A New Year A New Look!

Welcome to 2014!!!

I trust you all enjoyed a very happy and safe celebration of the new year!

As you may have noticed 21 Rosemary Lane has taken on a new look to help usher in 2014. Yes you know me, I like to switch things up a bit every now and again. But this time I wanted to take the time to help make things a wee bit easier for you, my wonderful readers, to navigate your way around 21 Rosemary Lane. So in addition to the sparkling new header I have also decided to change the way my navigation system works. With some persistence and a never ending quest to figure out html coding, I managed to create icons just below the header to help you find what you are looking for here at "The Lane". Once you click on an icon you will be taken to a collection of posts under that titling. I used the InLinkz project manager to put together collections which will show you a thumbnail with a title and direct link to that post. 

Go ahead...give it a whirl!

Awesome right???

I am still in the process of updating each collection so please bare with me while I spend the next week working on them. 

For my fellow bloggers, in the weeks to come I plan to put together a tutorial on how to create your own custom social media and navigational icons using my favorite editing site PicMonkey and the ever so loved Photobucket, so you can go ahead and customize your blog til your little heart's content.

In closing I just want to say that I am really looking forward to the creative journey the new year holds for 21 Rosemary Lane, and I am truly grateful for all the love and support you all have shown me in the past. Without you blogging would not be anywhere near as much fun!

So as the image comes to my mind of Granny and the Clampetts waving from their front porch at the end of each week's episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, my hope is that 21 Rosemary Lane will continue to be a place you'll look forward visiting,

 again and again!

To quote Elly May's immortal words which have been forever etched into our minds,

(and with my hand a waving)

"Y'all come back now, ya hear?"

XO

Our Most Popular Post of 2013 and a Very Happy New Year

Here we are my bloggy friends, the last day of the year and wowzer what a year it has been! As I look back at 2013 a lot happened here at 21 Rosemary Lane in the way of home projects, decorating for the seasons, travel, the ever so wonderful thrifty finds, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading my posts and the pictures accompanying them. However much to my surprise the most popular post of the year wasn't a room makeover, fabulous vacation or even a painted furniture project which we all love to ooh and ahh over, but with 18,000+ pageviews since its publication in February, by far the most viewed post of 2013 was...

Yup...the overwhelming winner! It was the first blogging tutorial I had ever written. The post was picked up by the good folks over at PicMonkey and I was absolutely shocked when in June they published it as one of their top ten photo editing tutorials made by bloggers. 

(To see all top ten tutorials just click here.)

But the best part of the experience in writing this tutorial wasn't just the traffic it drove to 21 Rosemary Lane, but the comments received by people who used the tutorial and found it helpful! 

YES!!!! 

 I was thrilled that in some small way the tutorial was actually able to aid people in navigating through this learn on your own self taught world of blogland! And that my friends is a cherished experience !

So as you look back at the year of 2013, what was your biggest accomplishment, brightest moment, the event which will mark the best of year? I pray that it will be hard for you to choose.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and may God bless you and those you hold dearest to you. 

I am hopeful that 2014 will be a most wonderful year for all of us!

XO

To read the tutorial on How to Create a Blog Header Using PicMonkey Editing Site just click here.