May 17, 2007

Crafty Blog School!

Crafty Blog School, a 2007 series of posts on blogging for Feeling Stitchy by floresita
Are you wondering how to have a crafty blog of your own? Or maybe you have a blog, but you're bored with the layout, wish you knew how to make a header, or wish your pictures looked a little better. Let's face it, we're not all crafty mamas with amazing graphic design skills or fabric designers with mouth watering photos. But, we've got our crafts, our things we do, and we want to share it with others. Welcome to Crafty Blog School!

Crafty Blog School is a series of posts on how to start a crafty blog of your own, add pictures to your blog, set up blogging from Flickr, create a header, choose a template, etc. Also, I'll do a post on how to take better pictures of your crafts! So, let's get started with the basics, and that is how to start a blog of your own...

Where do I blog ?
You can blog just about anywhere these days. But these 3 blog sites top my list because they're easy to use, customize, and integrate with Flickr:

Blogger (free)
Wordpress (free)
Typepad (paid)

Paid vs. Free Services
Typepad has a lot of nice templates to choose from, and many crafty people use it. But I think free services like Blogger or Wordpress are perfect for beginners - they're great to get your feet wet. After you know what you like you can switch to a paid service. All my blogs (including this one) are hosted on Blogger and I still see no reason to switch to a paid service. There may be other perks, but for me it's hard to argue with free!

What's the Difference?
Do Blogger blogs, Wordpress blogs, or Typepad blogs look different? Well, you be the judge! Here's a list of sample blogs arranged by blog service:

Blogger blogs:
kup, kup land
freehand sketching
paper flower girl

Wordpress Blogs:
losabia
craft daisy
lorelei

Typepad blogs:
this vintage chica
buttons magee
gooseflesh


Remember that no matter what service you choose, you can edit your template to look however you want. But if you have no interest in learning HTML or CSS, choose a service with templates you love so you won't have to mess with them at all.

So how was your first Crafty Blog School class? I hope you enjoyed it! Is there anything you want to learn in the next class? Leave a comment, and see you next week! :)

All The Crafty Blog School Posts:
week 1: Where Do I Blog?
week 2: Choosing a Template
week 3: Name Your Blog & Create a Header
week 4: Blogging Photos from Flickr
week 5: How to Put that Darned Thimble Guy in Your Sidebar
week 6: How to Take Better Pictures of Your Crafts
week 7: Getting Noticed

Hi, I'm floresita, editor of Feeling Stitchy. I'm an avid stitcher, knitter, and crafter. You can see more of my stitching on Instagram and my blog. My vintage transfer collection is on Vintage Transfer Finds.

Feel free to email me with any ideas for the blog!

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