New Year, New Ideas

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Happy New Year, everyone!  I hope your holidays were wonderful!  I sure enjoyed the time off! There was travel involved.  The Happiest Place on Earth was sure kind to my family. There were presents- for Christmas, and for birthdays!

There were great times with my husband and children– all were home for the past two weeks! There wasn’t a whole lot of crafting, and not a whole lot of blogging either. To be honest, I really enjoyed it.  I didn’t miss the pressures of not only creating a new project, but photographing it, editing it, and creating a post for each day. I love crafting, and I love blogging- but I’m not happy with how my hobby has taken over my life.  I have three young children.  My husband is the bishop of our church, and is gone A LOT.  I try to cook and clean, exercise, run errands.  I want to play with my children, teach my piano lessons, prepare my Sunday School lessons.  Read my scriptures.  Grow spiritually.  Cultivate friendships. As a wife and mother, I’m falling short.  I’m finding it hard to do everything I want to do, because I get sucked into the computer every day.  I honestly don’t know how you all balance your lives.  It’s just not working for me.  I don’t want my blog to be a business, or a full-time job.  It was started as a hobby, and I feel, for me, it should stay that way. I like the gratification of other people enjoying my work, or being inspired by it.  However, the time I have to put into each project vs. the amount of feedback I get is sometimes very disheartening.  It’s frustrating to watch a new blogger skyrocket to 1000 followers when I’ve struggled for almost 2 years to get 600!  There are thousands of craft blogs- and I’m sure no one would miss me too much if I went away. I don’t want to go away- I just want to ease up a little.  I’m going to be changing a few things around here.  First of all, I am going to back away from being sponsored.  While I appreciate the small amount of revenue sponsors bring in, and I enjoy spotlighting talented ladies and their shops, I just don’t have the time to promote them responsibly.  If I can’t make it worth their money, it’s not something I want to do.  After each of my sponsors finishes their contract, I won’t be renewing them.  So that will gradually go away. Second, I’m deleting my Twitter account.  I hardly ever use it.  I just can’t keep up with it.  I’m not sure I even “get” Twitter 🙂   I plan on keeping my Facebook account, at least for now- if for nothing else than to let you know what’s going on over here. Third, my blogging schedule will change.  I’m going to try to continue to blog three days a week.  It might not always happen.  I know it’s easier to read my blog if you know what to expect, but if life gets in the way, I might miss a post here or there.  What I post is going to be a little different too.  Here’s my plan: Monday- Made It Mondays- showcasing a project I created- tutorials often included. Wednesday- Mouth-Watering Wednesdays- a new recipe I tried this week (most often sweets!) Friday- Feature Friday- I love showing off projects each week that catch my eye.  I’m going to continue this- just move it to a new day. I’ll still be open to fee-free product reviews and giveaways, and of course I love to guest post on other blogs.  But I want to get back to what this blog was meant to be in the first place:  a place for me to keep track of the projects I make, and share them with others who might be inspired by them.

Thank you for your support over the last year and a half.  I truly appreciate every comment, every pin, every email, and every kind thought you’ve had about my blog and my projects.  I hope you’ll stay with me as I get back to who I really am:  “Occasionally Crafty” Valerie.

I’ll see you here on Wednesday with a delicious cookie recipe you have to try.