My new job!

Back in January, I noticed a post on the website Beader's Showcase that the website About.com was looking for a new Guide to beadwork. It looked like something I'd be able to do, so I filled out an application one morning while Colden was napping and Tom was at work. It said that it could take six to eight weeks before applications were reivewed, so I figured it would be a while before I heard back. Still, the OCD-part of my personaliy kept sending emails to About.com to check the status of my application! Finally, in April, I was notified that I had been accepted into the first part of their training program, where I would create content for the website and then have it reviewed by an editor.

After I finished that two-week program, I was notified that I had been accepted into the second part of the training program where I would publish my content to a "dummy" site set up for me. That, I have to admit, was a little harder. I had two tutorials - one for a bracelet and one for square stitch - and they had lots of photos to upload. There was a batch upload tool, but it didn't work for the training process, so I had to upload each photo one at a time. I did most of the uploading late at night after Colden and Tom were asleep. And I thought the content that I wrote looked pretty good on the website. Still, there was that part of me that kept thinking that the job was going to go to someone else. At least, I told myself, I would have lots of great posts for my own blog if I didn't get the job!

But then after I submitted everything and got the kinks worked out (which there always are when publishing to the web), I got the notification that I had been hired as the new About.com Guide to Beadwork!

I am so excited to be the new Guide! I have so many ideas for projects and tutorials for stitches that I love. I have a million projects that have been sitting in my sketchbook for such a long time now, and now I get to bring them to life to share on About.com. I really want to make the site accessible to both beginner as well as more advanced beaders. I also want to have a lively forum going on there where people can post about the projects, the products or anything they have on their minds that is bead-related.

The site isn't live yet - I've been working on creating some new content and getting it on the site. I'll get the first set of instructions from my editors either tomorrow or early next week, so I'll be sure to let everyone know when the site goes live!

My show season continues this week and next week on Fridays at the Adirondack Farmers Market in Elizabethtown. Then on June 13 and 14, I will be showing at the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council's Spring Craft Festival in Glens Falls. You can find more information about the show and get directions on the website for the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council. This is the first time I have done one of their craft festivals, and I'm really looking forward to it!

Other things I want to mention:

Scarlett Lanson of Beadwork magazine has launched her second design competition, Use the Muse II! I participated in the first contest and had a great time - I'm looking forward to ordering my kit for her second contest. I don't know if I'll actually submit something this time, but the kit for the first contest was loaded with gorgeous beads, and it was a fun challenge to use the Muse component. You can find more information by checking out Scarlett's blog, "The Beader's Muse".

And on a more musical note (get it - musical note?), my little folk band, Sounds of the Northway, has received a second grant from the Open Meadows Foundation to help us with our newest recording project. We are compiling a repetoire of songs all about women's history. These are songs that we have been singing for years, and it is our plan to distribute the CD to local schools and do a series of live performances to promote the disc. We'll probably be going back into the studio in August or September to start recording. We'll be using Charless Eller Studios of Charlotte, Vermont again - they were the studio we used when we recorded our 2006 CD "Water, Women and Song". You can see more about the group on our website (which I really need to update!), Soundsofthenorthway.com.

I think that's long enough for today's blog post!