Social Networking – Page 2

May in Beastie Towers

Posted on June 14, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Info, Knitted Beasties

Wow, May was a busy month for us this year! It feels like the Beasties and I were on the go all the time, taking full advantage of all the fun and games that the crafting and blogging communities have to offer! So, today I’ve decided to follow the lead of Jem Arrowsmith Knits and Claireabelle Makes, and do a roundup of everything we got up to last month. I’d like to relive every moment in glorious technicolour – and hopefully it will keep you all entertained until I can share the top secret projects I’ve been working on lately behind the scenes!

First up, new arrivals! May saw the addition of two new Beasties to our worldwide monster family – another Diver Beastie and a sweet little Fairy Princess Beastie!
We also got updates from a few Beasties abroad – Antonello and Tiziana Beastie headed to Perugia with their Beastiekitty in tow, MiniBeastie discovered some appropriately teeny alpine plants at Wisley Gardens, and Finn McSpool settled into his new home in Portland, Oregon!
Oh, and of course Paddy and Plunkett were out and about!
But for once, they weren’t the only ones living the high life! Explorer Beastie and I ventured out of the Beastie Towers craft lab and learned about taking better photos, met some fellow bloggers over dinner and took some time out in the countryside!
We also enjoyed meeting up with some of our crafty colleagues – it’s always fun for me to talk shop with other people who find wool and fabric as compelling as I do, and Explorer Beastie likes making new friends too! Here he is hanging out chez Guadalupe Creations, and getting up close and personal with some felt viruses at Niki Collier‘s studio!
You’d think after that little lot, we’d be ready for a rest… but no! Here’s a taster of one of the Beastie projects we have in the pipeline for the coming months…
…AAAAAND I’m really excited to announce that, for the summer at least, I’ll be cutting back on the amount of time I spend in Other Work to focus more on all things Beastie! As well as working through my latest batch of commissions, I’m hoping to convert some of this extra free time into market appearances, testing out some new designs and, dare I say it, starting to get ready for Christmas! That, and we might finally squeeze in a holiday somewhere!

(I wish… :D)

We’ll be back on Friday with more monster shenanigans! See you then!

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Your Daily Dose of Beastie!

Posted on June 7, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Beastie Family, Info

I have a confession to make… If it wasn’t for those little woolly monsters of mine, I would have no online presence at all. Except an email address. Oh, and maybe an Etsy account. But that really would be it. So I owe the Beasties a big thank you – for dragging me out of my technological fortress of solitude, and for being willing to pose for the endless photos that I’m SO glad I don’t have to be in myself. Through them, I’ve been able to make contact with people all over the world, and get a sneaky peek at their latest craft successes, their studios and, most importantly, what they had for dinner! How awesome is that?

As a result, I’ve started gathering up social media accounts like they were Pokémon (oops, showing my age there with that oh-so-dated reference). And that means that on pretty much any given day, there will be breaking Beastie news somewhere on this vast interweb we all inhabit. So today I thought I’d give you the roadmap to all our online homes… I’d hate to think any of you were missing out somewhere! We’ll start with…

Instagram

… Because it’s my favourite. It’s so easy – I take a photo, I monkey around with it in the editor and BAM! Done! I also find it good for keeping up with the people whose pictures I actually want to see – not too much sponsored content, and no pesky algorithms deciding what appears on my screen. Well, not yet, anyway. Come and find us there! There’s something new almost every day. And don’t forget to share your own monster pics using #beastiefamily and #beastiesofinstagram!

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A post shared by CrawCrafts Beasties (@crawcraftsbeasties)

Twitter

…Is the newest addition to the family, so I’m still getting the hang of it! I’ve managed to find a few of you on there already, but I figured some readers might not know that I even HAVE Twitter yet – in fact, that’s part of the reason for this post! You can expect new stuff here every couple of days, and possibly more once I get my head around what’s going on.

The novelty STILL hasn't worn off… Hooray for sunny summer days! pic.twitter.com/YK4AJrRtwU

— Beastie Helen (@crawcrafts) June 6, 2016

Facebook

Oh, Facebook. I’d love to spend more time with you, but your mobile apps really do make the experience less than enjoyable. However, I do still try to post new stuff at least a couple of times a week, and it’s another great place to share your own Beastie pics if you’d like to! It’s also a good way to get in touch if you don’t want to use the email contact form. On Facebook, you’ll find links to all my latest BeastieBlog posts, plus fun stuff like this recent snap of Explorer Beastie “helping” in the garden.

Pinterest

I’ve read time and again that maintaining a Pinterest profile is a great way to develop your crafty business. I will be the first to admit that I have no idea how this might work, but hey – it’s fun anyway! And it appeals to the magpie tendencies that have led me to accumulate boxes of old magazine clippings and photos that I just can’t bear to throw away. Here are a couple of the boards I update most!

And finally…

In a flurry of enthusiasm after the Irish Blogger Conference just over a month ago, I joined Snapchat. It was peer pressure! Everyone else was doing it! And I wanted to bagsy my username (@crawcrafts – soooooper imaginative). But… um… what exactly is it FOR? And why are there no instructions? I’m also disconcerted by the fact that every time I open the thing, my phone camera switches on and I’m greeted by my own bewildered face staring back at me. So if any of you have any hints you’d like to share, even if they are “you’re not 15, what on earth are you doing on Snapchat?”, please let me know in the comments!

We’ll be back on Friday with an update from Paddy and Plunkett. And if you’re looking for us in the meantime, now you know where to find us!

Explorer Beastie, Sommelier - CrawCrafts Beasties

Social Beastie-Flies!

Posted on May 24, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Explorer Beastie's Dublin, Info

Phew! What a busy week it’s been! After our Etsy photography course a couple of weeks ago, Explorer Beastie and I decided to keep our socialising momentum going… so when an invite to a special sneak-preview-tasting-menu dinner at Oscar’s Bar and Kitchen dropped into our mailbox, we were pretty quick to RSVP! As an extra bonus, the event was being organised by the Irish Blogger Association, which meant that we’d get to meet some more bloggers – in person for once!

Now, I hope you’re hungry… Here come some of the highlights of the meal!
Clockwise from top left – wild boar black pudding starter (proof, if any were even needed, that black pudding is more than just a component of your typical full Irish breakfast), the bbq ribs that were so tasty that I forgot to photograph them first, rhubarb panna cotta for dessert and Explorer Beastie looking on enviously at my Moroccan lamb with aubergine.

Yum! There were also plenty of opportunities for Explorer Beastie to pose with an almost-Beastie-sized wine glass…
… Relax among the tasteful decor…
… And atone for the rest of us eating all that black pudding.
Looking back at my photos as I was putting this post together made me think about how I wouldn’t even have been there enjoying all these delicious delicacies if I hadn’t started writing a blog about the Beasties and their adventures. Blogging has introduced me to people I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise – people who share my interests, or who have introduced me to new ways of looking at the world. People whose work inspires me, or whose stories make me laugh out loud when I read them. In the last week, I was delighted, excited and a little surprised to see I’d passed the 300 followers mark! So thanks to all of you for reading, and especially to those among you who regularly like my posts or comment on them. The Beasties and I are so chuffed to have you all along with us on our adventures!

Further “thank you”s are due to Fiona and the Irish Blogger Association for organising a great night out, and to the staff at Oscar’s for looking after us so well. It certainly looks like I wasn’t the only one who left happy!
Join us again on Friday, when we’ll be checking in with another Beastie abroad! And if blogging has taken you to interesting or unexpected places, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Explorer Beastie at the Etsy Offices - CrawCrafts Beasties

Ready for your Closeup?

Posted on May 17, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Explorer Beastie, Info

Explorer Beastie and I have been quite the social butterflies recently – we started with the Irish Blogger Conference at the end of last month, and then last week found us hanging out at the Etsy offices in Dublin city centre! We were there for a one-night Product Photography Course, organised by the Etsy Ireland team. When I heard they were running this, I jumped at the chance to go – my own Etsy shop has a hard time competing with my market setup, so I was hoping to pick up some tips to make it a more fun place to visit!

That, and Etsy’s HQ is an excellent place for an adventurous Beastie to explore…
Once everyone had arrived, and helped themselves to some cake…
…We got started! We all had a chance to introduce ourselves, and talk about what we make, and then we tackled the tricky subject of lighting.

We’re always told that it’s best to take photos in natural light, but in Ireland this poses something of a problem. I’m certainly guilty of holding out for a sunny day to take my pictures, and it seems I’m not the only one! Even in the middle of summer, a rainy day here can mean really limited daylight… and correspondingly dark and unimpressive pictures! Some of the others also pointed out that it’s difficult to get consistency in a set of photos, because natural light changes so much from season to season – or sometimes from one minute to the next! Gaaaah! How do you fix this?

Why, you build a lightbox of course! So we did – well, two of the team members took on the task of transforming a simple cardboard box (free from your local supermarket) into a glamourous miniature photoshoot setting!
Here it is, being used as a backdrop for a couple of beautiful Brookwood Pottery mugs! If you’d like to have a go at making your own, YouTube is just brimming over with “how-to” videos… We watched this one before we started. And most of the things you’ll need are either free, cheap or something you’ll already have at home! We all had fun testing it out, too…
…And here’s Cheerleader Beastie enjoying her moment in the spotlight, as Explorer Beastie watches admiringly from the sidelines!
But of course, he couldn’t resist the lure of the limelight…
The light in this lightbox still has a bit of a pinkish hue, but this can be fixed by using daylight bulbs instead of standard lightbulbs. Javier from CartabanCards showed us another way to make a lightbox, this time using LED camping flashlight tubes and pieces of a simple slot-together storage unit. I think the lighting in this one works much better for showing off Beasties in their best light!
Doesn’t Explorer Beastie look handsome? And look at how well this setup worked for this stunning vintage-style doll’s dress from DinahsDolls…
… And how it makes the colours pop in Maeve Croly‘s embroidery sample!
All in all, we had a great time and learned loads! It was super to make contact with some other local Etsyans as well, and swap tips and stories. I’m especially interested to try out Snapseed, which allows you to edit photos on your phone or tablet!

Thanks to the Etsy Ireland team for organising the course, and especially to Claire from mIrishDublin and Javier for teaching us! Claire also put together an Etsy treasury afterwards featuring some of the goodies from each of our shops… if you’re in need of a treat for someone (or for yourself), you could well find it there!

We’ll be back on Friday to check up on a Beastie abroad… in the meantime, if you have any top photography tips of your own please share them with us in the comments!

Have a great week!

So, What Have We Learned?

Posted on May 6, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Ideas, Info

I love it when a plan comes together.

Last week, I thought I would try my hand at seeking out some Dublin-based blogging events. I was expecting to find something to look forward to a couple of months down the line, so you can imagine how lucky I felt when I found that one of the main events in Ireland’s blogging calendar was happening that very weekend, in a hotel a mere stone’s throw from Beastie Towers! SCORE!

So, Explorer Beastie and I packed our bags and spent last Saturday at the 2016 Irish Bloggers Conference. We heard from loads of different people, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the things we learned with you all. Plus I’m more likely to remember it if I write it all down.

Now, if you’re all sitting comfortably, let’s launch into…

The Monster Guide to Blogging Bliss!

And we’ll kick off with…

Entertaining complainers are as rare as virtuoso musicians and masterpiece-painting artists. Who wants to read a series of rants about the fact that no-one is visiting your blog? If you’re blogging, chances are you want to share something you’re interested in or passionate about with the world. Talk about what you love with enthusiasm and humour, and people will surely come back for more.
…Even if what you’re into isn’t popular. Talking about something you genuinely believe in will win you more loyal readers than slavishly hopping on every bandwagon going.

And while we’re on the subject of readers…
Don’t be shy! If you like what you read, say so. Start conversations. Reply to your comments. Join online groups based on your interests and pitch in on the forums. And if you’re sharing links to your own online places, don’t just drop them in there – ask for feedback, or tag someone who you think will enjoy it.
Ah, something I need to be doing more. But it makes sense – for example, by finding out when most of your readers tune in, you can tailor your posting habits to ensure that your words of wisdom reach more people. You’ll also start to notice patterns in what appeals most to your readers, or what draws new ones in, and you can use this knowledge to plan what to talk about next. And that just makes everything easier!
Being consistent doesn’t mean that all your posts have to be exactly the same. But your regular readers will come to expect certain things from your blog, and being consistent in things like your tone of voice, what you talk about and when you post will set them at ease before they’ve read a word. You’d all be pretty freaked out if the BeastieBlog morphed overnight into a foul-mouthed diatribe on contemporary economic policy, wouldn’t you?
I can’t claim to be an expert photographer, but nothing detracts from your blog more than pictures that are grainy, or that have been squished and stretched until they look like something from the world’s worst hall of mirrors. Always start off with high-resolution photos – you can make big pictures smaller, but you can’t unshrink small ones!
Ah, can there be anything more annoying than reading an entire article, only to find out at the end that it’s basically just an advert? If you’re doing a sponsored post, be a good human and make it clear from the outset… Your readers will trust you more.

And finally…
One thing that a lot of the bloggers (and other speakers) at the conference had in common was persistence. They all made it clear that any success they’d had didn’t just happen overnight – more often than not, it was the product of long hours, hard work and a few people along the way telling them that their ideas were terrible. So keep going – you never know what’s around the next corner!

Thanks to the Irish Blogger Association for a really interesting and informative day out. And if you have any blogging tips of your own to share, let us know in the comments!

We’ll be back on Tuesday with a new Beastie for you to meet… In the meantime, have a monster weekend!

Back to School at Beastie Towers!

Posted on March 8, 2016June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Ideas

Last week was one of those weeks when life just got in the way – for starters, a busy few days at Other Work after being just a Maker of Monsters for a month was a bit of a shock to the system! And while I was distracted with that, the plumbing here at Beastie Towers decided it would be an excellent time to start wreaking all kinds of aquatic mayhem.

So unfortunately, that means I have no new Beasties for you today – despite the best efforts of my little helpers, who you can see working away in the photo above!

However, I thought this little hiccup might be the perfect opportunity to tell you all a little more about what’s going on behind the scenes here at Beastie Towers… namely, my own ongoing education.

(Picture borrowed from www.fatmovieguy.com)

You see, last year I was busy. Flat-out, using-every-spare-second-and-then-some BUSY. And it occurred to me that I’d sort of reached the limits of the skills I had, and it was high time I picked up some more – skills that would help me to better design, make and share my creations.

Alas, there is no real-life Monsters University where I can enroll, so I’ve had to make up my own study programme. Here, let me introduce you to some of my teachers!

Next Level Sewing with Abby Glassenberg

Abby blogs at whileshenaps.com, and while I’ve learned a lot from her regular posts and newsletters about running a crafty business, I really hit the jackpot when I treated myself to a copy of her book “Stuffed Animals – From Concept to Construction” just after Christmas. Even flicking through the book for the first time was exciting… Finally, I’d found someone who was teaching the stuff I needed to know! Up until now, I’ve had to figure everything out myself, using a combination of guesswork and techniques borrowed from dressmaking books, with varying degress of success. But with Abby as my guide, I’ve been better able to understand how to cut and shape fabric so that it does my bidding faster, easier and with considerably less cursing!

So far, I’ve been mostly dipping into the help sections when I need guidance… but I have also attempted one of the projects. I made this felt bunny as a gift for a little girl who turned one in January!
The pattern was super-easy to follow, and it was nice to let someone else do the brainwork for once! That said, I did still stitch every seam by hand. So, another class I’ve been taking is…

Sewing Machine Wrangling 101

This is not really a class. This is me sewing miles and miles of practice seams on my sewing machine, to become better at using it. On the plus side, I’ll never need to buy another cushion cover!
I’ve also been honing my drawing skills, so that I’m able to put sketches for commissions together more quickly…
For this, I’ve been trying to keep up with Tammie Painter’s Sketchbook Saturdays… here’s what I came up with for this week’s prompt, “Leafing Out”!
I’ve also signed up for an online sketchbook workshop on Tammie’s recommendation, so I fully expect these doodlings to magically become Da Vinci standard over the next couple of weeks!

And finally, I’ve been taking a Social Media Refresher Course using this book…

(Cover image from www.thedesigntrust.co.uk)

Aaaah, social media… yes, it’s great for sharing your crafty goodies with the whole world, in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible a few short years ago. But it feels like such a time sink! I’m sure I’m not the only person who dips a toe into the murky waters of Facebook “just to have a quick look”, and resurfaces 2 hours later. I feel like there has to be a better way to use social networks which I can’t quite figure out by myself, so I’m going to let someone else explain it to me. With pictures. And that’s what this book is for. Here’s the review on Fizzi-Jayne Makes which convinced me to give it a shot!

Oh, and I nearly forgot! As an extra-credit assignment, I’ve been having a stab (ha!) at needle felting, in the hope that I’ll be able to use this method to make some of the Beasties’ smaller, fiddlier accessories. That, and it’s great for stress relief after all this studying!

Have you tried anything new this year? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Exciting News!

Posted on July 7, 2015June 19, 2021 by crawcraftsbeasties in Crafting, Info

About a month ago I got an email from a company called Pod, asking if the Beasties and I would like to join their online crafty community and be featured on their website. Um, YES PLEASE!

The site launched on the 1st of July, and since my latest round of new Beasties need to remain secret for the moment, I thought I’d give you a sneak preview! I’m really proud to be involved in this, especially after I took a look at the work of the other artists and craftspeople they’ve included. They’ve put in a little bit about each of us…

…That’s me third from the left in the top row. You would not BELIEVE the trouble I had trying to find a photo of myself in which I am not holding a pint of Guinness or pulling my very attractive monster face. And of course, the Beasties are there too!

This first phase of the Pod website is all about introducing the makers and showing off their wares, but they’re planning to add more features in the near future. I’m really excited to see what they have in the pipeline!

In the meantime, why not go and have a look around?
www.poddub.com

More hot-off-the-knitting-needles Beasties next week, once they’ve arrived safely in their new homes!

	tierneycreates: a fu… on We Wish You A Merry Beast…
	crawcraftsbeasties on We Wish You A Merry Beast…
	quietwatercraft on We Wish You A Merry Beast…
	crawcraftsbeasties on We Wish You A Merry Beast…
	The Hidden Spain on (Mer)Made Just for You!