I'm A Happy Blogger

Something awesome happened in March. This little blog of mine received almost 4,000 PAGEVIEWS! Can you believe it?! I know I can't. The previous high was 2,000. Readership DOUBLED in March. That blows my mind. Remember those wrapped headphones I made? Well, I pinned it to Pinterest and it spread like wildfire. That post alone received 330 views. Last week I was feeling a little uninspired to blog, but the support I am seeing and hearing from people from all over makes me so excited to keep it up. Thank you for all your comments on my posts and on Facebook and for taking time out of your day to read my blog! I appreciate each and every single one of you.

Here is a graphic from the blogger stats page of the amount of hits my blog has received since June of 2011 when I started blogging. I still can't believe it!

I love seeing the countries represented by my readers, too! I also love seeing support from friends I have that are studying or living abroad!! :) It's kind of hard to see, but the light green countries represent where my readers are coming from!

Here are the most read blog posts. I will be honest, it was a sad day when our engagement story ("Operation Vegetable Drop") was knocked out of the top spot. I had been hoping it would make a comeback, but it's not looking promising ;)

 I'm looking forward to growing my blog even more in April! I promise I will start kicking up the crafts more. I have mostly been doing home decor crafts, but my home is plenty decorated. I'm thinking of exploring the world of jewelry making and breaking out my sewing machine more often. If you see any crafts or have any ideas you'd like to see a tutorial on, send it my way! I'm always looking for new crafts.

Anyway, thanks again for reading guys. You really make my day!! :)

She's Done It Again

That's right, a new blog design. I don't know what it is. I make a design and I LOVE it then a few weeks later, it's time for a change. I like keeping it fresh, but I know I need consistency, too. I'm not going to say I'm going to stick with this one, because I said that the last time! I think I'm just finding my niche in the world of blog design and I like trying out my new skills. It's also a creativity thing. Even though I'm not using my hands and it's nothing physical, it helps me get all those creative juices going! And I love doing it! So, maybe changing it up isn't such a bad thing?

What do you think about this design? I like the clean look of it as well as the bright fun colors. I think it's a good design for springtime.

I am also in the process of updating all the links on my sidebar! I'm hoping to finish them up tonight and tomorrow. I think it will allow for easier navigation and it won't be so hard for me to keep up to date. Check out what I have done so far, I think you'll like it. :)

And Then This Happened

Today was a monumental day for my little blog. It reached 10,000 visitors! Can you believe it?! 

I'm kicking it into high gear this week with lots of crafts and fun things! I'll also be updating my pages and categorizing my posts so things are easier to find and navigate. 

I sincerely thank each and every one of you who read my blog. I started it as a way to share my crafts and ideas with family and friends once I graduated college, and now I can share my ideas with people I don't even know! Knowing others are enjoying what I am creating or inspired by motivates me to be productive and continue to create everyday. Thank you for all your comments and time spent visiting my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you.

I am also very thankful for Kevin who puts up with me asking his advice on new blog designs and taking pictures of everything and filling our apartment with my crafts. And letting me talk about him...probably too much :) 

I'll be back later today with a craft I've been planning for awhile and am very excited about :) Have a great Monday!

Craft and DIY Favorites

Hey guys! I need your help. I'm a sponsor on an awesome blog called Crafted Love this month (see this post for more exciting details!) Allison, the blog owner, is featuring one craft from each of her sponsors this month. I have been trying to decide which craft to share on her blog all week and I just can't make up my mind!

I like my crafts for personal reasons, but I want to know what crafts others appreciate so I can make the best connection with potential new readers on Crafted Love's blog.

In the top right hand corner of my blog, I have added a poll! If you could donate 5 seconds of your time, I would greatly appreciate your feedback! It's 100% anonymous, so you won't hurt my feelings! I have chosen crafts I would be completely comfortable sharing on another blog, and ideas I thought were more *unique*.

If you're new (WELCOME!) click on "Crafts" in the links on the right to view past crafts. If you're one of my loyal readers, let me know what you think! You guys know me best and you know my best work!

Thanks so much guys!

My First Sponsorship

If you are following Start Acting My Age on Facebook, you may have already read this information (what?! you haven't "liked" me on Facebook yet? Well here's your chance! Click the facebook link on the right).

I magically came to the conclusion one day that I was ready to expand my blog and start sponsoring other blogs to gain readership over here. The way sponsorship works, is each blog charges its own fee for ad space. Depending on the size of the blog, sponsor spots can range anywhere from $10 a month to $300+ a month!

I have been reading and inspired by the Crafted Love blog since I first started blogging. It's ran by a lovely lady named Allison (the best name if I do say so myself). She is a college student, engaged and planning a wedding, and is artsy fartsy as well. We have a lot in common and she has great ideas, thus the connection I formed with her blog.

Crafted Love is an awesome blog and Allison's readership is growing rapidly (20,000 views in December to 45,000 in January! Go Allison!) so I knew she was the perfect fit for my first sponsorship. I know her readers would be able to relate to my blog, and vise versa. Allison's rates are very reasonable and I felt comfortable making the investment. You can find my add on her blog for the next 3 months!

Allison has asked her sponsors to give some blogging advice to her readers, as well as share a DIY/Craft. I have been trying to decide on a craft to share, but it's so hard! I'll be back later to ask YOU to help me decide what craft to share. Or, if you have seen any awesome crafts floating around the web that you think I would enjoy making, send it my way!! I'm always looking for new crafts and now I have extra motivation to create something amazing.

FInally I want to say THANK YOU again for reading. I am so happy with my little blog and enjoy creating things to inspire others to be artsy fartsy as well. Have a great Tuesday!!

Is This Cali? No, It's Iowa.

Yes, you're reading that right. It was 65 degrees today! On January 30th. In good ol' Iowa. Today I galavanted about without a coat, ran outside, and even grilled up some hotdogs! I think I will be in for a rude awakening when it's still blustery and blizzarding in April, but for now I will enjoy this beautiful weather while it's here.

Are you having unseasonable weather where you're at?

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Remember 12 days ago when I changed my blog design in honor of reaching 5,000 page views? Well, today I reached 6,000 page views! Thank you thank you all for your support in my blogging adventures and taking time out of your day to read my silly little blog. It is much appreciated. January yielded the highest traffic since November (which, if you recall, was then I posted our engagement story). Start Acting My Age reached nearly 2,000 page views in January! The new year helped motivate me to  make a greater effort to post quality posts with lots of crafts and wedding ideas, as that is what I have found is the most popular topic with my readers. I will continue to up the ante here and crank out some awesome stuff. Check back later this week for some exciting news on the blog front!

Here is a graphic from Blogger Stats at the growth rate of my blog. I started my blog in June 2011 and have been so thrilled to watch my readership steadily increasing. I have big plans for February!

(Looks like I slacked in December...I blame Christmas) 

5000 Views + A New Design!

Yesterday was an exciting day for my little corner of the webisphere. "Start Acting My Age" reached 5000 views! I have watched my readership steadily growing, which makes me very happy and increases my motivation to continue to produce quality blog posts.

In honor of this milestone (and a lack of a sub job today), I decided it was time for a blog overhaul. And when I say overhaul, I mean OVERHAUL! I spent a LOT of time searching around the internet today, figuring out how to do fancy~smancy things with html codes and all that crap. I am not a technical personal when it comes to html and coding and things like that, so I'm pretty proud of what I've come up with.

What do you think? I think it looks a lot more professional and interesting. I got rid of my pages bar across the top and now have links on the right hand side. I also made it easier for you to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and RSS Feed. I'm still working out some kinks, so if you find a broken link or come upon a page that you didn't think a link would lead to, let me know!

Also, I started a "Start Acting My Age" facebook page to post blog updates through that. A lot of my readers rely on Facebook to know when I've updated my blog, but a lot of my Facebook friends don't give a $#!^ about my blog. If you would like to receive updates on new postings, be sure to click the Facebook circle in the top right-hand corner.

While you're at it, you could also click "Join This Site" on the right as well. Here's why:

The next step for my blog is SPONSORSHIP. This means I can actually make MONEY off of my blog. Other bloggers will send me their "buttons" and I will have a column of advertisements. A lot of bloggers look at how many followers you have on Google Friend Connect, so if you click "Join This Site", other bloggers can see how many people follow my blog, thus increasing their viewership as well.

I am hoping to start advertising on other blogs in the next few weeks to increase my traffic as well. Good things are happening over here!

Last but not least, THANK YOU for reading my blog and showing interest in my adventures of crafting, wedding planning, and sharing my daily life. I love blogging but I wouldn't do it without my loyal readers. So... THANK YOU!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope you all had a great celebratory new year with friends and family. We had some friends and family over to out apartment and had a lot of fun. I don't usually get too sentimental looking back on the year around new year's, but 2011 was a great year for me so I thought I'd rewind the highlights.

In 2011 I...
*Finished off a fantastic senior year with some of my best friends
*Graduated from college
*Moved to a new city
*Worked my first real full-time job nannying for an amazing family
*Found my passion in the teaching world working with at-risk children
*Moved in with my boyfriend
*Got engaged to my best friend
*Received my teacher's license
*Watched one of my best friends become a Mrs.
*Started my blog
*Developed my talents in the handmade world
*Saw two of my favorite bands, front row
*Spent lots of quality time with loved ones

*I never make resolutions, always goals, and these goals are always elaborately designed (I'm talking a step-by-step typed out outline to complete them). However, it always seems by February school and life take over and I lose focus. This year, I will make a few goals for myself, but mainly reminders for a happy life.

In 2012, I hope to...
*Get a full-time teaching job
*all and visit my close friends more often
*Find an organization to volunteer for in my new city
*Save more money
*Be the best maid of honor in the history of maid's
*Cook for my fiancé more (when I say more I mean period.)
*Go to boot camp for days per week
*Run another race
*Find new music I love
*Read more books
*Call my siblings more
*Maintain positive thoughts and be appreciative daily

I started my blog this summer as a personal blog to keep my family and friends updated and share my daily musings. The feedback I received was more than i ever expected or hoped for. It's something I love doing, and something I find worthy of my time. If I am going to put time into it, I want to put genuine thought and effort into developing my blog.

2012 Blog Goals
*Update my blog 5 times per week
*Make one craft for my blog each week
*Become a sponsor on other blogs to increase my viewership
*Monetize my blog
*Develop weekly features
*Host guest posting
*Be consistent

Happy 2012 :)

Blog Love

One of the blogs I read DAILY is Little Chief Honeybee, written by a lovely lovely girl named Kaelah. If I wasn't in the teaching profession, I would look like her everyday. She has bright red hair, tattoos, and wears dresses and tights daily (ok, so nearly 2/3 of those things already describe me).

I love her writing style, her creativity, her honesty, and her content! She is one of my inspirations as I am continuing to build my blog.

Today she is offering a giveaway for an iPad2. Being the Apple product lover I am, I decided to enter. Mind you, this is the first giveaway I have ever entered in my life. I have no idea what the chances are that I win, but that's ok.

One of the entries to win was to blog about the giveaway and leave a link on her website. So, that is what I'm doing :). You can enter to win, too! Nonetheless, she has a great blog and if you enjoy my blog you would definitely enjoy hers.

Hop on over to Little Chief Honeybee and see what Kaelah is all about!