questions from you no. 17
Posted on 12. Jan, 2010 by Princess Lasertron in questions from you
Q: What was your favorite Christmas gift this year? (From Susannah)
A: I got a lot of really thoughtful stuff this year. My grandma got me an adorable Shinzi Katoh poster I wanted for Alice’s room, and my mom got us a sweet front door mat that says “Lasertron”–I thought that was funny. My in-laws sent us a digital picture frame that was pre-loaded with lots of old family pictures from Dave’s side that I hadn’t seen before. And my cousin Katie in Florida (who made that wrapping paper in the photo above–amazing, right?!) picked out a little box full of buttons for me. I’ll have to send her something!
Q: What’s your favorite pen or marker?
A: I only use Stabilo Fineliners or Pen 68s. They are the prettiest pens, I’ve found that they last a long time, and they come in EVERY color. Before that I was a Sharpie person, but I like Stabilo better! Und auch cool, sind sie in Deutschland hergestellt.
Q: What are some things that a lot of blogs do “wrong,” in your opinion? What are some good rules of thumb for those of us who want more traffic and reader participation? (from Christine)
A: Well, I’m not the expert on increasing website traffic and I don’t purport to receive more than the average blog, but here are a few things that come to mind:
…If you want your readers to engage with you more through comments or other communication channels, I think they respond better when there is an incentive. You don’t have to be giving something away–it could just be a moment of your professional expertise, a response to a comment, or an opportunity to talk about themselves. Open yourself to reader suggestions. Ask for advice. Reader surveys are also a great tool to gauge reader participation and find out what your fans like, dislike, and want more of!
…And since I mentioned giveaways, keep them simple. Readers do not want to jump through hoops to receive a giveaway item. A recent trend I am noticing is bloggers asking entrants to retweet something, become a facebook fan, leave a specific type of comment, or sign up for some kind of newsletter in order to be entered into the drawing–and sometimes all of the above! There are so many websites doing simple, easy-to-enter giveaways, that you aren’t creating any meaningful publicity by making it hard to enter. You just end up annoying the people you’re trying to hook.
…Finally, from reading a lot of comments and a lot of forums, I think many bloggers put too much pressure on themselves to become the next big thing. To become the next celebrity blogger with a book deal and advertisers banging down your door. Readers like honesty and sincerity. Just write. Just share.
Q: What’s the best part about living in omaha? (From Michele)
A: There is actually a cute website, I Live in Omaha, where people from the area can submit reasons why they love living here. One of my favorite answers was, “I live in Omaha because I like being in the middle of things–namely, this country.”
Right now I love Omaha because of this sign, placed at the busy intersection of 72nd and Dodge by design company Secret Penguin:
Q: Do you ever think about traveling and teaching craft courses? (From MerryWA)
A: Yes! I would love to! That’s the kind of thing that, at this moment, I know nothing about. I need to take a weekend sometime and learn about how other artists do that.
Q: What are you reading? (from Annabella)
A: Right now, Lula Magazine. It’s a beautiful magazine with few ads and lots of fashion, photoshoots, creative typography, and gorgeous layouts. Karen Elson is on the cover of this issue and now I’m convinced that I want to dye my hair red.
I’m totally afraid to dye my hair! I wish I was brave–it’s only hair. But I like my hair color now. Do you dye your hair? What color?
xo
17 Responses to “questions from you no. 17”
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shelby
14. Jan, 2010
2:08 am
i think i could see you with dark hair more than red. maybe it’s the cut. i was always jealous of people who had dark dark hair with a perfectly straight bob.
shelby
14. Jan, 2010
2:04 am
as a natural blonde myself ( though darker than your color) i went red my sophomore year of hich school. i have been every shade from strawberry to auburn. personally it fit my skin color ( the freckles and gree eyes helped too) but now it’s too much to keep up with. the thing most people get wrong with red is not choosing the corect shade. then you just look freaky. also, red is difficult to get out of your hair so if you use a permanent dye you better know what you’re doing. semi perm is the way to go if your unsure- but let me warn you herbal essences semi perm strawberry blonde color has a tendancy to turn out on the pink side.
kristen
14. Jan, 2010
12:48 am
I died my hair red over a year ago and I loved it! I got so many compliments on my hair color (most of them from men, who go crazy for red hair, apparently?). My only problem with it was I didn’t have the dough to get the roots touched up all the time, and it looks funny when you have blond roots and red hair. Blond hair takes to red dye pretty well and it would look really good on you. Here’s what mine looked like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristensmellis/2838357913/in/set-72157607175532453/
Jenn
13. Jan, 2010
9:14 pm
Oh, and I love that you are naming your baby Alice. It’s a great choice
Jenn
13. Jan, 2010
9:10 pm
I love dying my hair! I’ve only had a full head of my natural color once since I was in 6th grade. I’ve been platinum, fire engine red, black, and every color in between – even orange, pink & olive green (yeah, that was awkward) from failed attempts at drastic changes.
I do it myself so I can’t complain about the monetary cost although my hair is now super short because I literally bleached it to death last summer – whoops!
But it’s just hair, it grows back, and if red doesn’t work, just go darker for awhile. Spice things up a bit
Rachael
13. Jan, 2010
7:31 pm
I’ve dyed my hair many times at this point- everything from black, red, blonde, brown, highlighted, etc. Definitely go for red if you want to, certain shades of it would look great on you, but I would HIGHLY recommend getting a professional to do it for you. They’ve been trained to look at your hair and the product and know how they’ll work together before the process occurs. They also have a lot of color background that will help them determine what color will be best for your skintone, eye color, etc. You can easily dye your hair yourself, but honestly, it’s going to look way better if you leave it up to a professional first. There’s nothing worse than having a bad hairdye job and having to pay more for a hairstylist to fix it than it would have taken to get it done correctly in the first place.
Have fun!
meg duerksen
13. Jan, 2010
4:01 pm
you’d look good with red!!!
i love trying new hair colors…it’s been a long time though. if it didn’t take so much time/money/up keep i would change it all the time!
loved hearing your answers.
Hilary
13. Jan, 2010
2:53 pm
I dye my hair (well, I get it dyed). I tried doing it myself a few times, but my bathroom ends up with dye splatters everywhere.
My natural hair color is somewhat strange, and is kind of a dirty auburn color. I hate the brown tinge, so I’ve colored it auburn ever since. I’ve tried lots of variations on auburn- but I try to stay as close to my original color as possible.
Claire
13. Jan, 2010
11:00 am
Agreed on the Stabilo fineliners, they’re lovely pens to work with.
Could you get a wig that’s red so you could see what it’s like before you dye? It’s like try before you buy!
Been dying my hair since I was 12, I asked if I could do it and my Mum said if it messed up it was my fault, it went right luckily. lol It’s been red, and purple and blue but now it’s pink and stayed that for about 7 years. It just would not feel right without it being pink. Plus at work they couldn’t call me Pinkie and half of them I don’t think know my real name. lol
Princess Lasertron
13. Jan, 2010
11:02 am
that’s a good idea!
Sarah
13. Jan, 2010
10:54 am
Red hair = awesome. I’ve switched to purple, because it suits my skin tone better, but red hair is just a gorgeous switch. I think it’d look awesome on you.
Melissa
13. Jan, 2010
10:24 am
I have been coloring my hair for as long as I can remember! It’s the only thing about my appearance that I have the power to change (can’t really reshape your nose or lessen the roundness of my cheeks!). I was blonde last summer for my wedding and then immediately after I got a wild hair and decided I needed to go red. I have been every color but red so it was exciting and scary but I LOVE IT! It’s sassy and the bright color is perfect for dealing with the darkness of winter! Good luck! I think you would make a gorgeous redhead!
Jennifer
13. Jan, 2010
9:40 am
I’ve always wanted to dye my hair red, but every time I consider it, I talk to my hairdresser and meet my main nemisis: Oklahoma. Between the sun, the wind and the rain, hair is battered and bruised year-round, and keeping reds red is next to impossible unless you are lucky enough to be able to visit your hairdresser every few weeks for a re-dye. I’m not that rich, nor do I have enough time to go so often. But it’s so pretty, I’ll never stop wanting it…
Taryn
13. Jan, 2010
8:36 am
I’m also afraid of coloring my hair!! I used to color my hair all the time!! Started with red…which turned out purple once and orange another time…then back to natural…and then I went through a phase and black was it. Black is SO SO SO hard to get out of your hair and the best option is just to let it grow out…So ever since I’ve grown and cut the black out completely I’ve been sooo nervous to color my hair again. I’ve contemplated the semi-perm but eh…probably wont do that either!!
ps. that red hair is gorgeous.
Stacy G.
13. Jan, 2010
8:23 am
I recently started dying mine red plum or raspberry truffle. I like them both, so I switch it up every few months.
Jen B
13. Jan, 2010
6:31 am
Blond is the easiest color to do, so if you try something new and don’t like it, it won’t take much to go back. It’s harder to go from blond to something darker. I dye my hair often and used to change it a lot…red has always been my most favorite! I say do it!
RedFeather
13. Jan, 2010
2:41 am
I dye my hair because I started going grey at 18…which was teh suck until I realised I could do some fun things with hair dye! At the moment its dark brown with reddish highlights.
If you are afraid, I would definitely recommend paying someone to do it for you. You can talk to them about how reversible it might be if you decide you don’t like it and you don’t have the drama of a home colour gone horribly wrong….