~ Prim n' Country ~

Country & Primitive Website Design & Hosting!

2010-08-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

Check out our portfolio at http://www.countrycraftsites.com !

Happy Birthday Honey!

2009-01-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday. He is THE BEST HUSBAND in the world and spent his day with me ( aka didnt go to work! yeah! ) doing billing and helping me catch up with my business. I struggled with what to get him for a gift this year... he says all he needs is ME. ( yeah, he is that sweet! )

Then I got an idea --- he has NEVER been to a rock concert, he has always loved Nickleback and they sing our wedding song ( Far Away) AND they are going to be in Omaha in March! SOOOO I got TICKETS today to the concert --- I am giving him his gift in 1 hour --- he is going to FLIP OUT!!!!!!
Now I just have to figure out how we are going to pull off going to omaha on a SCHOOL night and what to do with my 5 kids --- details, schmetails...lol

I almost didnt do this... details overwealming... taking a risk that is unfamiliar. I am such a chicken. And then I thought, we only live once.. this will be one of the BEST experiences of his life and something he has dreamed of doing and he is worth it!

Starting over....

2009-01-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

A few months ago we lost our dog... she had started "going to town" about 2 miles from home. We got calls to come pick her up numerous times. We tried putting her in a kennel. She dug out. We put the kennel on cement. She climbed out. We put a roof on the kennel. She unwired the fasenings on the gate and got out. Yes, she was a very smart dog. So we gave up. And most days she stayed home, and about once a week she would "go to town". I didn't want to have a farm dog that was locked up or on a chain it's whole life. But I worried. And one day she didn't come back home and no one called. We put up signs, we called the radio stations, and no one had seen our beloved dog. It is now 2 months later and we have all been mourning her since. For the last few weeks I have been checking out puppyfind.com to just "look" at the aussie puppies. Today I found my puppy. And we called and put down a deposit and soon he will be coming home to live with us ( the kids can not wait)

Last weekend we went to the movie Maddy and Me - wow what a heart wrenching movie - especially for a family like us who lost their dog a few months earlier. If you do go see it, bring tissues ( as in the whole box )

Meet our new start ( who better never learn there is a town 2 miles from here ) Bizkit ( we think this will be his permanent name... it is still under debate... with 7 opinions it is hard to come to a conclusion without a bit of bartering!)

Handmade from the heart....

2009-01-03T00:57:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas is over but I wanted to show you some of my favorite gifts we gave this year.

The kids helped me make these cute little personlized boxes for their cousins, then we made cookies and filled the boxes with them.

We used stuff we already had.... scrapbooking papers, stickers etc, paint and old buttons and bottlecaps ( I collect those and this is the first craft I have used them on! )

the kids had so much fun creating these and were really proud of how they turned out!

We also made two altered picture frames for big sis.... she LOVED them! The hoodies the boys have on were her gifts to them this year which made the picture extra special too. These are big frames ( 14x18 ) so the finished effect when on the wall is dramatic! I love how they turned out and it cost me literally a few dollars worth of scrapbooking papers and stickers and I used old frames I already had.

I am going to try to do more gifts like these from now on.... it felt special to give something the kids created!

Christmas memories.....

2008-12-30T19:20:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! I am going to do a short photo blog of how Christmas day here went.... Our beautiful tree ... Santa came to our house! The calm before the unwrapping storm.

Taylor with her favorite gift... a huge box full of envelopes of MONEY!

Reid got lots of Bengals stuff!

Lance is shocked at his gift..... his old highschool football games on dvd!

Evan got hunting stuff... traps, calls, binoculars etc. He is in hunting heaven.

Brady says... more clothes?

Ok..these clothes are COOL - they all have their favorite team and got the qb jerseys!

Give the teens money.... it's what they really want!

Later in the day all our cousins came over.

The girls went sledding... even though it was only about 15 degrees out. Brrrrrrrr

We opened MORE presents.... Brady looks tired? Not Reid.... bring on some more!

We played You Might Be A Redneck, and Scrabble, and Golf ( the card game)

And this is after the unwrapping ..... um where did everyone go? Anyone want to help clean up?

Christmas times a comin'

2008-12-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce I am almost done shopping!! I have 2 gifts left to get and I know exactly what I am looking for so that is good news! I have never been done this early before, it is a good feeling!
Here is one of my favorite gifts EVER - Santa is from my good friend Maurine from http://www.kottonkountrykreations.com - She gave him to me last Christmas and I just LOVE him! Stop by and see Maurine's other dolls when you have time!

Holiday Season!

2008-12-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving! I cooked, ate, napped, cooked some more, ate some more, etc etc.

I actually made HOMEMADE ROLLS - thanks to www.thepioneerwoman.com - her recipe for no knead dinner rolls is awesome ! I made them on Thursday morning and again on Friday night and baked that batch Saturday . Both family dinners I took them too RAVED over them and there were none left even though I made 3 dozen each time!

On Thursday night I went to bed at 8 30 pm ! I usually go to bed around 3 am - so this was big news! That thing about turkey making you sleepy must be true! Or maybe it was the fact that I have been going on about 4 hours of sleep a night for the last two weeks trying to get my new clients websites all up and running before December?

We put up the tree and decorated for Christmas yesterday - my home looks very inviting and I love how our tree looks in its new spot infront of our living room window - last year I stuck it in a corner - this year it is front and center. MUCH BETTER!

Notice my untrimmed window arch? I have ordered the trim 3 different times, everytime it comes in with the WRONG angle, wrong size, doesnt fit! I am trying again this month - maybe someday my window will be trimmed!

I have almost all my Christmas shopping done! woo hoo! Thank you ebay and amazon.com!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-25T18:08:00.001-08:00

Doesn't he look thrilled to be a Pilgrim? I had the pleasure of attending one of my son's Thanksgiving programs this week. I had forgotten the true story of the Mayflower and the settlers who came over on that ship. I don't think I would be thrilled to be a Pilgrim either! It was not a good voyage at all.

We have so many things to be thankful for this year! Our family has lived together in our new house for just over 1 year now. We are all thankful for our home, our big blended family and all the blessings God has given us.

I wish you and your families all a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Day Of The Meltdowns...

2008-11-19T02:04:00.001-08:00

Melt down story ..... actually STORIES! As in plural, as in 5 kids = lots of melts downs and how could I pick just one? Especially when they all happened in a one hour time frame as we were getting ready for school one morning.

I should give a bit of a backdrop to my tale of the Day Of The Meltdowns. We are a blended family. By that I mean my husband and I both have custody of our children from our previous marriages - so we have all 5 - all the time. Because of this we have 2 eldest children, 2 babies, and 1 middle child. We have young teens, pre-teens and gradeschoolers. And they are typical eldest, middle, & babies too with the typical traits. The eldest are independent, quiet and mature. The babies are whiners, fighters, and attention hounds. And the middle.. oh the moody middle, no one loves me, life is not worth living middle child.

On the Day Of The Meltdowns - as we call it when we unfondly remember it, even our 2 eldest who are normally the ones we can count on to NOT have meltdowns had reached their breakdown points.

Early a.m. our eldest, 15 year old daughter leaves for school in the school car. Two minutes later my phone rings, all I can hear is shrieking, crying, hysterics. "Dad is going to KILL me~ waaaaaaaaaa". I panic - what is wrong? She had driven down the driveway too fast, slid the corner and got the car stuck in the mud. Which is really no big deal around here, we pull people out of our ditches on a regular basis. But on this day for some reason Daughter thought the world had come to an end! Her Dad drove down to pull her car out with strict orders from me to not make it any worse - which around here means "do not say ANYTHING to the teenager". From inside the house I could hear her still crying, yelling, freaking out - as she had to sit behind the wheel while he pulled the car with the chain and his pickup. I tried really hard not to laugh, but oh THE DRAMA! And I could see Lance out there trying not to yell at her and biting his lip. I think he has learned that a teenager on a rampage is nothing to mess with!

Meanwhile... inside the "brady bunch house of horrors" the BABIES are getting their bookbags and coats on. Only guess what? Neither one can FIND their bookbag. They have mysteriously disappeared into thin air ( Gnomes? ) So I start asking questions amidst the Sobs, the wimpers, the crying of the two babies in unison gets louder with each question. "Is it in your room?" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, sniff, whimper. "Is it in the car?" NOOOOOOOOO, sniff, wail. "Did you leave it on the bus?" AWWWWWWWWNOOOOOOOOOOYIIIIII!!! That one was obviously NOT the possibility they wanted to hear. And then the topper to the tantrum..."Maybe you left it as school" The shrieking and crying at the thought that they could possibly have done that was deafening x 2. There was no consoling them, so I sent them outside to let Lance deal with it ( yes I know, I am a coward! )

Thinking I had dodged that bullet and all was calm inside I walked into my eldest son's room. He was putting his books into his bookbag. Suddenly he starts crying, wailing, bawling, throwing things. "What is wrong with you?" I asked ( you would think by now I would just STOP asking questions.) He didn't get his homework done, had forgotten about it, and now was DOOOOOOOOMED to fail in all life's future missions because of one math page that was only half done. How could he have done that? He was so MAD at himself for failing to be perfect. I slowly backed out of the room giving consolation as I snuck out. "You don't have to be perfect" "Your teacher will understand" "You can do it at recess....." SLAM - that was his door, in my face as I gave that last bit of wisdom. I don't think he appreciated it much?

So we are now 4 for 5 - with only the moody middle child left to go. Suddenly I remembered I had not seen him yet this morning. It was 5 minutes PAST when they normally get in Dad's truck and head to school and where was he? His room is downstairs and I only venture down there under dire conditions ( aka - do not enter unless you want to see your brand new house with rooms that look like bombs have gone off and nuclear dumping has occurred) He is always the last one ready, the last to run upstairs, grab whatever breakfast is left on the counter and head out to the door so I hadn't missed him yet with all the dramatics going on upstairs. I yelled down the steps..."Are you ready to go?" Again, a question... I will never learn it seems! No answer. I yell down again. "Are you up?". No answer. So I venture downstairs, feeling the doom closing in on me with each step. It is dark. It is quiet. This is NOT good. I knock on his door. He says "What?" in a VERY sleepy voice. Last question of the day coming up..... "Do you know what time it is?" At this point he looks at his clock and realizes he has overslept and has no time to shower, comb his hair, eat breakfast etc and he lets out a SCREAM of bloody murder as he rushes pass me out the door, into the bathroom, slamming that door, yelling at the top of his lungs. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?!!?!" Me? My fault? Oh yes, of course I should have came down and woke you up even though I was busy juggling the OTHER 4 meltdowns this morning and you always get yourself up and we are best to just leave you alone in the morning ( we have learned this lesson well! ) I retreat. I run. I hide in my office and listen for the glorious sound of my husband's truck doors closing and the truck driving down the driveway. They are gone for the day and I survived to fight another morning! I sit down in my chair to start my quiet day alone in my home with no yelling, no crying, no doors slamming. And there on the bench in my office in plain site are the two missing bookbags! Do I call Lance and have him turn around and come back? Break my peace and quiet, risk another tantrum (s), risk hearing the "We are late...waaaaa" , "I am late for work...waaaa"? No way!

Melt down? It was 5 for 5 that day. At least we had a perfect score!

Digital Scrapping! My new discovery!

2008-11-15T01:42:00.000-08:00

This is my very FIRST digital scrapbooking layout page! I am so proud of it. Pictures are from our trip to the Denver zoo this summer with the kids - lots more to come, I am going to do a whole album of our trip eventually - in my spare time.. wait, I dont have spare time?!?!

Oh what a beautiful morning!

2008-11-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

First of all.... I am NOT a morning person - at all. If I can avoid seeing a sunrise that is good with me. Until now - the views from our back porch are amazing . This was today at about 7 am - thank you TIME CHANGE - I would have never seen this last week at 6 am!

Why have I never noticed before how beautiful a sunrise is? I love sunsets - have tons of pictures of those from our front porch - but this is my first sunrise picture EVER.

It took another blogger to turn me on to what was just out my back door. My new obsession is http://www.thepioneerwoman.com . The most amazing blog/website I have ever seen. I am not going to admit how many hours I have lost reading and looking at her pictures , recipes and stories. wow . She is responsible for my new love of this country life we live, easy home cooking and sunrises. Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Here are our country kids ( well 2 of the 5 anyway and my one big kid ) enjoying our country

life!

Who knew goats made such awesome loving pets for kids? Now I would suggest every kid should have one ( or two or thirty ... we seem to be growing our population rather quickly around here! )

This is our horse Bay Mare - she is the best kids horse around ( ie - mom doesnt worry too much about the kids getting bucked off while on Bay )

And this is Tequila - our 3 year old mare. She just came back home from being "broke" - and now the training gets started ( unfortunately none of us have actually trained a horse here so we are winging it ) Lance was a bit tentative about getting on her the first time.... I dont think that is the way you are suppose to ride a horse honey?

That looks better! So far so good - no butt hitting the ground during this round of trainin'

Home sweet home.....

2008-11-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite part of the house - the heart of our home. When Lance and I designed our house this was the best decision we made - we left our living room, dining room and kitchen all one open living space and we love it. When I am cooking everyone is involved , when we eat there is room for everyone... I would never have a closed off kitchen again!

I am going to start putting our favorite family recipes online as a "recipe book" for friends and family. My kids are constantly telling me that they want a book with my recipes for when they "move out" and are on their own.

http://www.gonecountry.biz/recipes.html

We are starting out with the BEST chocolate chip cookies ever! So stop by and let your mouth water a bit!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T14:34:00.001-08:00

SCARY! --- trick or treat around here was fun this year - this was my troll and my ummmm - dead mummy sceleton alien thing? YIKE

and look at this... these two look a little big to be trick or treating ?

The Simple Life

2008-10-08T10:46:00.001-07:00

Sitting on my deck watching the cattle graze and the leaves turn to fall colors....

Playing with our Australian Shepherd - Maddie....

Harvesting my tomato crop....

Just a few things that make me happy.

School Spirit!

2008-10-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

It is Volleyball season here! Our daughter and niece are on our school volleyball team. WOW they play alot of games! I remember when we had Friday night volleyball and football - back in the old days when I was in highschool. Now they play 3 or even 4 games a week! Our boys love to cheer their sister on... the painted War Paint was for homecoming last week - we won! YEAH!

Taylors biggest fan is my Dad - he loves watching her KILL those spikes - Taylor is number 7 and our neice Sierra is number 9.... Go Warriors!

Fall Blessins'

2008-10-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins, fall leaves, harvest..... I love fall! And CRAFTS... this is the beginning of the crafting season. Craft shows and gift shows are happening in preparation for gift giving for the season coming up. If you are a crafter and have been thinking about getting your crafts online, check out our website design services for crafters at http://www.gonecountrygraphics.com - I would love to help you get your online store set up before the holidays!

Back To School!

2008-08-19T00:17:00.000-07:00

Fall is in the air! My favorite season... has alot to due with the kids are back to school! whew! This summer was a whirlwind of camping, the pool, summer jobs, gardening, etc. We have 5 kids..none of them can drive themselves anywhere so I spend my day running one to work,picking the other up from work, running the others to the pool, picking the daughter up from work, picking the kids up from the pool... etc etc etc.. exhausted yet? (I AM! )

Some how I managed to also get alot of new websites done this summer.... who needs sleep!?!

Check out some of the new primitive crafts , fun boutique websites, and country decor websites we did for clients this summer on our portfolio page - http://www.gonecountrygraphics.com

Here are a few pics of our summer camping trip at the big LAKE ---- ALMOST passes for the ocean to us nebraskans.lol!

Wishing A Fond Farewell to the summer of 2008!

Country life....

2008-06-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

Summer time is here! I always think the web will slow down along with the warm weather... not so! Early summer is the beginning of the biggest and busiest time online. By August the orders will start from pre Christmas shoppers and by September the web is buzzing!

This month we have created several new craft websites! Each one has unique products to offer so check them out!

http://www.countrycraftsites.com/portfolio.htm

Here is a summertime view from my front porch! ENJOY!

2008-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

Promoting your website should be one of the main priorities in your business time-line. Building a great site is just the first step in being successful. It will take time and effort to build your business and see growth. Below are a few tips and FAQ's to help you get started!

Links Online -
Links from other sites to you increase your ranking on the search engines. Especially links to sites that share your keywords, such as Crafts, or Country Decor, or Candles. When you sign up for link exchanges with us we search out sites that will help increase your search engine rankings by sharing keywords you have listed on your site or finding sites to list you on that have the visitor medium most likely to buy your products (such as Mom or Work at Home Mom sites if you sell products that would appeal to Mom's or people with children) when possible.
Here are the reasons behind linking to other websites -

1. Link Relevancy - Search engines look at the sites linking to you to determine if they increase the value of your site (and therefore increase your rankings on the search engines) What this means - you should link to sites that share your theme, keywords, and product bases to make those relevant links to you.

The second meaning of link relevancy means what percentage of links you are on that site. Meaning a link from a site with only 10 links on it is worth a 10% score where as a link on a site with 100 or more links on it would only be a 1% score. We link you on sites with fewer links for this reason. that link is worth MORE to you in a search engines eyes.

2. Shared Customer Base = CONVERSION ( a customer who is looking to buy what you are selling)
Linking from sites who have customers looking for the same products as you or similar will always benefit you more than a link from a site with customers who are not looking to buy your products.

Here are a few quotes from SEO articles published in the last month about Google rankings and what DOES matter -

The added benefit of this is that the more outbound links you have pointing to you, the higher your ranking gets on many of the search engines. Another benefit is that even if you can't get listed on search engines directly for all your keywords, some of the partner sites will or on terms similar that you do not directly use and so due to their own visibility, so more paths flow to you. This is a far more effective strategy than SEO/SEM alone.

Search engines look not just at your site but at other sites that link to yours. The search engines count those linked sites toward your site's ranking according to that site's content and keywords.

All other factors aside, if one site has 10 sites linking to it and another has 500, the one with 500 does better in search engine rankings. But that's not all that counts.. the CONTENT makes that count tenfold.
Join ! - Online Craft Malls, Directories, Communities, Message Boards-These websites usually have already established traffic and customer bases. You can utilize these by getting your links on or posting messages with your website address in your signature line. All communities and boards have their own rules so make sure you check the rules or guidelines out to see if they allow you to list your site in your posts or advertise your business on their forum.
A great source to find some networking boards is www.ryze.com, www.ivillage.com, and www.yahoo.com (yahoo Groups)

Craft Malls - A great way to advertise for a very low fee... the ones we recommend are:

Craft Y Search - www.craftysearch.com - Not just a craft mall! Craft Y Search uses it's search engine rankings to help you get found on the major search engines... especially Google.com the number one search used. With pages ranked in the top 10 for popular terms such as Primitive Decor, Country Decor, Wholesale Soy Candles and 100's more your listing there is worth it's weight in gold! They also offer text listings, banner listings and banner rotations too. http://www.craftysearch.com

Gone Country Crafters - www.gonecountrycrafters.com - With category specific listings that show your product picture of choice, description and banner the listings at gonecountrycrafters.com give you more for your ad dollar! This site is advertised in the national magazine Country Marketplace and online at countrysampler.com on a regular basis... which brings constant traffic and shoppers to the site where they then find YOUR link! http://www.gonecountrycrafters.com
Banner Chic's Craft Market - www.bannerchicscraftmarket.com - Come browse our category listings to find crafts, home decor, primitives, candles, bath and body, patterns, children's boutique items, fabric, and so much more! CRAFTERS! Come Join Us! We love to cluck about your crafts! http://www.bannerchicscraftmarket.com
Search Engines - How do I listed & get ranked?
If you are wanting to get placed on the major search engines for a highly popular term it is going to be tough to do that alone. You will need to investigate pay per click and adsense placements in most cases.

If you are investing money for keywords the best way to do it is directly to the large search engines:

google.com has around 55% of the search market
Yahoo.com and MSN 25%
AOL Search 10%
The others split the remaining 10%

https://adwords.google.com/select/ - to purchase direct click from google.com for the keyword terms you want

http://www.content.overture.com/d/ - to purchase direct spot placing from Yahoo.com

With these programs you can set a budget and you only pay for HITS from the engine.. not just a placement for a keyword.

http://www.craftysearch.com - We already have top 10 listings for MANY of our pages on www.google.com.. so check with us to see if we can get you ranked for your keywords of choice too!

Website Design For Crafters

2008-01-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

Do you want your own website but have no idea where to start? I CAN HELP!
I love designing fun country websites, primitive websites, vintage websites & boutique websites and I would love to create one for you. I specialize in websites designed for the small business owner. You and I work together to create a site that is YOURS!

Your site will be SHOPPER FRIENDLY - Including an online catalog for your customers to place orders through!

I custom design your logo and graphics for the site. We provide website hosting and secure check out options too!

If you are interested in our rates for website design please check out my website at http://www.gonecountrygraphics.com or http://www.countrycraftsites.com