Archive-Along Part 1: Zines

Diane has the first post of our Archive-Along series, and she's covering how to archive your best work in zine format. I love this for so many reasons. Be sure to check out the comments that are already brewing on her post to see why I love it so much and how people plan on using this as a chance to connect with some of their non-blog-reading friends and family members (yes, there are a few left!)


Check back here tomorrow for my first post of the series: Using Google Profiles to archive, organize and promote your work!

Kicking off the Archive-Along

Sparked by a simple comment in a chat room a few weeks ago, Diane of Crafty Pod and I have put together a special blog-project on the subject of archiving your online work. The Archive-Along kicks off today, and is aimed at helping you explore various ways to create online and hard copy portfolios of some of your best online work.

Part of what interested me in this subject was my work on covering the STS-130 mission for MAKE. All my work for that project was online, and I wrote some of my favorite stories of my career during that time. And then I started to wonder .... where does all that work go? Hitting "post" sends it out into the virtual cosmos, and while folks read and commented on the stories, once they were out there for a while it just felt like they were kind of ... gone. I thought about how I'll want to share these stories with my kids and grandkids years from now and realized that, unless I was proactive with my archiving, I might not be able to.

Diane and I started brainstorming on the idea of archiving our work, and realized this is a great opportunity to engage the blogging community at-large (and not just crafters!) to share ways to make sure your best work is preserved and to see what other ideas you may be able to offer.

Even if you haven't been "published" on large web sites, it's important to go ahead and start developing good content archiving habits. It's also a great way to have one go-to spot to share your best work with potential publishers. Regardless of your level of blogging, project writing or experience, joining in on the Archive-Along is the first step to making sure your work never goes "poof" with no record left behind.

Over the next two weeks, Diane and I will share tutorials on various methods of creating digital and hard copy archives of your work. We encourage you to follow along and post summaries of your results and experience in the comments here. As you create your online portfolios, be sure to share them in the comments as well. Also be sure to keep up with the main Archive-Along page where we'll keep track of all our tutorials and feedback from participants.

Lastly, head over to the Archive-Along Flickr group and grab an Archive-Along button for the side bar for your blog! We're looking forward to helping you (and ourselves) get more organized, develop solid archiving habits and give all your hard work the care and curating it deserves!

Unicorn Embroidery Thrift Find

Miss me? I'll fill you in on where I've been after I introduce you to one of my favorite thrift finds ever.


Like most crafty folks, I have a love affair with thrift shops. One of my favorite embroidery projects of all time was a thrift find. I love finding stitch kits when I'm perusing thrift stores, and have a couple of shelves full of them in my big book case in my office.


This unicorn find from a couple of weeks ago was a jackpot hit for me. It wasn't in its original packaging, but it had everything else with it.

And, sure, it's cool because it's full of 1980s goodness (it's stamped on the back: 1982) but what was really fascinating is the little palette of threads already set up to start the project.


Whoever had this kit got fully set up to stitch before apparently abandoning the project. All the threads (regular 6-stranded cotton floss, crewel wool and even metallic cording) have all been looped thoughtfully into the palette.


They even methodically marked off all the required threads on the chart.


I'm so curious what made them put the project down....

I'm thinking I'll pick it up for some summer stitching. I've got several other projects in the queue right now, but this bright and cheery piece will be perfect for some poolside stitching.

So where have I been? Mostly working. Keeping up with my three posts a day and social media management over at the dandy CRAFT and keeping up with teaching classes. Add to that kiddos and all the space adventures I've been having, and something had to give for a bit. However, my good pal, Diane, and I have some fantastic stuff in store for you in the next few weeks, so rest assured - the hiatus is o-v-e-r. :)