Our Blog is Moving!

You may notice some design changes today. We're getting geared up for our move to WordPress and our new domain www.AllOurDays.com. The transfer should be live by Thursday evening. This shouldn't affect you, it will switch behind the scenes and old links will automatically be redirected.

We've hired Blogelina to do the switch for us and we also picked up a blog makeover to get us set up in the best way on our new site.

   

In preparation of the switch, we wanted to make sure that we don't lose our Google Friend Connect Followers, as this won't transfer to our new self-hosted WordPress blog.

Do you know what Google Friend Connect is? It looks like this...are you one of those little pictures?

We'd rather not lose anyone in the transition process, so if you currently follow through GFC, please take a few seconds to choose a new method of following.

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Thanks for reading A Heart for Home. We're looking forward to sharing more with you at All Our Days!

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Meet Our August Sponsors

We'd love to take a few minutes to introduce you to some of our blog sponsors for the month of August.

Hi! My name is Pamela and I am the lovely lady behind Pamela's Heavenly Treats, I must first say that without God none of this would be possible.  I am a wife, mother of 6, homeschool teacher and I have a small Healthy Cupcake & Cookie business. Everything that I make is made with 100% Whole Wheat Flour and my secret ingredients.  

I have a weekly link party that runs from Saturday to Wednesday for called Heavenly Treats Sunday, would love to have you.  I also have a Etsy shop where I sell my healthy mixes!  You can get $5.00 off order, use promo code FREESHIPPING, Come on over and visit!                                              

Etsy :: Twitter :: Pinterest 

Her Umbrella is just a collection of my life's little decorations – whether it's a love for sampling the world, empty candy wrappers, books filled with scribbled ideas or stupid people that keep showing up – they've all found a place underneath, adorning everyday with a little more sparkle.

It's style, it's food, it's an adventure, it's life, it's grace.  

A story every hour, every day or every week, is worth a listen, a read or a repeat.

 Twitter :: Facebook :: Pinterest :: Instagram :: Bloglovin'

My name is Myranda. I blog over at Pretty Living PDX. I am a mom of 3 and a wife to 1. I blog about our journey to healthy living and our daily life adventures and fun times. I started this blog so that I could be held accountable to my readers. Knowing that someone wants to see my weight loss updates helps motivate me. Come on over and let's be friends!

Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest

Are you interested in sponsoring A Heart for Home and increasing the reach of your blog or business? Check out all the options for sponsoring available here.

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Interested in Advertising on A Heart for Home?

Are you looking to expand your reach and find new customers or readers?

Well, we're excited to announce that we're now offering advertising opportunities here at A Heart for Home. We love being able to promote family friendly businesses, Etsy shops, eBooks and other blogs. We've wanted to take this step for awhile, but I was overwhelmed by the time requirements to stay on top of it.

Thankfully, Passionfruit Ads has stepped in and saved the day. Now advertising on A Heart for Home is quick and easy for you (and me)!

Right now we're offering 2 different ad options, The High Life and Short & Sweet. Check out the description and awesome price of each ad below. Short & Sweet is also available for ad swapping for a limited time. Simply click the Buy Now button to get started.

And just in case you're wondering how many people your ad will reach, here are our current monthly averages and statistic. Look for each stat to grow as new readers find us daily!

Unique Visitors: 8,234
Page Views: 17,037
Followers through Google Friends Connect: 888
Feed subscribers*: 732
Google Page Rank: 3
Pinterest Followers: 1,531
Twitter Followers: 945
* as determined by Feedburner; does not include other subscription services

We're also offering the opportunity for Sponsored, In-post, Ads
Your link and button/banner will appear at the bottom of 2 posts saying "sponsored by:" This is a great option to advertise to those who read A Heart for Home in a "reader" or thorough e-mail {we currently have over 700 subscribers}. In-post ad spots also tend to get more attention from blog readers then items in the sidebar.

All of our blog posts are promoted through Twitter and Pinterest and links are shared on several blog link ups. Sponsors are only advertised on posts that we believe will be circulated by our readers. Sponsored Ads will also remain on the posts and continue to get exposure since past content does continue to circulate.

In order for us to approve your in-post ad, you'll need to send us a link and description of your blog or business along with the button or banner you'd like us to display. You can also add a one to two sentence description that you'd like to be included in your ad. Here's what a sponsored post looks like.

2 In-Post Ads for $25
3 In-Post Ads for $35
4 In -Post Ads for $40

(Blogs our size generally charge around $30 per sponsored post, but we're offering these special prices for a limited time.)

We also have sidebar ad spaces available for monthly sponsors. These are easily purchased through Passionfruit Ads below.

Be sure to click the link in the first email to activate your subscription.

Top Ten Homeschool Blogs

Last week I shared some of my very favorite Christian Mommy blogs and you had some great suggestions of new ones I should visit.

This week I’m going to share some of my favorite homeschool blogs.

Remember this list is definitely subjective and mostly reflects where I am as a homeschooling mom of toddlers and preschoolers. If you know of any great homeschool blogs for older grades, leave me a comment since I’ll be needing them in a few years.

Also, a lot of these homeschool blogs are written by Christian mommy’s but I’m including them this week because they tend focus a little (or a lot) more on homeschooling.

Top Ten {Homeschool} Blogs

(again, in no particular order)

1. 1+1+1=1 ~ Carisa is truly an inspiration when it comes to teaching toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners and just homeschooling in general. I’ve been reading her blog for a couple years and have used so many of her ideas. If you’re looking for ways to teach little ones, check out her blog.

2. The Activity Mom ~ I can always count on a fun, hands-on activity from Nicole. From activities for babies through Kindergarten, I’ve used lots of ideas from her blog.

3. Homeschool Creations ~ Jolanthe has a great Preschool Corner Round-up that I really love. She also makes lots of free printables.

4. Confessions of a Homeschooler ~ Erica offers tons of great preschool ideas for free, but she also has a Preschool and a 4K curriculum that she offers for only $10 each. We have the 4K and we’ve used lots of ideas from it. (No affiliate here, I just think it’s really good.) 

5. Counting Coconuts ~ Mari-Ann is a certified Montessori teacher and is home educating her children using this method. She has lots of great ideas for real-life learning. (I’m also just a little jealous because she lives in Bermuda.)

6. Totally Tots ~ This is THE place to turn if you’re looking for activities for toddlers and preschoolers. I love the hands-on ABCs and 123s as well as the Touch, Feel, Learn posts.

7. Simple Homeschool ~ Jamie offers a wonderful mix of homeschooling topics, including my personal favorite, the “A Day in the Life” series. Simple Homeschool also has tons of guest writers so you can learn a lot about different homeschooling methods and curriculum that works for different families. Jamie herself pulls a lot from Waldorf, Leadership Education, and Unschooling (which scares and excited me).

8. The Preschool Experiment ~ I love following along with Jess as she teaches her children. She incorporates a lot of hands-on and literature based activities that are also frugal and extremely doable.

9. Delightful Learning ~ Michelle has loads of alphabet ideas, as well as activities that go along with Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row.

10. ???

Today’s Question: Alright, what are your favorite homeschool blogs? What makes you go back to them again and again?

Come back in two weeks for my

Top Ten Craft Blogs.

(You can subscribe by email so you won’t miss it.)

I have quite a few, do you have any suggestions?

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Top Ten {Christian} Mommy Blogs

Sometimes I feel a little lost in the niche-filled blogging world. This little spot on the web is not a craft blog, or a food blog, or a homeschool blog. For the most part, this little place of mine is a mommy blog.

(One day, Tim wants to be able to contribute some posts from a husband and daddy’s point of view, so I guess then we’ll be a parent blog or a family blog, which I’m super excited about, but for now—mommy blog it is!)

Most mommy blogs, like mommies themselves, are eclectic in nature, with a little home management, craftiness, recipes, training and a whole lot of love.

Top Ten {Christian} Mommy Blogs

(in no particular order)

1. Impress Your Kids ~ Amanda (from ohamanda.com) has great ideas on teaching little ones the truths of God’s love and the importance of his word. Right now she has some wonderful ideas on teaching the meaning of Easter and understanding the Resurrection.

2. Bits & Pieces from my Life ~ Kristin is a homeschooling mom of 5 kiddos. She shares crafts, recipes, books, and how she’s striving to balance life in Christ. I love Kristin’s honest reflections of life as the mommy of many little ones. She’s also fun to get together with in real life.

3. Mama Hall ~ Eryn shares her life and heart as the homeschool mom of two. I appreciate Eryn’s realness and reflection as she strives to live life “making the most of it.”

4. Keeper of the Home ~ Stephanie is head and shoulders above me when it comes to natural living and healthy diet, but I love learning from her (especially since she likes doing research and I do not). Also, as important as a natural lifestyle is to her I know her main focus is loving the Lord and teaching her children to do the same.

5. Passionate Homemaking ~ Lindsay is another natural focused mama. She first inspired me to make my own deodorant and continues to be a source of inspiration for ways to make our lifestyle more natural. She is also very missions minded which is an area I’m trying to grow in.

6. The Homespun Heart ~ I’m always so amazed at the beauty that Monica finds in the midst of life with littles. She is such a humble inspiration.

7. Mustard Seeds ~ This is a new one on my list, but I love Janna’s crafty ideas for teaching little minds and molding little hearts.

8. The Finer Things in Life ~ Amy just has a wonderful personality that keeps you coming back for more. I love her eclectic posts (eclectic in the best sense of the word) and how she’s always reminding me of the finer things in life.

9. A Heart for Home ~ Yes, that’s me. :) From crafting and teaching little hearts to preschool printables, kids in the garden, trying to be more green and almost everything in between I hope our blog can be an encouragement to you!

10. ???

Today’s Question: As you can see, I’m in search of another Christian mommy blog. Do you have one or know of one?

What are some other mommy blogs you enjoy?

Come back next week for my

Top Ten Homeschool Blogs.

I have quite a few, do you have any suggestions?

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2012 Weekly Blogging Schedule

buy this print
(found via Pinterest)

One of my goals for the coming year is to grow our blog and to enjoy doing it.

I know one of the ways to do this is to make sure I'm not stressed out about getting posts done on time. In order to help myself plan ahead, I'm going to implement a skeleton schedule that will be the same every week. There will also be lots of other posts published, but this will be my bare bones blogging schedule.

Sunday
Our blog will continue to be relatively quiet on Sundays, but be sure to check out our Weekend Links if you're in need of encouragement or inspiration.

Monday
Endless Gifts ~ Stop by to see how I'm doing with my gratitude journal as I count the endless gifts from His hands. I'm taking the Joy Dare to count 1000 gifts in 2012! If you list gifts on your blog, we'd love for you to leave your link in the comments section of these posts.

Tuesday
The first and third Tuesday of every month will be devoted to Tri-Moms. Kristin, Christy and I will continue to address topics that are relevant to our roles as wives, moms, and homemakers. Topics for January and February include: The Winter Blahs, Frugal Date Ideas, and Romancing Your Husband.

Wednesday
Book Nook ~ Join us for a little book nook inspiration as we share our favorite books from the previous week. Please, chime in with your recent favorites or link to your own lists in the comments.

Friday
Finished Friday ~ I'll continue posting a finished project each week to keep myself accountable to actually doing some of the projects I've wanted to try. We're contemplating adding a linky so that you can link up your finished projects as well. 

Saturday
Weekend Links ~ Here you'll find some of my favorite articles and blog posts from the previous week as well as some of my favorite projects, ideas, and inspiration. Be sure to leave your favorite links of the week in our comments section.

Which weekly features are your favorites?
Would you join in on Finished Fridays if we added a linky?

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Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stepping Out in Faith

For quite a while, Tim and I have discussed opening up our blog to paid advertisers. 

We've gone back and forth on this a lot, but feel that this is a better option for us than an advertising company since it would allow us more control of what companies and products are advertised. We want to make sure we can honestly support the products and services seen here. 

If you have an Etsy shop, blog, product, company, service or ebook that you think would be of interest to our readers we would be happy to consider you for advertising! 

Right now we are offering the following advertising options. (We also are still open for product reviews & giveaways as well.)

These are introductory rates so be sure to get them before they're gone!

* Location A ~ 125x125 pixel button ~ 3 available ~ $15 per month (above the fold)
* Location B ~ 125x125 pixel button ~ 4 available ~ $10 per month (below the fold)
* Location C ~ up to 350x250 pixel button ~ 1 available (at this time) ~ $15 per month

Sign up for 2 consecutive months of advertising and save $7 off your total!

For more information or to contact us please click here.

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Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your Opinions...Please?

My husband and I have been talking about the future of our blog and what direction we should go. We do have a goal to use our blog as a way to help & bless others, but also be able to supplement our monthly income either through sponsorship or review/giveaways of products we use.

So...

How can we make this blog helpful for you? If you've been around awhile, what types of posts do you like? Which ones turn you off?

What would you like to see us blog about? Families, faith, natural living, great products, deals, crafts, healthy eating, etc.?

We'd REALLY like your input as we look to make our blog more helpful to you and meet our own goals as well.

Please, leave us a comment or email us at a_heart4home @ yahoo . come (remove spaces).

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Welcome to A Heart for Home! We'd love for you to subscribe

to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We Need Your Opinions

As we prepare for our HUGE Green & Clean Event next month we are reevaluating how we structure giveaway entries.

Please, take a couple minutes to fill in the form below and help make our giveaways even better!

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Welcome to A Heart for Home! Feel free to subscribe to
receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!
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Our Blog Is Carbon Neutral

I recently discovered that our blog does indeed leave a carbon footprint. Why had I never thought of this before? I have no idea. However, we've now taken the first step to make our blog carbon neutral.

From the website: “My blog is carbon neutral” is an initiative, originally started in Germany by the “Make it Green” programme, that has the goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We plant a tree for your blog and thereby neutralise your blog’s carbon footprint for the next 50 years! Everyone can make a small contribution to the environment. Every tree counts!


Would you like to make your blog carbon neutral as well? Just head over here to begin.

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to subscribe to receive free updates through e-mail or our RSS feed.

Thanks for visiting and we hope you'll be back often!
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Media Kit

Why Should You Work With A Heart for Home?

A Heart for Home started in August 2008 as an effort to chronicle the life of our family as we live, laugh, love, and learn together. Our adventure includes natural parenting, healthy eating, organic gardening, homeschooling, cloth diapering, frugal living, crafting and most importantly growing closer to God as he develops in us a heart for home.

Though A Heart for Home is a fairly new blog, it is growing quickly! Visitors, subscribers, and overall popularity seem to be increasing by the day.

The majority of our readers are women- mothers, grandmothers, friends, sisters, and aunts. Though the average age of our reader varies, it seems that most fall within the 25-34 age group.


A Heart for Home Stats

Each number below is a monthly average or current statistic. Look for each stat to grow as new readers find us daily!

■Unique Visitors: 1700
■Page Views: 2300
■Google Friend Connect Followers: 430
■Feed subscribers*: 53
■Twitter Followers: 398
* as determined by Feedburner; Does not include other subscription services


Product Reviews and Giveaways

Our family loves to review and host giveaways for products that we think would be helpful to our own family and to our readers. These items include, but are not limited to handmades, eco-friendly items, cloth diapers and accessories, homeschool resources, and general family fun. We will only offer reviews and host giveaways for items that we see as family friendly.

In order for us to review your product(s), service, or website, a sample must be sent to us. This sample should be full-sized and will not be returned, as it will be used by our family for review purposes. As the sponsor of the review you will need to cover the cost of shipping the item to be reviewed. The review you will receive will be very thorough and descriptive. We like to provide our readers with honest information. However, we will not post a negative review. We will immediately contact you if an issue happens to arise.

We have five people available for reviews:

■32 year old male
■28 year old female
■3 year old female
■2 year old male
■7 month old female

To document our usage of your product, website, or service, we will include detailed information about our experience with your product. In most cases, we will also include photos of the product being used.

We will also include links to your company and the specific product we are reviewing, as well as any applicable links to Facebook, twitter, and any other pages you request.

As per FTC guidelines for bloggers, we will make it clear to my readers what was given to me in exchange for the review. For example, if we were sent a product to review from your company, we will clearly state that.

Sponsoring a giveaway along with a review is a fantastic way to really make readers notice your company. After all, every one of our readers is a potential buyer. Giveaways will bring a lot of direct traffic to your website. We require that all entrants visit your site and find a product they would really like to own or tell us something they learned about your company, so that is a lot of traffic that will visit your website! You can also provide A Heart for Home readers with a discount code to further encourage potential buyers.

There is no cost to sponsor a giveaway on A Heart for Home. We do ask that you ship the prize directly to the winner at the conclusion of the giveaway.

If you are interested in having A Heart for Home review your product and/or host a giveaway, we would love for you to contact us! You can contact us directly using the email address below. We will respond to all inquiries as soon as possible.

Contact Tim & Allyson, authors of A Heart for Home
Email: a_heart4home@yahoo.com

Where, Oh Where Has the Summer Gone?...

...Where, Oh Where Can It Be?

I feel like this summer is going by at neck-breaking speed.

I confess that I've hardly had time to think about blogging recently. While I miss communicating with family and friends and reading your comments, I have to admit that our blog has been pretty low on our list of priorities lately.

While that might sound mean, it's place in our lives has probably fallen to where it should have been all along.

God has a way of realigning our priorities when life gets busier and requires more time and attention. Not that we won't continue to write and share tidbits of our lives with you, but please understand that if from time to time we seem absent, it is only because life has once again presented us with an opportunity to grow through new situations and trials.

Thank you so much for being understanding and for caring enough to read our little blog. We hope that somewhere in our rambling you will see our desire to live lives worthy of the calling of Christ and that something you read here will encourage you to seek a closer relationship with our gracious God.

Running the Race,

Tim, Allyson, Emahry, & Jonathan

Getting to Know You

Lynnette at Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground is hosting a "Getting To Know You" event. Head over and leave a comment telling about your blog and your favorite five blogs to read. Lynnette will feature one commentor every Friday and Monday to help introduce other bloggers to your blog.

Make sure you sign up to follow so you can find some new, interesting blogs to read. Who knows, you might find a new favorite.