Mourning the demise of Google Reader...

Hello blog friends,

As you have no doubt heard by now, Google has announced that they will be shutting down Google Reader on July 1 ..and I am seriously bummed.  (And quite honestly, pissed)

I use my Reader daily to keep up with all of my favorite blogs, as I am sure many of you do.  The internet is buzzing with public outcry, and I am hoping that the Google team pays attention and changes their mind, but I am not holding my breath. I am seriously considering finding replacements for all of my Google products (what if they decide to nix Blogger next?!)

I have been searching for a replacement feed reader, but I am confused by the options out there, and I want something with similar features as Google's reader (show only new feed posts, mark read items, flag favorites, tags and folders, and ability to see entire post not just the title)

So, I am asking for input from my fellow blog readers...

What feed reader do you use? Likes, dislikes?
If you are also a Google Reader user, what have you found to replace it with? Pros, cons?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

Lorrinda

EDIT: Thank you for the comments and suggestions! I decided to try out Bloglovin' and Feedly, and while they were both very easy to set up and transfer my Reader data, I need to try them out for a while before I decide. 
Bloglovin' is easy but I wish it had the ability to scan through the entire post, not just a snippet (although it does force followers to open/pageview blogs). It is just a PITA to click open each blog when you sometimes have 100 or more new posts to scan. Also, no ap for my iPad, but it does work in the Safari browser just as it does in Windows on my laptop. There is an iPhone Ap, just not iPad...so maybe this is in development. Of course I have a stupid Blackberry so the phone Ap is moot...sometimes I hate technology.

Feedly has an awesome iPad ap, very user friendly, but alas...it doesn't work at all on my laptop running Windows 9. Also, there were a few uncategorized blogs that I should have organized into folders in Reader, and now I have no way to edit them on the ipad.

So far, my feeling is I like Bloglovin' on my laptop, but prefer Feedly on my iPad.  I will try them out for a week to see which gets used more often... initial feeling is Bloglovin' simply because it is useable on both of my devices.

Spring babies

Has it been almost a month since my last post? Wow, time flies.

My coworker has been expecting a new grandbaby this month, so I whipped up a couple of cards to have ready. Used up some retired papers in my stash...

One using retired CTMH Dayream papers for a girl:





And one using retired CTMH Stardust papers for a boy:

The card front sentiments are printed onto cardstock with my computer, then I cut the shapes with the Cricut CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge, using the center point button to center the blade on the sentiment and cut the shape around it.

I love spring babies!  Now if spring would just get here already....


We got another foot of snow yesterday, this is turning into the winter that won't end. 

This photo was taken this evening, standing on the driveway on my tippy toes to be able to see my husband's dirty work truck over the snow. 

 

Now, we live in town, with regular snow removal. The country folk are way worse off, I've seen roads plowed where the snow in the ditches is higher than the school buses this year. For all my long distance followers...No, snow in Canada is nothing new. However, I live on the prairies!  By the end of March most of our snow is usually gone. Plus, snow like this usually only happens in the mountains. Or in Inuvik. Or in Alaska.

 

Stay tuned for "the big melt"

At this rate it will be in July.

Lorrinda

 

 

February = sugar shock!

I've been busy crafting with sugar lately, much messier than paper and glue...and the creations aren't quite so permanent.

My oldest turned 14 this month.

Wait. Wha?? How can that be? She was a baby just yesterday!

Isn't she beautiful? (And yes, those curls are natural, and of course she hates them)

She requested a Reeces Peanut Butter Cup Cake a la Pinterest,

and I was happy to oblige. 

I might add that we all needed an insulin shot after consuming this cake.

 

 

My son forgot to give me the note requesting me to make a decorated cake for the school bazaar. He gave it to me the day before said cake was needed.  After I flipped out at him, I pulled a late night to get this sucker done. It's blue because that is the color of fondant I had on hand, and the cheetah print is to hide all the bubbles in the fondant. Also, I had a custom cake order for cheetah print coming up and I had never done it before, so I used this as a practice run. Turned out to be much easier than it looks.

 

And this was a custom order picked up just last night. 

 The cheetah print is done in sparkly silver but it doesn't show well in the photo.

Oh, and the candle is just a cheepo dollar store purchase that I embellished a bit.

Did you know that stickles work on candles? 

 Such an easy way to add some extra bling!

 

My hubby's birthday is coming up next week, so one more cake to do this month.  But he has requested a cherry cheesecake, so it won't be nearly as time consuming as the others have been, and probably won't rate a photo op either.  I think he feels sorry for me, so he's giving me an easy one! Or maybe he's just tired of eating leftovers while I'm up to my elbows in cake?

 

Thanks for popping by,

I should have some paper crafty projects to share soon!

Lorrinda

 

 

 

 

 

HAS December Card

I am finally able to post my card from the December Humble Artists Swap!

 

The guidelines were:

Create a Winter themed card

May NOT use any Green, Red or Blue

Must use 5 embellishments

Add some sparkle and shine

Must emboss something

Must have 8 layers stacked somewhere on the card

 

The cards I received in the mail from my fellow swappers were FABULOUS!  You can check out their talent over in my sidebar under Humble Artists.

 

 

Recipe:

All products CTMH

Cardstock: White Daisy, Slate and Whisper

Ink: Slate and Whisper

Stamps: D1480 Snowflakes, D1512 Holiday Wishes

Silver embossing powder Z669

Slate polka dot ribbon Z1802

Silver shimmer trim Z1799

Bitty pearls Z1707

Bitty sparkles Z1263

Clear sparkles Z1752

Vellum paper

 

I can't believe I haven't posted since before Christmas!  I did get into my craft room in January, just haven't had time to photograph anything.  Will try to get some new crafty things posted soon.  Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Lorrinda



 

 

3D Interactive Pop-Up Cash Card!

Who doesn't like cash? 
I have 2 teens on my Christmas list this year, and they are saving their money for some big-ticket items, so I was happy to contribute cash as their gift this year (saves me shopping stress!)
But as nice as it is to get cash, it's kind of a downer not to get a gift to open. 
So I made these:



 

 

 

So fun!

And I feel good that I put a little bit of effort into their gifts. 

 

Should at least earn me some "Coolest Auntie Ever!" votes :)

 

 

Here's a close-up of the pop-up part for those of you who want to make one yourself:

 

• Sorry, I don't have a template for the pop-up part, I just "winged it". 
• There are basically 2 pop up tabs cut out of the center of the card, with snowbanks glued to them. 
• Instructions for money origami can be found HERE. 
• I used glue dots to adhere the cash to the card, easy to rub off without damaging the money.

 

Note: the new Canadian bills that are sort of plastic don't work well for origami folds, make sure to use the older paper bills for this.

 

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Lorrinda