Craft: transforming traditional crafts

Dear Crafters,

It's taken me a while to figure out what to write here because I am never good with goodbyes. In fact, I've been playing The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" for most of the day to give me the inspiration to write this post. It's been an amazing 5 1/2 years working at MAKE/CRAFT with such an inspiring group of people. I have decided to move on from my duties here on Craftzine.com to concentrate on my family and 2 1/2 year old daughter, Chloe.

But don't worry, here's the good part. My dear friend Diane Gilleland of CraftyPod or Sister Diane as most of us will always know her as is now the new Editor-in-Chief! Yes people, Sister Diane is here now!

It's been a fun and emotional week transitioning my work over but we've had lots of inspiring moments, laughs, good food (can we say bacon donut holes?) and just a whole lot of fun. She's a craft sister (literally!) after all.

What I've learned and maybe just realized this week is that it doesn't matter where you are or where you go really. We are all a part of this amazing craft community that all of us have built together over the years. I'm so proud of what we have accomplished together. So I say thank you to each and every one of you for inspiring me everyday. I feel lucky to count many of you as good friends now and I will be back to guest post on CRAFT from time to time. So, I finish off my part of the post by quoting my favorite Beatle Paul McCartney, "You say goodbye, but I say hello."

Blog: Coquette
Twitter: @Coquette

And now I present to you your new Editor-in-Chief of CRAFT, Diane Gilleland. Take it away, Diane!

I first met Natalie back in 2006, when I interviewed her for a podcast about a new magazine coming on the scene: CRAFT. I've been an avid reader ever since, and over time, even got to contribute some projects. The print magazine ended, but that never stopped CRAFT. It morphed into a vibrant online hub for sharing ideas at the intersection of art, craft, technology, and just plain geekery. To this day, it's always the first place I go in my RSS reader for inspiration.

...This coming full circle, and being part of this site I love so much, is still astonishing to me. I will miss Natalie's presence here as much as you will. She's one of the smartest, kindest, most talented people in our community. I do hope we'll see her around these parts from time to time, and I'll do my best to maintain her high standards of quality and inspiration. (I have a few ideas up my sleeves, too. But we'll get to that later.)

Deep breaths, everyone. Here we go!