Okay my lovelies, I'm back! So much has gone on in the last little while, some days I was so busy I didn't have time to turn on the freakin' computer :) Of course I wasn't busy selling things LOL, all I currently have up is Christmas cards still. Oy. And I haven't spent much time on the photography shop, but atleast I took some more pics of my photos in frames, so I can add those to the listings. I know how much it helps sell photos when people can see what the photo will look like framed and up on a wall!

So it'll take a while to update you all fully, but I do apologize as I whole heartedly meant to continue with the blogging over the Christmas season! But with the parents coming home, and the family get togethers, and my husband's over night shifts, and the crocheting all night (which reminds me, I have to get some pics of what I made for the fam! Yikes... Forgot to do that!) I just didn't have the time to sit down :)


Now you may all be wondering why I'm screaming Ponder&Stitch in my blog title this morning!! Well!! Let's just say that I LOOOVE my husband. Ponder&Stitch has always been one of my absolute favourite etsy sellers. Not only does she have incredible products (All of which I want!), but she's so incredibly sweet!! She had made this one tote bag that I fell in love with, but just couldn't afford. And one day, I clicked on her etsy shop to gaze at the bag longingly, and alas, it was sold. Come to find out, it was sold to MY HUSBAND!! Yeeee!! AND I got a quadruple strand grey cuff! Thank you SO much Amy! - My hubby gave me the note along with my presents! :)  Lemme tell ya, I haven't taken off this cuff. Well, I don't shower with it on, but it's my absolute favourite accessory! I will try to get some photos soon with me donning my new accessories!! :) I'm just so excited that I own Ponder&Stitch products, I've been showing everyone!  And now I'm showing all of you, because all of the photos in todays blog are all from Amy's shop. Just note that the yellow vintage fabric bag will not be linked to it's listing, because it's MINE. :)


I got so many great gifts this Christmas - my hubby pretty much stocked me up with sooo many crafting supplies that I desperately needed, and I just can't wait to get started again! Plus, he got me a light box!! I am ecstatic! I will definitely be spending lots of time retaking photos!


Plus, I have new additions to my craft room, so I spent all day yesterday organizing it all over again. I'll definitely take pics of that too, just incase anyone's curious of where I spend most of my time :) My parents had this old antique gigantic desk in the office, but when they were moving to The Netherlands (but they now currently reside in Vienna) it was too big and heavy to ship, and it was way too big to stay in the room it was in. Their office became my husband's office, but my husband's office consists of his computer, a gigantic comic book collection, a star wars collection, and he sounds like a big geek, but I promise he's not! hehe. So it just wouldn't fit. Well, my cousins were starting up a business down the street and were looking for a desk for the staff room, and it was a perfect fit! But recently they've decided to close the shop, and asked us to take the desk back, or they'd just throw it out. Hmm.. My parents didn't like the idea of throwing out an antique desk! So since my sister FINALLY got rid of the couch she got at the reuse center for her 80's party last July and it was still sitting in my dad's garage, my dad replaced the space the couch was in with this desk. But upon hearing my husband's complaints that I don't actually *use* my craft room to craft since I have no tabletop space to do it, so I bunk out in the diningroom for weeks on end, my daddoo got a great idea! So, I now have the desk in my craft room! Yeah me!


Once I take pics I can explain where I do all my crafts :) I'd say that will be soon, but today my ma'am wants to shop, then my hubby's off early, then we're going to Ikea to buy a bed since my hubby and I both wake up every morning without the ability to walk, then we're cleaning up a bit tonight, since we're having another family get together tomorrow which means I'm spending a large portion of tomorrow baking and cooking chili! Woohoo chili! And I know there's going to be lots of things in store for the following days, so I'm not going to make any promises!


Okay, this is actually all I have time for lol. Hope everyone had an absolutely fantastic Christmas!! And dammit, Theresa, I just remembered I still haven't given you the stir-me-not recipe! lol. Yeesh. Hopefully I'll find it today!

Have a great day my lovelies!!

Good Friday Night Everyone!


Okay so, I'm really cutting it close for my EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival! It's been an extremely busy week! So, this blog carnival will be mighty short! (and yes, it will *actually* be short!)

This weeks Blog Carnival is hosted by the fabulous LindaB

The question I chose was:


I have to say, my fave colours change quite often. For example, I hated the colour pink for most of my life, but right now? I can't get enough of it! Hmm.. Also turquoise now that I think of it lol. But I wouldn't say putting those together would be my fave.


My fave colour combo these past few years have been a light aqua blue with brown! I adore it. So much so that these were the colours for my wedding :) I incorporated them pretty much everywhere (with the exception of me). But I can't say that I actually have created anything as of yet with these 2 colours in it! So I have nothing to show that I'm creating and selling with it. BUT since I created all of my centerpieces and decorations, I suppose that's something I created, yes??


Since I wanted these vases with blue filler, and the blue rocks would have cost me an arm and a leg, I used jelly beans! They came in very handy when the kids needed some snack foods other then the bacon wrapped scallops that were served before the reception!

I know I will be creating crochet pieces in the near future with these colours, so I guess you can say, stay tuned! :)


I know this is a really sucky blog carnival, I'd love to go on forever! BUT hubby is already in bed (we were up at 3am this morning because he had to work the early shift) and I spent the day cleaning and wrapping before my parents flew in, and we were at our best friends house for christmas dinner and just got home an hour ago. So we're exhausted, my parents are exhausted, even the dog is exhausted. So off to bed I go. I promise my next carnival entry will totally make up for this one :)

Good night!

Good morning all my lovelies!! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Wednesday! I for one am *trying* to get in a better mood, it's been an extremely taxing few days. Life is getting in the way of my crafting. *sigh*. So, in order to really cheer myself up, I've decided to do a bit of a feature! There are so many talented and friendly people who are currently joined up on MyCraftCorner, and I can't resist showing you all the amazing works of my fellow MCCers. I'll be doing quite a few of these posts (our community is growing every day!) so be sure to follow "ze blog" to keep up to date on all this talent :) And just as a reminder, all pics are linked to their listings!

Faux + Flowers = Flauxers! (Pronounced Flowers)

I'm sure you've all heard me talk about Tanya before, she's been an Esty friend of mine for quite a while, and I've previously done a full feature on her shop! She recently decided to join up on MCC to see what the heck I was raving about all the time, and already has her MCC page fully gussied up!

Tanya currently resides in State College PA, and her niche is creating amazing works with artificial flowers, but she also dabbles in knitting, crochet and jewellery making. She has an official Flauxers Website, an Etsy Shop, and an ArtFire shop where she sells all of her fun creations - flower jewellery, headbands, magnets, and my new personal fave - ornaments! 


Currently you'll find a 2009 YEAR END SALE!!! Just enter 'YearEndSale' in the message to seller, and you'll receive a 25% refund via Paypal! Plus, as an added bonus, this sale coincides with Flauxers December Monthly Blooms. Are you wondering what Monthly Blooms are!? Every month, Tanya chooses a certain flower theme, and marks those items down by 10%. This month's 'Blooms' are on all items containing Poinsettias or Holly! To keep track of all the great things Tanya is up to, sales she's having, or even just to read up on her regular 'Friday Flower Facts', make sure to follow Tanya's Blog.
 

Where else can you find Tanya? Lots of places!
Flauxers on MCC
Flauxers on Facebook
Flauxers on Twitter



Theresa has been such a joy to know! I met her when I joined up on MCC and she was one of my first friends. Since then I've been a regular follower of Theresa's Blog and Facebook, and even won her November Chill Giveaway! Yesterday I received my prize, wonderful fingerless mitts, a pendant with matching earrings, and she even added in a cute Christmas canvas bag and a werthers original candy - my fave! :)


Theresa resides in Meriden CT, and is a creator of many things - from jewellery to knitted pretties - you're sure to find something you love at her Etsy Shop! Beyond what she sells, she also enjoys candle making, drawing, decorative painting, gourd-art, papercrafts and photography.

Her current sales include: FREE SHIPPING through Friday December 18th, plus, she's having a Buy one get one 50% off on all her individually sold jewellery pieces! Just enter the code BOGO50 in message to seller.



Where else can you find Faerie Moon??

FaerieMoon on MCC
FaerieMoon on Facebook
FaerieMoon on Twitter


Maile is another new friend of mine whom I met on MCC! She currently resides in Manchester NH, and is a creator of gorgeous painted works! Along with making dull things pretty, she also creates beautiful jewellery pieces and fun ornaments! Make sure to check out HeavenlyHomes on MCC, as she has pictures up of a handpainted fan that I'm absolutely in love with.


Along with her many talents, Maile also enjoys fabric-art, knitting, metal-crafts, mosaics, polymer clay, scrapbooking, sewing and woodworking! She has a wide range of various craft types on her Etsy Shop, you're sure to find something that you'll love to see in your home! 


Where else can you find HeavenlyHomes?
HeavenlyHomes on MCC
HeavenlyHomes Blog
HeavenlyHomes on Twitter


Urska is one of the sweetest people I've ever met! We actually first met in the forums of Etsy, and I noticed that she's from Ljubljana, Slovenia! My family's homeland!! We started convo'ing back and forth and a friendship sprouted! I'm sure to make a trip out to meet her when I go visit my parents in Vienna :)
 

Urska just recently joined up on MCC, and she makes incredibly gorgeous jewellery! She mixes an elegant choice of beads with her handmade polymer creations to make these one of a kind pieces absolutely beautiful! Definitely check out her Etsy Shop to see her incredible talent!



Where else can you find Urska?
Urssika on MCC
Urssika on Facebook


I discovered BriAnna one day while searching through our many wonderful and talented MCC members, and fell in love with her creations! I was also quite excited to see that she resides in Nova Scotia, my dad's homeland!! Bri does absolutely wonderful work in turning driftwood into jewellery holders - I had my eye on one, and whilst I was checking my Paypal balance to see if I could swing it, someone else bought it! You gotta be quick! I can just imagine one of these "DriftyGems" on my wall here in the craft room. I'll just have to imagine one there for awhile until I can afford it :)
 

Along with turning driftwood into art, Bri also enjoys drawing, jewellery making, metal-crafts, scrapbooking, and obviously woodworking!
 

Definitely take a moment to check out Bri:
BriCheese on MCC
BriCheese on Etsy


Veronika is a brand spanking new member on MCC! I fell in love with her shop - not only is everything Organic, she's eco-conscious and honest! As she states in her Etsy Shop announcement "Herbolution is not only a personal care product manufacturer but also pursues a mission to educate average consumer about healthy body, healthy communities and healthy Planet. We try to recall ancient knowledge and co-build sustainable future."


Plus, her product pictures are fabulous!!

Veronika resides in Harrison NJ, and also enjoys candle making, papercrafts and sewing! Be sure to visit Herbolution on Etsy for amazing organic products for your whole family!



Where else can you find Herbolution?
Herbolution on MCC
Herbolution on Facebook
Herbolution on Twitter

Alright kids, I hope you enjoyed my features today! We have so many talented folks over on MCC; I could go on and on! But don't worry, I'll be back on a regular basis to introduce all my lovelies to this wonderful community!

And if you happen to already be part of this community could you do me a favour and join my new group, Canucks?! Lol.. I have 2 fabulous members already, but I'd love to see many more! You don't have to be Canadian to join! As I say in the description:

"Being Canadians and selling online in U.S. based venues, we often find hurdles that are sometimes difficult to overcome! This group is a place to discuss and help eachother out, and it's not only for those living in the North! Everyone is welcome!"

Plus I have up 3 great discussions that I'd love some feedback on:
Shipping to and from Canada
Supplies
Humour, Humor? Favorite, Favourite? Tagging away your items!

And on a side note regarding the tagging - I'd like to add that all MCCers are welcome to tag their etsy, (or artfire, or 1000markets, what have you) items with MCC! Let's support our community, and find eachother so much easier on our selling venues. A few of our members on etsy have already started tagging with MCC, so go ahead and type in MCC in the search bar, and find some amazing crafts :)



Have a happy Wednesday! :)

Good Monday morning everyone! I must say, I had a veeerry interesting weekend hehe. I won't discuss it as of yet, because the "drama" may continue. I'm just laughing my butt off at it all really, because who exactly has this much time set aside for drama!!??


I for one don't have time for drama, because it's time for me to write my EtsyBloggers Feature this month on CalKat! CalKat is a shop run by 2 young women, Carrie and Kathy. And we're in for a treat, because they don't just have one shop! These 2 are quite ambitious and have a grand total of 4!! So sit back and relax this wonderful Monday morning, and feast your eyes on the incredible talents of Carrie and Kathy! All pictures are linked directly to their listings!


Carrie and Kathy currently reside in Las Vegas, NV, and have been making and designing OOAK pieces of jewellery for over 5 years. They both love making beautiful things that are shiny and complimentary! They use only quality sterling silver, gemstones, and Swarovski crystals in their designs. Each piece is handmade with love and extreme care! So check out their jewellery designs at CalKat!


Their second shop, Ametista's, is filled with ultra cute MonsterBoxes, bookmarks, bottles and polymer clay! They both share a passion for creating custom keepsakes - they love to discuss ideas with their customers, and just run with them! (Sometimes with scissors!) So for anything cute, and sometimes creepy-cute, head on over to Ametistas!!


Have you ever wanted to make your own clay creations?! Well, with the help of Carrie and Kathy you can! Their 3rd shop, TheClayShoppe, you can find all your supplies! There are loads of molds to choose from at very affordable prices, tools, clay, and tons of inks and pigments to gussy up your own creations! And as an added bonus, they're currently offering FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING now through New Year's Eve!



Do you Yoga? Love fairies? I know I do, and in Carrie and Kathy's 4th shop, that's exactly what you'll find! So check out these fairies doing all those poses you either love or hate at YogaFairies. And again, FREE Worldwide shipping now through New Year's Eve!

I hope you all enjoyed what you see, and make sure you check out each shop to see all the wonderful items I didn't have room to put pics of on ze blog! :) If you'd like to keep up to date on what these 2 are creating next, visit and follow their blog: CalKat The Jewelry Junkie.

My fears have changed over the years, and I guess they should, really. And I'm not talking about the fears like being afraid of the dark - as a kid I was somewhat afraid of the dark (mainly for the reasons of demons - not monsters- under my bed) but in another sense, I was happy for it. I remember those nights where my sister was babysitting me and as per usual she'd be up in her room with the door shut, on the phone with her friends. So to entertain myself (or prepare myself) I'd shut all the lights off in the whole place, close all the blinds, and sneak around in the dark. Why did I do this you may ask? Well, just incase one of my greatest fears as a young child would come to fruition. Intruders. I figured if I could get around the house in the dark quickly and quietly, I'd have an advantage. If it wasn't dark enough, I'd even close my eyes. That actually has helped me out, because I can do anything in the dark now, or with my eyes shut! Well, with exception of walking down the stairs without tumbling down them and hurting my tailbone, yet again.


I'm also not talking about fears of certain things, like sharks. I have a horrible fear of them, yet a total fascination all at the same time. I have every documentary ever done on them, I have a sharks tooth hanging in my car, I have tons of shark stuffed animals, puzzles, and figures. Although maybe watching all those documentaries has fueled my fear instead of helped it! But, atleast now I know that if I was ever in the water with these Great White's, I might have a surviving chance by hitting it on the nose and biting it's dorsal fin! My fear of sharks isn't so bad that I can't take a bath (like I've heard of other people) but I won't step foot in the ocean. (Even when in Puerto Rico for a 'once in a lifetime experience' going out in the dusk - best time for a shark attack by the way - in a tiny boat - ya cause that's not gonna save you - then swimming in the freaking water in the dark to experience the 'phosphorescent bay'. Ya, I'm not jumping in. I'll just splash this water in the bucket that the nice guide man scooped up for me thanks.) And I won't go very far out in fresh water lakes (back in 1984 they actually found a shark in fresh water - granted it only lived for 2 weeks once it got in there, but hell! That could be the first sign that these suckers are evolving! Once they become resistant to the 'fresh water osmosis' the next step will obviously be them sprouting damn legs and chasing me on the shore!) And I also won't go swimming in a pool at night if there's a deep end. Hey, you never know. The people who's pool you're so willingly swimming in could be the sinister type. They could very well have a cage that opens up when it's dark, and the sharks come swimming out!

After I had gotten over my intruder fear (well, not technically - it's still something I worry about - but atleast I'm not pulling James Bond heists all over my house to prepare for that inevitable day) it changed to something completely different. Mental wards. Not that I ever went to them, but I knew for a fact that if I ever visited someone in a mental hospital, and once the staff had one look at me, they'd lock me up and I'd never be able to leave. 

Now that I'm older (and not thinking I'm so mentally unstable, apparently) I have new fears. I had a great talk with a friend of mine one day about starting a business. I've wanted to have my own business for absolutely ever, constantly coming up with ideas, designs, plans, what have you. Finally when I worked at a craft store, a really great idea started to hatch. I constantly had complaints from customers about not having certain themes and designs for scrapbooking pages and stickers. And after hearing those complaints for 2 years I thought, wait a minute! I can draw! I'll do it!

That was 6 years ago.

I always thought the reason I hadn't started it was because of the lack of money for the start up fees. Having a long run of die cut (kiss cut) stickers would cost about $500-$700 for initial start up including first run of 1000 pieces. And I have so many designs that I'd have to do atleast 5 sheets to start, so even using the lower end cost, that's $2500 and having  enough room to house 5000 sticker sheets. Not to mention the tax on top of the cost, and start up costs for a venue to sell them. I never wanted to sell them to a large corporation, as I worked for one and know how they work. (Buying a sticker for .10 cents and selling it for $4.99) I'd prefer to make the $4.99 myself thanks! If I did allow stores to sell them, it would be small independent and Canadian scrapbooking stores. But what I really wanted was to sell them myself. Have my own store. Be my own boss. Be happy doing what I love.



Since I don't have anywhere close to a spare $3,000 some odd dollars, I've had to put that plan on the backburner. A friend of mine told me about Etsy, and I quickly thought up things I could list and sell. I started up the shop in March, and never put anything in it until much later. Something was stopping me. I thought it was my fear of failure. But it's much more than that.

Fear of success.

In the back of my mind I kept thinking "What if?" What if my products actually sell? Then what? Will I be able to handle the work load of success? Once they're mailed out and someone receives it, what if it falls apart? What if they don't like it? What if I really can't handle my own business? What if I let my usual habits of procrastination rise up its ugly head and I can't get the orders done? What if I get a request and I can't do it?

It's not the fear of failure like I originally thought. Right now I'd consider myself a bit of a failure, because I've had 9 sales (and thank you SO much for those!) yet I promote myself like crazy. Yes I have lots of hearts, and I've heard so many times "I'm so buying your cards!" but it doesn't happen. I do get down about it, quite often, but I still go at it every day. I do a happy dance everytime I get a sale, but right after it comes the anxiety attack. What if it doesn't work out, gets lost in the mail, or the customer ends up hating it?



Basically it comes down to this. I have no confidence in myself. I know I can handle the pressure and the stress that comes with being successful with your products. But there's that stupid little ball of doubt nagging at me, telling me to just quit before I do become successful because I won't be able to do it.

That ball of doubt thinks it knows me better than I do. I KNOW I can do it. I just need to stop being so damn afraid.



How do you kill that little ball of doubt?

Okay so I'm still unsure of what direction I want my blog to go in. I was discussing my blog with Reggie from MyCraftCorner and she posed a very thought provoking question. What do I hope to accomplish with my blog? Basically, what is the point of it?

*Snort* What IS the point of it? What do I want it to do? What is it currently doing for me?

I guess I've been thinking a LOT about this lately because I finally watched Julie and Julia (although I have to watch it again, because I watched it with my mother-in-law and we ended up talking through most of it about Christmas plans!) But after watching it, I got kinda down. Julie's blog was followed, read, and loved. That's exactly what I want from my own.

I've always wanted to be a writer (I've always wanted to be a lot of things!) but in highschool, I was always told by my teachers I'd never go anywhere, because I write the way I talk. In my creative writing course, I'd get bad marks not because of spelling or grammar or subject, but because they personally didn't like my "style". So I pretty much gave up those dreams, and pursued other venues that I really deep down didn't want to do! (HA! Alliteration! I learned *something*!)


And then I see authors like Jen Lancaster (Who I have such an incredible girl crush on), love her books to pieces and low and behold! *GASP* what is this?! She writes the way she talks?! AND she's a successful author!? Makes me wanna go back to highschool and bitch slap a few people LOL. But then again, it was MY choice to listen to them. So if I'm gonna do some bitch slapping, it's gotta be to myself.

I never actually wanted to have a blog, as I've probably mentioned the only reason I started one in the first place was to keep my folks updated to the "goings on" whilst they lived overseas. (Of course I wouldn't mention when we wrecked something in their house... HA! I'm kidding Dad, really!) And I wasn't a regular writer. When I was younger (and by younger I mean in my 20's. *sigh*) writing was such a release for me, anytime that I was upset, I would write, and I'd instantly feel better. I wrote on Live Journal and Blather. And I won't be posting links to those, because it got *really* personal! lol. But I loved it. And I still love it. And this blog has gotten me back on track with wanting so desperately to write that book I always dreamed about. But who wants to read about my life?


I think I've had an interesting life. Not exciting by any means, but I've been through a lot of tough times, and have gotten through them. I'm still standing! But I'm still struggling, as with so many others out there. So really, what would make my story different from anyone else's?

But okay I've already gotten off topic! (Now there's a surprise! Pffft!) Back to ze blog!



1. Promoting my business
2. Helping others
3. Giving people a laugh

Am I accomplishing that? That's what I'm unsure of, and that's what I'm currently trying to figure out. How should I use it to promote, how am I helping others, and how do I make it enjoyable all at the same time?


You may notice my blog going all over the freakin' place in the next few weeks. Some aspects I've been doing have just not been working, and other aspects I haven't been working hard enough on! Maybe a new look will help to start things off.

So my lovelies, what do YOU hope to accomplish with your blog? And, are you doing it?

Have a great Wednesday! (I'm confident I have the right day this time!)