P. Kelly Smith
Welcome to Magazine Monday and day one of Paper Crafts Connection’s Blogiversary Celebration! Tomorrow, February 2, marks our official one-year anniversary, and I don’t about you, but time sure has flown by!
It was just over a year ago that I started building this blog, page by page and link by link. We knew we wanted it to be an extension of the magazine, and because we’re not limited to page count here, we knew we could give you more of everything you love about Paper Crafts. And because of its viral nature, we knew there was potential to reach paper crafters from all over the world on a daily basis. No pressure at all!
So, a year later, I’m sitting here trying to sum up 263 posts, which collectively contain 26,872 comments! And while certain posts are more memorable than others, in a way, all of them are like little babies that I’ve created and sent out into the paper crafting world for love and acceptance. And you’ve all embraced each and every one. Even the ones that were silly and lame and had nothing to do with paper crafting. Does anyone remember our Return of the Jedi Braid post? Like I said, there’s been some random ones!
That said, there’s also been some amazing ones. Too many to individually mention, but I went through our archives and pulled my favorites. In true Letterman style, I bring you PK’s Top Ten Paper Crafts Connection Blog Posts of 2009:
1. Happy World Card Making Day – Oct. 3, 2009 (Of course this would be my #1! So fun to celebrate this holiday with the whole wide world!)
2. Freebie Friday – Giving Back – Sept. 18, 2009 (You may think I picked this as one of my favorites because it features a scrumptious Johnny Depp card, but the real reason is because I so enjoyed giving my time to a wonderful charity. Brandy will talk more about our inspiring Creativity Heals campaign tomorrow!)
3. Magazine Monday – The Paper Crafts Office Tour – August 17, 2009 (As a request from one of our readers, I went around the office and took pictures of our lobby, break room and all of our individual cubes. It was a lot of fun!)
4. Freebie Friday – And the Gallery Idol Winner Is – July 31, 2009 (Oh happy day for Rae Barthel!)
5. Welcome Go-to Gal, Teri Anderson – July 23, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Jessica Witty – July 21, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Betsy Veldman – July 16, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Maren Benedict – July 14, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Kim Hughes – July 9, 2009/Welcome Go-to Gal, Kim Kesti – July 7, 2009 (July, 2009 was a very busy month in Paper Crafts land! In addition to the weekly Gallery Idol challenges and posts, we also welcomed six talented ladies to our family – the Paper Crafts Go-to Gals!)
6. Tickled Pink – June 23, 2009 (National Pink Day just happened to fall during our Card Creations 7 promotional week in June. In true girly fashion, Brandy spotlighted some pretty pink projects, gave away some pink-alicious product and then posted a picture of us in our finest pink garb.)
7. The Lone Design Man – May 7, 2009 (Matt, our lone man on the team, dishes secrets on what it’s like to work with seven hormonal women. He also shows some of his amazing openers that are featured in our magazine!)
8. Freebie Friday – Get Your Blinkies Here – April 3, 2009 (Here we showed readers how to upload their very own Paper Crafts and Moxie Fab World blinkies! If you still don’t have them on your blogs, what are you waiting for?)
9. Freebie Friday – The Big One – March 20, 2009 (This post related to our Stamp It! Cards promotional week generated more comments than any other to date. I wonder if this jackpot of a giveaway had anything to do with it!)
10. Happy Birthday, PK – March 12, 2009 (As a Coca-Cola fanatic, this post literally leaves me feeling effervescent!)
Can I tell you how hard it was to only pick 10 posts?! Luckily, we still have the rest of the week to touch on highlights from the past year. And since no celebration would be complete without presents, today I’m giving away three fun prize packages! Leave a comment telling me one of your favorite Paper Crafts Connection blog posts from 2009. I’ll pick three random winners to each receive one of our new “Betty” t-shirts, a Paper Crafts Connection button and Cosmo Cricket’s Earth Love collection. All comments must be received by midnight (MST) on Tuesday, Feb, 2.
Happy Monday!
Kelly
P.S. We just launched our February Gallery Challenge today! Since it’s the season of love, we want to see your best Valentine’s Day projects. For inspiration, please turn to the Valentines for Everyone on Your List and Vintage Valentines features in our January/February 2010 issue. This three-week challenge will run through midnight (MDT) on Monday, Feb. 22. Click HERE for all the details! (January’s winners will be spotlighted next Monday, Feb. 8.)
Congrats on your blogiversary! Gotta love the Johnny Depp post!
My fav will always be Happy World Card Making Day…I mean I need all the help I can get! Ha! and the card designers are so amazing! I could only dream about it.
The Paper Crafts Office Tour was one of my favorites as well! I loved seeing behind the scenes of my favorite magazine! Happy Blogiversary!
It’s too hard to pick favorites! I check in every day and wish you posted on weekends, too!
Happy Blogaversary! Wow, yes, the year has flown by! Looking forward to much much more from Paper Crafts!
PS: I’m a little partial to that Johnny Depp pic myself!
I’m relatively new to your blog and though I read it daily, it’s hard to say one stands out more than another as I’ve loved them all. Happy blogaversary!
Love the Giving Back post from Sept. 18th! Johnny Depp is just so HOT and loved that card
))) Happy Blogaversary…the year has flown!
Congratulation on a successful year of blogging and inspiration. I’m new to the site and to cardmaking. Actually have a project in front of me and came for ideas and inspiration. Thank you for providing both!!!
I liked the tour of the studio! It was fun to see everyone’s spaces!
My favorite was the tour of the office. So fun to see where all the creativity happens!
Congrats on your one year blogoversary – love the posts where we met the go gals!
can I just say that I am STILL drooling over johnny Depp?!?! giggles!
but really, I remember each and every post. and all of them are special….. I will take that JD card off of your hands though……. just sayin’…… wink wink!
congrats!!!
Happy Anniversary. I would say that one of my favorite posts was “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” from December 2008. It was interesting to learn about the Utah Festival of Trees. There are so many good ones, it is hard to choose. Keep up the good work!!!
Thanks so much for the wonderful giveaway and Happy anniversary I just love all of the wonderful tips that I have learned here and must say that my fave posts were the December 2009 ones, I just love Christmas and if I had to choose only one it would be the Groovin’ with the Go-to Girls – I’m Dreaming of a Chocolate Christmas Such yummy ideas for gifts
I was wowed by the Friday Freebie as a new follower of your blog and all of the excitement it generated. It really got me thinking that I had enough unused craft items in my stash that I could make my own giveaway. I gathered as much as I could part with (this was the difficult part as any crafter will tell you!) and made a basket of stamping and jewelry crafting for my 11 year old neice. Guess who is her favorite aunt????
Happy Blogaversary…this is my favorite…Gorgeous Gifts with a Handmade Twist
August 25, 2009
my favorite has to be the eye candy from December 11th!
Happy anniversary!!! I enjoy the photos and cards so much. CREATIVE ONES!
Aside from the amazing give-aways that Paper Crafts does, I really enjoyed the Office Tour post!
It would be impossible to pick a favorite post but I think my favorite posts were the ones involving the Christmas special issue! I loved those projects!
Blessings,
Christine
A whole year of blogging? Doesn’t it go by in a blink? I have enjoyed visiting your site along with Moxie Fab and I love how you both share so many wonderful ideas and works of art. I have enjoyed your go-to gals interviews and tips….feels like I know them much better and how they come up with such amazing ideas. Thanks so much for all that you do.
Freebie Friday {The Big One} has got to be my fave – what a fun blog post that was and waiting to see who the BIG winner was was, well… suspenseful!!!
Congrats!!! My favorite blog posts are the organizing! Stamps are a little difficult to organze sometimes
keep up the good work!!!
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Happy Anniversary!! I’m a fairly new follower, about week, but thank you for the recap of ’09.
Happy Blogiversary! One of my favorite post from 2009 was “Happy Halloween from the brides of Frankenstein”, loved the costumes. I also love Freebie Friday.
Congrats! Since I love Fall (and of course Halloween) I’d have to say that one of my favorite posts was your Bride of Frankenstein post. All the personalities came out…it was great to see you all “all dressed up.” Congrats again.
Happy Blogiversary! I can’t believe it has been a year. My favorite post was when you showed us how you do birthdays PC style.
I love them all!
Happy Blogiversary. I have thoroughly enjoyed all the fabulous ideas you have shared with us this past year. The one I got a kick out of was the Halloween: Bride of Frankenstein. It was great seeing all your different personalities come out as each bride.
I do love seeing all the fun projects you showcase and the ones were we can get to know other paper crafters.
Keep up the great work! You are appreciated.
I enjoyed the posts about the World Cardmaking Day. That was a fun day.
i LOVED the blog dude post. I loved his designs. He is one lucky guy to be surrounded by all those girls!
Happy Blogaversary! I love all of your blog posts….look forward to reading them everyday…. one of my favorites would be groovin with the go to gals….such a talented bunch of ladies & I am always inspired by their creations!! I also loved your brides of frankenstein post…so funny!
I always look forward to the posts with the dog in costume!! They are always so cute and fun! I also like reading anything by the Go-To Gals!!
Happy Anniversary!!
I look forward to visiting the blog daily and I love all the giveaway opportunities. I enjoy all the I Spy challenges…I love those brain teaser type games….the harder the better!
Happy Anniversary! I enjoyed the tour of the PaperCrafts office and also the Go-To-Gals post! =)
Wow!! A year now of sitting here daily with all of you,..how exciting!! I don’t think I can hoestly say which blog is my fave. World Card Making Day was really wonderful. All I know is I’ll be sitting here for another year and then another year..and so!! I am hooked. Thanks for being here every day for me..and for everyone else!!!!
Happy Anniversary!!! My favorite blog from 2009 was dated April 30th. It showed all of the Mother Day’s project winners. There were some great projects made.l
Happy anniversary – and wishing and hoping for many more – as your blog is so inspiring.
My favourite post was Kim’s apron card – I even had to make one even in fabric!!!
I look forward to each and every one of your postings.
Happy Blogaversary! Well, I luv all the Go To Gals posts and I really enjoyed the interviews with the designers of the Card A Day too! Too hard to pick one, ggg…looking forward to another Great year, Thank You!!!
Happy anniversary! Loved seeing cards from all around the world the most.
Happy blogiversary!!
My favorite is the “Happy Halloween from the Brides of Frankenstein!” post. I love all those pics! So much fun ^^
Thanks for the chance.
Seeing Rae Barthel win was a great post because I’ve admired her work for so long and she’s such a lovely talented lady!
I really love all the things you share, but I think the office tour was a neat look inside your world. Thanks for producing so many things that inspire us all.
I LOVED the halloween post with your costumes!!! This is such a fun & inspiring blog- thanks for all you do!!!
I check out your blog everyday, so it’s very difficult to choose.
my favorites would have to be
1. The halloween pics–so so very funny
2. all the intros to the new go-to gals, they are all so creative
3. world card making day posts were fabulous!
thanks so much
happy blogaversary! a fave….. all the ones with new goodies coming out!
Happy blogaversary! One of my favourite posts was this one: http://papercraftsconnection.com/2009/05/20/with-the-pros-wednesday-how-crafty-are-you/
I loved seeing Kim’s gorgeous quilt and the fabulous card inspired by it.
Definitely the Giving it BAck entry. I do paper crafting with some of the local nursing home residents and the benefits for everyone concerned cannot be measured. We do holiday oriented crafts but I think the most gratifying is when they make cards to send to our troops overseas. They love the adhesive backed foam embellishments. You’d be amazed at how many they can put on one card! By shopping after the holidays when everything is 90%off, I always have a large supply for the next year.
The companionship is more important than the crafting. These people are our nations forgotten society-30 minutes of your time once a month can make a huge difference in their lives and yours.
Happy Blogiversary! Yea!
My favorite posts were the ones involving food and birthday celebrations. I feel very connected because I get to see all of you having fun. Some very creative cakes were showcased during 2009 and I enjoyed seeing each one.