How To See Who Has Viewed Your Instagram Stories

If you are curious who has viewed your Instagram Stories, 

here is how you can find out who has watched.

Instagram Stories Quick Start Guide for Beginners

If you are a Snapchat user, than you probably already have Instagram Stories figured out.  It is almost identical, minus the filters, but a lot easier to navigate for the beginner.

If you are an Instagram user that has never ventured over to the world of Snapchat, here is a quick start guide on how to use  Instagram Stories.

(if you have no idea what I am talking about, do a quick update of your Instagram app)

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Instagram Stories will only show for 24 hours (like Snapchat).  And they will not appear in your regular feed.  So you can keep your beautifully curated Instagram feed and still post that picture of those cute shoes you found at Target or your broken toe.  It will be gone tomorrow.

Instagram Stories show on the top bar of your Instagram home page.  You can click on any of those profile pictures and watch their story.  They will continue to play until you X out.

And if you want to use Instagram the old fashioned way, just scroll down.

The CSI Project

I was the guest judge over at The CSI Project this week.  If you don't know about The CSI Project, you  need to go HERE and check it out!

 

This weeks theme was Ballard Designs Inspired Projects and I had such a great time checking them all out.  You can head over to their site to see all of the great projects that everyone linked up and my favorites from the entries.

Crafting with the Stars

Tam from Sew Dang Cute is starting a fun project competition over at her blog called Crafting with the Stars:





You can find out all of the details HERE, but basically anyone can enter and 12 crafters will be chosen to participate. Then, each week, readers will vote for their favorite projects and a crafter will be eliminated (sound familiar!) Now the difference, each crafter that participates for the 12 week competition will be paired up with a "Star". The "Stars" are craft bloggers that won't actually make the projects, but will mentor, give suggestions and support, and be a cheerleader for their crafter.

Tam has chosen 12 crafters/bloggers, and I am excited to be one of them.

I am super excited to participate, mostly because it really is an honor to have my name in this list:

1. Amy (The Idea Room)
2. Amy (Mod Podge Rocks)
3. Becca (Blue Cricket Design)
4. Beckie (Infarrantly Creative)
5. Char (Crap I've Made)
6. Cheri (It's So Very Cheri)
7. Heather (Dollar Store Crafts)
8. Jen (Tatertots & Jello)
9. Jill (Homemade by Jill)
10. Lorie (Be Different...Act Normal)
11. Michelle (Someday Crafts)
12. Shelley (How Does She?)

And because I really do love everything about the crafting/blogging process!  So if you love to craft, then head over to Sew Dang Cute and find out how to enter!

I can't wait to find out who I get paired up with!!

Droid Dresses

You know these dresses are cute when even my nin year old son thinks so.  He even use the words "Those are cute."  So it is official.

These Droid Dresses from Humblebumbleb that I found at Craft are CUTE:

Okay, you might have to be a Star Wars fan to think so, but even if you aren't you have to admit they are pretty clever.  Of course, that makes me wonder...is there anyone that actually isn't a Star Wars fan?

World Wide Fred

If you have some free time and nothing to use it on you need to check out World Wide Fred.  The store is full of the craziest stuff.

Like Ninjabread Men:

I pretty much think all things Ninja are hilarious!

Beat It chopsticks:

which The Boy would LOVE!  He uses his chopsticks to drum with for days after we eat Chinese food. The only reason he stops is because I eventually find them and throw them away when he isn't looking!  Maybe we DON'T want these.

And this hilarious cover for your Iphone:

I will have to find out if the cover is any good at protecting your phone when you drop it a million times a day.  If so I might get it.  If not I will have to stick with the armor I have on the thing right now!

And last but not least, French Toast:

They actually have a Holy Toast option, which I think is really funny, but fear I might get struck down by lighting if I used it ever morning!

There is a ton of funny stuff, but don't go unless you have a good hour to waste.

Coffee Mug Maze

If I drank coffee, I would need one of these:

So that I could do this:

I don't think it would work the same with chocolate milk, but I might have to give it a try!

Goldfish Trash Bags

These trash bags would be pretty funny to use when cleaning up from your next party:

Waffle Keyboard

While looking at some fun waffle ideas I came across this waffle iron:

I so want one!

Chalkboard Speech Bubble Brooch

Remember the Speech Bubble Chalkboards?  Well think of those, then shrink them down and make them a brooch and you have this:

Wouldn't those be super fun name tags.  Especially for something like a blog conference?

You can check them out HERE and HERE.

Are You On Facebook?

I think I have figured out a way to solve my too many starred items problem:

Instead of inundating you with too many posts here, I will just do it on Facebook!  Of course, hopefully I will use it for other things too.  We shall see.

Of course, it is only fun if you join me.

Click HERE to join me on Facebook.

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Don't worry! I am not going anywhere! I will still update here just as much as I usually do!

Fun Photo Collage

I found this fun photo collage at WIP:

You upload your photos to Shape Collage and choose your shape.  Voila!  That easy.

Leaf Silhouettes

I love Silhouettes. And Jenny Lee Fowler sells creates some beautiful ones. I especially like this one cute out of a leaf.I found this one on A Room Somewhere and you can buy a custom one from Jenny's Etsy Shop.

I wonder what other stuff would make cute silhouettes?

I *heart* Knock Off Wood

If you missed my post on Tuesday about Knock Off Wood you MUST go and check her out!! I am amazed at her skills and cannot wait until my house is in enough order that I can make these:

Because Ana now has instructions for the knock offs of these Land of Nod storage chairs on her blog.

I LOVE HER!!

Halloween Fonts

Poppytalk has a fun Friday feature they call Font Friday. This week they posted Halloween themed fonts. You can check out the six fonts that they chose on their site, but these are my three favorites:

ithornet

Tosca Zero

KR Boo Lane

These free fonts are a great for invitations, decorations, or just cute notes to your kids!

Speaking of Magazines

Mathew Mead (also know as the guy that published this book:



Has himself a new little magazine:


And that magazine has a BLOG:

Hopefully they update it a little more often than he does his blog!!

Twitter

So, I am sort of falling in love. In love with Twitter! For a long time I didn't get it. Hubby loves it. Even uses it to help him decide what to order at restaurants. If you ever don't know what to pick off the menu, shoot out a quick Tweet for recommendations. You may be surprised at the response you get.

But minus the fun food reviews, I wasn't really feeling it.

That is until this week. When I figured out how I could use Twitter in a way that I would LOVE!!

I love finding really great stuff to blog about all over the Internet. And I find a LOT of it! But even blogging 3 times a day I often find more stuff than I have time to blog. So I think I am going to start posting links on Twitter. Links to fun recipes I want to try or cute projects that I love and want to share, but don't have time to write up a whole blog post!

So if you are a Twitterer (I am sure there is a term for it that I am not aware of!) come follow me on Twitter! You might find even more fun stuff to love!!



And if you aren't a Twitter user, you can click on the link and on the bottom of the right hand side you can subscribe to my twitter feed and get all of the same fun info.

So do you Twitter?

{Project Happy Hearts}

It never ceases to amaze me how the internet and the relationships forged over computers can be such a force for good.

A bloggy friend of mine, Kacey, is putting together a Valentine's Project called Project Happy Heart.

After reading about the passing of Tuesday, Kacey felt motivated to do something to brighten the day of families who are in similar situations. She found a couple of great sites, Five Oh Four Uplifting and Make A Child Smile that donate goody bags and let you write letters to kids to help cheer them up.

Kacey is hoping to get people involved in these programs and is organizing a blog carnival where we can all share our experiences. It is a great cause and they are some great organizations. Check out her blog for the details and I hope that you all consider joining in!

Each Saturday on Keeper of the Home she has a little feature called Living Simply Saturday. It is a very refreshing little post each week. You should check it out.

This week it is about saying no. No to over scheduling ourselves.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to listen to Julie Hanks speak about womanhood and motherhood. One of the things she said that day has forever stayed with me.

If you are asked to do something that you do not have the time to do or do not want to do, say No. You don't have to have an explanation. You can just say thank you for asking, but I won't be able to. Just say no. What? No explanation. That sounds crazy! But it works.

And the second, if you need to think about it, say you need to think about it. Take the time to look at your schedule, see what you have going on, and think about if it is something that you want to do. Think about it and then give them an answer.

We all have so much to do and so many important things to take care of that we need to remember that it is okay not to take on obligations when we have other priorities. Just because you COULD squeeze it in doesn't mean that you SHOULD!

EXCITED!!

I just saw these images on the Family Fun website:





Can I just tell you how excited these made me!! I love these holidays! L-O-V-E them! Valentine's is so one of my favorites. And not in the mushy be sweet to your hubby and eat chocolate sort of way!

St. Patricks Day! Green is The Boys favorite color, so that makes it extra fun! But an excuse to go around pinching people...what could be better! Green milk in your cereal. Heck! Green food all day long! (Did you know you can ask your local bakery to make green bread for you!!!)

And Easter! Egg dying and candy and bunnies! What is NOT to love!

And don't forget April Fools Day! I love the jokes that 5 and 7 year-olds play!