Liebster Blog Award :-)

Today, I have been awarded The Liebster Blog Award by Anna over at Mrs Brimbles 

The aim of the award is to get more blog readers.

 My opinion is that by branching out you can take yourself out of your comfort zone and broaden your outlooks. I don't believe in sticking to the same genre of blogs as what I write. I use the same philosophy on Twitter too, that way, in theory anyway, it won't become stale. 

So, onto The Liebster Blog Award................

I have been set 11 questions by Anna. In return, I have to nominate other blogs and set them 11 questions, and so on and so on. 

If I do nominate you and you choose not to participate, this is perfectly okay. No 'blog police' are going to come and drag you off to 'blog prison'. Just delete and move on. No nasty comments, no rants. Just a simple act of deletion. Life is better that way.

Here we go then .....................

Question 1 - Why did you start blogging ...

I started blogging on Friday 2nd May 2008 - was it really that long ago ???? That's almost 6 years ago!!! Wow. That is a shock to me let alone anyone else. I started purely as a showcase for the cards I make and also just to have somewhere to write about 'stuff'.  Lots of posts since then about things I would like to forget but hey ho, that was my life back then and its all in the past now.

Question 2 - What do you blog about...

Mainly now, I blog about the cards I have made. I add the 'recipe' so that other crafters can see what products I have used. Occasionally I blog about other things, as and when the mood takes me.

Question 3 - Why do you blog about that ...

Because some people like to see how things are done :-) 

Question 4 - is blogging for business or for a hobby? Why?

When I started, it was purely for pleasure, and in the most it still is. I do use it as a showcase for my bespoke, handmade card business now so, for now, its a bit of both. It suits my needs that way 

Question 5 - How often do you blog? Do you have a routine / set blogging schedule?

I blog as and when. I don't have a set time and if I make a card and don't blog about it, then I don't worry about it at all. Life is too short to stress about a blog post.

Question 6 - How do you organise your blog posts / what to blog about

A blog post is determined by whether I have made a card or not. Simple as that x

Question 7 - where do you get your inspiration from?

Inspiration for the blog post is easy - that comes from the card I have just made. The inspiration for the card itself ? well that's a different matter. If I have been given a brief by a client, I take everything into consideration. If not, I can allow my creative mind to run free and the design just 'pops out'. I read a lot of craft magazines and I watch Create & Craft on the TV. They both fill me with inspiration. I also go to as many craft shows as I can afford to. I like these as I get to meet people and see what other people are doing. The creativity flows at these events.

Question 8 - what do you see as your blogging future?

No immediate plans to change the format for now. But who knows where my blogging will take me

Question 9 - Any tips for bloggers starting out? Or if you are just starting out what would you like to know?

Don't think too hard. Go with the flow. If you don't like what you have written, delete it. 

Question 10 - Your favourite social media platform and why?

Twitter - will always be my number one favourite social media platform. I do use the other platforms but I have made more contacts and true friends through Twitter. My best friend, Jax, is on Twitter and that's where we met. It is becoming more of a selling platform lately and I will hold my hand up and say I do promote my site & charity things on there too. But some people purely use twitter to see what sales they can get out of it and that is wrong. Interact with people, make friends. Depending on what twitter client you use though, there are ways to mute what you don't want to see, so I make full use of these where I can. You must talk to people though - not bombard them with linked posts from other pages. And my biggest bug bear is linking facebook posts to the twitter feed. I am convinced some people don't realise that if you post 10 pictures in a FB album, it comes through as 10 separate posts in your twitter timeline. Thankfully, you can also mute certain clients so I no longer see duplicated posts from facebook on my Twitter Timeline. 

Oh dear, went off on a bit of a tangent there lolol 

Question 11- A random, quirky, fun fact about you?

When Mark Foster, the very handsome & very tall swimmer, lived in St. Neots, he would come into the restaurant I worked at most Saturdays when he wasn't training and enjoyed a 'big breakfast'. He was handy at Christmas when I needed a hand putting the Christmas decorations up lol And when he turned the Xmas lights on in St. Neots a couple of years back, he remembered who I was - even my name :-) 

So, there we go. My answers to Anna's questions. 

Now comes the tough part, tagging others and setting the questions .................

Jacqui Hall - better know as Jax   A fellow crafter and my best mate x

Darcy - An inspirational crafter with lots of techniques under her belt. Pop over to her blog here 

Billies craft room   As the title implies - its all about the journey 

JenniBellie Studio Some lovely art work and watch her on YouTube too 

Daisy Yellow Art - Tammy has lots of lovely artwork on her page 

I know its not the required number (sowwee lol)

11 questions .... (erm, where do I start???)

Question 1   what's the weather like where you are RIGHT now? Come on, up off your chair and go look...

Question 2   where is your favourite place to go on holiday?

Question 3  How many rooms in your home?

Question 4  what's your favourite colour?

Question 5  what was your last blog post about and why did you write it?

Question 6  You can have 4 guests for dinner (alive or dead) - who would you choose and why?

Question 7  what was the last song you listened to?

Question 8  favourite film of all time

Question 9  red? white? rose?

Question 10  name of your first school and your favourite teacher

Question 11  (and the last one, you'll be happy to know)  what is YOUR best feature / attribute?

So thats it, off to tag people now :-)