Every last friday of the month, I jump on the 'Merry go round'. What is
the Merry go round exactly? Each month, a group of craftswomen from
around the world join together and give their reponses to the same
question/challenge. Since I forgot to post last Friday, I post the first Friday of this month! :)
I started blogging on september 25th 2007, nearly a month after I set up my etsy shop. It seemed a natural thing to do somehow as I wanted to use my blog to connect with the community that I was part of. I didn't know much about blogging and had cold feet to start off with and didn't know really what to write about. I also wonderded what would actually interest people to come and read my blog and what I would do if no one would ever visit my blog...
Being an active member of a team on etsy certainly helped me to overwin my fear and there was always a teammember who cared to drop by and be nice to me. Soon, I started to become a bit more confident about blogging but really, the blogcontent I wrote back then was much different then now.
Whenever one of my items would hit the frontpage of Etsy, I would blog about it with a screenshot and many yay's but after a while I thought 'who cares if my item is on the frontpage of Etsy really?'
It was then that I felt I needed to change my blog to a place where people would want to come to see work in progress and it meant heaps to me to get feedback on them.
I learned that a blog is a very valuable tool to share work and processes. It made me grow as a maker and a person.
In fall of 2008, I started my '99 feelings'-project and for about 3 months, I made a feeling each day and posted it in my blog & on Flickr. I don't really know what happened but people started to come back every day to see what feeling I had made and that kept me going. It was the power & feedback of you who helped me finish this project. I don't think I would have managed it without any interaction. As a maker, you are often 'alone' and knowing that there were so many people who cared, it really moved me. What an incredible community I am part off!
At the end of the project, I posted this little video and I still love it to pieces...
My blog became a second 'home' where I met up with creative souls worldwide. So many awesome people out there! I posted tutorials and little tips & tricks & I'm so glad they are enjoyed so much. If they make you want to run to the craftshop and get crafty, I've reached my goal. I think that creativity can't be stimulated enough & if a little push is all you need, I'm happy!
There was a time that I was very organised, had my daily posts scheduled and an actual plan on what to post when. Without realising, that put a lot of pressure on me and when I took a blog break last year due to my mom's illness, it hit me that there was more then just blogging.
It took me a lot of courage to come back after that break and somehow I still haven't found my blogging mojo back. I try though and I actually start enjoying it more now that I don't put the pressure of daily posts on me anymore. I don't want to be repetitive and to be honest, I haven't done much new things lately (except for the collaboration work) and it kind of feels like I'm repeating the things I do all the time. And you have all seen that, right? I feel like I just bore you with yet another picture of sanding work, glueing magnets, making singing birds,... So, I try to avoid to post about what I make daily but will show you the 'special' things I make. And hopefully soon, I'll have some more time to make tutorials again. It's been a while & I know you enjoy those...
The most important thing to remember is that this blog wouldn't be here without you so thank you for all the support and being part of my community.
Want to know what the other Merriers had to say about this topic? Hop over to their blogs. Please bear in mind that the members will be posting at different times of the day, depending on which world time-zone they are in :)
Samantha at Vintage is for lovers - http://www.vintageisforlovers.com/
Jen at Painted Fish Studio - http://paintedfishstudio.com/
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles - http://www.dirksendabbles.com/
Laura at Blue Terracotta - http://blueterracotta.com/
Monika at Red2White - http://red2white.wordpress.com/
Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.com/blog/
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://florcita.eu/wordpress/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Ruth at Birdland Creations - http://insidetheartisan.blogspot.com
