Leslie Kirk - Miva Merchant Specialist

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Bill Weiland

February 10, 2017 by Leslie Leave a Comment

As I was getting the photo gallery ready for #MivaCon17, I clicked through all my pictures of Bill Weiland, my friend and Miva Merchant mentor. I miss him. I miss him every time I come up against some coding issue that doesn’t make sense to me. Bill would make suggestions that were direct and to the point which would bring me to that ah ha moment.

Once again, words cannot thank Bill enough. In case you may have missed it, Pamela Hazelton wrote a beautiful tribute to him: Bill Weiland – A Tribute to a Man Who Truly Helped Shape the Success of Small Business Ecommerce.

I will be attending #MivaCon17 and once again, I will keep the chair next to me for Bill.

Filed Under: Miva Related Tagged With: #MivaCon17, Bill Weiland, Miva Merchant

Cry Baby Cookies

December 11, 2015 by Leslie Leave a Comment

Cry Baby CookiesThis is a very unique recipe given to me by my mother. I started baking these while in high school. Then I didn’t appreciate the need to cream the sugar and shortening together. I actually melted the shortening into the hot coffee! For years I also used instant coffee because I wasn’t a coffee drinker. Now through the magic of a Keurig coffee brewer, I can make just the right amount needed for this recipe.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsps baking soda mixed in 1 cup (8 ounces) hot coffee
  • 5 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add molasses, mix until smooth. Add spices, mix until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add coffee/baking soda mix until smooth. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Drop about tablespoon size of dough onto cookie sheets. Makes about 4-5 dozen. Bake at 350 degree F for 10-12 minutes.

TIP: Use parchment paper. It makes clean up soooo much easier.

I tend to undercook these ever so slightly, makes them very yummy.

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: coffee, cookies, molasses

Delivering an Optimal Shopping Cart Experience – Rick Wilson, President MIVA

May 18, 2015 by Leslie Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Miva Merchant Tips Tagged With: Miva, Rick Wilson

Miva Life Time Achievement – Jeff Collins

April 10, 2015 by Leslie Leave a Comment

Life Time Achievement – Jeff Collins from Miva on Vimeo.

2015 Miva Blades Award Dinner

Filed Under: Miva Related

My Alter Ego – Southern Trout

October 4, 2013 by Leslie 9 Comments

For almost two years now I have been working on a non-Miva Merchant project that has truly been out of my comfort zone. I must also humbly apologize to all of graphic artists that I know, admire and aspire to be like.

Back in December 2011, I partnered with my in-laws to form Southern Unlimited, LLC and launch Southern Trout with the goal to produce a digital online magazine that covers everything related to trout fishing in the southeast. The project was the brainchild of my father-in-law, Don Kirk, a renowned outdoor writer whose works include the The Ultimate Fly-Fishing Guide to the Smoky Mountains,Fly-Fishing Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains,Smoky Mountains Trout Fishing Guide,and his latest release Flyfisher’s Guide to Tennessee.This would be the perfect venue for his knowledge.

Building the website for the project was the “easy” part. Creating the “brand” for Southern Trout was the first must-do task to tackle. While I understand the concept of branding, being able to creating the design for it was one of the first of many challenges that I would have to rise to. The logo and color schemes would be what people would come to recognize us by, so it would need to be memorable. Besides making graphics for the web, they would also need to be print quality. I am fortunate to have worked with a number of graphics artists throughout the years and learned the differences between RGB and CMYK, DPI and resolutions.

southerntrout-logo

The real challenge would come when it was time to layout the first edition of Southern Trout. I had never used another “design” tool other than Photoshop, so learning InDesign was a challenge. Thank goodness for all the generous people that have graciously shared their tips and tricks online. With each edition of the magazine, I have tried to learn a new trick or do something just a bit different. I also continue to study print magazines trying to learn the styles of others. All I have to do is figure out how to layout all the articles, images and advertisements into something visually appealing. I trusted the content that the writers would provide would speak for itself.

SouthernTrout-May-June-2012-coverThe first edition of Southern Trout went online around the first of May 2012 and was 68 pages. As a fledgling start up business, we agreed to publish the magazine every other month. The magazine would be supplemented with the website, a newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, FourSquare and any new way to get the word out. Some of most fun I have had has been getting out to events to promote the magazine. DSC_0433We stayed in a beautiful bed & breakfast in Virginia aptly named The Speckled Trout while attending the Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival.

Each layout is almost like putting together a puzzle but without the box cover to see what it should look like when finished. Placing the images within each article, trying to figure out how to make the images pop and not have a cookie cutter look to it. Couple that with inserting ads in a variety of sizes, it gives me a continuing appreciation for all the graphic artists I have worked with over the years.

A digital magazine has it’s pluses when it comes to deadlines, they can be stretched a bit. Also you have the ability to go back and fix little things, but it’s not like the quick fixes of a website. The digital magazine is published to the website using an application that converts all the PDF pages from InDesign into versions that are compatible for a wide range of viewing devices. It does all the heavy lifting creating Flash and HTML.

SouthernTrout-Oct-Nov-2013-coverOn October 1, 2013 we published our 9th Edition of Southern Trout  – with more article and many more pages – I laid out 202 pages from cover to cover!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Other Tagged With: digital magazine, InDesign, Southern Trout

Miva Merchant Conference 2013 Welcome

March 7, 2013 by Leslie Leave a Comment

Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013
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Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013Miva Merchant Conference 2013
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Miva Merchant Conference 2013 Welcome, a set on Flickr.

Pictures from Thursday morning’s Keynote addresses for #mivacon13

Filed Under: Miva Related

Twitter Updates for 2012-10-11

October 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

  • @Miva_Merchant oh hush in reply to Miva_Merchant #

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: tweets, Twitter

Twitter Updates for 2012-10-10

October 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

  • The Miva Merchant Geekette's Daily is out! http://t.co/SJXnkvli ? Top stories today via @deliciousboutiq @jayleno #

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Twitter Updates for 2012-10-09

October 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

  • The Miva Merchant Geekette's Daily is out! http://t.co/SJXnkvli ? Top stories today via @leslie #

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: tweets, Twitter

Twitter Updates for 2012-10-08

October 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

  • The Miva Merchant Geekette's Daily is out! http://t.co/SJXnkvli ? Top stories today via @scottevest #

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: tweets, Twitter

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