Etsy Treasury's

I finally figured out how to do a treasury on Etsy. As always I made it harder than it was. I do find it a little more ungainly than the Artfire Collection maker, but maybe I just need to fool around with.
Licorice Whips and Peppermints

Giant Paper Flowers

My daughter's sixth birthday was last week and her Grandmother sent a treasure trove of crafty kits  for her. One of the gifts was a paperflower kit.

The kit came with lots of tissue paper in a rainbow of colors and pipecleaners to match.  The instructions were easy to follow and soon we were making beautiful flowers.  My daughter got bored after the third flower but I continued to make more. What a fun simple little kit.

I may have to buy my own kit now!

RockStar Beads

Yesterday I spent all day glazing and watching bad movies.  I tried a few new things out. I had bought these bright pastel underglazes awhile back but had yet to really give them a go.  I usually go with a more natural color palette but also I hate being put into a box and labeled as that one thing so every now and then I like to breakout of the box and do something different.

So here are a few pictures of my latest kiln fire and oh boy, I am super pleased. I had listed some in my shop already and am going to list more tomorrow!

Posting Crazy in my Shop

I  feel like I have a good routine going with my picture taking (finally!) and I my editing is going nicely too.  I wish I could  be one of those people who set a nice stage for their products but really that just doesn't work for me.  Maybe some day ....

My next big tackle is shipping and learning to tag and that whole seo oh boy makes me anxious and get all overwhelmed by it .... baby  steps.

I really feel like the bead sets are working out nicely and  they are selling well. Maybe because they are what I love best of all.  It makes me happy when I know that a bead lover bought my beads because I know they went to a good home. So more beads will be a coming!  I have made bead sets out of most of my stash and have been posting them almost daily.

The little Shop that could

Quick post here.  My little Etsy shop is slowly gaining ground.  Made a nice sale to a return customer sold some of my new bead sets and really made my day! I also sold  a little pendant to a new customer.

But it does take a lot of work I have been trying to keep up with posting new stuff and taking better pictures.  I hope to get out and take some more pictures later today or tomorrow.  I wish wish wish my poor little Artfire shop would start selling too!

Beads Beads Beads!

I just posted a huge amount of my beads in my shops.  I had a huge bag of them and because the beads are my favorite I had been hanging on to them.  Well it was time to let go! So grouped up a bunch last night and this morning I took pictures and have been posting all morning.

If you know anyone who loves handmade beads or would like to add something earthy and beautiful to there work, please have them stop by!  My Artfire Shop  My Etsy Shop.
Thanks

Raku Ornaments And I Heart Artfire

My Sister is having a Christmas Craft Faire at her house this coming weekend Nov 14th and I have been working my butt off trying to get ready for it.  I rolled out some slabs and made some ornaments which I have been Raku firing.  Oh boy they look great!  *pats herself on the shoulder*   I am really happy about how they are turning out and I think people could use them year round.  I decided to hammer some copper and hang them with that because copper just goes so beautifully with raku.

I had posted some pictures to friends on my Facebook page and got a great response so I am going to make as many as I can.  The ones that don't sell this weekend I will put up in my store.

On another note I am really getting into my Artfire Shop.  I have not sold anything yet but the features are awesome and the more I keep discovering about what I can do with my shop the more I am convinced that Artfire will someday usurp Etsy.  I love Etsy but the fees are adding up and my views stink.  I am just getting swallowed up by the masses of other artists just buried by them.  I read some interesting reports about how relisting is just not working like before and frankly I just can't afford to keep relisting.

I am happy I jumped on board with the Artfire deal they had last month.  So anyhow I am going to post a blog on my Artfire page and do some shopping to show my support.

Pictures, Tagging and Sacrificial Offerings To the search engine Gods!

I really don't have much to say except I am still trying to take good pictures for my shop!  I also am trying to understand how the tagging for better views thing works.  My views suck and I don't get it. Some people have hundreds even thousands of views to my measly few. Oh magic search engine please tell me how to placate your appetite for precision tagging. Maybe an I need an alter some candles and some sage to appease the search engine Gods.

Artfire $5.95 Get in before it's too late!

When I got the email telling me that I could go pro on Artfire for only $5.95 I signed up the second I got through reading it!  How could I pass up such a great price?
 I felt terrible for having to downgrade my account do to being layed off.  But heck  $5.95 for a month and I could post items all I WANT!!!  Shoot Etsy just costs me much more in posting and renewals..   I am not knocking Etsy.  I love it but I would like to expand my selling options .

I am so excited to get started in my Artfire shop again I can't wait for October 1rst!

Back in the Game!

My big win on a penny slot machine!

At the beginning of August the Hubbie and I went to Vegas to celebrate our 6th Anniversary and I can not believe I am admitting this to go to Sony Fanfaire.  What is Sony Fanfaire?  It's were herds of nerds gather once a year to celebrate their love for SOE games like, Everquest and Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies. 

Anyhow we got there a couple of days before the festivities and had some fun exploring some of the older casino's and I won $850. on a penny slot machine in the flamingo hotel!! Was quite a welcome surprise!  Later that evening I won another $ 65 and then another $350 on a deal or no deal penny machine! Crazy huh?? Anyone we put aside a big chunk of it a went wild with the rest.

When we got home I bought the Samsung soundbar that my hubbie had been eyeballing for awhile and I decided to get a better camera for me. I ended up buying a Cannon Powershot SD 1300 and man I am loving it!

 I took the picture of the ring with it yesterday using just white paper on my table.  The only light was indirect from a window to the side of the table.  I did edit it in Picnic but that was a minor fix and cropping.  Not bad huh? I am still learning but boy I am having fun!

Music by the Sea

Every summer in San Pedro Ca, they put on a concert series for free in Pt. Fermin park called Music by the Sea. This year my Friend and I joined forces and got a booth there to peddle our wares.  She sells Tye Dyes and wow what a beautiful job she does!  Her stuff goes perfect with mine, like peas and carrots.

  The last concert will be this upcoming Sunday. If You should try and make it and come on down to see us we are the colorful booth on the end!  I have loads of stuff and I lowered the prices while in my home town.
I made lots of lovely rings and my friends tye dyes shirts start and 10 dollars!!

Raku Pictures!

Here are some of the items that I have been doing to prepare for summer shows.

The top are my Raku Bead Sets, I am so happy with the way they turned out!

I have been a bead making fiend!  The bottom are my large heart pendants. 

I have been making these for years now and are a big hit at previous shows. I am

going to hang them from leather cords and my handmade copper clasps.  I

have so much to do and I am going camping with the family til' Monday!

I guess I will bring work with me. 

Okay this is the second time I have written this and it keeps coming up funny on

my blog when I post.

Handmade Brigade

I made some coupons for the Handmade Brigade goody bags and coupled them with my business cards.  The coupons are Buy one get one for half off type dealio.  I am also planning to put together a variety of items to give away in a drawing. I have not decided how I am going to do it yet, maybe having people write their names and emails down and put in a bowl.  In the past I have put samples of my items in the goodie bags.  My samples being little charms that I sell for 3 to 5 dollars each.. Well I did the math and it was not in my favor!  So coupons it is!  Which I think is a great idea.

I have been working non-stop it seems, I have shows every weekend until July!!!  I have been rakuing and stringing up necklaces and making bead sets, hand making copper clasps and putting them on leather cord.  I am having my husband design and board that will sit along side my table about chin height where I am going to hang all of my pendants. Tons and tons to do, good thing I love it!

Through all this mad mad rush I have been neglecting my poor blog and my poor Etsy shop! But my Etsy shop has been very good to me even though.  I have been featured in three treasuries and a few sales plus my first International sale to Norway!!! Yippeee!!

I do love doing what I do!!

It's a nice day for a White Crackle.....

Well I have been rakuing my little heart out all this week and while no I don't have pictures yet hopefully tomorrow I will have some to put up. I have this white crackle raku glaze that I bought a couple of years ago and I don't know if it got contaminated with another glaze or if its the reduction part but damn I am getting this lovely moonstone type color which I am seriously in love with. Sigh Murphy's law is that now I have written about it i probably won't acheive it again! I am awaiting some new raku glazes with abated breath hopefully Monday I will get them.

On another note I have been in three different treasury's on Etsy this Month, woo hoo go me! I keep missing when they are up but dang I am happy as can be about it! I also made my first international sale which was awesome thanks Norway! I am doing another Handmade Brigade show in Santa Ana on July 10 and am doing music by the sea in San Pedro for every Sunday from July 11 to August 1. I will post more info as the dates get closer. I am thinking about making coupons with 10 to 15% off a purchase for live shows and making up a bag of goodies to do a drawing for each show... wheels are a turning.

So that is what I am up too and pictures will be up soon of my new goodies.

Rest in Peace

On Sunday the 23rd my Mother was visiting us from Colorado when she received a phone call from the police back home telling her that her husband had passed away in a motorcycle accident.  I watched as my Mother was told over the phone that her soul mate was dead and it was crushing.   I am getting teary eyed right now writing about it. The top picture with the cross is above where he died. The picture next to it is our escort to the funeral and the bottom picture is the patch his fellow bikers in sobriety made for him and they will sew to their vests.  Doug's funeral was overflowing with people who loved and cared for him and they are having a memorial for him at his AA club house on June 6th.  That is all I can write for now as I am still upset but I wanted to explain why I have been absent from my blog and my etsy and artfire shops.  I bought some new raku clay yesterday (my old clay turned in to a rock) so now that the weather is nice I am going to start rakuing again.  I seems like everyone is rakuing lately!!  Even my husband wants to try his hand at it and he has not played in the mud since college.  Well thanks for stopping by I will post again real soon

Birthday Black Widow Battle

Yeah it's my birthday.... I have what is called Arachnophobia not only was it a fun film from the early 90's but it is also the irrational fear of spiders. I have that. Which I have actually started to make some breakthroughs with it like I no longer think they are stalking me....

But when I am having mmm lets say a bit more anxiety than normal the condition is amplified so ... Here is my scary tale. I went to plug in my Wii controller into its charger and there she was bigger than life long spindle legs clacking together, red hour glass winking and ferocious fangs glistening in anticipation of its meal... ME!

Ok I didn't actually get that close to see fangs a'glistening, and I did remain calm instead of running out of the house screaming I thought about how shall I defeat this epic monster....

I quickly remember the bug spray I yelled at my husband for using in the house and ran to look for it under the sink... carefully I might add I have been surprised by many a foe under that dank sanctuary.

Armed with bug killer I faced my foe and aimed. A cloud of sweet lavender tinged with death shot from my can. A direct hit! The black widow stumbled and fell from the wall coughing ( well not really but for theatrics) She Was Stunned! and hopefully dying.

I watched her looking for signs of life, ahhh her leg twitched she was recovering an epic foe indeed! She was coming for me... I knew I would have to battle her Mano a Mano...

So I grabbed the broom and dustpan out of the kitchen... En Guard! I whacked her and she finally curled up in a ball so I used my dustpan to try to nudge her into it for disposal. But like all worthy foes she was not dead. With a mighty OMFG! I proceeded to whack the shit out of her til her legs fell off. Then I gave her a proper burial at sea (toilet) said I was sorry cause I do feel bad and farewell.

I scrubbed the bug spray and looked for an egg sack and web but could not find one. After further contemplation and a conversation with my hubbie we decided she must have traveled in on something.... but what?

Then I remembered I had left me favorite black cardigan outside on a chair overnight and this morning I stumbled out there retrieved it and put it on.... well I screamed like the silly girl that I was and tore that sucker off even though the spider was long gone my crazy arachnophobia brain could not except it. Betrayed by my favorite sweater.....

On a lighter note I sold 3 items yesterday woot woot happy dance! One of my bead sets :) and some other goodies. Now I am trying to decipher the whole SEO thing mehhh my brain does not like.
Anyhow happy birthday to me the big amazon warrior!

Doing Bead Sets

Well like I have said before... Hello my name is Janel and I am addicted to Beads..

Que the "Hello Janel!"

So I have lots of my own ceramic beads and have yet to figure out a way to market them. I have decided to try and sell them in sets. Oh boy and is it hard to part with them... I especially love the raku ones... so shiny, I love to just look at them ... hold them... Okay I am a Beadaphile.... but I know you fellow beadaphiles know what I am talking about.

I have beads that I have bought before I was pregnant with my daughter who is now 21 years old. Do the math. I am hoping that other fellow bead lovers will see my beads and think wow I gotta have them beads and love them too.

Tomorrow I will be at the Ren Faire drinking honey mead and feasting upon turkey legs so that is why I double posted!

Looking For Fans!

I am looking for fans for my Facebook fan page! So for it's just me,my Mom, my Mother-inlaw and my Sister. How lame is that? So throw a fellow crafter a bone and join my facebook fan page!

Panic .. oh my what am I to do!

Well I picked up my last paycheck and now that has happened I feel a little panicky.  I really would like to use these next few months to concentrate on my business and see what happens when I focus my energy into it instead of splitting it up between work and well all the many many other things that come along when you have a family. I am wondering with the extra hours where will it take me creatively. 

Well I have some craft show applications I need to fill out and send but darn it I don't like how my pictures are turning out when I printed them.  Arg... picture taking has become my nemesis.

I did manage to post some new items in my shop so I will throw up a picture of that.  I have a huge batch of beads that I am going to bisque tonight some with that lovely red clay. I am going to start offering bead sets as soon as I get these glazed.

I have to get to sanding them beads so thanks for letting me VENT!!!!

ArtFire: Going Pro!

Well after hemming and hawing for a few weeks I have decided to Go Pro! On Artfire that is. One thing that caught my eye was their etsy importer, also they have more options for you to design your shop the way you want to. When you list an item you can tell your creative story behind that item. Super nifty. I had also read that you get more views from search engines than lets say if you make it to the front  page of Artfire. I had just gone pro a couple of days and I have had way more views than my Etsy shop. You can have a blog on site and join a guild with their own forums.  I think or hope that it will catch on like Etsy. So I will keep you updated.

Quickie Look ...

......At some items fresh from the kiln this week! Also the hubbie made me a new light box and we are giving it a whirl! I am going to post a whole bunch of new items this week in my Etsy store but for now just pictures! Fun stuff! See you all soon I am off to make brownies and play Dragon Age ;p

Etsy,Artfire,1000 Markets ...Oh MY!!

Arg! yeah maybe not an appropriate way to start a blog but sheesh what a morning! I had been posting my stuff in different selling venues all morning..

First off is Artfire which I am not sure is worth it if I don't go to their pro lvl which is 15.95 a month..... And from what I read they give pro first choice in the whole search option. Not sure what I am going to do but I do need to read up on it more. The forums though have a section for posts about Artfire in the Etsy forums... kinda weird I thought.

Second is 1000 markets which listing stuff there is painfully long and I think stupid... they make you jump through hoops for tagging and the don't have a jewelry section under ceramics and pottery, and they don't have a ceramics tag under jewelry and you can't type it in.***
***Actually Artfire doesn't have those sections either..... arg.

The 3rd one is Zibbet which I have not even got to. I had signed up for a premium account with them for 8 bucks a month. I am going to post jewelry there that I make that isn't from my ceramic charms and pendants. That is if I can find the time to take pictures of the stuff.

So back to Etsy ..... I posted two items there so fast and easy it was a satifying experience after a hectic morning... although I do feel a bit dirty for straying from Etsy hehe.

I am throwing up a picture of my earrings and necklace I just posted in Etsy.

Zombie Killer

Yesterday we took our 14 year old son to Howies game shack for some family gaming fun,  It was my first time to this so called shack and let me tell you the 14 year old boy living inside me squealed like a little girl when I saw all those computers with wide screen moniters rows as far as the eye could see.  Well maybe not that many but in the hundreds and what lined the walls surrounded these rows of computers? Xbox 360's with a 40 inch tele' for each one....,. sigh  it was truly a gamers wet dream.

So the boy first took us on a Zombie killing adventure with the Left 4 dead 2 game and OH boy it is not for the timid or the weak tummies individual. Decapitated heads and blood spurting arteries     filled this games intro. My husbands character wielded a katana, my son a two handed axe and I duel wielded pistols and shoveled pain pills into my avatars mouth to carry on. This game was hard and focused on team work to get through the levels of zombies as if a zombie was on you,you needed a teammate to help get it off you. This game has probably been out for a while but it was our first venture into that series. Lemme tell nothing beats killing Zombies.... except that my shining moment was I beat my Son in a Modern warfare 2 free for all game Muhahaa.  The boy took lighting my old gamer girl history with doom, and quake 2 also I did love me some old unreal tournament. Used to play a fairy skin quake 2 under the name of deadgirl and I did love some flak gun.

Anyhow do to a day of frivolous gaming I spent all day today glazing and watching Arrested Development while doing so. I always underestimate the time it takes to glaze. I am going to have to time it one of these days. So tomorrow I will "fingers crossed" have some new little bits to show you.

I made some mushrooms,cupcakes,bell shaped flowers,  and a bunch of other goodies.

Laid Off

So I talked to my boss yesterday and he says he is closing down his office and won't be needing my services any longer. While I am upset about the job loss I completely understand his decision. I do the billing and payroll so I see what is coming in and it's been really slow for the past year. I know he has been hanging in there in hopes that business would go back to normal but it has been bleeding him dry. I was upset when I got home but I rubbed some vodka on it and I feel better today.

Today I organized my beads... I didn't really get finished. I have quite a mix of them.. boxes and boxes plus I have a ton of seed beads too. I use those little black trays with the velvet liners when I am working with them. You can fit a lot of beads on those trays and pretty soon they are overflowing. When I can't find any of my tools and there are bead trays strewn about on almost every flat surface in the house it's time to clean up and organize my beads.

Midway through my bead clean up I ran out to the mail box to see if my new Etsy purchase was in. Oh boy it was! Woohoo it lit a fire under my ass to clean faster so I could play with my new beads I purchased from Artebella Surplus. Such beautiful beads, oh the colors so perfect. Anyhow check out her store.

Today I posted some cute little Polka Dot Heart Earrings. I got a bisque fire going too! It is full of little cupcake charms, some little fruit charms, some shells and I made these bell shaped flowers. I will post the results as soon as I get the little suckers glazed.

My Search for the Handmade MarketPlace

I was listening to the craftsanity podcast while on my daily walk and the host Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood was interviewing Kari Chapin about her new Book "The Handmade MarketPlace"

The interview was awesome and kept me walking longer than I would of and when it was done I couldn't wait to get a hold of a copy of that book.

     So Monday was payday and the first thing I did was screech into the Barnes and Noble parking lot and rush inside to find myself a copy. I looked in the business section first but it was not there, then I went to the craft section which is always such a mess that I literally stood there for 10 minutes trying to figure out their system of organization, which I figured out they didn't have one. Finally I just sat right there on the floor and started pulling various books off the shelf and perusing them... I have a short attention span and am easily seduced by shiny pictures of pretty things other people craft. Some how I snapped back to the job at hand and  I sternly told myself to get back on track and looked harder...

  Well I was bummed out I could not find a copy in the mess they called the craft section and was prepared to either order it online which doesn't bode well with my Veruca Salt mentality or Yikes track a sales person down! Oh boy I am so painfully shy sometimes which if you knew me in person is sometimes a contradicting personality trait because I can be very abrupt. As I was walking away I glanced back at the bookshelves and what should I see?  Shoved between some how make Origami books was one copy of The Handmade Market Place!! Yippee I grabbed my booty and ran up to the front of store to pay for it.

When I got home I lay on the couch and ignored the phone, the kids, the husband and read until bedtime. Wow what a great book and full of great advice from many successful crafters.  I especially liked her ideas about well.. ideas! Well when I finish the book I will give a proper review but for right now it gets a big gold star!

 Barnes and Noble shame on you for such a terrible crafting section in your bookstore!

Shaking a 7.2

We had ourselves an earthquake this afternoon. I was sitting with my Son watching tv when I felt this rolling sensation. I looked at him and said " Oh an Earthquake" then my husband ran downstairs with our daughter and we all huddled under the doorframe. It felt like we were on a boat and I actually felt a bit sick from the sensation. I looked at my husband and said "we have got to move".

Well nothing broke and no one got hurt. I looked up the earthquake online and it originated in Baja. It ended up being a 7.2.

All in all it was a nice relaxing Easter. I did get a chance to play in the clay this weekend. I made these little bell shaped flower beads, hopefully they will turn out. I think they would make nice earrings.

Spring Musings and Picnik

I am loving that free Picture Program Picnic. I still need to work on holding the camera still or get a tripod but Picnic sure helps a ton with brightening up the picture. I submitted another picture to Craftgawker but alas it was denied. They said it was blurry, which maybe it was, but after taking hundreds of pictures and editing them they are all looking fuzzy and blending together.

I had a lovely walk today with the kids a sort of twilight walk up to the park. The birds were out and the with all the flowers in bloom and the yummy smell of jasmine floating in the air, it certainly washes away the days troubles and clears your mind. Everyone should take the time to walk outside even if it's just for a few minutes, it will do wonders for you. Loving the spring.

CraftGawker

So it turns my Seashell Scallop Shell pendant that sold was accepted on Craftgawker and that's how the buyer found me! Wow I didn't even know I was accepted hehe.

My next two sells were from Ren, ( Thanks Ren) one of the awesome ladies from the Tired Girl Collective. We had done a couple of the same shows for the Tall Mouse Handmade Brigade.

What a great day! But now I must cut this short as "Lost" began 20 minutes ago and is calling my name.

Made My First Real Sell on Etsy

So I stumbled onto the computer this morning my coffee not even yet done brewing and with blurry eyes I saw an email from Etsy. I opened it and it took me a few moments to figure out that I actually sold something... to a real live person outside of my family. I actually had no idea what to do, so I looked on the Etsy forums for help.

I discovered that I should make a pretty package... so I got all my pretty art paper out and stamps and went to work. I even added a little bow with a charm attached. I wrapped it in bubble wrap and stuffed it into a mailer.

What I discovered is it costs more to mail than I charged and in all my fussing with the packaging I forgot to add a cotton cord with my pendant. I am going to mail it along seperately and email her telling it is on its way.

Well you live and learn and hopefully I will become more skilled at all this. I am so grateful to be able to all this in the first place.

The Raku Scallop Shell is what sold!

Too Purty to Stay in!

What an awesome weekend we had here in the O.C. Yesterday we went to Fallbrook with the family to visit some friends. It must have been in the mid 80's and all us girls threw on bathing suits and sunned ourselves.
The kids ran around like wild animals running through the 80 or so tangelo trees that they had on the property and the air was thick with the smell of orange blossoms in bloom, sigh like a mini vacation.

Today it was warm enough for swimming so I took the kids up to the pool and we lazed about for the afternoon. So my house is a mess as no chores got done and the big crafting plans I had will have to wait til tomorrow.

It was worth it!

Don't Pick Me Last! Don't Pick Me Last! Don't Pick Me Last!

Well I was cruising the forums again on Etsy and they had a post about a mudd team.... I am toying with the idea of joining one but I don't know . More research is needed.

What I really would like is to find a local street team. They have one in San Diego and quite a few in L.A. and even some in Northern California but I have not seen any in Orange County! Laguna Beach is stuffed with Artists I would of thought a few would sprung from there... Although they are kinda Clicky down there. I have silly day dreams of winning the lotto just so I can move there and sell my wares.... Yes the have a rule that you have to live there to sell at their craft faires.

Some local crafters did make a Handmade Brigade guild type thing. I asked about it but I think it is a younger crowd and I didn't fit in with their agenda or whatever. Omg I am having flashbacks of 3rd grade kickball team picks when I was picked last!

Hehe well thats life. I guess maybe I will have to start a street team!

Cruising those Etsy Forums

Etsy forums... one word ADDICTIVE!

I went there to check it out ohh lets say about 5pm pacific time next thing I know its almost 8pm!

It's like it a lifeform made up of hundreds of thousands of people all competing against each other to post as quickly as possible. I am not knocking it at all was quite interesting but I can see how distracting it could be for me.

I did find quite a few lovely blogs through the forums and am very excited to follow some new people! People are so darn creative and I love seeing what they come up with.

I know they say that posting in the forums is a way to boost business so I am gonna have to look into that more. I need some help with postal stuff too, it confuses me how people can charge so little to mail items so there must be some secret that I am not privy to, maybe the forums will help.

P.S. Threw my neck out so it's EL Pollo Loco tonight for everyone. I threw in a picture of my star earrings just to throw you off muhahaha!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Picture Perfect

Well I have been trying to take pictures of my stuff again and man it is harder than it looks! I really need to build a light box or something. In the meantime I am using the edit program in picnik which is easy to use and quite handy oh and best of all FREE!! I still have a lot to learn about taking pictures... but I guess one step at a time.

Honestly I don't get how people work, have a family, and do the etsy thing. I am determined to figure out how the heck they balance it all out.

Oh at this moment I am trying to post this and cook veggie tacos... Juggle juggle!

P.S. Potato and Pasilla Pepper tacos with pinto beans and this lovely salsa they have a trader joes in the cold section, especial? I think it is called and oh boy so yummy!

So.... Long Time No Blog

Well it's been over a year since I have posted anything. What happened? I don't know... I guess I was in a creative funk. Everytime I made something I thought was really creative I would find out that someone already did a version of it. Meh...

So I decided to quit the blog for awhile and while I love reading about other peoples blogs and what they are creating I tried my damnest not to read em. Especially if they used the same medium I did. I wanted to create stuff and not worry about whether someone else did it already.

So over the past year I have created quite a bit of stuff. I have played with lots of clay and beads and wire and just had a great time! I have painted tiles and made collages and just fooled around. I also spent a lot of time just playing, with the kids, husband and family. I learned how to play rock band and the hubbie and I rock out with the kids sometimes martinis are envolved :P

My husband and I quit smoking last summer and I packed on quite a bit of weight. I bought this wii fit game it led me to actually liking to workout! I have lost 15 pounds and now am walking about 6 times a week trying to get it up to 5 miles a day.

I did a craftshow last weekend and it lit a fire under my ass to get to making stuff again and so hopefully soon I will be posting some pictures. I also have decided to be more myself in this blog I think I was trying to be something I don't know but not completely me... so I am gonna let the abrupt, quirky,nerdy, sometimes painfully shy, sometimes rude grumpyand bitchy, and sometimes sweet and helpful me, loose on this blog . Just warning ya!