Sunday, November 30, 2008

Great Gifts Galore ONLINE NOW

The holidays are fast approaching - and thankfully - it's been a busy time for us! We've had lots of new clients, and they're all great opportunities to get prizes and presents this holiday season. Check them out!

Welcome to the internet!

Defend Max - Owned and operated by an ex police officer who knows and understands the need for such products - DefendMax offers tons of articles and resources to help you in your choices. Visit DEFENDMAX - for all your personal security products, including mace and pepper spray, video and surveillance cameras and more!





Electric Smoker Pro - Commercial and Personal Smokers, Grills and more - Michael's motto: "Smoke like a PRO from the very first day" - this sounds like a GREAT gift for DAD!!! (or ANYONE!)








Evolution Import - If you've got a Volkswagen or Audi, this is your one-stop parts shop. Specialized German stuff for specialized German cars!! Check out their world-famous aluminum skid plates!








Sleep Well Baby - is not new to the internet, rather - it's redesigned and reborn anew! Check them out for great specials on wellness products, bath, body, aromatherapy, rest and relaxation products and more.

and finally...





The ULTIMATE Home Journal - if you're a realtor, the key to referral success is client gifts. What better gift to give your client - than the Ultimate Home Journal - to help them manage the hectic day to day needs ot moving and settling into a new home. Earn your client's referrals with this great client gift.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Welcome to the internet... SPEXY LADY...


One of my clients, for whom I designed a blog - and who shall remain a complete mystery (because mysteries are really fun, and this person is...) - is a total SPEXY LADY.

A very saavy fashion editor and style guru, you are sure to find great info on her blog, info and news, great articles on style, fashion, parenting, relationships, nightlife and more - on her very cool blog: SpexyLady.

Welcome to the internet, SPEXY LADY! I for one am going to follow this blog!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Unique Gift Sites

Now's my chance to welcome some really cool sites to the web - that sell very niche, hard-to-find gifts! Created on the Volusion E-Commerce platform, and custom designed to meet their needs.

Welcome to the web!

Lawyerly Love
Evangeline and her team have created the coolest custom gifts for students in Law School or new Laywers. Choose from several snazzy care packages, gift boxes, and there's even add-ons for specific occasions throughout the process of becoming a lawyer.

Evangeline is detail-oriented, and takes great care with each order. If you know someone in law school, or that has just become a laywer, this is a great gift to help them succeed, and for you to show your support!

The Greek Boutique
For all you college kids - pledging a sorority or fraternity this year, or for you big-sisters and big-brothers out there - this is THE PLACE for your GREEK LIFE, SORORITY and FRATERNITY Gift.

School's in! and so is getting a cool gift.





What a neat concept....

TRANSITIONAL SIZES
Featured press and designer style. Rental clothes - for the person going through a 'transition' - that is, weight loss! What a great concept. Now, if you're losing weight - and on the road to a healthier you, you don't have to buy a new wardrobe everytime you change a size. Simply RENT your wardrobe as you change!

You'll get great service and save a ton while you're on your diet/journey to lose weight.


Welcome all!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Gosh, I've been busy... but new GREAT sites are up!

Hi Everyone, I've been busy lately! But there's some newcomers (at least, new designs for me - some of them have been around!) to the web I'd like to take a moment to introduce!

A great big Texan Internet "HELLO" to:

Inspired Endurance:
Marie is a crafts-woman who creates custom gold and silver jewelry for the inspired athlete. The perfect gift for someone in your life who is training for a marathon or running event, or any sort of endurance sport. She's got the best, most unique jewelry.

I have to say - she sent me the CUTEST bracelet (or, RACE-let!) and I just love it. You'll be inspired by her, and her products. Check out her new site.


Wine Christmas
Chari and her team at SuVino Winery have
been working hard to get their ultra-cool new site, Wine Christmas - up and running for you to browse holiday ornaments, decor, wine stoppers, items for the home and table - and more!

The Winery is great fun too - and look soon for DIVA WINE SHOP for all your whimsical wine gifts!




And also for your holiday season shopping needs....
Christmas Dealz
Brandon and his team at Christmas Dealz have the best electronics, Wii, Nintendo, Games, and so much more - for great GREAT holiday gifts for the kiddos, or grown ups (like me) who still love to play.

He's a very smart guy, super-nice, and extremely customer service oriented. He'll provide quality, authentic products - and great service and support with your order. You can't go wrong buying your Holiday gifts here.

Get ready for Holiday shopping with these great sites!!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Congratulations POSH PUPPY BOUTIQUE

Congratulations to Jen over at the Posh Puppy Boutique! She's won TWO Webmaster Awards on her fun website - where you can buy DESIGNER DUDS FOR YOUR DOG, BLING COLLARS, DOG BOWLS, PET BEDDING and more.

It's nice to see a website that takes off and does so well after we've edited the Volusion Template. Volusion is the e-commerce platform for Posh Puppy Boutique.

So - again, CONGRATS, JEN - for webmastering your new website to success of these two niche awards! Not an easy task!
Awarded by: Next Day Pets
Dogs, Pet Supplies, Dog Breeders
Frontline, Pet Meds, Revolution




Awarded to quality pet websites. (dogs, puppies, cats, horses)

Type: Dog Site

Monday, September 1, 2008

FRINJ Salon & Spa

Welcome to the internet - the all new Frinj Salon & Spa in Plano, Texas. Susan and the team at Frinj have dedicated their careers to creating a luxurious customer atmosphere, to providing the trendiest and hippest hair, nail, skin and spa services, and to throwing some awesome spa parties. If you're in the Dallas area, check them out! If you're elsewhere, look soon for hot and trendy products from their product boutique to be sold online. Until then, you can read about their association with Locks of Love, and we'll be building their website over the next few weeks. It's under construction now, but it's live, and the salon is running ready!

Monday, July 28, 2008

Cookies, Shutters and Photography, OH MY!

Again, a special thanks to my clients for their support. I'm getting new clients every day, and working to build my business to create a presence on the web for people who need help. I'd like to take a moment and welcome some very special clients: ALI'S COOKIES, MVP Design, and the Anderson Law Firm in Dallas.

Ali's Cookies, also known as SHIP A COOKIE.COM, has some SERIOUS cookies and gifts. Perfect gift for any occasion, the perfect corporate party or theme party addition as well. Jeff and Ali have sent me some cookies for, well... 'inspiration' - and let me say they put a gaggle in my weight watchers regime. These things are DIVINE!! Get yours today.

Featured on 11 Alive Atlanta this last weekend. Check them out!


Also - Welcome to the web: The Anderson Family Law Firm. Specializing in Dallas divorce, this family was voted among Dallas Magazine's "Best of Dallas" and also Texas Monthly's Super Lawyers. They also assist with other legal things, ranging from military issues to criminal defense. Need a lawyer? Contact Dallas' best! Visit the Anderson Law Firm today. Search Engine Optimization by The Info Group, Dallas. I had the pleasure of working with Mark. Thanks for the opportunity!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Adding GREAT BIG PHOTOS to your blog.



HOW TO ADD GREAT BIG PHOTOS TO YOUR BLOGGER BLOG

For many of my photographer clients, they showcase their work on their blogs. THIS is a magnificent idea!!

However, they always ask - "How can I get the photos larger on my blog"?

Well, first - the template used has to be widened to a accommodate such large images, then the images need to be inserted, and the HTML edited to the exact size of the photo.

SO first: the template must be customized a bit to widen it. (usually) This blog is set to 100% width. A fixed width is great too, as long as the main posting area has at least 600 pixels or so of working post space. 600 pixels is a good width, anyway for blog photos (as far as big ones go) and should fill the area nicely. The example above is 600 pixels wide, and 450 pixels high.

Then, the images must already be hosted somewhere (that is, not uploaded directly to Blogger in the post, but already existing on the web, having been uploaded via FTP to your hosting account, or already existing in it's largest or full size on a photo sharing website.

Why can't you just upload them? Because Blogger stores your photos on Picasa, which resizes them to the default 'S, M & L' settings (I believe 'large' is 400 pixels max width). There's only three sizes (S, M & L) when uploading to Blogger. If you try to go in and edit the HTML, it will then enlarge an already downsized image, making it pixelize. So to retain image quality, it's best to have them hosted.

SO - upload your images somewhere (and know their exact height and width) via FTP to your website, or a shared photo community (like your own Picasa account, or Photobucket). Then, you'll right click the photo in it's full size, and get the URL to the image. The URL to this image is http://www.kariandco.com/great.jpg.

Then, insert photo into your post as normal, but use the right side option, to add it from the URL. Paste in your URL to the photo. Go ahead and select "Large", and then your orientation (left, right or center).

Once it's 'done' and inserted, you'll see Blogger resized it (to 400 in my case..) so you'll need to now edit the HTML. Click the 'Edit Html' tab in your post.

At the top, you'll see the mumbo-jumbo that was auto-created when you inserted your image. You now need to manually add the height and width of your image to the CSS statement that controls the image and how it displays. Here's the code, and what you'll add/change:

Part of Original Generated Code:

........img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.kariandco.com/great.jpg" alt="".........

(see? it resized the width to 400px...)



So now, update your code (just type in your height and width, using the exact styling as below):


........img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 450px;" src="http://www.kariandco.com/great.jpg" alt="".........


And VOILA! - you've got larger photos on your photo blog!

Hope this helps you photographers out there!

NEW WEBSITES - And some REDESIGNS

WELL, it's been a busy couple of months for Kari & Co. - which is great! And, thanks to all my clients who have sent me referrals. Most of my business lately has been repeat and referral clients, and this is great to me, because that is how I always envisioned my business - trust and cooperation, effective communication is really important to us - so we're pleased to get the referrals and great feedback.

So, without further delay...

Welcome to the Web


Better Bronze, owner Allyson Adair, has started the ultimate business, providing mobile tanning services to the Austin, Texas metro area. Welcome to the web! If you're in Austin, you're in for a treat, because she uses Fantasy Tan products, featured on ABC's Dancing with the Stars! WISH I WERE CLOSER TO AUSTIN....









Want the Celebrity Look for less $$? Get the hottest styles of accessories, handbags, and other great stuff
at the Celebrity Look! "Paris and Nicole" style, at "Kari" prices! Whooooooot diggity! Designer inspired, at an inspiring price. Get your celeb-style today!







REDESIGNED AND REFRESHED





Aim Higher Jets - what a neat thing. Owned by the Gilmore family, and operated by Jeff - a US Air Force Pilot stationed overseas (THANKS JEFF!!!). If you're looking for replica/diecast/custom mahogany aircraft models - this is the place.







Coming VERY SOON!

  • The Anderson Law Firm (finalizing!!)
  • My Seafood Gourmet
  • Red Ass Gear (for all the Aggies out there!)

And a special thank you to my ongoing clients, if it weren't for you - I wouldn't be able to be a WAHM!! Work at home mom!

Monday, June 23, 2008

Summer Promotion - New Sites

We'd like to take this opportunity to welcome some new sites to the web - and draw your attention to the hip stuff they can offer. Check them out:





The POSH PARTY BOUTIQUE - offering all sorts of neat favors and gifts for parties and weddings, baby showers and much more!



The AUTO LOAN GROUP - the place for you to get a new auto loan on a new or used vehicle. No hassles, no problem with credit or bankruptcy issues - if you need a little help getting an auto loan, these are your guys.







And, the very popular POSH PUPPY BOUTIQUE! Need the perfect gift for a pet lover? Need a hip new water bowl for your furry friend? Check out this website for the coolest and hippest pet products, pet accessories and gifts!







Check out these fun sites when you can!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Beautysak LAUNCHED


A new site (on Volusion e-commerce) launched last week - and I am proud to say I am behind the template, created to mirror the original beautysak.com website. Check it out here: www.beautysak.com. If you need any sort of makeup, skin care products, hair care products or nail polishes - beautysak.com has what you need.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

There's Nobody Out There.

New blogger here. Feelin' Pretty alone, too. If you read this, please post a comment, or drop me an email that you're reading it so I don't feel like a dork, typing my life away and feeling like nobody reading. If you aren't reading this, well then, you must be a very busy person not to partake in something so very important. Sheesh!

NEW SITES UP AND RUNNING!!

A fun blog: Christie's Divorce Party - you go girl- Life is going to get GREAT!
The ION CHI PATCH - these from my favorite entrepreneur - and provider of great holistic health care products. Personally -I can't wait to try these, need to DETOX!
and coming soon - VERY SOON - the DUMPTANK. We just did the Dumptank's MYSPACE BLOG too
- so get hooked up if you have a MYSPACE account, the Dumptank is going to be lots of fun.

More coming soon -

Ali's Cookies:(YUMMY YUMMY!!! Get your cookies NOW, even if we haven't redone their site yet. They sent me some for 'inspiration' - and I have to say - the BEST EVER!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

RACETIME

I've been helping on and off with a cool lil' project that belongs to my friend Shannon:
The US OUTLAW Nationals

Drag race enthusiasts - run what you brung! Get all the info here.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Need an Auto Loan?

Welcome to the web: The Auto Loan Group! Although still working on some final functionality things - this website is live, but not 'functional' yet. Look for it soon for all your financing needs!

A beautiful design (that I am particularly proud of...) - Ion Chi Patches - and a great client. (a VIP client!)Trust Jason and his staff at IonChi, for the lastes holistic and natural remedies and healthcare. Check out these cool detox foot pads!!!!

Also (sort of) coming soon - VMS Security Seals. The site is designed, and should relaunch in the next few weeks. Lad's been working up a storm on it!

Coming soon:
Hire Instincts
Muscle Car Mania of Texas

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

New Sites

New sites are hitting the web!

WELCOME TO THE INTERNET:

Elliott Consulting - Sherri Elliott, an HR Professional in the Dallas area, has taken her consulting firm online. She and the team at Elliott HR Consulting can provide assessments, training and other HR solutions for your business. Check them out!

Suburban Roofing is a new website for some long-time, experienced repair/remodeling/roofing company local to the Dallas area. Need some remodeling work? or a new roof? They handle residential and commercial repairs and remodeling solutions all over the Dallas Metro area. Welcome to the web, Jeff Peters and Staff!

Redesigns:
Check out the new look of The Purse Boutique and Red Carpet Bagz! Updating their look for the new year.

Although we don't get to take credit for the cool website design, we did recently made some website updates for Absolute Pitch Public Relations, and designed their MySpace blog. Looking for some cool music? Or are you a musician with lots of promise? Seek out Beatrice at Absolute Pitch PR for your public relations needs. Very cool stuff!

Coming Soon:

VMS Products (Security Seals and other Security Products)
Acrylic Designs, Inc.
Morgan and Son Racing
Muscle Car Mania of Texas
Fraud Consultants Online
The Anderson Firm (redesign)

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Not New, But Very Much Needed - MySpace

Just stumbled upon a very good article and example of CSS to 'decrappify' MySpace web profiles. Great article, thought I'd mention it here - Mike Davidson's Blog.

I have to say, I tried this technique with a blog resdesign - here: Absolute Pitch Public Relations - and while it turned out fairly nice, I find that MySpace is crazy about cross browser compatibility, still. I had lots of problems getting my 'MySpace' project to look as nice as Mike Davidson did with his blog - but I finally realized that you can't allow HTML in the comments section, or the images and other doodads your 'friends' can put in your comments will throw your tables and design out of whack.

Took me a long time to figure this out, I'm a little embarrased... but lesson learned. So - for the most part, if you want a nice clean, contained look, you have to create new template with the default MySpace CSS, (as Mike provides in his blog at above referenced link) and then turn of the HTML Friend Comments. (or as far as I know.)

Still a learning process.....

Thursday, February 7, 2008

New Sites Launched

Well, we've been working hard over here... and we've launched some new sites.

Just Launched!

Barrett Bronze:
www.barrettbronze.com
Jamie Barrett, of Barrett Studios (a Division of Barrett Bronze, Inc.) creates custom casted replicas, awards, POP displays, 3-D Signage, Liquor Displays, and much more. He's got my dream job! He gets to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC often, as he creates museum quality replicas. They do much more though, check them out!

Diva:
www.divakids.net
Miriam is a distributor of designer kid's clothing. Carrying high-end kid's fashions like Simonetta, Juicy Couture and many others - she's got a physical store in New York, and now has a presence on the web for orders out of the area. Although her website is not an e-commerce site, it is on a CMS (Joomla) that supports a shopping cart, and allows the user to place an 'order' - from which Miriam and her team will work to fill the order, accept payment and arrange shipping. We're still in the process of adding all her great stuff, but that could take some time - as she's got SOOOO much cool stuff!

Casa Irie:
www.casairiecollections.com
Annette owns a consignment boutique in New Jersey - and carries quality consignment items, as well as Rockers It's Dangerous (New Clothing) and her own unique line of hand-painted vases. Now, she's got a manageable CMS (Joomla) with a shopping cart feature - where you can purchase her items online. We're still populating her items too, but she's up and running - and getting her business online!

And last but not least!

Posh Puppy Boutique
www.poshpuppyboutique.com
This is one of my VIP clients for sure - Jen is a master of e-commerce. This is a customized Volusion template, and she carries designer and unique doggy doo-dads. Check it out, and get your pup some posh prizes!


Coming Soon:

  • Charla Glass Interiors
  • Barrett Environmental

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Virus Alert

*DISCLAIMER*
I'm no expert in viruses, spyware and malware,
this is simply a personal story of survival where these rude little irritants are concerned.


There's no doubt that computer viruses and spyware are a crippling time-waster for those of us who work on our computers, and also on the web. What sort of person creates this stuff? Honestly? Immature pre- teenage geniuses? Mr. Norton? Come on now. You know who you are. (AND - Just so you know, you totally blew me away this week - with your smart little 'rogue anti-spyware hijacker' programs.)

So here's what I had going on (and have a little of, still) Trojan Vundo and Trojan Zlob + an ugly little hijacker called "Storage Protector". (please notice - I did not put a link to their nasty little website and I do NOT recommend going to it or downloading any of their software!).

It all started with my computer running a little slow. Then, all of a sudden - I start getting crazy messages and system errors. And these look totally LEGIT, people!

Next thing you know, you've got two "Microsoft Windows" icons on your desktop: one for "Help and Support" and one other (I can't remember - and I don't want to bring it back just to post it here!).

Luckily, I didn't click on any of them - but viewed their properties (right click, view properties.) and saw that they DID NOT go to Microsoft, or to a system file on my machine, but rather a website called "Storage Protector". UGLY!

Here's how smart these uglies are: you can run anti-spyware programs (Adaware by Lavasoft, SpyHunter3 by Enigma - both good options) and these little malicious programs 'sense' or are triggered that they're being hunted.... So, they change their filenames often (to go under the radar of these programs and of known filenames that one might try and delete to manually remove the infection).

In addition, they embed themselves in Windows logon files, so they automatically renew themselves on startup/boot. So many times, the only way to get rid of them is to format or restore the entire hard drive, because trying to remove these files from the logon files can damage the logon process, making it impossible to boot up again. UGLY!

What did I do? I freaked out first. All my client files are on my machine, and my entire life in photos. I use the internet and FTP all the time.

For hope and inspiration, I then spoke to an Apple friend, who told me that the MacBook Pro I got for Christmas just wouldn't put up with these nasty little programs (the Operating System, OSX, does not support these programs, they are ahead of these hijackers! Hallelujah!) and that it was safe to transfer my client's files. I did so at once. Then, I moved on to the business of cleaning my Windows Laptop of these hateful little boogers.

Tips to remove and protect and learn:

First and foremost: Change browsers. If you're on Internet Explorer: change now to Mozilla Firefox. It's more secure, and less likely to allow browser hijacking and these back door viruses like Vundo and Zlob into your computer to open it up to other infections.

Then, look and learn: If you suspect malware or spyware, or virus infections on your computer, run an anti-spyware program and an anti-virus program. There's lots of good FREE Ones out there.

Spyware/Malware: SpyHunter3, Adaware
Both have good support, forums, and helpful people. You might have to also download and test some other programs or tools to remove the bugs (as requested or directed by security volunteers on the forum).

Typically, the people on these forums are volunteers - so you MUST have patience and manners when posting on these forums, and read the pre-posting instructions. You might figure out and clean your infection on your own just by the free info. They are helping others for a whole buncha nothin'! And if you can, please donate to their causes - because they are working hard to keep people safe. I actually purchased the paid versions of a couple of spyware programs and run them every day now. They didn't remove what I had - but support was good - and informative.

Virus Protection: Avast AntiVirus
So far so good - this little gem has cleaned up a bunch.

Overall support and GREAT info: Atribune
Atri - the developer and site owner - he's an INCREDIPEOPLE kind of guy. Seems that he came up with a little thing called VUNDOFIX, which I ran - it (in my case) actually got rid of the ZLOB, and the Storage Protector. (or a combination of Avast + VundoFix) so now I have 4 files left, that claim 'Vundo' that I'm having a hard time getting off my machine... BUT - I have, since finding Atribune, removed 10 files of Zlob + Vundo and the Storage Protector. So I am totally happy - being that progress has been made.

So there's my journey - and my links to great tools and websites that I think will help others. I've posted in the Atribune forums for some help on removing these last 4 files - so hopefully I'll get those off too. I'll keep you posted!

Cheers - and Good luck!!

Thursday, January 31, 2008

RENEWAL

The time has come to RENEW!

Not just for our website, but also for the vision and future of "Kari and Company".

Inspirations + Skills + Work = WOW.


What I have now, with regard to my website, branding, etc... - has worked over the last year, for basic professional needs - since I left my full time position with Park Place Dealerships.

But, I have this little vision thing-a-majig working now, and see some grand things for myself - as well as ALL the talented people I know. And there are SOO many!

I am seeing a future where all the incredibly brilliant people I know (who I will name later on in posts pertaining to their particular brilliance, 'Incredipeople') can work together - as a team - creating 'web WOW', helping others obtain and manage a web presence, providing "ODC" or, "On-Demand Creative" services for our VIP clients (and anyone else who wants to sign up!) with a company that they can help grow.

I don't want to run it. I'm not there! That stuff makes me crazy! Dang! I just want to work for it. (in the creative department, of course...)

Look soon for posts on products & services, tips and tricks, articles on design and all things web - and much more.

This will be the designer's little journal... and a journal of a little company with big dreams!