Florine Leather & Style 1 YEAR!!!

It is time to PARTY!!!! Because, I just can’t believe it…., it’s my blog’s first birthday!!!! Exactly 1 year ago Florine Leather and Style was ‘born’ and online. It all started with an idea in my head trying to reach other leather lovers, to share knowledge (or lack of it…), experiences and to excite others to try and start with leathercraft. I didn’t know if anyone wanted to read my blog or could even find my blog in the current overcrowded cloud of blogs online. I didn’t know whether I had ‘enough to say’ for an entire year, twice a week. Though the least I could do was try… and I did it!

1 year full of new experiences…

I started about 2 years ago with leathercraft. I didn’t go to any classes but learned it from video’s, books and tutorials from others online! But my biggest lessons did I learn by just “practice, fail and do it again”. After a year I had so many questions, experiences to share and ideas I just couldn’t keep it for myself. In the summer holiday in Spain, I had to something in the siesta and purchased the URL www.florineleatherandstyle.com and started to build my website. I travelled some more and sat in trains for over 16 hours… so started to write some ideas down. Before I knew I had about 25 blog posts ready to go and chose to post them twice a week and much more to come…

Would anyone want to read it…?

You never know if anyone besides your mom wants to read it… alright maybe some friends every once in a time… but who else..? Well, the first few weeks, there was no one. ‘Doesn’t matter… just carry on, they will come’ I told myself. Besides visitors, I did it also for myself. English isn’t my first language, so some extra practice might come handy in the future. It kept me motivated to continue leathercraft, become better and better and learn some new techniques, even during my exam periods. It relaxes me after all those hours behind the computer screen and why not reflect after a project is finished in a blog post…

After one month of no visitors, I started to tell my friends I had started a blog. At first, they didn’t know what to say since they didn’t have any affiliation with leathercraft but wanted to take a look. The loved the look and my projects but the more technical parts… Well, I just had to find the right niche of readers. I started to read and learn a little about SEO, social media and soon some more visitors came. Right now, 1 year later I’ve reached over 80+ countries worldwide and 1159 unique visitors. I just can’t believe you all came and some of you even came back… Let’s see some more numbers:

The past year in numbers

Days online:          365 days (1 year !!)

Posts posted:           107 blog posts

Visitors:           1.159 unique visitors

Returning visitor:           47,1 % !!!

Countries reached:           80+

 

Something there wasn’t just yet…

Besides those numbers, I also love the fact that about 70% of my visitors is a woman! There were some blogs about leathercraft already online but most of them written by and for men. Mostly about knife sheats, bushcraft or motor seats etc…. nothing wrong with that but I figured maybe we needed some more blog topics for women. How to make your own tote bag, bags inspired on fashion designers of the present and past and what will be the trends for the next season… so that’s my main focus! But to be able to create all those projects, we needed some basic skills and knowledge as in my ‘pure leather posts’.

 

Leathercraft is addictive

As soon as you made the big step, purchased the basics and started you will recognise that feeling… it’s so addictive. Your first projects will probably look ugly and nothing like the picture in your head you imagined. But my biggest advice is…DON’T GIVE UP, YOU CAN DO IT! It might take some time but right now I still am learning so much but I am also really proud of the projects I finish. I just can’t believe that I made some of them myself… I realised my dream: I am right now able to design and make my own bags. I choose the quality myself, at a much cheaper price compared to the stores and design it exactly like I want!

Is this also something you would like? Don’t hesitate any longer. I promise you won’t regret it! I am still full of ideas for new projects, new posts and hope for many more years of Florine Leather & Style! Thank you all for reading my posts and to encourage me to continue! And as a thank you I would like to share one of my first DIY’s with you as a DIY KIT! A little update from the one I showed about 1 year ago…Keep posted on all social media platforms (Instagram & Facebook) this week how to win it and how to make it!

Lot’s of love,

Florine