Customer Card of the Day - Barb Schram!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Wow, do we have a treat for your eyes today for Customer Card of the Day!!!! Big congrats to Barb Schram....what a gorgeous card/gift combo!!! The "Happy Birthday" set is one of my personal favorites due to the beautiful watering can image and fantastic scripture verses and birthday sentiments.....Barb has shown just how versatile this set can be! Isn't her coloring skills amazing, and how cute are those watering can candles......a perfect way to share God's word with someone special!!! Fabulous work, Barb!!!


Here is a close-up view of Barb's gorgeous card....when I grow up, I want to color just like that!! :)


I know you want to see more of Barb's artwork.......visit her Splitcoast gallery, Stampfilled Dreams , or her blog, Explore. Dream. Discover. I promise, you will see lots of amazing stuff!!! Congrats again, Barb!!!

Stay tuned bright and early Thursday morning for the New Release post which will reveal the March sets! Then come back at 8am EST for the March New Release Blog Hop....lots of eye candy and inspiration.....plus prizes too!!!

God bless!



Blog Writer

Techniques, Tutorials, and Tips - How To Leave A Blog Comment

Hello, everyone!! Hope you had a wonderful weekend!! This week, instead of Product Review, we've got another "How-to" post to share with you....."How To Leave Blog Comments"! We cherish each and every reader and want to make your blogging experience as pain-free as possible. Not only do we love to hear from you on our weekly posts, but leaving a comment is necessary during our blog hops in order to be eligible for a prize, so we want to make sure everyone knows just how to do that.

There is a lot of information out there about blogging on "the ole internet machine", but here I will simply share what I know....the basics! When a person decides to create a blog, there are a lot of decisions to be made....which company to use, layout and design, and the most important ....security settings. Unfortunately we live in a world where others thrive on causing trouble for others....these are what we call "spammers". Most blogs are designed to detect spam, however, a lot still comes through to the blog comment boxes. When visiting a blog, during a blog hop, for example, you may experience a few "roadblocks" due to that individual's security settings. Some blogs will have "Word Verification", some will not accept "Anonymous" comments (since most spam is anonymous), and some blog owners prefer to approve each comment before they are published. Since no blog (or blog owner) is alike, please have patience and also be aware of any extra instructions or messages after you click the button to publish your comment.

As mentioned above, all blogs are designed differently, so you may have to search for the comment box. For most blog posts, the comment box is at the very bottom of the post, along with Labels, who wrote the post, etc., however, though not so common, some blogs have their comment box next to the title of the post, at the top. When I am having trouble locating the comment box, I just run my mouse over the post until I locate the comment link that is underlined. Once again, through blog owner choice, you may not find "Comments" or "Leave A Comment" anywhere, but instead may see something like, "Leave Me Some Love", or "__Friends Left A Comment", or "Blog Love", or "Blessings Received", etc.

Since the majority of our designers use Blogger, I have snipped some pieces from the ODBD (Our Daily Bread designs) Blog so that you have a visual to go with my written instructions. This snip shows the bottom of last week's Flashback Friday Favorites post. On the top right corner, you will see that two readers have commented on that post. If you were to run your mouse over "comments" (in a live post), you would see that it is a link since it will be underlined and highlighted. If you click on it, it will take you to the comment page.


This snip is another variation you might see at the bottom of a post, for example, if you had clicked on the post from an email, or from a direct link to this particular post in stead of the general blog address. If the comment box is already open, to get to the comment page, you would click on "Post A Comment" at the bottom left corner.


Though some blogs will open up a tiny comment box in a separate window, a lot of comment links will take you to another page, like shown below. Type your comment in the box on the right.


Depending on the blog security settings, you may have to fill in the word verification security words after you type your comment. If the words are not clear enough for you to read, click on the "refresh" symbol (little circle arrow) to the right of the box. If you have visual problems, you can also click on the "sound" symbol in middle and type the words you hear within the garbled speech. If you need further instructions, click on the question mark and a "Help" box will pop up. Word Verification is very common since it blocks most spammer automatic computer programs from getting through to your blog.


Next, before you can publish your comment, you will have to sign in with one of the following options.


Signing up for a Google account is the most popular choice. Anyone can sign up for a Google account at Google.com....you do not have to open a blog or use their email.....unless you want to!! It is for identification purposes for leaving blog comments and to sign in to YouTube also!


Another option is OpenID, which includes Word Press, Type Pad, Live Journal, and AIM. If you already have accounts or blogs through these, sign in with your ID and password here.


Some blogs will allow comments with this option. Fill in your name and optional URL, for example, the address to your Splitcoast Gallery or Flickr account.


The last option is "Anonymous", which causes some frustration for blog readers who do not have another form of on-line identification. If you choose not to sign up for another type of ID, you need to know that you may not be able to leave a comment on certain individuals' blogs due to their security choices. If, however, a blog does accept anonymous comments, please make sure that you leave your name (first and last) plus an email address or some way to discern who you are, in case you are a winner. If your comment is chosen randomly to be the winner, if you leave only your first name (and no other info about you) with your comment, another name will be chosen as winner instead.


Okay, you have found the comment link, typed your comment, deciphered the word verification, chose your ID......now you are ready to leave your comment! You do have the option to "preview" to see what your comment will look like. When you are ready, "Publish Your Comment"! As I mentioned above, some blogs are set up differently.....you may receive the Word Verification box after you hit "Publish" or you may see the message "Will publish after blog owner approval".


I hope that these tips were helpful to you. If you ever need a refresher, you will be able to find this post in the Product Review/Tutorials Archive post HERE or simply click the Product Review tab at the top of the blog and it will take you right to it. All of the past Product Reviews, Technique Tips, and Tutorials are all in one place, for your convenience! If you ever have any questions or suggestions about tutorials or reviews, please feel free to contact me at angelladcrockett at yahoo dot com.

Have a blessed week! (Pssst.....don't forget about the New Release post and March Blog Hop on Thursday!!!)


Product Review/Tutorial Writer

ODBDSLC98 Other than a square or rectangle

Thanks to everyone who participated in the "Scene It" challenge last week!! There were so many beautiful creations. We so enjoyed viewing your interpretation of the challenge.

The Award and Prize Winners for last week's "Scene It" challenge:

Christa

Lee Ann Barrett 

Sue Worthington

Congrats Ladies !! Please grab the Shining the Light Award Badge and display it with pride. Please link the badge to http://ourdailybreaddesigns.com/.

Thanks to some of our Design Team members for their gorgeous entries for this challenge:

Betty Wright

Grace Nywening

This week's random prize winner of the $15 dollar gift certificate toward stamps is:

Vickie ODell

Congratulations Vickie!
Please email Kelley at kelley@ourdailybreaddesigns.com

for more information on how you to claim your gift certificate. Please let her know you won ODBDSLC97.

This week's challenge:

This week the challenge team is challenging you to think outside of the box....Create any card or project that is not an A2, A6, or A7 rectangular or square card. It can be a different fold (diamond fold, joy fold, easel, accordion, step, sidestep etc.) or a different shape.

To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Friday, March 3rd at 8 a.m. EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced next Saturday. If you are not using ODBD stamps, please do not enter more than once. Additional entries without using ODBD stamps will not be commented on or will they qualify for prizes.

While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Designs images and sentiments on your creations, we would love to see them if you have them.As a way of recognizing those who do use Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we will again be choosing 1 to 2 creations to spotlight for our Shining the Light Award.Inorder to qualify for this award, however, you must use Our Daily Bread stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Friday, March 3rd at 8 a.m. EST. If you upload your creations to Splitcoast Stampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword is ODBDSLC98. When creating your posts on blogs please include a link to the challenge.

Now on to our challenge teams inspiring creations for this challenge:

Please note the designers link, challenges used and the stamp set they used is listed under each creation. If you take a moment to leave the girls some love at their blogs, I am sure they would greatly appreciate it.

Sabrina Jackson

ODBD stamps used: Scripture Collection 5, Faith

 Jan Marie Ennenga 

ODBD Stamps Used:  Brocade Background and Not Forgotten

Lori Ulrich

 ODBD stamps used: Grow in Grace

                                  Jan Keen                                        

      ODBD Stamps Used:  Simple Things,  

Birthday Blessings                                          

Kathy Roney

ODBD Stamps Used: Happy Birthday

Rosemary Dennis 
ODBD Stamps Used:  The Mighty Sea

Debi Southard

ODBD set used: God's Love

Thanks for stopping by!! We hope you will join us for this week's challenge. We can't wait to see your creation!!

blessings,

Flashback Friday Favorites - The Mother's Day Bundle!

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!!! Even though it may still be winter, May will be here in a flash! How about a little Mother's Day inspiration for this week's Flashback Friday Favorites?! The three beautiful sets you see here, "Happy Mother's Day", "Mom", and "Mother's Day" have been combined into the "Mother's Day Bundle". What is a bundle, you ask? Our Daily Bread designs has "bundled" many stamps sets by theme and offer a 10% savings when you purchase the bundle. Check out all of the different bundles on the right side of the Stamp Sets Page.




Below is a variety of team samples which highlight each of the three sets in the "Mother's Day Bundle"......enjoy!!!

























Now is the time to get a head start on those Mother's Day cards and gifts! For more inspiration, please visit the ODBD Card Gallery, which has thousands of samples! Each stamp set is listed alphabetically, search for your favorite designer, or start a gallery of your own in order to share your own ODBD creations.....who knows, you may be holding onto the next ODBD Customer Card of the Day!

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned first thing Saturday morning for a brand new Shining the Light Challenge! Also, don't forget about our monthly Let Your Light Shine Scrapbook Challenge....we'd love to see those ODBD layouts!!!

Have a very blessed weekend!!



Blog Writer