Pin It Forward - Top Five Ways To Help Others On Pinterest

As Pinterest becomes more and more popular there are many ways to keep Pinterest a positive experience for everyone. The best way to be helpful is to PIN IT FORWARD

Top 5 Ways To Pin It Forward

1. Create a board with helpful tips and tricks that you have learned to help other that are trying something new.
2. Start a shared board with a friend to pin things that they are interested in. IE I do not crochet but my friend does and I see lots of cute crochet projects on pinterest. I pin them for her and she can easily access the board.
3. Tag a friend in a pin that you think they will like. When you tag someone in the comment section they will receive a notification.
4. Make a board for a cause you support. You will be adding awareness to the cause
5. Take that extra second a LIKE the person's pin before you repin it. Obvisously it caught your fancy if it's worth a repin

For more information on Pinterest just type it in my search bar, you'll find all of my Pinterest related posts!

Year In Review Time Of Year Again - How Social Sites Help You Reflect

2013 Online Wrap Up

This is the time of year when everyone starts posting their resolutions.
Although I usually come up with a few unique ones, I tend to look back at the year to see what stood out for me.

How Social Sites Help You Reflect

As a reader of mine, I am sure you are aware I post a lot on social media.  This comes in handy when it comes to a personal year in review.

Earlier this week Facebook complied some of my most interactive moments in MY FACEBOOK YEAR IN REVIEW



Another great way to see how your year was is to look back at your blog posts, pinterest pins and twitter hashtags that you use often.  They are a great indication of what you participated in over the last year.

Still looking for something to inspire your year in review?
YouTube posted their 2013 Rewind video as a reminder of what happened in terms of viral video over the past twelve months



And I expect that soon the 2013 Google Zeitgeist will be out with many moments from 2013 that made you both laugh and cry.

Updated Dec 17 2013 Google Zeitgeist is Live


How do you find ways to reflect on the past year? Did something stand out for you? Leave a comment below so we can both share in your memory!

Fans Of Fifty Shades - Are Your Ready For SPANK From Just For Laughs?

Just For Laughs and Mills Entertainment Present SPANK! At Centre In The Square

We'll start with the Disclaimer - Yes we did receive a complimentary tickets, but this just means we're able to offer you a chance attend too! Enter the contest at the end of this post!

Fifty Shades Parody For The Fun Of It

SPANK! is a very funny play based on Fifty Shades of Grey from EL James
The show is from the well known Just For Laughs and Mills Entertainment and it will be on stage at Centre In The Square Sunday December 1 2013

Kitchener Is About To Get Spanked

This live action comedy is for an adult audience with a fun and racey sense of humour! So if you loved Fifty Shades grab your book club and get your tickets for 50 times more fun than your regular Sunday nights (well at least in my case anyway)

Ready for the next bit of excitement? We have a contest for SPANK!
Let us know your favorite nevel in the comments below for a chance to win tickets to SPANK! A Fifty Shades Parody!
So gather the book club or the library gang and get them to enter the Rafflecopter contest below (it may take a minute to load).
  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blissdom Canada - Mentors Moments And Memories

I Am Thankful For ...

As I am sitting in front of my desktop computer this 2013 Thanksgiving weekend, I am trying to sort out the best of the best from last weekend's Blissdom Canada experience.  Trying to break it down into the most memorable events is very difficult making me realize just how thankful I am to have been part of this year's conference.

Blissdom The Second Time Around

The last Blissdom Canada event I attended was in 2011.  I was unable to go last year because I was in Las Vegas for work.  That was an opportunity I did not want to miss!  When I read the follow up from Blissdom Canada in 2012 I had realized that the blog conference had changed quite a bit from the one I attended the year before, so I was very curious about the new format.

Being what I like to call a serial volunteer, I was thrilled to be asked to assist with registration at Blissdom Canada this year and to be able to meet and greet so many of the attendees!

When I arrived at the registration desk I quickly scanned the name badges.  I saw that I knew about half of the people that would be attending and the other half were new names to me.  I remember thinking "what a great mix" because I love to reconnect with those from other events and meeting new people is something I enjoy as well.

 

Mentors Moments And Memories

Instead of writing my takeaways from each seminar that I attended I decided to do a roundup of all the events that took place during my weekend at Blissdom Canada. (give it a minute for all the pics to load)  

• Smelling scents of the wonderful soaps that Jeannine of Wlyde Rose Soaps created for the Handmade Marketplace in the car ride there.  Yes we carpooled!
• Arriving to the wonderful smiling faces of friends
• Meeting many at the registration desk

• Seeing Anna snapping pictures out of the corner of my eye (majority of the pics in this post are embedded images from the Blissdom Canada flicker account which Anna snapped)
• The arrival of my roomies for the weekend
• Running around the hotel trying to figure out which meeting room to be in and when
• DRIVING A CAMARO!!!
Post by Lisa McDonald.
• Wearing Our Tiaras!

• Not Wearing Our Tiaras and almost being incognito
• Conversations around tables whether it be in a workshop, a keynote or a meal
• Learning how bloggers can change the world
• Seeing Jully Black perform for the second time that week! Then getting to go on stage with her!

• Jamming as many people as we can in for the last photo of the night
Post by Lisa McDonald.
• Finding a way to get a picture with Jully Black.
Post by Lisa McDonald.
• Late night guests
• Being taken a-back by a gut check moment
• Knowing where Team Naked Polo Perfume originated
• Hearing about the Power created by others
• Lollipop Moments

• Swimming! Hello Hot Tub!
• Dancing in my PJ's

• Being part of a stealth mission for beverages and snacks
• Once again Finding My Bliss

And these are just the ones off the top of my head.  If I was to really stop and reflect this post would become a journal of just one weekend.  I would love to hear your most memorable moments! Leave them in the comments and I'm sure it will help spark more memories for everyone! Then we can all be thankful for the time we spent together at Blissdom Canada.

Cityline Celebrates Tracy Moore's 1000th Show - My View From The Front Row

A Little Twitter Told Me

I am often asked how I find out about the great events we get to attend.  My answer is almost always "I found out about it online!" The same is true for this fabulous occasion!  A while back I saw a tweet about applying for a commemorative Cityline episode so I immediately let Diane know.  She is a big Cityline fan and I knew she would be able to create the perfect writeup for the application.

Soon after she found out that we did make the cut and we would be in the audience for Tracy Moore's 1000th Show on Cityline!  We knew it would be big once we were asked our t-shirt size and that they would be worn during the taping, but we had no idea about all the fanastic gifts we would receive along the way!

Blackberry Z10's, Cadbury Chocolate, Pandora Bracelets, Modern Muse Perfume and get this a Swatch watch (doesn't that take you back?)

Before all the gift giving and show recording began, Tracy was wonderful enough to come out and greet the audience and made a point of talking about how she had been tweeting with us (mostly Diane who suddenly found her voice on twitter) since the annoucement we had been selected to attend.  When she realized that we were the "tiara girls" she started to tell the audience members that she has met us at many other social media events (hence the I found it online statement that I am best known for).

Being part of Tracy's special day was wonderful and we can't wait to run into her again, but for now you can catch us tweeting with the always fabulous Tracy Moore!

Congratulations Tracy!

Post by Lisa McDonald.

Four Great Kitchen Hacks

Be A Little Crafty In The Kitchen

Are you on the look out for tips and tricks to make your life easier? Try these four How To's for your kitchen and see if they help you take charge of your kitchen.


1. Cook Chicken Breasts In Your Steamer
The easiest way to cook chicken breasts are by putting them in your steamer.  No more dried out chicken with this simple switch.  Need a recipe to that uses steamed chicken? Learn how by reading the make a meal in about 20 minutes with chicken that has been steamed.

2. Make A Bread Basket From A Cloth Napkin
Take a look at this video demonstration of a napkin being folded into a basket in less than 30 seconds!



3. Open A Jar Using A Butter Knife
I remember being amazed the first time I saw someone do this.  Perhaps I am not the only one who didn't know how simple it is to use a butter knife to open a tightly sealed jar.



4. Tie A Tenderloin Roast Before Grilling
A tied tenderloin helps when grilling. The roast cooks evenly and will not break apart. For instructions on how to properly prepare a tenderloin roast for grilling what the video demo below



Now I'm not sure if I can do that last one in under 3 minutes yet, but I know practice makes perfect!


Do you have a great Kitchen Tip? Let me know in the comments below!

How To Make A Sock Cupcake - With Demo

Easy Fuzzy Sock Craft

Looking for an EASY CRAFT? Look no further. I'm not crafty but was able to make Fuzzy Socks look like cupcakes.

As you know from my earlier video, crafting does not come easy to me. I lack in the coordination department which is a skill that is required for most crafts......

..... except this one!

Great Gift Topper

I needed a great gift topper and by searching Pinterest I was able to find an easy craft called a Sock Cupcake.  Below I have a quick recap of how it was made, along with the steps I took and the video that I based them on.

 

 

My Sock Cupcake Assembly Steps

1. Everything you need = 2 pairs of fuzzy socks, 2 Elastic Hair Accessories with flowers attached, and cupcake holders
2. Mismatch the pairs of socks, this adds to the cupcake look
3. Roll the first mismatched pair. See video below (it took a few attempts for the first pair)
4. Wrap hair accessory elastic around rolled socks
5. Separate the layers by pulling some up & pushing some down
6. Place in half of the paper cupcake holders (paper baking cups)
7. Repeat with the 2nd pair of socks

After you watch the video on how to make these, see below about my improvisations and what I will do differently next time. (this is not my video but how I first learned to create these)




As you can see I managed to skip the need for tape, ribbon and plastic flowers just by using the hair accessory with the flower attached.  This also adds to the gift as they end up with 2 pairs of socks and 2 hair accessories!

Because my paper cups were smaller they did fit the sock cupcake, but did not stand up and immediately flattened when I put it in one paper cupcake baking cup.  In order to make the baking cups stable enough to hold the sock cupcakes I ended up using half of the package of paper cupcake holders for each pair of socks.

Next time I think I may try those silicone baking cups instead of the paper ones to see if that makes this even easier!

Here's the final result!