dreaming of summer {be the blogger contest}

This post is sponsored and part of my ongoing collaboration with eBay.

Over here, we've had so many blue sky days that it's been easy to start dreaming about summer. And I'm so excited to be thinking about spending summer days in the backyard of our new home.

One of my favorite things about summer is the way time seems to slow down, at least on some days, as Ellie and I gather up our favorite vintage quilts and beads and watercolors and crayons and hang out in the backyard just being together creating.

And then there's the color! From the fruit and veggies bursting at the farmer's market to the flowers to the clothes I'm drawn to wear, there is also so much color in this corner of the world that can sometimes seem like it's just gray and green.

I can't wait!

I've been collecting ideas for all the ways I want to transform our backyard into an oasis and put some of them together in a guide over on eBay that you can read right here. I hope it inspires you to write your own guide and enter it for the next theme in the Be the Blogger contest (read on).

 

Be the Blogger Theme 2: Getting Summer-Ready

The Be the Blogger contest is your opportunity to write and share your own eBay guides just like I've been doing for over a year now. You have until June 1 to create a guide all about this theme of Getting Summer-Ready.

Some ideas to get you started with your own brainstorming: 

• Share about the ways you get ready for summer
• Gather up some of your favorite ideas for a party to kick off summer
• Write up some tips about how to handle the changes in schedule for your family in the summer
• Share your favorite go-to summer products and favorite things

Visit the Be the Blogger Contest page and check out all the juicy details and fine print. You will submit your guide on that page too, and be sure to choose my name as the blogger you follow when you submit because I'll be choosing the winner and will highlight the winner's guide on Pinterest to my 3.7 million followers.

Check out my first post about the contest with more tips right here. 

Most of the answers to your questions about how to enter can be found on the Be the Blogger Contest page and in the Terms and Conditions found there. Remember to also read my guide on How to Create an eBay guide for more tips and answers to questions. I look forward to reading all of your guides!

And note that I'll announce the Theme 1 winner soon. Stay tuned! And eBay will be in touch as well.

be the blogger {a contest with eBay)

I'm so excited to share this new opportunity for you as part of my ongoing collaboration with eBay! 

For over a year now, I've been writing guides all about self-care, gift-giving ideas, books, and other fun topics over on eBay.

Now it's your turn to dive into the world of creating fun and interesting content as part of the Be the Blogger Contest with eBay.

There will be four opportunities to win over the next 12 weeks as you write your own guides inspired by the themes eBay will share every 3 weeks. Visit the Be the Blogger Contest page and check out all the juicy details and fine print. (But first read below for some more info including the opportunity to have your guide spotlighted by me over on Pinterest!)

The first theme is: Express Your Passion(s)

Your guide will need to:

• Be at least 400 words long
• Include at least 5 photos (that you have permission to use - so they should be your own or photos found on eBay)
• Include at least 5 links to eBay searches (for example, if you're writing about How to Make Your Famous Red Velvet cake, you could link to searches for your secret ingredients, fun cake pans, your favorite apron your wear for baking, etc)
• Focus on/be inspired by the current theme

And here's something fun: I'll be choosing the winners! 

Every three weeks, I'll choose one winner who best followed the guidelines and created a fun, interesting, and informative guide. That winner will receive $1000! eBay will get in touch with the winners, and I'll be sharing them here on my blog.

I also plan to share the winning guides with my more than 3.7 million followers over on Pinterest. And if there are quite a few entries that I just love, I will probably not be able to stop myself from sharing them as well (so you should probably enter because that alone is a pretty awesome thing).

For more information about how to writing a guide, check out my guide all about creating eBay guides right here. There I give you lots of ideas and information so you can learn best practices and get right to the fun part of writing and sharing what you love. I also link to a few of my guides that give you examples of what your guide should look like etc.

Remember: When you're ready to start writing your guide, you'll want to be sure to head over to the contest page to read all the details. And after you complete your guide, be sure to submit it through the submission section on the contest page. Also, when you submit your guide for your contest entry, remember to select my name so that your guide will come my way to be part of the guides I'll be reviewing, selecting from, and sharing over on Pinterest. 

Some tips about the first theme:

As you think about writing a guide inspired by the theme "Express Your Passion," spend a few minutes brainstorming topics that you really love. From cooking to entertaining to Doctor Who to gardening to collecting posters from old movies to meditation to homeschooling, just about any topic is fair game here. What do you get excited about? Write down all your ideas.

Then choose an idea that you can't wait to write about, and make sure that it lends itself to images you have access to.

Also, you want to choose a topic you know quite a bit about because your writing voice in the guide will reflect this.

In other words: You want your audience to trust you. You want them to want to read your other guides. So start with what you know. And be sure to let your passion for the topic shine in this first guide.

Head over here to start writing a guide (when you get there, just click "write a guide" in the blue box on the right).

This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait to see what you create!  

Please note: This post and my participation as a judge in the contest are sponsored by eBay. All opinions shared are my own. 

Most of the answers to your questions about how to enter can be found on the Be the Blogger Contest page and in the Terms and Conditions found there. Remember to also read my guide on How to Create an eBay guide for more tips and answers to questions. I look forward to reading all of your guides!