This & That

DIY Distressed Wood Backdrops

I have been on a mission this week. That mission was to finish a few unfinished backdrops that I had laying around. Being an amateur at photography, I am always looking for ways to improve my photos. You always see these beautiful images on these distressed tables, but it turns out, most of the time they are not actually tables! Mind blown right? I have made a few backdrops that I love, but wanted to make a few more just to have some choice in my life. These are super easy to make, and they cost me less than $15 to make 2 of them! Depending on the size area you prefer to shoot on, you can easily turn it into 4.

Items needed:

Plank Paneling – I picked this up at my local hardware store for around $11. It is tongue and groove, so it is easy to put together!

Wood Glue

White Paint

Wood Stain (I used dark walnut because it was what I had on hand)

Foam Brushes

Sandpaper

An Old Rag

Hammer (optional)

Clamps or something heavy to place on top of it

Clear Polyurethane

Since the pack of wood I bought had a total of 12 slats, I decided to do 6 slats for each side. If you do not need as much space to shoot, you can easily cut them in half to make 4 backdrops.

I started by gluing 6 of the slats together making sure to wipe off any excess glue that came through.

Once they were glued together, I repeated the process with the other 6 slats. After they were dry, I applied a hefty amount of glue to the back side of one of the boards and glued the two boards together.

After they were glued together, I used some clamps to secure them together to dry. I allowed them to dry overnight, but a few hours should be plenty of time.

After all of that work, the fun part was about to start! I took a foam brush and applied a light coat of white paint. It does not have to be perfect, especially if you plan on doing some distressing to the wood!

Allow paint to dry completely. After the paint is dry, lightly sand over areas that you want the stain to show through the best. I also took a hammer to it at this point and gave it some dings to give it an older appearance.

Once sanding is complete, be sure to clean off all of the dust! I than applied a light coat of stain and allowed it to dry. You can go wild at this point and add more stain if you want a darker look, or sand it and give it some more white. Once you are happy with the outcome, finish it off with a coat of clear coat of polyurethane.

I am doing something pretty awesome to the other side of the board, but that is not ready yet so you will have to wait. You can also do this to an old piece of furniture that needs some TLC.

All in all, I am super happy with how this DIY Distressed Wood Backdrop turned out and can not wait to get started shooting on it.

How to Increase Your Blog Traffic

I have been blogging for a long time on various sites. If you have also, then you know times are changing. It use to be that anyone could start up a blog, create a Facebook Fan page and be successful in a short amount of time. But, thanks to the oh so crafty creators of Facebook, that is no longer possible. Spending lots of time AND money to gain your following, only for them to swop in and take them all away. Now, with the popularity of sites like Pinterest, the little blogger has a chance again to shine. But it takes time, and skills and lots of dedication.

I started this small little site about 2 months ago. I was burnt out on deal blogging, and wanted a more creative outlet for things I enjoyed. I knew it would not be easy, even now my poor little Facebook page only has just over 200 fans, and I am okay with that. My Pinterest account though, that is over 2K followers right now, and is growing more and more everyday. Why? Hard work.

Before we get down to the nitty gritty, lets take a look at my traffic on this site.

You see that giant jump on the last few days of the chart? Those visitors are not coming from Facebook, they are coming from all over the internet. Why? Because I have made my site present in a lot of locations. Below is an overview of where my visitors are coming from on a daily basis.

As you can see, Craftgawker is my number 1 referrer. This is because I strive to take excellent photos for my site. Most people blog hopping are visual and like to see “pretty” things. It does not take an expensive camera and equipment to take stunning photos, it just takes time and some practice. If your photos are not “pretty” chances are you will be passed up by readers.

The second top referrer is of course, Pinterest. Again, it is all about the visual aids here. It is kind of like high school where the pretty girl gets all of the boys. Well, the pretty pictures get all of the clicks. Commenting, liking, pinning other peoples pins and following others will increase your exposure as well and gain you more followers.

Next, StumbleUpon. If you are not utilizing this source, then you are missing out on traffic. Even a little traffic can make a BIG difference. It just takes one person to share something for it to go viral. StumbleUpon can do just that. If you check out this post you can see that it has been stumbled thousands of times.

Another big traffic source is OTHER bloggers! Yes, other bloggers! Network, network, network! I am a blogger stalker. Daily I am adding my new content to blog linkies and commenting on other blogs. Why? It not only gets me noticed by larger bloggers, but also by their readers! The more you add to linkies and comment, the better the chance you will get noticed. I have been featured on several other blogs because of linkies. This not only gains exposure, but helps with Google page rank because of the back links! I have a great list available of the linkies that I join on a daily basis that you can see here.

Google is another large traffic source, having a little bit of knowledge on SEO can go a long way in getting ranked in Google. Link backs from other bloggers and knowing how to maximize your key words is the important thing. This little site started to gain Google referrals in the first week just because of some simple key wording.

And as you can see, the rest of my traffic is trickling in from Facebook and other bloggers, which adds up in the long run.

What are your tips for increasing your blog traffic? Let us know in the comments!