Amy's Notebook Q & A

Q: I love that you post these notebook entries every week, but I'm wondering what you do with them once they're compiled on your blog? (So many recipes and craft ideas that I wonder how you file them to be used)?

A: I started my notebook entries as a way to highlight some of the great sites on the internet and a way to track things that I would like to do. I don't anticipate ever doing all of the things in the notebook entries and some of the things that I highlight are really cool for other people, but not for me. For example, I love to see knitting projects, but I don't knit... yet! I just love to look at other people's great ideas and it inspires me to have a list of great crafts to try, recipes to use, and other inventive ideas of saving money. My notebook was a way to decrease linking to favorites on my browser because I was getting really overwhelmed with that. Now I can just go right to my virtual notebooks and find exactly what I am looking for.

I remember almost everything that is highlighted in my notebooks, but sometimes I like to just page through them to remember things I would like to do. If you click on the label at the bottom of the entries (Favorites or Notebook), it will bring up all of the entries that I have ever put together. This is a great way to just browse through all of the entries and have them all in one place.

If I want to do one project in particular I use the Ctrl + F and type in the project or recipe I am looking for. I find it to be the fastest way for me to search through the entries. You could also use the "search" on the left-hand side of our page and type in what you are looking for and it will bring up the entire entry that a particular project was featured in.

Q: Do you have a nifty blogging trick for posting lists of links like this? I'd like to do this on occasion, too, but find it so time consuming. I keep thinking there's got to be a better way...

I will not lie at all, these are INCREDIBLY time-consuming. Each of these entries was handpicked very lovingly and was included because I loved each of them so much. There are no bad eggs in these batches and I always try to highlight things that I think everyone will enjoy and include the things that are important to me. I try to pick a good match for our readers too- crafts, organizing projects, parenting ideas and projects, ways to save money, and thrifty solutions for your home.

What I do is start a notebook entry as soon as a notebook entry is done. I title a post and then I start literally the next day. I have found the easiest way to browse other blogs is using a feed reader. I add tons and tons of blogs to my feed reader and I read many religiously. If I see something that I think would be a good match for my notebook entry, I add it to the next week's entry. I basically compile all week long until I have a nice full notebook of ideas at the end of the week.

It is time-consuming, but I hope it is worth it! I also get lots of new readers through these entries that might not have found us otherwise. They have helped me build some great friendships and have been a fun way to highlight some of my favorite people in the blogging world!

Thank you for your questions!