I followed a link from someone's blog to a Copic Challenge blog yesterday. They had a new challenge up, to use the three colours just visible in front of the card (or the nearest you have)- I had two of the three, the brown is the substitute nearest - and after supper last night whilst there was still some real daylight, I had a run at the challenge. Whaddya think? Mind you, even after owning it for 9 years, I still so love the stamp that it doesn't matter - but in my tiny attempt at learning me the Ciaos, it was a good exercise.
And that leads me on - how often, when you read someone's blog, do you follow a link? I have to admit, I have to be relatively curious these days - I think I'm afraid of stumbling across more blogs and interesting articles which I feel obliged to add to my Follow list and therefore increase the ridiculous amount of time I spend reading about other people's lives and passions! I've also noticed this as a growing trend amongst the really literate bloggers: - they refer to something and link it, so you have to go and have a look because otherwise you have no clue as to the discussion in hand. Curiosity killed the cat, huh! Many many times I've arrived at a blog or article and the number of links has immediately put me off reading the text. It's a bit like the over-use of an exclamation mark on advertising, for me, it just dilutes the subject interest. Be honest, when you look at a blog that's been awarded something that has to be shared (luckily for me, like this blog) - do you follow the links provided to visit the blogs of other awardees? Do you? I think it's safe to say for me it's about fiftyfifty. The pay off is of course that you end up stumbling across some fascinating stuff, but I also end up wading through some sites that I know I'll never re-visit. And how do you decide to re-visit? Do you like the first article you read and become a Follower, or do you monitor it for a while? For me it's the first article and the monitoring then goes on through the clever dashboard thingy. Do you link at all? I think in general blog etiquette requires you to link now and then, to point out a good deed or pay a compliment. But is linking a gift, a power even, like the teenagers told me that 'Follow'ing is?
Does any of this matter? No. But it's massively interesting to me. Are you using your blog as a power tool? Did you even know that you could? Or have we grown out of that? Genuine teenagers need not reply.
I have fleas to sort out for selling at the Flea Market at Kraft Crazy on Saturday. Turns out I have a lot of stash and related items that I haven't used for ever and so I'm going to put it out there! My fleas may well be somebody's pets!
Ooh dear. I know I am guilty of linking a lot. Mine is more I've made this but this is where I got the idea kind of thing because if someone compliments me on being super creative and ingenious (it has happened!) I feel really guilty if I know that I have got the idea from somewhere else - even if it is totally different to the original piece I still got the idea there if that makes sense? So I don't want to upset someone, be sued or just generally claim credit for someone elses creativity. I don't expect people to click away everytime... in fact I get quite miffed when I see on my live feed that someone has been on my site and boogered off to one of the sites I've linked to. I think 'oi - get yer bum back here!!'
ReplyDeleteI was also guilty of linking when I didn't know how to add a youtube player but I do now so that will cut down on that bit a lot ;)
I am also 50/50 when it comes to clicking through on those awards lists. I must admit I am terribly nosey though and do enjoy rummaging through other peoples favourite blog links on their sidebars :D
Hello Julia,
ReplyDeleteyour card is beautifil and
the colours are great.
The image is fantastic..
Thanks for your comment on my blog.
Greetings
from Germany ;o)
I love following people favourite blog links. I'm not so good at following the links on the awards. but I did a think the other week when I followed the fifth link on a blog left a comment then followed the fifth link on that blog and left a comment ................. I found some good and some not so good blogs but it was interesting to see where this kind of blogland travel takes you. I tend to add links within my posts for items that I have used or bought to pre-answer the "where did you get that" questions.
ReplyDeleteI try not to link unless I've pinched someone's idea or they've used mine and made a better job of it! Too many links in a post are very offputting as you say.
ReplyDeleteIf I go to a site and like what I see (not just the first post, I usually take a good look around) I will become a follower. Time is the problem for me- too many posts appear in my Dashboard thingy to keep up with!
Hope the fleas all take flight and leave behind lots of pennies!
I am so sorry that I am spending less and less time on the computer (this may actually be a good thing!) and although I have a teeny blog, it is more or a release of the journalist in me if I have the time. I follow a few blogs closest to my heart again because of time constraints because I worry that, if I find even more by following, links, I will never get off this machine, and I have so much to do at the moment. Talking of therapy, I have recently discovered a new (and recognised) condition - FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out - so, question to you all - to what degree do you "suffer" from this condition?
ReplyDeleteI tell you, it has made me think!
power tool... hmm that caught my attention and then I found myself wondering how I could get my blog to finish the sanding in the livingroomI don't think that's what you meant though LOL
ReplyDeleteI haven't really thought about the links thing, i follow some, don't bother with others, depends how much time i have and if i can be bothered. I am more likely to follow a link if it is related to something that someone has made...oo i do tend to follow books links too.
I think the card looks fab, looks like your getting up quite a collection of copics :0)..I JUST followed a link off someone's blog which I sometimes do, depends on how much time (or available megs) I have :0)
ReplyDeleteI love the card ...it is a fab stamp.
ReplyDeleteRe linking... I tend not to as I always forget how and have to beg dd to do it for me. If I could, then I would probably link to creative ideas for mini books and techniques etc. I tend to follow others similar links. I would say I follow 30-50% of liks I see, depending if they catch my imagination or my nosey side but I do find that some posts have too many and then I ignore them all.
I loved you card and coloring. I do link, but the way I do, it is optional to click on it. I give all the details of the challenge, the images from their website, the sketch images and all on my post itself. So, a reader does not have to click on any link, but if they want to, they can - in case they are interested to know more about a particular challenge or blog....
ReplyDeleteGreat card. Thanks for joining in the Copic Colour Challenge - Good Luck
ReplyDeleteSarah
I must confess to being a bit of a fan of links. If someone is talking about something within a post, then I like to know what it is! I'm always following links from other people's blogs, and it's how I've found a lot of the blogs and sites I regularly visit. The links and blogs and things that are in my sidebars actually mostly are for me. I tend to us the blog as a kind of "scrapbooking related bookmarks" - partly so they don't get lost among the non-scrapping pages I've got in my proper computer bookmarks, and partly because this is theoretically a work laptop and so I try to keep what's on it work based. Non work stuff is generally stored online - that goes for the bookmarks (I know I wont lose them on there) and photos (which generally go to Flickr).
ReplyDeleteI think you are doing a great job with these Copics, this card is gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining us at the Copic Colour Challenge. Hope to see you again soon!
What great questions. I link because I'm being polite and giving people credit where it's due but I try not to link to too many things - only those whose work has inspired me to do whatever I'm posting or where I've seen a specific technique - and of course, to challenge blogs.
ReplyDeleteLove that stamp, btw - never seen it before but it's sort of cool. Great colouring, too - must do more copic colouring - it's not very easy, is it when you're just beginning.