Tag Archive for 'events'

Just around the bend

Published by Sarah Bray on May 12, 2008 in Site Updates. 2 Comments

You guys would not believe how awesome this carnival is going to be. I was so convinced that I had come up with this idea that was going to flop, and THEN…well, it has completely soared past my imagination! So yay!

I’m going to be quiet for just a few more days…Wednesday’s the big kick-off, so my silence until then will serve to amplify the excitement for everyone.

A couple more people who are rocking my world right now:

  • Toblerone from simplemom.net. Her site is just completely awesome, I am telling you. One of my new favorites.
  • MarmaDaisy is a genius with the sewing machine. She has tutorials that I can actually DO, too! What a concept!
  • Lisa from Condo Blues has tons of DIY projects for people who live in small spaces.
  • Debbie from Virtually Organized has so many professional organizing tips, you just might not have an excuse anymore.

See you Wednesday!

A few (more) people I want to thank…

Published by Sarah Bray on May 8, 2008 in Site Updates. 2 Comments

Laura from orgjunkie.com (Her site just plain rocks. If you want to get organized, you’ve got to click over.)

Emily from rozells.blogspot.com (Her family is the greatest)

Jennafer from atlantalovings.com (LOVE her site!)

Stephanie from stoptheride.net (so many fantastic ideas for simple living)

You’ll be seeing them again throughout the carnival (as well as the other lovely people who are making this whole thing possible!). If you’ve helped promote the carnival in some way and I don’t know about it, please shoot me an email at sarahjoy AT todayshomemaker DOT com. I’d love to thank you publicly.

Also, I’ve been attacked! In a GOOD way. There has been such an onslaught of people over the last week wanting to get involved in the carnival, and I’m so excited about all of it. If I haven’t gotten back to you yet, don’t worry. I will by Monday. My inbox is bursting to the brim!

Getting ready for the carnival…

Published by Sarah Bray on May 5, 2008 in Site Updates. 4 Comments

…and my son’s birthday is this week! And our family is in town! So many things going on. I’ll be in and out, but probably mostly out this week.

In the meantime, don’t forget to enter your best stuff in the first ever Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling. We’re getting closer!

WOWee!

Published by Sarah Bray on April 26, 2008 in Site Updates. 1 Comment

Wow. Thank you guys SO MUCH for your excitement about the carnival. Yesterday, there was a huge influx of people from Home Ec 101 just giving their congrats and entries and support. Amazing. Thank you so much! I will get back to each and every one of you very very soon!

And thanks to Shak in Style and North of the 49 for posting about us yesterday. Amazing!

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS weekend. We are currently getting ready to go “Touch a Truck” at our local rec center. Lots of trucks. Lots of fun for the little ones. See you Monday!

Thanks for promoting the Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling!

Published by Sarah Bray on April 25, 2008 in Site Updates. 0 Comments

I just wanted to thank the people who responded to my plea for help a few days ago. I really appreciate it! I am so looking forward to the carnival, and I can’t wait to share all of the goodies I’m finding with you. I especially want to thank the following people for posting about the carnival:

Heather and Ivy from Home Ec 101.

Jennifer from The Laundry Is Never Finished and Bliss Home Goods.

Julia from Kingdom Jewels.

Robin from Ideal Design.

I just submitted the carnival to BlogCarnival.com, so I am hoping we’ll get some more entries from that. So far, there has been a TON of positive response, but only 20 or so entries. Which is absolutely fine! I’ve got a bunch of stuff saved up in my “Adore” folder to showcase in case we don’t get enough entries.

Anywho, if you’ve been waiting on submitting your stuff, I’ve extended the deadlines for entries a wee bit to May 12th. And sponsors now have no deadline for promoting the event. The carnival is still scheduled to run May 14th thru the 21st unless you hear otherwise.

There have been a few other changes in the sponsorship information, so I’ll just share it with you here.

THE GOOD: Anyone can now be a sponsor! Yes, even if you are entering the carnival. Visit the sponsor page to find out more.

THE NOT AS GOOD, BUT STILL GOOD: We are no longer accepting donations for the prize packages that are being sent to the winners. Why? Well, sadly, we haven’t (yet! still hoping!) gotten the publicity we needed to be able to give you a good return on your investment. So now we’re offering sponsorship benefits to anyone JUST for spreading the word. (See? Still good.) And the winners are STILL receiving their prize packages…it’s just that I’ll be footing the bill. :)

Thank you everyone for supporting us as we’re gearing up for our first “big” thing here at Today’s Homemaker. I knew it was risky in the beginning, and I’m still praying for some blogger diva to come by and say “Wow! This is cool! Let me send my 50 billion readers her direction!” but I am guessing that’s not likely to happen.

(Note to all of you small-time bloggers out there, like myself. It might be better to attempt something like this if you have 2,000+ readers a day instead of 200!)

But to end on a positive note: I’ve been putting together a detailed cleaning/organization plan that is going to knock your socks off! I may actually wait until AFTER the carnival to debut it, which would be the smart thing, since I am perpetually prone to getting so excited about what I’m doing that I do it RIGHT NOW without thought to all of the other things I have to do. But anyway, it’s going to be great! Thanks so much for reading and subscribing and all of that jazz. You guys are the best!

>> Official Entry Form
>> Sponsor Information

I need your help: Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling getting nearer!

Published by Sarah Bray on April 22, 2008 in Site Updates. 1 Comment

Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling

I need your help! The Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling is getting closer, and in order to have a successful event, I need help spreading the word! You can use the image above or the smaller one in my sidebar to proclaim this fun event to the world over.

ALSO, for helping me spread the word, I will automatically include you on the sponsor list and will thank you profusely for all of my days. Just send me the link at sarahjoy AT todayshomemaker DOT com or leave a comment on this post.

Another easy thing you can do? Click the “skirt this” link at the bottom of this post. I am so thrilled about showcasing the best in modern living, and I know this event is going to be such an awesome one. Thanks in advance!!

Friday’s challenge: Clean a wall

Published by Sarah Bray on March 28, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization. 1 Comment

Do you have walls in your house that are actually dirty? I have one. Our living room is red, and the walls show nearly every particle of food that sticks when my toddlers get to flinging. So today I’m going to spray it with a bit of mild cleaner and and wipe it down.

If you don’t have any walls that are particularly dirty, you might consider dusting them instead. Walls really do get dusty eventually, though I’m not sure how that happens.

Note: Oh yes, and don’t forget to enter the Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling before my virtual voice is gone from going on and on about it. The competition looks like it will be pretty stiff, but it will be lots of fun!

Carnival in Progress! Next Carnival in the Planning Stages

Published by Sarah Bray on March 20, 2008 in Site Updates. 18 Comments

Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling

(Feel free to use the above graphic in any posts related to the Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling, as long as it links back to this post or to one of the carnival posts. Thanks!)

>> The first ever Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling is in progress! <<
>> Official Entry Form <<
>> Sponsor Application <<

We are nearing the end of our first ever Carnival of Modern Home Dwelling, and we’ve had so much fun that we’re ready to schedule another one! This one will be running from Monday, August 4th through Friday, August 15th. We’re changing things up a little bit, so be sure to read all of the details if you’re planning on entering or becoming a sponsor. The categories are pretty much the same, with a few additions and modifications.

  • Art and Craft
  • Cleaning and Organization
  • Eco-fab1
  • Entertaining
  • Food
  • Green Living2
  • Interior Design
  • Kids and Family
  • Outdoor Living
  • Personal Style3

Entries can be anything…useful products, how-to articles, your exposition on the resurrection of hand-washing…whatever. You can enter stuff that you’ve personally created or things that you admire from others (of course, if you enter something for someone else, they will be the one who gets the prize if they win, but we will include your link along with the submission). We are looking for relevance and quality, and we will be featuring the 25 best entries in each category.

And what’s a carnival without a CONTEST? It’s not one, we say! We will be choosing a winner in each of the afore-mentioned categories, and each winner will receive a package in the mail filled with all sorts of delightful things.

So mark your calendars, folks. Send in your entries. Spread the word. We can’t wait to see you there!

  1. read: ways to be frugal and fabulous [↩]
  2. also includes voluntary simplicity [↩]
  3. read: fashion and beauty [↩]