Love Your Blog: Gratitude

I have been meaning to post this blog for some but health, basketball and life got in the way.

The Love Your Blog Challenge has helped me get my blogging mojo back.  I have been getting more organised and now plan my blog entries.  This helps when I don't have the chance straight away to write my blog entries.

It also gave me the opportunity to buy more stationery, I do love washi tape, sharpies and filofaxes.

Thanks Kate from A Playful Day blog & podcast for helping me get back on track.

Love Your Blog: Ugly

 As part of the Love Your Blog challenge the third prompt was ugly more importantly what to do when blogging ugly.

 Starting this prompt is made me think quite hard, being ugly is not always visual.  So for some people someone else's appearance might seem ugly, but somebody's actions can be seen as ugly as well.

 My health has been more than ugly and my issues with dyslexia sometimes stops me from writing this blog.  It also spurs me to write my blogs and contribute to another.  Over 2 and a half years ago I had a knee injury just as I started selling my beaded jewellery at craft fairs.  This affected all aspects of my life, then I was hit with severe cold hands and turned out to be primary Raynauds.  On top of this I have been struggling with pain from endometriosis & fibroids.

These issues have been a real bind and I haven't been making as much as I would like to but I have been concentrating on my website, the quality of my product photography and my online presence.  I am very lucky to have a photography club at my day job and you can see some of my photos on Flickr and a previous blog entry.  I also went to a really good product photography workshop run by Blue Strawberry Design Studio, I think there is another one coming up in June.

With not making and selling came little interaction and then I start a vicious cycle of looking at my stats.  No one is looking at my website, no-one is buying what I do have made blah blah.  So I need to make more of an effort to interact with people and not to worry too much if I haven't had lots of likes, shares or comments.

Love Your Blog: Beginnings

Beginnings was the week two prompt from the Love Your Blog Challenge.  So I thought I would take this opportunity to share my beginnings as Poppybead.

When I turned 30 I found out that I have dyslexia, I completed a degree and other qualifications.  But I wanted to do my GCSE english again, so alongside studying for my GCSE I wanted to learn how to make something.  Beaded jewellery was my chosen media.

I began blogging in August 2010 to share what I was making and my crafting experiences.  I started here on Blogspot but found it difficult to use on mobile devices, so started looking at different options.  I tried Tumblr, signed up for Wordpress  and then settled for blogging straight onto my website.  This has become long winded and slows down my blogging.  You have to resize photos, not enough readership and after looking at Bloglovin the wrong internet language.

Poppybead is not the only blog I write or contribute to.  I follow a gluten free diet to help with pain control of Endometriosis.  I didn't think crafting people would want to hear about where I went to eat or what I had for dinner so I have started a separate blog for my ramblings.  I am in the process of moving this content onto Wordpress.
I came accross Wordpress as I contribute to the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation's blog.  A lot of my weekends during September and May are spent as a basketball official.  Again lots of people I have met through crafting are not keen on sport but wanted to follow my journey as an official at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.  Nearly three years on I am still on my basketball journey so still contribute to the blog.

Going back to Poppybead I am on the road to recovery after some health issues and have some more beginnings to start so watch this space.

Love Your Blog: Community and Interaction

Welcome back to the Poppybead crafting blog on Blogspot.  I had been experimenting with other platforms and they have not been working for me, so I am back.

Since I have been away I have still been blogging and I will transfer content across as soon as I can.  Whilst being online I have become addicted to Instagram and Pinterest.  I posted a photo asking for suggestions of crafting podcasts I could watch/listen to and the community of Instagram gave more options than I could of imagined.

One of the suggestions was A Playful Day podcast.  They are running "An Inspired 2015" and this includes Love your Blog Challenge.  I am bit late writing  about April's subjects but better late than never.

The first prompt was Community and Interaction.  I have a presence on Twitter, a page on Facebook, Ravelry, Instagram, Pinterest, a shop on Etsy & a website.  I am really appreciative of all the followers, likes and sales I have made through these through these platforms.
Something seems to be missing, human interaction!  Sometimes I love to meet people and sometimes I don't but more love.  So I through the group Handmade is Hot on Facebook,  I did my first craft fair and have been to some creative networking events.

On Twitter I found a free small business start up course, Ravelry gave me the opportunity to join some knitting groups locally and learning at work week let me find other crafting colleagues in my day job.

I don't post the same things on all platforms for instance I don't share my gluten free food ideas on Facebook, I have a separate blog as well.

For me there has been a lot of trial and error but I am still learning.  Love your blog challenge is a great way to keep learning.