One Year!

Today is a special day for me.  It marks the one year anniversary of my blog going live.  It's been quite a year!  

I originally started this blog for two reasons.  The first was that more and more Design Team jobs were requiring active blogs and I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity because I didn't have a blog.  The second reason was that I had been doing a lot of blogging for others and I wanted more control over my writing.  I was worried that if any of these sites shut down, the articles I had worked so hard to write would disappear forever.  If you look through my blog archive, you'll see entries dating back to September 2010.  Before this blog went live, I added copies of the articles I'd written for others here, then backdated them to when they were published elsewhere.    

I spent A LOT of time thinking about my goals for the blog, what direction I would take, and what kind of a blogger I would be.  I agonized over the title, blog design, and all the other little details.  I invited a few select friends to see my work-in-progress and thought carefully about all their helpful suggestions.  

On 4/4/11, I wrote the first post for my blog.  It was titled Craft Withdrawal and has had less than 10 views in one year.  

Compare that to one of my most recent posts, My Own "Chopped" Challenge, which has had over 500 views in one week.

Yet that is not my most-viewed post.  That honor goes to my Giraffe Cake.  

The Giraffe Cake took the title of most-viewed post fairly recently.  Until about three weeks ago, my most-viewed post was The Most Horrifying Awesome Art Project Ever.  Now it's solidly in second.

Interestingly, neither of those posts account for the top search terms that lead people to my blog.  Number One (by far) is "Id Reaction."    

 

Number Two is "Paper Plate Lion."  

 

When I started my blog a year ago, I expected a small audience of family, friends, and random scrapbookers.  I didn't expect people from around the world to follow my crafty adventures.  Some of you are here because you know me in person.  Others of you I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting.  To both groups- thank you.  I am incredibly grateful for your support and the enthusiasm you've shown for my blog.  For the handful of you who have read all 287 posts, a special thank you.  

As I look toward my next year of blogging, I find myself remembering these words of wisdom:

Thank you all for being a part of My Creative Life!