I found your blog in 2009 and have been reading it regularly ever since and I am astounded by the amount of work that you put in. you have inspired many like me to blog and and make jewelry and I look forward for more inspiration and guidance in the future. PS:I do miss the history section immensely.
Congratulations on 7 years of inspiring, informing, featuring and entertaining us ! Your articles are never boring and always unique. I look forward to my daily dose of The Beading Gem's Journal and often share and pin them as well. Keep on doing what you do please :)
January 4, 2014 at 9:15 AM
Irene Doughty said...
Congratulations on the 7th anniversary, Pearl! Your blog is the only one to which I subscribe, the reason being you make it so varied. Truly interesting. Looking forward to what you discover next. Congrats again and Happy Beading in 2014!
Pearl, Congrats on 7 years. Your site is amazing, inspiring,sometimes quirky,or just plain fun. But when all is said and done, you are the one who inspires me the most as you take the time to share your wisdom and highlight so many other talented artist. Thanks Pat S
Congratulations Pearl, it must be so incredibly hard to find stuff every day to blog about - I for one read it each day and enjoy it very much. I have also been honoured to be featured on your zealously curated blog, and was so happy. Thank you on behalf of all us little guys, who keep plugging away, making bits and bobs - we love the bits of inspiration that comes to us via the Beading Gem's Journal, Neena Shilvock
Hi Pearl Wow, 7 years! Congratulations! That is fantastic. As I have told you before, I love your blog and your tutorials. You have helped me immensely. Thank you
7 zillion thanks for all the fun, all the fantastic cool-spotting of the weird and wonderful, and all your amazing support of my work over the years. Pearl, you are the best.
Happy anniversary! Thank you for inspiring us to always strive to become better and better in what we do by offering practical advice and new perspectives.
Congrats on your 7th Blog-iversary! I will miss the weekly historical posts but I can understand how much time they take. Just running a daily blog is an incredible time expense. This is one of my favorite jewelry blogs because you share so much information.
The historical posts started out as monthly features, then over time the intervals got longer and longer! I really wish I had more time to share more of the historical posts!!
Congratulations on your 7 year anniversary! Thank you for putting so much into it. I found your blog about 1 year ago and subscribe. The only blog I subscribe to. I try to make sure I keep up because it's always an excellent read. When time permits, I follow the links and hop around to as many posts as time will let me. I wish you continued success and growth.
Today is The Beading Gem's Journal's 7th blogging anniversary! It's a gem of a date. So naturally, I just had to feature this edible "gem" of a tutorial by Handmade Charlotte! Somewhat self-congratulatory but after nearly 3000 posts, I think I deserve a cookie pendant or two!
[Image] I started this blog 7 years ago simply because I didn't have a website. In the beginning, I thought a blog was a good place to not only share my workshop schedule but to show off the finished designs of my beginner students. But it slowly developed into an informative and entertaining place where I could share my finds and record my own jewelry making life.
What began as a place to write about a passion created yet another love - the writing itself. Like jewelry making, it is a skill constantly being improved upon. I confess I am a fantastic editor but only after I hit the "Publish" button!
It's been a long journey but I couldn't have done it without you - the patient readers who kept up with my journal through the years and who also generously overlooked typos! I am grateful for those of you who let me know about broken links and for sharing your great tips and ideas in emails and in the comments. Some also took the time from busy schedules to drop me a line or a comment just to let me know how much you appreciated my efforts. I know many referred The Beading Gem's Journal to others, too. So a big thank you to you all - the feedback keeps me going especially when the going is tough.
I am also grateful for the thousands of jewelry designers who freely shared their techniques over the years so we may all benefit from their experience and creativity. What do they call it? Paying it forward. Similarly, the featured designers who wowed us all with their inspirational designs deserve another round of applause!
I've been asked many, many times how I find the time to curate a whole ton of jewelry stuff and write a daily blog. It is sometimes a challenge and a continual exercise in self discipline! But I do enjoy what I do and readers like you make it worthwhile. My biggest issue though is always about balance. Time taken for blogging means less time to bead!
Time was one of the reasons why 2013 was a farewell year for regular historical mini-biographies - my personal favorites were Jane Austen's Ring and Cleopatra's Jewels. Many of you really enjoyed them so rest assured that I might occasionally post more when time permits.
Sure there are some rewards but this image, which I found and shared last year, really puts things into perspective about what bloggers do. I may get free stuff but product reviews typically take me days to complete.
[Image]
Picture source
I should again disclose to new readers thatads and affiliate programs help support my blog so it continues to grow and remain free for all to read. Readers who purchase on Amazon and Modahaus after clicking on my links reward me with a very small commission each time.
From your perspective, reading a daily blog also takes time! So if you are currently a daily email subscriber but prefer to receive a weekly newsletter instead, then unsubscribe and resubscribe with the weekly option. Some ISPs do not like you to receive daily emails because they think they're spam. So switch to weekly if that is the case. I am also active on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ if you hang out there a lot.
Just as I've done for the last few years, I kept a lookout for interesting search terms in my blog stats over the past year. It is astonishing what people want to know and how they talk to a search engine! Google has noticed and is working on being able to handle more conversational and voice search queries.
tattoos on the inside of your lip
what is the name of the gemstone bead that looks like a chocolate kiss?
at what age should men stop wearing earrings?
how do i measure the size of a bead using a vernier caliper-tutorial please
Oprah Winfrey gold toilet
addicted to beads is psychological
What do ladies think of earrings on men
super hero beads
Don't want Google to track what you search for? Use the DuckDuckGo search engine for anonymous searching. This novel search engine's use soared after media reported on NSA surveillance.
Please join me for another year of fun jewelry making! Maybe with a bit of geekiness thrown in here and there!
"The Beading Gem's 7th Blogging Anniversary"
22 Comments -
I found your blog in 2009 and have been reading it regularly ever since and I am astounded by the amount of work that you put in. you have inspired many like me to blog and and make jewelry and I look forward for more inspiration and guidance in the future. PS:I do miss the history section immensely.
January 4, 2014 at 8:46 AM
Congratulations on 7 years of inspiring, informing, featuring and entertaining us !
Your articles are never boring and always unique. I look forward to my daily dose of The Beading Gem's Journal and often share and pin them as well.
Keep on doing what you do please :)
January 4, 2014 at 9:15 AM
Congratulations on the 7th anniversary, Pearl! Your blog is the only one to which I subscribe, the reason being you make it so varied. Truly interesting. Looking forward to what you discover next. Congrats again and Happy Beading in 2014!
January 4, 2014 at 10:21 AM
Thanks so much for the kind words!
Divya - I will try my darnest to include historical posts when I can!
January 4, 2014 at 10:22 AM
Pearl, Congrats on 7 years. Your site is amazing, inspiring,sometimes quirky,or just plain fun. But when all is said and done, you are the one who inspires me the most as you take the time to share your wisdom and highlight so many other talented artist. Thanks Pat S
January 4, 2014 at 10:30 AM
Congratulations Pearl! If I'd known about you and been beading for seven years I'd have searched you out way back when I'm sure!
I'm simply a huge fan of your blog!
Aims
January 4, 2014 at 10:35 AM
Congratulations Pearl, it must be so incredibly hard to find stuff every day to blog about - I for one read it each day and enjoy it very much. I have also been honoured to be featured on your zealously curated blog, and was so happy. Thank you on behalf of all us little guys, who keep plugging away, making bits and bobs - we love the bits of inspiration that comes to us via the Beading Gem's Journal, Neena Shilvock
January 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM
Thanks again for the well wishes! Aims - one reader actually emailed me for instructions on how to read my blog from the very beginning! She did too!
January 4, 2014 at 11:02 AM
Hi Pearl Wow, 7 years! Congratulations! That is fantastic. As I have told you before, I love your blog and your tutorials. You have helped me immensely. Thank you
January 4, 2014 at 11:21 AM
7 zillion thanks for all the fun, all the fantastic cool-spotting of the weird and wonderful, and all your amazing support of my work over the years. Pearl, you are the best.
January 4, 2014 at 12:11 PM
Congrats Pearl! By far the best jewelry blog!
January 4, 2014 at 12:15 PM
I only just discovered your blog the other day, but I look forward to spending more time here. Congrats on your seven years!
January 4, 2014 at 12:35 PM
Happy Anniversary! Wow, thank you for sharing and inspiring me.
January 4, 2014 at 12:39 PM
You all just made my day!!
January 4, 2014 at 1:33 PM
I totally love your blog and have learned so much! You are by far one of my favorites! Happy Anniversary and wishing you many more! ♥
January 4, 2014 at 2:44 PM
Happy anniversary! Thank you for inspiring us to always strive to become better and better in what we do by offering practical advice and new perspectives.
January 4, 2014 at 3:12 PM
Congrats on your 7th Blog-iversary! I will miss the weekly historical posts but I can understand how much time they take. Just running a daily blog is an incredible time expense. This is one of my favorite jewelry blogs because you share so much information.
January 4, 2014 at 5:27 PM
The historical posts started out as monthly features, then over time the intervals got longer and longer!
I really wish I had more time to share more of the historical posts!!
January 4, 2014 at 8:48 PM
Congratulations on your 7 year anniversary! Thank you for putting so much into it. I found your blog about 1 year ago and subscribe. The only blog I subscribe to. I try to make sure I keep up because it's always an excellent read. When time permits, I follow the links and hop around to as many posts as time will let me. I wish you continued success and growth.
January 5, 2014 at 2:30 AM
Thanks too for hopping around! Some readers do spend hours doing that!
January 5, 2014 at 8:10 AM
Congratulations and happy anniversary! I can't believe it has been seven years!!
January 5, 2014 at 11:12 AM
Happy 7th and hopefully many more!
January 7, 2014 at 5:54 PM