Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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My Blog Re-Design & Square #10

March 10, 2010 at 8:13 am by Claudia

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my newly designed blog!

A while back, I started enlarging my photos. I sought the advice of a few people, among them Cindy of My Romantic Home. Because of the limitations of the Blogger template I was using, I could only enlarge photos vertically (portrait.) That was fine for a while but sometimes I wanted to shoot horizontally (landscape) and in the course of cropping and trying to adjust the size for the template I would lose part of the photo. Frustrated by the same thing, Cindy recently redesigned her blog so that the width of the posting area is greater, allowing space for either size photo. She inspired me.

I loved the look of my blog. That was what held me back. (Change is hard sometimes, isn’t it?) But to be perfectly honest, though I loved the free background, I didn’t like running into it elsewhere in blogland. I wanted my-very-own-mine-only look. I also loved the sidebar labels, signature and blog button Mandy created for me. I wanted to keep them. I finally bit the bullet and asked Amber of Sprinkles on Top if she could design a new template, background and banner. She did. I am over-the-moon about this new look! Amber captured exactly what I was looking for. She is so good at what she does and is a joy to work with.

If you’re thinking of a re-design, visit Amber’s website. She is reasonably priced and has several different packages available. Amber has designed Cindy’s blog, Elyse’s blog and many, many others. Thank you, thank you, Amber!

Square #10:

(a landscape size photo)

Pardon any white dog hairs you might see. They are part of living with a white dog that has hair as silky and fine as a cat’s. I must admit that I was stumped for a while yesterday. It took a while for a bit of ‘square inspiration’ to hit me on the head. And I have 29 to go.

Have a great day.

Filed Under: blog, stitchalong 31 Comments

My Blog Book

February 27, 2010 at 10:01 am by Claudia

Hello everyone! We have had a rough couple of days – snow, sleet, wind, power outages – just plain yucky. Luckily, the longest power outage so far was just 2 hours. Though it is inconvenient, I realize it could be much worse. Nevertheless, I am well and truly sick of winter. Officially. Be gone, Winter! Welcome, Spring! (Am I jumping the gun, do you think?)


I’ve been wanting to share this with you for quite some time. However, I wanted my parents to have their own copy as a surprise, so I had to wait until they received their copy in the mail. What is it? It is my very own hardcover book containing the blog posts and photos from my first year of blogging. I got it through Blurb. Since I first put this together last summer, there are even more blog to book sites available, but I am happy with Blurb. (This isn’t a plug for Blurb, by the way, this is just my experience with this process!)

I wanted a permanent record of my posts as they do indeed chronicle our life here at Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I was so excited last summer when my copy arrived. Oh, I see several volumes lined up prettily on my bookshelf, just waiting to be thumbed through.

If you’re interested in something like this there are all sorts of price ranges and sites available. I chose a hardcover version. In the case of Blurb, you just go to their site, download the software and then get to work editing your posts and photos. Actually, it isn’t work at all – it’s fun.


I learned a great deal working on the first volume and just finished editing the second volume. Since I post a lot more than I did the first year, this one will be twice as many pages. I’ve learned more about editing the photos and I’ve changed the post font to the same font I use on my blog – papyrus. The only thing lacking is the ability to show my blog background on each page, but that is a minor complaint.

I don’t write in a journal. In fact, I tried for many years to journal and failed miserably. When I started to blog it quickly became clear to me that blogging was my form of journaling. I spend a lot of time taking photos and writing and editing my posts; I am thrilled to have a book which is a permanent record of them.

I’ll be sure to post about Mockingbird Hill Cottage – the second year when it arrives.

Hey, does this mean that I am a published author?

Filed Under: blog 44 Comments

Nella and the Blog

January 10, 2010 at 5:29 pm by Claudia

My parents, who are in Florida, make a point of reading through all my blog posts for the previous week every Sunday afternoon. They get on the computer and read the posts together. I love that. My Dad, who has a new camera, recently sent me this photo:


There’s the blog – and there is Nella. Nella is my favorite kitty. She is just a darling with so much personality. However, call me crazy, but she looks a tad resentful of the time my parents spend reading my blog. It looks as if she has tried to stop the whole thing, doesn’t it? Or at least position herself between them and the computer. Oh Nella, you have them all the time, I live far away…can you just give me a few minutes every Sunday? Please?

Filed Under: blog, cats, family 27 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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Scout & Riley. Riley left us in 2012. Scout left us in February 2016. Dearest babies. Dearest friends.

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