Julie James Art Launches

May 16, 2012

I am in love with this new website! Elegant, beautiful and classy…. truly a work of art in itself. Julie was absolutely fantastic, it was a such a pleasure to work with her as an artist and as a person, you simply won’t find anyone sweeter!

The website was customized to show off Julie’s incredible photos (seriously, she should be teaching classes on product photography). It was super fun to load her products because I was able to experience each piece of jewelry. The pieces are original sterling silver or bronze and she actually creates her own molds!

Be sure to check out www.juliejamesart.com and enjoy!

Delicious Applesauce Grapenut Muffins

April 15, 2012
These muffins are yummy and so easy to make! It takes about 30min from start to finish…great for moms like me who need to make healthy snacks for their kids but need them made fast! I like to eat my straight-out-of-the-oven muffin with a pad of butter on it and with a cup of espresso nearby ;o) My mom has had this applesauce muffin recipe for years…I remember eating them when I was little! {If you want a healthier version see my notes at the end of the recipe} 1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
3 beaten eggs
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. applesauce
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. soda
3/4 c. whole wheat
1 c. white flour
1 c. Grapenuts®

Mix together butter, brown sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, applesauce. I use my mixer or a large bowl!
Mix in baking powder and soda.
Mix in flours and Grapenuts® until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Use muffin wrappers or grease them so your muffins don’t stick! Fill about 2/3 the way up with batter, you’ll have a little leftover.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20min.
Eat them plain or with butter!

You can also make this by substituting a cup of mashed bananas for the applesauce. For a little bit healthier version you could use all whole wheat flour and if you don’t have Grapenuts® on hand you could use some bran instead!

Delicious Applesauce Grapenut Muffins
Print
Recipe type: Muffins
Author: Designing Fresh
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 35 mins
Serves: 12+
These are yummy and sooo easy to make! A healthy snack for your kids =) This makes a dozen muffins with a little extra batter for mini-muffins.
Ingredients
  • 1/2 c. butter
  • 1 c. brown sugar
  • 3 beaten eggs
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 c. applesauce
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. soda
  • 3/4 c. whole wheat
  • 1 c. white flour
  • 1 c. Grapenuts®
Instructions
  1. Mix together butter, brown sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, applesauce. I use my mixer or a large bowl!
  2. Mix in baking powder and soda.
  3. Mix in flours and Grapenuts® until all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
  4. Use muffin wrappers or grease them so your muffins don’t stick! Fill about 2/3 the way up with batter, you’ll have a little leftover.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20min.
  6. Eat them plain or with butter!
Notes

You can also make this by substituting a cup of mashed bananas for the applesauce. For a little bit healthier version you could use all whole wheat flour and if you don’t have Grapenuts on hand you could use bran instead!

 

Avoiding Duplicate Urls – SEO Tip #1

April 15, 2012

The first on our series of SEO tips for the boutique website owner! This is a simple yet extremely effective way to get started. So here is the quick run-down….
When your website is left in its normal state, your urls can show up with either www.yourwebsite.com or yourwebsite.com every page can show up either way! The downside to this is that google can mistake BOTH versions of every page as separate pages, and then it thinks that you are spamming it with duplicate content/pages!

The fix makes all of your pages default to the www version of your website. so if yourwebsite.com is typed into the browser it automatically pops up to the www.yourwebsite.com version. This will avoid the duplicate content penalty and avoid links to your website being to both versions.

The FIX:

Add the following code to your .htaccess file in the main root folder of your website

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]

Problem solved and you’ll be on your way to good clean SEO practices!

Natures Fabrics Custom Magento Web Design

April 15, 2012

I had the pleasure of working with Jeanne owner of Nature’s Fabrics a fantastic natural and organic fiber fabric store run on a Magento ecommerce platform! Jeanne wanted to take the old look and create a fresh new identity for her business with bright colors and whimsical graphics. After creating the new look, I took it and integrated it into a new custom Magento template. I am super excited with how the new design turned out!

Natures Fabrics Web Design

BEFORE SCREENSHOT

Artsy Barksy – Custom Dog Collars and Accessories

April 15, 2012

Artsy Barksy Boutique Dog Collars
Artsy Barksy designs distinctive, quality ‘dogcessories’ for your pampered pup. Stylish dog collars, fetching doggie Pupperchiefs (bandanas) as well as decorative flowers and bows to add pizzazz! With adorable graphics and fun “doggy” touches everywhere this dog boutique web design makes me smile every time I look at it. I love the custom inner pages with cute touches that make it plain old enjoyable to shop on the website! The “packleader” Kim is a BLAST to work with, we had oodles of fun and lots of laughs every step of the way!
Dog Boutique Web Design
I especially love the “recommendations” from Bindi and Skampi….these pups really know their stuff!