5 years of blogging and a giveaway!

Wow, can you believe I've been blogging for 5 years now? I know it surprised me to find out it had been that long when I sat down to write this post. I like to take this time to reflect on my scrapbooking achievements of the last year and my goals for the coming year.

So, my goals from 2013 were:

1. Continue to represent Scrapmatts to the best of my abilities - I had an amazing year in 2013 being on the Scrapmatts team, which was why I accepted a second term this year when they offered. I love their products but most of all I love everyone else on the team that I had have the chance to meet. It was so much fun (and hard work) working on their stand at the two expo's held in Brisbane. 
2. Be in the top 5 at Once Upon A... Sketch - I've had this on my list for two years now and still haven't achieved it. Admittedly, last year it was partially due to how little I participated at that site. The winners are all such lovely, complicated layouts that I think I will have to be happy with just kicking back and admiring the winners rather than being part of them.
3. Win one of the Kaisercraft Monthly Sketch competitions - achieved! I think it was my 16th entry into their monthly competition but that's just a sign that persistence pays off. I won with Eros in April 2013. Still haven't used the collection I won though...
4. Work on developing more layers and details into my layouts - I think this is a continual work in progress. I have also accepted that my scrapbooking style just doesn't have as many layers as other people and am more accepting of that too.
5. Attend more classes and retreats - I returned to the Noosa retreat last year which was so much fun again, especially as I knew some of the other ladies this time around. I'm pretty sad I will miss this year, given I will have a 1 month old baby. I also went to the Brisbane Scrapbook Expo in June and did three classes there (which reminds me, I still need to finish two of those layouts!).

Hmm, what to set as my goals for 2014?

1. Complete more off-the-page projects - I'm really enjoying working on a variety of off-the-page projects such as tags and canvases so I think I'll try to do more of these.
2. Complete (ahem, start) Lynda's wedding album - a work colleague asked me to do up her wedding photos in an album before she went on maternity leave over a YEAR ago!
3. Continue to make time for scrapbooking even while pregnant/after the baby - I know my productivity has dropped recently as I've just been too tired or distracted with other things.
4. Win a major scrapbooking award at the Gold Coast Show - I have previously won Best Exhibit and Most Successful Exhibitor however these were a few years back. I would love to be able to win one of these awards again.
5. Apply for Scrapbooking Memories Masters competition - I don't think I will win but I've looked at doing at for a number of years and never given it a try. I think it would be good to stretch myself.

So to compare the statistics of my blog over time, here is a quick snapshop of my progress since I started doing these reviews three years ago:

 

Date	Pageviews	Posts	Followers
20-Apr-12	5736	264	50
15-Apr-13	26396	382	95
14-Apr-14	41240	454	98 (20 via bloglovin)

Wow, only three more followers in a whole year (two of those in the month too)? I think that definitely surprised me. The slower growth in page views and posts was to be expected though, as I've slowed down in terms of my creations in the past couple of months. Interestingly, stats show my visitors per month peaked in December 2011 and it's just been pretty much down will since then. My most viewed blog post is Playing with Seals and Dolphins from June 2010, which isn't even a crafting post! :(

 

 

 

Anyway, you can't have a birthday without presents so I've decided to host a giveaway which will run from now until midnight Australian Eastern Standard time on 15 May 2014. This includes quite a variety of bits and pieces including paper pads (12x12 and 6x6), chipboard shapes, Prima flowers, crochet doilies, flairs, stamps, brads and some extra embellishments.

 

The rules:

1/ Leave a comment on this post with either a) your own scrapbooking goal for this year or b) a tip to gain more followers.

2/ Competition is open internationally.

3/ If you share this giveaway (on your own blog, facebook, twitter etc), post another comment to let me know and you'll earn another entry.

4/ If you become a follower and post anther comment to let me know you'll earn other entry.