Blog Bloggers Blogland Have a Great Weekend Happy Fourth of July

Blog Bloggers Blogland Have a Great Weekend Happy Fourth of July!

Hello, and Welcome back everyone to LilacsNDreams! I LOVE blogs, I enjoy visiting other blogs sooo much, I enjoy being inspired by others, and I also love to share about others as well. One of the blogs that I have been following through Bloglovin is called A Beautiful Mess. They are great there! Share things about them, share things about what they like, they are informative, and it is a comforting place to visit. Makes me jealous:) I would recommend stopping by to see what they all offer, and to check out their 'New' look that they have too. It is simple there, easy to navigate around, and you are welcome to leave a comment there as well too. So, when you get a chance stop by to see these 2 ladies who are friends, and have come together doing this. It's fun, and can be a learning experience as well:)

Well, here we are. The weekend of the 4th of July which by the way the 4th falls on Wednesday this next week. Any big plans anyone? Not for me here. I hope to maybe get some more things done around the home...finish painting another coat onto something in my son's closet, and maybe start cleaning the floors up a bit more too upstairs. Contractors haven't done it, and I am tired of it, so I guess I shall do it. Hmmm....maybe I can find some more garage sales, or maybe I will drive to a couple of thrift stores too. Not real sure, and will see what my mood will be waking up tomorrow:)

Thanks for stopping by to visit, and share your time with LilacsNDreams everyone. I wish you all well, and hope to see you again soon. Take care, and be safe!

 

Vintage Collectibles Home Decor With Glassware Collections

Vintage Collectibles Home Decor With Glassware Collections can come from many of the well known glass makers such as Fenton, Westmoreland, Indiana Glass Company, Cambridge Glass, Colonel, and many more. 

Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone! How many of you have a fetish for collections of glassware. Colors, shapes, sizes, vintage collectibles, home decor, dinnerware, drinking, and so much more.  There is a lot out there. I myself like to collect it, and I also like to find pieces that I can reuse with repurposing too. 

Some of the glassware sought after might be opalescent, maybe a milk colored glass that can be white and some soft pastel colors, patterned glass, pressed glass, depression glass, carnival glass, and there is so many beautiful pieces out there to explore. Today many of the patterns, and colors that were developed from designers are not as easily found, and not considered new anymore. Keep in mind over time due to popularities of some of the glass work made that reproductions have also been made too. You can find some pieces that are reasonably priced, and you can find some pieces that are very hard to find, considered rare, and their prices can be quite spendy too.  Know that the prices can fluctuate with different places.

Glass has been around for a very long time, and it is used in many ways too. Some glass is so beautiful when a ray of sunshine hits it showing its design, pattern, iredescent coloring, and a beautiful array of colors it makes you melt, and you find yourself saying awww, oohh, wow, and etc. Glassware is found with home decor, sometimes dinnerware, wine glasses, goblets, drinking glasses, figurines, and in many shapes, forms, and colors. 

When shopping for glassware make sure to check for any imperfections on the pieces. Cracks, chips, crazing, how many imperfections, etc. How bad are the imperfections found can also determine how much the actual piece would be worth in todays market. Sometimes a small chip that is found on the peg foot of a designed bowl will not effect the value of the piece. Yet, if the chip were bigger, maybe discolored, and if there is more than one chip or crack it can also go against the value of the piece found too. 

When shopping for pieces to add to your collections, or to start your collection keep in mind you should do some homework with this as well. Check the internet with places selling vintage collectibles, antiques, or some people also buy used glass pieces to repurpose with too. Check around on the internet with different places, ask questions of some who are with social medias, check with your library books, and sometimes having some of your own books on hand is an advantage too. 

When you are shopping for glassware there are many places to go that you can get pieces to add to your collections. Online sales have been a very good place for people to look at. Some will shop Ecrater, Artfire, Etsy, and Ebay among other online venues too. Some of my favorite places to shop for items myself is with Thrift Stores, Yard Sales, Flea Markets, sometimes a church auction will have things, different auctions that are held in your area, and so on.

Make sure to do your homework, make some notes before you leave to go shopping, get some small pocket sized books to help you that can be carried while shopping, have FUN shopping, enjoy and learn things along the way, and soon you will be putting together a collection that you can take pride in showing to others.

Happy Collecting to all Glassware Collectors! Enjoy, have fun, build something that you admire, and take pleasure in. Thanks for sharing with LilacsNDreams everyone. Have a wonderful day, and come back to visit again soon. 

How Many Online Storefronts is Enough or Needed

How Many Online Storefronts is Enough or Needed.

When I see this I think of that old saying that we all are often reminded about. "Don't place all your eggs into 1 basket". So then many will also ask How many storefronts do we need? How many storefronts is really enough? Often times we will ask ourselves do I need another storefront. If I have another storefront will I have more sales. Also, having another storefront gives me how much more exposure too. Another logical question is how many storefronts is too many. 

Many questions asked, and they are all within good reason of asking too. The theory behind this sort of thing is the more stores you have the more eyes you will attract, more visitors, more traffic, and so on. Honestly there really is no right, or wrong answer to this question. You need to find what works for you, what you are capable of doing, and what you see results with that you are happy with yourself. Sorry, this is one I will not give you a definite answer to. There will be many mixed feelings, and many different views with this. All sellers are different. Some sellers find that having everything under 1 roof works for them, and they like it like that. Others find that they can do better if they break things down into different stores. 

Something to consider is if you would want 1 store per product type that you will be offering, or maybe you would rather have 1 big store that will house different categories for the different products that you will sell. You will want to consider the products that you sell. Will they all be for the same audience, and customers that you will be serving. An example to use for this would like selling electronics, and clothing in the same store. Would this work, and is it appealing to you. Try seeing this through the eyes of a customer, and what would work for them too.

If you were to house everything into one place it could also be an advantage for you too. You would have more listings, more people visiting for the different things you are offering which could bring you more traffic, it could be a convenience for the customer to have it all in 1 place with no roaming around to all the different stores, and etc. It could make a little bit more work making sure you have categories to cover all products being offered. You would have 1 place where the customer would visit, browse, and ask questions for you to answer to as well. Something like this makes me think of a catalog that you would browse, and shop with. Also, another thought is the simplicity of things being in 1 place too. Not only for us, but for the customers too.

So, IF you were to split things up into different stores how many items would you have in those stores. I think of the issue where it is always discussed that having at least 100 items in your store is good for you, visibility, sales, page ranking, SEO, and etc. Could be quite helpful in the search engines too. 

If you were to have separate stores would you have them all in multiple market places. Doing this you would have to consider the different locations, the fees for each one of them, and the time spent to do all of this too. Is it necessary to do all of this, and would it be of benefit for you to do this as well.

I apologize for not being able to give you 1 complete answer, but do hope this will help you consider different things before moving ahead with your thoughts. Over time I have seen many things done by many people that works for them. I have seen many sellers who have 1, 3, 5, 8, 12 shops and sometimes more. They have found for them that this works. I am thinking. . . Whew! I myself have had up to like 5-6 shops, and did not like it. I had to worry about duplicating things among the shops that google does not like. Then I had to consider being able to give each, and everyone of the shops fair time spent with them. If something sold, did I remove it from the other stores, and which stores did I have this item listed with. Also, holding things up in between the stores due to packaging, and shipping an item that has sold with 1 of the stores. The fear of the 1 item selling twice too. How do you decide which customer will get the item, and what do you tell the other customer that will not get what they thought they were purchasing. 

Many years ago when I started selling online I started with Ebay, and at that time I housed everything into 1 place. I did okay with it, had no issues, and things moved right along for me too. I wish you all well with these decisions that we always have to make. I hope that this topic was able to help you think of a few things as you make your decisions with your shops for selling. Not only consider what I have mentioned here, but maybe also some other things not covered too. 

Good Luck to all of you, and many Happy Sales to you as well! Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams. Come back to visit again soon. 

 

Cottage Style Decorating Choices For Our Homes

Cottage Style Decorating Choices For Our Homes is light and airy, fresh and fun, and is completely clearly plainly an original too. A Look that is cozy, and comfortable. There are many styles for cottage decorating, and so many lovely ways of achieving that cottage style look too. Todays styles often incorporates the soft palettes of green, blue, yellow, pink, and yes shades of lilac too. Now, the many styles can also vary with the styles of colors which include country, beach, primitive, rustic, shabby, french, chic, white, pink, and modern. Combining some things together such as the pastel colors, some pretty florals, add some vintage home accessories can all give your home that cozy cottage style. 

A great thing about decorating with the cottage style is that there are no rules! So, I would suggest that you surround yourself with the things that you love, and are dear to you. 

Many things that you can mix doing the cottage style decorating. Lace handkerchiefs, lace trims, fragrance candles, and some sweet smelling soaps. You can easily mix some of those roses with some of them fun stripes, antique and new pieces, shabby with chic, and so on. Use some of them comfortable rocking chairs, some fabulous wallpaper, and there are many fabrics that are just yummy to use with your cottage style homes too. I know many think that cottage style is just white, white furniture, white paint, white picket fences, and of course roses. Keep in mind that there is so much more that you can do, mix, match, and achieve with this look. Have fun with it. 

Don't forget the weathered paint. Just love that chippy paint! Maybe throw some fabulous materials, or slip covers over some of the furniture, and love the vintage style upholstery all over again!

The cottage style decorating can surface anywhere, and the attitude can also be what makes the house cottage too. Sometimes the country look has been applied, and sometimes that wonderful beach look has also been applied as well. Whatever you choose it is a welcoming feeling to all who visit. 

I love cottage style homes. Enclosed you will see different pictures that came from better homes and garden, and some were by searching google for cottage style homes and decorating. 

Mixing some of the old with the new

A colorful beach cottage

Relaxing cottage porch

Cottage Style open shelving

Cover to an easy cottage style magazine

The relaxed cottage beach look







I admire surfing the internet, looking at books, seeing magazines, and every place that shares this comforting Cottage Style of homes. I thank all who have shared for us to admire. Which style of home are you?

Thanks so much for sharing with LilacsNDreams today. Make sure you come back to visit again soon, and know that you are welcome to share with all of us here too. 

LilacsNDreams Wishing You All a Wonderful Weekend

LilacsNDreams Wishing You All a Wonderful Weekend!

Hello everyone, and here it is Friday again...already! Don't it seem like this week just flew? Maybe it is just me, but the time sure got away from me this week. 

So, any big plans this weekend anyone? Maybe some Thrifting, Garage Sales, any Flea Markets in your area? I did some thrifting on Wednesday, and then yesterday I came across a tag and estate sale while going down the road. Having a tag sale in this area is not very common, and it did catch my interest. I stopped in, and found a few old goodies. I got a red, and white kitchen scale that appears to work so far. Gonna look at it more today. I got an old tea coffee pot. Lil 6 cup one that is in very good clean shiny condition. Picked up a hankie, a doilie, and just couple of odd things for the home. Talked with some people, and enjoyed the late afternoon shopping:)

It's Friday, and here is to wishing all of you a fantastic weekend! Enjoy it, have fun, and be safe everyone. Thanks for visiting with LilacsNDreams today. Come back to visit again soon. 

 

Reuse Repurpose Upcycle Recycle What You Already Have

Reuse Repurpose Upcycle Recycle What You Already Have. 

Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone. Out of curiosity, have any of you thrown things away that you wish you hadn't? Maybe thrown something out, and later realized that maybe it could have been saved by reusing it in another way. Sometimes we have treasures in our homes, right in front of us, that we can use in other ways for our homes, gardens, offices, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, home decor, and just sooo many ways to upcycle items. 

I myself really enjoy repurposing, and upcycling pieces I find around the home. It is more cost effective doing this, for those who are into being green, saves on filling the landfills, and better yet it becomes a one-of-a-kind piece in our homes too. Another good reason to repurpose is because the pieces you find in your homes already have their own character, patina, and details. Newer pieces would not have these characteristics. Keep in mind that some of the older pieces were better made than some of the newer pieces of today too. So, before you consider buying something new have a look around your home. Look at pieces closely, and consider pieces that you could reinvent with. You might have some pieces that maybe need just a little updating to them. Maybe it's some material, little bit of gluing pieces together, giving a touch of paint to it, maybe some new hardware, and so on. Look at things, and then have fun reinventing them back into useful pieces to enjoy that will last too. 

Take for instance maybe that old tv armoire that you think you should get rid of. Why not convert it to maybe some sort of kitchen pantry, a microwave cart, add a rod to it and make a mini closet for your child to hang coats, costumes, and things like that. 

Hang on now. Don't get rid of that old dining room table. There are some possibilities there you know. Consider cutting down the legs, and maybe making a coffee table that you were wanting. If the table top is good maybe add it to another table, make another table, etc. The legs could be cut, and made into some really nice candle holders around the home too.

Another thing we find often that we rid ourselves of is dressers. There is sooo much that could be done with those as well. Great pieces to use in organizing a room in the home. Remove the drawers if they are bad, and add some plastic or decorative containers in place of that. Maybe use it in the bathroom to make a vanity for it. 

Some of them fabric bathroom shower curtains you want to get rid of...hang onto those maybe too. They are water resistant, worked great in the bathroom, so why not use them outside for some of your cushion covers. 

Please keep in mind that I am not in anyway telling you to go out, and do exactly as I have mentioned to do here. I am suggesting that maybe before we throw something, or get rid of something from our homes, and especially before buying new . . . maybe consider some of the items to be repurposed, upcycled, and reused in other ways. Nearly everything can have a second life if we allow it. Seeing beyond what these items are, to what they can be could really be fun to do too!:) Don't forget how it can be a money saver as well.

If you have anything you have done, anything you would like to share, I would love to hear it! I so enjoy repurposing, and being creative. Sometimes hearing from others will also spark something for me to create in yet another way too. Yes, I do online sales, have done so since 2004, and have mostly done vintage collectibles too. Over time I felt like there was something missing, and I wanted more. Repurposing, and upcycling has been so much fun. I enjoy thrifting, and seeing pieces with all kinds of possibilities. 

Hey, thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams everyone. Hope you enjoyed this little tid bit as well. Take care, and hurry back to visit again soon. 

 

Your Photo File Names Should Be Descriptive Keywords

Your Photo File Names Should Be Descriptive Keywords. You are asking why for this, right?


Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone. Grab a coffee, or tea, or some form of drink to have a seat, and relax. My posts of lately have been about SEO, blogs, domains, and different things to help us all with our Online Sales, Crafting, or whatever it is we have chosen to do. I came up with a small issue that was interesting, and wanted to share with you all. Might be a reminder for some of you too. 


We have all been informed how our Item Titles should be descriptive to help with SEO, placements in the search engines, and etc. Something else to consider that is also helpful is a file name that we use with our pictures (photo.jpg) when we upload to our blogs, websites, venues, social networks, etc. This is helpful for when someone uses one of the search engines, and they choose to limit their searches to maybe photos only. So, if your photo has the file name that was assigned to it automatically reading something like 12345.jpg it probably won't show up with a specific search. But, if someone were to say call their photo ivory-pillar-candle.jpg it will have a great chance of showing up, and being seen on the first pages too! If you have more than 1 picture of the same item it is ok to use numbers as well. Like ivory-pillar-candle-1.jpg, and ivory-pillar-candle-2.jpg.


SIDE NOTE: Google reads spaces as "%20" So, if you uploaded a photo maybe named 
"my photo.jpg" (notice the space?) the actual URL for this photo would be something like http://www.mysite.com/my%20photo.jpg which can cause a lot of your links to be broken if they are not linked to properly. You should either use _ (underscore) or maybe a - (hyphen) for any file that will be used in the URL. Actually, the Hyphen is preferred because Google reads these as a keyword separator. Yes, the underscore does prevent a broken link, and is treated like another character. So, for instance "tealight_candle" is "tealightcandle" with just another character that is in between. Now, "tealight-candle" is going to be read as 2 separate words. 

Isn't this interesting? Who would have guessed, right? After reading something like this a while ago I had done changes to my pictures in my files before using them for my listings at different venues. Sometimes when a search is done using keywords you will find pictures from my listings showing in the groups they show right away on the 1st to 2nd pages in searches. Every little bit we can learn, and do helps us all in one way, or another. 

Hope this little tid bit with your photos was helpful to you, and all that you do everyone. Thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams. Make sure you come back to visit again soon, and feel free to share with all of us here as well. 

 

Having a Domain Name The Domain Do I Need It Is it For Me

Having a Domain Name, The Domain, Do I Need it Is it For Me. 

This is a question that many of us ask. Many of us are online sellers who are always looking for ways to improve what we do, what we sell, and getting ourselves noticed just a little bit more each time. Along with all of this processing we consider what venues to sell with, how many places should we sell at, where do we show all of our products being offered. Then, there is the issues we need to work out considering if we should have a website, a blog, social medias, and don't forget also if we should have a domain name, shall we have hosting, and so on. This all takes work, and a lot of time. Once decisions have been made, and we work with them we can see results from it all too. 

So, what is it. Should we buy our own domains. Like many of you I often questioned if this was another step I needed to consider. Is it necessary, is there benefit to it for me, and again how much is this going to cost me if I decide to do it. I considered many different things with it. Then, I researched it a little bit, considered if it was time for me to keep up with the pace of things, was it time to upgrade to this next level, and decided that this was about Me, what I was doing, and to go ahead and take the plunge of having a domain. I now own about 5 domains for my LilacsNDreams name. I am happy I have done this, there has been a small cost, but I have also seen the benefits with doing this too. 

Some things to consider when having your own domain:

1) Use your Blog - I have directed one of my domains to my main blog here. Much easier for customers, and followers to remember. Made sense because my Blog is the "hub" to all things I do, links, and etc. I decided to also have a domain that directs to my Lilacs Shoppe page here as well. Having a domain looks really nice on the business cards, is much easier, and a little bit shorter for me to write out too. Gives it more of a business feel, and that you are serious about what you are doing as well.

2) Landing Page - Show information about yourself, list your links, note your web pages, maybe note the different venues that you sell with, show information for your social networking that you might do, and so on. Having a domain would be a great thing to have for those who maybe have multiple Websites, multiple Blogs, multiple Venues that you sell with, etc. Having a designated domain for this is a wonderful landing page to have for everything in one place. 

3) Professional Page - Having a domain will also help with the appearance of your Online Business, Would be beneficial for the person who is a Writer, could also help with those maybe who Coach or do Consulting, and etc.

Having the YourName.com makes it easier for people to find you, remember your name, and gives the sense of you being serious about your profession that you have chosen to do as well. 

Another thing to consider is the Domain Name that you wish to choose. There are many choices, and ideas in the choosing process of this. For instance, some might prefer to use their own personal name. A writer is a good example for this. Many will choose their business name they have with selling as their domain name which is good in helping you brand your name as well. After considering the name then there is the decision of which service should you use. There are many out there, many opinions for all of them, some like this one, and some like that one. Choose what is right for you, what you are comfortable with, and the one you feel will benefit you with your needs. 

I chose GoDaddy.com for my domain services. I found them to be much easier to navigate with when I wanted to redirect my domains to a landing spot. Maybe I direct one time, and then change my mind. It takes but a few minutes to sign in to redirect, and do what I want done with it. My fees for my domain name are minimal compared to me having a website, the hosting fees for a website, the shopping cart, payment services, and so much more. 

I pay a yearly fee for my domains, and generally am offered special prices that I could also renew them for 1-2-3-4+ years as well. I have chosen no hosting services for what I am doing at this time. Some use domains for blogger, wordpress, have them directed to some of the free websites like with weebly, and so on. It's your business, your choice, and what works for you that you are comfortable with. 

So, how many of you have your own domains. Are you happy with the domain choices you made. Are you happy with the service provider that you have chosen. Maybe you are considering it, and looking at your options too. I hope that this little tid bit of information was helpful in ways to help you with what you want, and decide to do. If you have anything to share from experience, remember you are more than welcome to do so as well. 

Thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams everyone. Have a wonderful Tuesday, and see you all back again soon. 

    

Good Morning Monday With LilacsNDreams

Good Morning Monday With LilacsNDreams!

Hello everyone, and Happy Happy Monday! Oh, I know....hard to get out of bed, feet dragging, feel like you haven't slept, and you are asking....Is it Friday yet?:) Hang in there. Today shall pass, and tomorrow will be better. Just stopping by to wish you all a Great Monday. Hope you had a beautiful weekend, and wishing all a wonderful week. Take care, and make this a great Monday....It Will Be!

Thanks for dropping by LilacsNDreams! See you all again soon!

 

Visit and Blog With LilacsNDreams on Saturday

Visit and Blog With LilacsNDreams on Saturday Morning. 

Welcome to LilacsNDreams everyone, and glad to have you dropping by. Small note letting everyone know that I have done my 3 postings for next week. They are prescheduled, and will publish as scheduled by Me. 

Won't keep you all here long, but wanted to wish you all a swell weekend with all you do! Enjoy it, have fun, and be safe everyone. Thanks for dropping by LilacsNDreams, and see you again on Monday. Take care, and see you again soon.

Simple Tips For Blogs Bloggers Blogspot Wordpress

Simple Tips For Blogs Bloggers Blogspot, and Wordpress too. 


Blogging like Social Media and Networking has become a bigger, and more popular thing to do. It attracts people, everyone likes to see other ideas, read, learn, they are informative, good promotional tools to use, and just a little bit of everything really. Many want to blog, yet many don't know where to start. Another issue is am I doing this right, how do you know what you are doing is good enough, how long does it take, and so on. All of them wonderful thoughts. 


So, I will share a few ideas with you about blogging that come from me, and actually many other bloggers put together. Please remember that there is no right, or wrong that is shared with you. Just ideas, some thoughts, and things that have been found to be helpful.


Choose a Personal Theme. You are wondering what is meant by this. Consider blogging about what you are most passionate about. It is quite alright to have more than one subject as many of us have more than one passion, or more than one thing we like to spend our time with. Pick themes such as Vintage, Collectibles, Thrifting, Crafts, Handmade, Homemade, Lifestyle, Photography, Writing, and there is a lot out there to choose from. It is best to choose the tings you are passionate about because the love you share for those things will also be seen by others, and they can relate with you as well. 


Keep in mind if you start blogging about what you see others doing your chances are that within a few months you will feel uninspired. You will feel the need for a change, and might become discouraged too. Remember, things all take time, and once you find your niche for blogging it will be beneficial, enjoyable, and can be fun too.


When Blogging Don't Feel the Need to Do It All. You do not have to blog about everything, only what you wish to share. If you are not at all comfortable about sharing your personal life....than don't do it. If maybe you don't like vintage collectibles you do not have to blog about it. The point is with blogging you can give yourself complete control, and you have no obligations of doing what other bloggers are doing. Keep in mind to Do what you Love, Be Confident with it, and with your choices. Others will see this with what you share. Doing less can also be a strength as well too. 


I do recommend that you keep a regular schedule of doing posts on your blogs. Now, don't stress out about this. It's important to choose a schedule that fits with your Lifestyle so you can enjoy creating your posts each, and every week. Keep in mind that consistency is memorable to those who follow, pass through, and like to roam blogs. 

I ensist You Give Yourself Permission to Experiment. Believe me, it is very normal to have kinks for you to work out with in blogging. At first you might keep developing ways, changing your routines, maybe refining the content you are using, and you will do this till you are happy with it. No problem in doing this, and having this happen to you. You don't know till you try, right?:)

You will want to Network, and Make Blog Pals as well too. One place to go to is creating a Bloglovin account to help with some of this. Here you will discover other blogs that you enjoy, can follow with them, and learn some things from them too. Again, there is no right or wrong to this. Enjoy making connections through social networking, and keeping in touch. Helpful to cross promote with friends. Enjoy making some New Friends too!

Practice with Photography, and Develop Your Own Style. With most of the blogs photography can be a big deal. Using photography can help attract others to your blogs. You don't need a fancy camera to do this, or some fancy editing software either. Just start with what you know, and sometimes that is all you need. With my main page of my blog that you always visit I generally don't show much in pictures unless it is something pertaining to the subject at the time of my postings. My pictures for items I refound for vintage, collectibles, resell, repurpose, and etc is found with my other main page here LilacsNDreams Shoppe. It is my preference to keep mostly business kept to that page while with my main page I can share a little bit of everything that I see, learn, found, read, and etc.

These notes to you about blogging are just some simple helpful tips I hope that will help those who are thinking about blogging. What topics to share is always of some concern to many. Me? I keep a book, notepad, paper, or something to make a note on when I have an idea. My Idea Book is what I call it. I make notes of things to try, to maybe talk about, maybe I want to research a topic more in order to share it, and etc. It has been helpful to do this. 

Know that with time your blog will get better. I myself am not an expert. I have learned things over time, and still am learning. I add things, remove things, change things, but it is my blog, and I do what I feel is right for me, and what my purposes are. What I am comfortable with is the proper way. 

My Best Advice to give to everyone who is starting out blogging, or thinking about it.....I will never tell you what to do with your blog. I can only suggest, and share things from time. Blogging is your freedom, a part of you, a part of what you do, and it becomes your creation. 

So enjoy blogging, have fun with blogging, and it really is not as bad as it seems starting out. It seems over whelming because it might be something new, but once you get the feel for it, and find your way of doing things, you will enjoy it very much!

Thanks for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams today. Come back to visit again soon. 

   

Buying Searching Junking Preparing For Resale and Things

Buying Searching Junking and Preparing For Resale and Things too.


Good Day, and Welcome to LilacsNDreams. Wow! Wednesday, and where is the time going to? I know all of that thrift shopping, yard saling, junking, and searching of treasures and supplies, right? Make sure to have some fun too. 


I was curious, and having another thought about things. Don't laugh cuz I know ya'll do it too:)  Once we have done all of the searching, and hunting for items needed we take them home, and what do you do next with it all? I know that we all have different ways of doing things, different things that we do in preparation, and we all have opinions as to what we should do for our sales. The biggest decision of course that we are face is are we keeping it, or are we selling it?:)

I love shopping at Thrift Stores, Yard Sales, Flea Markets, do some junking, and . . . don't tell anyone . . . once in a while you just might see my feet hanging out from a dumpster too! Now, once I get all my refound treasures home I like to set them all out, and make notes to everything I got. You know the usual of things like where I bought it from, how much did I pay, the date I found it, and so on. Then comes the next step of cleaning, and closer inspection of everything. I always worry about damaging things, and so I gently wash them to the best of my abilities. Since I worry about possible damage of things I carefully do them one by one, and take my time with them all too. As I am doing this I am also inspecting pieces for any other damages that were there, and deciding if they are going to be resold as is, or if I shall reuse them with repurposing. After everything has dried I like to take the time to get the old notebook out, and spend some time researching some of the pieces too. The values of them, and what can be done with them from there. Not only am I using the internet, but sometimes books are used in reference of some pieces to get a better idea of value, selling prices, and what they should be offered at in today's market. 

This really doesn't seem like a whole lot of procedure in doing these few things, but it is time consuming. I enjoy doing it as I learn about the pieces, and can also connect with them by better viewing them in different ways from when they were purchased. 

You know if you have something to add with this, or maybe share with us here you are more than welcome to do so. I love hearing about different ways of things. There is no right, or wrong to things here. Just a great way to share, and to learn from everyone. So, hit that comment button, and do your thing!:)

Thanks for visiting, and sharing your time with LilacsNDreams! I enjoy it all. Come back, and visit again soon. 

Search Engines Used For Searching Products and Stores

Search Engines Used For Searching of Products and Stores.

Whew! Weekend is over, and here we are again on Monady...it's Monday, and gonna be a great day!:) I had a thought the other day....I know, when don't I, right? It was a thought for another topic to have on my blog. So, I noted it, and here I am to share with you again. We need to quit meeting like this...someone might get one of them there ideas...LOL:) Follow Me into my topic.

Ok, enough of me, now back to my thought I had. When you search for items, or your treasures online. How do you search for them? Me, like many others out there with the internet world go to the computer...yeah I know, the phones too. But, we go to the computer, have a seat, and we go to the internet. So, when you sit down to that keyboard, what do you type into it to look with? I know a lot of people would go straight to Ebay for this. Yet, there is so much more out there to see. Buyers, Sellers, and Shoppers of all sorts need to remember to use the search engines for your shopping needs. Works for research, and getting some ideas of what is out there, who offers what, the prices being offered, and so on. The 2 main search engines that many use are of course Google.com, and don't forget there is also Bing.com too. Many searches have also been done with Yahoo.com, and along the way you will find many other small search engines that are also used by many others too. 

When you have something specific in mind that you want to search for, maybe buy, research it with you need to learn to use the search engines to see more of what is out there available. When using the search engines you can get a nice variety of items that are being offered. While doing these searches you will also learn of other venues, and market places that people sell from. You will also learn of other auction sites that are there besides Ebay too. By doing this sometimes you can find a better price due to the different fee structures that are offered at the different platforms for sellers to use. You will also find that there are other Payment Services that are offered, and not every place is Paypal Only. For instance with Ecrater I myself am allowed to offer Google Checkout, and Paypal. At Artfire I can offer Amazon Payments, and Paypal. Some at Artfire will also offer Propay. At Etsy besides the usual offerings of Paypal they also have a Direct Checkout that some sellers will offer too. 

Keep in mind that if you see something you like from my finds that I show with my LilacsNDreams Shoppe page just contact Me. I can invoice you myself through Paypal, Google Checkout, and Amazon Payments. You would not have to sign into some places, register, and let me know the service you would prefer to use. 

Another good thing with search engines if you know the name of the store, or shop you wish to connect with you can also find that name this way too. Once you put in their name at Google, or Bing you can see all the pages that might come up for that name, and also all the different places that the person is associated with too. Give it a try. Just go to Google.com  Bing.com, also Yahoo.com and type in my name of LilacsNDreams. Upon doing this you will see my blogs, my stores, and different places I am associated with over time.  Neat, huh?

I hope that this little tid bit of information shared with you was found to be helpful, and maybe fun too. Remember, any questions don't hesitate in asking. Same goes for sharing too. It's free, love hearing from all of you, and it's fun too. 

Thanks for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams. Come back to visit again soon. Have a wonderful week!:)

Hello Everyone All Bloggers Blogland Happy Saturday

Hello Everyone All Bloggers, Blogland, Happy Saturday! Thanks for sharing with LilacsNDreams!

Was having some thoughts, looking over notes, and working on my computer.  Something happened to it Wednesday I am not sure how to explain, what happened, and why it has happened. But, I am still trying to deal with the issue of things not saving on my computer once it shuts down/restarts, and just the small things like that...urgh!

Of course I had to come by here, and check on everyone as well. Making sure things were in order, and see if I had anything to answer to. It's Saturday, warm out, and a beautiful sunny day. Hope it is great where all of you are at, and that you can enjoy this day. It's the weekend everyone, and I wish you all well. Take care, enjoy, have fun, and be safe! See you again on Monday!:)

Bookmarking Included With Social Media Tools As Well

Bookmarking Included With Social Media Tools as well. Welcome back, and onward we move with discussions we have had about Social Media Social Networking. 

I have been periodically been discussing different things which involve Social Media, some tools that can be used, and briefly trying to explain some of these things in a little more depth to you. It looks like with today's topic I will be finishing up with some of these discussions. At least for now. Never know what more I will find to add in with different posts. 

Today we will cover a little bit about Social Media Bookmarking, and a few ideas to be used too. Remember as I have mentioned before. There is so much more out there about things I have discussed with you. I hope to have been able to cover some of the basics for you. 

Social Media Bookmarking

Looking at Wikipedia again they show that this involves Methods for Internet Users to organize, store, manage, and to search for bookmarks of resources online. Since 1996 many online bookmarking services have launched. Tagging is a significant feature of Social Bookmarking Services. This enables users to organize their bookmarks in a flexible way. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_bookmarking is a link I used for what is copied below, and for what was mentioned above too. 

Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves are not shared, merely bookmarks that reference them. Descriptions may be added to these bookmarks in the form of metadata, so users may understand the content of the resource without first needing to download it for themselves. Such descriptions may be free text comments, votes in favour of or against its quality, or tags that collectively or collaboratively become a folksonomy. Folksonomy is also called social tagging, "the process by which many users add metadata in the form of keywords to shared content".^[1]

In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine.

Most social bookmark services encourage users to organize their bookmarks with informal tags instead of the traditional browser-based system of folders, although some services feature categories/folders or a combination of folders and tags. They also enable viewing bookmarks associated with a chosen tag, and include information about the number of users who have bookmarked them. Some social bookmarking services also draw inferences from the relationship of tags to create clusters of tags or bookmarks.

Many social bookmarking services provide web feeds for their lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by tags. This allows subscribers to become aware of new bookmarks as they are saved, shared, and tagged by other users.

As these services have matured and grown more popular, they have added extra features such as ratings and comments on bookmarks, the ability to import and export bookmarks from browsers, emailing of bookmarks, web annotation, and groups or other social network features.

Social Media Bookmarking places you might know of are:

Stumble Upon - This discover engine finds, and recommends web content to users. They discover and rate different web pages, photos, and videos based on personalized preferences.

Digg - Is a Social content site that likes technology related content. The promotion of your own blog aggressively on Digg is not a good idea.

Delicious - Allows you to share bookmarks. This is used for thought leadership with link sharing.

Reddit - A social news website that users submit content, and other users will vote the submission up, or down. This ranking determines the position on the site's front page, and pages. 

Another popular item used for others to visit, see what you have to say, what you are sharing, and so on is with RSS Feeds.

RSS:

Feedburner - is one of the more popular ones known for us to use. This provides feeds, and management tools to bloggers, podcasters, and other web based content publishers. 

Google Reader - is another well known one to use. This is a web based aggregrator capable of reading Atom, and RSS Feeds. 

Technorati - This is an internet search engine for blogs.

I hope that my topic for today, and with the past postings for Social Media and Social Networking were able to help you out a little bit, and give you some ideas into how big this has grown too. I hope that maybe this can help you better focus with the journies of your business, maybe your hobbies, or just things in general. Remember, you are always welcome to share things you may know too. 

Thanks so much for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams. Always a pleasure to have you, and hope to see you visit again real soon. 

 

Social Networking Social Media With Photo Sharing Applications

Social Networking Social Media With Photo Sharing Applications. Here is a little more to add in with some of the discussions we have been having of Social Networking, and Social Media.  As we have come along with some of those posts about Social Networking I hope it has helped with some things for you knowing how big that this all is, and how much is really out there.

Photo Sharing of different applications plays a part with our social networking, and social media of today as well. This is yet another tool we use to share, and to help market our items of vintage collectibles, handmade, homemade, market places, venues, our online sales, and so on. Remember I am only mentioning a few. If you would wish to see more, experience more, or research more I would suggest maybe googling for a little more information, and links. 

Photo and Video Sharing:

You Tube - On this video sharing website users can share, and upload new videos. Here you can put together photos, some music, and then make a mini video of your products to be shared with others on their blogs, websites, and etc. I even seen on tv recently a politician in the area using You Tube to get his word out there for his campaign. 

Flickr - This website is used for hosting pictures or images, and videos too. This community of members can share, and make comments on the media that is shared. Sometimes in a google search of things I have found some images that ranked well enough to be shared within these searches. 

Picasa Web Albums - Another free photo sharing website that is connected with Google. This free Google Tool is sometimes considered by some to use for sharing their images, and for image editing too. Simplicity, free picasa software for photo editing, organizing, and uploading are some things I found mentioned for this use too. 

Photobucket - This free service also has a paid service that is offered too. This service allows you to have photo sharing albums that you make, or organize. You can also display, customize galleries, and slideshows too. Some of these you will notice on different blogs, and websites as well. 

Twitpic - This website is used for users to easily post pictures to Twitter. Since they are one of the top rated Social Networks they should have something to, don't you think?:)

Instagram - This is an iPhone application that has been growing, and I have seen some bloggers using it too. Yes, it is another form of sharing photos. The phone applications is a growing thing used by many. Sorry, I myself have not quite advanced that far yet. But, I feel it might be coming:)

As you can see the form of Social Media is yet another thing that is growing with using photos, making your images clickable, using videos, and so on. It is all good, and advantageous for many who Social Network. As mentioned it is another tool for sharing different things, showing items you make, sharing your great finds for the day when thrifting, and offerings of items you are selling too. 

I hope that this little segment has once again been of use to you. Sometimes those little things we do, or those small little things we put together has more advantage to us than we realize. Thanks again for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams, and hope to see you visit again soon. 

   

Blog and Blogging Platforms Are Social Media Tools Used

 

 Blog and Blogging Platforms Are Social Media Tools that are used as well. I apologize in advance as I know some of this seems a bit repeated, but trying to cover everything I am finding, or can think of as well too. Think of some of it as a reminder for our notes. Thanks so much for understanding everyone.

As I have mentioned before, and reminded to all of you there are many platforms out there to Blog with. With that in mind I will mention just a few to you, and if you know of more you would like to add to this discussion, please be so kind as to do so. 

Blogs Blogging Blogland:

Wordpress - There is wordpress.com and remember there is also wordpress.org. It gets confusing, but there is a reason for them having it this way too. One of them is more detailed having a paid domain, some different plug-ins offered which can better assist you. Wordpress is one of the popular blogging tools that is used, and the content management systems that is being used too. 

Blogger or Blogspot - Another popular service platform being used that does allow multi user bloggers. They do have time stamped entries which is nice for referencing. This blog publishing service does allow private blogs, or you can choose to use multi user blogs as well. One advantage to using this service is that it is a Google Tool too.

Tumblr - This service has become more popular over time. Their social networking website has a blogging platform that allows their users to post short form blogs. 

Type Pad - This blogging service can be targeted to the non-technical user. They also provide photo albums, mobile blogging, and it also supports multi authors too.

Weebly - This place is known to many for a free website, but they also include blogging too. Threaded commenting went live in December of 2011. When you comment with a blog post you have the ability to directly respond to other comments, and then having your comment appearing in the line below the original comment. 

Windows Live Writer - Some have mentioned how this is nice to have. It is an offline editor that is to work with all platforms.

Remember, everyone has their own preference as to where they blog, and how they blog. What one person might like, or what can work for them does not necessarily always work for the next person too. That is another reason that choices are good for us to have. I have found some who have their own websites, but have also found the ease of adding a blog to their site as well. You will also notice that some of the Social Networks do have a place to blog, or have added it over time for others to be involved with as well. 

As mentioned this is not all the platforms that are out there for blogging. If you find more please let us know. Choices are a good thing to have to find the one that suits us, and works for us with our own needs. 

Thanks for sharing your time with LilacsNDreams, and hope you found this to be helpful as well. Take care, and see you all again soon. 

  

Google Shopping Search Changes Have a Nice Weekend

Google Shopping Search Changes Wishing You All a Nice Weekend!

Hello, and welcome back to LilacsNDreams. Yippee! It's Friday, and weekend here we come...LOL:) I am sure by now most of you have heard the buzz with Google Shopping Searches. Yepper! Google is making another change, again. When don't they, right? Well, unfortunately this one is gonna hit with many small businesses, and effect quite a few online sellers. Great for the bigger business, but here we go again. 

It's really easy to just go to your addy bar at the top, and put in for google.com to do a search of something you are looking for. Sometimes you will go to Shopping in Google for a little more of a break down for the item you are looking for too. By this fall expect that Google Shopping search to be quite different. In order for sellers, and businesses to be seen with Google Shopping it will have to be paid for. Kind of like a paid advertisement. Yepper! Gonna be a fee to submit your stores, your products, your goods to be seen in Google Shopping. The Google Organic searches will still be free, and that is a much wider spread to search through, but this is the big spin on news in Google world. 

So, by this fall when you are searching for something you will see some differences than you do now. If you like to bargain shop...which many of us do. We like to search for the best deal possible, and save that penny where we can, Google Searches will not be quite the same. So, when you do a search don't use Google Shopping, but just use the organic shopping with Google. Also, there are other search engines out there to use as well too. Bing is the next one under Google, you can use Yahoo, try Ask.com, and another one I seen is DuckDuckGo.com. There are many more, and sometimes breaking habit of use is a good thing too.

I myself went into Bing searches this morning. Looking for some images to use with some of my postings for here, and I was quite happy with what I had found there too. 

Hey, I hope ya'll have an enjoyable weekend....it's Friday, and here it comes! Thanks for sharing with LilacsNDreams, enjoy your weekend, and see you again next week everyone. Take care.