How I use Trello to organise the Genius Bloggers Tool Kit

I am not the most organised person in the world, unless I really want to be.

I still feel guilty 10 months later that Riley missed a LaserZone play date with his best friend because I forgot to look on my calendar, so I've been working really hard over the last few months to become more like my university-attending-single-mum-self was.

That means that when I decided that I was indeed going to spend a lot of money on the Genius Bloggers Tool Kit last week that I needed a way to keep it organised, and I needed to set it up straight away.

This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up to Trello using my link, I receive compensation at no extra cost to you. 

 Enter my favourite digital organising platform ever - Trello.

First up, I created a new board, and starred it, so it sits at the top every time I open Trello. I use purple (of course) to denote blog-related boards, and I collect Trello boards from other people, too. (There are so many amazing ways to use the platform to organise everything, it's pretty cool to see how others apply it. Besides, who doesn't love sticky-beaking?!)

Your blog is not a business

If you've been around blogging, or digital marketing, for even half the time I have, you're bound to have heard someone mutter these words.

Your blog is not a business.

And if you're still muddling through like me, you muttered "yes, I'm serious about it!" just like I did, and kept following the same path you were on, without really getting anywhere.

How to figure out if the expert is right for you

Inside - Tips for choosing an expert that you'll get your money's worth from.

Experts are a dime a dozen. Gone are the days of experts being the people with university degrees and years of work experience under their belts. Now, they're generally the people who had an idea, failed, and got up and tried again and again and again. So how do you figure out who to hand your hard earned dollars over to (or even who to listen to)? With these tips, you'll be assessing everyone with a better eye, instead of falling for the hype.

Why I'm giving up the hustle before I start

I sat down an hour ago to map out my ideal day in my bullet journal. It's a great idea, something I've tried to do on a weekly scale, but seemed overwhelming, but as I sat wasting another daycare day by scrolling through Facebook and achieving nothing, I thought I might try a different tactic, and see what an ideal day would look like.

As I sat with my lead pencil and ruler, trying to get the number of hours level on both sides of my pages (did you know there's more PM hours in your day than AM?) I realised that I was wasting time again, only this time it was with pencil and paper, not Facebook.

5 new tips for using Facebook Groups

Have you seen the explosion in Facebook Groups over the last couple of years? I think it's really hard to interact with people without being in a group (and I think Facebook has finally cottoned onto the untapped potential of monetising groups) these days, and if you're anything like me, you're in a lot!

But with all those different connections through groups, how can you help make groups more valuable to the other people around you? I've written about using groups in the past [you can see those posts HERE and HERE], but as I join more groups for different purposes, and the variety changes, I notice some of these things happening again and again.

1 - shopping in groups. I see this time and time again, especially in business groups, and I'm sure you've seen them, too. "I forgot to buy something for so-and-so, I'd really like to support handmade/small business/whatever the group is about, what have you got?" First of all, write it down on your calendar now, so you don't forget next year. Second, please, for the love of god, scroll down and read the other 75 posts that people have posted today, and see if any of those businesses can help you with your gift buying process. Or look through the posts that are linked in the actual daily link-sharing thread by the group owner, and find something there. 

2 - don't advertise your group in another group. These days, most groups have a promo thread, where you're allowed to promote yourself, in line with the daily topic. Some groups even go so far as only allowing promotion on a certain day. Unless your group is about a topic someone has asked about, or is in the actual promo thread, dropping your link in the group looks spammy, and will get you dinged by the page owner, if not just bounced straight out. Group rules are there for a reason, please stick to them, otherwise you're changing the usefulness of the group for all the other members.

3 - don't crowd-source content. Now this one is a bit different, because while it's generally ok to write a blog post in response to something you see in a facebook group, what I mean here is don't write a post in the group that says "hey, what do you want me to write about" because chances are the people in that group aren't your target audience. Even entrepreneurs and bloggers writing for other entrepreneurs and bloggers shouldn't be sourcing their content that way.

4 - asking where someone purchased something. This isn't just limited to facebook groups, but happens on Instagram, and facebook pages, and sometimes even blog posts. If you see something that you like the look of, take the time to read the caption from the poster, and the comments. Because, unless you spend every waking minute on facebook, you are not the first person to read the post, and therefore you're probably not the first person to ask the question (or maybe it's in the caption)

5 - listing items for sale one by one, or listing every day. Some groups are only for selling (how many buy/sell groups are you in?), some groups are only for chatting, and some groups allow a mix of chatting and selling. If you're in a selling group, please be mindful of the group rules, and post in an album. If you're in a mixed group, please be mindful of the people who aren't there to buy, and follow the group rules. You make the feel of the group change if you're only there to list items to sell every day or if you list a bunch of items individually.

I think if everyone is mindful of these things, then groups will become a nicer experience for everyone.

What do you wish people would be mindful of doing in groups?

linking with Kylie Purtell for IBOT

Blog Interview with Louise from soulfindings

A few weeks ago, there was some chatter in one of the blogging groups from a whole heap of new bloggers looking for some hints and tips. Sometimes, it's a little bit tiring, having the same questions asked over and over, but sometimes, someone has an unusual approach to the idea, and you want to jump right in. This is one of those jump right in times. Louise from soulfindings asked if "established" bloggers would share their site so she could take a look at it, ask some questions and gets some advice in the process. The twist was that we would publish on our blogs, giving our audience an extra insight into us, and introduce soulfindings to the world. Great idea! I'm in!

Firstly, I'm dying to ask - the name! "Life Behind The Purple Door", please tell me how this came about, it is such an interesting name for a blog! What's the story there?

This is an easy one - our front door is purple! You can read the story of the door over here. I'm about to celebrate my domainiversary (yes, I made that up) this month, 6 years I've owned it!

You're a mother of 5 (incredible) and it seems as though your blogs purpose is to, as you say, "rediscover Cate", I love this! What made you want to 'rediscover' yourself?

I don't think it's so much "rediscovery" as remembering. Remembering who Cate is (and was) before kids took over the house. I heard a quote (on Oprah!) when Chloe was little, that for children to be happy, their mother needed to be happy. That made so much sense to me! So now, I don't feel guilt when I want to craft instead of clean the house. 

Who or what specifically got you into blogging?

Back in the day, I used to spend a lot of time on the [now defunct] Scrapbooking Memories forum. It was the first forum I'd ever been part of, and I'm still friends with some of the women now. A few of the ladies were setting up blogs to share their craft, and that sounded like a great idea to me, so I did.

When did you start your blog? Have you always had just the one blog?

I wrote my first post on August 21st, 2007. I've had other blogs before - on Yahoo360, and the original blogger (before Google purchased it), and I have a dashboard full of unpublished blogs, too.

How did you feel when you published your first post?

Honestly, it was so long ago, I don't remember feeling anything other than "yay, I figured it out" (it would be a few more weeks before I figured out how to link to other website, then it was party time!)

Are there any programs you swear by and couldn't do without that you could recommend?

If you can afford it, and have the time to learn, invest in Photoshop Elements. With the rise of visual media, you need a way to stand out from the crowd, instead of using Canva or PicMonkey. 

How long do you usually leave between posts? Do you have a routine for posting?

I'd like to say I'm all over keeping on top of posting, but I'm not. It's currently 7.30 in the morning, and between yelling at kids to hustle (they've got vacation care today) I'm writing. I usually prefer to write after everyone is asleep, because there's no distraction, but by that time all I want to do is sleep, too!

Can you describe your blog in 5 words?

creating family adventure behind the purple door. Seven words, that's the fewest I've got.

How do you come up with material for your blog posts? Do you draft before you publish, or do you delve straight into the keyboard and go?

Today, I'm typing and publishing. I do have an editorial calendar that I try to stick to, but it doesn't always happen. As for material, it's just life stuff, my thoughts, stories about kids, memories, creations.

So, your page is pretty damn gorgeous, filled with lots of shades of purple, of course! How do you find your creativity? Do you capture these beaut pics yourself?

Creativity is something that every person has, despite their belief otherwise. And a good camera helps. 

I see you've been featured on other websites - can you outline where you've been featured and how it came about?

I'm a contributing writer for And Sew We Craft, and have been since they started almost four years ago. I got that position by answering a call out in one of the blogging groups on facebook. I've also recently become a contributor to Parent Talk Australia, a new blogger collective that shares posts to a large audience. That was also a call out in a group. As for guest posts on other blogs, it's been a while since I've written any, but over the years I've written posts for Modern Mummy Mayhem and Simplify Create Inspire (and I can't remember any others, I've never kept track of them!)

Have you attended any physical events for bloggers to meet and greet? If so, what did you take from meeting other bloggers not behind a device?

I've been to lots of events with other bloggers, as recently as last month at the Medela event at PBC Expo, to organising meet ups myself with bloggers who have become friends over the years. It's always great to meet bloggers face to face, talk about everyone's experiences, brainstorm ideas, learn from each other as well as learn about each other and see that everyone's life experiences are similar and yet so different.

Tell us where you want to be positioned with {life behind the purple door} in 12 months? What are you wanting to achieve with your beaut-blog?

Hmm... this is a tough one. I'll have to ponder this one when I don't have children yelling at each other cause they're running late!

What do you find the most challenging aspect of having a blog?

These days, being heard in the sea of noise. 

When you started your blog initially, what was the best advice you received and why?

Back when I started, people didn't share advice, they just blogged.

And finally, what last famous words can you give to someone who aspires to have an established blog like yours?

I know it's truly cliché, because everyone says it, but just write. If you're blogging to make money, stop now, and just write. There is so much noise in the blogosphere these days that it's hard to be heard, but if you write about your passions, you engage people and you love what you're doing, someone will hear you. Then someone else will hear you. and eventually you build a community that loves you, and that's better than money every is.

Linking up with Essentially Jess for #ibot

the truth about blog life balance

I often see questions from women in the facebook blogging groups asking how others "do it all"

My mother's generation has a lot to answer for, because while I believe strongly in feminism giving women "choice", the reality of the situation is far different to what they lead us to believe!

It took me a long time to discover the truth - I've been a parent for 16 years, and a blogger for 7 years, but I think it's only been in the last twelve months that it has truly hit home.

Social media makes it far too easy to see the highlight reels from other peoples lives, and we often find ourselves lacking when we look at our entire life that way.

You can't see the box of cereal being eaten by the dog, or the puddle on the floor from the toilet-training toddler, or even the crappy driver who yelled at someone on the weekend.

So here is the ultimate truth about blog life balance - there is no balance. You will give up something in order to follow your passion.

There are, however, ways you can minimise the impact on your household.

• don't multi-task. You can finish your jobs much quicker if you focus on one activity at a time, whether that is concetrating on blogging, or ironing, or mopping.
• have set times for writing. Sometimes it feels like the world is falling down around your ears, but sticking to your schedule can help you gain perspective in the chaos.
• remind the family, especially partners, that you're capturing memories for the future. Writing the stoies down means that future generations can hear your voice. If people get something from your writing now, that's a bonus.
• when all else fails, head outside with pen & paper. This has become my go-to answer lately to get the words flowing and calm the kids. They get to play (even Sophie loves the backyard or a visit to the park), and I clear my head and get the trapped words out.

How have you found blog life balance?

7 things I've learned in 7 years of blogging

Seven years is a long time in the blogging world. Seven years is a long time in life. I love my blog, and the opportunities it has brought me, and the memories it has captured, and the people I've met. I started learning the ropes of blogging (rather than just making it up as I went along) way back in 2009, with Shimelle Laine's Blogging for Scrapbookers class. And I haven't stopped learning since. {or pinning, you can follow my pinterest board about blogging here} Here are my top 7 tips

1. write in your voice. It sounds cliche, because everyone says it, but they say it because it is the truth. Once I started writing as I spoke, without the LOLs, my words flowed, I wasn't trying to be something on paper that I wasn't. That doesn't mean that if you use the occassional LOL that I'll stop reading, or swithc off if you use emoticons, but if it doesn't come naturally from you, don't try to force it, people will notice.
2. make your photos big. I read on my iPad a lot, and regularly use the multi-gesture to make images bigger. My eyes are getting old, and I want to see your beautiful photos, don't make them so small that I have to enlarge them just to see the detail.
3. don't explain absences. People read blogs via email or facebook or RSS reader. Unless they're a long-time reader that you've become friends with, they won't really notice if it's been five minutes or five months since your last post.
4. it's ok to change paths. Just because you started blogging about your babies, doesn't mean you have to keep blogging about your babies. They grow up, after all, and eventually tell you to stop sharing their photos on facebook/instagram/blog. And passions change, too.
5. never stop learning. The internet and social media are ever-changing beasts. You don't need to keep up with everyone else, but keep learning from them, and apply that knowledge when you feel you can.
6. photos + words matter. Even when the days feel long, and babies are grown up, and you think you're talking to yourself, your stories matter.
7. I know more than I thought I did. I've mentioned this before, and I'm sure I'll mention it again. I'm often so surprised when someone asks a question about blogging, and I know the answer. Being able to share my knowledge with others makes me so happy.

What has blogging taught you? How long have you been blogging for?

time to trust our husbands

As I read yet another post this morning from a mum getting ready to head off to the ProBlogger Event next week, it occured to me that many of us don't trust our husbands.

Oh, I don't mean that we think he's going to step out on us, I mean we don't trust him with the kids.

We stress ourselves out, writing out recipes, shopping, pre-cooking meals, organising play dates and school runs. Why?

Sure, he doesn't know the after-school-homework-chores routine. And he isn't the best cook in the world (or maybe that's just my husband), but why are we taking his autonomy away?

So the kids might eat frozen pizza for a day or two, or not get the after-school-chores finished. So what?

We have to let our husbands make the juggle, so they can feel good that they made it through the weekend without us.

Yep, we're at home with the kids, and if he can't get time off work we can help by organising after school pick ups, but the kids won't die if they wear the same clothes 3 days in a row (in fact, they might think it's pretty cool to have a special secret from their time with dad)

And if he has to drag them all out to the supermarket, he'll understand why we don't venture out very often.

But don't take away his ability to look after the kids by micromanaging. They're his kids too, and they'll jump all over you when you get home. Enjoy the conference.

blog power events | high tea

We held our first event for Blog Power Events last Saturday.

We had High Tea at The Emporium. They set us up in a corner of the cocktail bar, giving us the space to be as noisy as a group of ladies can be without being disruptive to other patrons. The service from the waitstaff was absolutely stellar (and reminded me why I loved working functions and five star locations.)

To break the ice, we spent time last week making hats and fascinators, which everyone chose to put on when they arrived. And it was quite startling how every hat seemed to suit every personality.

The best part was meeting new people - as in people we had never met before (well, except for two) From left to right this is Vanessa, Leanne and Wendy.

In typical blogger-fashion, we chatted about random things - from the lack of ironing in each house, to the amazing food we were scoffing, to the things people would like to see from Blog Power Events. Left to right - Gillian, Rachel, Shari.

I looked around the room at one stage early on and noticed that everyone was peering at their phones. And it was totally ok, because everyone else got it! Left to right - Lisa, Helen, Caitlyn, Cass.

We were offered mimosas on arrival (orange juice and champagne), and I wasn't driving for one, so got to enjoy it to the end. The Emorium has an on-site bakery that made all the beautiful pastries (what is the deal with macarons? I actually didn't like it that much! But those vanilla eclairs were the bomb!)

Tea was served

With jam and cream (probably the only let down of the day, they were more bread-like than scone-like)

I even managed a super-quick snap of the wash basin as I was leaving - think warm water, hand lotion, a chair, and paper towels that felt like cloth.

A pretty awesome day all round.

blog | a new header

For about 3 years now, I've been using photos of the kids as part of my blog header. You can see some of the different photos I've used here at the wayback machine.

I do all my own creating in photoshop elements (I upgraded to PSE9 six months ago, but still use it at it's most basic), and have tried to tie all my blog elements together. I don't like the "cartoon-style" of lots of professionally designed logos and blogs, and my blog is about our life behind our door, so a photo of the door needs to be part of my "branding"

I have been on the lookout for a nice template to use as my header for many months. So you can imagine my excitement when I randomly checked out the Coffee Shop Blog (for the first time in a year or more), and found the perfect header!

I'm pretty excited about it - I can change the photos as often as I want, or never change them again, and still keep the same basic design. I can also use the same design on my facebook page.

Do you change your blog header regularly?

anatomy of a blog

a short series of posts, explaining some of the changes made to my blog recently.

If you've been visiting my blog for awhile now, you would have noticed that I don't have a blogroll. There's a couple of reasons for that - firstly, because I read lots of scrapping and crafting blogs, I figure if you read my blog, you probably read the same scrapping and/or crafting blogs.

Secondly, I don't like the "you-follow/link-to-me-and-I'll-follow/link-to-you" feeling that can permeate some blogs (and I HATE being asked to follow/tweet/share on facebook-or-blogs to enter a competition!). If I want to follow/subscribe or link to a blog, I don't expect a link in return (although it would be nice, and I get a little thrill when I see my blog on someone's blogroll). I also wondered if it was worth the "blog space" used when most people read blogs through a blog reader these days (that's why I developed my theory of at least one link in every blog post)

Then I read an interesting post on Meylah that made sense to me. And I decided to add a blogroll. So, click out of your reader (and check out my updated blog header), and click on the blogroll button over to the right (it looks like the button at the top of this post) I've set up my blogroll as a separate page, and it has a nice mix of scrapping, thinking, baking and making blogs.

And while you're exploring, why not share a link to a blog that has made you smile this week?

ETA {7.45pm} link all fixed, thanks for letting me know.

can I borrow that idea?

I have an obsessive personality. I know that, and my family knows it. I'd like to think it's one of the quirky things that makes me, well, me.

 

I don't obsess about using the same coloured pegs on clothes (I have so many clothes in each load, I genuinely don't have enough pegs, so that's more about each item of clothing only has one peg on it, why would I get obsessed about the colour?), but I don't let Steve hang the clothes out, because he mucks up my system (clothes on one section, towels another, smalls to the middle, etc - we still have an old Hills rotary hoist out the back, which I want to keep for as long as possible)

 

I definately have a thickers obsession (but have only bought a few packets in the last year - and, no, my scraproom doesn't look that neat, during my "hiatus" it has become a dumping ground for anything and everything, which we are slowly getting sorted out now)

Most recently, my obsession has become blogs. And following my ideas from one blog to another. Sometimes (like this morning) I have ten or twelve tabs open while I am scrolling through google reader and spot something I want to look at in more detail (it was actually an idea I was sort of doing already, but was recommended over at martawrites, which I only discovered at the start of the week. She's running a cool series this week on blogging and business, pop over and check it out if you haven't already)

 

There is an almost-birthday girl (well, a couple, actually) in our house (this was the donut cake for mums group yesterday, but she woke up vomiting, so we blew out the candles when dad got home, next week we'll make another one). I want to make her a crayon roll and a birthday crown, which introduced me to skip to my lou (oh. my. goodness. I now have thousands of ideas whirling around in my brain)

This morning, callaloo soup (don't you LOVE that name - I often find myself saying it in the middle of the night) shared her idea for writing down ideas, which reminded me that I need a notebook for making notes as I'm seeing the world online (and not just bookmarking on delicious - which I sometimes [often] forget to come back to). Mel shared the contents of her handbag (something else I have written down, I don't actually carry a handbag at the moment, too many little hands need holding)

Steve loves Guinness, so this cake is now firmly marked in my bookmarks (and once I buy a bundt tin, I'll be baking it!) Once upon a time I had a recipe for a Guinness Christmas cake tucked away in my recipes-I-must-gather-and-allow-to-collect-dust-for-five-years-before-baking box, which I have never been able to find again, so this might make a decent substitute. And to just add to my baking list, Deb shared her "vintage" recipe for peanut butter cookies. I was just thinking last week about digging out my recipe, and now have more motivation to do it!

{ETA - I can't separate the paragraphs between the thickers and cake photos, I hate bad grammar and punctuation, even if I do like to make up words like randomness, scrappiness and ickyness ~lol~)

look how they've grown!

A bit over a year ago, I decided to take individual photos of Chloe, Douglas and Natalie to use as my blog banner.

 

I wanted to show how they changed each month, especially in a year of change for our family.

 

 I missed March, probably because I was busy investigating how clean our toilet bowl was during the month. {I love this Easter photo, look out for an updated version this year!}

 

Already you can see how much they have grown. Natalie is starting to develop her personality, Chloe gets more grown up each time we see her, Douglas just plods along in the world, leaving a small mark.

 

A group photo didn't work very well for the dimensions of a blog banner. But photos taken outside look the best.

 

I didn't take many photos in 2009 (until Riley was born, but it was less than 1000), but I made sure to get photos for the banner each month.

 

I told them to poke their tongues out, just to have a bit of a theme with the photos. Creating these banners also taught me about photoshop - August doesn't have any writing because I couldn't get it to work, turns out I wasn't creating new layers, and the text box was getting lost in all the layers.

 

And then we got a new member in September. We can definately see how much he has grown, on an almost daily basis!

 

My idea to make a layout from them hasn't happened... mostly because I didn't understand that 650 pixels is only 2ish inches big!

 

Can you see how they've changed over the year? In 2010, as I create each blog header, I'm also creating an 8x3 canvas, so I can print them all out in December, and create a mini album from them. Maybe it will become a granma gift for Christmas?!

did you know...

... it's only 318 sleeps until Christmas twenty-ten?



Okay, you can stop laughing now... it's time to get on with some serious planning if you want to make twenty-ten the year of handmade gifts for everyone! Of course, I'll still buy a few things like playstation and DS games, and books and stuff, but my big plans to make presents last year turned into the best laid plans, so this year I'm getting in early!

(You can all thank Becci {who doesn't blog} for the reminder - she contacted me via facebook last night asking for some ideas, and from that message my new blog binder got a small workout!)

So, I've written on my calendar for the next nine months (through to October, when the cookie exchange will start again) that I will post here about handmade gifts - and I'll even attempt to actually create and share photos of stuff I made, not just post links! Okay, you can stop laughing now...

To keep it simple, posts will appear on the 25th of each month. Hope you can come back and join me then!

{53 Mondays}

I spoke last week about this post sparking a light bulb moment for me, and I spent most of Friday creating the pages and covering dividers for my blog binder (seen above) I now have two binders sitting on my {very} small desk (my Memory Log Book binder also sits there, although I haven't opened it for over a week) I created pages using the Katie Pertiet ledger paper and the typewriter font (I think I'm in love with that font now, especially when it's in grey!)

I picked up a handful of Urban Lily paper (which was my very first apper purchase when I started scrapping), and covered all the page dividers (there are twelve, for the twelve months of the year - Jnauary is tucked at the back, behind December, so I can start again next year)

~~ uh oh, she did it again ~~

signed up for another online class, that is.

I love my blog, even though I feel as if it hardly gets read by anyone (and the person it was originally intended for, my mother, is hopeless at keeping up with it!), and I constantly have more ideas to keep me posting and sharing stuff, but I'm not very good at following through (says she who constantly says "I must finish that online class I signed up for" but never does, and constantly signs up for new online classes ~lol~)

Anyway, I figure that with a kick up the bum in the form of daily prompts, and lots of ideas to share, and even lots of fellow bloggers to read my blog (and me to read theirs) that it might actually be possible to keep up with this class (probably helps that when the little boy is restless he needs to be held upright, which I tend to do in front of the computer anyway, daytime tv bores me!) So, the plan is to try and keep up with the class... head over to Shimelle's site to get more info.