Running Around the Blogosphere: #1

I've been really bothered and fidgety this week - sometimes to the point of full our aggravation, so I've been spending a lot of time hitting "Next Blog" to see what's happening in the blogosphere. I am learning quikcly however - that "Next Blog" may not be the best way to complete my traversing.

For the millions of blogs that must be out there - I find that the "randomness" of Next Blog per each session really isn't all that random at all. In fact it's so not random that I tend to come up with a few blogs three or four times. Weird.

Anywho - here are a few that I DID find that I liked this week.

IKEA Hacker
I absolutely LOVE the collection of IKEA hacks and creative manipulation that you can find in this blog. Lots of pictures and straightforward and simple writing makes the blog a great site for finding new and innovative ways in which you can use IKEA products.

I fully admit - our own IKEA hacks lay soley in art-ing up our Malma mirrors - but maybe when we stop renting and actually get a place of our own, I'll be more adverturous to try manipulating larger pieces.

I fully admit I haven't found a hack that I absolutely HAVE to try myself yet, but I am enjoying the bedroom and living room hacks the most.

N.Design Studio
I was totally drawn by this designer's blog background which is simply gorgeous and well laid out. The clear information groupings also then led me in to actually read the rest of the blog. S/He's got some great beginner tutorials in illustrator that I tried out as soon as I came across them. Plus - it's a little neat to think - here's this stranger that lives right in the same city as me and I'm totally pouring all over their personal web pad. Who knows - s/he could live next door!

S/He's got a lot of great freebies on-site, and links to other places where you can find more. It was also neat to read about the work s/he's involved with though the site hasn't been updated with a new blog post for awhile. I hope that s/he writers some new news soon.

Wack of Scrapbooking Blogs
Well - I didn't just want to pick on or another of these - cause damn there are like fifty-million of them! So what I tried to do was stick to ones that were in Canada, or better yet right here in Toronto. Here are two random ones I came across: Scrapbooking With Vanilla, and The Paper Tag.

I'll be honest - I didn't come across anything that totally excited me - though scrapbooking in general is still a rough spot for me. The bulkiness of it all still wrangles with the magazine designer in me who is so used to being able to lay out a page any way I want but feel total pleasure and gratification in a clean, silky, smooth page. Crinkles and patterns and thick paper with buttons and clips and all sorts of crazy things sticking out just doesn't appeal to me... especially when the photos and pretty paper begin to curdle and roll. Sigh.

Creations By Melinda
While this blog specifically isn't necessarily the best of the quilting blogs that I came across, I was entirely inpressed by this lady's art quilt that she did in all of one class in one day. It is always inspiring to see what other people are up to and what they can accomplish in specific amounts of time. I am always finding it hard to complete projects and wish I could be more assertive in getting my crafty things done.

Anywho - that's it for my romp around the Blogosphere today. Next week I'm going to concentrate on the blogs of Etsy artists that I like to get an inside look at how they go about creating their wares for sale, and not just looking at the wares themselves.