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Tag Archives: Blogs
You make my day
Posted by on February 20, 2008
The spring weather continues and this book uses a photograph that Number 1 son took in Bath last week. The crocuses are in full bloom but I notice there are still Autumn leaves amongst them It’s all very odd…
I had an unexpected visitor this evening, the doorbell rang and I opened it to find a vaguely familiar looking woman standing there saying ‘Hi Diane! Surprise!’ It was an old friend who I hadn’t seen for about 15 years. She is on holiday in Burton Bradstock – which is the village where Hive Beach which I showed you yesterday is. We were probably walking on the beach at the same time yesterday afternoon. What a small world it is.
I have been very lucky to receive this ‘ You Make my Day’ award from two people recently. Firstly, Rhonda at My Handbound Books was kind enough to pass it on to me after she received it from Sarah at littlepaperbird. Rhonda is one of the inspirational book artists I have met through the Book Arts Forum, which was set up by Jackie from TJ Bookarts is a wonderful resource for anyone with an interest in bookbinding. There are tutorials, discussion groups, advice and endless ideas and inspiration. Seeing Rhonda’s beautiful books always reminds me that I do tend to get stuck in rut and need to experiment more!
I was then lucky enough to receive it again yesterday from Susanne49 at Sue’s Daily Photos blog. Susanne actually has 5 photography blogs ranging from her photographs of Switzerland and Florida (where she used to live) to Charleston (where she lives now) to showcasing her wedding photography. She received the award from Barbara Gordon, another talented photographer.
The deal with this award is to pass it on to 5 other people who ‘Make Your Day’
- Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day
- Acknowledge the post of the award giver
- Tell the award winners that they’ve won by commenting on their blogs or emailing them.
I’m going to pass this on to
These people have amazing blogs which I love reading and they make my day by leaving supportive, often funny and interesting comments on my blog. I could have named many more people but I had to choose just 5. To everyone else who takes time to drop in here and leave comments – a BIG thank you to you too – it’s much appreciated :-)
Starfish, blogging stars and glue sniffing…
Posted by on November 20, 2007
This is a bit of a departure. I bought a selection of more ‘graphic’ papers the other day and this is the first of them. I rather like it – I wasn’t sure it would work but it does, I think. So watch out for more – I won’t say what the others are here – it would spoil the surprise! I am also going to experiment with a new type of binding. Ooh! The excitement! Can you stand it? (Yes! I hear you cry….)
Yesterday, I mentioned the weird search terms people use to find my blog. One I mentioned was ‘strawberry’. This has been coming up over and over again for the last week. Is it one person who is obsessed with the delicious fruit or a whole pile of people simultaneously? I need to know! I once posted a recipe using strawberries (hence the link) and I took a photograph of some in a dish (see this post) so I hope these strawberry fanatics are happy with the recipes in this pre-bookbinding post.
My blogging friend, Colin over at ‘Life’, has created a new award. In his words
“Having received many awards I have decided that it was time I created one for ALL my Blogging Buddies. You are ALL awesome and contribute to the wonderful global communities that we have all created. Thank you”
He awarded it to the following people and I was very pleased to find my name in there too.
Lisa , Kim, Deborah, Pearl, Sandy, Jesse, Chris, Zubli Zainordin, Santa, Blog Elf, Jackie, Marzie, Adrian, Jos, NAFA SG, Polli, Sue, Kathy Maartje, Morgan, Greg, MaryAnn, Eric, Hawk, Carol, Diane, Ev Nucci, Surjit, Kuanyin, Christy Z, Sandee, Robin, Hanna, Maunie, Kim, Bobby, Billy, David, Jennifer, Aryst, Winston, Christy, LilyRuth, Jess, Rudy, Lynda, Lili, Sandy G, Ange, BlackWyrm, Vincent, Colin & Anne, Blandly Urbane, Marco, Mihaela Lica, John C, Aziz-sm, Ugyen, Lansy, Alex Badalic, Victors, Nostalgia Manila, Franco Yong, Herby, Rubie, Santaram & BVK, Jean-david, Namgay, Catherine, Yunita P, PJ Lighthouse, Lorimer Black, Dream Catcher, Fred Plimley, Anja Merret, Maria Lourdes, Jon B, Aayush, Denise, Dharmendra P, Brent D, Jerry & Daryl McCoy, Brian B, Calvin Innes, Pieter Marburn, Jessica Field, Taflas, Alex Sysoef, Norie, Justin Stanley, Ashish, David Ledoux, Thanate Tan, Kevin, Etienne, Gerbera, Christina, Abhishek d, Uprai, Texas_Jam, Azmiel, Daniel, Kristin B, Luwis, Adavait, Now Sourcing, Buen Amigo, Kiran Pande, Peterson Wong, Lynn, Chessnoid, Luis Hipolito, Joliveira, Jennifer & Pete, Team Dog, Megan, Mark, Raivyn, Mel, Andrea, Jen / domestika, Mimi, Bobo, Lynda Lehmann, Dread Bob, Julie, RennyBA, Bobbarama, Becky, Magdalena, Michelle,
There are so many wonderful blogs in there it is very pleasing to be included in such illustrious company. I would like to award it in turn to anyone who has ever commented on my blog – you are the ones who make this a community and have helped this blog grow. Thank you all :) Feel free to use and pass on this gift from Colin. (Just link back to him if you do).
I must also mention that I got another review from Ed over on his regular MyBlogLog Sunday spot. Last time he compared my creativity to Hannibal Lecter’s, this time he asks
“if you are looking for inspiration for Christmas gifts, Diane has a handle on making girlie books. I do have to ask, though. Is it glue fumes or natural forces responsible for her creativity?”
What can I say? I do get through a lot of PVA…. other than that though, I haven’t a glue… ;)
All about me…
Posted by on November 12, 2007
I think I prefer making these fresh, bright summery books now that the weather is so autumnal, they cheer me up :-)
I played tennis this morning and it was freezing. I woke up to face the first heavy frost of the autumn so far and I wrapped up in many, many layers of clothing but as the game progressed, the sun came up and the layers came off and we had a terrific game – especially as we won – hurrah! At this time of the year, the sun being so low in the sky can be a bit of a problem but never mind! We are hardy English girls who play in rain, hail or shine and we do have a great time :-)
It’s time to catch up with some tagging that has been going on. Ange from Buzzing with Ange and Go! Smell the Flowers has tagged me in a meme which asks me to tell you about why I am blogging. As I have not really asked myself this question I thought it would be an interesting exercise so here goes….
1 How long have you been blogging?
I have been blogging for 9 months.
2 What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
I had been designing a few web sites for friends and one of them asked me to set up a blog for him. I had no idea how to do that so I decided that the best way to learn about blogging was to actually start one, and so here we are!
My mentors are anybody who has ever blogged – I learn what I would like to do with my blog and how to interact with the blogging community by following the example of all the lovely blogging friends I have encountered these last months. My technical ‘guru’ is my lovely friend L, who is a fount of all knowledge on just about everything – a true new-renaissance man.
3 Are you trying to make money online or are you doing it for fun?
It is really just for fun but as my blog has metamorphosed into a blog about handmade books, the interest that people have expressed in my books has encouraged me to consider selling them online and I am exploring this at the moment. I’ll keep you posted…
4 What three things do you love about being online?
1 I love the contacts I have made – the friendliness and support that bloggers offer each other is a wonderful thing. It’s like having pen friends all over the world.
2 I love being able to get help, advice and inspiration almost instantly from a wide range of bloggers working in the same areas of interest as me.
3 I love reading blogs about subjects I know nothing about. The range of people’s interests is so rich, varied and fascinating.
4 What three things do you struggle with online?
1 Time. Keeping up with my favourite blogs is so time consuming. I want to read everything everyone writes but if I did that I would have no time for anything else, least of all making books! I get around them all eventually but I often feel bad that I have missed something crucial or I only remember to visit when someone comments on my blog. I visit networking sites and join as many communities/neighbourhoods as possible and I participate as much as I can and answer every comment on my blog and try to post regularly. I also write very occasionally for Go! Smell the Flowers but often have no time to find things to say over there. It can be exhausting – but it is still always fun!
2 I have a weakness for widgets and get frustrated that WordPress.com doesn’t allow me to have any that use Javascript. I am going to have to move to a self-hosted blog soon I think but I am very sentimental about this little blog as I like the way it looks and it has done me proud for the past 9 months! I’m also a bit scared about the process of changing over, so I keep putting it off.
3 I read some of the more technical, pro-blogging sites talking about SEO, AdSense, PR and the like and I have no idea what they are talking about…
So there you have it. Me in a nutshell.
As is usual with these things, I am going to pass this on to some blogs that I enjoy and would like to get to know better.
Hope you have fun doing this…
Much of a muchness 