I LOVE being creative. It’s my absolute favourite thing to do. I also LOVE Disney, so if I can combine creativity and Disney then that’s pretty cool.
I’ve visited Disney World 8 times now and throughout these trips, I’ve built up quite the collection of Disney Pins. I keep all of my pins on a pinboard, but I wanted to think of something else I could do with them.
And then came my idea of turning my Disney Pins into Disney prints….
I have a bit of an obsession with buying prints to put on my wall. I love prints with quotes, Disney prints and anything inspirational. I decided to see if I could turn my pins into prints and it actually worked pretty well.
I have a degree in Graphics so I still have Photoshop and all the fancy editing software which was very much needed to do this. I started off by taking a photo of the pin and ensuring to use a white background. I then used photoshop to cut around the edges of the pin and then I began to edit it. I’ve created the print so it has a slightly grainy effect to make it look more authentic and handmade. I then added ‘Hakuna Matata’ to tie everything together.
I’m super happy with how this turned out and I’m definitely going to try it with some of my other pins. It still needs some work to improve it, but what I have so far is definitely a start.
I started my blog in May 2017 and since then I’ve seen my audience grow and I get more interaction that I used to. I’m by no means a ‘big blogger’, in fact, I’m nowhere near that! When I started Charlotte Shares I’d be lucky if I got 1 page view a day, forward on 9 months and I usually hit close to 1000 page views each month. For some people, this is probably really rubbish, but for me, it’s a massive achievement!
Of course, blogging shouldn’t be all about the stats and page views. With that being said, I feel much happier about my blog when I can see people are reading my content and interacting with me. There’s no worse feeling than when you work really hard on a post and nobody reads it!
Over the last 9 months, I have found certain things have really helped with my interaction and engagement and thought I would share this with you today!
J O I N I N W I T H T W I T T E R C H A T S A N D C O M M E N T T H R E A D S
This is where most of my traffic comes from. There are so many great accounts out there that host Twitter chats and comment threads each week. It’s a great way to discover new blogs, speak to new people and build new relationships. If you take the time to read and comment other peoples posts, they’ll often come and visit your site and leave you a lovely comment as well. Some of my favourite Twitter accounts for chats are Bloggers Tribe, TeaCupClub and GRLPOWR. I can’t even stress enough how joining in with these chats will help improve your engagement.
P R O M O T E Y O U R S E L F A N D U S E H A S H T A G S
Promoting ourselves?! This is always the scary one right? I remember when I first started my blog and I was terrified to promote my content as I didn’t want to be seen as being bigheaded. I don’t know why I thought like this because I never think anyone else is big headed for promoting their content. The main thing is getting the balance right, as well as promotional tweets, your followers also want to see your personality so tweet ‘normal things’ as well! I usually post around 3 promotional tweets a day and I use hashtags so that they reach a bigger audience. My favourite hashtags are #BloggersTribe #TeaCupClub #TheGirlGang #GRLPOWR and #DisneyBloggers. I personally use these hashtags to find other peoples posts as well to read.
C R E A T E P I N N A B L E I M A G E S F O R Y O U R P O S T S
At the bottom of each post, I create an image that can be pinned to Pinterest. On my personal Pinterest account, I have a Charlotte Shares board where I pin all of my blog posts. I’ve also joined a few group Pinterest boards where I pin my content and share other peoples content who also pin to the group board. This is by no means where most of my traffic comes from as the majority of it comes from my Twitter. I do however find that I still get views to my blog each day that come from Pinterest. The easiest way to create Pinterest images is to use Canva. This website is honestly brilliant for creating graphics for your blog.
I hope this is useful to some of you, if you have other tips for growing your audience then please leave them below!
A few weeks ago I did a get to know me tag post and it seemed to go down really well. Everyone said that they enjoyed posts like that as you get to know the reader more. As my blog is heavily Disney related I thought it would be fun to do the Disney Parks tag as I know lots of my readers also love Disney!
Which Disney parks have you visited?
I’ve been to Walt Disney World in Florida and I’ve also been to Disney Land Paris.
What is your earliest Disney memory?
I first went to Disney World when I was 9. I remember being completely blown away by the various firework nighttime shows. Let’s be honest Disney do fireworks way better than the fireworks we did in my back garden as a child on bonfire night haha!
Which is your favourite park?
This is a really tough one, but I think it has to be the Magic Kingdom!
What is your favourite land/area?
I love world showcase at Epcot. It’s so lovely walking around in the sunshine and taking in all the different cultures. I especially love all the different food and drink there is to choose from!
What is your all-time favourite ride?
For me, it has to be Splash Mountain. I like the fact the ride lasts for a long time! There’s nothing worse than queueing for an hour for a 20-second ride! I love the theme of the ride and it’s also great to cool down on a hot day! haha
Which ride do you think is most underrated?
Definitely the Carousel of Progress! I still remember the first time I went on this as a 9-year-old and I was completely gobsmacked by the futuristic section … and what’s funny is that it’s a true representation of what life is like now.
Which ride do you think is most overrated?
I hate to say it, but it has to be the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train … It just really isn’t that great, and you queue for ages and the ride ends so quickly! I kind of feel like it’s a rubbish version of Big Thunder Mountain.
What are your Disney traditions?
We always get Fish n Chips in England at Epcot before watching Illuminations! and when we go to the Magic Kingdom we always head straight for Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain.
What is your most fond Disney park memory?
When we went to Disney in 2017 we were stood around waiting for Illuminations at Epcot. A cast member came over to us and asked us if we would like to go somewhere with a better view. He gave us a ticket saying we had been selected for a magic moment. We were taken to a private viewing platform with 2 other families right on the edge of the water. We had the most incredible view!! Don’t ever tell me Disney isn’t magical… Because that moment was definitely magical! 🙂
What is your favourite Disney food?
Chicken Nuggets! Literally, Disney chicken nuggets are the best!
I hope you enjoyed reading this; if you do the tag as well let me know as I would love to see other peoples answers 🙂
Guys! I’m officially a homeowner 😀 We picked up the keys yesterday and I’m honestly so excited!! The house is a huge project and it’s going to be months of renovation before we can actually move in. So be prepared for lots of update posts!
Naturally being the creative person I am; I’ve been planning for months and months how I want to decorate the house. Being the Disney lover I am, of course, I want some subtle Disney bits of homeware to add a little magic to the house! I’ve been collecting bits and pieces over the last year that I’ve seen and thought I would share these with you today!
Disney Traditions, Mickey and Minnie Rainy Day Romance (above)
I absolutely love the Disney Traditions ornaments. I actually asked my brother to get me this one for Christmas and I love it. I think this will look super cute on a bookshelf or on a mantlepiece. I have a few different Disney Traditions Ornaments that I’ve bought over the years and I think they will be perfect to add a little Disney to my house.
The Disney Dreams Collection 2018 Calendar
I’ve seen lots of fellow Disney Bloggers with this calendar and I get why as it’s absolutely beautiful. Shaun’s mum bought us this for Christmas and it’s going to look perfect hanging on our kitchen wall. Disney Art is always so stunning and I can’t wait to have this on display in my house.
Disney Cath Kidston Cushion
I love the fact that Cath Kidston now do Disney Ranges, it genuinely makes my heart happy! I fell in love with this cushion when I found it. It’s the perfect colour to match in with the colours of our living room and I know it’ll look amazing on the sofa.
Disney Cath Kidston Mugs
I’ve actually collected lots of Disney Mugs from the various Cath Kidston ranges that have been available. I’m saving them all up to use in my new house. My dad bought me this set for Christmas and they’re super cute. I can’t wait to put them on the mug tree in our kitchen. If you’re going to drink tea you may as well drink it from a Disney mug 😀
I hope you enjoyed seeing the Disney bits that I’ve picked up for my house. I have other bits too so I may do some more homeware hauls like this soon!
Do you remember the days when you would go on holiday and take a film camera? And when you returned there was always so much excitement about getting the film developed and seeing all of those memories printed in front of you. I genuinely miss these days! Nowadays it’s all about the digital camera. I always return from my holiday and load them onto my computer and do NOTHING with them.
I was so excited when Printiki recently contacted me about trying their printing service. Last year I went to Disney World with my family and Shaun and I still hadn’t printed any of the photos. This was the perfect opportunity for me to print out a load of photos and actually bring my memories to life.
I’ve always been creative and love to make things. After looking through Pinterest and also Printiki’s Instagram for inspiration I decided that I wanted to make a scrapbook full of my memories. It’s actually Shaun’s birthday today, so I’ve made the scrapbook to give to him as a birthday present 🙂
I opted for the square print photo’s from Printiki and I LOVE them. I’ve always been a sucker for square photographs, they’re just so much nicer than rectangle haha. When I was in Disney World years ago I bought this scrapbook but never actually used it. It has lots of Disney print pages as well as stickers and cutouts. This has been perfect for creating my scrapbook.
If anyone else is interested in using Printiki then you can get free delivery by using this code DNUNY9SJ 😀 It’s honestly one of the easiest printing services that I’ve ever used. The delivery is super quick and the quality is fab!
I guess all I have left to say is Happy Birthday Shaun! Hope you like the scrapbook 🙂
