Guest Post - Key Lime Digital Designs - Meet Kendra

I am so excited to be guesting posting here at Scatter Girls! My name is Kendra and I blog at Key Lime Digital Designs.

My blog is "all about blogging and design". I am a wife and mother [to a fun loving, social, snacking 18 month old]. My family currently lives in Hawaii. I enjoy blogging, reading, shopping, and hanging out at the beach!

Today I would like to share a special printable with you guys! It is a perfect summertime activity for you and your kids! It is a fun family printable bingo game!

Download HERE

>>> Instructions for Playing the Game <<<

#1 Pick some kind of object to mark your squares. Examples: beans, pennies, smarties, wrapped candy, cereal, or any other small items
#2 Give each player a bingo card and markers. Have each player put a marker over their free space.
#3. Call out items from the call list [last page of download]. Each player will cover that item on their card with a marker. Once a player has 5 squares covered, in a row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they call out bingo and win the game!

For the Caller:
You may play this game two different ways.
#1. You may call out the name of the item {ie house} OR
#2. You may call out any letter from the alphabet. There is a picture for each letter of the alphabet on all the cards {except the letter v and q}. Have each player mark the picture that start with that letter

[this download is for personal use only]

This download is in pdf form and includes 6 bingo cards & instructions. Game cards are 8.5 x 11 {regular printer paper size}

You can follow me on twitter or facebook for more printable freebies!

Thank you so much Kendra for guestposting on Scatter Girls!!

Pinterest Link Up Party

Hello my name is Lauren and I have a serious addiction to Pinterest. You too? I'm not alone? Thank goodness! If you don't know what Pinterest is you may have been living under a rock for the last few months, but don't worry we will catch you up! Pinterest is in a sense an online app where you can virtually pin anything from the web that you find interesting, inspiring, funny or just something you may want to read for later. You can also follow others and re-pin their pins. Basically Pinterest is a great place to get ideas. Here are some examples of some items that are pinned. 

Quotes are pinned 

Recipes are pinned

Craft Projects are pinned

The possibilities for what can be pinned are endless! Today we are hosting a link up you Pinterest account Party! We want to see where you find inspiration, what do you find interesting, what projects do you want to try and what sparks your interest? If you don't have a Pinterest account you do need an invite but were here to hook you up in that department as well, leave a comment with your e-mail and we will see what we can do :) 

Today's Photography Tip is  Shutter Speed.

A longer exposure will give you the effect of motion as shown with the flowing water photo below. The frozen water photo shows the water coming from the hose - frozen in time.  With a fast shutter speed you can do just that - freeze whatever your taking a photo of, even if it is in full motion.   This is what sports photographers excel at doing, freezing athletes in the air kicking a ball, or falling to the ground. The photo of the girls below shows then jumping and I caught them in mid air, CLICK!

You can see the comparison below between 1/4th of a second and 1/1000th of a second below.  The shutter speed set at 1/1000th is so fast it freezes motion.  Also remember with a slower shutter speed you might need a tripod because you can't hold the camera still enough with the slow shutter speed. 

Some tips from Digital Photography School

Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).

In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.

If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).

Try this weeks photography Tip and come back and let us know your results!

{Sponsor} Crafty Girls Workshop!

Here is a super deal from one of our

Scatter Girls Sponsors, Crafty Girls Workshop!

Anna wanted to share with all of you Scatter Girls a fabric deal you might be interested in.  How about being able to grab some beautiful Bella Solid fabric produced by Moda for only $5.99 a yard! Of course, you know that Moda is a highly reputable company that has been producing high quality fabric for roughly 30 years. Their line of solids are just as beautiful as the prints they manufacture and Anna  excited to be able to carry more than 25 different colors at this time. 

 

Please visit the direct sale page here

Better get it while you can though, this sale will end at the end of July and then it will go back up to $6.99 a yard. Oh and one more thing, the minimum cut is a quarter yard if you use .25 in the quantity box. AND for our SCATTER GIRLS an additional special discount code!!

Use the word SCATTER for 10% off your order!!

Thank you Anna for being so generous!!

And if you are lucky enough to live in San Antinio area you can meet Anna
and even take classes!!

Crafty Girls Workshop

1100 Broadway Suite 311

San Antonio, TX 78215

Follow Crafty Girls Workshop on
Facebook

Creative Spaces Link Up Party

Having a space to create and be yourself is so important. We want to see what your creative space looks like. This week's weekly link up is dedicated to your craft space, hobby room, creative studio, whatever you want to call it we want to see where you create! Here are some beautiful spaces we've seen on Pinterest lately...

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So show us where you create.

Suggested Links

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The internet as we know is full of vast sources of information for the handmade business owner, but sometimes do you really want to search for this information? Nope, I don't blame you. I'm here to help you out today, I've done some research for you and want to share a few great resources I've seen lately around the web that I think are worth sharing. I hope you find these resources useful and informative. 

1. Improving your SEO

For those of you who know what SEO is you know how important it is and for those of you who don't let me give you a hint (search engine optimization). It is an important tool for anyone with an online presence. 

2. "How to Reach the Customer You're Not Getting, but Should Be"

Here is a great article for handmade business owners in regards to marketing. Most handmade business owners would rather spend time on creating but it is important to focus on the "business" side as well. 

3. Social Network Etiquette

What an important skill to master in this crazy online world and here is a great article to help us out! 

4. How to Be a Successful Blogger

Don't we all just want to be successful? Here is a great resource from the author of Style Me Pretty a great Wedding Blog discussing some great tips for successful blogging. 

5. Ways to Grow Your Business

This article gives a great overall breakdown on just about everything for owning your own online shop. It is a perfect article for those who are thinking about starting opening a shop, those who have just started a shop or even those who have been around awhile and just need a reminder.

Our First Scatter Girl of the Month!

Happy Friday!
We are so excited to introduce our first Scatter Girl to you today!

This Month's Scatter Girl of the Month is:

• Always interested in others and takes time to get to know those in the handmade community.
• She is always willing to help others with advice, guest posts, tips, or suggestions.
• She is fun and her blog is a place that is jam packed with handmade goodness.
• This Scatter Girl is active in the blog community and is often seen guest blogging on others' blogs.
• She is a busy bee with small kiddos but always makes time for her shop, emails, twitter friends, blog, and to get involved in any initiative that she can.
• She is forward thinking and always wants to be the best she can be.

Our Scatter girl of the Month is:

Alissa Circle of Rags to Stitches Boutique!

Alissa & her family

Congrats Alissa!

Do you know a Scatter Girl? 
Would you like to nominate someone for Scatter Girl of the month? Please fill out the nomination form.

#SetUpShop Workshop GiveAway

This GiveAway is now closed and the winner has been contacted. Thank you so much for your interest.


Hello Scatter Girls!
Are you interested in taking your business to the next level? In the business world we often spend time to develop ourselves professionally to learn new trends in the industry, keep ourselves fresh, rejuvenate our passions, learn new skills, and network with others. The same goes for the handmade community.

When was the last time you spent a couple of hours on yourself and your shop. Real. Intentional. Studying. Practicing and reflecting on your action plan for your business? Your marketing strategy and what your brand stands for? Can you articulate how you define success? How do you assess and measure your success? You Set Up Shop, Now What Workshop will be an intensive, interactive course that will require reflection and look at your business. You will learn how to create measurable goals, tools to assess goals, and create an action plan to further your business to the next level. It is important to take the time to professionally develop yourself while you develop your business.

If you do not have a shop or are new to handmade business, the Set Up Shop 101: The Ins and Outs Workshop will be a great fit. During this workshop you will create a vision for your shop and set goals, evaluate selling platforms, create your brand and begin developing your marketing strategy and learn what that means. You will learn techniques to sell your wares with pictures and through item descriptions, pricing and discount codes, shipping and packaging, customer service techniques and valuing customers. We will also talk about social media, blogging, and other networking initiatives that can help build your business. 

gina

About Gina
Gina earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from The University of Toledo and her Master of Education Degree in Higher Education Administration from The University of Toledo. Gina has worked professionally at the University of California, Riverside, The University of Delaware, and currently at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Gina has taught college level courses on communication, leadership, and organizational management. Gina has taught various workshops, seminars, and institutes on an array of topics such as Networking and Social Skills, Diversity Initiatives, and Law in Higher Education.
Gina is the owner of Hiya Luv Handmade and Hiya Luv: Be Stylish. Be Confident. Be You. blog. Gina is proud to be a founding sister of Scatter Girls and is kept up late at night coming up with new ideas for the blog. She created and began hosting #SetUpShop in early January 2011 and is thrilled that it continues to grow. Connect. Engage. #SetUpShop was launched in early July 2011 and Workshops debuted shortly after. Gina is looking forward to the growth and development of the Workshop curriculum and hopes to be able to offer more Workshops of varying topics in the future.

Gina is excited to give one lucky Scatter Girl a seat to a workshop of their choosing. 





Mandatory Entry:
Please visit the #SetUpShop Workshop site and leave a comment about why you would like to take the course and what you would hope to learn. Please leave your email address so we can contact you if you are the winner.

Extra Entries:
* Follow the Scatter Girls blog and leave your email address.
**Follow Connect. Engage. #SetUpShop blog and leave your email address.
***Blog, tweet, and/or facebook about this giveaway and leave the link along with your email address.

This giveaway will end on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 9pm Eastern. 

Handmade Shop Linkup

Do you have a handmade shop? We would love to see it! Today is a linkup party dedicated to you and your handmade shop. Linkup your handmade shop and let's indulge in each others' talents. Part of Scatter Girls is promoting handmade shops and also providing education for indie business owners to grow. We hope that as scatter girls we can grow together and learn from one another how to grow as resourceful creative business owners. As the Scatter Girls continues to build as a blog we hope you will see more and more resources that become of assistance to you as a creative business owner. Now take a moment to highlight you, highlight your talents, pat yourself on the back and link up your shop...we can't wait to take a peek!

P.S. Don't forgot the discount code for:

Shop--->Twitter--->Facebook

DIY Tutorial with Annie of Wattlebird!

We had so much fun on day 1 of our launch week and we are really excited to introduce you to Annie of Wattlebird. Annie is so fun. She love's Harry Potter and has a knack for knitting, blog design, sewing, and making creative costumes galore. We are confident you will love Annie just like we do!

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Hi there Scattergirls!

I'm so excited about the launch of this new site and honored to be a part of it. If you don't know me, my name is Annie and I blog over at Wattlebird.

Today I'm sharing a super easy t-shirt DIY with you. It's part of my brand new blog series, "Fancy up your t-shirts." And this is an exclusive first look! 

The basic gist of this tutorial is that we'll take two t-shirts, cut off a little around the collar and make scrap flowers in different colors. You can keep it all one color if you'd like, but I think this is just a little more fancy I think. The starting points:



Now you need to measure out how much you want to cut off the collar (up to you), turn the t-shirt inside out and use a highlighter or other light/washable writing utensil to mark where you'll make your cut.



Begin rolling the leftover scraps from the collar around itself, as shown. You should have enough scraps for about three flowers.



Stitch your flowers together and onto the collar area, off to the side.




Voila! Enjoy your pretty, non-boring t-shirts!



Thanks for letting me stop by and share this tutorial with you guys! If you'd like, please stop by my blog and say hi! I'd love to "meet" you :)

WELCOME to Scatter Girls Launch Day

WELCOME!!

We are thrilled to be officially posting on our Scatter Girls launch day!

Thank you to those of you who are already following us - please share the fun with your friends and followers too, on your blog, Facebook and on Twitter, as always the more the merrier.

Are you wondering what a "Scatter Girl" is? 

Well, here is the Scattered Scoop... 

Do you love the handmade community, crafting

sharing your creations, chatting with others about all things handmade?

Do you love to try new crafts, perhaps you have a stash of fabric, rubber stamps, buttons, photographs paints, wire, ribbon, etc..  and each of these supplies fuels a passion to

create something new with them?

Do you love to try new things and step outside your crafting comfort zone?

Do you want to grow your handmade business shop?

If any of this sounds like YOU then you are a Scatter Girl too!!!

We have a great week scheduled full of fun for you

Tuesday - Guest Post
Wednesday - Linky Party - Link your shop
Thursday - Guest Post
Friday - Our first Scatter Girl will be announced!!

A special treat for our Scatter Girls is a 10% discount code to

Shop......Twitter......Facebook

Coupon Code: SCATTERGIRLS good through July 17th!! 

Scatter Girls welcomes #Setupshop

Happy Tuesday to all our Scatter Girl friends.  I'm very excited to share this post with you about a brand new blog created as a result of a chat that many, if not all, of us are a part of each week.  Gina , our very own Scatter Girl who blogs at Hiya Luv has a brand new blog #Setupshop.  How exciting for us.  We meet on Monday's at 8pm {est} on Twitter to chat about all things handmade, our shops and such, and now we have a blog to follow and have #Setupshop always available to us.

Here is what Gina wrote in her introduction post

"My vision for #SetUpShop is that we are here to help one another succeed."

• #SetUpShop is a place to build relationships and cheer each other on when we have had a bad experience or are challenged with our businesses.
• #SetUpShop is a place to give one another honest feedback in a kind and supportive manner.
• #SetUpShop is a place to share ideas and strategies but not to steal or copy from one another.
• #SetUpShop is a community of learners striving to do our very best in our handmade businesses and in the real world.

Click above to visit #Setupshop

We will also be sharing lots of #Setupsup goodness here on Scatter Girls too!!