Blog Following Options

As some of you may have already heard, Google is phasing out Google Friend Connect (GFC), which means that they are getting rid of it for non-google users, and eventually google users as well. So I thought I would share with you some other ways you can follow my blog or tools you can use to get people to follow yours. Please let me know if you use any of these things, because I would love to follow you.

Bloglovin: I have been a member of Bloglovin for a while now and I really enjoy it. It is nice because they also have a Bloglovin App which allows you to keep up on your phone! I really encourage you to check it out if you haven't used it before, or switch to following my blog if you follow me via GFC.

Networked Blogs: This is something new that I have recently signed up for. I don't know that much about it, but it seems to be like GFC and Bloglovin put together which is cool. Let me know if you use this because I would love to follow you!

Twitter: Most of you already know about twitter, so I am not going to describe it to you. Just a little reminder that you can follow me over there because I tweet about all of my blog posts.

Facebook: I happen to already have a ldc designs facebook page. I don't post that much about my blog, but I do post a lot about the things I make. I have used it as a place to sell my creations for quite a while, so feel free to follow me over there.

Google+: This is the link to my Google+ page, but to be honest I have no idea how to use it. Does anyone know any good links that explain it? Or Youtube videos?

Blogger App Review : Using the blogger app

Note: this post was done entirely by using the blogger app available in the itunes store. 
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Hello! I thought I would do a review of the blogger app for those of you that have an apple product or are thinking about getting one. I figured what better way to review the Blogger App then to use it to write this post?

What I like about the blogger app:
- it makes blogging easy on the go.
- I can easily use my instagram photos with blogging.
- its free... So you don't really loose anything is trying it.

What I don't like about the blogger app:
- I can't figure out how to place my own photos. It just sticks them on the end of the post.
- I can't make the photos extra large so they don't fill up my post column like the rest of my pictures.

Overall this is a good app for on the go. However, your posts will need a little bit of TLC after the fact. So it's really up to you! I do believe this is a new app so they might make some updates that improve it.

Feeling Better Already

For those of you who follow my blog, you may have noticed that I change the look of it quite a bit. You may have also noticed that I just changed it again.

I sometimes find that I loose inspiration with my blogging and that giving it a new look sparks my interest a little bit. It is a lot like rearranging my room (something else I like doing).  So with the new year, comes new ideas, new blog posts and new design. I have a few ideas lined up for the upcoming months and I am also thinking of starting a inspirational blog book, as many bloggers have.

How are you feeling about your blog in the new year?

Blogger Pet Peeves & How to Fix it

I love having followers and being able to answer their comments if I feel that they posted something I would like to respond too. I find that some bloggers are very difficult to track down even when they post a comment on my wall and they are a follower. So I wanted to show you these things that you can change in your info to make it easier to find you (not in a creepy way).

When you follow someone a little icon pops up on the side in my follower list. I always like to check out the blogs of my followers, but this gets very difficult when I click on a follower and there is no link to your blog.

Notice how you can see the link to my blog as well as some of the blogs I follow? Many people don't have the link to their blog here so people are unable to find their blog through their member page.

To add this to your page go to your Dashboard --> Edit Profile (beside your picture) --> Select Blogs to Display (under privacy) and then click the blogs you want people to be able to find.

My second pet peeve is when people comment on one of my posts and I want to reply to them via email and it comes out as "non-Reply" as the address instead of your actual email address. I understand that some people may not want to share their address, but sometimes people will ask me questions and I will go to email them back and I am unable to.

To fix this you need to go to Dashboard --> Edit Profile (beside your picture) --> Select Blogs to Display (under privacy) --> click on show email address. This should make so that your email shows up when you post a comment. That way I can respond to your comments via email, which I like to do!

I hope this helps you out, because I would really be able to access your blog when you follow me!
xo ldc

Fun Free Downloads!

Hello everyone! I have found a couple of fun free downloads that I would like to share with you!

First of all is a free download from Pugly Pixel. This blog is full of awesome things to download from pretty tape strips to a pretty pink blog template! All of her free downloads are super fun to play around with in Photoshop. She also gives some blog advice and you can ask her questions about HTML on her Formspring which is lovely!

Second is a lovely label font that is fun to play with! If you are an organized person who loves to label things it's perfect for you! haha.

Anyways, I thought I would share these finds with you because they are both quite lovely. If you don't have photoshop you can print the ribbons out and use them as paper scrapbooking! I did this for valentines day and it was super cute!

Let me know if you use these for anything! I would love to see it!

xo ldc

Five ways to Discover New Blogs!

Once you find a blog you like it is easy to discover more blogs! Here are five ways to finding new bloggers.

Sponsors: The easiest way to find a blog is to check out the sponsors on a blog. This is a great way to discover new blogs easily. Sponsoring is also a great way to get your blog out there.

Followers: A good way to discover new blogs is to look through the followers of a blog. If the blog has a box on the side that shows their followers then you can go through that to discover new blogs.

Comments: I often like to find blogs by looking through who commented on certain posts. This usually gets you to bloggers who blog a lot and are interested in who follows them, especially if they are commenting regularly on blogs.

Search: Do an online search with a key word you are looking for followed by blog. Here is an example "sewing blog". This is obviously a more specific way to search, but you find blogs that blog about things you are interested in.

Your Followers: Obviously check out the blogs that follow you! It is fun to follow each others blogs because then you make friends!

Following blogs is a great thing because you get to learn new things get inspiration and meet new people! Often, if you follow a blog that person ends up following you which is great for both of you! I think it is important to follow blogs with minimum followers and now always the "big wigs" of the blogging world. Us little guys need to help each other out!

Well I am off to make a Blythe dress. Or try at least!
Have a lovely day.
xo ldc

Blog Talk: How many is too many?

I am curious what you think about following blogs! I was just looking through my blogs and I follow A LOT of blogs. I always seem to find ones that I want to follow. Do you guys think it is possible to follow too many blogs? I feel like because I follow so many, that some fall behind and I forget about them... I usually check the same ones everyday, and then when I am bored I will go through my google reader and bloglovin and check out some others. I am really curious what you all think about this..

So let me know...

• Do you think it is bad to follow a lot of blogs?
• How many is too many?
• Do you follow blogs because you want to check them all the time, or to get followers?
• Do you mind that there are people that follow your blog that never comment?
• Do you have "regular" blogs that you check often?

Thanks for your input! I am curious what people think about this.
xo ldc