Setting Up A Blog – The Basics

Blogging / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Setting up a blog can be tricky whether for personal use or setting up a small business.

Setting Up A Blog - The Basics

I have written a few blogging tips before including My Top 10 WordPress Plugins and decided to share a few more tips on setting up a blog/website.

Setting Up A Blog

Choose A Domain Name

Choosing a Domain Name is the first and most important step. It needs to stand out from the crowd whilst reflecting what your site is about. Always make sure you check to see if your domain name is available. Check to see if it is used anywhere else or could be confused for a similar name.

Pick Your Host

Choosing a reliable host is so important, people won’t return if your site is always going down. A host that offers support is always a bonus which is why I like 1&1. They are easy to talk to on the phone even if you have anxiety like me. There are plenty of hosts and plans available so look around and read reviews too.

Find The Right Platform

Selecting the right platform for what you want is one of the first decisions to make. I personally prefer WordPress as I just can’t get my head around Blogger. I find WordPress is much more user friendly and with so many plugins available including woo commerce it is perfect for any type of website. There are others available, each will have different packages so take a look around and work out what is right for you.

Branding & Web Design

The next step to setting up a blog is creating your branding. Your branding needs to be strong, it is what helps you stand out from the crowd. Choosing the right design, colours, style and logo for your site is very important as it is the first thing visitors to your site will notice.  If you are unsure what works best there are plenty of web design companies that can help work out what is best for your brand.

Create Relevant Content

Create relevant pages such as a contact us page, about us, testimonials, products etc. It helps to create a few pages and posts before sharing elsewhere so your visitors have something to browse. Whilst I personally don’t feel you have to fit an exact niche creating relevant content for your readers is important. I don’t fit one single niche however I have readers who just visit specifically for tips, parenting posts, product reviews and mental health rambles. Creating categories helps with this. Anyone that visits my site can select a category from the top and go straight to the relevant posts.

Connect Social Media Accounts

Create and connect social media accounts on the relevant platforms. LinkedIn is great for those looking to connect with other professionals. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube may be needed depending on your type of blog or small business. Connecting all your accounts makes it easier for readers/customers to find you.

Learn SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) determines how you rank through search engines such a google. Learning SEO from the start can save months of trawling through blog posts and pages. There are so many SEO guides online and they are well worth the watch/read as they can help your ranking dramatically.

Connect to Google Analytics

Google analytics provides useful insights into your users, their demographics, best performing posts, referrals and more. This is a useful tool to learn more about your customer/reader and what they are looking for more of. You can create more useful content for your readers which generally leads to more visitors too.

Once you have covered these basics of setting up a blog or business site you are ready to go!

 

 

 

Beautiful Diary From Ryman Stationary

Stationery / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I received a beautiful Diary from Ryman Stationary to help me stay organised throughout 2018. I love diaries and notebooks and stationary of all kinds so I was over the moon to receive a new diary. Ryman Stationary have a lovely range of diaries for 2018 including the one I received.

Beautiful Diary From Ryman Stationary

Beautiful Diary Perfect For Bloggers

This Rose Gold Butterfly Page A Day A5 2018 Diary is gorgeous and just £10.99. Designed exclusively for Ryman this beautiful diary would make a perfect Christmas gift, especially for a blogger. This is such a beautiful diary with shimmering rose gold butterflies on a beautiful floral background and a handy ribbon to mark the page you need.

As a blogger it is always handy to have a diary nearby and the rose gold butterfly diary looks lovely sat on my desk. Some of you may have noticed from my Twitter header I love butterflies and with a purple rose too I am a little bit in love with this diary. I won’t lie I am secret wishing January to hurry up now just so I can start using it!

2018 Day a page diary

Useful Information

There are also several other handy pages including:

  • 2017, 2018 & 2019 Calendars
  • Contact Details
  • Metric information
  • Conversion charts
  • Clothing sizes
  • Temperatures
  • Paper sizes
  • Tyre Pressure
  • International Information
  • 2018 Holidays and Notable dates
  • Sunrises & Sunsets 2018
  • Phases of the Moon 2018
  • Telephone Numbers
  • Notes
  • Accounts 2018

This beautiful diary from Ryman Stationary will be going everywhere with me in 2018. A page a day diary is great for me as I need the space to note down literally everything. Having things like reference pages, telephone numbers, important dates and times all in one place will be so helpful. Hopefully it will mean I am a little more organised in 2018!

What do you think of this rose gold butterfly diary? Do you prefer page a day diaries too?

 

Alternative Gift Guide For Him

Alternative Gifts / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Alternative Gift Guide For Him

I’ve put together an alternative gift guide with my brother in mind. He is a cat loving, guitar playing, tea addict which makes buying gifts quite fun! Lots of us know a cat lover, a guitar player or a tea addict too so hopefully this little list of alternative gifts will be handy.

Alternative Gift Guide

Both my brother and I have used Mind (a mental health charity) over the years to help us with depression. I discovered some fantastic clothing from In Music We Trust which has some great designs and 50% of profits go to Mind. Alex loves his music and I know he will love this Vintage Tee (£12). IMWT have some awesome beanies (I want one!), vests, hoodies, caps and more.

In Music We Trust Vintage Tee

Being a music lover Alex is forever after memory sticks to store music on. He needs them for coding too which is his latest hobby. Check out this awesome Etch’d 32GB USB stick for £17. You can have any design you want on etched on any of the products at Etch’d. I love how Alex’s name looks and I know he will love it too. There are 3 wood options to pick from – Maple, Rosewood and Dark Walnut. I love the Maple and can’t wait to see what Alex thinks!

 

Every tea addict needs a good mug and all cat lovers will love this one from Tesco for £2/3? I grabbed it whilst we were shopping and of course can’t find the receipt to check.. doh!

Ready for a cat nap mug

Of course if you have a mug you need a coaster and this festive one is adorable! As the cat looks very similar to Mia, Alex’s cat I think he will find this coaster quite cute.

Cat in Santa Hat Coaster

Scope (a disability charity) also have some fab cat gifts in store too, products vary store to store but worth checking if you are shopping for a cat lover too!

A Cat Treat too!

Being a cat lover I couldn’t leave my brothers cat out and I love these fab cat treat cards from Wilko for £2. They have a great selection of pet gifts from treats to toys and all at a very reasonable price.

 

Wilko Merry Meowmas Gift Card

 

Of course when you buy presents you need to find some awesome gift wrap to go with it! I love the Personalised gift wrap from Pretty Gifted, you can add any text and design you like the from the available options. I thought since I was wrapping Alex and Mia’s presents and putting them in the same bag it only made sense to add ‘Merry Christmas Alex & Mia’ with Christmas trees.


What do you think of my alternative gift guide? Do you know a cat loving, guitar playing tea addict too?

 

Stocking Filler Ideas For Girls 2017

Uncategorized / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Stocking Fillers For Girls 2017

Stocking fillers ideas.. a little stuck this Christmas? I’ve been sent some great stocking filler ideas and discovered a few myself too. If you are a little bit stuck for then this list may help! I’ve put together several Christmas gift guides including for 3 years, 7 years, Under £5 & for her which may be helpful too.

Stocking Filler Ideas

I love including a small teddy in Christmas stocking, my girls love the Hallmark itty bittys range which fit perfectly! Hallmark have released new collector editions this Christmas which are lovely!

Itty bitty collectors edition

I am in love with the new Hallmark Minnie and Mickey Mouse Collectors Edition itty bittys and know the girls will love them too! These are £7.94 each on Amazon at the moment.

I spotted this fab Pink Unicorn- Belinda Mini Motsu in Tesco on a 3 for 2 offer. I’m pretty certain it was £4 but can’t find it on their site to confirm. Having searched online I have found it here at Boswell & Co. for £4.99 though!

Unicorn Mini Motsu


As part of the Tesco 3 for 2 offer I picked up these Petkins 2 packs (£2.50) as the girls are still Shopkins crazy! Any addition to their Shopkins collection is always welcome.

 

stocking filler ideas - Petkins

 

Pets are something the girls would love to have again but it is just unfair 11 floors up but I found a solution! I loved Tamagotchi’s as a kid and found these ones in QD for £2.99 and just couldn’t resist. There are various designs but I chose pink for the girls as it is their favourite colours generally.

Cyber pet

Of course every stocking needs to contain at least one pair of socks! Sports direct have some great character ones available like this 3 pack of Frozen ones I found for just £1.50!

What do you think of these stocking filler ideas? Which is your favourite?

Improving Children’s Handwriting Is Still Important

Uncategorized / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Improving children’s handwriting is still important and something I try to encourage the girls with at home. Handwriting improves concentration and fine motor skills, important for learning other skills. Reading and writing are 2 of the most important aspects of children’s education.

Improving Children's Handwriting

According to the Institute of Education, the quality of handwriting education in primary schools can have a direct impact on success into secondary and higher education. Furthermore, the National Literacy Trust suggests that as many as 25% of UK adults are classed as ‘functionally illiterate’ with many struggling to write a birthday card or a cheque.

Uni-ball are helping to spread awareness of Children’s handwriting and the importance of handwriting in education. They have put together some great resources for parents including these 5 top tips to improve your child’s handwriting.

Improving Children’s Handwriting

Improving Children's Handwriting

Eva struggled a little bit with her pencil control when she started school so we helped find a way to improve her fine motor skills. We used some fantastic pencil grips that made it easier for her and encouraged her to play with play dough, squeezing it to strengthen the muscles in her hands. Uni-ball have some other exercises for stronger hands too.

Uni-ball Exercises for stronger hands

 

Recently we have been improving Eva’s handwriting at home with some handy handwriting work sheets from Uni-Ball. They have created some fantastic printable handwriting sheets to help encourage handwriting at home and school.

 

Uni-ball have printable worksheets and tips for parents:

https://uniball.co.uk/teach-cursive-handwriting-children/

https://uniball.co.uk/handwriting-worksheets-for-children/

https://uniball.co.uk/5-top-tips-improve-handwriting/

 

Improving Children's Handwriting

The handwriting sheets are great for helping children with their handwriting skills from helping with their stability and dexterity. Both girls have been using these printable worksheets for improving children’s handwriting, Izzy recognises most letters and loves practising. Eva is really pleased with herself for improving her handwriting further with these fantastic worksheets. She rushes usually when she write but using these sheets have made her slow down and take care with her handwriting again which is lovely to see.

Improving Children's Handwriting with Uni-Ball

Do you think handwriting is still important too? Do you have any handwriting tips?

 

Upcycling Projects – Zacsmart Honey Pine Collection

Crafts / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I have 2 upcycling projects from Zacsmart that I am absolutely in love with! Their Honey Pine finished products are designed so they can be left as they are or upcycled. These make perfect gifts for crafters or perfect for crafters wanting to upcycle and personalise their gifts.

upcycling projects

Honey Pine Gifts

I received a fantastic Honey Pine Wooden Cantilever Sewing Box/Storage Box and a small Trinket Box which are gorgeous. The Cantilever sewing/storage box (£24.75) is ideal for storing bits and pieces like needles, thimbles & threads.

It is portable with a nice chunky carrying handle and 5 storage compartments. The sliding lids have been designed to act as a handy shelf to put things on too.

The Cantilever sewing box is great with all its compartments. I quite like how the Honey Pine Cantilever sewing box looks already so I think I will leave it as it is until I can think of a better plan!

 

Upcycling Projects

The small trinket box is £6.30 and the size is (approx.): 5.5cmH x 13cmD x 18cmW. This little trinket box is perfect for storing all sorts of little bits and pieces. Receiving it reminded me the girls have an overflow of jewellery at the moment. This instantly gave me an idea to make the small trinket box one of my first upcycling projects.
Small Trinket Box in Honey Pine Finish

First I decided to paint the trinket box using a pink satin finish spray paint we had previously bought to match the pink in the girls bedroom. The paint dried really well and looked lovely with a satin finish. The Mr had helped me tape off the catch and hinges to minimise clean up at the end.

Upcycling Projects

Using pink and purple fuzzy letters I added ‘Princess’ to the top along with a crown, key and some jewels. I think it turned out quite nice and will look lovely in the girls bedroom.

Do you love upcycling projects? Can you think of someone who you could upcycle one of these products for as a gift?

 

Vremi Silicone Baking Cups and 3-in-1 Apple Slicer Review & Giveaway!

Food / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We were sent some Vremi Silicone Baking Cups and an Apple Slicer to review, we love food and baking so we couldn’t wait to check them out. Anyone who has been keeping up with my recent tweets will know since replacing my cooker I have gone on a baking binge. The girls and I love to bake and decided to put the baking cups to the test first!

Vremi Silicone Baking Cups

Vremi Baking Cups

The Vremi silicone baking cups are £13.99 for a pack of 24 Multi-coloured & BPA Free Round Cake Moulds for Cupcakes and Muffins. The baking cups are bright and colourful in pink, yellow, green and blue. The baking cups are non-stick as well as BPA free. They are oven and freezer safe and much to my delight dishwasher safe too!

Butterfly Muffins

Ok so my butterfly muffins may not look that amazing but the fact they came out of the baking cups so easily really is! We’ve had similar ones before that have been tricky to remove the cake/muffin from. The Vremi ones I had no issue with at all and would definitely recommend them for anyone who loves to bake. The came out of the dishwasher spotless and will no doubt get plenty of use.

Vremi 3-in-1 Apple Slicer

Vremi 3-in-1 apple slicer

The Vremi 3-in-1 Apple Slicer is £7.99 on Amazon and comes with 3 attachments for apples, potatoes and mangos. The blades are interchangeable and so easy to change. Apple slicing blades cut an apple into 8 wedges, perfect for my girls snacks. The potato slicer is great for homemade French fries and cuts 36 of them! If you love mangos then the mango corer is perfect as it removes the seed and slices the fruit.

apple sliced

I love how easy the slicer is to use with lovely big soft grip handles meaning the girls can help. The blades are so much sharper than my previous apple slicer and slice straight through! I’ve binned my previous apple slicer (even though it was purple!) because the Vremi one is much easier to use.

If you love the sound of these fab Vremi products then enter the Gleam competition below for a chance to win both!

Win the Vremi Silicone Baking Cups and Apple Slicer #4

Travelling With Anxiety – 5 Tips

Anxiety / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Travelling with anxiety can be so difficult, especially as Christmas approaches everywhere becomes noisier and busier. I don’t tend to travel much, especially alone as I panic quite often. We have found a few ways to manage my anxiety and make my journeys as easy as possible. I have one or 2 trips planned over the Christmas holidays and it got me thinking about others travelling with anxiety too.

Travelling With Anxiety - 5 Tips

It may seem obvious but planning ahead can make journeys much easier when travelling. Here are 5 ways to make your journey a little easier.

  1. Check your route – Google maps is your friend! Make sure you know exactly where you are going, using street view I can look at the front of the building and surrounding buildings. The area feels a little more familiar and I can find my way much easier knowing what to look out for.
  2. Check Travel Options – I tend to look for the quickest routes and the cheapest fares. If I am travelling by train I check to see the train before and after the one I am aiming for in case I arrive early or late. I also check to see what buses run too in case there are any issues getting the train.
  3. Book in advance – Booking tickets in advance make travelling a lot less stressful. Not having to queue up for you ticket can save a lot of time and panic. You can often save a little too by booking a week or so in advance. A lot of the buses now have apps so you can buy your ticket on the go. I love this as it stops me worrying about losing my ticket.
  4. Take a distraction – I find if I have nothing to do I become overly anxious when travelling. Crocheting, tweeting or reading an e-book really help distract and calm me down.
  5. Take a snack & drink – Again this may seem obvious but if there are delays being hungry and thirsty will make you feel much worse. Keeping hydrated and sugar levels up is important when travelling, especially on longer journeys.

C2C Digital Display Boards

I was really pleased this week when Your Thurrock announced C2C are currently installing new digital display boards at their stations which show how full each carriage is. This simple little thing has made me really happy as I struggle with crowded noisy carriages. I know plenty of others find it hard too and these displays can make travelling with anxiety easier. Being able to avoid overly crowded carriages will make travelling easier for so many people.

Travelling with anxiety can be really stressful, do you have any tips for easing anxiety whilst travelling?

Family Games For Christmas – Randomise

Games / 6 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Family Games For Christmas - Randomise

Family games are something I am trying to encourage more of now the girls are older, reviewing Randomise seemed a good way of doing that, especially for Eva. You can buy Randomise on Amazon for £11.99. I found some great family games taking part in the #SDFiverChallenge and want to stock up on some more fab games too. Randomise is a family game suitable from 8 to 80 years and for 4 to 40 players.

Family games for christmas - Randomise

How To Play

4 of more players are needed, players are then split into two teams with someone picked to keep score. Each team is given a scoring and timing card and any blank cards that haven’t been written on are removed from the pack before shuffling.

The person keeping score gets to start with teams alternating every each turn. The idea of the game is to declare if you will be picking an easy or hard challenge and whether you are going to describe, act of draw your identity. You then pick a card from each pile (A, B & C) and try to describe, act or draw your way to victory.

 

Cards

‘A’ cards are description cards such as hairy, sweaty & angry.

‘B’ cards tell you what you are such as a caveman, jellyfish or astronaut.

‘C’ cards tell you what you are doing such as Baking a cake, surfing or smashing plates!

Cards A, B & C

Turn Times

If you have chosen to describe your identity you have 30 seconds to communicate without using the words on your cards, rhyming words or letters to give clues.

60 seconds are given if you choose to act out your identity without making any noises, pointing or using props.

For drawing your identity you have 90 seconds to communicate the phrase without drawing any letters or numbers.

Your team can make as many guesses as they like whilst you communicate your identity with the aim to discover your identity before your time is up.

Scoring

All Levels – 1 point for every successful guess from your team.

Easy – 1 point if your team shouts your full identity before your turn is up.

Hard – 3 points when your team correctly shouts your full identity.

Stealing points – If your team doesn’t guess your full identity before the time is up the opposite team can steal your points if they can guess your full identity correctly in one guess. (1 or 3 points depending on difficulty)

To Win – The first team to reach 30 points claims victory!

There are also alternative gameplays in the rules for you to try out too!

Our Thoughts

We love Randomise! It really gets you thinking about how to act/describe/draw your full identity so your team members can guess correctly. Eva really enjoyed Randomise and said she would love more family games like this. I think this will be a fun family game to pull out over the Christmas period to keep everyone entertained. There are so many combinations and we love the fact we can add to blank cards. We love the silliness of the identities too, it is so much fun to play!

Family games are a great way of entertaining everyone, do you like the sound of Randomise? What is your favourite family game?

Problem Solving Activities – Myra Makes: Journey To Cloud City

Book Reviews / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We received a problem solving activity book for children aged 6-10 – Myra Makes: Journey to Cloud City. You can buy this fun packed activity book for £11.50 on Amazon or on their website for $25 where a copy is donated to an underfunded educational program). This creative learning adventure book is full of fun activities to develop a love for empathy and critical thinking.

Problem Solving Activity Book

Myra Makes A Creative Learning Adventure

Joining Myra Makes on her journey to cloud city your child will encounter a variety of activities. From math and maze pages to open-ended creative problem solving challenges with unlimited possible solutions. This fun activity book encourages your child to be creative as they draw, colour, craft and solve problems.

Problem Solving Activities

One of the first pages in this problem solving activity book is to draw one or more characters to cut out and join Myra on her journey through the book. Your child can describe their characters interests on the back too. Eva really enjoyed this activity coming up with names and descriptions.

Character Drawing Activity

Through out the activity book there are several animals to cut out who join Myra in her journey too. Each one has information about them on the back to help with some of the activities. Eva really liked these and thought they were fun because she can use them again to make up other stories too.

Cut out animals

Word searches that can be coloured in throughout the book were another highlight for Eva as she really enjoys them. Labelling and describing things throughout the book kept her amused for hours too. She really enjoyed repeating facts to us as she read them.

Monthly Subscription

I love that children can learn so much from this fun activity book without it feeling like dull homework. This is one of the best problem solving activity books we have had so far. Myra Makes are currently offering 3 months free subscription commitment free too which I think is well worth trying.

Myra Makes Monthly Subscription

What do you think of Myra Makes? Will you be trying out the 3 months commitment free monthly subscription?

If you are looking for other fun activity books and reading books for kids like this don’t forget to check out my other Book Reviews!