Thoughts and way forward with my blog.

I  have had my blog for many years now and go through phases of posting every day, to a couple of times a week to more recently a couple of times a month.

I look at my statistics and the amount of views I get, compared to my YouTube channel and it is a bit disappointing, so I find I am concentrating more on my YouTube channel and have let my blog dwindle a bit.

So thoughts - should I continue to blog and go back to posting regularly or just post a couple of times a month when I am doing a blog post for the couple of blog challenges and hops that I am on the design team for?

I have 116 subscribers here on my blog, but apart from the challenges I mentioned above, I never get comments and get very few views (average 10 - 30).  So is all the effort worth it?

My YouTube channel as nearly 3,500 subscribers and gets 250 - 1k views per video and almost always has lots of positive encouraging comments.

When you spend time working on any project whether it be blogger, YouTube or any other social media platform, it is the audience that makes it worth while.

So what I am asking you is - do you enjoy my blog? do you want me to post more?

Comments below please.  I will monitor this and see whether I shall return to blogging several times a week, or continue as I have in just blogging as part of a challenge.

The ball is in your hands! Thanks for taking the time in reading this.

If you want to see where all my focus goes then pop over to my YouTube channel, subscribe and join in the fun.

Here is my latest video

JOS Blog Hop February 2020 Love Is In The Air

Welcome to February's Blog Hop with the Joy Of Sets.  The theme for this month is "Love Is In The Air".

In the UK we don't really celebrate Valentine's Day unless we are in  couple where we might make a card for the other half. However 14th February, Valentine's Day, is very special for me as it is my grandson's birthday. Reuben Valentine was born on Valentine's Day and will be 7 years old.  He is a wonderful little lad, full of fun and laughter and as all of my grandchildren are, is very dear to me.

So my blog hop card uses a stamp set called Special Someone and with 23 stamps for £16 I think is great value.

This is my "Love is in the Air" card. I used the Stamparatus positioning tool to get the hearts and mice in a circle on the 5" x 5" piece of cardstock.  This is a two step stamp so I was able to fill in the hearts and the mice to give a little colour.  Added a sentiment and some ribbon and it is a fun card with a "love" feel.

While I had this set out I made my grandson his birthday card

There is a coordinating die set with this stamp set and so was able to cut out some grass and the little string for the balloons. The sentiment was popped into a word bubble, one of the dies included in this set.

So now that I've shown you my ideas why don't you have a look at all the great inspiration from the other hoppers.

Go back to Fiona Whitehead HERE


Go Forward to Tricia Butts HERE

Stampin' Up! Poppy Moments using dies as stencil masks

Stampin' Up! Poppy Moments are a great set of dies which can be used as stencil masks to create great backgrounds. Visit my online shop for current products, special offers and of course to shop for all your crafting supplies https://amethystarcrafting.stampinup.net/ Click Here

 Die cut the poppy and the centre stamen and then with a sponge and two colours, Cherry Cobbler and Crushed Curry colour the poppy. This first image I sponge quite lightly to give a soft, muted look and then just added a sentiment from Very Versaille stamp set.

This image I sponged darker, by going over the area several times and then added some of the lovely dies from the set.

You can buy these products by clicking on the links below
Poppy Moments - BUY HERE
Stampin Sponges - BUY HERE

Here is a step by step video tutorial to show you how to achieve this look - Please subscribe to my YouTube channel as I post 3 times  a week and have 300 videos with lots of techniques and ideas for you

Joy of Sets Tic Tac Toe Challenge February 2020 #JOSTTT014

Welcome to the Joy of Sets Challenge Blog for February.  This is a monthly challenge with a fun grid to chose a line from in any direction and then create a card or project.  I have been on the Design Team since the beginning, just over a year ago now and it is always lovely to see all the entries from around the world.  If you are chosen as the winner for the month, you get to be a Guest Designer for the following month and to add a winners badge to your blog.

So what I'm really trying to say is give it a go and take part.  Being given a grid to chose from is a challenge and it helps to give you a way to craft in perhaps a different way.  I always try and go a little out of my comfort zone and chose a line with things I might not always be comfortable in using. It's a way for me to hone my skills in areas I don't always use.

Here is this months grid - Click HERE to take part.

I chose Watercolour - Purple and Die Cuts

Purple is my favourite colour, so was an easy one.
Watercolour - I don't use watercolour paper often so this was the challenge element,
Die Cuts - I enjoy using die cuts in my projects.

So now it was time to put all three together on a card

Products I used

Highland Heather cardstock

Painted Labels Dies (for the swirly die)

Peaceful Moments stamp set for the sentiment

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper - for the patterned paper 

Peaceful Poppies Elements - for the watercolour and velum poppies

Coloured the poppies with the Aqua Painter and Gorgeous Grape and Cherry Cobbler ink.

As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator you can buy all of these products from my online shop

https://amethystarcrafting.stampinup.net/ click HERE