New to the shop

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning on introducing some of the 1000 Word photographs which I post of Thursdays here, to my Etsy shop.

Over the weekend I added a new shop section and listed two of the photographs from the weekly feature to boot! I'm listing these photos in 5"x7" sizes and will also add ACEO sizes as well. Not everyone has unlimited wall space or the funds to spend on wall art. Smaller prints that can add a splash of colour, or an interesting place to rest your eyes in your home seem to fit the bill.

These two prints are the flagship items in the new section and I will be adding new ones as time goes along. Are there any 1000 Word posts that you think need to be added to the shop? I have an idea of which ones I'm planning on adding; I'd love to see if great minds think alike!





The Peanut still has a cough but her sinus seems to be drying out. On the other hand the Husband now has a sore throat... Hope every one had a great weekend!

I think it was something I ate

that knocked me down all day yesterday. I won't go into details because well, you just don't want to know... I'm feeling much better today (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) which is good because I have some gallivanting to do.

Things have been hopping over the last few weeks, I've sold an ACEO, and a hand sewn card; I snagged a photo job and then had someone express interest and order a photograph that was featured in one of my 1000 words posts. Today, the Peanut and I will be heading to the post office, the bank and then to the photo lab. Then we'll go back to the post office and mail off my latest order of photographs.

It's kind of silly that I didn't think of doing it before, and it's kind of an obvious idea. I started the 1000 word posts as incentive to keep photographing, (not that I really need incentive but more of a good reason to carry the camera around). I really do love some of the shots I've used for the series, but it never occurred to me to list them in the Etsy shop (you can't see it but I'm slapping myself in the head with the heel of my hand) until my friend form high school contacted me last week about purchasing the print of the Japanese Maple that lives in the front yard.


I took the photograph after a heavy downpour and the sun had come out. I loved the glistening droplets that were clinging to the ends of the branches and the glare from the sun reflected off the wet pavement. The trunk of the tree is wonderfully tree-ish and the branches a riot of intersecting branches and trapped leaves, the look like a head full of dreads.

So, it looks like I should have been listing these in TMCPhoto from the beginning; I better get started...

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

A little direction

I've been on hiatus from my weekly Q&A feature and I've been using the time to do a little shop tweaking and banner making for TMCPhoto and rethinking what I want this blog to be about and where I want to take it, not to mention working on ways to keep things fresh. I've been wondering if I've had enough focus here and whether I've veered off of the original track and onto another one running a little parallel but with a few more wide curves.

What got me thinking was the number of Mommy Bloggers I have been following. These women are smart funny and in some cases brutally honest about their lives. I've been known to laugh out loud at certain posts and to blow my nose and wipe dripping eyes after others. So I was wondering if I've started to slot myself into the Mommy-Blogger role.

Not that that's a bad thing, I am a Mommy, the Peanut is a pretty big part of my life and our days together make up quite a lot of blog fodder for me. When I started out, the purpose of writing was to let people get to know me, my art and hopefully lead them to my Etsy shops. So I've been thinking about how to balance out the art and the mommy stuff.

I'm hoping I've got it all worked out. In the meantime I'm gearing up for the return of the 5 question feature. I've got a list of shops and artists I want to feature and I'm truly excited about getting back into the swing of things.

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.

one year on etsy give a way celebration

So I was doing my morning ritual of checking Etsy, the blog, facebook and twitter when it occurred to me that I must be nearing my first year anniversary of being an Etsy shop owner.

So I double checked and Lo and behold my one year anniversary is today!

As I found out with the Peanut, the first year is a big challenge full of sleepless nights, life altering changes and the greatest joys. It's pretty much the same with the Etsy shop. So how am I going to celebrate?

I've put a lot of thought into it, I've hemmed I've hawed, I've lost some sleep..... OK I haven't lost any sleep but I did do some hemming and hawing and when all the hemming and hawing was done, my throat was hoarse and I'd made my decision:

I'm going to give something away!

I'm going to give one lucky reader a set of four 5"x 7" Borealis Photographs, to see the photographs that make up the set click here:

Of all the rules to win, only one is required; the rest are all optional.

The rules are simple:

• Follow This Blog (required; for one entry)
  [anyone already following me gets an automatic entry]
• Post here and tell me your favorite item in TMCPhoto store (for one extra entry) you can also tell me why you like it if you want to make me blush.
• Blog about this contest on your blog with a link to this give-a-way Blog (for 5 extra entries)
• Buy something from my shop (for an astounding 10 extra entries)
  

The deadline for entering is July 27th at 8:00pm PST when I will take all entries put them into a hat and make the draw. I'll announce the winner here on Tuesday July 28th. Good luck

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.

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.

S U C C E S S that's the way you spell success!

A while back I took a running leap into art as a full time vocation. I'd been toying with the idea for some time but never quite got past the toying stage. What was stopping me? You may well ask that question, it's one that I started to ask myself as well.

Was I scared? Not as such, not about what immediately pops into your head when people start talking about doing something that they really care about; failure, not being good enough, zombies...

OK there was a little of those things in my thinking but when I started to analyze my thinking I soon realized that being scared of zombies was just silly, I mean they're either going to eat your brains or you're going to set them on fire. The first prospect would mean a little rest (as a mother of a small child rest is a very seductive option), the second option offers a chance for roasting yummy marshmallows and singing Kumbaya; either one of these is not such a bad thing. But I digress.

Fear of failing wasn't really my problem. It was the fear of not failing. that would mean change and change is scary. Change means having to figure things out like child care and business licenses and on and on. I began to realize that when I started to think about getting started as a professional I was bogging myself down with plans and small details of plans and bigger plans each getting more and more complex and all of them focusing on aspects of a career I hadn't even started yet. I needed to zoom out and look at the big picture and take it as they say one step at a time.

As it happens not all of those grandiose plans were unhelpful. A few years ago; when My daughter Miranda was still in the infant stage and breastfeeding was her favourite form of entertainment (now it's watching the Wiggles and telling me that I have a bird on my head while holding a stuffed bird on my head); I attended the North Vancouver Breast Feeding Challenge. And as I looked around that the large number of women with babies and toddlers I thought to myself; this is an ideal place to get my name out.

I could hand out business cards to people. I could offer a door prize, I could give coupons for free photographs. The plan began to grow, as my ideas seem to. But I was still on Maternity leave and suffering from Post-Partum Depression, and I was getting caught up in the little details and the concept of starting out was overwhelming. So I tucked the idea away and brought it out now and again to see if it still made sense.

As I mentioned above, I took the plunge this year. I set up two shops on Etsy, one for photography, one for other arty things, and I used my desktop publishing skills to make up a coupon to promote myself as a portrait photographer. Then I contacted Vancouver Coastal Health who put on the event every year and offered sponsorship for the North Vancouver event.

I figured I would get at least one phone call; from the door prize winner, and I would call that a success. If I got any further calls that would be a landslide victory!

The challenge took place yesterday, so far the results are participation of 5119 babies from 196 sites in 16 countries with further results from 157 sites on their way. Looks like a success to me, and I'm proud to have sponsored of North Vancouver's part in it.

As for the results of my participation? One phone call from an interested mother who liked the photo's on my coupon. I'm still waiting to hear from the door prize winner. Landslide!