find this in 2 places at least.  I think some of the newer blog templates may already have more 'add page element' sections than when I started out last year but if you feel you've been lacking in page elements then try this. 

Now click save (using preview wont show you anything new) and go to the layout and take a look to see if you have any new 'add page elements' sections to play with!  Just drag and drop to move all your gadgets around.  If you want to completely makeover your blog then you'll need some of the tutorials that I've linked to below to add extra columns.

Adding More Columns to your Blogger Template

If you want three columns there are dozens of tutorials that show you how - here's a google search that will get you a zillion different 3 column blogger tutorials - my advice is to go straight to the comments section of any blogger customisation tutorial and see what people have said and whether the author responds to questions in the comments - just like buying a product, looking at the feedback is a good way to guage the quality of the tutorial!

You will notice I also have 3 columns at the bottom of my blog (my footer)  - you can have 3 columns and one stretching beneath it too - just follow one of these tutorials, to add columns to your blogger footer

Here's my tutorial for adding a horizontal link bar!

Make sure you take heed of the 'padding' as not adding the margins can make your blog look like a car crash!  Also ALWAYS make an up to date copy of your blog template - really can't emphasise how important this is!

Why do I need all these gadgets?

It's quite easy to get carried away with gadgets and widgets - but I'd advise thinking hard about what you want them for so you don't end up with a cluttered looking blog where people have trouble finding the actual content which is above everything else the most important element of your blog.  Here are a few reasons you may need them.

• You need to de clutter and put some of the more clunky items into a bigger space - I use the middle page elements section for my text heavy widget, previous posts.  I've tried to maximise the number of posts that people can easily see and also the number of page views I recieve by not having all my posts in one long scroll. You could also use the 'peekaboo post' option when your writing you posts to achieve this effect.
• You have masses of 'badges and buttons' from blog boosters like blogflux, blogerama etc and want somewhere to neatly tidy them away to - mine are all way down at the bottom of my blog.  this also works for awards and badge swaps.
• You want to put advertising on your blog - some places are more lucrative than others, for example a banner advert below your header but beware of ticking off your readers!  I think my project wonderful adverts are in a good position but having them there means I lose space for other more interesting widgets.
• You want to add a Latest News! banner.
• Social media and followers - facebook and twitter have some great gadgets that it would be a shame to leave off your blog due to lack of room!  Most of these widgets will fit automatically into the space you insert them.

Would love to hear your comments or about any amazing new gadgets you've found space for!

GIVEAWAY HQ

This page is dedicated to displaying craft giveaways!  Everyone loves giveaways, so if you want to advertise yours or you're just looking for some giveaways to enter you've chosen the right place!

Giveaway HQ is having a break whilst I get Craftblog UK up and running - my giveaway is still live and kicking though so please enter by clicking on the link below.

Haptree

Win a whole month of free advertising on this blog!  Including a feature post all about your shop and products Click to Enter

Your giveaway will be displayed here, new giveaways take the top spot -Please supply an image and link for your giveaway. For a chance to win a free advertising spot for a month on this blog click here.

click here to submit your giveaway now!

Folksy Mini Treasury - Nature Tale

Preservation

Mother Nature has a funny way of letting us know what's best, I think that the snow and ice we have had recently is her way of saying slow down, wrap up warm, get a good book and wait for spring. 

All of the work above has been handmade by artists resident in the UK and is available for sale at http://www.folksy.com/ please click the images for further details and to search for more beautiful creations.

More Folksy Friday's

• Fairly Girly - Orange http://fairlygirly.blogspot.com/2010/01/folksy-friday.html
• Ellie's Treasures - Winter http://elliestreasurescrafts.blogspot.com/2010/01/folksy-friday.html
• Ginger Nut - Snow! http://gingernutknits.blogspot.com/2010/01/folksy-friday-snow-day.html

looks like we're all drawing our inspiration from the cold weather!  Bbrrrrrrrrr...

Please let me know if you also have a Folksy Friday blog, I would love to add your links to my regular Friday posts.

Giveaway - win a months free advertising!

Would you like to win a feature all about your work and a months free advertising on this blog, just like January's lucky winner?  Details are at the end of this post (it's easy peasy and open to everybody!)

The winner of the December advertising Spot is...

I was really excited when I drew this months winner as she comes from North Devon, I lived in Instow for 4 years and then Bideford for a year before relocating to Hertfordshire. So when Lorraine mentioned on her website that she sells her Jewellery in the fantastic Bideford Pannier Market approximately 20ft from my old house I was stunned - small world or what!

North Devon is beautiful, with gorgeous and dramatic coatslines and cliffs, it's a great place to surf too, and it's full of welcoming and creative people, just like this months winner, Lorraine who is behind the Folksy and Misi shops, Fairly Girly.  Lorraine is a part-time working mum and makes all this pretty jewellery from her North Devon home.  She uses a selection of lampwork beads, crystals, glass beads and silver. This collection of bracelets above has to be my favourite, I love the Keats poem that Lorraine uses as her background - just a little excerpt but it's so sweet.

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness...

This pretty bookmark and earrings would also make a girly valentines day gift - take a look at the Fairly Girly shops for more jewellery featuring these cute little hearts  http://www.fairlygirly.com/

[Awaiting new advert from fairlygirly!]

HOW TO ENTER THIS MONTHS GIVEAWAY!

It is so simple!  You need to become a follower of my blog, facebook or twitter to enter this competition. 
1. Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog, shop or website and let me know your latest news, think of it as a mini advert! (click here for my guide to leaving clickable blog comments)
How simple is that!

MORE PUBLICITY FOR THE WINNER!

Entry to this months competition ends at 12pm on the 14th of February 2010.  The winning entrant will be featured in a blog post like the one above, which will then become the new entry form for January's competition - so you'll have everyone who enters next month seeing your feature too - it's the giveaway that just keeps giving!!! 

I will make you an advert if you do not already have one - so don't let that stop you entering!

Good Luck!

(PS.  Don't forget to visit Fairly Girly's excellent blog  including her Misi Monday and Folksy Friday features)

Hello Teenies

Ok so the noughties have gone, hello Teenies - had a pretty busy decade, degree, 2 kids, 5 house moves, 6 jobs to mention but a few...   so the teenies will hopefully be a little more laid back with a bit more cash to burn.

A few little updates, I've been away from crafty blog land for a few weeks, those of you who are familiar with this blog will know that is unusual for me - I didn't look at my computer at all the whole of the holidays!

• My competition ends at midday today!!!!  Click Now to Enter!
  

• 
  
  I mentioned this before I went away, I've been working on Craftblog UK a blogspot blog which will (hopefully) be a really useful resource and a nice place for promoting all of the UK crafters who have wonderful blogs to complement their work - I know how hard everyone works to keep them updated and full of great content so a bit of recognition will be nice for everyone. Let me know your blog addresses as I'm trying to compile a database and organise it into craft types but so far I have just made a start on the banner! I've got too many ideas and I need to try to start small and work it up!I'll do a grand opening soon! What do you think of the banner/logo? - I went for simple and easy to read with room for adding a few seasonal twiddles or wotnots round the sides...
  
  
  

You can also follow craftbloguk on twitter - www.twitter.com/craftbloguk  thank you to those who are already following.  I'll start tweeting all your new blogposts soon once I get myself organised.

• 
  
  I'm also working on http://www.haptree.co.uk/ I bought it from MrSite just before Christmas, the most basic one, it was about £20 for the whole thing -  but have yet to get any of my stock on there or make it look beautiful - I'll do a post when I'm happy with it.  Primarily I have bought it as I want a memorable address to put on my cards and stationary.
  
  
  
• 
  
  Haptree and me blog - I'm hoping to get back to gardening and in an effort to help myself to start a gardening calendar with to do's for the month ahead, although with all the snow I can't actually see my garden!  I'll take some snaps today - it's looking like a winter wonderland.  I get some really useful tips from all of you crafty types, seems home grown goes naturally with handmade.