Happy Halloween!

I hope your day is filled with freaky fun!

Winners of The Ad Giveaway!

It was so hard to choose only two of you lovely bloggers who entered... So I decided to choose three! I always do this, I'm so bad, I could never be a judge on a talent show :)

The winners of a free ad on A Piece of Lisa in November are:

Medium ad winner:

1. Jaclyn of "Stay In The Lines"

Small ad winners:

2. Maria of "Ei Forandring"

3. Karolina of "One With The Birds"

Congratulations girls!

I will need a button from each of you, the medium button is 225x110 pixels, the small ones are 110x100 pixels. Please email them to me on lisaedoff [at] gmail [dot] com.

To everyone who entered; thanks so much! I really liked your blogs and reasons as well, there will be more opportunities like this in the future so please check back!

Gems of The Net: Type Tattoos, Paper Shoes and a Dream Coat

Hello buttercups!

Here comes this week's gems, I hope you like them as much as I do!

1. Designer Temporary Tattoos by Tattly. I love this "Type Nerd" set, hand drawn by Jessica Hische, Marc Johns and James Victore.

Julia Rothman's watch tattoo set is also pretty cool!

2. My Yellow Dream Coat. Beautiful made-to-measure coats from Dress Become Art.

3. Feather Print Tray by Michael Angove. So pretty! Click here for stockists.

4. Follow Me Tights. Perfect for us tweeps! By Post on Etsy.

5. Kelli Murray's Blog. I recently found this blog via my blog friend Smäm, and I love it! Kelli's blog is a collection of everything that inspires her: art, fashion, design and illustration. She also shows some of her own work and personal photos.

6. Paper Shoes. How lovely and delicate are these? They are made by paper artist Jennifer Collier. She also makes typewriters, cameras and garments, you have to check her website!

7. The Perfect Party Dress. I love this sequinned wrap from Coast's new limited edition party dress collection.

8. Olallieberry Extra Dark Mocha Cupcakes with Candied Cacao Nibs. Recipe from Desserts For Breakfast blog. I have never heard of Olallieberrys but these muffins look amazing!

9. Stylish Halloween. These decorations by Kim Stoegbauer at Tomkat Studio are great! Kim treats you to a free printable "Spooky" banner as well, click here.

Spanish Ham, Cowboys and Coctails - Desigual Launch Party

Last week James and I went to the Desigual Oxford St Launch Party.

We squealed of happiness when we saw that they served Spanish ham, we've been craving it since we were in Barcelona last year!

The new shop was transformed into a bar for the night.

The clothes were beautifully displayed.

I like this red and black dress.

I had to photograph this awesome-looking guy!

There was also a stand where you could get your new clothes custom altered...

and decorated by this girl.

They were giving out cowboy hats and cocktails, works for me! But what was in the amazing goodie bag? That will be revealed in another post!

Calling For November Sponsors + Sponsor Spot Giveaway!

I am accepting sponsors for the month of November! With a rapidly growing readership and very affordable rates 'A Piece of Lisa' is the perfect place to advertise your business, website, blog or Etsy shop.

A Piece of Lisa currently have over 800 followers and an average of 15.000 unique visitors/month.

If you're interested in sponsoring A Piece of Lisa you can check out my sponsorship info here or email me at lisa_edoff@hotmail.com

Sponsor Spot Giveaway!

Just because I adore you all so much, I am also giving away one medium and one small sponsor ad for free! The medium ads are 225x110 pixels and the small one is 110x110 pixels. The ads will be up for the month of November and your website/shop will also be promoted via twitter.

To enter leave a comment and tell me why your blog/shop/website deserves to be advertised, and don't forget to include a link.

For extra entries: blog, tweet or write on facebook with a link to this post.

I will choose two winners, and they will be announced on Friday the 28th of October.

I'm Back!

I'm back in London, travelling back and forth to Sweden in three days was intense! My design presentation went well, although no deal at this point which was a shame. I showed my designs to a Swedish department store, and even though they loved most of them it wasn't right for their product range. They said I was welcome to show them more designs in the future though, so I'll do that. I got some valuable feedback and insight into the technical aspects of selling to a big company so that was good. Plus there's another company that have shown interest in these designs so fingers crossed for that one!

Now I'm excited about my first weekend off in three weeks, tomorrow James and I are going shopping and for a nice lunch, and on Sunday I'm hoping to get a nice massage.

Before that, I wanted to show you how the pattern design with the bullfinch (thank you Sofia B for teaching me the name of the bird:) turned out, so here it is!

Happy Weekend!

Design Meeting in Sweden Soon!

Hi everyone,

I've been working super hard for the last week and a half, in preparation for my meeting in Sweden in a few days. I haven't had much time for blogging, but here's a little sneak peek from one of my new designs, my favourite type of bird (don't know what they're called in English?) for a wintery design. I'll show you more after my trip!

Blog Tips: 5 Ways to Attract More Visitors to Your Blog

5 Ways To Attract More Visitors To Your Blog

Art print by Parada Creations

Hello sweethearts and Happy Friday!

This week I have received several emails with the same question; how do you get more visitors to your blog? Of course there are lots of blogs with more traffic than I have, but I thought I'd share a few ideas that I think work. But remember, your traffic will not hit the roof over night. Growing your readership is a long process, and you shouldn't blog because you want a lot of hits, you should blog because you enjoy it and have something to share. The most important thing is to make an effort to post quality content, then readers will find you and stay!

If anyone have any more idéas, it would be great if you'd share with a comment!

So here are my best tips:

1. Network/Collaborate With Other Bloggers

A great way to let people know you exist and make blog friends is to comment on blogs that you like and are similar to yours. Most bloggers will check you out, and if they like your blog they'll come back. You can also check out the blogs of the people that comment on your favourite blog, visit them and leave a comment, it will be much appreciated and now the ball of your blog network has begun to roll! But make sure to leave meaningful and sincere comments, nobody likes comments that are obviously just there to get a comment back, and never ever write: "can you follow me?" and stuff like that. When you get to know other bloggers you might get the chance to do a guest blog post or collaborate in other ways, this is also a great way to spread the word about your blog.

2. Twitter

Twitter is awesome for promoting your blog or shop. You can link it with your blog so that a tweet automatically comes up when you have posted something new. Twitter is also good for networking and finding opportunities with other bloggers.

3. Craftgawker and Foodgawker

Craftgawker is a website where you can post an image + link to your craft-related blog posts. Foodgawker is the same thing but for recipes. They are both fantastic for exposure, my all-time record for visitors in a day was when I posted a Photoshop tutorial on Craftgawker.

4. Pinterest

I get a lot of traffic from Pinterest, but it's a tricky one because it comes from other people's pins. So you have to get people to pin stuff from your blog. But it's worth giving it a try, start with creating a few boards and pinning your favourite images from your blog. If you create tutorials, make sure to pin these, they can spread and people will want to check out the full tutorial so they'll end up on your blog. You can also add a "pin it" button to the bottom of your posts.

5. Advertise/Sponsor Blogs

Advertising on blogs that you enjoy and that have a similar readership to yours really work. There are lots of blogs accepting sponsors, with a variety of prices. Some blogs will do a feature about you and/or an opportunity to guest blog. For info and rates for sponsoring my blog, click here. Some other blogs I have found worthwhile sponsoring are The Dainty Squid, Little Chief Honeybee and Love Elycia.

Autumn Goodness

The Indian summer is definitely over and autumn has come to London for real this time. Even though I love summer I always feel quite happy when autumn comes too, I love the beautiful colours in nature and crisp air.

This autumn I want to:

-Look stylish and autumn-chic in a hat!

Photo by The Sartorialist.

-Make a beautiful fall dessert like these pears with cacao ganache and cinnamon.

Recipe and photo by Susan at Rawmazing.

-Warm my feet in these cosy slipper boots from Fat Face.

-Eat lots of wild mushrooms in Sweden. They are sooo delicious. In Sweden mushroom picking is a big thing, everyone does it! Since I live in London I haven't done it for years, but I get to eat them when I come home to visit, mmm!

Photo by Åsa Hammarström.

-Make Pies and Quiches. I love them, especially when it starts to get cold. This wild mushroom and artichoke pie looks amazing!

-Dress like this. Relaxed yet chic looks, with fun colours and patterns from Wren's fall collection.

-Try these pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream. I have never tried pumpkin cake or cupcakes, but this sounds amazing!

Photo by Amy, recipe by Mel of Made in Mel's Kitchen.

Finally, I want to snuggle up with a book under this gorgeous throw. From 79 ideas.

What are your autumn wishes?

Eileen Fisher Store Opening

Last night I went to the launch of a new store of US brand Eileen Fisher, in St Martin's Courtyard in Covent Garden.

Eileen Fisher is a womenswear label that is known for its great materials and time-less elegance with a trendy twist. The opening of the brand's first UK store was of course celebrated with champagne!

I wore my new LBD from Zara.

The Eileen Fisher collection was fab, lovely materials in earthy colour palettes with contrasting pops of bright greens/yellows and purple.

I really liked these chunky knitted scarfs...

But my favourite was this short grey coat, shown here by the lovely Kat!

They also had great silky shirts and blouses. I love this petroleum blue one. Time to start writing a xmas list perhaps... :)

Check out more of Eileen Fisher's A/W collection on their website.