Feedburner is back! Re-sign up to follow my blog using Feedburner, a better way to go.

Just wanted to tell anyone who is currently following my blog via Bloglovin' (or anyone new viewing my blog), or who previously followed me using Feedburner (by signing up to follow me by email in my right sidebar), that Feedburner is now working again. 

Feedburner is the Google "reader" that allows people to follow blogger or Wordpress blogs, and when you sign up in the box in my right sidebar by filling in your email address, Feedburner is what tracks my posts and sends them to your email inbox.

From May of 2014 to just recently, Feedburner quit working and no one received any of my blog posts. I lost a lot of followers, as I'm sure many other bloggers did too. There are other blog readers "out there" that a blogger can sign up for (and pay) to have blog posts sent to your email inbox, but I did not sign up as they all require a paid subscription by me! Feedburner is free.... so is Bloglovin'. And I like FREE.

Now that Feedburner is working, you will need to RE-SIGN-UP AGAIN, even if you previously followed my blog last spring, or tried re-signing up several times (and it didn't work).

If you are following me on Bloglovin' and are happy with it, then by all means, stick with Bloglovin'!!! I follow many blogs using Bloglovin', but the only downfall is that they kind of stack up, and every day, I may get a notice from Bloglovin' that I have blog posts to view, and there may be 75 different posts there! It's almost too overwhelming for me to click on Bloglovin', knowing I have so many posts to look at and read.

I prefer the way it used to be, when each blogger's post would come directly into my inbox, and I knew who it was from, and I could read it or not, or save it for later. It just wasn't so overwhelming or time consuming.

Some bloggers who lost Feedburner, went to blog reader sites like Feedly or Feedblitz, or chose to start sending out Newsletters using different contact sites like Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Mad Mimi, etc. I started to do a Newsletter a few times, but never followed through. It seemed like such a duplication of what I was posting on my blog!

I really liked Feedburner and I'm glad it's back! (and I hope it stays back).

If you are new to my blog and want to follow me, please sign up (or resign up to follow me if you want to start using Feedburner again) if you prefer receiving my posts directly into your email inbox, and not through Bloglovin'.

Tutorial coming soon on my easel card with box in a drawer.

You CAN follow my blog using both Feedburner and Bloglovin'. I follow many blogs using both blog readers, but I really prefer the more personal Feedburner method of receiving blog posts from my favorite blogs.

So if you want to re-sign up using Feedburner, go to my right sidebar where it says "From My Blog to Your Inbox" and fill in your email address... easy peasy.... and you will get an email asking you to click on a link that verifies that you want to follow me with Feedburner. 

Just thought you should know................... and THANK YOU for reading my posts and following my blog!

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One Brown Bag Brag Wallet.

Wow! Try to say that(one brown bag brag wallet) 5 times! I'm always browsing YouTube to find new and different projects to make that will inspire me. I'm finally just now (after moving) finding some time and motivation to craft again.  I found this really CUTE little wallet/photo holder that seemed simple and easy, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Right now, I'm just going to show you the pictures of this cute little wallet that I made as my "practice" project, and briefly explain how it was put together. It measures about 5" x 6" and has room for 9 photos. And, get this...... the base is a brown paper bag! So this is NOT a tutorial, as I didn't take photos along the way as I made it.

A full YouTube video by Dawn's Inspirations can be found HERE on YouTube. Be sure and go watch it if you want to make one of these. She gives a very complete, step-by-step tutorial.

Here's what it looks like inside. You open up the top flap upwards. Room here for two photos, one on the top flap, one on the back of the bottom flap:

Now flip the bottom flap down. Room for another photo on the bottom flap, and you will see two tags in a pocket on the left (room for smaller photos, front and back, or writing.

This was made with the brown paper bag, which was folded in thirds. Two pieces of cream cardstock were cut out and tucked into the top and bottom of the bag, forming the top flap and the bottom flap. I then matted the cream colored flaps with decorative paper and rounded the edges.

Here are the tags pulled out.

The below photo shows the top of the brown paper bag. That makes two pockets to put the two tags into. Pretty ingenious.

I did a little stamping on the cream cardstock and inked most of the edges of the little wallet, to give it an antique look. Mind you, this is NOT my best work. I was doing this for practice and was in quite a hurry. I also used a paper bag that had a few flaws, that I didn't notice at first, so it's not real even in some spots.

Here's what the wallet looks like with the left flap opened out to the left. You can see the underside of one of the photo mats on the left, and the center of the wallet is a pocket (the cream colored part) with another photo mat inside of it! Pretty nifty!  I stamped a little box for writing something in.

Here I am pulling the photo mat out. You could put a small photo underneath it, and also to the left on the burgundy patterned paper.

The right side of the center of the wallet (above-cream colored) is the bottom of the paper bag glued down, which makes a little pocket to slide the photo mat into. You can see a little bit of the bag sticking out below the cream colored cardstock, which really should not show like that, but what the hey... this was just practice, right?  Here's the center area with the flap folded up again, where I left more room to write.

This was really fun to make! Not all paper bags are exactly the same size, so you almost have to measure as you go, to make the mats for the flaps and tags. My bag was from a package of cheap lunch sacks from the grocery store! You can buy really nice, heavier ones, from the craft stores. My lunch sack measured 5" x 9-1/2". Some sacks may be 6 inches high and a different length.

I'm going to write down measurements for the flaps and mats for this 5" x 9-1/2" sack.

Magnets are used on each flap so that it snaps shut. See below:

Dawn, on her YouTube video here, shows you how to insert the magnets. That was really helpful to me.

I'm going to take pictures as I make the next little wallet. If anyone wants my written measurement sheet, or wants me to post a tutorial on making this, let me know and I'll post one. My next one is going to be a Christmas themed wallet, to hold some of my little Christmas pictures.

And voila! here it is finished. It's just not my style to leave it plain.. so I'll probably decorate it up a little bit.  I do like the simplicity of it though.  I'm thinking how cute a set of three would be, put into a little mini magazine holder box that is decorated to match. What a sweet gift that would make for someone.

If you make one of these, I would really love to see it! Email me at pinkpapercottage@yahoo.com and send me a photo, and if you like, I'll post it/them on my blog.

I had fun making this, and it really DID get me inspired and motivated. And now I'm excited to start crafting again..... and more in the mood to start on my Christmas cards.

Enjoy!  I hope you'll try one of these. They are really fun.