Valentown Museum

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This is the Valentown Museum, which houses The Peddlers Corner gift shop. It features an interesting blend of old, reproduction and new merchandise plus work of area artists, including my Sticky Notes. Diane is the proprietor and you may recall she approached me at the May Victor show because she thought my pieces looked "quilty", something I hear from time to time. She's done a nice job of putting this gift shop together, given the limited space and resources. There's a wall display of teacups that look vintage, but they're not. They are displayed in an old cubby-hole type shelf unit, which explains why I was drawn to it.

They are having an Open House next Tuesday, July 31, 6:00-9:00, featuring tours and light refreshments. I told Diane I'd stop by after work. It will be nice to meet some of the other artists. My postcard says, "Bring a friend" - so I'm posting this here as an open invitation.

The museum has been here as long as I can remember, but not always open, I don't think. It's always looked rather abandoned and mysterious to me. But they've fixed it up now and rebuilt the front porch. I learned recently that it was built by Levi Valentine in 1879 as a shopping center and community center. He built it on his own land next to where the railroad was supposed to come through but the railroad ran out of money before reaching Valentown. It remained abandoned until 1940 when it was turned into a Historical Museum.

Stuff I didn't know before.

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Elsita's Bee

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This 6 cm miniature paper bee sculpture was designed and made by Elsita, for sale in her Etsy shop. It's made of 25 pieces, hand cut, shaped and glued together. Isn't it amazing? The detail is incredible. Well done.

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Ladybug Pin

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Ladybug Pin, $3.00

RMSC Holiday Show

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I've been accepted into
the Rochester Museum & Science Center Holiday Show!!!

You could probably hear me screaming from there after I got my acceptance in yesterday's mail. Just this past weekend I had made a decision to put all my eggs in this basket because I had to respond about another show this same weekend.

And continuing with our over-extended theme, I've decided to do two shows at once: the Brighton Lodge show and Perinton Square Mall. Both are "boutique" style shows where I only have to work a few hours at each one.

The icing on the cake? Those two shows are the weekend before the big museum show - the 2 weekends before Thanksgiving. If I'm in a state of panic now about having enough product, in July, imagine how I'll be by then.

I've already reserved that week in between in a comfy rubber room.

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Copper Hearts

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This card is for an order but it will go on the Pine Tree Designs website tonight.

Right now I have to scoot off to my stoooopid day job. It's not really stoooopid, but my inner 4-year old keeps thinking, "It's not fair!" I received an email Monday morning from the company that audits us quarterly - she wants to come next week. That means I will have spent 3 out of 4 weeks with various auditors. I can't figure out who to be mad at, except the universe, and that's never recommended, what with the karmic boomerang and all.

Like I said before, I don't find these audits to be all that stressful, but they are tedious and boring. Most importantly, they take me away from my regular work which is dreadfully behind. That's the part I don't like.

The good news is that the whirlwind of socializing these past couple of weeks is over. This week I take Verona to the vet Wednesday night and I get a massage after work Thursday. Otherwise, the week and weekend is mine, all mine.

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OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Dad sent me this - it cracks me up. I love the part where it looks like they are skating. Ok Go seems to be a band that has created it's own subculture with knock-off videos and contests, etc.

(I just realized my notify message says I posted my first You Tube video - I meant here. Not that I posted a video on You Tube!)
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That Pirate Movie

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I made this Notepad for my good friend Pam. We did a B & B this morning. That's breakfast and beads store. I intended to buy only beading needles but I found a tube of delicious frosty blue beads I didn't have. I have enough tubes (I first typed tubs - wouldn't that be cool??) of seed beads now that I really need to carry a list of my bead inventory in my purse so I don't duplicate.

~ ~ ~

Steve and I went with his mom and sister to dinner last night, followed by the 3rd pirate movie. Sorry, I can't keep them straight - had to look it up - this one is called At World's End. I don't think I liked it as well as the first two, but my companions liked it a lot.

I think maybe it was just a long day for me. The movie was 3 hours long, the fight scenes went on too long and Johnny Depp wasn't on screen enough for me. (He doesn't even appear for the first 30 minutes.) However, there are a bunch of scenes with multiple Jack Sparrows in them, so at the least the volume of Johnnys Per Scene was acceptable at times. And Orlando Bloom is another hunk o' burnin' love normally but when he dons that do-rag/pirate's scarf thing on his head at the end, he was totally swoon-worthy! The special effects are great, but they aren't a surprise anymore, in a way. The first time I saw Davy Jones (no, Gretchen, not that one - I wish!) was amazing - how did they do that? This time? Oh yeah, there's tentacle face again.

Loved Keith Richards.

Stay through the credits (which Steve and I are compulsive about anyway) - this one also has a bonus scene.

I'd give it a 7 out of 10. Fun movie overall.

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Pink Flowers

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See? Not everything I make is in the blue/green/purple family! This is one of 5 of the original 13 Notepad Sets left that I'm calling my "Father/Daughter Limited Edition". Dad lathe-turned the wood pen inside and I made the cover to hold the pen and 4" x 6" notepad inside. I'm only charging $14 and you know the pen is worth way more than that but Dad is being a stubborn ol' coot about the price.

I had two pieces of very good news this week, within 24 hours actually. The owner of Artizanns wants to purchase some of my Sticky Notes for her beautiful store in Naples. I haven't received the actual order yet so I'm only semi-celebrating until it's official.

Yesterday I met with the owner of The Enchanted Rose Garden in Penfield (no website yet) and she asked me to join their store. This is a co-op where I'll rent space and have to work 1 day/month, which is a situation I've been in before and decided not to do again due to time constraints. But my mentor and friend, MJ Cramer, the glass painter, is in the store and highly recommends it. It's very near my house and is on a very busy road. (Attention locals: it's on 441 near the 4 corners of Penfield.) The rent is a little higher than I would have liked but I trust MJ completely. It's just a 4-month lease to begin, which takes us almost through the big holiday season, so that will be a good trial period for them and me.

I was thinking yesterday as I drove to the store on my lunch hour, what a difference a couple of years makes. When I visited my first store a couple of years ago, I was soooo nervous, wondering if my work was good enough, fearing being rejected. Yesterday, I found myself just eager to meet Eileen and learn the particulars of the store. I've had such an overwhelming good reaction to my work at shows that I know my work is acceptable - just needed to see if I would be a good fit for that store and if it would fit me.

The store is in an old house so it has lots of rooms. I started channeling Mom the moment I walked in, "Wow, there is a LOT of stuff in here." The first floor is 90% the owner's space, all buy-and-resell stuff. Honestly, I didn't look at it very closely. The second floor is where the majority of vendors rent space. I immediately found MJ's area and saw a corner next to it that appeared to be vacant, though a few things had been moved into to make it look less vacant. I was so hoping that was the available space - it was!

Walking past MJ's painted glassware area is whimsical painted stuff (glassware, clocks, furniture) by Stephanie Teitsworth. I knew her work from a couple of shows we did together - in fact I bought a set of salt & pepper shakers from her at the Powers Farm Market show. We both worked the same shift at Powers so I got to know her a tiny bit. So I think my stuff will be prefect in that corner - the whole section will be colorful and happy.

I emailed Eileen last night my intention - yes, I'm interested. So presumably that will be effective August 1. I'll post more about that here and on Pine Tree Designs as the time gets closer. I'll do an email and postcard mailing too, once the 2 stores are finalized. (If you know you're not already on either list and want to be, email me to be added to the list.)

Driving back to the office after meeting with Eileen, I found myself quoting MJ, "Now I'm over-extended, just how I like it." She cracks me up. I might not like being over-extended as much as she does - I just need to figure out how to make Pine Tree Designs profitable enough that I can retire from the day job.

And do not get me started on that. Last week, you may recall, was spent entirely with an outside auditor. This week has been spent entirely with 2 New York State sales tax auditors. I honestly don't mind working with these guys, it's not as scary as it sounds. They are just people doing their jobs and I'm doing my job. But this means I haven't touched my "regular" work in 2 weeks. If this kind of pressure kept up, I'd be going back to a weekly massage, let me tell you.

I'm hoping for a "normal" week, next week. And of course I'll be stitching my little fingers to the bone every other minute, in order to keep up with this new found demand. Good news, like I said.

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Turquoise & Tan

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A new Sticky Notes pad, made with cardstock & variegated thread. Holds a 3" x 3" self-adhesive pad of paper. I love this color combination. I've had two custom orders come through for framed pieces in this color scheme. (Hi Laura & Liz!)

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I Love This Country!

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Wearable paper art pin, 1-1/2" in diameter, made of cardstock, variegated thread and tiny seed beads. $3.00. Available in blue, green, burgundy - or custom orders welcomed.

~ ~ ~

So, jury duty. It's over. I was required to check the website twice/day, beginning Friday afternoon. You know, that feeling I had that I wouldn't have to actually serve? By Tuesday morning it had dissipated as I watched the numbers loom closer to 395. Yep, at 12:45 Tuesday, they posted that I had to report no later than 1:45. So downtown I went.

I was impressed with their set-up 7 years ago but I was even more impressed this time. Lots of good signage to get you to the right room. The room is brightly lit, plenty of comfy chairs and tables, complete with wireless access. The process was explained to us by a guy who didn't act at all like he's said the same thing twice/day for years.

Long story short (ha!), 2:00 came and went without us being moved to a courtroom to begin selection. At 2:23 we were told the accused had waived his right to a jury trial, going with a bench trial and we were dismissed. As we were told the above, I was sure we would have to report this morning since we never went through the process. Nope. So 2-1/2 hours total out of my life and I'm good for 6 more years.

I went back to work, much to my boss's relief since the dreaded NY state sales tax auditor is due back today. Last time he was here I was on vacation in Las Vegas. Thought I'd escaped him again this week, but no such luck.

Heck, I didn't even have time to finish a chapter in the book I brought.

So that's my non-story about jury duty. I wouldn't have minded serving, I don't think - unless it was really horrific and gruesome. I find it all very interesting. It's the not knowing, if and when you'll have to go, that checking the website twice/day part I don't care for. I'm a planner, don't you know.

I didn't even know that not-knowing was bothering me so much until afterwards, I feel so relieved that I can get back to my regularly scheduled program. Me, me, me!

~ ~ ~

I went to a meeting last night about a new-to-me November craft show. It was kind of a show & tell for us new vendors. It's a very nice group of women that produce this show. Seemed like only a few of us are serious about our businesses, the others are hobbyists, but that's okay. Different strokes. It's a 3-dayer in a different part of town (Brighton) so that will be good. I'm going to do it. I'll post the particulars on the website and here as the time gets closer.

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Deck Tour

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We had some weird microburst blow through our deck this past week. (Microburst is a straight-line tornado.) Our old umbrella was bent over at a 90 degree angle, right where it pokes out of the table. The table was not even chipped but one of the table legs was through the webbing of one of the chairs so it must have had some lift at some point. Otherwise, nothing on the deck was disturbed - not the lightweight resin chairs, not the birdfeeders, nothing! It was very bizarre.

It was my fault that it happened because I'd left the umbrella up that day. So it serves me right it took me 3 stores to find a new one and this is literally the only one the Penfield Wegmans had left. Target has already replaced their outdoor section with back-to-school stuff. Walmart didn't have any either. Lucky for me, this lime green is a color I would have chosen if I'd had a choice.

Steve's sister is in town from Colorado so we had his family out for dinner Sunday. So we did a little sprucing up and I thought I'd give you a quick tour. Some of the stuff will look familiar to long-time readers - just that it's this year's version. I don't fix what ain't broke.

We bought this rabbit planter at Home Depot because it's super heavy and wanted something to weight down a warped deck board. Until we fix it permanently, this was a quick fix solution.

(Click on any of the pictures to make them larger.)

But it looked stupid out in the middle of the deck so I rearranged a birdbath and some plants to make this little grouping. That's the same birdbath I made years ago - it's a plastic pot turned upside down with the saucer on top. The birds love it - and it turns out it's exactly the right height to serve as a beagle water dish.

I'm very proud of my flower boxes, by the way. They are very helter skelter, more of a collage of plantings rather than my usual symmetrical line-up. It was an exercise in creativity for me - turns out it didn't kill me after all. (Gretchen, Steve's sister-in-law Sue wanted me to be sure to tell you about them. I'd told her how our personalities differ in that regard.)

I'm growing a pot full of cherry tomatoes this year. There are a couple just about ready to eat. This is a little china saucer on a stick I bartered at a recent craft show - it's for bird seed or water. I put water in it and birds seem to like it.

You can't tell this flag is new or anything, can you?? Clearance aisle at Target.

Steve gave me this hanging basket for Mother's Day. It's from Wegmans and is doing better than the ones I bought from the greenhouse. I think it's a better pot somehow. It feels like I can pour gallons of water into this thing before it runs out the bottom. (Yes, we know our house needs painting. That's next year's project. 2007 was the Year of the New Driveway.)

This is the lower deck where we always sit for a while after we get out of the hot tub. You'll notice my long-time favorite - enamel kettle with a green sweet potato vine, a red sweet potato vine with a spike in the center. Check out that pot in the foreground. On a whim (yes, me!) I planted some cosmos in some of my pots and boxes. I'd grown them in the ground before but never in a pot. They grew so fast, I swear I could see them grow. I didn't remember their stalks being so thick. I'm wondering if they sucked up all the water and nutrients because the other plants in this pot have barely grown at all. These shot up several feet tall. The cosmos in the window boxes however, didn't grow as tall and the other plants with them are thriving. I'm thinking they must have pretty extensive root systems, if given the chance.

More pictures tomorrow.

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The Right Things

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This is the new pattern by Erica Fortgens I just started stitching for some new Sticky Notes. I never work on white circles, it seems, so in stitching one yesterday I thought it needed a little something. So I combined a green variegated thread with a blue variegated thread and it turned out really cool! It will look even better assembled with embellishments but I love the subtle color changes of this. Fun!

~ ~ ~

An alert to my fellow crafters: Stamp & Go has a sale today where shipping is 13 cents if you spend over $13. They have a lot of cool stuff! I bought 2 huge circle punches.

~ ~ ~

Work has been very stressful this week. We have an auditor with us all week, not the usual type we have quarterly but along those lines. He's looking at a full year instead of a quarter and he's asking for a wider variety of information. None of it is rocket science, but it's tedious. And really, really boring. I was on vacation last week and may be on jury duty some or all of next week so I'm trying to cram a lot into this week.

I never work through lunch though lots of people at work do. I really enjoy taking that hour to eat lunch whilst surfing the net, then stitching the last 30-40 minutes. But yesterday, I did consider working straight through. I ate while working, felt my shorts twisting, thinking, "Who are you kidding?? You know yourself better than this. You need that time to recharge for the afternoon. You're gonna be c-r-a-n-k-y!" (Gonna be??)

So I decided to stitch for my last 30 minutes. I decided a change of scenery would do me good as well, and since it's cooled off today (low 70s) I sat outside at one of the picnic tables. Sitting in the sun, listening to Craft Sanity interviews on my iPod Shuffle while stitching a new pattern - was exactly the right thing to do. I highly recommend the Craft Sanity podcasts to any crafters, by the way. Since I usually stitch at my desk, it's cool, because I can look stuff up on the Internet as they talk about it. Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood is a good interviewer and she interviews very interesting artists.

For instance, the interview I'm listening to now inspired me to find the Craft in America DVD on Netflix. I moved it to the top of my queue; I can't wait to watch it. (Steve & I recently increased our Netflix membership. We each have a queue with 1 DVD available at a time for those things the other doesn't want to watch. And we have a joint queue for stuff we both like. It's worked out fairly well actually.)

Which reminds me to tell you about Modern Masters on the Fine Living channel. Having Tivo, I don't know where channels are anymore so I don't know if Fine Living is readily available or only on digital cable. I don't know when the show is on but you can find it at that link. Now that we have our two Tivos connected to our home network I can watch stuff in my studio that I've recorded on the family room Tivo. In fact Tivo suggested this show. I'm going to get a season pass now that I've watched a couple of episodes. These artists are indeed masters. (Dad, both episodes happened to feature very impressive woodworkers. One does low-relief carving and the other turned slices of trees into flooring.) Fantastic stuff.

The other thing I did right yesterday was I had a massage - bliss. A couple of weeks ago I scheduled it for this week, thinking it might be stressful. You may recall I was getting a massage every week for most of 2006 because work was so stressful that year. Then it became less stressful so I tapered off to every few weeks. They were nice but not the "required maintenance" they once were. Yesterday was like the old days. I was totally in the moment and it washed away every drop of stress.

Now today is Friday and who can't do a Friday?? It's my turn to bring in breakfast so I'm bringing in a sheet breakfast pizza. Not to over focus on food, but there's that.

It won't be much of a Stefani weekend - we have a couple of activities planned with Steve's family - his sister arrives from Colorado on Saturday. But at least after 5:30 tonight I'll know if I have jury duty next week. I've had jury duty before and find the process interesting so I don't actually mind it - it's just not knowing until the last minute part that doesn't sit well with a planner like me. I've been acting as if I have to go so if I don't, it will be a big bonus. And after the massage I decided it's physically impossible to get all my work caught up by the end of today so if I do have jury duty next week, I'll go in Sunday to file the 7 sales tax returns that are due next week. (It's just more efficient for me to do it than have someone else fill in. They'd have to think too much.) Having a back-up plan is much better than stressing myself out.

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Ready to Go

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All punched out, ready to go.

These circles have a new design for Sticky Notes, which entails quite a bit of stitching so these may not get any beads. Well, not all of them anyway. (You know I had fun arranging this stack in a colorful order, right?)

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Red, White & Blue and Johnny Depp

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7" x 7", made with cardstock, thread and paint. $26.00

I've mentioned that Steve and I have been watching some old TV shows via Netflix DVDs. We're watching 21 Jump Street now, a show neither one of us ever watched back in the day. At first I wasn't sure I could stick with it, it's so 80s-over-the-top, it makes me cringe. Especially that Peter DeLuise - stop overacting!! But it's kind of growing on me. And that poor Johnny Depp. One would never know from this show that he would turn into an amazing actor.

Here's some trivia from that imdb link above, true or not:

Johnny Depp and Peter Deluise sang the JUMP!! backup vocals to the opening theme song while Holly Robinson sang the lead.

Johnny Depp did not want to work on a television series but agreed to a six-year contract only because he did not believe the show would last more than one season. He also found it difficult to turn down the money and the chance to work with Frederic Forrest. But the show became a huge success mostly due to Depp's presence. By the third season, Depp was chafing at having to stay with the show instead of accepting various film offers. He began to complain about the scripts and often gave listless performances. With the help of his lawyers, Depp was released from his contract and left the show after the fourth season.

When Johnny Depp became increasingly disillusioned with the show, the actor would amuse himself by changing his lines.

Johnny Depp often wore a tube sock in his pants as a joke during the filming of this show.

As Johnny Depp became increasingly frustrated with the series, he began to put forth ridiculous suggestions for his character to the producers. One such a suggestion included the discovery by the other characters that Tom Hanson was obsessed with peanut butter, and would be discovered by the other characters smearing it all over his naked body.

And so I leave you with that image of Johnny Depp's naked body. The end.

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Etsy

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5" x 5" Framed Mandala, made with cardstock and variegated thread.

So the first day back to work after vacation is over. As predicted, it was fine once I got there. Now that's over and it's back to regular smooth sailing.

~ ~ ~

I remember back in the day when Hilari Ford posted about the start up of Etsy.com, an online store to buy and sell handcrafted items. I thought, "Hmmmph, that will never work. It will be full of sellers and no buyers." I apparently don't know jack. Etsy.com is very successful, it turns out, and all the cool kids are doing it, like my friend Ann, with her Digital Paperie store.

I heard an interview with the owners of Etsy a while ago, which boosted my opinion immediately. I check out a lot of artist websites and have really been noticing lately not only how many sell on Etsy but how many have multiple online selling venues. I finally get it - it's a good thing, like selling your stuff in multiple stores. So just yesterday I decided to stop thinking about joining Etsy and start doing something about it.

As fate would have it, this morning I read an email from Ann, telling me of her great success with Etsy. So this morning I registered and set up my profile. I'll keep working on it and announce it here when I'm done and also provide a link. But I'm warning you, Etsy is another place you can spend hours and hours, like Flickr - one thing leads to another - it's addicting!

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New Stitched & Beaded Pin

.This is the last component to go in the box to the owner of Artizanns. It's a pin, about 1-3/4" in diameter. I have to figure a price yet - probably $4.00. I like it so much I'm going to make one now for me to wear to work today - in what else - turquoise!

I'm already sending her a gecko Sticky Notes but I think I'll throw this one in too since this stitched pattern is one of my favorites.

I'm going to mail the box on my way to work this morning. This is something I planned to do early last week but I think I was experiencing a little "fear of failure, fear of success" syndrome. I tell myself it's because I felt like I should add one more thing - and the pin was it. I thought about a bookmark but the ones I have ready to be assembled have zero stitching on them so I'm going to be rethinking that. That's my niche and that's what I eventually want, that (most) everything I offer will have stitching on it in some way.

There's a phrase I read in the paper yesterday that I can't get out of my head. It's what Steve says too so I've heard it before - "core competency". As in don't stray too far from your core competency. Stitching and beads, that's me.

By the way, my weekend long pep talk didn't work. Returning to work today after a week's vacation has left me in one foul mood. It will be okay once I get there. It's one of those things where the anticipation is worse than the event.
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Beads, Work and Movies

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I can't stop beading!

In addition to beading and stitching today, I'll be cutting more circles and poking more patterns so I have work ready-to-go for the next few weeks.

My biggest task today, however, is to step up the pep talk I started giving myself on Friday. Tomorrow I return to work after this wonderful week of vacation days, the way I was meant to live, by the way. One of the women in our department is on vacation this week. We have a new auditor in all week, reviewing records from the past 13 months. Blah, blah, blah.

It goes like this: I like my job. I like the people I work with. I enjoy the work. It pays adequately. It supplies me with benefits. It's a steady income.

How did I do on the sincerity meter?? No, really, I do mean all those things. As far as jobs go, it really suits me pretty well, for the most part.

I read a bit of Money magazine in the eye doctor's office last weekend. I wanted to read more so I bought an issue afterwards. One of the articles I was interested in was about entrepreneurs, one of my favorite subjects. One of the most meaningful things I read was the advice to hang on to the "day job" as long as possible when starting a new business. It made me see my accounting job in a new light - as a positive, that is making everything else possible. Sometimes I feel a little resentful that it takes up 40+ hours/week when I could be attending to my passion - paper art. I know that's dumb, but that's how I felt sometimes. Now I'm seeing it as one of the steps that needs to be taken to reach my larger goal - that Pine Tree Designs be a self-sufficient business that supports me.

~ ~ ~

Steve and I watched two movies last night - Snow Walker and Walk the Line. I think I put Snow Walker in our queue based on a Netflix suggestion after returning 8 Below. I enjoyed it more than Steve did though he liked it okay. I like what I call character study movies. Walk the Line was very good. I had no idea June Carter was so spunky, funny and strong. I thought she was more subservient, for lack of a better word. Reese Witherspoon seems very likable from interviews I've seen. I just put another couple of her movies in our queue.

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Blue with White Hearts

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This is the greeting card that's going in the package to the owner of Artizanns.

I was feeling a bit of low level depression yesterday, being the last official day of my week's vacation and all. I never did go out for a smoothie or lunch. Too much trouble. And I knew Steve and I would probably be getting take out for dinner, being Friday and all. Turns out he got out of work early so we took Reggi for a walk and picked up dinner on our way home. Two slices of pizza for me and a bunch of chicken wings for him. I should have put early in quotes because it was early for him & his ridiculously long days but he still put in well over 8 hours.

So I worked the day away in my studio, pretty happy about that. I'm making cards in batches and have been working on centers similar to the one above. I have a dozen or more of the stitched components done and have been stitching the beads onto the cardstock. I use different combinations of colors of cardstock and thread and have kind of been making do with the beads I have - some of which I've literally had since the 60s. (I've said it before, the only area where I'm a pack rat is my craft possessions. And see? They do eventually become useful again.)

All of a sudden I realized I could go to Let's Bead and buy more beads. Just like that. Now. None of this, I could go on my lunch hour tomorrow or this weekend. Now. And so I did.

I bought 10 tubes - it wasn't easy to decide which ones. Except guess what? I can always go back and buy more as I need them. They are only $1.50/tube. What fun!

The only problem is I'm unsure of pricing now. Adding beads is more work and more expense but I don't want to price myself out of customers. But I deserve a fair profit. Have to think on this some more.

Life is good.
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Stickies & Gift Tags Announced

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New Sticky Notes are up - the gecko, frog and flipflops.

I sent out a Pine Tree Designs newsletter last night. (Sign up is on the bottom of the front page or email me if you'd like to join my low volume mailing list.) I say newsletter but it was just a simple email really. I tried using Constant Contact for a while. I liked it - it was fun, provided cool statistics and looked very professional but it didn't generate enough orders to justify the cost at the time. Since then, as a result of participating in area craft shows, I've come to realize that people like the personal touch. I also used to try to send a newsletter monthly and it wasn't easy to keep up. So now I'm considering quarterly or whenever I have several new designs or shows to announce. I'll find my rhythm.

2-1/2" square (folded) Gift Tags are now available too.

I've been on vacation from the accounting day job all week and loved every minute of it. I got caught up on lots of things earlier in the week, errands, Freecycling, house projects, etc. Then realized that I better get cracking if I wanted to accomplish all the Pine Tree Designs things I'd had in mind. So yesterday was how I think my day would go if I didn't have the day job, if Pine Tree Designs was my full-time job. I worked from 5:00 am to 9:00 pm, with normal breaks thrown in. (I was happy I ate at regular meal times - I've been afraid if I worked at home, I'd graze all day or something. It's called mindful self-control, Stef, try it, it's not that hard.)

I made cards, updated the website, balanced my bank accounts. I think if I was doing this full time, I'd make Monday my paperwork day, for instance, and one day per week would be for updating the website to keep it fresh. I know, best laid plans and all that. Gotta be flexible too. And I wouldn't always work such long days, but I could if I wanted to. It doesn't feel like work. If my accounting job day was ever that long, I'd go bonkers. And I like my job! But it's not my passion.

So it's Friday and I feel a wee bit depressed about the week ending. I still have 3 full days in front of me as I write this. To celebrate a successful week, I'm considering whether I should head down to the crackhouse (Dunkin' Donuts) for a crackberry smoothie - or maybe try a new place for lunch, Aja Noodle. Not to make it all about food or anything.

My paper and thread are calling me.

Red, White & Blue

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I swear it's totally a coincidence that I end up making a red, white & blue card on Independence Day. I love that new little flower punch. I bought it from the $1.00 bin at Michael's, not really expecting it to work very well, but it's great!

I also bought a tiny spiral punch that doesn't punch worth a darn. I don't know what it is about spiral punches - my larger new one is acting up, just like the previous one did. It doesn't punch cleanly enough so I can remove it from the paper. I've tried spraying it with Punch Doctor, different weights of paper. I have a bid on a discontinued swirl QuicKutz die on eBay - hopefully that will work better. I really, really love the swirl - I use it for lots of borders so I have to find a solution.

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This is the guy who did the tree trunk carving in my parents yard that I posted about here. Check out his website here.

A couple of years ago Gretchen and I went to Naples Craft Village (is that what it's called?) to poke around and getting to see Bill work was one of the highlights. We introduced ourselves and chatted him up a bit. We sat on those benches and watched him work. (This picture is from his website - that's not Gretchen.) :-)

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Dragonfly Necklace

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This is the necklace I bought for myself at Artizanns on Sunday. Wish I'd paid attention to the artist's name so I could Google her/him and provide a link. It came on this black cord but I'm probably going to put it on a silver chain I have. This is so me - the colors, the subject, the size, everything!

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Copper Sun

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8" x 8", made with cardstock, copper metallic thread,
raku-style seed beads and Swarovski crystals.

I met 2 friends in Naples on Sunday for lunch and wee bit of shopping. I'd seen a review of The Brown Hound in the paper a few weeks ago and suggested to Linda (who lives in Naples) and Lynn (who lives in Batavia) that we might have lunch there sometime as one of our non-Geva Theatre outings. My ulterior motive was that I wanted to check out a store that came highly recommended to me by two artists, Artizanns.

Lunch, or brunch rather, was fantastic! I don't see what I had on the website menu but it was French Toast with cream cheese and a Grand Marnier syrup. It's called Stephanie's Epiphany and by coincidence it was served on a plate by local potter Stephanie Marsh, whose work we later saw at Artizanns. And my name is Stefani. Get it?? We felt the universe was speaking to me. :-)

We next stopped at Elements, another gift store in Naples. It had some interesting stuff, but lots of it was of the Made in China variety unfortunately.

Artizanns however, did not disappoint. I'd poured over their website so my expectations were high. I left my card with the store manager, but then the owner, Suzanne Farley, happened in just as we were leaving so I had a chance to speak with her. She asked me to send her some samples, so the above green & copper piece is one of the things I'm shipping to her today.

We also got to confirm that the 3 of us went to high school with her brother-in-law. I remembered Bill was an artist and had a brother Tom, so I was pretty sure. Bill had some nice work displayed there as well.

I would be so honored to sell my work at Artizanns. I even bought 3 things - 2 for me, which I'll show you sometime. The third "thing" is a little something for you, Mom - maybe for your birthday. So you'll have to wait until August to see that.

I'm on vacation this week and there are no words to describe how much I enjoy being home, doing what I want, when I want, how I want. Life is good.

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Flower Envelope

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I'm in such high creative mode, what started out to be a plain green envelope to hold the check I'm leaving for my gardeners, turned into this. I can't stop myself sometimes.

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