Craftastic New Blog: Make + Meaning

I am utterly blown away by this new community blog called Make + Meaning, which I've just read about over on another fave blog, CraftyPod. Make & Meaning is the brainchild of CraftyPod founder, Diane Gilleland (pictured, right), and Paul Overton (below right), the dude behind Dude Craft.

From the About page: We believe in making, and we love the fact that the internet allows makers to meet and geek out together, regardless of geography. There are many, many websites that celebrate making in all its forms. We created Make & Meaning to celebrate all the ways making enhances our lives, and all the things it causes us to think about.


It's a fabulous portal of interesting articles about making and blogging about making. I have only had a chance to read 3 articles so far, but I can tell I'm going to be spending a LOT of time on this site! The articles I've read have been very thought-provoking, spot-on observations about the internal struggles and daily interactions of crafty types like me (us?).

For instance, Dudecraft's article titled, Free: A Case Study, expounds on the positive aspects of sharing your crafty content for free, as opposed to safe-guarding it out of fear that others will steal and profit from your hard-won lessons and techniques, something I ponder often.

Another great read, Lots of People Are Not Like Us, really hit home for me. The author, Pip from meet me at mike's (pictured, left), discusses how those of us fully engaged in the online crafting community tend to forget that many other folks we encounter "IRL" are not makers, bloggers, or even readers of blogs. Even fellow crafters are often unaware of the wondrous resources available for makers on the interwebs, and those of us who are can/should be ambassadors, spreading the word about all the creative tutorials, inspiring websites, handmade marketplaces and more that are available online.

See what I mean?! This is great stuff. Thank you, Paul, Diane, Pip & all of the other talented contributors for bringing us this wonderful blog! Do yourself a favor and check Make + Meaning out - you will be instantly drawn in. Adding it to the Crafty Mishmash sidebar & my Google Reader now...