New Etsy Treasuries

I am a woman who has no business spending time putting together Etsy Treasuries. But sometimes I just want to look at beautiful things and put them all together on the same page. So here are a couple of Treasuries I've done in the past couple of days.







I am amazed at the beautiful, amazing art that is inspired by some of my favorite things. What are some of your favorite things that inspire wonderful works of art?

The Return of the Absent One

Dang! Where does the time go?! I was perfectly aware that I had not posted anything for quite awhile, but TWO AND A HALF MONTHS! Gee whiz.

So now I've returned with an obnoxious vengeance - posting yesterday and working on 2 posts today, without any explanation of my whereabouts the past 10 weeks. But since you are a faithful blog reader, I'm sure you are used to such blogging behavior and perhaps you have even behaved this way yourself. Anyway, on with the post...

I have many things to tell you about but right now, I need to keep it short since I'm procrastinating cleaning the house. I still need to get the house done in about an hour, but I like living on the edge, so I'll cram this post in as quickly as I can (for the added adrenaline rush).

The past couple of nights I've been working on posting new items in my Etsy shop. I painted these wooden necklaces quite awhile ago, but just got around to posting them:

I hadn't planned on selling any jewelry, but these tiny pieces of wood were so fun to paint, I couldn't help but make them into something. If I do some more, I might think of some other purpose for them, like a tiny wall hanging or something.

Last night I worked on these:

I've been a little down/grumpy lately, so working on these have been very calming. I love to make tags and carve rubber stamps. I think I'll have to keep doing this - it's much cheaper than therapy!

I currently have 54 items for sale in my shop. I'm hopping to get up to 100 items in the next few weeks. I've read that more items helps increase shop traffic and I would love to have more traffic.

Ok, well, better go clean so my kids won't be embarrassed when their friends come over! :)

Positive Response to Newer Items

I've been fortunate enough to be featured in a few new Etsy Treasuries. I want to post them here. I hope this is not too obnoxious, but feel free to let me know if it is. I'm still in the phase where every Treasury feature feels like I've won some special award! Be sure to check out the shops of the artists included in these treasuries - You're in for a real treat. Thanks for looking.




The curator of this treasury is Distinctive Decor. You can visit her shop here.



Curated by Shanali Designs



Curated by Carol Annie Poo

The Only Peas I Love

Hi. Here's the latest Etsy Treasury I put together. Take time to check out the shops I've included.

Treasuries

It is a great honor to be included in Etsy treasuries. It means someone has seen my work and liked it enough to include it with 15 other favorites. I'm always happy and pleasantly surprised when someone has taken the time to acknowledge me in this way.

Here are a couple of treasuries I've been included in lately. Please take time to visit the shops that are represented.

Treasury

I've been included in another beautiful treasury. This time one by Berkeley Bloom. Take a moment to look at all of the colorful offerings from some wonderful Etsy artists:

Daily Planner by Geninne

Artwork by Geninne Zlatkis

Like many other people, I could spend hours upon hours lost in the online world. I am often amazed at how much time goes by and how lost my focus becomes when I'm looking for something. This is especially true if I'm looking at art online or if I'm reading blogs. One click leads to an amazing blog or website, then to another, and another until I have forgotten that my original purpose in turning on the computer was to see the weather forecast.

Sometimes when I am looking around I stumble upon an Etsy shop or blog that takes my breath away. I get that feeling of awe and wanting to see more and more of what the person has created. One of the artists I've found that keeps me continually amazed is Geninne Zlatkis. I don't know when or where I first saw her art, but I've been a fan for awhile. In fact, I follow her blog and on facebook. Sometimes I feel a little like a cyber stalker, but I try to keep it under control. :)

I'm not very good at buying art for myself - which is something I have in common with a lot of creative types. But for the longest time I've been telling myself that when a birthday, Mother's Day or some other gift giving opportunity comes around, I'm just going to have to buy a print (maybe this print) from Geninne. Her art work is gorgeous, beautiful, amazing and fabulous! She works in brightly colored watercolor with white acrylic ink highlights. She often does mixed media collage and makes her own hand carved rubber stamps.

Back in January, she announced on her Facebook page that she had a new daily planner available. It had several of her paintings throughout and I decided this was my opportunity to own some of Geninne's work. I'm not sure how many she had available, but they have since sold out. I wasn't surprised since around the same time she had come out with some mini books that sold out in a flash!

My daily planner arrived on Valentine's Day and I love it! It has many sections to help keep me organized: monthly calendar, checklists, weekly calendar, notes pages, contacts and even a section of drawing paper - which I used to doodle on this past Sunday while I listened to the sermon at church.

The best part of course, is every day on every page, seeing one of Geninne's beautiful birds, butterflies and flowers. It's very inspiring!

Be sure to check out Geninne's blog and Etsy shop to see more of her beautiful artwork - you'll be inspired too!

Sale to Celebrate my 3 Year Etsy Anniversary!

From now until November 21st, I'm having a card sale in my Etsy shop. For every 3 cards you buy, the 4th card is free! Stop by and check it out:

www.sleeplessimagination.etsy.com

Hanging On

Hearts are Crazy

Rendezvous

These are just a few of the cards you can choose from. 

With Every Beat of My Heart

Custom Bangles of the H... LoonSongDesign... $65	The Brave One - 5x7 Fin... TheExtentofSil... $12	ENTANGLED mixed media f... mistflowerstud... $650	Always and Forever whimsicalacryl... $25
Home (8x8 Print) artasana $22	Folded Heart Book novelbrand $32	i heart u Combination P... edymade $12	Wire Bound Journal (Bro... recycledart101... $25
Handmade Mini Book / no... bohemianbear $8.00	Hallowe'en Heart - ... SusanGreenBook... $15	Peace In Your Heart IV... lavalleygirly $28	Copper Heart Flower Kee... Copperista $44.00
MADART 8x10 PRINT Abstr... MADART $12.99	honey heart felt pebble... SewnNatural $36	A warm heart. Wool and ... folkfancies06 $22	5 Collaged Heart Hope T... handmadeAtTheN... $5

This is a treasury I put together a few days ago. I love hearts and I'm always amazed at the beautiful hearts people make. I love this treasury and I hope you do too. Be sure to stop by these shops to take a look at what else these talented artists have to offer!

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Leaf Treasury

Here is a beautiful leaf treasury by Divinedepth. She included one of my leaf tag sets. Take a look at the treasury and be sure to visit the shops included - there is some really nice stuff here:

Just a Few Bullet Points to Get Caught Up

• It's hotter than Hades here in Columbia, Missouri. It's expected to stay this way until at least Friday. I hate being hot, it makes me sweaty, smelly and grumpy!

• Velma (the hen) has been escaping into the backyard of our neighbors - again. They are very nice people and have not complained. They let me toss my kids over the fence to chase the chickens back into our yard. (The hen has to fly, the chicks just run through the fence). Then I hoist my kids back over to our side of the fence.

• Today, I clipped Velma's wings. I read about how to do it, last night in my farm book (by Joel Salatin). After I did it, I cried because I was afraid Velma wouldn't be able to protect her chicks any more with those short, stubby little wings. That, and the fact that she looked kind of stupid. But after spending time on Youtube, seeing many other people clipping the wings of their run away chickens, (and describing it as being the same as a haircut for you and me), I felt much better.

• I listed three new items in my Etsy shop and I'm very proud of them:

These were made with rubber stamps that I had designed and carved myself. The owl, tree branch and leaves are 3 separate stamps and the tree on the little tree tags is stamped with 2 stamps. I really love carving rubber stamps, especially when I have designs I like.

• Finally, LC's Cottage used my little tree tags in her Etsy Treasury. I think this is a beautiful treasury and am really excited to have been included.

Here's the treasury link if you'd like to see a bigger photo

A New Treasury

I'm feeling especially fortunate today. I found out that I have been featured in another Etsy treasury! Wow! The curator is Lynchgirl - I hope you will take time to visit her Etsy shop and the shops of others in this treasury. It's so much fun to be recognized, isn't it?

Etsy Treasury

I love to open my email to find a surprise message from someone. Whether it's someone I haven't heard from in awhile or someone who is purchasing from my Etsy shop. I love it. Today I got a message from Devi of Hippie Kingdom letting me know she had included some of my tags in her treasury. I'm really excited about this because I've only been in a couple of other treasuries and I've never actually gotten to see my stuff in a treasury. So thanks for letting me "toot my own horn" here by posting the treasury. I hope you'll take some time to check out Hippie Kingdom and the others who are included in this treasury.

Using Child's Coping Mechanism

Do you remember when you were little and you didn't want someone to see you, so you closed your eyes? Because if you closed your eyes, you couldn't see anyone, and if you couldn't see them, then surely they wouldn't be able to see you. Or if you didn't want something to exist, you pretended it didn't exist so it would go away?

That is often how I "resolve" conflict. I think I'm doing it now, with regards to finding a job. My kids are in summer school for 5 weeks, then they have 4 weeks out of school and in the Fall they will return. Now is the time for me to find some way to earn money.  I'm not really looking forward to the job search. I haven't worked away from home since I became a mom, (with the exception of a brief stint at a retail store). I didn't like job hunting before I left the market and I'm certainly not looking forward to it after being away for almost 8 years!  And did I mention I'm 3 years away from the big 5-0? Yeh, my prospects sound a little bleak. So I'm pretending I don't really need to find a job and that someone will see my Etsy shop and just want to commission something from me for $1 million (or $10 million). I'll let you know how it works out, K?

Time to Make a Plan

I think maybe I need to start over.

From the beginning.

From scratch.

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I never thought I'd be able to do and sell art. It was something I thought about but always dismissed as being unrealistic. So, when I actually did sell cards and paintings that I had done myself, it was really, really fun. It's still fun to sell things. The problem is that I don't sell much and I want to sell more. But how can I possibly sell more when I wander around aimlessly and have small bursts of productivity, then longer periods of inactivity? It just isn't going to happen unless I am more consistent.

So I'm starting to think about starting my "business" over. I never did get my business license or keep accurate track of inventory, what I make, what I spend or how many hours I work. The logistics aren't really my strength, but that doesn't mean I can't learn does it? I think I can learn.

I'm planning to research small business related websites and blogs, and use that information to come up with my business plan. Maybe I should even use this blog to hold myself accountable for setting some goals. You followers of my blog are a pretty good bunch of people. You don't give me a hard time when I repeat myself (which I'm sure I do a lot. My short term memory is lacking...), you don't harass me about typos, grammatical errors or anything else. I imagine it would probably be safe enough to slap up a few goals on this page and let you read them. We could celebrate together when I reach a goal and you can tell me I'm a whiner when I make excuses for not reaching other goals. Or you could remain silent, which might guilt me into action (I'm someone who is definitely motivated by guilt).

I'm going to leave my Etsy shop open, just in case someone stumbles upon it and likes what they see. In the mean time, I will (here's the goal list)

• work on better photos of products already listed
• list at least 5 tag sets that I already have put together
• finish two birdhouses that need to be painted and list them on etsy
• work on having more consistent shipping prices for items already listed.

I know it's a short list, but it will help improve the shop I have and maybe help me be more motivated. I have to start with a short list too, so I won't look at it, become exhausted by the mere thought of taking any action, and wind up taking a nap instead!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll let you know how things go.