enJOY it

BLOG 2.0 workshop / spring rerun.

April 10, 2012
I first ran this workshop in April 2011. It was a big adventure and overall very successful. I am excited to be offering it again this spring.
- This is an online class that focuses on using web coding and design to customize your Typepad blog.
- Class seats are $115 and payment will be made through paypal. You will receive a welcome email immediately after purchase.
- The workshop seats are limited and instruction will start on Monday, April 30th.
- This class will take place on a private blog & will include two weeks of intense instruction followed by six more weeks of access to the blog, Q&A and extra help from me.
- After the complete eight week class, you will continue to have access to the instructional videos and be able to download a PDF booklet of what was covered in the workshop.
- Lessons will be taught via videos (where you can see my screen and hear my instructions) as well as written “lectures.”
- Included in the class fee is 1-on-1 help (within reason, I can’t redo your blog for you but I can give you the tools and answers to do it yourself) via email as well as feedback and constructive criticism if you are interested.
- creating a cohesive & professional blog design
- post visuals & buttons
- font & formatting
- general & useful HTML coding
- sidebar images, buttons, text
- banner & navigation buttons
- creating additional pages
- creating a small “store front” within a blog
- using HTML elsewhere online (like flickr & message boards)
- editorial calendars & scheduling posts
- advertisers & affiliate programs
- making sense of blog statistics
- my blogging story
- and more – including that 1-on-1 help via email
- As mentioned, this is a class for Typepad bloggers. I will be focusing all instruction on customizing your Typepad blog ONLY. **If you do not yet have a Typepad account but are interested in the class, please don’t set up your account yet. I have a coupon code for 20% off to offer new members OR people who need to upgrade to a Plus Typepad account. You will receive it after signing up. This is 20% off your membership for as long as you have an account. If you already have an account, you can still apply it. Very exciting.
- I would highly recommend that you have access to Photoshop Elements or another photo editing/design program. It’s not required, but you will find it helpful in creating graphic elements for your site. You can always download a free trial to use during the class.
“Designing my own blog was an idea I’d flirted with in the past but html and coding had always intimidated me. When I heard about Elise’s class I knew it was time to take the leap and challenge myself to learn something new. Her class was well-organized and easy to understand but also gave me the feeling of having extremely valuable skills under my belt! She made herself available to everyone who needed further instruction or feedback on their blog designs which was just as valuable to me as the information in the class. Her use of video tutorials as well as written lessons worked really well with my learning style and helped me navigate a new blog hosting site without feeling lost. Overall the class exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a little guidance in designing their own blog!” – Rachel Denbow of Smile & Wave.

“My boyfriend gave me Elise’s Blog Workshop class as a birthday gift. As a longtime blogger (and as someone with a degree in Web Design) I was a little unsure of whether or not I would actually learn anything. But by the end of the course, I was stunned by how much information and design tips Elise fit into a two weeks! During the course of this workshop, my blog went from blah and boring to something so great that I started getting immediate offers for sponsorships and advertisers! I’m also being headhunted by technology firms as a social media consultant – all thanks to the strength of my blog! Thanks, Elise!” – Cris Stone of Kiss My Tulle

“This was the class I’ve been waiting for. It saved me hours and hours of Googling and fiddling with trial and error. Elise taught us how to do things right the first time; and if she didn’t know, she would diligently seek out the answer to more complex questions we had. Elise saved me hours of frustration, which in my book is worth every dollar and more.” – the tiny twig
“My brother is a computer programmer who builds websites and writes computer software. He was astounded by what I was able to learn and put together in just a few short weeks. I went from knowing absolutely nothing about blogging (other than reading a lot of them) to setting up and customizing my own blog complete with coding! This workshop felt like having a patient friend guide you by the hand and tell you step-by-step just what to do. For what I got out of this workshop (one-on-one help, a Typepad discount, lessons in blogging AND coding AND design), I would have easily paid double. Very enjoyable and very much worth it!” – Linda of The Written Picture

Why only Typepad? Typepad is the platform I have used for six years and am most comfortable explaining and teaching.

Will you be teaching a similar class for other blogging platforms? No.

Why limited seats? I am offering a limited number of seats so I am able to give 1-on-1 attention when needed.

Do I have to visit the private blog everyday? No, you certainly do not have to read class updates everyday. HOWEVER, I did find that students who followed along daily seemed to “get it” with a bit less confusion. If you are unable to check the site daily during the instruction days (April 30-May11) that’s okay! But I would recommend reading just one or two lectures a day when you do have time. This will help everything sink in and allow you to build on ideas from one lecture to another. Basically, if you take you time to work through the material as opposed to cramming it all in, it will make more sense and ease frustration.

Are you going to be releasing PDFs of this workshop? Not anytime in the near future. I hope to run this class in full a few more times if there is interest and I can’t figure out a good price for the PDF that is fair for me and fair for you. So for now, there is no PDF release date.

This is an interesting & challenging class to teach. I enjoyed the lesson development and am excited to help you make your blog more YOU. Please keep in mind that this class will involve a lot work on your part as well. This is detailed stuff and I am going to make it fun, but I can’t do it for you. Please email me (elise.blaha AT gmail.com) if you have any questions about what the class will cover or what my capabilities are. I don’t want you to sign up for something that isn’t what you are looking for or really need.

Ready to sign up? Please use the “add to cart” button below. You will be directed to pay via Paypal. Soon after you submit payment, you will receive a confirmation email with more information. Keep in mind that if you pay with an e-check, your email will come once your check clears (which can take up to a few days).

This class is now closed. THANK YOU! 🙂
what i did with all those deployment cards.

April 10, 2012
As mentioned in my Project Life update post this week, alllll the cards I sent to Paul while he was deployed in Afghanistan for nearly seven months, finally arrived back at home. It's a terribly long story about why they took so long, but the point is the post office came through and they are here again.

I sent him about 100 cards. All different ones. Postcards from travels, 99 cent Hallmark cards, Etsy cards, expensive cards, personal stationery, the works. And man, I went on and on with my thoughts on the inside. It's hilarious to re-read them now. I hardly remember all the nonsense I babbled on about.

But cards are my thing. And they were something easy I could do often and for the most part, inexpensive in the long scheme of things. I loved the hunt for the perfect card. I loved knowing that two weeks would have passed before he opened them. I loved when he told me he liked a card enough to hang it on his bulletin board at work. That was probably the best challenge. What could I send him that he'd deem good enough for the board?

Anyway. The short story is that these 100 cards are a huge part of our love story and something I am so so grateful to have back home again. I have them all in a cardboard box (along with the birthday cards!!) and will be saving them in something nicer for years to come. But I wanted to make something special out of a few of our favorites. I played with this idea in my head for a few days and happily, it turned out amazing and better yet – was totally free!

I re-purposed a frame we've had with other artwork in it for a few years. There was a piece of thick white cardstock in the frame already and I just flipped it and taped (with a simple loop of scotch tape) the cards in a pleasing layout. I purposely choose cards that were all the same size (A2 or 4.25×5.5) so the cards would feel cohesive and then left a decent portion of mat to make them look like little pieces of artwork instead of something sixteen year old me would have stuck on the wall. The inside messages of the cards are of course the most important part, but they are preserved, inside the frame, for years down the line when we want to remember what our love looked like in 2011.

I am so happy with how it turned out. It's better than I thought it would be and is going to look totally rad leaning against the wall on Paul's new desk (which is in progress – we ordered hairpin legs yesterday!).

And because I enjoy sharing fantastic card resources, these are a few of my favorite places to purchase cards.
- Paper Source (in store only, not online)
- Urbanic and Sugar Paper in LA
- Sweet Geek / fantastically nerdy handmade cards
- Enormous Champion
- Neat Things / hilariously racy
- Tabletop Made
- Marsupial Menagerie / Harry Potter themed
- Colette Paperie
- Rifle Paper Co.
- Bella Muse
It was so wonderful to have an excuse to buy cards. I sent Paul the widest range ever. Sappy and G-rated to sexy and R-rated (what is the point of being in love without racy cards?) to completely nerdy (yes, some video game cards made the rotation).

ps : here's how I made Paul's birthday special while he was deployed.
this.

April 9, 2012
material 4 of 27 / rope into potted plant hangers.

April 9, 2012

I have had this project in my head for months and I am glad I finally decided to just execute. These plants are now hanging in the corner of our loft space which also now has a curtain rod and curtains. (No small victory, I promise.) It's strange to just focus on this corner when the whole area needs so much work, but I had to start somewhere.

There are oodles of detailed tutorials on to make these planter hangers, I am sure, but because my wing-it plan was successful, I thought I would share my steps.

Cut your rope into pieces. I used a little bit longer than my arm span for length, and that worked out well. Be sure you have an even number of pieces. In the photos above, the white rope basket was made with six pieces and the pink has eight. For this tutorial I used 10.

Tie all the pieces into a knot. Pull tight! It helps to pull one piece at a time.

Separate the rope pieces into pairs.

Take the pieces of one pair and tie them into a knot a few inches from your big knot. I just did the first step of tying my shoes twice to make mine – you can experiment with all sorts of knots.

Go from pair to pair until all have been tied.

For the next knots, you'll be taking your strands from different pairs. The photo above explains it better than my text can.

Tie those two pieces the same way.

Work around the circle until you've created another row of knots all the way around.

Depending on how big your potted plant is and how detailed you'd like to go, you can keep tying knots around and around or call it done. Experiment!

My white rope frayed quite a bit where it was cut. To fix this, I wrapped a bit of washi tape around the end, below the fray and then trimmed off the fray with a tiny bit of tape.

The result was super clean and I like the bit of accent on the ends.

I twisted hooks into my ceiling and wrapped all the rope around the hook and secured with a tight knot. You'll have to experiment with yours to figure out the best way. Be sure the hook is really in there and it's meant to support the weight of your plant.

Pretty cool though! I am thrilled to finally have curtains up and be making progress on this awkward loft space.

Resources : curtains & white pots from Ikea, robe & hooks from the hardware store, washi tape from Freckled Fawn.

This is project 4 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.
project life : week 14.

April 8, 2012

Week 14 and I still love this project.

(click to enlarge & the images above will be [somewhat] clearer)

I stuck with the same plan and worked on the spread a little bit each day. At the start of the week, I would have thought for sure I’d get through it without any inserts, but then, of course, stuff popped up.

The first is super simple. The trunk that Paul mailed home from Afghanistan finally made it and in it were some of the cards I sent him on deployment. The one I choose to include was one I handed him before he got on the plane at LAX. It’s pretty intense and probably the clearest declaration of love I’ve ever given him. It’s not really related to this week or to 2012 at all, but it had to be saved. Re-reading it brought tears to my eyes so into the album it goes.

I used an 8.5×11 page protector from American Crafts, stuck the unfolded card inside and then sewed the plastic with a zig-zag stitch before trimming off the extra.

And then the second insert happened because I wanted to include some of the text from my post on deployment last week. We took my polaroid camera down to the beach last week and I got a few shots to go with it. I trimmed off a bit of each and they fit well into the We R Memory Keepers page protector I had. I just cut it down so it was 2 squares by 3 and added my photos and journaling (on two 4×4 cards).

The insert needed a little extra and I had a great sticker from American Crafts that worked well. It was longer than 4 inches so it didn’t fit in the pocket. To make it work, I stuck it to the outside and I love the look of it overlapping two pockets at once.

On the back of the grid, I decided to add some random Instagram photos taken throughout the week.

The main pages are pretty simple, like always.

My favorite technique was wrapping washi tape around a 3×4 card to create a fun pattern. The tape is one of my favorite patterns from Freckled Fawn and the thin stripe is from the Target office section. I love the look of them paired together. Those black letter stickers are from Staples.

I added photos of our strawberry basil mojitos and then decided to jot down the recipe along the border.

As promised, a video on how I make the transparent text blocks over my 4×6 photos.

adding text blocks to photos in PSE from elise blaha on Vimeo.

I cannot believe just how much documentation this project involves. It feels like I have printed more photos and jotted more notes the past 14 weeks than all of 2011 together – and of the most basic everyday stuff too. I love it. More info on those english muffins and hanging plants in the photos above will be coming to the blog soon. 🙂

supplies / Paper Source circle and rectangle labels, Martha Stewart and Avery labels, American Crafts patterned paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle), Ormolu “what’s the story” button, Freckled Fawn washi tape, Design A page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), We R Memory Keepers photo protector, Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it’s not amazing, but it’s lasted the longest of any corner rounder I’ve ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
for the weekend / strawberry basil mojitos.

April 6, 2012

Not wanting to completely deplete our mint plant, Paul and I got creative with cocktails this week and used some of our 18 (!!) basil plants to make "mojitos". We tossed in some strawberries too and the results were fantastic.

To make : Cut your strawberries (about two per drink) into small pieces. In a glass, muddle strawberries, a few basil leaves, a teaspoon of simple syrup and the juice from a wedge of lime. We used a wooden spoon to mash everything together well. Add 1 oz of white rum and ice cubes. Fill the rest of the glass with cold soda water and stir.

Enjoy – these are so good.

Happy weekend and happy, happy Easter!
on deployment.

April 5, 2012

Paul has been home for over a month. We are back to normal. It's so nice.

I wish that I had magic tips and tricks for getting through deployments and long-distance and time apart. Actually, as long as I am wishing, I wish for no deployments, no long-distance and no time apart. But at the moment, for many families, that's unrealistic.

Everyone's first question, when you tell them your partner is home from deployment, is, "Is he home for good?" And that makes me smile grimace, because nope. "Home for good" means nothing until he's out of the military and we don't know for sure when that will be for us. Our "Plan" is more than a little abstract.

But he is home. And it is good.

I have him here until November when he'll be training for three weeks. And then he'll be home again until early February when he'll deploy again for about six months. And then he'll be home for four years as he completes his residency. And then we'll start the cycle all over again with deployments every 12 months or so for years and years.

(Of course all of this is completely up in the air.)

I really wish I could break it down into five simple steps to get through a deployment with a smile on your face. Wouldn't that be so awesome? But all I have to offer is this:

You will get through it. You will be stronger. You will have bad days. You will have good days. Both are okay. Both are normal. Do what works for you. Do only what works for you. Take it one day (and sometimes one hour) at a time.

I got through the deployment because I relied on what gives me strength – my friends & my parents. I got through the deployment because I turned off the chatter around me and focused on myself. I got through the deployment because I have this blog and I work to maintain a positive attitude in and for this space. I got through deployment because I set challenging but obtainable goals for distraction. I got through the deployment because I love Paul and because I believe in us.

Years ago, when I dreamed about my future, my husband and I both had traditional 8-5 jobs. But then I fell in love with Paul. And he was committed to the military. So to be with him meant I had to be committed to the military. Paul is who he is because of the career path he chose. Also because of his path, I am blessed with the ability to be "non-traditional" in my career. We are building a different family and life than I would have predicted but a much greater one than I could have hoped for.

Deployments are part of the game for us. And knowing what I know, and the heartache that comes from having your partner halfway around the world, I would pick Paul and this path again every single time. He is my best match and I am his.

*

If you are going through a deployment or are about to (whether it's your first or 52nd), I wish you peace. I send you encouragement and I thank you so much for your service and sacrifice. If you are not going through a deployment, but having a rough time, my advice stands … take it one day, one hour at a time. xo.
experiments in egg dying.

April 4, 2012

I decided this past weekend to dye Easter eggs. I don't think I have dyed eggs in at least 15 years, but wow, it's crazy how that vinegar smell takes you right back. To make things more interesting, I searched for natural dye recipes and tried a few different ideas for getting color. This article from Better Homes & Gardens was helpful. This one is good too.

We used turmeric to get yellow. The very light pink came from beets and the orange came from red onion skins (which were supposed to result in jade green – are you kidding me!?).

It was a combination of exciting (yellow) and lame (pink) but regardless, pretty fun. Next year I am determined to get the whole rainbow through everyday foods and spices.

And in the meantime, those hard-boiled eggs are not going to waste. I had no idea how much I loved deviled eggs. Paul's idea to throw little jalapeno pieces into the yolk mix instead of relish was genius.
changing it up / clipboard inspiration.

April 3, 2012

When I moved in last December, I set up fancy little inspiration boards in my office. And then when I embarked on Project Life and started – gasp – making stuff again, I began pinning embellishments and labels on to the boards so they were accessible. It worked, but I was ready for a change. I need this space above my desk to be effective storage more than I needed it to be inspirational.

So down came the bulletin boards & art prints (they are getting re-purposed on other office walls) and up went the clipboards. (I have seen clipboards used as display pieces all over the web, but the first time that it sticks out in my memory is on Rachel’s pretty blog.) I saved a few of my favorite “inspiration pieces” and taped them to the boards and used the clips to hold all the stuff I use on a weekly basis in my album.

I am loving this layout. It’s clean, uncomplicated and effective. Three favorites.

p.s. my office wall color is Valspar Champagne Gelee. The desk is a kitchen island from Ikea and this is my heavy duty paper cutter. The tutorial for that white and black board art can be found here.
happy march moments.

April 2, 2012

captured on instagram. Life feels fuller with Paul home.