Happies & Crappies- 1/24

I was going to title this post "Friday Facts," but then I remembered that Amber co-hosts "Happies & Crappies" on Fridays, and it gave me an even better reason to write today!

Happies
~We had an in-service day on Monday, a two-hour delay on Wednesday, and a two-hour delay today!  I will never complain about extra sleep.

~Today is Scott's birthday!!  I doubt he'll actually read this (so I'll be sure to tell him in person), but Happy Birthday, Baby! :)

This is us with our friend Jen on New Year's Eve!

~I started sponsoring Scattered Seashells, and my sponsorship with Poppiness will begin on February 1st! 

~I have a giveaway going to win an ad spot on MY blog!  You should totally go enter! 

 

~I drank a delicious cup of Godiva hot chocolate last night.  :)
 

Crappies
~Those lovely extra hours of sleep from the happies were caused by FRIGID temps here in PA! 

~I have been in a panicked state driving to and from work every day this week.  God bless the people who get stuck behind me.  I drive as slow as a 90-year-old lady when the weather is like this.  I've been abnormally paranoid and terrified this week, too.  I was gripping the steering wheel so tight on my way home yesterday that my hands hurt by the time I got home!

~I've had headaches off and on this week.  I can't tell if it's the weather, sinuses, too tired, or if I'm a bit dehydrated.  I've been pretty thirsty, too....

What's been happening with you this week??

What I've Learned this Week

I'm linking up again this week for Live & Learn Thursday!  I learned something really important this week.

One of the reasons I switched to Blogger last January was so that I could have the opportunity to have people sponsor my blog.  I had sponsored others' blogs, and I wanted the chance to have that type of interaction with other bloggers.  I did have a couple of sponsors: Ashley from A Party of Four (her blog was "Simply, Ashley" at the time) and Elizabeth from The Young Retiree.  After their sponsorships were over, I didn't get any more sponsors, and then Passionfruit changed their policies, and I knew I couldn't justify spending money each month when I wasn't earning any!

Fast forward to a few months ago.  I decided to set up an ad shop with PayPal and get going again, but I haven't had any takers.

SO I tweeted some of my favorite bloggers who offer sponsorships and asked for their advice.  The general consensus was that I needed to include stats on my Sponsor page.  I also decided to get back out there and sponsor a few other bloggers!  One last suggestion was that I give away some spots to allow people to experience a sponsorship with me and encourage them to stay on after their "trial" is over. 

That is exactly what I'm going to do, but first, let me show you my revamped sponsor page:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking for a blog to sponsor?  I'm your girl!  My blog is growing, and I'd love to help you grow your blog, too!

Current Stats:

100 Followers via GFC

46 Followers via Bloglovin'

49 Facebook Followers

69 Twitter Follwers

2,814 Page Views last month



I am currently offering just two options:

Ice Cream Sundae $4.00

1 spots available/month

Featured Sponsor: Banner included in EVERY post

Size: 500 x 100 px

 

4 social media shout-outs/week

2 posts pinned to Pinterest

Guest post

 

Baker's Dozen $2.00

3 spots available/month

 

Size: 200 x 200 px

 

3 social media shout-outs/week

1 post pinned to Pinterest

Guest post

 

 

 

Please note: In order to place your ad on my blog, you will need to e-mail me after you make your purchase with the HTML code with the appropriate sizing for your ad.  If you need help with this, please contact me!  rebeck.ann@gmail.com

Ad Options

Ice Cream Sundae $4.00 USD Baker's Dozen $2.00 USD

  And now.......here's the giveaway!  Enter to win a Baker's Dozen ad space!   a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's New Wednesday?

Did you notice that my "Sponsor" page is back? 

Thanks to a post that Ashley from Being Ashley wrote, I was inspired to recreate my options and open my Ad Shop back up! 

In case you don't feel like clicking the link to my sponsor page, here's what it looks like:

After a hiatus from offering sponsorships (thanks to Passionfruit), I have finally found an option that will work for me.  I looked into a couple of different options, and the best one for me will be to accept payments directly through PayPal.

Your options are listed below:

Ice Cream Sundae

2 spots available/month

 

Size: 250 x 250

 

4 social media shout-outs/week

2 posts pinned to Pinterest

Guest post

 

Baker's Dozen

3 spots available/month

 

Size: 200 x 200

 

3 social media shout-outs/week

1 post pinned to Pinterest

Guest post

 

Cupcake

4 spots available/month

 

Size: 200 x 150

 

2 social media shout-outs/week

1 in-post feature

 

Please note: In order to place your ad on my blog, you will need to e-mail me after you make your purchase with the HTML code with the appropriate sizing for your ad.

Ad Options

Ice Cream Sundae $8.00 USD Baker's Dozen $4.00 USD Cupcake $2.00 USD

 

So there you have it!  I would love to feature YOU on my sidebar! :) Feel free to contact me with any questions (rebeck.ann@gmail.com).

Some changes...

I'm sure many of you know that Passionfruit Ads is changing their policy for using their site to get ads on your blog.  I was really disappointed about this.  One of the reasons I moved to blogger was to be able to have sponsors on my blog.

Unfortunately, Passionfruit is becoming a paid service.  In the entire time that I've been on blogger (almost 9 months), I've made only about $1 more than what Passionfruit would start to charge me....monthly....  It's no longer going to be worth it for me.

What I am going to consider is finding a way to set up my own ad shop and collect fees via PayPal.  BUT all of my current, wonderful sponsors, are on my sidebar as a gift from me anyway.  :)  SO chances are that I'll be doing away with my ad shop altogether.

Starting August 27th, all of my Ice Cream Sundae sponsors will be removed from my sidebar.  I want to thank Ashley, Elizabeth, Kristin, Kristin, and Susannah for being there the past couple of months. 

I WOULD still like to do button swaps with people.  Rather than going through any service, it would just be a matter of swapping HTML button codes and adding them to my sidebar manually.  So please, let me know if you want to swap!  :)  At the very least, if you're a blog that I love reading, you will probably find your blog on my sidebar as a recommendation from me. 

Is anyone else out there as disappointed with these Passionfruit changes as I??