2010 May | 3 Boys And A Dog

Homeschooling Notes: FedEx Out of Office Blog Craft Ideas

May 27, 2010 By Kelli 14 Comments

office Homeschooling Notes: FedEx Out of Office Blog Craft Ideas UNEXPECTED IDEAS FOR CREATIVE PROJECTS

As a homeschool mom, I know how many hours are wasted looking for neat (and cheap) crafts for my kids. It is summer here, but in the rainy south, we will have days that we are stuck inside. I am always looking for things to keep their hands occupied… Enter FedEx’s Out of Office blog!

Mom Central and FedEx sent my boys some goodies to help them try out some of the projects on Out Of Office.

Zack (8) and Tank (3) made the bookmarks since those were the templates they sent us.

Both really had a good time and asked if we could make some more projects! Later this evening, we will sit down and choose a few more things and add the supplies to our shopping list. I love quick, easy, not so messy projects!

Aren’t their bookmarks adorable? Zack is an Alabama Crimson Tide fan, but he made me an Auburn bookmark! Wasn’t that sweet?

But, kids are not the only ones who can find fun and helpful info at the FedEx Out of Office Blog! They have several categories, including Home Helpers! A quick flip through found a GREAT post to help us Spring Clean Paper! Wonder how you could get a gig like that? FedEx, if you are reading this blog, I would LOVE to be a blogger on your awesome site. #imjustsayin

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of FedEx Office and received the items necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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Filed Under: Homeschooling, Just for Kids Tagged With: business, cheap, cheap craft, cheap craft ideas, craft, craft ideas, crafts, express mail, FedEx, great source, homeschool crafts, homeschool moms, Homeschooling, publishing, Summer Fun, Tips, tricks

June: In The Kitchen With Kelli Series (recipes, giveaways, organizing tips)

May 27, 2010 By Kelli Leave a Comment

Yep, it is time for a new series around here! For the entire month of June, you will be joining me in the kitchen as I try out new products, foods, and recipes that are designed to make my life a little less stressful and make it easier to get everyone to the table at the same time. Although, I will be posting recipes, no one can compete with the fabulously cheap (and well, FABULOUS) recipes over at Southern Plate and who would want to? Christy’s Blog is too big for me to even think about trying that. LOL!

Anyway, this is just a quick heads up to be sure you are sticking around (sign up for my RSS or feed emails NOW if you aren’t already) for my In the Kitchen With Kelli Series! I will be doing some guest’s, reviews, and yummy giveaways! Excited yet?

Here, let me give you a small taste of what is to come:

and that’s not all! But, that is all the sneak peek you are getting for this In the Kitchen With Kelli Series.

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Blogging Basics: Where to Find Ad Buyers

May 26, 2010 By Kelli 10 Comments

Ahhh, the question we all want answers to. How do you find companies willing to purchase ads on your site? Are there actually ways to make money online? We all want to get so big that we need business insurance and group health insurance. LOL! I only have a couple private ads on my site but not because I don’t know how to get them, simply because I haven’t spent enough time looking for them. In this week’s Blogging Basics, I am going to give you a list of several places to find advertisers for you site. Remember to have really specific prices and plans in place before contacting anyone.

Many companies want to know your reader reach (twitter followers, facebook fans, feed subscribers, monthly unique viewers, inbound links, etc).
You need to know why YOUR site would be a good fit for their advertising budget.
Most companies want options: side bar ads, header ads, text ads, sponsored posts, paid tweets etc. Figure your pricing on those and have it all spelled out.
BE PERSONAL! It is perfectly ok to come up with a static email to contact companies with, but be sure you are personalizing it to what you like about their company and why you think you two would be a great fit. Then, you can copy and paste your stats and prices into the bottom.

Now that we have gone through a few rules, lets talk about places to find advertisers. After all, we all want to make some money on our site. I would love to tell my husband that I have an individual group health plan. Last week, we talked a bit about Google Adsense. Obviously, it isn’t going to make any of us rich! We need more ways to make a little income without affecting the integrity of our blogs. I really like private ads (ads I find on my own and invoice straight from here… no middle man and I can build a better relationship!). In fact, I just spent a little money to redo my sidebars to be more ad friendly. See my cute “Support My Sponsors” section on my site? The top banner and the 400 px ad where Juicebox Jungle currently resides are also available for purchase.

Press Releases – When a company pitches a product to you, turn right around and pitch back to them. The whole, “I would love to work with you and here are our options” really works well for some people.
Reviews/Giveaways – I don’t do it anymore but that is because I have gotten lazy, but when I did it I had great response. At the end of a giveaway or after a review I would approach the company I worked with about advertising to extend their reach, etc.
LinkedIn – This is such a great resource for finding PR/Marketing people of pretty much any company. Just be careful about using the LinkedIn system for communication (unless they are already your friend) as you can get in trouble.
Twitter – Oh man, I tend to have tons of luck with contacting people on Twitter about events!
FaceBook – Look at the ads on the right hand side of your facebook page. Those people are paying for ads and might be a great place to start.
Other Blogs – Yep, you heard me! If they are paying for advertising on other blogs, then they are not opposed to that avenue of advertising.
Affiliate Sales – While I don’t make much, I do make a bit of money off my affiliates. I really should spend time looking for ways to increase affiliate conversion rate – maybe this is my next Blogging Basics post?

Have fun finding some advertisers! What would you like to see next week?

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Attack The Flat Surfaces In Your Kitchen! (Weekly Organizing Tips)

May 25, 2010 By Kelli 6 Comments

You know that I purchased the weekly organizing sessions from Simple Organized Sanity and have been really enjoying them. They not only keep me motivated, but give me great blog fodder. LOL! This week’s session was all about getting and keeping the flat surfaces (table and counters) clean in our kitchen. Obviously, you can’t enjoy family dinners if you don’t have the table clean and it is really hard to prepare supper when your counters are full!

Christy Love broke it down into 5 very simple steps. I am not going to go into major detail since you can purchase all the back copies for next to nothing on her site. I believe she should make money with her business, not have me giving away all her info for free. But, I want to show you my before and after pictures.

So, BEFORE – yeah, it is really bad, but you have to remember that I have been at a conference and that table shows not only the stuff that I had on it before leaving, but also all the stuff I brought home with me.

Pretty bad, huh? But with a little encouragement from Christy (and the chance to win a little prize) I got busy putting things away, sending the projectors back with Ricky, sewing up the feather pillow, and listing the books on Paperback Swap! Then, I wiped down and oiled my table really good.

Look at it SHINE! We have been enjoying dinner on it since Thursday. Imagine how your house could look if you just signed up for some super quick weekly exercises! Plus, don’t know about you, but one clean area really gets me busy working on the other spots.

*This post is linked to Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom*

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Concern for the Environment keeps me from cleaning.

May 23, 2010 By Kelli Leave a Comment

Ha ha! You liked that title didn’t you? Seriously, I am sick of all the cleaning products that are bad for the environment and my children!

Between the boys and the dog, my carpets have had it! I have a little handheld carpet cleaner, but really need something bigger and better. 3 out of the five of us have allergies. I began searching for cleaners that didn’t need harmful cleaners to do the job!

Best home ladybug steam cleaners for allergy relief really caught my eye. According to their site, the Ladybug Steam Cleaners work by taking your regular tap water and heating it in a boiler until it turns to steam. The steam is released under pressure and is capable of cleaning virtually every surface in your home with water alone. That is what I want! Imagine the money saved on cleaning products. This is great for asthma and allergy sufferers because the chemicals in cleaning products can sometimes trigger asthma and allergy symptoms.

These cleaners seem really expensive to me, but in the long run I bet they would be worth the price. As their website says:

Priced a bit higher than our other steam vapor cleaners, the Ladybug series is destined for those who are not content with anything but top of the line. For everyone else, there are options for steam vapor cleaners that function similarly and cost less. But if price is no object, you are unlikely to find a more impressive steam vapor cleaner than a Ladybug.

I would LOVE to review a carpet cleaner like this and even compare it to another lower priced item to see which is best. Of the four Ladybug steam cleaners, the Ladybug XL2300 Vapor Steam Cleaner seems the best and I love the onboard tool caddy.

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