Cha cha changes {and other announcements}

Hello friends! Happy Year 2013 to you! I thought I would just pop in real quick and share a few changes for the new year. From starting the blog in the the Fall of 2010 we have learned A LOT along the way. Blogging has been so much more than I ever imagined it would be, it has helped challenge me, and help me grow. I have loved every second of it and never would have dreamt that it would have grown so much, or become such a community that I love. But truly I love the interaction I have with our lovely readers, the friends I have “met” in the blogging world and feeling like there is a whole world of people out there who understand what it is like to get absolutely giddy over a dryer full of freshly washed fabric, or finding a super cool button on the ground at the park. When I was thinking over my goals for 2013, a few things were clear. Blogging, sewing and sharing will still very much be a part of it, although at a slightly slower pace. With our sweet little Penny joining our family, I like to make sure that all my little ones get the time and attention they deserve and since the day still only has 24 hours in it, some of that time has to come from the sewing/blogging time. However I do plan on sharing a lot of fun projects that I do with the kids, both ones I contribute on The Studio (for Kiwi Crate) and ones I will share here, since getting creative with my kids is something I love to do.

A few other changes:
You may have noticed the slight facelift to the blog, just a mini pick me up until I am ready for something completely different 🙂

The link party will be returning because I love it, and I love seeing what you guys have made, but it will be moved to once a month, instead of once a week. A little less commitment is better for me so that will start up the last week of this month and I will have a new button for it

Our sponsorship has changed, first time since we started that I changed that up. This means exciting opportunities so if you are interested click on the “sponsor” button at the top and I can get you more information.

With the sponsor changes you may have noticed that we have also taken on more “sponsored posts” sharing our opinion about a product, clearly as a reader you have the opportunity to skip those posts, or to read them and enjoy. Sponsored posts help support the blog and crafting so we will continue to take them.

We also added a Pinterest button up along with our other social media buttons. You can follow (shauna) on Pinterest if you like. I hope to “pin” more this year but I can’t promise to be all that interesting ha!

Lastly a few fun announcements:

Coming up next week we are having Free Pattern Week! Super exciting! Everyday all week I will be sharing a new free PDF pattern! It is the kick off for what will be one free pattern every month. Because we all love free!

I am close to releasing the spring patterns to testers so a little heads up to be looking out on Facebook for the announcement, likely to be late next week but I play everyday by ear with how the kids are, how the baby naps and what time I sneak in to work on the patterns (which is currently only 2 🙂

Starting back up in February is going to be the return of Sewing 101 only it will be Sewing 102 and we are going to dive into the tricky garment making details, like the zipper fly, Dress shirt cuff, Collars, and other fun but sometimes daunting details. It should be great!

Ok I think that about sums it all up. I am pretty excited for 2013! It should be a great year!