March Calender

I am having a slight problem in uploading the calendar this month. For some reason I can't get the page to load so that I can upload the files.

And I really wanted to show off the beautiful lilies I had for Valentines Day. I couldn't take photos of them sooner as they all in bud when I had them, so had to wait for them to open.

However, I am sure you will agree that they were well worth waiting for.

As always, I have made a "normal" screen and a wide screen version for you to enjoy.

As soon as I can upload them, that it.

When I do, they will be available from the usual link on the left.

March 2nd - Finally uploaded. Enjoy!

Raining Cats and Dogs

Somebody sent me the link to this blog and I just had to share.

WooWork.co is the blog of an innovative young man called Howie Woo and his post "Raining Cats and Dogs" will definately make you smile.

I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his photo!

I am off to look at the rest of his blog.

Crocheting again

I had the cast off last Tuesday. I nearly told them to put it straight back on!!!

I knew I wouldn't have normal use in my wrist, but I didn't know how much it was going to hurt.

Still, lots of painkillers, a TENS machine and a wheat pillow later, I am crocheting again.

I was actually able to crochet right from the start but it hurt too much to do it. The muscles are slowly loosening up and I am gradually able to crochet for longer periods at a time.

Suprisingly, it hurts less to crochet than it does to eat with a spoon.

Last night was Craft Club. I nearly didn't go. We had a snowstorm late afternoon which left about 1" of snow on the floor.

We had a Quilling workshop. It was fun but not something that I would like to do on a regular basis. I made this card which I am going to post to a friend later. She doesn't use the internet so I know I am safe showing it.

When I left Craft Club, nearly all the snow had gone and there is nothing left now.

I hope my friend likes her card!

SEO-ing

I was under the impression that I was doing pretty well. After all, if you Google for Enfys, my site comes up on the first page. However, I suddenly realised that if you Google for all the other things that my site is about, it is no where to be seen despite the fact that Biz Information thinks it is worth £5,687.13

Suprisingly, my old pipex site is worth £952,709.74!!!! Anybody want to buy it?

Think of a web site like an old fashioned Ladybird book, the ones that have a picture on one side and words on the other. A child tells the story from the pictures where as an adult tells the story from the words. In the case of a website, we see the finished pretty page and Google reads the html coding which makes the page up.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is about putting keywords into the coding of your website so that Google picks it up. It all sounds very complicated but it isn't really. There is lots of help out there, especially from Google themselves.

First of all, you need a Google account (and if you have a Blogspot blog you already have one) then you need to access Googles Webmaster Tools. Here you will find a wealth of information, all free and all aimed directly at helping you to improve your Google ratings.

They even provide a Free SEO Starter Guide to help you. Although, I have to confess, I splashed out on "How to get to No.1 in Google - in easy steps" as well.

There are quite a few basic things that you can do to improve your ratings. Make sure that each page has a unique page title and description. Use "proper" text for internal links, not just "Click here". Give your pictures relevant names and use "alt" text to give them a more accurate description. Remember, Google searches for pictures as well.

When you have done as much as you can with your site, you need to register it with Google. They will give you a code for the home page so that they can verify it is yours and when the process is complete, you can access loads of information about what Google thinks about your site.

Another thing you need to do is upload a Sitemap and tell Google it is there. This tells Google what pages are on your site and how important they are.

You can either spend ages typing out one of these yourself, or you can ask Sitemaps Pal to do it for you.

Another thing to do is to get lots of external links to your site. These links are one of the ways Google finds your site. Lots of relevant links help your rating. If anybody wants to link to mine, I won't say no.

Of course, the guide sets all of this out so much better than I can so I would highly recommend downloading a copy. And if you can afford the book, get that as well. It has loads more information in it than the Guide.

This brings me to something I have been thinking about for a while. A blog is one of the ways of getting external links to your site. I dont have any on here as it is against the rules of UK Scrappers.

After much consideration, I have decided to use my blog to help with the SEO of Rainbow Valley. This will means links to my site from here and, consequently, removing my blog from my siggy on UKS. I do have a few other things to do before I start the serious SEO of this blog though.

Like re-writing the Rainbow Afghan. This was the first pattern I wrote to sell. It was a very steep learning curve for me. As a result, it is not as user friendly as I would like it. One of the main queries I get is about the instructions for joining.

So, I am going to add photo instructions to it.

That is after I have added the March issue of the Chatteris Centrepoint to the blog, ready to be published on March 1st.

Only a few days late.

After posting yesterday, I went out to the local market. I have been haunting it the last couple of weeks in the hope of getting some snowdrops.

I am very disappointed in the display in my planter. I only have two there - after all those ones I planted. I am wondering if they didn't like being moved from my old trough to my new planter.

I was in luck. She had loads of pots of them on her stall. I have always been told that snowdrops are better bought "in the green" than as bulbs, as bulbs are a very hit and miss affair. I bought five pots and came straight home and planted them. Of course, the other advantage of "in the green" is that you have instant results.

The ones in these pictures are ones that I had for my birthday last year. I planted these in a ceramic pot around the Holly Tree. They were in flower in the sun and looking lovely. This isn't the best photo but I had to use the compact with my left hand to take it.

As always, I have made both a normal and wide screen version so one of these photos is going to look right on your screen while the other looks weird!

And, as always, download from the normal link on the left.

4 more sleeps!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't blogged lately because I haven't really had much to say. Normally my blog is full of projects I have been working on and lots of pics. But I can't craft and I can't use my camera.

All that is going to change in 4 more sleeps!

The cast comes off and I should be back to normal. Ok, so I am not naive enough to think that I am going to be able to do everything exactly the same as I was before I broke it. I do appreciate that I am going to have to build the strength up in the wrist again.

However, that is not going to stop me having a decent shower. The family have been warned that I will be hogging the bathroom for at least an hour on Tuesday night.

With Easter looming on the horizon, I thought I would remind you of these.

They are all free patterns available on Rainbow Valley.

The Easter Eggs shown in the picture are made with thread. I have used three strands at a time and "thread painted" them.

Thread painting is a technique where you use more than one strand of thread or yarn and change one strand at a time. This produces a shaded effect rather than an abrupt colour change.

The Easter Chicks and Easter Bunnies are made from ordinary machine washable acrylic.

You can make them in anything you want to for different sizes.

There are also the Easter Baskets. This pattern is not a free one but it can be bought for just £2.75.

It contains the instructions for all three baskets.

This delightful pattern contains instructions for twelve different Egg Cosies. Again it is available to buy for £2.75.

Unfortunately, I can not take any orders for actual items this year as I do not know how long it is going to take me to get back to crocheting normally.

However, I do have a bag full of the Egg Cosies ready made from last year. I am selling them at £1.50 each.

If anybody wants any, email me.

And finally........

I have written an article about "Understanding Crochet Terms" which has been published on a new site, Dispense Info.

"Dispense info is an information resource for anyone who wants to research subjects and obtain valuable information from those who have expertise in their chosen fields whether that be arts, crafts, hobby or career." - Dispense Info

If you would like to contribute, pop along to the site to have a look.