Monday, June 24, 2013
10 Free Online Women's Magazines
If you've never taken the time to explore some of the online women's magazines available, then you are in for a treat. They are easy to flip through and you can adjust the size of the magazine to get closer views. I find them a nice distraction when I can't leave the computer or when I need a quick break from some other chore. Below I've shared some of the online magazines I have enjoyed and ones that have inspired me. Many of these have back issues that are also worth a peek. Enjoy!
Based out of Toronto, Canada this online lifestyle magazine takes a look at decor, food and more. Each issue is packed full of inspirational ideas, and unique stories.
matchbook is another women's online magazine that has a variety of topics, it covers fashion, home decor, entertaining, cooking and interesting people.
Niche Magazine is a monthly production which explores new avenues in
music, art, decor and fashion. They strive to bring a creative and fresh look to things so readers can find their own niche.
Kansas City's vintage decor, fashion, event and DIY online magazine has an assortment of topics that will keep you flipping the pages for awhile.
I hope you found these as inspiring and fun as I did...I'll share a few more of my favs sometime soon.
Happy Reading!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Free Online Sites and Apps for Organizing Home Life and Business
Trello is a visual tool that organizes all your projects onto boards, and quickly tells you in one glance what projects you are working on, what's in progress, what needs yet to be done, and what's finished. Keep track of your kid's activities, grocery lists, anniversary's and birthday's coming up...the uses are endless.
Asana is another place where you can organize your life, business, and group activities all in one place. Asana is place to increase productivity in business and individual lives. As a business tool it helps increase the team effort leading to success. While its not as visual as Trello it allows you to organize everything in an orderly fashion.
Boomerang is an online email organizing, reminder tool that allows you to set up everything you need to do. Send messages, have messages sent to your self to give you reminders of important events, projects and activities It comes with a calendar to keep track of everything in one handy place. It's a Gmail plugin for your browser that adds time-awareness to your email. It can be set up for business groups and individuals. I use this tool to send myself reminders, which helps as I can be forgetful. Our Volunteer group uses it to keep everyone in the know and allows us to schedule meetings and update everyone on what's going on and what projects we are starting.
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EVERNOTE is a software program that allows you to keep a record of just about everything. I've yet to try this one, but my friend Julie has been using it for years and swears by it. It's used for note taking and archiving. It can be used almost like a sticky note. It keeps all your 'notes' in one handy place. A note can be a photograph, a full webpage or excerpt, formatted text, a voice memo or a handwritten ink note. You can sort your notes into folders, tag them, edit, export and more.
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More apps and sites to keep you organized:
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| mylifeorganized.net |
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| rememberthemilk.com |
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| toodled.com |
Saturday, June 22, 2013
16 Small Patio Design & Decorating Ideas
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| Inviting |
Traditional Patio by Englewood Architects & Designers Godden Sudik Architects Inc
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| Peaceful |
Traditional Patio by Alexandria Landscape Architects & Designers Notting Hill Gardens
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| Garden Sanctuary |
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| Perfectly Elegant |
Traditional Landscape by Sydney Landscape Contractors The Labyrinth Garden
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| Outdoor Dining |
Mediterranean Patio by Burlingame Photographers Dennis Mayer, Photographer
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| Breakfast |
Eclectic Patio by London Interior Designers & Decorators Celia James
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| Afternoon Tea |
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| Outdoor Chic |
Traditional Patio by San Francisco Photographers Alex Amend Photography
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| Bright and Airy |
Eclectic Patio
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| Fresh Air Lunch |
Eclectic Patio by San Francisco Interior Designers & Decorators Sarah Burke Design
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| Bonfire Nights |
Traditional Patio by Dallas Interior Designers & Decorators Dona Rosene Interiors
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| Fresh |
Contemporary Patio
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| Bliss |
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| Serenity |
Contemporary Patio by West Hollywood Interior Designers & Decorators Elizabeth Dinkel
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| Tranquil Peace |
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| Contented Bliss |
Traditional Patio by San Francisco Media and Bloggers Centsational Girl
Free Design and Decorating Generators
1. ) Armstrong Design A Room
Armstrong makes it easy to pick flooring and paint for every room in your home. Be careful this decorating generator can keep you there for hours! To start choose the room you want to add flooring or color to, kitchen, bath, living room/family room, or bedroom. Then pick a style that closely matches your own, you have casual, contemporary, traditional, eclectic, or European country to choose from. Each room starts with basic colors, then you choose the color of walls that closely matches your own, or use to find a new color.
Select the color, type and style of flooring you would like to try to see which style would best suit your room. The options range from hardwood, laminate, tile, and vinyl. The kitchen rooms give you the option to change the cupboards to the color that is closest to your own or the color you would like to purchase. This takes the guess work out of decorating, renovating or building new.
Below in the first photo I have chosen a traditional kitchen in the basic template. In the second I've picked the color of walls, flooring and cabinets. You can sign up for a free account to save your designs or right click and save them into your photos.
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2.) Design-A-Room Better Homes and Gardens
This generator allows you to pick the shape of your room and adjust it to the actual size of your own. You can then add furniture scaling it up or down to the size of your own, add windows, doors, and accessories. While this is a pretty basic program it is great to use if you like to change your rooms around a lot, like I do.
By being able to adjust it to the size of your own room and furnishing it gives you an idea of how your room will look in different set ups, taking into consideration where the windows and doors are situated. If you are a room-furniture changer arounder like me this tool will make sure that the idea you have will work before you actually start moving furniture around.
To use this the next time you want to change your rooms around or add new furniture check out the Arrange-a-Room generator at Better Homes and Gardens. You do need to sign up for a free account to access it.
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3.) mydeco.com is an amazing site that allows you to create any room or garden using over 120,000 real products. This site is amazing and is a great tool to play around with a new look you may be thinking of before making an investment. Choose colors, size of rooms, furniture, accessories, plants and more to create a unique living space or explore color possibilities in your home decor. It takes awhile to figure everything out and if you are wanting to try this I recommend watching the videos they have on the main page to get you started.
To explore this virtual 3D design world check out mydeco.com
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By being able to adjust it to the size of your own room and furnishing it gives you an idea of how your room will look in different set ups, taking into consideration where the windows and doors are situated. If you are a room-furniture changer arounder like me this tool will make sure that the idea you have will work before you actually start moving furniture around.
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3.) mydeco.com is an amazing site that allows you to create any room or garden using over 120,000 real products. This site is amazing and is a great tool to play around with a new look you may be thinking of before making an investment. Choose colors, size of rooms, furniture, accessories, plants and more to create a unique living space or explore color possibilities in your home decor. It takes awhile to figure everything out and if you are wanting to try this I recommend watching the videos they have on the main page to get you started.
To explore this virtual 3D design world check out mydeco.com
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4.) olioboard.com is a site where you can design and decorate any room. All you need to do is choose the background and go from there. Very easy to use, with a wide selection of real products to choose from. The olioboard community allows people to design and decorate a room, and gives them the option of buying brand name products from Crate & Barrel, Wayfair and more. You can design and decorate a room without membership, but need one to download your creations and to participate in the community. Members post their creations on boards for others to see.
The interface is easy to use with just a little practice and is another decorating design site that you can lose a lot of time on. Below is a room decorated with products that can also be purchased.
To design and decorate your own room or to purchase product check out olioboard.com
Have Fun!! The only thing it costs is your time.
To design and decorate your own room or to purchase product check out olioboard.com
Have Fun!! The only thing it costs is your time.