enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

  • project life 2014 : april.

    AprilPL

    As mentioned at the end of 2013, I am no longer completing my Project Life album on a weekly basis. I did that for two years. I enjoyed the process and I love my albums. This year I am taking a much more relaxed approach and playing more with this project. I don't have much of a plan other than to complete at least one (and sometimes many more) spread a month.

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    The big win is that I can never be "behind" on this album. I also like that I don't have to worry about having seven horizontal 4×6 photos each week and can group photos by subject instead of date. I love that I will be under no "weekly deadlines" and will be blogging just once a month about my album.

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    click to enlarge.

    March ended with 5 4×6 photos, so April starts with 5. These are just random favorites from the month that didn't need too much of an explanation. Next to it a sequence of photos that I love of Ellerie from one morning a few weeks ago. I used stickers, cards and letters from the Studio Calico Camelot kit and Lancelot and Arthur add-ons.

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    This pocket page is by We R Memory Keepers and features a 6×8 pocket that I floated a 4×6 journaling card inside. I am obsessed with free space and floating items this year. 

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    click to enlarge.

    I am so happy with how this spread turned out.

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    I had to back that 4×6 card with something and so I wrote some simple journaling and picked four more favorite photos that tell part of our story from April.

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    That HELLO stamp and those cute tags are from the Studio Calico Camelot project life main kit. I love using "hello_______" as a journaling prompt (I think I got the habit from Ali) and the stamp was perfect to set off a lot of different journaling about this month. That checker board scheme (alternating predominantly white journaling cards with photos) is still my favorite.

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    click to enlarge.

    And then it's all about coffee.

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    I buy and drink a lot of coffee and have been saving the bags on top of our fridge. This month the collection got a little unruly so I decided to chop them down to 4×4 and slip inside a square pocket page from We R Memory Keepers.

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    To give them a little context, I printed 12 3×4 photos from my #eliselovesmornings series (these are not all from April). I love to see photos of the same thing taken different ways and I love that this little (but significant) part of our daily routine is not documented.

    And that's April! No stress, just simple. Thank you so much for following along. See my title page for this album here and 2014 album progress here.

    product sources: Studio Calico Camelot PL kit and add-ons (available tonight at 9pm Pacific time), We R Memory keepers 9 pocket page, We R Memory keepers 6×8+4 pocket page, Design A pocket page, staz-on ink, black sharpie.

    all photos were printed at home on my Epson PictureMate Show.

  • weekend links / 16.

    Weekend16

    As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…

    the 25 things people with Type-A personalities do – some of these are so painfully true they made me laugh out loud.

    how to cut cherry tomatoes (this is a game changer).

    love the #reasonstowrite hashtag on Instagram.

    in case you were curious, the swimsuit (in the stripe!) I linked to last week came and it's super cute!

    this skirt doesn't look like much online, but is worth trying on..just don't spill red wine on it and then shrink it in the wash like I did.

    couldn't have said it better myself.

    a high school student works to change the bra industry.

    10 great backgrounds for beautiful craft photography.

    what a gorgeous scarf.

    need a laugh today?

  • around here.

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    It was quite a week (or non-week) around here with the frequent Typepad (my blog host) outages. I am sorry if you tried to access the blog or an old post and had issues these past few days. There are still some bugs, like pinning from posts is acting strange and sometimes comments fail, but I expect things will get back to normal soon. If you missed any posts this week, here they are:

    Outside of blogland, the April edition of MAKE29 was a hit (thank you!) and my garage is currently storing a PALLET of shipping supplies for May's edition. We're going big or going home next month and I'm super excited about it.

    And my newest eCourse, USE YOUR STASH, launched through A Beautiful Mess this week. This is a go-at-your-own-pace crash course that features 8 lessons written by me and 15 never before seen projects. My goal is to encourage you to stop staving STUFF and start saving MEMORIES. I did a giant purge of product before I started working on these projects and a giant purge after and both felt awesome, but not as great as playing with paper and putting some stuff to use. A peek at the layouts can be seen in that last photo above and you can sign up for the course here.

    Have a great weekend! I plan to play in the garden (how is that so fun?), chase Ellerie around the house (how is she so fast?) and make it through an issue of Vanity Fair (how are the articles so long?).

    Cheers!

    ps that Pantone COLORS book Ellerie is so diligently studying is this one.

  • 4.

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    Four years…

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    …three homes…

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    …two deployments…

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    …one baby girl…

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    …and about four million adventures, photos, fights about nothing, text messages, netflix discs, emails, dinners, coffees, inside jokes and loads of laundry.

    I love you, Paul. Happy anniversary. Cheers to celebrating the last four years. Cheers to embracing the change and growth that we will undergo in the next 71+.

    *first photo by The Goodness and sixth photo by Tara Whitney.

  • how I use affiliate programs.

    affiliate programs

    I received a question last month about how I use affiliate programs and realized there is a lot of information I could share about this area of my business. In general, I think the more we do to lift the "curtain" surrounding the business of blogging – the better! This is a real job and a real industry…it's okay to admit that. In this post I will first cover a few facts about my blog and affiliate programs in general (because I think it's valuable to know where I am coming from) then I'll dive into what I actually do.

    My blog gets between 160-180K visits and 240-300K pageviews a month. I share this to give you a baseline of my reach. This is not the most popular blog in the world (obviously) but that's a decent size and I would say that my audience is more engaged than "average." Remember, I have been blogging since late 2005 and consistently since early 2010.

    I get about 100 "sponsored post" or "sponsored link" or "product review" or "giveaway promotions" or "affiliate membership offers" a month and say yes to maybe one of them. I share this to note that for me it's about quality over quantity when it comes to affiliate programs. I never enjoy saying no, but it's in everyone's best interest – mine, yours and the company – if I only recommend what really love and what makes sense with my brand/life.

    In 2013, affiliate revenue made up 14.5% of my net annual income. I share this because that's a very decent portion of income. To give you an idea, rubber stamp sales made up about the same amount of net income and took much more work. (Remember, net is total income minus expenses.)

    So…what's the deal with affiliate programs?

    Basically, it's a commission system that online shops/brands set up to encourage people to share links and promote their business. When I personally sign on as an "affiliate" for something I am saying, "I use this and like it." I embed (within a post or on my sidebar) a link that has a special tracking code. If you click through and buy that product or something else on the site I make a small commission (usually between 5-15%).

    I consider affiliate programs "free money" because I am always going to be trying new things and writing about them. I am constantly going to be answering the "where'd you get that ________?" question. It's the nature of the blogging beast and since I'll be linking anyway, it's just one extra step to go through an affiliate program and perhaps make a commission off purchases.

    Personally, I work from the product backward. Meaning, if I try something new (like a Pinhole Press book) and love it, I'll search to see if there is an affiliate program I can join before I blog about it. If a company doesn't offer an affiliate program, I will still blog about it but it might not get a full, in-depth post or it might not be a "priority" post for me to write.

    I do not go searching for a random company that has a high affiliate payout and then write about that random product in the hopes that it will result in a big commission. Mostly because that's boring but also I cannot muster up the energy (much less the passion) to write about something I don't really love. (This is also why I say "no" to so many of the opportunities that come through my email inbox.)

    I am an affiliate for many different shops through four major programs listed below :

    • Amazon Associates
    • Commission Junction
    • Shareasale
    • RewardStyle

    I wish that there was just ONE place to go for all the affiliate linking, but different programs attract different brands. I also belong to a few smaller programs that are brand specific (meaning they don't use a big program and have just set up something on their own)

    You can create an account with the programs (I think rewardstyle is the only one that has to "approve" your account) and then apply within to different brands that you're interested in working with. Some brands will approve right away and others actually take the time to review your site and see if it's a good fit (sometimes they decline!). Once you are approved, you are able to link to various products or pages pretty easily (the process varies, but it's fairly intuitive). Each site has tracking information as well so you can see daily how your links are doing and the traffic you are generating.

    Payout is usually by check or paypal and is paid out monthly OR once you reach a certain dollar threshold. Like all income, this revenue needs to be reported on your tax returns and if you hit a certain amount, you'll be provided a 1099 by the company.

    I have affiliate images on my sidebar (these are usually provided by the program) and sometimes I will include affiliate text links into a "normal" post when I need to share a source for something. Other times I will write posts that deliberately include a lot of affiliate links (like a product round up or a book report or a product review). These are posts are always for things that I am actually interested in; I have learned that cannot "fake-it" for the blog without feeling lame or worse, tossing and turning at night.

    Overall, I find the affiliate process easy and stress-free. It's a great way to make a little extra money from something that you are going to do anyway AND recommend products that you really love.

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    In today's podcast episode I am talking with Amy T Schubert of Lemon & Raspberry about how she uses an affiliate program to SELL her own products. This was something I knew nothing about and loved getting the inside scoop on! Subscribe to ELISE GETS CRAFTY on iTunes or stream the episode here. Fun fact – I got a fancy new jingle for the podcast lead-in!

  • the backyard garden in april.

    Gardenapril

    I'm so excited about the garden this year. You can read about the beginnings here.

    Since then, I have tried and failed to transplant my seedlings. (Who knows what went wrong… too quick, to much shock, too much weather, too much water?) I did decide to sow some carrot and cucumber seeds directly into the boxes, so we will see waht comes of them.

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    I added a little herb section by sticking my steel tubs (with holes in the bottom for drainage) from last year's container garden in the unused fountain.

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    And finally, I bought more dirt and many more plants. (Remember, these are our planter boxes.)

    We have 13 tomato plants (at least 9 different varieties). This might sound insane, but I have had plenty of plants before and have never felt like I was getting that many tomatoes so I'm going all in this year. My fingers are crossed that I am forced to eat my own words and 700 tomatoes in late summer when we are drowning in ripe produce. That would be the very best and my neighbors would love us.

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    I planted a four cloves of garlic and two have sprouted already. 

    I also planted two artichokes (I tried and failed with these last year).

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    And two zucchini plants (which I hear is insane and we'll be buried in zucchini) and four different cucumber varieties.

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    There are a few different pepper varieties (bell and spicy) mixed in with the tomatoes as well.

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    And for fun I bought one watermelon plant, one butternut squash and one pumpkin (we'll probably just get some Ellerie sized fruit).

    My goal this year is to keep things alive and do my best to encourage tons of fruit production. I have been reading Grow Great Grub and listening to wise folks on Instagram and so far, the biggest lessons I have learned make total sense:

    • Plants are more likely to seed (produce fruit) when they are under some stress.
    • Under-watering will encourage plants to seek out water and grow deeper and stronger root systems.
    • Harvesting fruit early and often tells the plant to make more fruit.
    • Water the ground directly instead of the plant leaves (to prevent mold/rot).

    So I am cutting back on my tomato plant watering for sure and am going to spend some time feeling the dirt to determine when water is needed. I am going to be a ruthless pruner this year too and trim back lower leaves and suckers frequently to encourage each plant to focus it's energy on growing tasty fruit, not extra stems or leaves.

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    I shared a graphic like this a few years ago, but just in case you're new to tomatoes and have no idea how to prune tomatoes, the above image should help. Suckers are the shoots that grow out of the little nook between the main stem and a leaf branch. When they are small, they can be plucked off easily with your fingers.

    Difficult to express how much I enjoy tending this little garden. I'm so hopeful it will be a great growing season.

  • personalized stationery.

    Minted

    We're BIG on card sending and note writing around here.

    I thank my mom, who always encouraged us to write thank you notes and sends me snail mail all the time. I also thank the fact that I moved across the country right after college and despite the fact that we had a million digital ways to connect, I became penpals with one of my fellow paper loving girlfriends, veronica.

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    "Can I top her last card?" is something both of us think frequently… though we probably would not admit it.

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    Even Ellerie has a penpal! veronica had a baby boy in December and we love writing letters from the littles to each other. Crazy, of course, but also sort of awesome (and hilarious).

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    So when Minted asked if I wanted to order some stationery and share about it on the blog, it was a no-brainer; my only question was if I could order some for Ellerie too.

    For Ellerie I choose a pink watercolor striped (officially called Sanibel Island Stripes) flat card and for me I choose a white design on kraft (called Indio and made by a designer in San Diego!).

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    I love the options… I was able to order kraft envelopes for Ellerie's and I added a backing design (which TOTALLY makes the card) and rounded corners to mine.

    Obviously we've already mailed a bunch (and have heard back rave reviews!). Card sending is addicting. I made the executive decision that I'm going to order custom cards for the Grandmas for Mother's Day this year. If you're interested in doing the same (or just want that awesome Indio set for yourself!), Minted is offering my readers 10% off their stationery order plus free ground shipping with code BLAHA10FS. Discount works on all flat and/or folded personal stationery and kids stationery orders and expires 4/25.

    *Minted.com and I teamed up for this post: they sent me the stationery in exchange for me writing and sharing my thoughts. I used affiliate links throughout this post because Minted is a rad paper company that I love and shop through often. As always, opinions shared are my own.

  • weekend links / 15.

    Weekend15

    As part of my word WHOLE this year, I want celebrate the work of others by sharing links to my friends, possible friends and complete strangers who are doing great things on the Internet. This is some of the rad stuff I recently saw online…

    "having a good idea is not enough" a great newsletter from Kathleen @ Braid Creative.

    a rad iPad stand for recipe reading.

    grow garlic indoors!

    I ordered this in the black stripe and am anxious to see if it's as awesome in person it looks online.

    fun illustrations at The Essentials Project.

    this short video made me feel all the feelings.

    I am so inspired by this quilt.

    a children's book I can totally get behind.

    this backyard garden is so pretty – fingers crossed ours grows.

    a round-up of pretty sweet Easter sweets.

    Happy, happy Easter.

  • around here.

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    AND it's Friday.

    I appreciated the sweet comments on my MAKE29 post. I need to remind myself to just "write it all out" more often. If the Dear Ellerie letters have taught me anything it's that articulating my thoughts helps me to process what's happening. (ps..those early days were so intense I still can hardly believe we're on the other side.)

    I'm working a lot on the Blog Design Love 2.0 eCourse that will launch at the end of May and prepping my booth for the Queen Bee Market on May 2nd and 3rd. Both the course and the craft fair are going to be awesome (now that stamps are gone, I am selling THE most random collection of items at the QBM – more on this soon, I hope) and are taking up a lot of my time.

    I had a hilarious thought recently that once mid-May hits and my course content is turned in, the only stuff on the business side of my plate will be the blog, the podcast, one freelance gig, launching the digital stamps and MAKE29… and that feels like very few things.

    IY-YI-YI… how my perspective has changed. It's awesome though. 2014, you are so rad, I cannot even handle it.

    Have a great weekend… Paul's working (bummer!) so Ellerie and I are headed up to LA to hang out with family and celebrate Easter!

  • make 29 / april / gold stamped prints.

    MAKE29blogAPR

    Let's keep moving 2014! The April edition will be available for sale at 10am PST on Tuesday 4/22. Read more here.