Featured in a Treasury!

Elena at Tickled Pink Knits (take a peek at her shop, down right beautiful pieces) has put together a very lovely treasury called "Oh Honey Brown Bear" (super cute title) and included my "New Hive" moving announcements.

Here's a look at it...



Elena did a fabulous treasury and I love the mellow yellow vibe! Thanks for including me!

For the Do-It-Yourself People

Something new and different in my esty shop. Stationery you can print at home. I love the convenience of this idea! You'll always have a note card or gift tag on hand or a last minute gift! Print any time you like. As much as you like.

Everything is formatted to print out on 8.5" x 11" sheets.
This photo shows the gift tags on top, the folded note cards at the bottom and the envelope seals to the left.



This is a shot of some folded note cards and gift tags cut and ready to go.



This is of a folded note card and some gift tags.



The envelope stickers/seals in action.



Holiday cards and gift tags.




Most of the designs can be personalized too.


I had a great time creating these and looking forward to doing more...

Good Fortunes

Who doesn't love cracking open a fortune cookie and seeing what's in store for their future or reading something nice about their personality? Well, I do, especially when it's something good, plus you get to eat a cookie.

A month or so ago, I read an article in Cottage Living (I think) about a woman's cute cottage decor and she had a big post in her home with tons of fortunes tacked up all over it. That sparked the idea for my fortune cookie card. I thought it would be fun to give a card that the receiver interacted with a bit. I did a mock up and had it resting on my desk for several weeks. Each person in my family mentioned in passing that they really liked it, so I thought I would put it in my etsy shop and give it a go.

Here are some photos of it. It comes in a package of 5 cards with 1 list of fortunes to cut and insert in the cookie and 1 blank card to create your own fortunes.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any good fortunes.

Always Learning...

This last week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday to be exact, I received a great business lesson. My friend, Marcia at Cottage Jewel, invited me to participate in a craft boutique. Though I had just 3 days to prep, I jumped at the opportunity because I've wanting to be in a couple of boutiques this holiday season. Since most all my creations are personalized I just needed to put together a display board or two, set out my portfolio and business cards and I'd be good to go.

Here's my little display.

I did some cards to hand out so people could shop on line if I didn't the chance to talk with them at the show.

So far, so good...

I had a nice time. Met some wonderful people. Had many laughs with Marcia. And sold one pack of $3 gift tags. Oops! What happened?

This boutique has been going on for 20 years with many of the same sellers. Why such dismal sales for moi?? Here's the lesson part. I forgot to ask who the target market was for customers. Here are a few photos of other sellers' goods.



All perfectly nice items, handmade from lovely women and all in a completely different style than mine and all ready to be bought on the spot.

Lesson learned: Research, research, research the venue before committing.

Tasty Art!

I saw Alice Waters' book, "The Art of Simple Food" in Costco about a year ago and was intrigued. But, I was not in the book-buying, food-making sort of mood at the time, so I passed on buying it. Well, I kept thinking about it here and there over the year and then saw it again in a shop in San Francisco's Ferry Building (aka a foodie's paradise) and again, it called to me. But this time the $35 price tag stopped me from taking it home. My good friends at Amazon.com came through at $23 and change and it was mine!

Let me start out by stating I am not a cook. I make food in order to survive (my family, I'm sure, wishes it were different). Don't get me wrong. I love good food. I just enjoy eating good food, not making it. So, for me to recommend a cook book it pretty high on the WOW-o-meter.

Things I love about this book:
- the way it feels in my hands (the paper and cover are a great smooth texture)
- the beautiful illustrations (done by Patricia Curtan)
- the variations on each recipe giving them a new twist
- the simplicity of the recipes
- the knowledge imparted about the science of food and cooking
- the way it makes me crave nutritious food (and for not-quite-recovered junk food junkie, that's saying a lot)
- the way it reminds me to support my local food growers and to eat healthy
- the way it actually makes me want to cook!!!!!

It's part cooking and food education, part cookbook and part art (in the recipes and the actual book).

I figure if something has such an impact on me, I should share.
Check it out...