Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Blogging my way! (Blog Brainstorm for #Bloggiesta)

One of my tasks and maybe even THE task of this Bloggiesta is to figure out, there do I want to go from here? I haven't been very active since the fall Bloggiesta. Around December everything fell kinda apart blog wise and I just didn't have the time to pick it up.

I have a lot going on in my life atm, and I have been pushed over my limits for a few months straight. Now I finally put a stop to that but it takes me longer to recover than I would like. I haven't been feeling like reading and knowing that I "have to" write reviews only puts more pressure on reading. I haven't been able to focus on just any book for some time now. If a book doesn't sweep me off my feet at this point, I am not likely to finish it, even though otherwise it would be fine book to me. I am currently more into watching series, movies and playing video games because it seems to relax me more at this point.


So because of this a Blogging brainstorm is in order. I found out that I need to give myself permission that it is okay to do whatever I want to do. Blog about the usual subjects? Great! Blog about personal stuff? That is allowed too. Want to talk about a movie I just saw? Awesome! Want to blog about any subject that makes my heart happy and causes that little spark of inspiration? Go for it! And if nothing comes and you don't blog for weeks or even months? That is fine too, you will be back when the time is right. It is all about giving permission. Even if that means letting go for a while.

Another big thing is that writing long posts is something that I seem to not be able to so easily at this point. The solution is to stop doing it. A short impression is fine too! If that keeps the reviews going. I don't have to write out all the info, because that is what Goodreads is for. A link will do. If this is what it takes to start me to read again and share it in the process, then that is totally fine. I don't have to live up to certain standards. I don't get paid for this. Blogging is not my job, but my hobby. So I can say as much or as little as I like.

I know that Bloggiesta is all about making your blogs better, and that is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. My blogs got better. The quality of my posts went up. My layout got more together, and of course I will still keep all those benefits. But for now all those quality standards are stopping me from doing what I like. I use to love blogging! And I want to start loving it again! And in order to do that I need to do it my way. And if that means not having a blogging schedule so that people know I will always post each Wednesday and Saturday, then that is okay. Normally I love to have those schedules but now is not that time. So for now I am just going to toss all those unwritten blogging rules out of the window and just be me. And that just has to be good enough, because why wouldn't it be? :)


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Bloggiesta sign up post!

I know I have neglected this blog quite a bit. I have read enough but I just didn't have the motivation to review and I rather blogged about foodstuff on my other blog. But now there is a new edition of Bloggiesta coming up, I have a chance to play catch up!


This time Bloggiesta will be held on 28 to 30 September. Our hosts are Suey of It’s All About Books and the 1st daughter from There’s a book.

I will be using the weekend to make approvements on all the blogs but mainly to write all my backlogged book reviews and other posts! If you want to work on your blog, please join in too! Sign up here!


Monday, April 2, 2012

Bloggiesta Finish line post!


During the past weekend of Bloggiesta events I was able to get a lot done on my three blogs :) This is my wrap up post :)

General:
- I backed up this blog after some hiccups to wordpress, the SLB blog I will do today!
- Added Pinterest buttons on the bottom of each post on all 3 blogs
- Added Twitter buttons to each post on all three blogs
- Added bloglovin buttons to this blog and SLB. The Dutch blog MES wasn't possible because WP.com doesn't allow it.
- Updated copyright notices of this blog and SLB
- Updated sidebars (UC, SLB)
- Looked into RSS
- Added searchbars (UC, SLB)
- Checked in at NetGalley to sort digital reads
- Sorted out tagclouds (UC, SLB)
- Hunted dead links (UC, SLB)
- Updated pinterest profile

Uniflame Creates:
- Made a template for personal blogposts
- Wrote book review A walk across the sun
- Wrote first personal update
- Wrote 365 photo challenge
- Wrote a review policy
- Posted partial reviews to goodreads with link to full review on blog for all books read in 2012
- Linked posts together that are from the same author
- Added social media buttons

She Likes Bento:
- Split recipe page into categories
- Wrote 3 posts for weekend cooking and meatless monday for upcoming weeks
- Added social media buttons

Met een Strikje:
- Got a favicon
- Wrote Friday's post
- Made pictures and wrote March favorites post
- Wrote 4 review posts in advance
- Set up a separate pinterest account for this blog (because co-writer needs access too)
- Added social media buttons

Connect:
- Read Weekend Cooking posts
- Visited fellow participants and left comments
- Attended two twitter parties
- Checked #bloggiesta on twitter to offer help to others

Mini Challenges:
- Facebook mini challenge: Add facebook share buttons at bottom of posts (UC, SLB, MES)
- Pinterest Challenge - was already on my to do :)
- Social Media Icon Tutorial - did this for all three blogs
- Goodreads Challenge: Linked to my goodreads profile in the sidebar of this blog
- Write a review policy - was already on my to do
- Sidebarchallenge, was on my to do, tossed some stuff out
- Mr. Linky
- Sign up for a blogger event (24 hour read-a-thon)
- 20 comments challenge
- Rafflecopter
- Themed Pages
- 8 ways to freshen up your content
- Back up your blog

Still to-do:
- Design banners for the Meatless Monday and Weekend Cooking features on SLB
- Write snack reviews for SLB
- Set up MES for automatic posting to twitter
- Write a ton more posts for MES ;) (I have so much stuff to review and ideas)
- Post about the ideas from the 8 ways to freshen up your content challenge

The bloggiesta survey:

What you were able to get done:
Well a lot! My to-do list was long, but not this long. I kept running into all these good ideas and added those to the list of stuff I needed to improve.

How you feel the event went:
I thought it went great! I spend like 12 hours on bloggiesta each day, with small breaks in between. I loved the enthusiastic organizers and the help from my fellow bloggiesta participants.

The best new thing you learned:
There are a few actually. The social media button challenge was great, as was the rafflecopter (easy giveaways FTW!), and the comment challenge!

Suggestions for mini challenges next time (and if you’d like to host one!)
Challenges about easy picture editing. I could do an Instagram (or similar challenge) myself. But I would love to have an easy photo editing program challenge. (Please remind me to host the mini challenge or else I might forget ;) )

Suggestions to make things run smoother:
Not anything I can think of right now :)

Anything you want to tell us! Let us know!
I feel that bloggiesta should be an official word ;)

I had great fun! And see you all at the next Bloggiesta! I love how the date is already announced and I have marked the last weekend of September on my calendar!

Friday, March 30, 2012

Bloggiesta Starting Line


Welcome to the starting line for Bloggiesta... the blogging party led by our fearless mascot PEDRO (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize.) and hosted by It's all about books. The idea behind Bloggiesta is to keep Pedro happy by spending these next three days working on perfecting your blog and connecting with other bloggers doing the same thing.

So this is the starting line post and I will be posting my to-do list. This might be getting expanded as we go ;)

I have three blogs, this one (UC), my food blog She Likes Bento (SLB) and my Dutch girly blog Met een Strikje (MES).

General:
- Back up blogs (UC, SLB and MES)
- Add Pinterest buttons (UC, SLB, MES)
- Add Twitter buttons to each post (UC, SLB, MES)

- Add bloglovin buttons (UC, SLB, MES, isn't possible in wordpress.com)
- Update copyright notices (UC, SLB, MES)
- Update sidebars (UC, SLB) - in progress
- Look into RSS
- Add searchbars (UC, SLB)
- Check in at NetGalley to sort digital reads
- Sort out tagclouds (UC, SLB)
- Dead link hunt (UC, SLB)

- Update pinterest profile

Uniflame Creates:
- Make a template for personal blogposts
- Write book review A walk across the sun
- Write first personal update
- Write 365 photo challenge
- Write a review policy
- Post partial reviews to goodreads with link to full review on blog (?) 2012 only?
- Link posts together that are from the same author

She Likes Bento:
- Maybe design banners for Meatless Monday and Weekend Cooking categories
- Split recipe page into categories
- Write snack reviews (2)
- Write posts for weekend cooking and meatless monday for upcoming weeks (done 3)

Met een Strikje:
- Get a favicon
- Write Friday's post
- Make pictures and write March favorites post
- Write several review posts in advance (done 4)
- Maybe make a banner for new recipe category
- Maybe set up an own facebook page
- Set up feedreader to post automatically to facebook and twitter
- Set up a separate pinterest account for this blog (because co-writer needs access too)
- Social media buttons

Connect:
- Read Weekend Cooking posts
- Visit fellow participants and leave comments (ongoing)
- Attend one twitter party
- Check #bloggiesta on twitter to offer help to others (ongoing)

Mini Challenges:
- Read all new challenges and see what is useful to do
- Go through the old mini challenges and see what is useful to do
- Facebook mini challenge: Add facebook share buttons at bottom of posts (UC, SLB, MES)
- Pinterest Challenge - was already on my to do :)
- Social Media Icon Tutorial - got some buttons, waiting on delivery
- Goodreads Challenge: Linked to my goodreads profile in the sidebar.
- Write a review policy - was already on my to do
- Sidebarchallenge, was on my to do, tossed some stuff out
- Mr. Linky
- Sign up for a blogger event
- 20 comments challenge

- Rafflecopter
- Themed Pages
- 8 ways to freshen up your content

- Will be updated :)

Look here is my Mr Linky!


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Bloggiesta Sign up post!


It is time for bloggiesta again! This time it is hosted by It's all about books. The last time I participated was January 2011 and this also convinced me to become a book blogger. I have been waiting till the next editition which is next weekend from March 30th till April 1st.

I have 3 blogs atm where I am activly blogging. This one, my foodies blog She likes bento and my Dutch blog on everything girly Met een Strikje. I am planning to spend time working on all blogs so I have plenty to do :)

I can't wait to get started! Do you have some work that needs to be done on your blog for ages but you never have time for it? Well then this might be the event for you! For sign ups and more info look here!

Monday, January 23, 2012

ABC - Tag

Because I thought it was fun to share something personal and I like to fill in stuff like this :)

A. Age: 22 (Growing up is overrated)
B. Best Friend: Mark, but I have a few very good friends.
C. Chore you hate: Doing dishes
D. Dreamhouse: With a pool.
E. Essential start of your day: Checking twitter, mail and bloglovin' with tea and the daylight lamp
F. Favorite Color: Blue and Purple
G. Gold or Silver: Silver <3
H. Height: 1.64
I. Instruments I play: None #allmymusiccries
J. Job title ( most recent ): Art-Student..?


K. Kids: Nope, but I have cats ;)
L. Life is incomplete with: Cats ;) And the people I care about.
M. Music that you always listen to: Depends on the mood ~
N. Nickname: Uniflame, CynCyn, Cynni-Chan
O. Overnight Hospital Stays: As a child
P. Phobias or fears: Dentist, Doctors, Needles, a lot.
Q. Quote from a movie: Dunno....
R. Reason to smile: If my BF does something silly ;)


S. Siblings: Nope, but did I mention I have cats ;)
T. Time you wake up: 9.00AM
U. Underwear: Black & Pink
V. Very important date this year: 24-26 August, it is Abunai and my b-day on the 25th ;)
X. X-ray you’ve done: A few years ago, from my stomach.
Y. Yummie food you made: Sushi ~
Z. Zoo animal: Penguins

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Short Hiatus


Since Abunai!, the Japanese culture convention I am co-organizing is just around the corner, I am taking a short break from blogging. I notice that even thought I tried I can't really seem to combine both things so closely before the con. So I have decided that is it best for my health to take a 2-3 week break from blogging. It will give me some peace of mind hopefully, when I don't need to feel guilty not to be reading or blogging as much as I hoped. I will still post some recipes on my other blog in the time being, because those posts are usually shorter and take less time, besides I still have to cook so it is more easy to combine that. I will be back in September here with more reviews and creative posts :)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Out of Town Alert


When you all read this post, I am already out of town ;) I will be spending a few days in the hotel above in a Dutch city called Amelo. I will be visiting and volunteering at Anime 2011, a whole weekend anime convention where I will be also part of the promotion team for our own convention Abunai!. This means that I won't be around to post and comment. You might find occasional updates from me on twitter about the convention though. If you are interested you can follow me there (@Uniflame). Since I will probably be exhausted after I come back home, it might take me a few days longer to get back into the flow of things so bear with me ;) Have a nice weekend all and I will see you when I get back at some point :)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop - Winners!


 Hello all :) The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop has come to an end and I would like to announce the winners! I had a total of 94 comments for the giveaway, which exceeded my expectations big time! I had so much fun reading all the nice comments :) So thank you to everyone who entered and of course to Leeswammes for hosting this event!

To determine the winner I used random.org and I separated the comments for the giveaways. I had 75 entries for the Wreck This Journal and 30 for the bookmarks. The winners are:

Judy -> Wreck This Journal (Number 2)
Sarah -> Bookmarks (Number 11)

Congrats both! I will email you shortly from now :) (and then get my sick self back into bed)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Literary Giveaway Blog Hop

Welcome! This will be my first giveaway and I am happy that I will be doing this in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop! I will actually not do one but two giveaways, both of them will combine my love for books with creativity, just like this blog features both topics.

 You can enter from Saturday Feb the 19th till Wednesday Feb 23rd 2011. Please visit the other blogs too in this blog hop! There is a lot of stuff to win, with about 30 participants!

Okay so first of all I will be giving away a copy from the book Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith. This is a journal that challenges you to destroy the book in every creative way possible. It is about letting go and see where it ends. I have done this myself (see the tag Wreck this Journal) and I enjoyed it very much, so I want  to share the experience. I will order the book for you through the Book Depository.

The 2nd giveaway is a set of 3 bookmarks made by me with a Spring theme.


The rules:
- You can only enter the first giveaway if the Book Depository ships to your country. But everyone is allowed to enter the 2nd giveaway.
- You do not have to become a follower of this blog to enter, but if you like my blog, please feel welcome to do so.
- Please comment with your name, e-mail address and which giveaway you enter. (1 for the book, 2 for the bookmarks)
- You can enter from February the 19th till the 23rd 2011. I will announce a winner on Thursday.
- If you are the winner of the giveaway, you have till the end of Sunday (GMT+1) to answer my email, or I will draw a new winner on Monday.
- Note that I will delete invalid entries.
- Have fun! :)

This giveaway is closed! 

Have you entered? Now Hop Along! 
  1. Leeswammes (Int)
  2. Teadevotee (Int)
  3. The Book Whisperer (Int)
  4. Uniflame Creates (Int)
  5. Bookworm with a View (Int)
  6. Stiletto Storytime (USA, CA)
  7. I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (Int)
  8. The Bookkeeper (Int)
  9. Chinoiseries (Int)
  10. Ephemeral Digest (Int)
  11. bibliosue (Int)
  12. ThirtyCreativeStudio (Int)
  13. Nishitas Rants and Raves (Int)
  14. Roof Beam Reader (Int)
  15. Actin Up with books (USA)
  16. Sarah Reads Too Much (USA)
  17. Book Journey (US)
  18. The Blue Bookcase (Int)
  19. Read, Write and Live (Int)
  20. Silver’s Reviews (USA)
  21. Graasland (Int) - From Saturday evening onwards
  22. Teach with Picture Books (USA)
  23. Books in the City (Int)
  24. thebookbee (Int)
  25. The Scarlet Letter (USA)
  26. Seaside Book Nook (USA)
  27. Chocolate and Croissants (Int)
  28. write meg! (USA)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Early Bloggiesta finish line post

Sadly I have to cut my Bloggiesta experience a day shorter then I intended since I am quite ill (everybody go awww now). That is why I am writing my finishing line post now, but I might tweak this post later if I find some extra energy to do stuff anyway. For the people that don't know about Bloggiesta, I post the description once more.

“Some of you may be asking what is Bloggiesta? In short, it’s a blogging marathon.  A opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Our awesome mascot Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize) is ready to break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!  It’s nothing short of an awesome fiesta!”

At first my list actually grew during bloggiesta because of all the new information I got by reading mini challenges. But I managed to do a LOT from my list and if I wouldn't have been sick today, I would have made it!

Anyway here is my list of things accomplished in no particular order (and some things I didn't manage to do):

- Changed layout on She likes Bento (not intended)
- Updated the plugins on She likes bento & Uniflame Creates (added twitter & facebook plugins & removed some)

- Read how to use common creative’s on flickr and share my own pictures
- Learn more about feeds and possibly add them
- Learn how to back up my blogs and do it.
- Learn more about copyright of blogs
- Update my profile
- Clean up my tags
- Think about that I want to do with Uniflame Creates this year and what kind of posts I want to include
- Think of ways to get my blogs more known (I did some SEO, but this is never ending, really)
- Find out if I can add my own custom banners and possibly make them (which size too)
- Write book reviews on creative books for Uniflame Creates and/or bento/cookbooks for She likes Bento
- Brainstorm on blogging topics
- Read interesting blogs from others for inspiration (A never ending task as well)
- Add Favicon’s to both blogs
- Gravatar
- Link to other people in the same scene (bento blogs) & creative persons (only did this for She Likes Bento and only Bento blogs from the Netherlands, so this needs more work)
- Learn how to create different pages on my blog(s) and how to post on them (it turned out that you only can make static pages on Blogger which I think sucks)
- Look into how to do a giveaway
- Write an about piece for Uniflame Creates
- Ask around how to make linkwithin work if you have 2 blogs
- Make small banners for others to post (and learn about how to add the code for them)
- Change layout on Uniflame Creates
- Add recent comments widget
- Find out how people can subscribe to my blog though email (It turned out thee wasn't a working plugin for Blogger at this moment)
- Learn more about cheat sheets (I found out that only a template might be good for me to make)
- Look for info on blogbuddies & invite someone
- Look to Light of Inspiration blog and maybe delete it
- Post blog updates to twitter automatically (and facebook too)

- Add a page about your creative education to Uniflame Creates
- Make review templates (Books, Snacks)
- Analyse blogs

- Add meta tags to both blogs
- Make a signature image

Some people might notice that I did a lot more then what was on my original list. Other then that I also participated in a lot of mini challenges which partly have overlap with the above list. I would have listed all the mini challenges here with links to the hosts of these great challenges, if it weren't for the fact that I feel so utterly crap and that it took me about three times to even spell the word challenges. So I am just going to give a BIG thanks in general to all these wonderful people for hosting the challenges and Maw books for hosting Bloggiesta! I have learned so much this weekend and I simply couldn't have done it without all the other participants who shared information, helped me and cheered me on.

That being said, I hope that I find the time soon to make these lasts improvements happen. I hope I can stay in touch with some great people I met this weekend and that we can continue to help each other with improving our blogs! And lastly: hanging out with mostly book bloggers is contagious. I have now two reading challenges that I want to participate in. So this blog will get a bit of books mixed in as well, though the main focus will still be my creative path. But more on that in the near future.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Brainstorm on future topics

I am still busy with bloggiesta on Mawbooks, making all kinds of improvements on my blogs! Within the weekend of bloggiesta there are several mini challenges. One of the challenges from previous years was a brainstorm challenge hosted by Jenn on Jenn's Bookshelves. If was one of the topics on my to-do list, so I decided to join in! (you can still enter in most challenges from previous years). But instead of drawing my own brainstorm cloud I used an online digital tool by bubbl.us, which I found very helpful because you can move things around without creating a huge mess ;)

This is the result of my brainstorm session and a preview of what my plans are for this blog!

If you find it hard to read, just click on the picture once and you can view a larger version of the image :)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

It's time for bloggiesta!

Beware: This blog will be under construction for the next couple of days since I will participate in Bloggiesta

“Some of you may be asking what is Bloggiesta? In short, it’s a blogging marathon.  A opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Our awesome mascot Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize) is ready to break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!  It’s nothing short of an awesome fiesta!”

This is my first time participating since my blogs need serious work.  I was enthusiastic and I started early with the changes on my blogs. Next to this blog my other blog: She likes bento will also be involved in this bloggiesta. However I will not do active updates there on the subject. Here you will find a list of planned things for the event.

What I already did:
- Changed layout on She likes Bento (not intended)
- Changed layout on Uniflame Creates
- Updated the plugins on She likes bento & Uniflame Creates (added twitter & facebook plugins & removed some)
- Read how to use common creative’s on flickr and share my own pictures

What I still want to do:
- Learn how to back up my blogs and do it.
- Learn more about copyright of blogs
- Update my profile
- Clean up my tags
- Think about that I want to do with Uniflame Creates this year and what kind of posts I want to include
- Think of ways to get my blogs more known
- Find out if I can add my own custom banners and possibly make them (which size too)
- Write book reviews on creative books for Uniflame Creates and/or bento/cookbooks for She likes Bento
- Learn more about feeds and possibly add them
- Brainstorm on blogging topics
- Read interesting blogs from others for inspiration
- Gravatar
- Link to other people in the same scene (bento blogs) & creative persons
- Learn how to create different pages on my blog(s) and how to post on them
- Look into how to do a giveaway
- Write an about piece for Uniflame Creates
- Ask around how to make linkwithin work if you have 2 blogs (since he mixes up posts from blogs, even though I asked for a separate code)
- Make small banners for others to post (and learn about how to add the code for them)
- Add recent comments widget
- Find out how people can subscribe to my blog though email

Oh my, I am never going to make this in one weekend XD Tips on certain subjects are really welcome!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Bloghopping!

I have found this bloghop with all kinds of crafty people! I think it is great for inspiration to read blogs of others and what better way to do this then through a bloghop?



Have fun!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Scrub this page!

I felt I had enough energy to do some wrecking. So I got my scrub out of the shower to give my journal a nice scrubbing!

Close up from my coconut scrub. I love the smell of coconut. And the scrub from the bodyshop is heaven for my skin! I'm not sure it will be this good for the book though!

This is the aftermath, poor journal. It smells nice though! And my fingertips are so soft now XD

Additional page to honor the coconut!


I am getting more and more annoyed with blogger uploader, because it just randomly tosses the picuters in and just not in the order I added them! Why does this happen?! *grumble*