Speaking of time

Of course this display doesn't include today's box. The Peanut has been faithfully opening her advent boxes everyday

I'm wishing I had more time to devote to promoting the ornaments over at PeanutButterPie, the window for ordering with regular priced shipping is slowly closing, for orders in the US it's already shut. But I don't want to be too spammy on facebook and twitter. It's hard to strike a balance but it's something I'm working on. I took some time yesterday to sit in on a Newbie Virtual Lab on Etsy yesterday. I like to drop in every once in a while, it's good to brush up on some basics and in some cases get a few tips that may not have occurred to me for the shop and for running my business.

Today is a pick up some fruit and veg and go to the library day. I'll be trying to tweet a few links to some pretty ornament combos today in between all our coming and going.

Oh my how time is a flying

The Peanut went to her first company holiday party yesterday. We gussied her up and went to the Husband's work where she was fed pizza and juice; was directed to a table where she could decorate and eat sugar cookies and then to the craft table where she made tree ornaments and pipe cleaner jewelry. Then we all were treated to a wild life show from a local animal rescue organization. The Peanut is still talking about the Leopard Gecko and the giant snake skin that she was allowed to touch. Then there was a visit from the jolly red elf and the Peanut was allowed to open her first present of the year; a new dinosaur stuffy which she promptly named Scratchy the Stegosaurus.

Last week we pulled out the advent calendar that I made last year and filled it with candy cane kisses and the Peanut has been opening one each day and counting backwards from 24. And my sister stopped by with a large suitcase from her latest trip to Alberta full of wrapped presents. So far we've only managed to strike two names off of our list. Usually I've started and almost finished gift shopping by now but this year I'm feeling a little distracted (could be the twitchy, bumpy, kicky little passenger in the belly) and we're behind in the gift department. Luckily for the most part the rest of the gifts we need for family (other than the Peanut) are all photographs of the Peanut with a few family pictures thrown in for good measure. Easily done over the course of the next week.

And speaking of time getting away from me: Here are the last dates you can order an ornament from PeanutButterPie and still receive your package before the big day:

In Canada using Regular Parcel:
The last day for ordering to receive your package is December 10th
for customized orders please order by December 8th

Using XpressPost (please convo me with this requested shipping method and I will adjust shipping charges accordingly):
The last day for ordering to receive your order is December 18th
for customized orders please order by December 16th
To the United States using Expidited Parcel: The last day for ordering to receive your order is December 8th
for customized orders please order by December 6th

Using XpressPost (please convo with this requested and I will adjust shipping charges accordingly):
The last day for ordering to receive your order is December 16th
for customized orders please order by December 14th

To Everywhere Else
At this time in order to get your order to you before the Holiday shipping I will have to ship via Canada Post Priority™ Worldwide (Rush) Please convo with this requested and I will adjust shipping charges accordingly:
Your order should to be placed by December 14th
for customization please order by December 12th

I woke up

at about the same time as normal today except the Peanut stayed sleeping. So I took advantage and lounged in bed letting my mind wander and paying attention to the kicks and punches that the Bean was laying on me. She's got a lot of muscle going on, there were a few that nudged me a millimeter here and there as she tried to stretch out.

We're fast heading into the weekly Doctors appointments and it's getting harder and harder to keep the blood sugars under control. Gone are the mornings of eating my breakfast and sitting over a 1/4 cup of coffee, now I have to get up and walk for 15 minutes. I am so looking forward to just plain old eating without having to calculate how many carbs and how much fiber and protein is in any given serving that I am planning on consuming. I've gotten to the point where I have a rotation of foods to eat that I know are at or below recommended serving sizes so I don't have to think about it too much. The difficulty with that is an attack of food ennui, where I'm getting bored with food. Oh but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it's small but getting bigger...

So as I was saying above, I was enjoying one of the rare mornings when I'm not woken up by the Peanut calling out from her own warm bed (since it's started to be colder at night the Peanut has stopped dinosaur stomping into our room to wake us up) to tell me she's hungry. I was letting my mind wander and it started to wander towards next year's craft fair season. Particularly what I'm going to need to gather together so that I can have a professional looking display. I'm hoping to do at least two shows next year which means that the husband and I will continue to build on our inventory over the course of the year.

In addition to the ornaments we're kicking around another collaboration idea and I have plans for a further use of the stamps I've been carving for the ornaments... now to just keep up the creative momentum as the time approaches for the Bean to make her appearance and after...

By the way, have you had a chance to see the new customization service I've added to PeanutButterPie?

I mentioned a little while ago that I was testing out ways to add a little something extra to our ornaments. I got it all figured out and the first customized piece was sent out to my Etsy Baby Shower recipient last week. She sent me a note letting me know it had arrived and gave the ornament a glowing review!

Special Deal for Facebook Fans and other stuff

This week I'm ramping up the marketing for the sale that I'll be having in PeanutButterPie this coming weekend as part of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday events that are happening over on Etsy. Other than offering free shipping over the last few years this is my first real sale on Etsy and I'm pretty excited about being able to offer some special deals over the weekend.

So far this morning I've sent an update to my facebook fans letting them know all the details of the sale this weekend as well as a special coupon code for them to use before the sale even starts. Are you a member of my fanpage? You can get in on the special deals available to fan members by adding my page to your favourites.

Yesterday I mentioned that I have been making some gift boxes for our ornaments. I also promised that I'd share some pictures of those boxes today. I'll be sharing some of those images today. While I was taking the photographs of the finished boxes I also thought it might be a good idea to share how I made my templates and boxes and where to find ready made templates. So I'll be creating a new tutorial over the course of this coming week. I know, nothing like loading myself down with a little extra work right? I think a tutorial will be a lot of help though and I love being able to share information like that.

So here are what my boxes look like now both in prefabrication stage and in all their finished glory. Of course I've already got plans to make the process even easier for me, it just requires a little leg work and finding a place to do the printing for me. It also means that I may have to go with white or white boxes instead of the lovely purple and blue that I've been making on my own but I'm using up stock from my paper stash that's been hiding in my cupboard over the last ten years so the limited number of coloured boxes was going to be a reality anyway.

And We're Off!

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope your day is full of the scent of roasting turkey, and the flavours that go along with it.

This weekend was busy for us. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving at my nieces place with my sister, her partner, her Mom (the Pa's first wife) and my nephew. The meal was lovely, beautifully cooked bird, moist stuffing, creamy smashed potatoes, crunchy salad and some yummy yummy desserts. The company was fantastic and we brought home a portable dishwasher that my niece had sitting in her storage space. No more standing back from the sink so that I can stay comfortable while washing dishes!

Now down to business.
It's official, our new line has been launched; the listings are up! I've Tweeted, I've facebooked, I've started an ad campaign and I'm writing this post.

I have high hopes for this line, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things go. This is my first ad campaign with Project Wonderful. I added an ad box here a while back, firstly to see how the whole process worked and secondly to create some revenue that I could put into my own ad campaigns. We're working on a small budget around here what with the Peanut needing to eat and the Bean putting in her requisition forms for the next 18+ years, so I thought it would be prudent to do things this way. So far my bids are all winning, I'm pleased with the process so far but I'll be honest I'm feeling my way along here.


Click on any of the images here to check out the new listings!

Go ask Alice....

Here's the thing about Disney's Alice; it creeps me out. Watching it as a child awoke some deep seated anxieties about loss of control that the book just doesn't stir up for me, perhaps it's because the Disney version is so sterile while trying to be surreal (for the record, Fantasia made me feel the same way)...

Anyway, I much preferred the live action versions I saw on TV growing up and the books; maybe that's why I'm so excited about Tim Burton's Alice which opens next month. So excited, that I've been a little busy re-exploring Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Not only have I been going back into the books and re-reading but I've also gotten a little creative with John Tenniel's Illustrations.

Last week I mentioned that I'd gotten out, and had been able to make some art at Blim. Since I've been working a lot with glass and paint (more on that project later); the opportunity to play in Photoshop, work with paper and glue and scissors was like a breath of fresh air.

Generally, the creative work I do is 100% mine; from the drawings and paintings for my embellished cards, ATC's and nursery blessings to the photographs in TMCPhoto. Sometimes you just have to go in another direction to keep the creative momentum going. Making use of Tenniel's illustrations was a great jumping point for me. The Blim workshop was a wonderful opportunity to work with ready made images, incorporating some of the newer things I've been working on at the same time. At the end, I was excited and brimming with ideas, planning another trip to make more!

In preparation for my workshop, I scanned some of Tenniel's illustrations into Photoshop, adding colour here and there, cropping the images into a circular format and resizing them to fit the button diameters available at Blim. These were printed off and put aside for the workshop. I made all my illustrations into 1.5" and 1" diameters just because I like those two sizes. This process took me a full day to do what with the details of adding colour without removing the original lines of the illustrations and keeping the Peanut occupied.

For the workshop, I brought some of the rubber stamps I've been carving, some alphabet stamps I've recently purchased and some markers and ink pads for inking up the stamps. I made use of some of decorative papers and the art and fashion magazines Blim had handy for collage and went to work cutting, pasting and putting my buttons together. Because I had plans to make my buttons into magnets I took the pins off of the button backs before putting the pieces and my art into the machines for pressing.

Of course I went into the workshop with only a hazy idea of what I'd like to do and there were some less than lovely pieces that came home with me (yay for learning!) and also some pretty fantastic ones too. What I liked about the workshop was that as I was cutting and pasting I was also thinking of all the other things I could add to the process. Since then I've carved a few new stamps for more Alice magnets (teacups and skeleton keys were my first ideas) and I'm also thinking about other images too.

Out of the 25 button/magnets that I created, I've put together four sets of 3 buttons that I'll be selling in PeanutButterPie. I'll be listing the first set of three this afternoon and I hope they attract some interest. I know they're already attracting interest on my refrigerator, where I've already put some to good use holding up some of the Peanut's more fantastic works of art.

Are you excited about the new Alice Movie too?

I've been caught

by the productivity bug. I've been busy busy working on new things and posting new items, and getting down to home pre-schooling the Peanut. All of which has meant that the blog has been a little neglected.

It's a tough situation this blogging to support your online store and wanting to keep the online store fresh and interesting. Over the last six months PeanutButterPie has been a very neglected enterprise (mainly because I've been re-thinking the direction of the shop and also just as mainly I've been putting more focus on TMCPhoto). I know I'm not alone in the problem of having blogging time cut into creating time, trying to find a working balance between the two and keeping up with the Peanut is what I'm now working on. This could mean more sporadic posts or shorter posts or wordless posts or any number of post types until I've reached a working balance.

Personally I'm leaning towards mostly wordless posts. I've gotten back into shooting on a regular basis again and I'm creating a nice pool of photographs to pull from.

in the meantime I'm once again spending time over at Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween. She's got some pretty cool giveaways today:

Giveaway #1 is a copper wire embellished wand: perfect for the Peanut to use at night to magic away the scary night time monsters

Giveaway #2 is for a beautiful pair of Whisky Quartz earrings. I don't have a US mailing address so I'm out of the running for that prize :(

Giveaway #3 is for a bat covered handmade tarot bag with handcrafted spell candles and a bag of Witches britches all natural herbal divination incense.

there are also two guest bloggers today and of course another spooky stop on the haunted blog tour you can see all of it here

branching out or at least that's the plan

Saturday we went on a family adventure to the Glass Art Supply store in Vancouver.

We'd been talking about going there for months now. I've been playing with a few ideas in the back of my mind and thought there was no time like waiting a good four months to go out and get the supplies for a new project.

In my defense, the Peanut keeps us pretty busy most of the time, and up until a little while ago she needed needed needed a nap in the middle of the day. Don't get me wrong, she still needs the nap most days but it's a little easier to miss it now that she's a little older.

I used some birthday money to get myself a soldering iron, flux and solder for some new projects and I couldn't be more excited. I'm in a bit of a productive stage right now and I'm hoping that I keep up the momentum. So what am I working on? Well, something new for PeanutButterPie, but I think I'd like to keep that under my hat until I'm ready to unveil them.

I have to say that we had a fabulous experience with the staff in the store. I took a Summer Series course in Stained Glass over 10 years ago so I had some idea of what I needed and what the process for my projects would be, but I wanted some advice. The sales lady walked us through everything, gave us options, suggestions and extra information. All of it was useful and pleasant.

When I worked at the Art Supply company their focus was on customer service and I often find other stores don't share the same attitude. Happily this was not the case. The place also offers classes in stained glass as well as for glass slumping and fusing. seeing the facilities got a few more bees in my bonnet...

Are you thinking of branching out with your creative processes? have some new things on the go? let me know, I'd love to hear about them.

I've been lax

I keep telling myself and posting about how I'm gong to keep on schedule, keep up with weekly feature posts, keep up with regular posts, keep up with posting at least three times a week to at least post.... see a pattern here?

Summer is catching up with us we're out more often, for play dates, birthday parties (because it's birthday party season) weddings and berry picking. Blogging time just kind of melts away and will be slowly returning as summer turns into autumn.



In addition to all these real world happenings I have plans to add to, tweak and organize TMCPhoto and my business plan for TMCPhoto and for PeanutButterPie. I have plans and I also have no idea where to start or how. Of course we'll figure it out and by we, I mean me. I started out on Etsy by just diving in. I've had a year to see how things work and now It's time to set things up to work better. I have goals; I want more views, I want more sales, I want to feel like I'm moving forward each week instead of treading water or coasting.

5 questions will be back in September; The last feature I did on TubbyTabby resulted in a direct sale as a result of the feature and I couldn't be more excited and pleased and happy for Jodi of TubbyTabby. I couldn't have been more pleased if the sales were mine. I'm a firm believer in the rule of three, what you put out comes back to you threefold, if I can help out a fellow Etsian I'm also helping myself. I'd love to have more sales for my feature artists result from my features. And this is where the title of this post comes in. I'm giving myself permission to slack off for the rest of summer.

Speaking of Momentum

A few weeks ago I posted about the challenge of keeping up momentum. I've been actively working towards this, trying to overcome lulls and create momentum for myself as well as grasping opportunity wherever it rears it's elusive head.

Having said that, I'm once more heading into a situation where the temptation to drop the ball is going to be high. We're going on Vacation next week and I'm a little worried about whether I'll be able to keep up with the Blog, Tweeting and TMCPhoto and PeanutButterPie.

With the worrying has also come the drive to keep things going. I'll be posting while we're gone (thank all Gods for Laptops) and I may even add a new photograph or two onto TMCPhoto while we're there. We'll be at my Mom's, the location of my Borealis Photo-shoot as well as the Electric Series. I'm hoping that I'll have the opportunity to take some new and fresh shots while I'm there. Since I'll have the laptop with me I'll also have access to my Creative Suite programs.

It's been over two years since I've been back to Alberta and I'm pretty excited about seeing my family. With the exception of my older sister and my two nephews who came in March for a Hockey Tournament; I haven't seen any family except on Facebook in all that time. I'll either be so homesick to stay at the end of the trip or ready to get out of Dodge and not want to come back until a suitable time period has passed. I suppose any posts I do while there will give clues as to how I'm feeling.

Speaking of momentum and grabbing on to opportunities; I was lucky enough to get in on the recent Etsy Treasury window. In honour of our upcoming road trip I've put together a selection of items that are just making me yearn to get on the road.

Treading Water

Every once in a while I start to feel like I'm floundering. Usually it happens about the time that I've had a bit too long of a break from my creative self or when I haven't had enough alone time.

Last week was a splashing, gasping for air and groping for the bottom with my toes kind of week. Between massive toddler meltdowns, a cold that would just not go away and the need to get something new down on paper and posted in TMCPhoto and PeanutButterPie I felt like I'd lost my ability to swim. Thankfully the husband and child let me alone for a few hours on Saturday and I'm back to treading water peacefully or at least treading water well enough to keep my head above water.

If you caught last Fridays post you know that I participated in the Etsy Baby Shower on Saturday. It was a great experience and I'm so please that my designated Mommy loved her painting. I'll be mailing it off on Thursday. I gave her a choice of something already in stock of my shop or a custom painting for her nursery. She opted for a custom painting with bees. She loved all the options I sent her to choose from but picked one as her favourite, I've listed the rest in PeanuButterPie.

While participating in the shower I had a bit of an epiphany. I've decided to eliminate hand made cards from my inventory and focus on doing the Nursery Blessing paintings. I'll continue with cards but I'll have them printed and offer them for a lower price. With the costs of shipping added to the amount of time I spend on each card; I think it makes more sense. Of course any suggestions or comments on this decision are more than welcome.

busy day

I've signed on to the Spring Baby Shower on Etsy again. I'm pretty excited about being a gift giver in this wonderful event.

I went through my pregnancy a province and a half away from family, a little extra special something would have made my day and I'm happy to be a part of that for someone else. The shower will take place on Saturday. If you or someone you know is looking for a gift for a new little person join the chat, there are hundreds of fantastic gift ideas from the shops that are participating.

So in anticipation of the big day, I've been working on some paintings for my designated new mommy. I've also been working on some new baby buggy cards and will be listing them In PeanutButterPie over the next few days. In addition the paintings not chosen by my Mommy will also be listed in PeanutButterPie.



I spent today documenting my latest work for listing on Etsy. I'm pretty happy with how these photographs came out, especially the decor shots. Plus with the great back yard I have to work In I'm thinking that it might be time to rephotograph the rest of my inventory to unify the shop a little bit.

I keep forgetting

my camera when I leave the house. There are about half a dozen things I want to photograph in the new neighborhood and so far I've left the camera at home each time I venture out. In my defense there are weather related issues at work, but still I'm feeling as though I need to give myself a pep talk about getting in the game and all that. We're still unpacking and getting organized, my studio area is still a little untamed. On the plus side I re-opened TMCPhoto and PeanutButterPie on Etsy. Things are getting back to normal slowly. with any luck the weather will cooperate and I'll remember my camera the next time I head outside.

In other news I found this incredible video and am now playing it over and over and over. So good.

The Perfect Light

I keep dreaming of the perfect photo-op. I mean real REM induced dreams and not the stare off into space and think about what you'd like; day dream kind of dream. Those are good too, but when they come from your subconscious I'm sure that there's a reason for them.

I must really need to get out with the camera.

So what am I dreaming of? The perfect foggy morning and/or evening, is enticing my unconscious brain. There's a certain quality of light when you're engulfed in a fog bank. The light is dispersed evenly and the landscape becomes dreamlike and mysterious.

In my dreams I'm looking out the window as a mist is descending and the world is dressed in a shroud of light. Miraculously, I have full batteries and an empty memory card or in some dreams an unlimited supply of film. I grab my tripod and camera and head out the door; at which point I wake up with an itchy shutter release finger.

I guess this means I have to plan a photography excursion; soon. With any luck I'll get a fog-filled landscape in the bargain.

And now (as the Python says,) for something completely different:
Visit PeanutButterPie and TMCPhoto and receive free shipping to any destination until December 2nd. I've added a listing for a set of custom cards for the holidays and there's an assortment of beautiful fine art photographs that will make a perfect holiday gift for your hard to buy for loved ones.