Ladybug Treasury

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My Ladybug Sticky Notes were included in this treasury. The actual treasury is here. (That link expires Monday, 7/21 at 6:21 PM.)

It's a rainy Sunday. I've canceled the garage cleaning project in order to get a full day's worth of Pine Tree Designs work done. I finished the "quilting" on the paper quilt and it's exceeded my expectations, I think. I'll put the finishing touches on it today and post it tomorrow, the before and after.
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More Matchbooks

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I was poking around Flickr last night and saw these little matchbook notepads in one of my paper groups. I noticed Bridget folds the paper in a way that covers the staple - nice! Her Flickr page led me to ShopBub's Etsy shop. She has a lot of other nice work too - check it out.

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I still have a hankering to start a collaborative blog but I'm still letting the idea percolate a bit more. I think Hilari made a good point the other day about Flickr groups. I love Flickr groups and belong to a whole bunch (63 as of now), many of which are paper related.

• NEW I Made it Myself (10,383 members)
• NEW Catchy Colors (51,223 members)
• NEW Corners of My Home (5,430 members)
• NEW Crafter's Central (3,122 members)
• NEW IKEA Lovers (2,436 members)
• NEW Beadwork and Jewelry Making (2,420 members)
• NEW CRAFT (4,705 members)
• NEW get crafty! (5,379 members)
• Carve your stamps (934 members)
• Origami Tessellations (342 members)
• Bead Porn (1,541 members)
• Paper Craft (764 members)
• Use what you have (1,035 members)
• Tips for Recycling and Reusing (1,030 members)
• Color and Colors (9,826 members)
• Snail Mail Joy! (316 members)
• Beagles (1,170 members)
• Handmade Cards (1,284 members)
• stationery junkies (929 members)
• Paper Quilling (165 members)
• Arts & crafts fairs & shows (859 members)
• A world of origami (446 members)
• Beadaholics (1,150 members)
• Nice Package! (1,830 members)
• Foldingfreaks Origami (570 members)
• Good Paper Goods (1,065 members)
• Paper Lovers (192 members)
• Try It Tuesdays (388 members)
• Finish What You Have (137 members)
• Pretty Organized (2,156 members)
• Paper Crafting (1,308 members)
• Got Beagle? (358 members)
• Art Studio (1,933 members)
• Mail Art (656 members)
• Craft as Art (654 members)
• Origami (806 members)
• Craft Rooms (2,675 members)
• Handbound Books (750 members)
• Everything beaded (198 members)
• Haberdashery / Notions (383 members)
• Beautiful Boxes (353 members)
• Buttons (648 members)
• World Arts and Craft; clay, paper and more (486 members)
• Handmade (FOLLOW THE RULE, leave a comment on the shot on (1,273 members)
• Beads Beads Beads (1,005 members)
• Origami boxes (159 members)
• Paper Fetish (1,605 members)
• One Window to the World (449 members)
• Quickutz Creations (26 members)
• **beautiful shop** (441 members)
• Envelopes (184 members)
• Embroidery and science (130 members)
• artisans' exchange (210 members)
• Needle books (237 members)
• Paper Snowflakes (48 members)
• Surface Designs (167 members)
• Association Game! (58 members)
• Lost Pet Posters (154 members)
• DIY (Do-it-yourself) Holidays 2007 (173 members)
• origami army (73 members)
• Taylor Parker Fan Club (45 members)
• folding papers plane origami (14 members)

It's all photos, good traffic, already organized. Once I joined Etsy, my Flickr participation dropped significantly. I love Flickr, so at least for now, I'm going to delve back into that.

That's good news for you, because I always find cool stuff I want to show you.

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Christmas in July

.I added a sale section to my online shop in order to clear a few older items from inventory. These are old-school pieces, nothing hand-stitched. And the prices are insane. Really, I just want these cards to find good homes.

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My friend Linda and I went to see Menopause, the Musical yesterday at Geva Theatre. It was thoroughly enjoyable. It actually had a bit of a plot mixed in with the 25 re-lyricized songs, all of which we knew (in their original form). It's a toe-tapping good show!

We ate an early dinner at a new restaurant in Pittsford Plaza, Farm Fresh Kitchen. I wish the menu was a bit bigger, but they did just open within the last month or two, so perhaps it will increase. As the name implies, it's all fresh, organic, healthy food - served in an upscale contemporary style. The calories are listed next to each item, none of which is over 500 calories, including desserts.

The waitress said they are due to get their liquor license Friday. We saw the alcoholic offerings listed on the dessert menu, in preparation for Friday, and it looked to be a fairly extensive selection. I understand that certain wines can be good for you, but I'm not clear on why they serve all the different martinis, for example. They can't put a stinkin' salt shaker on the table but I could get schnockered on a watermelon martini, if I so choose. (I don't recall specific martinis listed but that sounds like a real martini, doesn't it?)

The food was very delicious and fully satisfying. (We opted not to have dessert, but crossing the street for a slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory did cross our minds!)

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Better?

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Swirley Orange Mandala, Hand Stitched on Cardstock with Variegated High Sheen Polyester Thread, in an 8" x 8" Frame, $32

Once Bonnie & Gretchen mentioned that poor choice of frame (my words, not theirs!) for the orange swirly piece in yesterday's entry, I could immediately see they were right. I almost logged into my Etsy shop from work and inactivated that item, but I toughed it out until I got home from work.

First thing I did last night was reframe it in a bigger frame. Much better, yes? What the hell was I thinking yesterday? Sometimes I get stuck focusing on the wrong things and forget about the big picture, so to speak.

I have the best advisers - thank you!

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Orange Tree

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5" x 5" Hand Stitched Framed Art, $22

Finally I'm able to start the process of photographing my framed art. I want to re-do the framed art already in my Etsy shop plus I have some new ones to add, like this one above. Orange used to be one of my least favorite colors, but it's starting to grow on me. I've been trying to combine it with colors other than black. It looks very nice and fresh with white, I've noticed.

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I'm going through another simplify phase. Actually my life is always in that phase, I like to think, but it ebbs and flows to degrees. Especially with magazines. You too? Last year I subscribed to several art magazines. But I'm always dreadfully behind in reading them. Before vacation I sorted them all out, put them in chronological order and have been plowing through them, deciding if it is a keeper or not. Rather than wait for the subscription to run out, I've canceled a couple, asking for refunds. That will improve my cash flow and not increase my reading pile.

I run through phases with email newsletters too. I'm trying to weed out the marginal ones. They are mostly from vendors I've used and want to keep an eye on - but sometimes they are just too darn prolific. I sort of say all this cautiously, since I too produce a newsletter for Pine Tree Designs though I don't think anyone can accuse me of being prolific. I've said before that I worry about being considered a spammer, which I know is ridiculous. In fact I've heard from 2 friends lately on unrelated matters - that have said how much they enjoy my newsletters and seeing what's new with my business. Cool!

(If you want to join my newsletter mailing list, there's a sign-up right on the front page.)

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Matchbook Notepads

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Doesn't this look like something I should be making? I found this idea in the Etsy forums. The woman offering the idea uses it as a promotional item to give to her customers - those are her products on the front. She made the mosaic at Big Huge Labs. I played around on that site for a few minutes - lots of fun stuff.

But since paper IS my gig - should I make this as a small (but larger than a matchbook) notepad suitable for purses and pockets? Could I include enough paper to make it worthwhile? Would I put an actual tiny design on the front or photos like this? An actual design would get funky in a purse or pocket. But would my customers buy photos on this when they have the real deal (stitched design) on something else? Do I just incorporate this with my business card to be a promotional item only - but only for paying customers, not just a giveaway? That's a lot of work for a giveaway. My business cards are already a lot of work - each has a hand stitched (thanks Mom!) design on it. Maybe just hand stitch my logo on the front of this, without layers or beads?

My current business card - but my tag line now reads: Handstitched Paper Art.

I absolutely love these little matchbook items. I know there's an idea percolating in there for me. Any help from my Research & Development Team (you, my faithful readers) is welcomed and appreciated.

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Hilari Ford

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This was in a treasury today on Etsy! (That link will only work until Sunday morning, 6/22.) It's all turquoise stuff from Hilari Ford's "vast archive of favorite sellers".

I've told this story before but Hilari is the one that turned me on to Etsy when it was starting up a few years ago. I thought harumph, it will be filled with all sellers and no buyers. Boy, is my face red. I certainly didn't foresee it turning into the well trafficked high class joint it is today.

And the reason I knew Hilari at all is because she wrote a column for the now-defunct Expressions magazine. Her column was my favorite part of that magazine. One column particularly hit a note with me so I emailed the magazine a note that I asked them to forward to Hilari. Never happened but sometime later a friend of hers Googled her name and my blog popped up, where I had written about this article. So she emailed me and now we're online friends. I Googled Hilari Ford just now and lots of hits showed up. Makes me wonder how hard I tried to find her that first time. Of course that was then and this is now. She has a day job but she teaches her craftiness at stamp stores, she's been on DIY's Craft Lab, stuff like that. And she's funny as hell.

I love the Internet.

(And look how many times I used her name in this post! Wait until her friend Googles her again!!)
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Ready, Set, Go!

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Whenever I do a show I offer a free drawing for something. There's an optional space to fill out one's address if they want to be on the mailing list - which most people do opt for. This is what I offered at the last show and what I'll offer at today's artist event at Artizanns. At $15, it's about double the price of what I usually offer, but goshdarnit, I just love this little set. That's a 5"x5" card, Sticky Notes and pin. (Available for sale in my Etsy shop too, for $13.)

So I think I'm all ready. It's almost 7:00 and I'm up, showered and organized in my head. I still need to punch out some designs so I have something to work on while I'm there. That's funny I've left that part until the last minute when that's really the whole point of today's event - to see an Artist in Action.

Naples, NY is about an hour away so I don't have to leave until around 10:30. It won't take me long to set up on the porch - I'm taking my framed art, gift tags and a bunch of greeting cards I made yesterday - and a few pins I have. But because Suzanne sells my Sticky Notes in her store, I'm just taking her order to her, not my big display. I'm hoping to display her Sticky Notes on my table though so I'm taking 2 small Plexiglas units. She has them lined up in a basket in her store, not the best way to view them. I'll see if she wants to keep these Plexiglas units to use in the store.

I've kept my eye on the weather forecast all week. A week ago, today was supposed to be 73 degrees - perfect! Gradually, the forecast has shifted so now we're looking for a high of 82 degrees. Still beats the 90s we've been experiencing lately. And no rain is the big key! My biggest dilemma has been whether I should wear my hair up in a ponytail or down. I think it looks better down but feels better up. I'm all about comfort these days - I've even been wearing my hair in a ponytail to work this past week, something I've never done before. (Every time I wear my hair differently - without my usual headband or in a ponytail, people tell me I look younger. What a bunch of suck-ups. I like that about them.)

My roadie (Steve) is still asleep but no doubt he'll be up soon. I'll twist his arm to make a run to Dunkin Donuts for our sandwich & smoothie breakfast. Then he can load his vehicle for me to take - he's a master at that now.

Simon is having some car problems lately so he's without vehicle. He did borrow my car last night to go visit his dad for an early Father's Day dinner so rather than drive him home, I told him to drive my car home but be back here at 10:00. It works out perfectly that I can drop him at work for his 10:30 start, because it's right on the way. And off I go.

All week I've had to keep reminding myself that this is just a 3-hour event, not a full blown day long craft show. I don't know if it being Father's Day is a good thing or not. My goals are to make a couple of sales, snag some new customers, show Suzanne what else I can do - and visit with 2 friends who live in Naples and have promised to stop by. Should be a very nice day.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

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My First Treasury!

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This 5" x 5" Framed Mandala, $22, was featured in a treasury.

A treasury is a group of 12 photos of products being sold on Etsy that are related by a theme. They are created by Etsy members and automatically expire in 2 or 3 days, I think. (Which is why I didn't link to it.) It's considered spam if the curator emails (or convos, in Etsy-speak) the sellers to let them know they appear in their treasury but I guess people do because that's how I learned about this one. Otherwise, one has to scroll through the list of 333 treasuries, looking for a gold star indicating that you have an item in that treasury.

They are pretty cool to look at it - to see what themes people think up. I can imagine they get pretty addictive - looking at them and making them. The one I appeared in is all items that are pink, black and turquoise. Theoretically appearing in a treasury could boost one's sales. So far, this treasury has had 71 views but I haven't noticed a spike in my views on that item in my shop.

I wanted to post the treasury here but am having trouble figuring out how to do that. You can't right-click-save. I tried taking a screen shot. I even downloaded ScreenGrab, an add-on that Firefox offers but even though I said grab the entire screen, the only part of the image that showed is the header and the footer - not the main part of the page. If anyone can help, please do. (Paula, how did you post yours the other day?)

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Blue Quilt Pin

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Sold one of these pins yesterday to a woman in California who bought it for her mom, a quilter, to wear to quilt shows and meetings. I love when people write me a note on their orders. In fact, this was her first purchase on Etsy! I'm honored.

Remember how I said I always stress when sending out a mailing to my Pine Tree Designs customers? I have more proof I'm being ridiculous about that. I've heard from several people who just wanted to say they can't make it to Sunday's event but always like hearing what I'm up to. I heard from a woodworker who also sells his wares at Artizanns. I heard from a show promoter I work with a lot, telling me about the new venue for one of her fall shows. I heard from an aunt in Florida.

Maybe it wasn't a mistake to send the email to my entire mailing list instead of just my local list. Hmmm, happy accident? Lesson learned.

Best of all, I heard from Suzanne, the owner of Artizanns, who said, in part, "Thanks so much for your continued support and promotion. I wish everyone, including myself, had the time/talent to promote Artizanns the way you always do . . . you're wonderful."

She's not working on Sunday but promised to stop by the store to see me.

And she ordered 30 more Sticky Notes!

Life is good.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

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Catching Up

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Sticky Notes, $4.50

Blogger has been unable to upload photos all week - at least for some of us. After a couple of days I checked other blogs, checked the Blogger Status page and looked for other posts in the Blogger Group section. Didn't see anything recent and pertinent so I posted my question with details. I signed up for email updates and almost immediately received 13 other "me too!" type emails. A Blogger employee did respond that they are working on it. One user had a work-around which I was going to use this morning but now it's working. Yay! I can't seem to bring myself to post an entry without a picture. I know, that's my silly self-imposed thing.

My point in telling you all of this is wondering why people think being abusive and immature in a quest for help is going to get them any further along. Do they think Blogger doesn't care if there product works properly?

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In Monday's post, I showed the beautiful painted box made by Abrianna Adler. I emailed her that I had done this - thought she might get a kick out of it. I also suggested she look into setting up an Etsy shop if she hadn't already. First I got a nice reply from her mom, then I received a nice note from Abrianna. Not only did I make her day - it was on her 16th birthday. I had held that box for 1-1/2 weeks, kept meaning to post about it. I ended up doing it on her birthday! I love when the universe works like that.

It turns out her aunt has an Etsy shop so this weekend she's going to help Abrianna set up her own shop. I also offered to give Abrianna some craft show contacts if she's interested in participating in more shows. I haven't heard back yet but I suspect I will.

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Remember when I posted the before and after pictures of Bruce Jenner? Then someone left a comment that his plastic surgery was due to a tragic house fire? Then I felt bad about poking fun so I researched it further and couldn't find any evidence of the fire story except in the sometimes unreliable Wikipedia.

Yesteday I received a comment from Summer that said:

I don't believe the fire rumor about bruce jenner, there are photos of him here. I also checked wikipedia and it appears that they changed his bio and it no longer contains the fire story.

That link even has a timeline of his face!

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A couple of weeks ago I posted here and sent a couple of group emails to Internet friends and work friends about my sister Gretchen running the half marathon on behalf of Team Semper Fi, as a fundraiser. She completed the half marathon last Sunday - and hit 220% of her goal! So thanks to all my friends who donated. We both appreciate your generosity!

Her account of the run is in her blog.

In other good news, her son returned home from his second deployment to Iraq on Mother's Day. Best gift ever, huh?

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Paint it Black

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I bought this painted wood plate at the May 1 Casa Larga craft show. It's 8-1/2" in diameter. Isn't it gorgeous? I have it sitting in a plate stand on the mantle, next to another painted piece I bought at the Mercy High School craft sale. I'll show you that tomorrow.

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Meanwhile I used my light box for the first time and took photos of new product to put in my Etsy shop. And I photographed every existing piece in the shop, except for the framed art. That's next but I have to take the glass out so it will be quite a project. I've been wanting to do this for so long. I hope it will help my sales. Based on the number of views I get, I would think my sales would be higher. I think these photos from different angles will give a better idea about the product than the flat scan does. I still need a little more practice. I think I need different paper on my light box. In some cases, because the lighting is so soft, I think the product looks blurry. Oh well, it's my first effort. Practice makes perfect.

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We took Reggi for two long walks this weekend. Saturday we went to Ellison Park, where Steve and I both remarked it has been decades since either of us had been there. It's such a beautiful park, we'll surely return there regularly.

Sunday, we walked along the canal from Schoen Place, not towards Fairport, the other way. (I don't know what to call that direction.) They've done a very nice job of improving that area - wide sidewalks, landscaping. Reggi's back is so totally healed, we had forgotten about it. Her allergies are really acting up so she does a lot of what the vet calls "inverted sneezing". Sounds like she's coughing to death. We give her Benedryl twice a day during allergy season, which we're thick in the middle of here. I told Steve if I was "coughing" like she was, I'd be curled up in a ball in bed. Reggi just keeps coughing and keeps walking. Poor thing. But she's been a very happy dog this weekend, spending time with her peeps in the car and walking outside.

I got my studio cleaned up pretty good. I swear, this time, I'm going to keep it this way. :-)

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20 Years Ago Today

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Harvest Moon by Hand

Isn't my latest Etsy purchase beautiful? $12 plus shipping. I plan to hang it on my studio window. Here's what the artist says about it:

I make the window stars by hand-folding small squares of paper, overlaying the folded paper, and then gluing them together to create different patterns.

Each point on the star is folded 19 times. With 8 points on the star, that's 152 folds!

This star measures approximately 9 1/2 inches in diameter.

The star can be kept on your window all year round since the paper doesn’t fade.

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Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of my favorite day of my entire life, the day we picked up Simon at the airport, fresh from Korea. Steve will tell you I can't say that sentence without a quiver in my voice and he's right. I love that kid so much.

But. Yeah, there's a but. This parental thing we do of attempting to balance enabling and support in the right proportions, is a bitch sometimes. This week has been full of tough love for me. Simon and 3 buds went to Myrtle Beach for Spring Break, very spur of the moment. Simon couldn't afford to go but he's making do somehow. He calls me every day or so, with wild stories. He would swear he's not asking me for money but sounds to me like he's laying the ground work for me to offer. Not gonna happen. It feels good actually, doing the right thing. I'd gotten a wee bit out of balance in recent weeks and realized I was depriving him of the opportunity to make his own success and be proud of himself.

I know I was the only one concerned about it, but Simon got through his five days of jury duty availability without having to report to court at all. He was in Myrtle Beach for the last 2 days of that 5 day period so don't ask me how that was going to work if he had to report. I don't know how that kid hit the lottery but his jury pool appeared to only be 200 people strong with only the first 50 or so having to report to court. Most pools are 900, I believe. His number was 161 so in the beginning I was certain he'd have to report. As the days wore on, it looked more and more like he wouldn't have to report, especially when they started pulling the next pool of 900 into court. So I wasn't overly concerned but it was on my mind.

Anyway, I really do love that kid to pieces. Besides less money to him, means more money I can spend on me in Etsy shops!

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Designed by Jane

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Designed by Jane

I'm definitely a pin person. Can you imagine any non-paper jewelry being more up my alley than these??

So I bought two! They arrived from England in no time at all. They are as perfect in person as they are pictured here, including the back.

Now I know how my customers feel at shows - hard to pick a favorite. I wear a lot of red, purple and turquoise, so this one was a no brainer. The top one, though, might require a purchase of a new shirt on which to wear it. Lime green is my new favorite color (witness my phone and iPod) so I'll definitely start poking around online for a new lime green shirt.

Jane's blog is here. Oh crap. Look what I just found there - my perfect colors - red, purple and turquoise! See what I mean about the difficulty of choosing just one?

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