Friday DIY Roundup #75

Oh no. September is here... August has ended... Where did the time even go, I never got to make homemade ice cream this summer! (the thing that I'm the most bummed about this week, aside from school starting after labor day) Summer has really made me slow down here on the blog, and I'm sorry about that. Things got in the way; mostly Netflix, and a little bit of pool time here and there. But are some awesome DIYs to make up for that!

1. DIY Denim Embroidery by Honestly WTF

2. Hot Dog Balloon Garland (as shown in photo) by The House That Lars Built

3. Tassel Chain Necklace by Lovely Indeed

4. Sparkly Flags Cake Topper DIY by Oh Happy Day!

5. DIY Message Board by Always Rooney

6. Printable Back to School Mini Notebooks by Oh Happy Day!

7. Party Snack Bowls by Lovely Indeed

This is it... The last Friday DIY roundup before school starts (obviously I'll keep doing them after it starts, but still). On the bright side, we're 25 weeks away from our 100th DIY roundup!

xo Savannah

5 Essential Websites for Bloggers

Um, excuse me, who authorized this month to be allowed to just end? Honestly, I don't know where it all went, because now my YouTube feed is just filled with Back to School videos and so is the TV, not to mention all the ads for online schools (really? in the summer? =_=). But at the same time, with all of the free time I have, this blog is slowing downnnnn...... and I'm not going to tolerate that. These websites are free, and they help out so much when you have a blog.

1. Evernote.com

Have trouble with organization? Yeah, so do I. Evernote, which is both a website and a fantastic app (available on the app store and as an Apple Watch app, not sure about Google Play), can assist you in making lists, checklists, dates on your calendar, appointments, organizing photos, etc. I use the app for organizing lists I don't want to lose, because they're always backed up and you don't have to worry about losing anything!

2. Splitshire.com

When you're an independent blogger that doesn't have a full studio and tons of employees, you really don't have all the time in the world to take your own blog photos. Worry not! Splitshire has tons of awesome photos for whatever your heart (or blog) desires. I love the skyscraper theme they have going on right now.

3. Picmonkey.com

I cannot stress how much I love this website. It wouldn't work on my Mac for the longest time, and I was heartbroken- honestly- and I did everything I could. I downloaded Google Chrome, I spent some time on their troubleshooting site, I restarted my computer, I even emailed them about the problem. Then, one day, it miraculously started working again. Long story short, this photo editing site is perfect for literally every single thing you could imagine, and it's not just for bloggers.

4. Wonderlass Blog

Now I know what you're thinking, "it's just a blog!". But nooooo..... This has everything you could possibly want to learn about blogging! eCourses, eBooks, tutorials, stock photos, downloads galore! I could spend days on this blog just reading everything they have to offer. I swear, it's blog goals.

5. Canva.com

I used to hate Canva a lot, but they really have changed. Of course, Picmonaey will always be my first choice, but maybe I'll try using Canva a little more? It's pretty useful.

I hope you find these to be helpful, because I don't even know what I'd do without these! Leave some suggestions down below on what you think is a blogging essential.

xo Savannah

Pros + Cons of Using Blogger as a Blogging Platform

When I first started blogging, I immediately went to Blogger to use as my platform- it's the best for starting out on, it's run by Google (Google is bae, in case you didn't know), and it's completely free. Lately, though, I've been considering converting to Wordpress because it looks so much easier to use, although it's sad to say goodbye to Blogger whom I've been using for so long, and they work so well. But if you'd like to switch to Blogger, then here are the pros & cons I've noticed over the years. 

(also- sorry for not posting on Thursday! I was really busy all week.)

PROS

-It's completely free, no catch (unless you pay for Google AdSense)

-It's really easy to use and get used to, you don't really get confused at all.

-It shows you how many page views you have, the countries that view your site the most and what posts are the most popular.

-There are TONS of awesome widgets to add to your site, also all free to use and ridiculously easy to add. 

-So far, my blog has never crashed or not worked, though the blogger dashboard has been down a few times, but not recently. 

CONS

-There are a couple of limits when it comes to customization. This doesn't mean you can't make a professional-looking beautiful blog, it's just that it won't look exactly like what you were going for- which is why downloadable templates are your best friend. But if you're not up to downloading a pretty template (they're usually free, here's where I got mine)

-They have an app, but it's not free! No siree, it used to cost nothing to blog on the go, but now they've come out with a new and improved app with much better features than the old one- but they charge you for it?!

-You don't own your site with Blogger, Google does. This means they have the right to shut it down or restrict your access to the site at any time, so that kind of sucks.

-Blogger has not been updated in a very long time, and Google may or may not shut it down in the future (hopefully not, oh my god!). 

I've decided I really don't want to move my blog to WordPress, Blogger is where it belongs and I don't plan on just abandoning Blogger anytime soon. It's like Blogger is this cute little Starbucks, and everyone loves the coffee and the atmosphere, but just down the street is another coffee shop, but this one is independent (AKA WordPress) and everyone goes there all the time, and they like it because there's more of a variety of coffee selections. It's way bigger and there's way more people, so they get a lot of business! It's okay, Starbees, I'll never leave you.

xo Savannah