Freebie Fridays #78 - Printable Valentine Card

With Valentine's Day coming up in two weeks I thought it would be nice to share a free printable Valentine card in this episode of Freebie Fridays. This will still give you plenty of time to print it and send it to a loved one.

How to avoid writer's block in blogging

So here we are, already at the end of January again. The time that most of our New Year's resolutions have been forgotten and life is back to normal again. And while you started out the year with the intention to write blog posts on a consistent basis, maybe even with the help of an editorial calendar to schedule your posts, a serious case of writer's block can be sabotaging it all by now. You've poured all the crazy, great ideas you had for the new year into the blog posts of those first weeks and now your mind is drawing a blank and it doesn't feel like that blank will be filled up anytime soon.

When & how to use the nofollow tag on your blog

Ever heard of the nofollow tag? Well, I hadn't in the beginning of my blogging days. And by the time I noticed that I could add a nofollow tag to the links I created in my blog posts I never used it since I didn't know what it meant. If you're new to blogging, you're already happy that you know how to create a post with images and links in it and the rest often looks like abracadabra. But using the nofollow tag can be beneficial for your blog, so let's learn what it does and how to use it!

Freebie Fridays #77 - Golden Valentine Heart Clipart

If you are one of those creative people that likes to make their own cards for all kinds of purposes, you will love this week's freebie. Today I am sharing a set of six golden Valentine heart clipart images that you can use for card making, photo decoration or other digital projects.

3 awesome graphic design freebie resources on the web

Okay, I am going to spill the beans here today and I will take the risk of putting myself out of business for granted ;-) But I just need to share some of the best free graphic design resources with you, because they are just too good to keep for myself and one should always share the joy, right?

As a designer I use both free and paid for design resources. Those resources can be basic illustrations for clipart and logo design, textures and brushes for Photoshop, or fonts to use in my logos and blogger templates. As a designer you can never have enough of these items.

Creatives in the Spotlight - Sarah Inkson Photography

Remember last week's post about full time blogging? Well, as promised I am sharing Sarah's story here today in an episode of Creatives in the Spotlight. Sarah is a blogger that I have been following from the time she just started out her lifestyle blog Daydreams of Summertime. I watched her grow as a blogger, but certainly as a photographer. And when she announced last Summer that she had quit her job to spend more time on her photography skills and her blog, I knew we bloggers could all learn from her journey.

Freebie Fridays #76 - Glitter Snow Flake Clipart

It took a while for Winter to really arrive here in the Netherlands, and despite the fact that the part where I live still hasn't seen any snow, we did get the first frosty nights. Which was pretty late, but it seems like the weather is going crazy in all parts of the world.

Full time blogging - a reality or just a dream?

Early 2013... I was starting out with my self-hosted health food Wordpress blog with hopes and dreams that it would grow out into a full time job with a good monthly income. Seriously, WHAT was I thinking?! But I'm sure that you, as a blogger, had these dreams as well, and maybe you still have them or they have become your reality. Anyway, I thought it was about time to write a little about this subject that is on the mind of many bloggers. Is it realistic to dream about a full time career as a blogger? Does it even become reality for people? And if so, what did they do to get there? Let's find out!

Why I use Disqus to manage my blog comments

Whether you start out with Wordpress, Blogger or another blog platform, all these platforms have a build in comment section where your readers can comment on your blog posts. It is then up to you to allow comments on your posts or not since these comment options can be turned on and off by yourself.

While I follow along with some very big blogs that have turned off the comment option because it costs them way too much time to moderate and reply to all the comments, most blogs will allow reader comments. And for a good reason. Offering the option to leave a reaction on a blog post creates a sense of community on a blog, between the blogger and the readers but also amongst the readers. And as a blogger you can definitely learn and grow from honest comments.

Freebie Fridays #75 - Premade Blogger Template Goldy Locks

With the year being a week old already many of us might have picked up the idea to either start a new blog or give their old blog a makeover this year. And today I would love to help you out with that by giving away another free Blogger template.

It's actually been a while since I shared the last free template. If you want to find out what the previous free templates looked like you might want to check out the Free Blogger Template section on this website. That is the place to go when you are in desperate need for a makeover but don't have the cash to purchase one on Etsy.

A new direction in my business this year

Last month, with a new year at the doorstep, I decided to make some changes to my business in 2016. Changes of which I don't know if they are going to pay off or not. But I felt I needed to make them in order to keep feeling passionate and inspired about things. So what happened and what did I change?

Why it is important to update old blog posts

Updating old blog posts might not be at the top of your to-do list as a blogger, but if you can find a little time here and there, it might be worth your while! It can seem like a daunting task though, especially when you have been blogging for a couple of years and have a couple of hundred published posts. But today I will show you where to start, what to update and what's in it for you. So let's begin!

Freebie Fridays #74 - Desktop and screen calendar 2016

Welcome to the first day of the new year and with that, the first post of 2016 on The Dutch Lady Designs! I learned so much regarding having a blog and business over the past year and I am looking forward to developing some new ideas for it even further in 2016. But for now, it's time to kick off with the first Freebie Fridays episode of this year. And what better way to do that than to share a free desktop calendar for the new year!