Before the Paparazzi ~ Week 3 ~ Primitive & Proper

This week I would like to introduce you to Cassie from Primitive and Proper. 

Here is an exert from her About Me:

I am a 32 year old mother of 2- a boy and a girl! I love to decorate... and redecorate..... and then redecorate again! I like all things pretty, prefer a mix of modern and vintage as long as they work together to create and inviting and relaxing atmosphere. Everything I do is on a very limited budget, because I can't afford it, and even if I could why would I spend egads of money on things I know I can do for less!

She also sells some of her wonderful before and afters, you can find them here.

Just a taste of her work.  Love that she isn't afraid of color!

  Here are Cassie's questions and answers for us.

What have you learned as far as reaching new readers?

 I try always to reply to comments, unless of course the commenter as the cursed "no-reply" setting! If that is the case, and they have a blog, I try to hop over and pay them a comment. Being friendly, helpful, and open is important in all parts of life, and that goes for blogging, too.

 Who has influenced you most and been a resource to you?

Gail at My Repurposed Life has been a friend from way back when and has always answered questions when I have had them and been a great support and friend. I love her!

What do you think your readers most like to read about?

My readers like my furniture before and afters the best I think. I tend to try out new colors often because I get very bored with the same thing, and who doesn't like a dramatic before and after? We're all suckers for that!

What has helped you gain readers the most?

Link parties and features!!! Link your projects up to parties, and if you are featured by a bigger blogger, you will gain followers! Whenever someone asks you to be a guest, you should always say yes, unless of course, you have some major real life drama going on, be a sport!

When does one start doing giveaways or link parties?

My belief on link parties is that there are an overwhelming number of big anything goes link parties. I prefer the specific parties that narrow it down a bit. I also think that a person should have a pretty significant number of readers to make the party a success. It may help you gain readers, but you want to make sure that your parties also have plenty of eye candy for the people perusing the links. So I guess a more general answer would be hold off until you have lots of followers, and if you can make it more specific, then do so.

What surprised you most about blogging?

I am pleasantly surprised by the number of people out there in the world who I consider so much more than "blog friends". they are real friends and those relationships have become part of my life. I had no idea that would happen! I also shared that a friend of mine has a daughter who has leukemia and the outpouring of love and support from the blogging community was overwhelming. I love the connections that I have made and feel that even though I have not met face to face with most of these people, our lives and hearts are linked together

What technical things have been the hardest for you?

Ha ha!!! all of it!!! I am not technologically savvy at all. I have learned some in this process, but I am much more comfortable finding symbolism in American literature than understanding symbols in html.

Do you have tips on time management?
I wrote a whole post about it here:http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-do-i-manage-time.html

What do you dislike most about blogging? 
Ok, I am going to be totally honest on this one.  I dislike bloggers who have loads of followers, and you visit them, comment on them, and are a follower, and not once do they ever reply to a comment you leave or leave you a comment.  No matter how many followers you have, you are never too good to respect your followers.  After all, they are the ones you got you to where you are in the blog world

How much should you invest in a good design?  Did you do your own design?
I won a header giveaway once, and then paid the difference to get the whole thing redesigned!  I am so glad I did.  I have no idea how to so that kind of stuff... furniture is my canvas... not web pages!

Thanks Cassie for helping us newbie's navagate the blog world!  I really appreciate your insight!

Don't for get to stop by Hyphen Interiors, Kristy's guest poster this week is from Casa Greer