04 May 2009

Transition

According to my blog counter, you may be one of the 24 poor souls who checks this blog on a daily basis and recently you have been checking it in vain. No posts, no posts, no posts. That does not mean I haven't been living creatively though. With a newborn, every day requires creativity...What novel movement or device will calm her today? What can I do to amuse myself while I feed a baby, change a baby, calm a baby, try to get the baby to go to sleep (repeat and repeat and repeat)? How can I sneak just a few more minutes of sleep?

Although I haven't been posting, I've done some thinking about this blog. I have two blogs: barkdust shared with my husband (where all the baby pictures reside) and beesnest. Originally, my intent was for this to be more of a private journal, but, with time, it has morphed into an art/craft blog. Keeping two blogs sometimes seems like more work than it is worth and I've considered merging this blog into barkdust.

However, I'm holding on to this blog for several reasons. The main reason is that this blog keeps me accountable for learning new skills and practicing my creativity. That may seem silly, but there have been periods in my life (graduate school, for one) when I didn't take the time to "make" and it was not good for my spirit. I believe the Creator has designed us to create, and art and craft are a form of worship for me. I need to keep this blog because the thought that other people check this blog motivates me to be more creative, and I need to keep this part of my life alive even more so now that a child dominates my life.

All that to say that, no, this will not become a mama blog. Yes, I am going to keep posting here. Yes, I'm doing well and I AM finding little pockets of time to make things. So there will be new posts coming soon although they may come a little slower and more infrequently for a while. Thanks to the 24 of you for being patient with me during this transition time.

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Here's the birth announcements for the Sprout. I was tempted to use one of the fancy online photo card services but most of them cost about $2 per card. I wanted to spend less than $1 per card including postage while still having an attractive, high-quality announcement. So I made a trip to PaperSource and cranked up yee olde inkjet printer. The lovely, heavy paper is Ecowhite and the envelope is Papaya from the PaperSource. The wallet prints are el cheapo (and el crappy) from Walgreens. By my calculations each announcement cost $.25, the photo was $.25 and the postage was $.42. Grand total: $.92 per announcement.

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Question: How much personally identifiable information should one share about oneself or one's child on the internet? I know I'm careful to make it difficult to match my physical address and phone number to my online identity. I'm trying to decide if I should blur out the particulars of full name, birthdate, etc. for the Sprout in this picture. Any advice out there?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't really have a good answer to the "privacy" question. I go back and forth quite a bit.

I keep two blogs for the very same reason. I like having one blog that I can LOAD DOWN with kid pictures and stories, and know that my 65 readers (close friends and family) will enjoy it. And then my other blog is "professional me," which is quite funny, but it's true. I rarely give out the blog address of my family site, but whenever I need to point someone to sample of my "work," I send them to stretchmarkmama.

I'm a big fan of online networking, and you never know how your blog will grow in the future. I can imagine you at a crafting gig and saying "go look at my blog; here's my card."

The other nice thing about having two blogs is that I never feel the need to say anything useful / meaningful on the family blog. It is what it is. But when I post to SMM, I try to be helpful -- which sometimes might come across as "preaching" to those just reading my family blog. So in many ways, having two blogs is EASIER than just one.

And that's what I have to say about that.

Holli said...

Deb:

You've really outdone yourself with the birth announcement -- it's gorgeous!! I wish I had advice on the whole privacy thing. I'm kind of stuck on this issue myself, and I don't have a child. Definitely circle back on what kind of happy medium you find.

And thank you for continuing this blog -- I find your philosophy on creating so in line with mine, and I always enjoy and admire the many amazing projects to produce.

picknstitch said...

I happen to be married to a very cautious man who is also very geeky. He understands how much information can be gleaned from the internet, and he would say to keep personal information to a minimum. I tend to be a much more trusting type, but I try to listen to him. There you have it.

I LOVE the birth announcement. Clean, but soft. Job well done, and hurray for ink jet printers!

heather jane said...

I agree with Amy. I am very careful about the information I post regarding my girls and my last name/town I live in. Portland is huge, so no worries there for you, but your baby girl's last name I would not share. And she is perfect, by the way. I'm still watching and reading and enjoying all that you create. So thanks for taking the time to stop and inspire, and don't worry about frequency. Less is actually more sometimes!!

heather jane said...

Oh...you will LOVE Simply in Season. Sarah gave it to me a few years ago and I use it regularly. In fact I daresay obsessively when the Farmer's Market gets going and the garden in in full production mode. It's a perfect book for functional eating. Jamie's book is just plain beautiful, though, and having both would be great.

cheers!

Stephanie Breuner said...

I love the announcements. The papaya color is so nice.

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