Hey there!
It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this site, but that’s about to change. I just want to take a few minutes to let you know what’s coming in the upcoming year—lots of new posts, to start with, but that’s not all. I’ve got some really exciting plans for the new year.
First, Some Design and Hosting Changes
CraftsCrazy’s Old Logo
Over the next month or so, CraftsCrazy will be getting a bit of a facelift. I just changed the logo and favicon and will be updating the featured post photos so that they all play nicely with the rest of the colors on the site.
I also plan to delete the pattern index, which isn’t linked to from anywhere else anyhow. I started creating a visual pattern index mostly for my own use but didn’t get very far with it before Pinterest came around. Since Pinterest has done basically the same thing about a million times better, my pattern index is obsolete. It’s time for it to go.
I am considering moving the site to a new hosting company. Hopefully, that process will be seamless, but it’s possible that there could be some downtime.
CraftsCrazy Crochet School
If all goes well (I’m a video n00b, so it might not), I’ll be posting my first CraftsCrazy Crochet School video on YouTube around 2 pm on Thursday, January 3rd. The plan is to make one new video each week and post them every Thursday afternoon.
The first video will feature the chain stitch. I’ll show you how to start a chain, make the chain stitch, and finish it off, and then we’ll join several chains together to make a cool chain-stitch necklace. If you already know how to chain, you can skip the first part and just make the necklace, or wait to jump in when I get to a stitch you haven’t learned yet.
Each new video lesson will build on what was learned before, and I will try not to introduce more than one new stitch or technique per lesson. There will be a project to complete with each lesson. It will always be something small and quick so you can complete the project in a few hours or less and have something cool to show off what you’ve learned.
If you want, you can show off your completed projects on the CraftsCrazy Facebook page so we can all ooh and aah over them. I think it would be great to see what you all make.
If CraftsCrazy Crochet School goes over well, I will probably do the same thing for other crafts in the future.
A New E-mail Newsletter Provider
I currently use Feedburner for my e-mail list. It automatically sends out each new post to everyone who has subscribed, which is cool but also very limiting. I would like more control over what gets sent and what it looks like. To do that, I need to migrate my e-mail list to a different provider.
Hopefully, this will allow me to break the list up so that you can have more options as a subscriber too. I’d like to have categories for different crafts, as well as categories for things like crafter profiles and product reviews so you can choose which types of posts you’d like to receive.
More Great Posts!
I have some exciting content coming up! There will be profiles featuring fiber artists and other artisans who make really cool stuff, success stories from artists and crafters who have built businesses on Etsy or elsewhere, product reviews, and original projects you won’t want to miss. There are still some gaps in my editorial calendar for January, but I’m working on getting enough content scheduled to be able to post at least three times per week. You’ll start hearing from me a lot more often!
Crafty Products
I used to run a T-shirt shop, so I think it makes sense to add a little store selling craft-inspired T-shirts and other items (mugs, tote bags, etc.) to CraftsCrazy. I’m excited about putting some designs together and hope to have the shop set up and start adding products within the next few weeks!
So that’s what I’ve got planned for 2019. I hope it will be CraftsCrazy’s best year ever and YOUR best year as well! Please let me know what you think of these changes. I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!
