10 years ago, 15th September 2006, I wrote my first "real" blog post about the start of our Nova Scotia adventure.
It's a badly written piece to be honest and includes no photos... I wrote it from the lobby of the hotel we stayed in at Frankfurt Airport before we headed over the ocean - in the days before wifi and smartphones. I was excited about the trip and excited to share my adventures online - using a fixed internet (modem perhaps) computer available for guests at the hotel - oh the pain of that slow connection. Of course, no one read me back then. I'm not surprised, like I said, it's badly written! But also, blogs were still relatively new back then in the UK and especially over here in Germany. Most people I mentioned it to had never heard of a blog. No one could see the point or why they should be interested.
I'd been scrapping since the start of 2006 and was still a painfully inexperienced newbie but it was exciting and fun and the industry was so much bigger then too. Was that the peak? Did I join the trend at the high point?
Anyway, 10 years on I'm wondering who's out there still reading blogs. Are they passé? Should we all consider giving them up in favour of the dreaded social media? I'm not sure but it's something I'm thinking about - what direction to take. Many people have stopped sharing through their blogs and I'm wondering if I'm just hanging on for the sake of it! But for now, I'm still here. I'm even thinking about an overhaul of the blog - design, layout and even the name. After all, I haven't lived in Recklinghausen for 7 years!
But all this is just a preamble for one of those shares...
This evening I made a layout to celebrate this milestone in my personal blogging journey and followed my own Whimsical Musings prompt WM#299 to be inspired by scrapbooking product made by a manufacturer that doesn't produce scrapbook product any more.
It had to be BasicGrey of course. In fact, this collection is one I treated to myself in that first year. It might even have been the first papers I ever bought. I ended up buying it twice I think. It's "dated" of course, but I still love it. And thank heavens that my style has changed considerably over those ten years so I tried to use some of the products in a more up-to-date way. I fussy cut and layered and roughed up the edges. I matched it up with some modern items such as gold mist, washi tap, Thickers and mini-alphas. Back in the day a BasicGrey collection consisted of papers, a sheet of alpha stickers (almost always the same font!) and a sheet of die-cut labels - non-sticky of course. I did find some remnants of the infamous matching BG fibres and really tried to find a way to use them on the layout - but no!
I'm not totally convinced at how successful I was at bringing Urban Couture to 2016 but I do like the layout and isn't that what matters?
What's your opinion about the future of blogging? Should I be moving on to other mediums or continuing forward with a bit of a redesign? What's your own blogging adventure? I'm really interested to hear what you think as I carry on thinking about what I'm doing here.
Happy 15th everyone! Back soon with Simple Scrapper shares and a (no doubt) late 16 loves!
Many congratulations! That's a real achievement, to have blogged for this length of time. That's a great challenge, and you really met it - I still have Basic Grey papers too and love them. I hope,you will continue to blog - I can't get my head around the sound bites of Instagram and Twitter and still like my communication in full sentences :).
ReplyDeleteI think ten years is an absolutely fantastic achievement! congratulations!
ReplyDeleteYes: so many bloggers seem to have decided to give up or move. Part of me thinks I'm just keeping going for the sake of keeping going too. I do miss the comments and connection I used to get from a whole gang of blogger friends who have all moved on, though I actually have more readers than I've ever had. I don't know what to do!! I will say I am enjoying IG so much more than I ever imagined I would and now I can understand why people move over there instead.
10 years, woo hoo!! Congrats. I have not found any other medium that I enjoy as much as blogging, but to be honest, I have thought from time to time that my 7 years is enough. I'm getting that itch, I guess.
ReplyDeleteYour layout is lovely and i think you did a great job of modernizing urban couture ...we must have started scrapping around the same time because this was one of my first purchases as well!! And the fibres....i had them all but dont think i ever did use them successfully on a layout haahaaahaa
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with this totally fave BG line. I think their vibe is somewhat timeless! Congratulations on 10 years - wow. I love the diary feeling of a blog & I hope you continue. I agree with Alexa above as far as complete sentences go :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your anniversary! I love the large floral you used - nobody did those like Basic Grey. And I still have some of their fibers too somewhere...
ReplyDeleteI am saddened that blogs seem to be fading a bit (especially as mine is only a little over a year old). I heard/read somewhere that a blog gives you a great landing place - you can link everything to it and make it the one spot to hold all your information. I enjoy reading blogs and hope that you'll continue. While I also love Instagram, there's just something more personal about reading a long blog post with lots of photos.
Congratulations on 10 years of blogging! I started scrapping in 2006 also, and just realized that my "10 anniversary of scrapping" blog was written and posted a year early. Nothing like getting things done early, is there? I like the blog format as it is more like a written letter, or a visit over a cup of tea, and thus offers an opportunity for a real and lasting relationship. I think I would continue my blog, even if no one read or commented. It is a nice compendium of my scrapping proficiencies and as such, fun to scroll back through. It could be that one day, I may need to downsize for lodge living. I may not be able to house the hard copy albums, so the blog is like a backup copy. But don't fret for me, yet, as my mother is 83 and still living on her own.
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