OWLS FOR CHRISTMAS

While we're on the subject of Owls I also wanted to share this wool felt ornament that I made a while ago. I wanted to put him in my shop but I borrowed the pattern and I just want to share him because he turned out so cute.

Another great addition to my Christmas packages!!

I have been meaning to share my news and post a new blog for a long time now.

Everyone is crazy busy right now with the holiday season fast approaching.

I'm so excited about this and I have to share it. Lately, I've been submitting cards and tags for challenges on the Card Trends Blog. You know, the magazines or small books that you see at the book stores. The other ones in the series are Handmade (which is awesome), Scrapbooking Trends, Beads and Cards!!! I love their magazines so I checked out the blog and I've been submitting my work!!

It finally paid off and they accepted my Christmas Owl Jumbo Tag submission!!

Be sure to check out the blog - it's full of wonderful and talented artists!!

Here's a pic of my winning Jumbo tag. I think they really add a special touch to my holiday packages. Everyone I know will be gettting one of some kind. As I make different ones I'll post them.

ttfn

love small houses

I know this is an odd thing to blog about but I love small houses with great architectural features. When I go walking or driving around the city I love to stop and take a picture of smaller homes. I love houses that look like they have sunrooms or smaller rooms at the back of the house. Some are one and a half storey with a loft upstairs. I love to imagine how I would decorate one of these houses. Here's a pic of one of my favorites.

isn't this one gorgeous!! I Love the narrow windows on either side of the door and the moulding around the door. I could move right in. Here's another one in the same neighbourhood!

The one on the left isn't really small but i love the architecture because it's an older home. The brick work around the door and the angel stone under the window really add to it.

I'll share more pics from more of my walks. I got a dirty look from one of the neighbours but it was worth it. These houses are great!!

obsessed already

i'm already obsessed with ....yes, i'm going to say it....C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S!!

i had to do two store set ups already at work and i've been covered in glitter ever

since. i sometimes wish it was fairy dust and bring me a million or two ...but... my

day will come!!!!

i promised myself i wouldn't get too crazy with posting my stuff from my shop but

i do share my life as well on here

i am very happy with some of the cards and tags i've been making lately and it's

my blog so i'm going to post some of them. i found a new blog aptly named "cards blog"
from the magazine of the same name. it has almost tempted me to submit some of my cards......

maybe... just maybe i'll get the nerve to do it soon!!!!

here's some of my latest cards and thanks for stopping by!!

I'm Finally stepping into this century!

Believe it or not I haven' t owned a cell phone since the 1980's and it really was the size of a shoe box! It was hilarious!
I finally decided that I can't take it anymore and I'm going to purchase a cell phone again.
I have never been soooo confused in all my life! I've narrowed it down to what I really want from a cell phone and decided I might need to narrow it down some more.
So, I really like the blackberry (and it's developed right here in Waterloo). The founder lives right around the corner from where I work. kool !! Then I looked at it again (Do I really need a blackberry??). Nope, but I like them and apparently I can "pin" my guy and we can text for free!! Most of my friends own one so that's more texting for free!
Now, there's the plan....still not finished my research and I may go insane before I finish.
I'm sure with a little more research I'll figure it out soon.
I'm still taking a survey on what people prefer - drop down keyboard, touch screen, flip phone?
Then, there's the color - black, blue, pink, green...? Bell or Rogers? Blackberry or other?
How many people on etsy have a blackberry and why?
Anyone who wants to post a suggestion - i'd love to hear..... thanks!!

County City Mouse Blog

I have met so many great and kind people through etsy!! It really is the site I prefer for my shop. There are tons of Canadians on this site too (shout out to all my Canadian friends on etsy)!! Recently another Canadian asked if she could feature my shop on her blog. Of course I am thrilled!!! I love the way she does it. She picks a shop she likes, she actually does an interview ( i think it's a great idea) and then we decide what to feature for a giveaway! It's a much more personal way to feature someone. I don't like to copy people's ideas but this is just a very personal and nice way to feature a shop and help promote someone. I haven't started

featuring other people yet but this is the way I want to try it out.

Please check out her blog - countrycitymouse-pam.blogspot.com. She has a really great blog with lots of friendly followers!!

Be sure to enter the draw for my pumpkin softie!! Here's the link for that:

http://citycountrymouse-pam.blogspot.com/2009/08/mostly-sundays-giveaway.html

Here's a picture of my Pumpkin Pam softie:

Choumie7 from Paris, France

I just had to write about how excited I am to be part of a blog from Paris, France.

I was notified a few days ago that Choumie wanted to put my cute little cupcake softie

on her blog. I'm not sure what time it is in Paris right now but my softie is featured

on her blog. She is a wonderful artist that everyone should check out. She found

me on etsy and she has a shop on etsy!! Check out her shop as well - awesome art!!

Just going to post a pic of my cupcake softie!!!

Thanks again Choumie!!!!

Merci Choumie!!!

Addicted to Forums

Is it just me or is anyone else addicted to the forums on etsy?
I originally went on to see what it was all about on the advice of another etsian.
Before I knew it I was reading and reading and learning a lot about what I had
yet to do on etsy to promote my shop.
At first, I felt it was shameless promotion of my etsy shop but then I realized
that a lot of shop owners were on there and sometimes not saying much.
Other times, they had a lot to say!!
Within no time I came to realize that I could learn a lot from these generous
people. I learned where to advertise outside etsy, which ones were the best and
even my ever favourite, how to advertise on a limited budget.
The other great thing on the forums is positive reinforcement. Whenever I felt
discouraged all I had to do was log onto a forum and I'd find a positive thread to
follow.
At first I was afraid to post a comment. Then I just had to speak up (how odd considering I have a blog). It is fun and informative!!! I've even been so brave as to start a thread myself. I've just started with questions about how etsy works but someday soon I'm going to bust out with a thread that asks for everyone's opinion. Can't wait to come up with something.
How addicted to the forums have you become?

Crafter's Block

We've all heard of writer's block but what about Crafter's Block? For those of us who love to craft, do you ever find you have too many new ideas and only a short block of time?
Thats' when I usually get blocked and just stop doing everything I love.
Do you ever just get overwhelmed with new ideas and can't sort them all out?
For those of us who have online shops I really think that's the time we spend doing our
advertising, chatting with others who enjoy the same activites and generally just avoiding our studios.
Then we have the organizers. I am truly one of those. I wll spend countless hours organizing my supplies, idea folders (not that it helps at the time), invoices, paper work, kid's paper work. I'll do anything but sit down at my desk to start a new project.
I also have an addiction to magazines. I've been told I need some serious help (there is not a support group for this). This is one of the places I get overwhelmed. I'll see a new color scheme that I love or a new technique. This will sidetrack me for days. Magazines offer so many inspiring ideas for crafters - some of them come complete with how to's. How dangerous!!
If anyone else has some of these symptoms or others - please feel free to comment on this blog and let me know your best method of avoiding getting the work done.

I've been doing some redecorating lately. Thought I'd put some vintage looking things on my favourite display cabinet. See the little house - that's my favorite thing. My son made it when he was just a little guy. Now he's in university in Montreal. He'd be so embarassed if he saw I posted it on my blog. But I love it!!! It's my dream home - it just needs to be on a beach at the ocean!!

Happy Canada Day!!!

New tags to sell

Just thought I'd share some photos of some new tags that I've made for etsy and icraft.

I also updated photos and I really like how they turned out. Let me know what you think.

Crazy Life and Bootcamp

Life has been crazy these last few weeks. If I could share some of the things that happen at my job as a retail manager I would (maybe someday). I'm just not sure everyone would believe me!! I possibly have a day off tomorrow so I can spend some time creating new things for Mostly Sundays.
If you have never heard of a site called icraft you need to check it out. It's Canadian and is going to take over soon - it just might beat out that other one. I have been taking part in a boot camp on that site run by a wonderful lady, Christine. The bootcamp has taught me more than I ever thought I could grasp about online shops and marketing. The things you learn about marketing can be applied to any service or store that needs good exposure. I have a great looking blog, etsy banner, icraft shop thanks to finding out about Polka Dot Pixels at bootcamp.

On July 1, 2009 bootcamp is starting all over again and I highly recommend this for any newbie to the online selling experience. There are more than enough helpful lessons to be learned.
I myself, am anxiously awaiting the advanced bootcamp!! Just go to icraft.ca to sign up for the bootcamp starting July 1st. I can't say enough good things about it. It has helped me greatly and I've met some super helpful (and just plain nice) people at icraft.

I've been meaning to write this for over a week now. I want to give many many thanks to Polka Dot Pixels. She designed my new blog, designed my business cards, my etsy banner and my avatar for etsy and icraft. I'm just having a little technical difficulties (ie. my bad computer skills) setting up the avatar on icraft and the sidebars here on my google.

So I'm dedicating this entire blog to Emily at Polka Dot Pixels. She stayed up late many nights to create this for me and I love it. She put up with me not being able to install anything and she got me started.

My fellow bootcampers at icraft probably can't see my new avatar because I can't get rid of the old ugly one. I have a request for help into icraft so hopefully I can get it fixed this weekend and everyone can see it.

For all the bootcampers that don't have a banner and avatar and business cards - if you didn't win the draw I highly recommend hooking up with Emily to get some of this stuff done. Besides, it sounds like it may be a requirement for the advanced bootcamp!!!!

See all of you back at bootcamp. Here is Emily's sticker for Polka Dot Pixels.

Talk soon.

Karen

Okay, I'm falling down on the job here with updating my new blog.

I hope everyone likes all the hard work from Polka Dot Pixels. I thinks she did a wonderful job - I'm so happy with the etsy banner, avatar and icraft avatar. She also did my business cards and I love them. Thanks again to Emily at Polka Dot Pixels. Check out her etsy shop and she can do a makeover for your blog and shop!!

Morel to tell about the bootcamp on icraft - its great for all of us newbies and I have lots to do to catch up.

I hear rumors from Christine that set up the bootcamp that there may be an advanced bootcamp - I think it will kill me but I'm up for the challenge and you should check it out too.

Like I promised, there is my first freebie and it's a really cute paper lantern. Check it out.

The first person to send me a story about their group of girlfriends just like my "Peeps in the Hood" (more about them later)!! will win the paper lantern. What is the last thing you did with your group of girlfriends??

Here is a pic of the lantern.

Penny the Pink Squarebie

Penny the Pink Squarebie

Here's another adorable Squarebie. These guys are great to cheer up friends.
These can be found on both my etsy and icraft shops.

New stuff for Mostly Sundays

Here are some new softies that I'm adding to Mostly Sundays.

There are lots more of these cute guys to follow