// Dream Tree Decorating Tips

Mike and I had a lot of fun decorating our Dream Tree this year, and because it was such a unique and exciting opportunity we decided to go all out and just have fun with it. Since we didn't really want to just pick up off-the-rack ornaments, we had to get a little bit crafty. For part two of November's Michaels Makers challenge, I'm going to share a few of our tree decorating tips!

+ Choose a color palette and/or theme for your tree. Let the color palette set the tone for the look and feel of your tree. We wanted to do something super rustic and cabin-inspired, but still "pretty" and "stylish". This helped us narrow down our color palette to creams, browns, and shades of ivory, and then we added in gold glitter.

+ Always start with the ribbon! If your tree isn't pre-lit, obviously do the lights first. But lay the ribbon as a base so you're able to build on top of it and fill in the negative spaces. Try to match the thickness of your ribbon to the size of the other major ornaments on your tree. That way you don't have wide ribbon with tiny ornaments or vice versa.

+ Mix and match textures. One of my favorite things about our tree is the wide variety of textures that hang on it. Everything from burlap to cork, wood, kraft paper and silk. The varied textures add depth and warmth to the tree.

+ Don't be afraid to decorate with everyday objects. A good 90% of our ornaments weren't actually ornaments to start. We simply searched for objects that fit the color palette and theme of our tree, and then we fashioned them into oranments ourselves. We chose things like cork gift tags, tiny wooden spools, cinnamon sticks, silk flowers, and decorative potpourri pieces to adorn our tree. A little bit of hot glue and twine go a long way! You can also use the little green ornament hooks so they'll blend in with the tree and the ornaments will look like they're floating.

+ Use filler pieces to help round out the design. Since we wanted to make our tree as rustic as possible, we used small "boutonniere" style bouquets of pinecones (3 per group) and we twirled them around the ends of some tree branches. This helped give a more realistic look to our tree. Then we took similar bouquets of golden foliage and added them in as an accent.

+ Have an eye catching tree topper. I love how large and attention grabbing our burlap bow is. It not only fits in perfectly with the theme, color palette and texture of our tree, but it acts as the perfect "cherry on top" for us.

+ Make it personal. The most important part of a Christmas tree for us is making it personal and allowing it to represent our family. Every year each member of our family picks out a new ornament for themselves, and then we get a "family" ornament, too. Normally the family ornament has the year on it, and often includes a photo of us. It's such a fun way to look back on how much we've grown over the years. For our Dream Tree we opted to hang wooden initials for each of us, and then I made some Instagram ornaments with some small balsa wood pieces and mod podge. 

+ Keep the theme going below the tree, too. Don't stop at just the ornaments and tree topper. Keep the theme alive in the tree skirt and the gift wrappings! Since Linden isn't crawling yet and Toby is old enough to follow directions, we opted to do something pretty different for our tree skirt. We used three bags of dried Spanish moss and created a nature inspired tree skirt. Then we wrapped our gifts with kraft paper (to match the kraft paper ornaments on the tree) and used brown and ivory/glitter ribbon to round out the look. Since there were so many textures on our tree, we opted to use wooden baskets, crates, and weathered metal baskets to hold extra gifts. And how perfect are those cork wine containers?!? (They were only $2 each at Michaels!)

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These are just our tips and ideas for our Dream Tree. The awesome thing about dream trees is that everyone has a different vision of what theirs will look like. Whether you're envisioning rustic or modern or ultra shabby chic, don't worry about what is traditionally accepted and just go for it!

And don't be afraid to throw out every single one of these "tips" and just do your own thing. Some of the very best trees are those that are truly personal. Every "First Christmas" ornament, every Elmers-glue-covered popsicle stick snowflake your kid brought home in elementary school, and every silly, novelty ornament you could ever get your hands on. Your tree doesn't need to look like it waltzed out of a department store to be special and beautiful. 

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If you haven't seen the dream trees from the other Michaels Makers yet, be sure to drop by The Glue String. They're all so unique and beautiful! You can also check out the wide range of Make It Merry projects made available for you and your family to get crafty this holiday season! If you want to spread some holiday cheer, share a photo of your favorite dream tree on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (or share your own if you're part of the "decorate before Thanksgiving" crowd like me!) and be sure to tag it with #TagATree. 

And just for fun: if you're near a Michaels store, they're hosting a Pinterest Party tomorrow, Saturday November 15th from 1 to 4pm. Pop in and create a fun holiday project with the help of a Michaels associate!

Do you have any handy tips or tricks for decorating your tree that you'd like to share?!

PS; I responded to all of the comments on our Dream Tree reveal post! Sorry that took so long!

An InLinkz Link-up

// The Art of Intentions: Tips For Making + Achieving Your Goals

I've shared a few weekly intentions posts around here, and I love the excitement that tends to come from them. Not only from myself, but from y'all. You get so fired up and I feel like that just sort of migrates its way through the internet, which in turns fires me up. It's kind of awesome when you have that, ya know? My first set of intentions went off without a hitch. I made sure that they were things I truly wanted to achieve, and then I did them. My second list? Ehhhh, not so successful. I think I accomplished 3 of them. I hate failing at anything, so it really got me thinking about the art of intentions and how to ensure success. Here are a few things I've come up with. Hopefully they'll help you make and achieve your intentions!

Intentions shouldn't be something that "make or break" you. They should simply be things that would bring joy, relaxation, and satisfaction to your life if completed. Things you intend on doing. Things that won't totally wreck your world if unattained. You can totally turn every day tasks into intentions, but I've found that in order to be unstoppable in attaining them, you must really, really want them. My first set of intentions featured things like "send more snail mail" and "read Desiderata every day." Those things bring me actual joy in life. I get happy popping a handwritten card in the post. I feel rejuvenated when I read Desiderata in the morning. Heck, I even feel more motivated if I don't see dirty dishes out of the corner of my eye. My second set of intentions ended up being things I just threw together to have a list. That was totally detrimental to my success. Sure, I love to paint signs for fun, but it wasn't something that would complete me in any way. Getting up at 6:30am every day was great in theory, but it was freezing cold and pitch black outside, and even my husband couldn't pull himself from the covers. I managed to get up around 7:30 every morning, which is a feat in itself, but it wasn't the 6:30 I set out for. You see what I mean? I've noticed the same trend in my 25 before 26 (and previous) goal lists. Throwing things on a list just to have a list is totally counterproductive! Instead of feeling motivated and inspired by reaching our goals, we're simply claiming to attempt something we have no desire to really do. Then we "fail" to complete them and we're left feeling unsuccessful and frustrated.

Here are a few tips to help you make and achieve your intentions!

• Only "intend" toward goals that will actually benefit and motivate you in some way. For some people this is washing the dishes directly following every meal (this actually motivates us a ton!). For others it may mean waking up 20 minutes early to get a quick work out in. Intentions and a to do list are two separate things.
• Don't overwhelm your list or yourself with too many goals. If some weeks you only have one or two intentions, that's fine! Put all of your energy and focus into those two things. If other weeks you feel like you can tackle ten intentions, you go girl! Get it done!
• Try to choose intentions that benefit multiple areas of your daily life. A perfect example for us is keeping our house clean each day. A clean house is seriously the biggest tool I've found in how motivated I am each day. A clean house not only looks and feels nice, but it also makes me more likely to be productive. Win/win!
• Think up small rewards for each completed intention or list. Whether you want to treat yourself for each item checked off, or wait until you've tackled the whole list, rewards are great tools for motivation. It can be as small or large as you'd like. Nurture your positive actions!
• Stagger your list with varying degrees of difficulty. Maybe two-thirds of your list is super easy and doesn't require too much effort, but the other one-third is a larger goal to tackle. Complete the easy stuff and let that motivate you to do something bigger and better!
• Break your list down into individual days if needed. I prefer to do weekly intentions, and then a daily to do list. My to do list always includes more menial tasks, but I try to make time to put one or two intentions on it each day. It helps round out my plan and keep me on track.
• Don't get frustrated if you don't complete them. The best part about intentions is that they shouldn't make or break your entire day/week/being. Use them as motivation to succeed, but don't beat yourself up over not completing every single item. Over time you'll start to see a pattern in the way you set goals and achieve them. Maybe you'll learn something new about yourself and hopefully that will help you on your path to short term goal making.
• Make more intentions and lists! Regardless of your track record for completing them, don't stop making these intentions. Make them part of your Monday morning routine if you have to! Just like anything else, practice makes perfect. We'll perfect our methods over time and start to learn what's really important to us as individuals. Even if you totally bomb the week before, don't let that stop you from getting back in the saddle.
• Once you've completed an item on your intentions list, try to continue doing it. Make that intention a habit. Make it a priority to send snail mail or be prompt with your dishes. Let that joy and satisfaction be consistent.

Intentions can be a great first step in terms of self discovery. I've already learned so much about myself just by creating intentions lists for 6 weeks. I've become so much more productive in my daily life, even with things that have nothing to do with my intentions. If you make it a weekly habit, I'd love to hear what your list entails!

Here's my list for this week... short but sweet!

• Clean the office. Let it be the streamlined, productive space it was intended to be.
• Wash the dishes after each meal rather than waiting until the end of the day.
• Make at least one new friend. Online or off - reach out to someone who intrigues me.
• Find time for a coffee date with Mike. Talk business, talk life, talk whatever. Just enjoy it.

How about you? Do you intend on doing anything special this week? Let's hear it!

The DOs and DON'Ts of Blogging!

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "How do I get more readers to my blog?" or some sort of variation. While I don't believe there is a fool-proof way to go about it, I think there are certain things you can do to keep you on track of having a successful blog. (Plus, even if there were a fool-proof method, I wouldn't feel worthy enough to preach it.) I think one of the biggest hangups of the term "successful blog" is that people tend to judge success by the amount of followers one has. That's obviously not a direct measure of a blog's (or bloggers) worth! I don't believe success should be measured by followers, sponsors, or free products... instead it should be measured by the amount of happiness it brings to the person writing, the quality of the content, and the conversations between the audience.

Still, it can be hard to find the motivation to blog when you've only got 4 or 5 followers. I know this because I was definitely there. Heck, even with the amount of amazing readers I have now I still find it hard to motivate myself sometimes (like right now).

While there may be certain things you can do to ensure that you make the most of your slice of the blogosphere, things like this are always open to criticism and argument. What I'll share below is simply what works for me. The next blogger may have a totally different approach to how they do things.

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Here are some tips and tricks that I've used (and still do!) to help keep my blog running smoothly. Maybe some will work for you, too! Here are my DOs and DONTs! (Seriously... keep in mind this is purely my opinion!)

DON'T let the lack of readers hinder you from creating great content. For the first six months that I had Little Chief Honeybee I was writing to the same 10 or 15 people. 95% of my posts received 0 comments. (You can go look for yourself!) Still, I stayed consistent and I put forth that effort and eventually the readers came.

DO be consistent and sincere. These are two very different things, obviously, but they're both important. Being consistent allows readers to stay engaged to your blog. When bloggers go weeks or months without posts we tend to forget about them and we're not so likely to check back. The best way I found to keep my blogging consistent was to set a blogging schedule. Every Monday I'd blog about music, every Wednesday would be weddings, every Thursday would be a list of things that I love that week, etc. This helped me when I was feeling less than inspired and it also let my readers know what to expect on certain days. If someone loved music they could come by on Mondays and they knew they'd find some tunes. When I speak about being sincere I mean being honest, open, and, to a certain extent, vulnerable. People like to relate to other people. They like to see into the lives of other people in the world and they like to know they're not alone. By being honest and real you're sharing part of yourself that these strangers may never see. Blogging about things that make you feel vulnerable helps show that you're a human. You're not a super-blogging-robot who does everything on an auto-function. You have emotions, you break down, you celebrate, you cry and you aren't invincible. You'll be surprised at how many others can relate to you and help you in your time of need. Plus, people can smell a fake blog from a mile away.

While we're on the topic of being genuine vs. fake... DO Blog about what inspires you. Don't blog simply to appeal to the masses. If you're not a girl who loves whimsical pictures, fashion and romance, don't blog about it! If you love metal, live music or certain animals, share those! You may not be an overnight success and you may not garner the amount of attention that someone who blogs only bows and cupcakes does, but your readers will be genuine! They will be there for you and the content. If you're constantly blogging about things that don't inspire you and keep you interested then your lack of enthusiasm will show through your work. If you blog something and your readers just "don't get it" don't worry about it! Make sure your blog is FOR YOU.


DON'T get into blogging to make money, get famous, get free stuff, or get invited to places. Those who get into blogging solely for those reasons are destined to fail. Readers will see right through your persona and realize that you're just in it for the "stuff." Don't rush into accepting sponsors! I didn't even think about accepting sponsors until I had well over 500 or so followers. Even then I was so afraid! Who am I to ask people to pay me to put their button on my blog?! I still feel that way! When you start to put a price on your blog you're also turning it into a business. It's no longer a "I'll just blog when I feel like it" or "I'm just going to stop" sort of thing. It's a "I'm promoting a business and I'm getting paid to do this, so I need to do it." That's not to say you can't have a day off. I take days off all the time. If I just don't feel like doing it, I won't. But unless something big happens I never go 2 days without blogging.

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DO treat your readers and sponsors with the utmost respect. They are the ones who come back day after day and they are the ones who invest their time and money into you and your creative endeavors. Don't write them off or treat them poorly! Show your gratitude with an awesome giveaway now and then or a special treat!

DO source your pictures and content and always link back to other blogs if you get an idea or inspiration from them! Don't worry, your readers will not leave you simply because you linked to someone else! On the contrary, they'll probably love you for it and they'll think you're awesome for sharing another awesome blog with them! If you don't know the original source for your pictures, etc, be open to someone sharing it with you! Then link appropriately!

DON'T overload your blog with ads, giveaways, reviews, and unnecessary mumbo-jumbo! While they're great for treats and to help get your voice out there, they're not the best quality content.

DO network! Get your name out there in ways such as networking, saying hello or emailing your favorite bloggers, asking someone you admire for an interview, trading buttons with someone with a similar readership as you and even taking out sponsorships on larger blogs that have a following you wish to have! Don't be afraid to branch out to other "genres" of blogs... crafting, recipe/food, fashion, mom blogs, etc!

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DON'T feel like you have to be a fashion blog to be successful! I don't think I could ever run a full-fashion blog. I like sharing too much to limit it to just that, so Little Chief Honeybee is a lifestyle blog. My lifestyle just so happens to include outfit posts a few times a week! Don't feel like you have to limit yourself to just one area to gain followers. Also- Don't feel like you have to be a size 2 to rock some outfit posts! You don't need designer outfits, skinny jeans or platinum blonde hair to get noticed! Show your personality and your personal style!

DO find something that makes you unique and run with it! Whatever it may be... maybe you live in a really cool town/state/country... maybe you have crazy colored hair on the daily... maybe you wear only the color green... Whatever it is, play it up!

DON'T feed the trolls! You will get haters.. You will. It's the simple (and sad) truth of blogging. It may take them a while to find you, but you'll tick someone off for no reason whatsoever and they'll set out on a mission to tear down everything you've worked so hard to build up. Don't let them! If you receive a negative, rude, malicious or just unnecessary comment on your blog, you have three choices: 1) delete it and go about your business. 2) leave it and let the tension build with other commenters (I've realized that this is never a good thing. While it's nice to know my followers are willing to stick up for me, it's no one's battle but my own.) or 3) You can feed right into their trap with a reply/blog entry/etc. This is something I've also learned firsthand is never a good thing. Don't let a "hater" control how you feel about yourself or your blog! They will look for any way to weasel into your confidence whether it's telling you look bad, have crap writings or that your blog sucks... don't listen to them. Anyone willing to waste their time bringing down others isn't someone you want to please with your blog anyway. Easier said than done, I know, but establish a protocol for how you handle mean comments and stick to it!

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DO get business cards with your blog link on them! Don't be ashamed of your writings or blog! It's still so hard for me to share my blog with people I know in "real life" but they find it eventually and it's fun to get emails from people I know who say they've been reading for months. Don't be afraid to share it with people you meet! It's a great way to keep in contact and yes, "blogger" is an acceptable job title!

DO be engaging with your readers! Ask questions and be sure to follow up to comments left on your posts! I wish Blogger had a better way to reply to comments (C'mon Blogger! What's the deal?! Should we start a petition?!) but since there isn't, I tend to either respond in the comments or I find the commenters blog/twitter and reply that way. Every blogger handles it differently but it's important to not leave your readers hanging! Why would you want to talk to someone who just ignores you?!

DON'T spam other blogs with your link! Nothing is more infuriating than someone leaving a 2 word comment (if anything at all!) and then 3 long lines with their blog link and why everyone should go check them out. That's just a no-no in the blogosphere! If you leave a thoughtful and sincere comment, you should absolutely link back to yourself so the blogger can check you out! But don't spam every comment with a lot of nonsense about following you. Some bloggers have a comment policy on their blog so be sure to pay attention to this if they do! (I allow links in comments on my blog, but I only approve them if the person isn't solely fishing for followers). I'll say that it's totally okay to leave a short comment... absolutely! Just knowing you're out there reading is awesome... my point is to not let your link and request for followers overpower your statement. It's totally fine to say a short something and leave your link, but I think we can all decipher the difference in a sincere short comment and a "I'm just going to say 'cool post' so I can leave a 3 page long link and plea for you to come check me out" haha!

DO have great quality pictures! While not everyone can afford a luxury DLSR camera to take outfit/blog photos, you must realize that people will judge your blog based solely on the quality of the pictures! There have been many times I had to rely on my iPhone for blog photos and it's okay in small doses, but you can't base your entire blog off of that. There are plenty of quality point-and-shoot digital cameras available and as long as you photograph them on the highest quality with good lighting then you should be good to go!

DO pay attention to the aesthetics of your blog! Just like your pictures, people will judge you based on what your layout looks like! Don't choose colors that are too bold. Don't choose patterns that are too wild. Don't choose typefaces that are too hard to read. Do choose simple and calm color palettes. Do choose to make your look consistent. Do make sure all of your photos are the same width! (This is such a big one for me! I feel like if you use your content area to it's utmost potential then you're sure to see results! Nothing annoys me like pictures that aren't the same width in a blog post! Then again, I'm a bit anal about those things! Several website applications such as Picnik can be used to make the pictures a certain width!)

ETA: DON'T have auto-play music on your blog! This tip comes courtesy of Miss JLYoungsma and she's so so right! Just don't! That's the quickest way to ensure someone will leave faster than they arrived! If you're going to have a playlist on your blog, put it conveniently on the side and make sure the auto-play function is turned off! Nothing is worse than hearing someone else's music over your own!

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While I could probably go on for days about things you should and shouldn't do, the truth is that it really all depends on who you are and what you decide is best for you and your blog! The only wrong way to blog is to not blog at all so I say dive in, get dirty and fall in love! Blogging has opened up so many doors for me and it's let me meet some of the most incredible people.. people that I call my best friends even! It's taken me all around the country and it's brought me an immeasurable amount of happiness. While it may feel like a full-time job (it really is!), I couldn't imagine my life without it!

With that being said, maybe you'd like to share some of your blogging DOs and DON'Ts in the comments below?! Even if you're not a blogger yourself, what are some things you love/hate about blogs? (You don't have to name names! In fact, you probably shouldn't, but please share!)

What tips would you give to new bloggers?

Also- leave your blog link along with your comment so I can visit! xo

How To Deal with (and Thrive from!) Your Haters!

Okay, so I stumbled upon this amazing link via Gala Darling and I just found myself nodding my head with every single point made. I instantly knew I had to share this. I apologize for the blatant repost but all credit is given where credit is due and I think everyone should read this (especially if you are a blogger yourself!) Tim Ferriss educates us on how to deal with, learn from, and thrive via the haterade thrown your way from online anons and such! (source). The following excerpt is a direct reblog of a Mashable article. Please note that I was in no way involved with this interview.

Dealing with negativity online can be tough, which was why we were all ears when Tim Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week, took the stage at The Next Web ‘10 event in Amsterdam to discuss how to learn to love haters.

While Mashable recently offered you advice on how to deal with negative feedback specifically in the social media realm, Ferriss takes the concept a step further with advice on how to contend with — and benefit from — criticism across all platforms.

We caught up with Ferriss backstage at the event to find out more about his seven principles for dealing with haters.

Read on for some interesting ideas and let us know which work for you — as well as your own strategies — in the comments below.

1. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many people do.

“It’s critical in social media, as in life, to have a clear objective and not to lose sight of that,” Ferriss says. He argues that if your objective is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people or to change the world in some small way (be it through a product or service), you only need to pick your first 1,000 fans — and carefully. “As long as you’re accomplishing your objectives, that 1,000 will lead to a cascading effect,” Ferriss explains. “The 10 million that don’t get it don’t matter.”

2. 10% of people will find a way to take anything personally. Expect it.

“People are least productive in reactive mode,” Ferriss states, before explaining that if you are expecting resistance and attackers, you can choose your response in advance, as opposed to reacting inappropriately. This, Ferriss says, will only multiply the problem. “Online I see people committing ’social media suicide’ all the time by one of two ways. Firstly by responding to all criticism, meaning you’re never going to find time to complete important milestones of your own, and by responding to things that don’t warrant a response.” This, says Ferriss, lends more credibility by driving traffic.

3. “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” (Colin Powell)

“If you treat everyone the same and respond to everyone by apologizing or agreeing, you’re not going to be recognizing the best performers, and you’re not going to be improving the worst performers,” Ferriss says. “That guarantees you’ll get more behavior you don’t want and less you do.” That doesn’t mean never respond, Ferriss goes on to say, but be “tactical and strategic” when you do.

4. “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative.” (Scott Boras)

“This principle goes hand-in-hand with number two,” Ferriss says. “I actually keep this quote in my wallet because it is a reminder that the best people in almost any field are almost always the people who get the most criticism.” The bigger your impact, explains Ferriss (whose book is a New York Times, WSJ and BusinessWeek bestseller), and the larger the ambition and scale of your project, the more negativity you’ll encounter. Ferriss jokes he has haters “in about 35 languages.”

5. “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.” (Epictetus)

“Another way to phrase this is through a more recent quote from Elbert Hubbard,” Ferriss says. “‘To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” Ferriss, who holds a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive tango spins, says he has learned to enjoy criticism over the years. Ferriss, using Roman philosophy to expand on his point, says: “Cato, who Seneca believed to be the perfect stoic, practiced this by wearing darker robes than was customary and by wearing no tunic. He expected to be ridiculed and he was, he did this to train himself to only be ashamed of those things that are truly worth being ashamed of. To do anything remotely interesting you need to train yourself to be effective at dealing with, responding to, even enjoying criticism… In fact, I would take the quote a step further and encourage people to actively pursue being thought foolish and stupid.”

6. “Living well is the best revenge.” (George Herbert)

“The best way to counter-attack a hater is to make it blatantly obvious that their attack has had no impact on you,” Ferriss advises. “That, and [show] how much fun you’re having!” Ferriss goes on to say that the best revenge is letting haters continue to live with their own resentment and anger, which most of the time has nothing to do with you in particular. “If a vessel contains acid and you pour some on an object, it’s still the vessel that sustains the most damage,” Ferriss says. “Don’t get angry, don’t get even — focus on living well and that will eat at them more than anything you can do.”

7. Keep calm and carry on.

The slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On” was originally produced by the British government during the Second World War as a propaganda message to comfort people in the face of Nazi invasion. Ferriss takes the message and applies it to today’s world. “Focus on impact, not approval. If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers,” Ferriss concludes. “Keep calm and carry on!”

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Do you agree with Tim's points? I have to say, I agreed with all of this prior, but I never knew how strongly I agreed with it, even after the anon fiasco earlier this week. This paints an entirely new picture and I hope you're just as inspired by his words as I was! You all made such wonderful points in the "Haters Gon' Hate" post and I think you were all right on target with Tim!

xoxo

PS; If you're visiting from Rebecca's blog, The Clothes Horse, welcome and please say hello! Feel free to introduce yourself or enter the giveaway! Or if you're feeling frisky, shoot me an email at kaelahbee@gmail.com! Thanks for stopping by!