I mentioned a few weeks ago how Bluprint, formerly Craftsy, had gone under, with a not insignificant number of jobs to be lost and plenty of panic about how people who had paid for hundreds of hours of video content were going to be able to access what they had been promised a ‘lifetime’ subscription too. Well, since then it seems there have been a few twists and turns in the story!
One thing I wasn’t expecting to see when I check my emails this weekend was one from Bluprint, the online ‘crafting’ website, announce its imminent closure. Bluprint is what Craftsy came to be following its takeover by NBCUniversal.
I’m a little late to the party on this one, but as I thought I’d finally find the time to finish up a Craftsy course I’d watched part-way through and then abandoned, I couldn’t escape sharing a few of my thoughts on some of the changes that Craftsy has undergone in its reimaging as the new Bluprint website. For those of you not familiar with Craftsy, it was an online craft course platform, where you could purchase a video course, watch away at your leisure, and interact with other students and the instructor through a type of integrated forum.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you sign up to the course from this blog or purchase any of the books, I get a small commission. However, any recommendations and opinions are my own. For more information, please click here.
I don’t know how I’d managed to miss this fantastic institution on last year’s visit to California, but just in case all the wonderful quilt stores haven’t wowed you, or the amazing world of lace, San Francisco has yet another gem very well hidden away on top of Tiffanies, the SF School of Needlework & Design.
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It’s New Year’s Eve and traditionally the time for decrying all the disasters and misery of the past year and making promising about slinking into the next year with perfectly coiffured hair, two dress sizes smaller, speaking six new languages whilst simultaneously completing an MBA and running an ultramarathon.
I’m not entirely sure whether to write 2016 off as a year of disastrous underachievement. There are still five billion works in progress that haven’t really progressed as much as they should, there are still projects and designs that haven’t made it off the pages of sketchbooks and the stash monster looks like it may be making territorial gains.
Disclaimer: I receive a small contribution if you sign up to this Craftsy course through my links which help support the site. However, all opinions here are my own and you can find out more about my Affiliates policy here.
One of the great things that this blog has encouraged me to do is not only buy my first DSLR camera but to really start thinking about photography beyond a ‘point and click’ process.
However, as those of you with your own DSLRs might remember when you first got them, they’re not necessarily the most intuitive things in the world straight out the box and whilst they do often come with comprehensive manuals, who wants to sit there looking up every stupid acronym?
Learning to take a photograph isn’t just about understanding that AE on your camera standards for Automatic Exposure but it’s about understanding how to manipulate those settings to achieve the effects you want. Sometimes that is faithfully reproducing what your eye sees, sometimes that’s playing with exposure times and light levels to do something a little more creative.
For those of you not familiar with Craftsy, it is an online learning platform where you can buy video courses for a whole variety of crafty subjects, as well as feedback and support from the tutor running the course. For photography, this is an excellent format for learning as you just pause to check comparable settings on your own make of camera and it gives you flexible time periods for practicing the skills you’re learning, that are often weather and light dependent.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links meaning if you sign up to the course from this blog, I get a small commission. However, any recommendations and opinions are my own. For more information, please click here.
August was supposed to be the month of working on some of my big projects, like my two large embroideries, but it seems to be the case that life is very much what happens when you’re busy trying to make plans.
astitchornine 