Okay sorry I missed last week – I hurt my finger this week and typing is a bit of a chore, so blogging has been hard. But I still wanted to share these great links with you!

Every week make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads fom the week! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Blogging & Social Media

• 5 Steps to Improve Your Pinterest Profile in Five Minutes – Great tips on how to make your Pinterest profile amazing!
• What, Why, and How-To’s of Trackbacks and Pingbacks in WordPress – Learn all about trackbacks and pingbacks on your blog.
• The Blogger’s Guide To YouTube: How To Absolutely Dominate Your Niche With Video Content – Are you starting to vlog? Check out this great post.

Health & Food

• What’s Your Cup Of Tea? – 5 Miracle Teas for Fat Loss – I love learning about tea because that is my one go to drink that I can have since I cannot have carbonation. And look its a healthy choice!
• Water Hydration Plan! -I have to do this! I always struggle with getting my water in, this looks like a good way to make sure you are on the right track throughout the day.
• How to get your kids to healthy foods – Getting healthy is not just about you it’s about getting your family healthy too!

Randomness

Awesome Video of the Week

Pin of the Week

Okay sorry I missed last week – I hurt my finger this week and typing is a bit of a chore, so blogging has been hard. But I still wanted to share these great links with you!

Every week make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads fom the week! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Blogging & Social Media

• The New Google Plus Interface - Have you seen the new look of Google+? Learn more about how you can customize it in this article.
• 14 Ways to Build Strategic Relationships With the Who’s Who of Social Media - Learn how to grow a relationship with a big name online.
• 15 Ways to Write Tight – 15 quick and easy tips to make sure you keep your posts short and sweet!
• Crazy Talk: The Do-What-You-Love Guide – Interested in blogging? Start small and keep building.
• How Doctor Who Can Help You Craft a Timelessly Engaging Marketing Message- Love this analogy!!

Health & Food

• When Idealism Gets in the Way - Does negativity seem to weigh you down? Do you always see what you are doing wrong? Kat shares how she is looking at the good things she is doing to keep her family healthy.
• 10 Minute Bread Bowls - These are cute! And a great way to get a few carbs and make it fun at the same time!
• 26 Workout Songs to Keep You Going - Rock your workout!

Fun

• DIY: May Day Baskets - May first is coming up do you have baskets ready yet? If not check out these cuties!
• Photo 101 – Composition - I love this article – Natalie shares the basics of how to line up your photos to make them more interesting. If you camera has the option to have a grid on your screen try this out!

Awesome Video of the Week

Pin of the Week

This week I’m switching up SSS to share some of the great blogs I have found while surfing the #UBP12 Party!

Normally on SSS I share my favorite articles I’ve read from around the web with an emphasis on Blogging, Social Media, Health, Food, and just great random reads. So make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Mom Blogs with Very Little Product Emphasis

• Mrs. Jennifer Lynn – A new vlogger! Woohoo!
• Life as I know it – A fellow Oregonian!
• Crosbie Crew – Love the 52 Weeks of Us!
• Veep Veep – A blogger and a TV personality and lovely on top of that!
• Michelle’s Family life – A fellow bunny owner!

Review Mom Blogs

• Dear Life…from a mom of boys – A mom to 5 boys wow!
• Our Life…’Better Together’ – She could def use some UBP love so visit her!
• The Larson Lingo – Love that baby announcement!

Christian & Religious Blogs

• Stretching into Blue – Yay another vlogging mom – and her message is awesome!
• Rellas Bellas – You have to go wish her a happy b-day today!
• Crown of Laurel Leaves — Love, Lauren – Meet a talented artist!
• Amy in Wanderland – misadventures of an accidental missionary – So beautiful – a must read blog!!
• Our Family for His Glory – An inspiring mom.

Special Needs Blogs

• Snaps of Our Life – If you love photography you must go here!
• Who Says 8 is Enough? — Living with autism, surviving infidelity and remaining faithful. – Yes 9 children, wow!

Specialty Blogs

• Keep the Tail Wagging – One of my Blogging buddies!
• Our Pinteresting Family – Time to get crafty!
• A Winding Road – Beautiful Photos & Crafts!

Daily Life & Opinion

• So Very Me – Jersey Mom Blogger – Another Bloggy Buddy of mine!
• Mama Dweeb — Manhattan Kansas mom blog – Another Bloggy Mommy I know
• Chasing Joy: Party Like a Blog Star – Wow this is like a list of people I know!

Awesome Video of the Week

Pin of the Week

Okay sorry I missed last week – I hurt my finger this week and typing is a bit of a chore, so blogging has been hard. But I still wanted to share these great links with you!

Every week make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads fom the week! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Blogging & Social Media

• 10 Plugins to Help Spring Clean Your WordPress Blog – Don’t forget to include your blog on your spring cleaning list!
• How to Work at Home When Your Life Is a Complete Madhouse – Are you a professional blogger, do you juggle kids and blogging? Then you have to read this article!
• 20 Days to a High-Quality, Highly-Engaged Twitter Following (in just 20 minutes a day) – Wait your not on twitter yet!? Okay this is the perfect article for you it will get you going on twitter in 20 days!
• Anatomy of an Effective Blog Post | Michael Hyatt – A great basics to blog posts. Just starting out or just want to review the best structure for a post check this out.
• The greatest danger bloggers face. – What is the biggest danger a blogger faces?
• What 23 Bloggers WISH They Could Blog About – Great interview with some great women bloggers asking them what they wish they could really talk about on their blogs.

Health & Food

• Got milk? You’ve got options! – A great breakdown all about milk. Learn more about Organic, Raw, Almond, Rice, Soy and more.
• Popcorn has more antioxidants than fruit – I’m a huge popcorn lover. And now I can definitely count it as a healthy snack. One of my favorite tools is my Microwave Popcorn Popper (aff link). Love it!

Randomness

• Instead of Saying “I Don’t Have Time,” Say “It’s Not a Priority” - Do you catch yourself always saying you wished you had more time or if I had the time I would do that. Read this article and really think about it the next time your about to say: I don’t have time.
• Best Procrastination Tip Ever- Stop and read this now! Don’t put it off for later!

Awesome Video of the Week

Pin of the Week

If you a long time reader you may remember Super Surfing Sundays. Well they are back! Every week make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads fom the week! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Blogging & Social Media

• Get More Comments: How Q&A Video Can Help – I would love to do this with my readers more, so if you read this please place a random question in the comments below!
• The Best Places to Put Ads on Your Site - Have you ever wondered where the best place to post your ads on your site. Check out this great graphic Amy shares.
• FREE Content Marketing Course from Brian Clark – Only available till tomorrow so make sure you sign up!
• 14 Ways to Get More Comments on Your Blog Posts – Every blogger is looking for new ways to get more comments here is some great ideas to grow your audience!

Health & Food

• Quinoa for Breakfast Recipes – Toast quinoa to make a healthy crunchy cereal with protein!
• Parents Of Obese Children Encouraged To Begin With Their Own Weight Loss Journey – Health News – redOrbit – I have already found that after a year working on my own weight loss my boys are already showing healthy trends towards enjoying exercise.
• A revealing journey as a woman reduces weight by half – Such an inspiring story about a young woman who has lost weight and is on a journey to excepting her body! Warning: there are some partial nude photos in her gallery.
• How to Make Kid Friendly Healthy Too – a few simple tricks for your little picky eaters.

Randomness

• Mirror Mirror Snow White Crown - I can’t wait to see this movie and I love that your little one (or you) can make a crown to wear to the movie.
• » The Way of the Peaceful Parent – This is a must read list of ideas on parenting and really being a loving parent.

Awesome Video of the Week

Check out the full post here: Eat Late At Night? Watch This! | Nichole Kellerman

Popular Pin of the Week

If you a long time reader you may remember Super Surfing Sundays. Well they are back! Every week make sure to come back and find some of my favorite reads fom the week! Or make it easy and subscribe to Pepper Scraps and either get them in your reader or in your email.

Let’s start link hopping!

Blogging & Social Media

• 12 Things That Will Kill Your Blog Post Every Time – Some great basic tips on blogging and how to make sure you are keeping them SEO friendly.
• How to Use Video to Massively Increase Sign Ups & Conversions – Check out some great videos from the leading bloggers out there. Have you tried an intro video on your blog?
• How to Add a “Click to Tweet” Link to Quotes Within Your Posts – Have you seen these great tweet my quote links within peoples posts? Here is how you can add them to your blog.
• 103 Resources For Becoming a Pinterest Expert – An ultimate Pinterest guide!

Health & Food

• 10 Diet Foods That Make You Fat – Taralynn shares an article from a fitness magazine and share her perspective on each piece of advice.
• Green Dream Ice cream – Green Ice Cream, yummy and healthy!
• High Protein Lemon Cheesecake Mousse Recipe – What a great high protein recipe – I need to go buy gelatin now!
• The 100 Best Workout Songs from the ’90s – Good workout music is a must and Spark People has an awesome list to help you create a great workout mix.

Inspiration

• 25 Photo-Illustrated Reminders to Help You Find Happiness – Photos filled with inspiring quotes.

Awesome Video of the Week

Infographic of the Week

Created by: MedicalCodingCareerGuide.com

A new spin on your traditional chicken salad, add some spaghetti sauce and give it an Italian kick.

Creamy Italian Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 4 oz chicken breasts shredded
• 3 Tbs spaghetti sauce
• 1 oz light cream cheese
• 1/2 oz grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 Tbs Italian Seasoning

As I had mentioned last week we are taking a short break from the craft a day letter series and just sharing some great crafts that I have come across.

This weeks theme is going to be girly girl crafts. If you have been following along on Pepper Scraps for a while you know I have two wonderful little boys. Most of the time my crafts are gender neutral. But sometimes I come across some amazing crafts that are just too girly for my boys. Today I will be sharing you some of these finds.

If you are new to A Craft a Day

A Craft a Day gives you five activities that you can enjoy with your kids, one for each day of the week.  Most of these activities work well for preschoolers, but you may be able to adapt them for your toddler. If you want to learn more about the basics of A Craft A Day you can find them at a Craft a Day: Coming Back Soon. I will post the crafts on Saturdays so you can use the weekend to get any supplies that you may need. We are making our way through the alphabet this year so if you missed a you can find it here.

Are you Supermom?

Now I’m not supermom and I don’t expect you to be either. We don’t always get to each activity, sometimes life is just too busy. Hopefully you may try one or two of these activities with me and my kids! You don’t have to do every single one. You don’t have to be doing preschool with your child. I just hope to give you a resource for some great fun with your kids!

The Crafts:

• Fairy Garden - The other day I asked if he thought Zane was patient enough to do a “Gnome” garden he laughed at me. I still may make this just for me. You can also find fairies and many other things you can make for your gardens.
• Dress Up Felt Board - I know girls are a little better at detailed work so they may be able to help you make these. They can at least help you design outfits to make.
• Foam or Felt Food – I’m actually thinking about making these for Zarek, he loves playing with fake food. I loved this idea for “making” cookies (If you use foam you shouldn’t have to sew). More food ideas. And you may need a pretend stove for this activity too!
• Weave a Jump Rope - What a fun way to start teaching your little girl hand weaving.
• DIY Mobile - I loved these and may try them with the boys, but the detailed ones would be hard to get Zane to make. I love the butterflies!

Be Featured

If you do any of these crafts and happen to take a picture or write a blog post about it please make sure and share your link in the comments. Also don’t forget to link the original crafter! I may feature you and your blog  on the following weeks post!

Welcome back to a new edition of A Craft A Day!

If you are new to A Craft a Day

A Craft a Day gives you five activities that you can enjoy with your kids, one for each day of the week.  Most of these activities work well for preschoolers, but you may be able to adapt them for your toddler. If you want to learn more about the basics of A Craft A Day you can find them at a Craft a Day: Coming Back Soon.

I will post the crafts on Saturdays so you can use the weekend to get any supplies that you may need.

Are you Supermom?

Now I’m not supermom and I don’t expect you to be either. We don’t always get to each activity, sometimes life is just too busy.

Hopefully you may try one or two of these activities with me and my kids! You don’t have to do every single one. You don’t have to be doing preschool with your child.

I just hope to give you a resource for some great fun with your kids!

The Crafts:

• Apple Smiles – Apple smiles are a fun and easy snack to create with your preschooler.

• Armor of God – For this project we printed out each sheet. I created a head and legs from construction paper. Zane colored the sheets, put a face on the head and helped me cut out the shield. I cut out the rest of the pieces and had him tape them all together. This was tons of fun.
• Apple Science – I cut open an apple and we counted the carpels and seed together. Every apple has 5 carpels and each carpel should have 2 seeds.
• Apple Prints – After counting I put some paint on a plant and let both boys use the apples as stamps. Zane just loved swirling the paint.

• Awesome Apple – I know another color and cut worksheet. But what was fun was we were just teaching Zane about Super Heroes and this happen to be the activity I planned for the day.

Supplies: Apples, Peanut Butter, Mini Marshmallows, Scissors, Crayons or Pens,  Acrylic Paint or Finger Paint, Craft Paper

Be Featured

If you do any of these crafts and happen to take a picture or write a blog post about it please make sure and share your link in the comments. Also don’t forget to link the original crafter! I may feature you and your blog  on the following weeks post!