*Rudy the Reindeer*

Well, it may be a bit too early for this, but pictured above is a Christmas ornie. 'First thing I have made since getting the arm cast off. Meet Rudy the Reindeer, from a darling free pattern by: The Olde Country Cupboard. He is coffee-stained with vanilla and cinnamon added. 'Also added a rusty pin and jingle bell to him. After discovering ornies last year, they have become a favorite item. Isn't he adorable as well as prim?

~Linking-up with: Ivy & Elephants' What's It Wednesday #85~

~Thrifty Thursday: fabrics & rabbit pattern~

Look at these great finds! At a local thrift store, mother and I just "went to look"- ha. We all know what usually happens. 'End up buying a little something. These two fabric scraps were only .25¢ each! They are cotton, and will be enough for small projects. The old Butterick B4415 rabbit pattern was also only .25¢ There are 3 different views for the darling rabbit. That totals .75¢ for all of these great finds. Purchasing at this particular thrift store also helps a local church to help the poor and needy, so that is a wonderful aspect. Do your local churches have thrift stores?

No more cast!

Good morning friends. Yesterday, the cast was removed. Now I will wear a brace/splint for 3 weeks. The arm looks good. The first thing I did was to soap & water clean that arm, right there in the room at the sink! 'Did not want the brace/splint to be fitted on a dirty arm. The doctor says that in time, I will have full use of the arm like before the break. Thank you all, again, for all of the love and support. Prim blessings ♥

Why mailto: links are DANGEROUS!

image: Pixabay @ Pexels.com

Just what is a mailto: link, you may be asking. It is a direct link online that anyone can click to send an email directly to your email account. It is handy for friends, but also handy for hackers and spammers. Web bots crawl these links, meaning the links can appear in folks' online search results, and bad folks actually look for these links online. Many social networks ask for or require a mailto: link, including Face Book. On these sites, just use your messages account that the social network includes instead of your personal email account. If the site requires a mailto: link, I have also successfully emailed the site admin and explained why I do not use mailto: links, and they made it not required for my account at my request. For blogging and web stores, just do not use mailto: links, as they are usually not required. Well, now how in the world can folks contact you? Friends and potential customers?

Use contact forms, with a CAPTCHA. CAPTCHA is where they fill-in the characters in the box. One place to get FREE contact forms is at: Email Me Form.com [not an affiliate link]. The characters are not difficult to read in IE, Firefox, or Google Chrome. Notice on all of my blogs these are used. On this blog, it is near the top left sidebar. It is an old phone image. I have been using these contact forms for years, with no hacking troubles. If I receive a suspicious email, I just mark it as spam and delete it immediately without opening it. The only way the folks who contact me can get my reply to email address is if I email them back. Be selective about who you email and who you reply to. Never open suspicious emails, even just out of curiosity. Beware of emails addressed to multiple recipients. Use good ole common sense.

Visit my page: *Safe Blogging Tips: What To Do Immediately If You Do Get Hacked*

It is also a great idea to take your computer to a reputable repair shop asap. While there is no 100% sure way to stop all hacking, removing and not using those mailto: links certainly helps a lot. Some people will put their email address online by using something such as, at dot com, which is not a link. Well, bad folks can also find that info and then know your email address. So, this is also dangerous. Why provide an easy way for hackers to mess you up? Let's all make it DIFFICULT for them, lol! Prim blessings dear friends.

~RAK from Friendship Crossing~

What a lovely surprise I received in the mail yesterday. Tanya of: Friendship Crossing sent the two beautiful patterns in the photo above. The Flower Basket Pennyrug is by: Sew Unique Creations, and the October black cat & pumpkin pennyrug is by: Buttermilk Basin. Aren't they both totally awesome! Thank you so much, Tanya. 'Looking forward to making these two items. Y'all be sure to go check-out these patterns websites, and visit Tanya's blog and her Etsy store at: My Lil' Craft Room. Prim blessings.

Help for Blogging

image: Pixabay | Pexels.com

Good morning friends. In this post, we'll cover some of the most common misconceptions about blogging/web posting. Sometimes what we think words mean is incorrect, which can make it difficult to ask for help in the Blogger forums. Sometimes it is something we are just not doing correctly. Here are some of those common issues:

● "html" does not stand for "hotmail". It stands for "hyper text markup language". This is the code that the web uses to form text and images. The html coding itself is not displayed. All coding must be correct as well as in the correct form in order for the web to read [interpret] the coding. ALWAYS BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN EDITING HTML!

● RSS stands for rich site summary or really simple syndication. This is the real-time news feed for a blog/site. Its symbol is usually an orange square with white waves beside a white square. The feed keeps us current on a blog/site's posting chronologically in real-time. From our Blogger dashboards, we can choose Full or Short Feed. Short Feed will display text only (no images). Atom also displays text only. A Reader or Aggregator compiles our Feeds for us. Google Reader closed in July. We can choose from other RSS Feed aggregators, such as Feed Burner and Feedly.

● The blog background image is often missing or too small due to several reasons:
1. The place the image is stored is flagged as Suspicious or Dangerous. Many of those free image storage sites are riddled with viruses and such. Internet security systems will likely block them. Many of those places also will not store the image in its full size.
2. In the New Blogger Designer, your background image is not tiled. Tiling is simply that the image repeats horizontally and vertically.
3. The person who stored the background has deleted the image or changed its storage url.
4. The blog background image (especially for the old Minima template) is not large enough in width to fill most browsers. Tiling will not fix this because the image has a center background with the "fancy" part on the right and left sides.
5. In the New Blogger Designer, your background image is too heavy of a file. It must be 300kb or smaller. You can optimize it [making it lighter] at: EZgif.com.

● The blog takes forever to load on the web:
Related to the above, optimizing your images will make their file size smaller [lighter], which will help them to load faster. They can be optimized at that link above to Dynamic Drive.
Having too many gadgets such as animated images and text will also slow many browsers down, and often cause internet security systems to flag the blog as being Suspicious or Dangerous.

● The image has a box around it on a blog background that is colored, ie not white. The image must have a transparent background. You can do that at: PIXLR.com

I hope this info will help you all. Prim blessings.

Things Are Getting Better

Hello dear friends. Yes, things are getting better. The cast is due to be removed on 23rd July. My fingers are finally the normal size, and I can use them a bit now. The only thing is, it is really hot here in Alabama and the cast is kinda "stanky", lol! At first, it was kinda novel. Now, it is getting to be a bit nerve-taxing. 'Just so thankful that surgery is not required. I have been going to the beauty school to get my long hair washed (it is waist-length). Soon, I will be able to wash it myself. We just don't realize all that we do with both hands until one is no longer functional, do we? Thank you all, again, for the love and concern. Soon this will all be over. Until next time, prim blessings.
image: Twin Creek Primitives

~Happy 4th of July 2013~

Happy 4th of July, friends. Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday. We have rain here in Alabama. No special plans, just relaxing. Every year for many years now, our town has a celebration on the local river. The festivities include a professional fireworks show from a river barge, live music, and plenty of vendors with good food and crafts. Our house is so close, that we can see the fireworks and hear the music. Some of our neighbors even make a bit of money by allowing people to park in their yards for a small fee and walk down to the festival. It is always crowded every year. Do you all have special plans for this 4th of July? Please continue reading.

~Farmhouse Summer Swap goodies!~

Good afternoon, prim friends. Today I received a big ole box of goodies from my swap partner in Amy of Bumblebee Lane Cottage's Farmhouse Summer Swap 2013. Kim of: Blackberry Crows Prims sent: a pretty black and white woven rug, a darling Annie in a green floral dress (my favorite color), a big black crow, a cute pear with a stick stem, and a chicken make-do on an old bed spring. Wow, am I spoiled! Thank you so much, Kim. I absolutely love all of these swap items. You all be sure to go visit and follow Kim's blog. Thanks also to Amy of: Bumblebee Lane Cottage for hosting this Swap. Be sure to visit and follow Amy's blog as well. To see the items that I sent to Kim, please continue reading.