Firemountain Gems - Jewelry Artists

Some months ago, I filled out a questionnaire for Firemountain Gems and the result can be seen here today:

Thanks FMG for using the profile on your site!

Time to put on my Connect Hat.

As some of you may know, I am now the editor of the Bead Society of Victoria's newsletter "Connect". For the next week or so, my most important task will be getting all the articles together for sending to the graphic artist. So no beading for me - well almost none anyway.

We have a very professional looking newsletter - glossy magazine style which is only available to members of the BSV (you can check out the covers on the BSV website). The previous editor/graphic artist, Naomi, is a hard act to follow. So far, most of the comments I have received regarding the new format have been favourable, so we must be on the right track.

The picture is the cover of March Connect, showing Patrick Duggan's winning entry to the Elly Feldman Award at the Bead Expo 2010. Entitled "Dragon's Bane" it is a beautiful piece of work.

Cynthia Rutledge's Honeycomb Bracelet

Isn't it amazing when one particular pattern in the beady world attracts so many avid beaders? This one, which appeared in April 2011 Bead and Button, seems to be a real hit and I am sure will be a classic in years to come.

Yesterday at the Bead Society of Victoria meeting, there were many people talking a bout making it and also buying Rondelles, thanks to the lovely Kay, from Kay's Artycles.

I know of five other people who are making this one and one other person who has finished two of them! From the chatter at the B&B forum, there are a lot of other people out there getting into the honeycomb mode.

Hoping to take a photo of those which make it to a BSV meeting for Show and Tell in the near future.

Blogging - is it just a big waste of time?

I started this blog with high hopes that it would be a great promotional tool for my etsy shop. It doesn't really seem to have lived up to its earlier promise though. Lately I haven't really been blogging much at all, because there are few comments when I do blog, so it looks as though no one is reading it anyway. Certainly the sales at my etsy shop don't seem to benefit one way or the other.

The entrecard widget might as well be taken off as well. The people who look at the blog because of the widget are just those who are still trying to make their 300 hits and I just don't have the time to waste on clicking through a myriad of blogs on subjects that don't always inspire me at all. What is it with all the people who claim to have made money with their blogs? And how do you manage to get so many credits on the entrecard site (some of them seem to cost thousands to advertise). I never seem to get above 40 or 50 these days without a big struggle. Then I spend way too much time working out how to spend them economically.

There are some on my watch list who blog almost every day. I certainly hope their efforts are worthwhile. For me, I am reconsidering. I am sure there are better ways to spend my time.