My QR Code

Before this assignment I had never heard of a “QR Code”. It seemed very technical and even frightening at first considering I’m slightly computer illiterate for my generation. Anything with the word code attached to it seems like it’s going to be very technical and in this case this was nothing difficult at all! I came to realize I have come across QR Codes many times before and am beginning to see them on a daily basis everywhere from in the supermarket, in magazines and on mail I receive. I used Kaywa to generate my QR code for my blog. It only consisted of me doing a simple copy and paste and one click of the button. To access my QR code anyone with a smart phone needs to have / download a QR code scanning/reader application. If someone doesn’t have one yet they can easily download it for free from the Kaywa website or from their app store. The use of a QR code is a simple and easy way to promote my blog and for people to instantly redirect to my page!

SHOP ON !

Memes!!!!

For this assignment we had to find a meme that related to our blog. I couldn’t really find one that pertained to my blog on the Know Your Meme website so I resorted to a Google image search and stumbled upon this wonderful meme. When you’re a super shopper like me, you always try to make sure you get all the deals and steals. In my world, nothing is worse than finding out that the sale ended YESTERDAY. It is almost the equivalent of finding out that you missed your flight to the exotic island vacation you have been planning – well at least to a shopaholic like myself. With my blog I eventually plan to add a tab that keeps my users up to date on current sales and promotions happening online and in stores so they too can make sure they never miss out on a great bargain. 

SHOP ON!

Creative Commons

spring trends 2013

Recently in class we talked about copyright infringements and fair usages rights on the internet. People like us who are probably not trying to break the law or maliciously “steal” from the owner of a piece of media could be doing just that without even knowing it. Time after time we may see a video, picture, or hear a song and want to share it with our friends, post it on a blog, tweet about it etc. and we are committing a crime we are oblivious about. One simple thing we can do to avoid all this, is to give  credit to the owner. Simply just provide a link to the original source and voila – you are in the clear. 

For this blog post assignment we had to visit the Creative Commons Search Engine and link to one piece of media that related to our blog. After much searching, I finally found this image after typing in “fashion trends 2013”. This image instantly caught my eye because this style “monokini” is actually a big trend for the summer. Monokinis are becoming the new bikini. They are a huge statement piece and are usually worn more for boat parties and day drinking festivities. Given their odd shape and random cutouts, they are not the best piece of swimwear to tan in. In this particular image, the model is showcasing Australian designer Camilla Frank’s swimwear from the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. 

After reviewing the “Fair Use Checklist” (which was a little hard to follow), it seems like I am using this image in favor of fair use. I am a fashion blog promoting summer trends and while doing so giving credit to the original source and even the designer whose item of clothing I am blogging about. I also am an amateur blogger so I do not have much traffic on my blog that would cause me to profit from posting about this particular picture. 

Promoting my BLOG!

Unlike some of my classmates, I didn’t promote my blog right off the bat. I just thought this was going to be a class assignment and nothing more. Now after putting all this time and effort into my blog it has become something that I actually enjoy. After working on the midterm project and brainstorming about the future of my blog an all the ideas have for it, I decided it is something I am going to continue to work on once I have more free time come May.  

The main way I would promote my blog is through Facebook. There are many reasons why I chose Facebook but primarily because I have more “friends” on Facebook than any other social media site I am a user of. While I am also an avid tweeter, I personally don’t think I would be enticed to visit a blog based off of a tweet. Through Facebook  I would be able to promote my blog using pictures and basically blowup every one of my “friends'” timelines until they cave in and visit my blog. 

Besides Facebook, I could promote my blog through Twitter tweets, posting a picture on Instagram and Pinterest, and also asking fellow friends and family members to promote my blog through their accounts on social media sites. The main way to get your voice heard is by reaching out to volumes of people and then eventually the right people will hear about you.

 

SHOP ON !

Spring Break Outfits

I just went away to Cancun for spring break and had a blast. While I was there I saw so many cute outfits that girls put together for when we all went out at night. Being that it is sooooo extremely hot in Cancun it’s hard to pull together an outfit when you’re used to cold weather. Everyone wore crop tops and shorts, skirts, dresses, and bathing suits. Coming back to New Brunswick was definitely a shock! Everyone was trying to show off their tan with short skirts and crop tops. Also, people wore bright colors to enhance their tans. My friends and I bought a lot of our clothes from Love Culture. Hope you had a great spring break too! 

 

 

SHOP ON!

Getting JINGy with it

JING JING JING

For this assignment we had to use Jing- a free website that allows one to screenshot and screencast and then upload their work to a server to be shared instantly with their friends- to do a screencast of a blog that we enjoyed. This was my first time screencasting and Jing made it so painless. It was the easiest assignment we had to date- simply because it didn’t really involve anything too technical except for me pushing a couple buttons. The only thing that might be a little painful is the sound of my voice that I happened to leave behind in Cancun (looks like I’m going to have to go back and retrieve it sometime soon). I would definitely recommend Jing to friends and family who are not only interested in screencasting but just for general everyday use. For example, the one thing I really loved and have been using is their screenshot option. The way Apple has it set up, after you screenshot something you also have to upload it or search the file afterwards to be posted wherever you want it. With Jing, it simply is uploaded to the screencast server and a link is already ready for you to just paste it whenever you are ready. Quick and Painless.

I decided to screencast a blog that I not only found interesting, but also related to my current blog. I happened to stumble upon Mary Hall’s blog titled “The Recessionista”. She is a world renown blogger and internationally recognized expert on the art of living the good life for less, or as she calls it “FABULE$$”. Her blog is read by thousands in over 160 countries, while her advice has been featured in over 2000 media outlets including but not limited to The New York Times, Life & Style, LUCKY Magazine, and The Huffington Post. Her blog was set up very similar to ours- she had a perfect Header and Tagline along with a simple black and white foundation. Her main rooms were a little different than ours, but only because her blog is so well developed she can have sections that a specifically set aside for free giveaway contests and local sales and deals. Her side bar also included a lot more than my blog or any of my classmates blogs. She had a list of all different awards she won, a short bio, live twitter action, and her favorite blog posts amongst many other things. While I loved the content of this blog and all the main rooms, the general look of the blog was too crowded for me. I prefer a more clean cut blog. Mary’s blog was an explosion of fashion all over the place to the point where I didn’t know where to look first and it was hard to keep my attention in one area. This resulted in me having to go back and read posts multiple times which after a while got annoying and I just gave up on it. If I was her I would look into organizing the blog better so it is more reader friendly.

All in all, this is a great blog for a person who is looking to stay fashionable for less.

check it out @ http://www.therecessionista.com/about-recessionista/

http://screencast.com/t/b8JwyrNu

SHOP ON !

Back in Action!

So first off, like the little clutz that I am, I happened to drop my macbook and basically unintentionally decapitated it aka the screen was hanging off by a limb. This resulted in me having to rush my precious macbook to the great Apple Care hospital where they nursed my baby back to life. But now (a couple hundred dollars late) we are back in action and ready to get blogging again!!!

 

SHOP ON

I hate garage band— but here’s my blog commercial.

This was the most difficult assignment for me to date! I hate garage band!!!! No matter how many tutorials I watch I will never be able to get the gist of this. Thank god i don’t intend on pursuing a career as a DJ or something where i would have to do this stuff on the reg.

Anywaysssssss. The songs i chose were Glamorous – Fergie and Calling (Lose my mind) – Sebastian Ingrosso. I chose the Fergie song because it kinda could relate back to shopping and the glamorous life (I don’t know- I hit a road block and was shuffling through my itunes and it just seemed fit for the assignment). As far as the Ingrosso song, I just LOVE it and it seemed like a cool exit after my little introduction to my blog.

My fading and splicing skills are not all that so bare with me on this one- I hope you enjoy it!

SHOP ON!

Creating my HEADER!

Creating the header image posed as a big challenge for me. I never really edited pictures before other than something simple as red eye reduction, cropping, or picking a filter that was provided for me. The thought of combing two images and then editing them as well was actually a little scary!

The video tutorial was a big help and proved to me that this task should be quick and painless. The hardest part after that was picking two images to mesh together. After playing around with different images I decided I still wanted to incorporate my original pink glitter header image. It started out as my original image and I still wanted a piece of it to be included in my new and and improved image. Also, pink glitter is something that I love and can be associated with me – so there is more than just personalization behind my header image. 

Picking the next image was the hardest part. I am so indecisive and wanted to try and include all aspects of shopping but couldn’t find any images I liked enough. Shopping bags and other items of clothing just didn’t do it for me. It was then that I decided to only focus on my favorite area of shopping….SHOES. Shoes are my favorite thing to shop for, to the point where I am starting to consider myself a shoe collector! After stumbling upon this perfect image of various different types of heels I knew it would be perfect. A couple clicks later and one copy and paste and my HEADER image was BORN! 

Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

SHOP ON!

 

glitter image- hdwallpaperspics.com

shoes image- depositphotos.com

Setting up my very first BLOG!

borrowed from keepcalmandposters.com

Welcome to my BLOG! I’m really excited to get this started. I’m happy I got a chance to take this Strategic Presentation Methods in Digital Media class. It is one of the most interesting classes I have taken so far here at Rutgers.

The idea of setting up my very own blog was overwhelming at first. I kept putting it off because I am not the most tech savvy person and didn’t think I would be able to do it on my own. Luckily for me, I found WordPress to be surprisingly easy. The video tutorials definitely were a big help to get this site up and running.

The easiest part about this was picking a topic to blog about. I LOVE SHOPPING and everything that goes along with it- going to the mall, visiting new stores, trying on outfits, seeing what the latest trends are, etc. I go to the mall at least once a week. I may not buy something every time I go but I get to see what’s up and coming. I personally am not a fan of the malls down here by Rutgers….. but that is a whole different story that will need a post of its own.

Can’t wait to see what the future holds for this blog!

SHOP ON!

borrowed from spreadshirt.net