Blogging vs Facebook?

Many days I have come to this blog, started to write a post and then deleted it - either because I didn't have time to finish it or I didn't think that you'd want to read what I was writing.

I'm sure this has happened to many others, but since I joined Facebook, and 'liked' several craft pages and several bloggers, I get all my updates through there, and so I just don't visit my blog any much as I should. And I'm not visiting others blogs either - which is a real shame as you're all taking the time to thoughtfully choose your words and post interesting content.

Are you finding a decrease in traffic too? Are you on Facebook and have you moved away from your blog? I'm struggling with the answers to these questions. But then every now and again, Facebook makes an announcement about how it's showing the posts of organized posters (i.e. not individuals) and business accounts, and I've heard some people/groups/companies say they were leaving Facebook because they refused to pay the fees.

Just the other day, one person wrote that they had over 2,000 followers yet only  their reach was only 60+ people. That's a pretty low return. Of course, Facebook tells them they can get more followers if they pay. And that's where many people are resisting.

So my question is this - do you also have a Facebook account? Do you feel you've left your blog for Facebook? Or are you leaving Facebook for your blog?

Putting the "Happy" into "Happy New Year"

Although there hasn't been much activity in the blog there has been lots activity on the other side of my computer. Not only did I have plenty of custom knitting orders in December (which I loved!!!) but once things died down, I decided it was time to rearrange my work room.

I am an employee that works from home and have a desk dedicated for my job. Although I'm constantly on the lookout for new and improved ways to work and process the jobs and to become more paperless, I still have lots of files and papers on my desk -this is not a place that I do any other work. In the same room I had a nice little desk with a hutch that I considered my personal desk, but I had buried it behind craft supplies and couldn't access the drawers or doors. I decided that it would be good to have one desk for work and one desk for personal use. The personal desk could have pretty things like candles and flowers on it. I also thought it would be good if they could be across from each other as this would put them both near the window and both near the baseboard heater plus all I would have to do is turn the chair around from one spot to another which would save some space.

This simple idea, however, took three days to do. It involved unloading two 7' tall Bonde (Ikea)  bookcases and moving a filing cabinet. It also involved getting rid of as many things as I could. The task is now complete and I am happy with the results. The room is still fuller than it should be but I am happy with it and will continue to work on it. And I still have 3 knitting orders for January, which also makes me very happy.

As well over the past two weeks I was able to sit down with several wonderful ladies who've not only supported me in my knitting business but also in my dance. It is a wonderful feeling to connect with such amazing people. I also had a long meeting with my dance instructor discussing where I'm at and how I'm feeling and this has also renewed my excitement for dance and the future.  I know it sounds cliche but it's definitely been a journey in so many ways.

For me, and many others I talked to, 2014 was a tough year. It's not the worst year of my life, and tragic things didn't necessarily happen, but it was hard - not much came easy that's for sure. And interestingly, it was the same for many others. But I do believe that those tough things won't exist this year and I really think the tough past was a prelude to good 2015. I already put all  the hard work into building the foundation and feel I will reap the benefits this year.

I've suffered from depression and low moods throughout my life but I'm feeling really good about things right now. I'm feeling happy and I feel hopeful. I don't write resolutions but I do 'set intentions' (so to speak) for my future and I feel confident about the upcoming months. Dance class starts on Monday. Next weekend four of us are going to Seattle for a three day dance intensive training. Jp and I are both working and money's not as tight as it had been. I am hopeful my brother and I can mend our relationship this year. My mom and I are planning a trip to Europe this spring. I don't want for anything but look forward to peace and happiness and contentment. And this is the song floating around my head:

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The. Nasty B -Word

No, not that one! The other one - BUSY! It seems to be used by almost everyone.

Everyone is talking about being so very busy.
But lately I have been busy -I put in almost 2 hours of overtime every day in October(and at least an hour a day extra this month) plus I have been getting all sorts of orders for my shop, plus dance and householdy things and I feel I am busy and I can legitimately use that word. Do you agree?
 
 *******

Since the beginning of summer, I have been battling headaches and neck pain. By the end of August the pain still hadn't gone away on its own and I was getting concerned with daily headaches and the effects of regular use of Aleve(Naproxin) so I started with massage therapy. The first session took away at least 40% of the muscle tightness over my shoulder blades and trapezius muscles. I went to several sessions to bring some relief. I. The mean time I. Had an x-Ray done of my neck which showed how tight my muscles were -along with some arthritis in my neck. My doctor suggested I try acupuncture. I went to three sessions and after my last session, she told me to wait 2weeks before my next appointment, which would be this upcoming week. I the mean time. I have been working hard on stretching my neck with yoga poses and stretches to counter the position of sitting looking at a computer screen all day. I think I am gaining on the pain. It has been 4 days since my last pain relief pill, although I must confess I really wanted one this afternoon!

I am seeing progress with me health and that is making me feel less anxious about all the work I have been doing. How's things for you?

Fuzzy Runners?

Recently I bought a pair of 'runners' that said they had non marking soles, but when I turned them over they had a fuzzy/flocked bottom. "Gee that's strange", I thought, "won't that just wear off when I walk on the street?"

Turns out the fuzzy sole has nothing to do with non-marking, it has more to do with taxes and duty - read this article here. Pretty sneeky isn't it??

Q: What kind of running shoes are made from banana skins? A: Slippers. 

Gummy Adults ?

I've noticed several commercials lately advertising adult supplements in gummy form and I just couldn't understand why an adult would need an easily chewable vitamin save for the small percentage of the population that has throat or swallowing issues - but these are wide scale expensive advertising campaigns. Here's one article on the subject and another more 'tongue in cheek' here. So what's your take on the trend? Is it hard for the vast majority of people to swallow vitamins or do we have a large population that just doesn't want to grow up or if-you're-going-to-have-to-take-a-vitamin-it-might-as-well-taste-good-and-be-easy-to-swallow or something else?

Talking Frankly

A frustrating part about running your own business is figuring out which agreements you should make and the people that are behind them. For example, in my business I was focusing on baby hats that would be used for professional portraits - that means that the hats weren't necessarily intended for everyday use but would make great one of a kind, memorable portraits. However, I've found that professional photographers aren't necessarily so 'professional' and so I've had a bit of a struggle with some 'mutual' agreements. For example, when selling a product, a fabulous photo can really help the sale and so a picture of a cute baby wearing my hat is usually a great way to bring in more sales - so how does this happen? Well sometimes we trade a few products with the photographer for some portraits. Except so far, I've given out 12 items and have only gotten back about 4 portraits. This is very frustrating.

One used the excuse that my products were too small - but trying to put a 3 month baby in a newborn hat isn't exactly fair. When I asked for my unused products back, she agreed but said she'd send me on invoice for the shipping. Others just simply haven't come through. In fact, back in September I asked one photographer to return the unpaid for items especially since we were coming up to Christmas - the  busiest time of year for a small craft seller - each week they fail to be returned, followed by an apology and a reason why the delivery couldn't be made and then another promise with a new delivery date.

I know this happens for lots of people, with advertising or joint marketing, or other parts related to business. For me, I have learned from this experience, and fortunately haven't lost too much money - even though every penny counts where you're starting out. It's not an easy job, but I'm still willing to keep trying.

Oopsey doodle! I let time slip away from me again. Another week has gone by - goodness! Where have I been? Well first my day job has kept me really busy and by the time I'm done work I'm kinda done with all computers! Zapped of energy and ideas.

Next, I've been rushing to get as many things as I could in my shop. I had a little assembly line of baby top hats going since they've become popular as snowman/snow baby hats - especially for Christmas portraits. I've been making them with red hat bands and a matching scarf now as well.

Now we're at the end of our Remembrance Day long weekend -  but I decided to put in a couple hours of overtime for work and then wanted to get productive in my shop. Basically doing everything except being on a computer.

I did follow tradition and participate on the Remembrance Day programming on TV. I have never missed one yet. I have always felt the need to remember since my mother was very much affected by WWII and my grandfather fought and was injured in the war as well. I have always been grateful to soldiers and their families as they give up so much for us - in today's address the student poem had a wonderful line -something to the effect of " war gets in the way of what we're fighting for". I wish I could find her poem so I could share it with you.

Well back to sewing and stitching and photographing etc. It's a busy time of year!

And you? Are you busy too?

How Rude!

I find this really disgusting - read this article. She'll explain it in her blog post but basically a women in England is on a TV show talking about needing money about her 'thriving dog portrait business". The problem is, she's stolen the dog portraits, and all she's doing is removing the original artist's signature and adding some her name and some  'jewels' and then charging a large sum of money for each piece.

I've been following Lili Chin's blog and portraits for a while and feel quite bad for her. It's always a risk when you have something unique isn't it? And sure competition is always out there, and should be. But this women isn't creating the portrait herself. She's just talking someone else's work and adding to it - without permission of the creator. Lili Chin has contacted a lawyer and is in pursuit of this cheeky woman but as any small business owner knows - not only does pursuing this type of thing take up your valuable time, time away from creating and expanding your business, but also takes away cash flow. It's a terrible situation to be in.

You'll notice that people in the YouTube comments have been telling her that she's ripping off another artist's work, there's more of a flurry on Facebook and other places as well. From what I've heard, the Brit doesn't seem to care much. I hope enough people make a stink and that Lili Chin is able to win her lawsuit and stop this thief from doing what she's doing.

This is a really big deal

For years I've been a customer and followed the path of Jenny Hart and Sublime - an impressive women who has made a career and business out of hand stitched embroidery. She not only sells patterns and the tools but she also has her own branded embroidery floss (what you stitch with) and multiple books over the years. She's also been a speaker on TedTalks as well as multiple TV shows.

Now she's just announced that Restoration Hardware will be carrying one of her kits this Christmas. This is HUGE! This is big for most companies but for a small one practically run out of Jenny's house with a small staff and in the craft market - HUGE I say.

Her story is inspirational and after being a customer and following her for years, I'm very proud of someone who almost feels like a friend! Congratulations Jenny!

"June is bustin' out all over...

 ...June better get a new dress."

 - that's a little joke my dad used to have. He'd sing the beginning line of the song and then end with the second line. For years I didn't even know it was a real song:

June 1st today. Wowza! How did that happen? It seemed like it was the beginning of spring just a short time ago. I feel like I've been in a fog the last week or so. In fact the other day I went from 7am to 9:30 and I don't know how.

Since I work from home, usually around 7:30 I make Jp a cup of coffee and bring it to him before he starts his work day. But the other day I suddenly realized he was in the kitchen at 9:30 making his own coffee. I didn't hear him get up, or shower or anything. I mean I kinda did, but I kinda didn't. That's a wee bit scary don't you think?

Anyway, work 'year end' is over. It's Saturday and it's the first of June. I'm ready to get started on getting things done. First up was some marketing and business for my little shop which I've basically neglected the past 2 months - and it shows. Sheesh. It's true you need 50% in making things and 50% marketing.

And I'm kinda glad that it's a cloudy day with some 'spitting' rain  so I can get some desk work/office work done. Does anyone else use that term  - spitting rain - besides us Vancouverites? Just like they say the Inuit have 50 words for snow, I'd say we could probably come up with just as  many to describe our rain - like "Scottish Mist" or "movie rain", that kind of thing.

Must Have That - Busines Update

Twice this week I've had an item from my Etsy shop featured in an Etsy Treasury - the first one called: The Next Generation where my pea green striped hat is featured and another called The Playful Gallery which includes my little Turtle Booties.

Etsy defines a treasury as:  an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery comprised of lists of items.These lists contain 16 items. Members can create a themed collection or feature their favorite items from all over Etsy.

If the seller is popular they can help generate traffic to your store, which will hopefully lead to sales. Being featured is like a recommendation from a friend and is definitely welcome exposure. Treasuries are not for self-promotion so you should feature other people's work. In a sea of products and shops it helps when your items are brought to the front. 

I've also had some requests from ladies in my dance class, including one who bought a pair of wrist warmers right off my hands! 

All these requests are a good thing to keep my mind off our chilly spring - including a nasty hail storm yesterday. Luckily only the crocus and the snow drops were in flower at the moment as the daffodils and tulips only have about 6" leaves at the moment. I would like it to get warmer since I've been quite cold the last couple of days. Odd how I was warmer in -16 degree C weather during my trip last week than I am here with +8 degree C weather. Like everyone says I guess it's our dampness that makes the biggest difference. 

What does spring look like where you live? 

Mixed-Bay O' Weather

Today is one of those winter days that is nice to look at but not so nice to be in because it's going between sun and cloud and wind and rain spit. It's fun to look out the window to see the big clouds rolling by but gee I had to zip and unzip and take off and put on my coat a bunch of times.

I'm kinda glad I'm back home now.

Other people musta felt similar because we were the only ones in the dog park - it's not so fun to be in a park by yourself, although Eco makes her own fun jumping fences, sniffing trees and then running through muddy little creeks. It's a good thing she's dark brown so I don't really know how dirty she got. By the time I towelled her off at home it didn't look so bad. Silly little dog.

I lost my creative mojo this past week after I got news from one of my potential customers that $500+ were spend on shop similar to mine in the US. Congratulations to that shop but dang I thought I had it in the bag - so to speak. I've been sort of re-thinking my direction and working on marketing more. I guess there's always something to work on.

Done!

7:30 Sunday night and I am finished all the gifts I wanted to make that needed to be mailed. Now anything I start making is either for someone locally, something for my shop or something for me.

And speaking of my shop - two good things happened to me last week. One, a friend of mine with 5500 friends promo'd me on her facebook page. That's nice exposure. I am very grateful. And second, I received an invitation to join EtsyBABY which is an exclusive group that promotes shops specializing in baby items. Being part of EtsyBaby gives me more exposure to my shop and they profile items and promote their members, as well, it's not so easy to get in so getting an invitation is a good thing. I am very grateful and very excited. As soon as I wrap and mail my out-of-town gifts tomorrow, I will start working on my MustHaveThat Etsy store (see right side bar for the link) and figure out a game plan. I have some very good advice to follow from my Number 1 fan - my brother and from Leonie Dawson who offers several how-to business course and planners etc  - so  definitely have my work cut out for me.

 I am very pleased to have completely my hand-made Christmas gifts "on schedule" and look forward to some 'free' time. I say free in quotes, because it's really stuff that I should put first but always struggle with as I always let the minutia of daily life get in the way. If ever I had a resolution that would be it. To make time for creative time NO MATTER WHAT. Which is kinda what I did to finish this last project, I neglected some housework and cut back on the baking/cooking as I had to get that last gift done.

I have also finished shopping  - unless I have forgotten someone - so I am feeling positive about the next 2 weeks.

How about you? Do you celebrate Christmas? 

Are you on schedule for gifts and preparations? 

My fastest sale yet!

Yippee! Within 24 hours of posting the black spiderweb hat in Etsy, it was purchased! That's very good news, and encouraging too. Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to share. 

Progress is Slow

Some family/friends of mine have complained from time to time about the poor service by trades people in their area. Sometimes this lack of service is blamed on the small town they live in - well remember this post? Guess what? I still don't have new gutters on my house. The guy that was supposed to come that day didn't show up. He had some excuse about his helpers not showing up and how he had to work by himself. We rescheduled for the Friday. But he didn't show up that day either. Here we are a week later, and nothing. 

So we had to start all over calling companies again. Now we are supposed to have someone coming out on Friday to take a look and provide us with a quotation. I hope they show up. I hope they get the job done. I had wanted to paint after the gutters were in but I'm afraid I'm running out of dry fall days 

Do you have that in your town? Are most tradespeople these days really bad at responding to potential customers? It's no longer a small town problem anymore is it? 

Little Brimmed Hat

I just finished this cute little brimmed hat with strap and even found the perfect matching buttons - with a little help... Jp's my resident expert button picker:

Isn't it just the cutest? It should fit a baby up to about six months old. I've just sent off some photos to baby photographers I know in case it's something they want for their prop collection and then it's off to my Etsy shop.

The creator of the pattern has allowed makers to sell their finished hats as long as you link back to her so if you are interested in making one yourself here is the pattern link (plus you get to see it on a real baby!)

London Olympics- I just want to say this

[Oh oh, here I go again. Okay, just so you know I have no interest in turning this into a political blog, nor do I have any desire to run for politics, but I just feel that I need to say this too, and then I promise I'll go back to my light and fluffy content.]

The 2010 Olympics were here in Vancouver and there were many stories that came to light related to the advertising and rules related to the Olympics. For example, a restaurant who, for many years, had used the name "Olympic" in front of some neon rings for signage was ordered they must change their name and log as they were not allowed to use the word or the coloured rings without the proper approval. And they were told they had to make this change immediately or face large fines. (a bit heavy handed don't you think?)

Who are these committee people that travel around the world every two years dictating and controlling advertising and business? That get wined and dined on tax-payers money while they 'think' about where the next best location may be. 

Did you know that two weeks prior to the Olympics there is a ban to prevent advertising containing athletes that are promoting products not officially approved by the Olympics? And now there is talk that you might not be allowed into an event if you're wearing branded clothing that is not an official sponsor?  You've paid hundreds of dollars to get into the event and then you're banned because you have a Pepsi t-shirt and Coca-Cola is the official sponsor? I understand the concept and see where they are coming from but I really think they are controlling waaayy too much, and worse yet - we're letting them!!!! 

Tickets for the Vancouver Winter Games were absolutely out of this world, and people raced the clock to buy up all that they could. Why? I don't understand. I guess I need to be a sports fan to understand that everything else much come in front of someone skiing down a hill. No, they didn't find the cure for cancer or vaccinate children from Polio - that doesn't make big business money, does it? 

Who do these people think they are? And why are we giving them so much power? It really concerns me that they can control so much, and that we just let them. Cities pay thousand of dollars just to bid, and big business thinks that when the Olympics come to their town it will yield millions in revenue for tourism and related trades. But they never seem to remember what it costs a city.Vancouver displaced hundred of low-income people because they were living in an area that someone  decided was going to be an Olympic Village.  In the Province of British Columbia, the Olympics was funded largely by making huge cuts to Education and Medicine. Sadly the people most affected by these cuts do not have big enough voices to stop the machine. 

Has the Olympics been to your city and how did it affect the average person? Do you think they're going to ban me from using the "O" word so many times without proper approval?

Edit - Friday night  was the opening ceremonies, but the 11:00 news show  I normally watch, couldn't show anything because it was illegal. That's even how the newscasters said it. 

U.S. patent No. 6,360,693

Did you know...... that today is Stick Invention Day? In 2002, a person received U.S. patent 6,360,693 . What was his amazing invention? An animal toy that includes an apparatus with a "main section with at least one protrusion ... that resembles a branch in appearance." In other words, a stick. ;-)

This is most curious to me. Doesn't it cost a lot of money to obtain a patent? What would be the motivation to do so? So many questions, so many sticks....

More info here.