Monday, December 27, 2010

Planning for the new year!


Well, I'm going to pick four things to focus on, improve or change in the new year. 

1.  Photography skills - .  I plan on taking a basic course so that I know how to use my camera more effectively.  I received a tripod for Christmas so I hope that, along with becoming more familiar with my camera will help me take better pictures.

2.  I want to learn more about the internet tools I have.  This past year much time was spent working on my etsy shop shop and starting my Artfire shop, starting a Facebook fan page, twitterblog and just recently my webpage.  I joined teams and made connections but don't know that I was very effective in using those internet tools and connections once they were made.   I need to reevaluate the teams I have joined and the connections I have made to be able to keep those I think will be more effective with less time.  I want to blog more and leave comments regularly on other blogs.   I want to spend less time on the internet promoting but I want that time to be more effective.  I will try to avoid sitting at the computer for hours.


3. I need to make some local connections -- Develop some opportunities for teaching wreath making and other craft classes. 

4. Last but certainly not least -- I need to get organized both personally and for my business. Those of us who work from our home -- need to be able to organize our workspace around our living space and vice versa.
I envy those for which organizational skills come naturally.  For me,  I struggle in that area.  Right now my storage space is in need of a major redo.  I also need to organize my personal space and create space to store some of my business supplies, like boxes and stock which are now occupying and cluttering various corners of my living space.

Well, I planned on making three goals but ended up with four.  How about you?  What are your plans for the new year?  Now let me go read some blogs and post some comments..........

Monday, December 13, 2010

Unique handmade Christmas decorations and cards



I love to search on Etsy through all the unique handmade Christmas ornaments and decorations.  There are so many to choose from that it makes it difficult to choose but here are a few of my favorites that I found.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Etsy Finds -Shopping for Christmas on Etsy

There are many places to shop on the internet.  One of those places is Etsy.  Etsy is a site where individual crafters post their handmade items for sale. If you like handmade crafts, you can find all sorts of unique gifts that you will find no-where else.  Etsy has everything to make your Christmas giving special and unique.  Here is the link to their main page. http://www.etsy.com/
Take a look.  You can see there are many categories of handmade items to search.  Here are some beauties I found while searching the jewelry category. 


 If you are looking for handmade one of a kind jewelry there are plenty of choices on Etsy.
Here's a multiple strand freshwater pearl bracelet
Pearls by SabtisDesigns
Or how about Turquiose Blue?


Or Natural Shell assortment

Or how about copper?

How about a festive red for holiday dressing?