Sabbatical

Preliminary Note:
This sort of post is one that you would usually find in January, not the beginning of March.  A post about goal setting; or about re-purposing ones life and life practices; or about heartfelt resolutions; or refocus are commonplace at the beginning of a new year.  No, this is not actually one of those posts, although it might seem like it.  

I know that I am not alone when I say that I have struggled, at transition times in my life, with my purpose, and, then, staying on task once I have reached a decision about what my purpose is. You know: when you lost a job, became an empty nester, severed a relationship or had to care for an aging parent, not to mention those reevaluation points in your online business life cycle. I have questioned myself when goals are not met, sales were sagging, or life took a turn not expected.  A few of us do have a singular purpose and do progress along steadily toward the reward, but not most of us.  Most of us are still trying to find a singularly satisfying  purpose.

Life is organic, and can take on a life of it's own, at times.  We weave a curvy path in our days and look back and wonder what we were doing.  We try to make sense of it all, we scour the web and blogisphere for tips about organization, goals, and the like.  So why am I talking about all of this?

Actually I have decided to take a "Sabbatical".  One dictionary puts it: "an extended period of leave from one's customary work . . . to acquire new skills or training (or to rest)" source.   I have come to a point, and don't get me wrong here, life is not bad and I acknowledge that am blessed, but I am sensing a needed transition to come.

So in order to discover what my future holds, in a pro-active effort, I am setting aside most all that I am currently involved in, to focus on some new projects.  Undone projects that have been nagging at the margins of my life; I am making room for them, now.  No more procrastination.  No more excuses.  No more false hope in things that don't matter.

For how long?  I really don't know, but I am taking a break in order to achieve a new perspective.  What will stop:

1)  I am closing my original Etsy shop.  I have been active since 2008 and need a break.
2)  I will no longer be active in this blog, although I will chronicle my sabbatical "year" in a new blog, if anyone is interested in following it.  (Thanks for following this blog in the past---I appreciate you and your comments!)
3)  I will be stepping out of some of my favorite teams for the duration, although I love them and appreciate all my friends!  I just cannot put in the effort needed to be a satisfactory team member.  I will be following your blogs, though, as I can.

What will start?

1)  Finishing my Children's book and illustrations
2)  Embarking on a book plan with my husband
3)  Taking Watercolor art classes

I have other personal, spiritual and business goals for this Sabbath time, but you can read about them in the new blog!

Thanks for being loyal readers, 

and I hope to come back with new enthusiasm 

and a new product after my break! 

Upgrade Weekend

This weekend, while recovering from this flu/virus thing that has hold on me, I sat mostly at the computer on Sunday and worked on this blog.  I changed the header, since mine had been a picture of my signature Breast Cancer quilt for several years now.  I recently changed the header on my other blog, and knew that this blog needed an upgrade too!

I previously had the pink quilt picture and a pink background.  I was going for a cleaner look to exhibit my photos better on a white background.  I know that photos on a black background look really great, but I really don't like to read blogs that are on a black background, so, since I do write and have images, I chose a white background. Also changed my pages tabs and worked on my About Me page--not finished with that yet.   (Adding these pictures of the weekend-- my granddaughter's last softball game of this season and my youngest daughter's move into the new house.)

Oops, she missed this one, but got a single on the next pitch!

And . . . carrying pillows in a heavy equipment carrier for comic relief during the move!  

 My crazy sons-in-law!

And, down the hill to the truck . . grunt, grunt . . while everyone chuckled! 

Well, what do you think?  Really would like to know your opinions of my upgrade! Thanks! 

Etsy Shop Evaluation

The BBA Challenge for this month is to evaluate your Etsy shop in some way--several ways possible.  I have three shops, but I have chosen to evaluate, for this challenge anyway, my Creations shop. I have evaluated my other shops, including closing one of them, but for now, I will talk about the first shop I ever opened on Etsy.

Since it opened in late November of 2008, my sales have been pretty stable each year. Evaluating every year end, and wanting more traffic in 2012 (including more sales!), I have been very diligent this year to list new items, relist items, and tweet items almost daily to get more views.  (I also occasionally list items on Facebook.)

Results have been that the ratio between Etsy views vs. Direct Traffic views this year has changed over  last year's ratio.  Meaning, I am getting a greater portion of Direct Traffic views.  I believe this is due to Twitter and this is good!

In 2013, I would like to increase my views from outside Etsy.  I will be looking for ways to accomplish this. One way, I believe is to advertise with or sponsor blogs that do some promotion of their sponsors.  I have found that tweeting draws views, so this will be my first priority for 2013--more blog sponsorship--blogs that tweet.  Just one of my plans; we will see how it results!

Got any plans for your new year!!????

Friday Blog Finds

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday!  I usually do a 'Friday Finds' article about some cool items that I find on Etsy, but today I want to tweak that a bit.

I have found some great articles on blogs that interest me and instead of just enjoying them myself, I want to share with you what I have found.  I hope you visit these awesome ladies and their blog posts too!  Here goes:


First and foremost is a blog post written by my own daughter, Suzanne!  This post is about the Get Dressed Challenge, and her own experience. I think you might enjoy it, especially if you are a young mother.  Suzanne is a writer but only writes in her blog occasionally, since her boys are still little and she is busy with homemaking tasks.  She has two blogs: one about her own musings about mommy hood and life--in fact, called "Musings"




 . . . . .and one about her healthy food and recipes, called "The Housewife Chef". Current post is a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate chip cookies!  There is a another post about how to prepare a pumpkin, and 'tis the season!!! If you love food, this blog will be a delight to you! She's an awesome cook!

Another blog, which I recommend, is by my niece.

(OK, I know nepotism . . . but I do have an awesome family! I promise, next Friday Blog Finds will not be family ;-)  

Kari (husband Jeff) is the mother of nine children, three by birth and six by adoption.  She has recently had her life threatened because she was testifying in Haiti (she's been there several times, and has a child from Haiti) about orphanages that were trafficking children and (to remain unmentioned here) doing other horrific things to the orphans.  She writes for an organized ministry in Colorado that promotes international adoption, and if you are interested in this subject, you might like to follow her.  The Blog is called 'Welcome Child Orphan Ministry'.  The current post is about a local fundraiser, but if you check out some of the older posts, you will glean some awesome information. 

Challenge: 
Get out of your box!  We, Etsyians and crafters, sometimes get stuck in our genre, and only read blogs that are similar to our own.  Read something new today!

I have decided!

If you read my previous post on my business Goals for 2011, I posed a few questions to myself about the future.  So . . . I have decided, in part, what I want to do.  The 'decided part' is to start a new blog with an emphasis on writing, not handcrafting.  I love writing, and don't do enough of it. 

So, My new blog is called Abigail's Attic.  Here's my first post about my best friends!  Although the URL address for Abigail's Attic was already taken, you can find me at  http://atticreflections.blogspot.com/

I hope you will want to join me on this little journey!  I will be moving my river of stones posts to this site and, very soon, will be moving my Abby's story posts there too!  Yes, I will be finishing the story, for those of you who were following it last year. Yay!

Ambitious!  Maybe, but it will be fun!

Business Goal for 2011

I've been on a short hiatus from blogging lately, but it is time to resume.  I will do it with this:

I belong to an awesome team--The Estybloggers.  We have a writing carnival every two weeks. The current question is:  Now that it's the beginning of a new year, what goal do you have for your business that you hope to achieve in 2011?

Before I reveal my goal, you--my reader--need some background material.  Well, it can be somewhat like debris, the "stuff "of my essence but it has a point. 

I started blogging in November of 08.  It's been a good experience, although it has it's ups and downs.  I originally started on this journey for two reasons:
1)  I wanted to have an excuse to make myself  write something everyday, as I would eventually like to write a book or two.  It was an exercise in staying in the writing craft. (I did do a little bit of creative writing with my Abby story in the blog last year.)
2) Also, because I love creativity, I wanted to have a platform to showcase my own craft business handiwork and the handiwork of other obviously talented artists.   

Over the last two years, I find that I have languished and stagnated, in my writing here on the blog and in my creativity in my business. So,  I took a little hiatus from it all during the holidays thinking about what I wanted to do for the next part of this journey. I needed to focus----I was not clear on anything! Everything had become just so much routine! The spark and crackle was gone!

During my break, I  tossed around several ideas; a possible new emphasis for my blog; OR starting an additional blog, either for the purpose of introducing a concept for a new brick and mortar business within the next year; OR starting a new blog and separating my creative writing from the craft business stuff; AND closing one of my three shops and starting again with an new product--not jewelry. I guess you could say that I have bandied about my creativity like I would a little hacky sack ball. 

I started going thru all my blog posts, re-reading and looking with a new eye. (Actually, I am still in this process--there's a lot of reading material there!) To my surprise, I found that I had been true to my purpose--"writing about creativity, inspiration and family". Although true to mission, I had lost my vision, my passion, because I had been running down the same grooves in the road for an extended period of time.  I had been lulled into an unconcerned mode of operation.  Everyday was more of the same which stifles creativity!

I could go on, but I need to finish this post and get back to the blog carnival question.  What goal do I have for this next portion of the journey?  I will finish my introspection, it can't be rushed.  I do intend to bring into focus all the little details of my essence, create a new vision and decide which areas to keep and which to wave goodbye.  Success must be specific and have determined focus, and  . . . . I want to be successful!  I will continue to write about this little journey, I hope you will stay with me  ("not lulled into an unconcerned mode") and enjoy the details of the journey!

Happy Creating!

Vacation and New Year Revamp

This blogger will be taking a break and a (short vacation) from the computer thru early January! (I may do a Christmas post next week, though.)  This will be a time of reflection and planning.  I need some time to revamp my blog, close one of my shops on Etsy, prepare for my new retail year, and of course, enjoy Christmas, New Years and my hubby's birthday! 

I am wishing all of you a wonderful holiday! 

I hope, in the mean time, that you will visit previous posts of interest to you.  I have listed some of my favorites in the sidebar. And there is always the list of key words in the far right column. Happy reading and see you mid-January for some surprises and fun here in my blog!

New food blog!

Meatball Kale Soup

My daughter has a new food blog that you might be interested in! She buys most all her food at the local farmer's market for the freshest items possible. You can find the above recipe and others there. If you are at all into food, stop by!
http://housewifechef.blogspot.com/

Journal Swap

I've elected to participate in a Journal Swap being put on my Etsybloggers team. We have suggestions each day for assigned writing. This is particularly good for writers (us bloggers) since we are always looking for prompts and writing ideas! I especially like several blogs that give you a title, then you come up with the blog entry!

It's only the second day of the process and upon reading my team members blog entries about their first entry, already, I have learned something! The other bloggers are doing their journals in artful ways! I guess I am just a "Straight Laced plain Jane" gal, 'cuz I started with JUST writing! I don't know why, I guess the word 'Journal' conjured up a picture in my mind of a 'diary.' So, now I have to think more out of the box! And prettier!

So I went digging in my magazine pile for a magazine that I bought some time ago. It is a Somerset Studio presentation of "Artful Blogging". It's a visually inspiring magazine for bloggers! Gorgeous! I'll be flipping thru it today to gain some inspiration and to see what I can come up with for an inspired Journal!

Ideas for the New Year

Ever felt like you're a bit undecided but KNOW that you need to take a direction and pursue it?

I am still contemplating what changes that I really need to make.



I'm sort of feeling, "out with the old, in with the new." The first change, you can see: I have changed the format of my blog. It's the new year and a perfect time to make changes. Besides this format change, there will be a few more blog changes soon. I would like to make a three column presentation, just haven't finished with everything yet.



I've been blogging for more than a year now, and I want to customize my writing to reflect who I am. I may have to dig deep to find just who that is and to find my voice, in the midst of all the bloggy creativeness out there, but find my voice I will. Sometimes in the past, I have taken my lead from what others are doing, i.e. Wordless Wednesdays. I soon ran out of cute pictures to post. I tried doing a Tuesday Proverb, although I still think this is a good idea, it was really the wrong day of the week for me. Maybe Monday would be better. Still thinkin'.

I want to wander about my mind for creativeness that has been hidden. I want to journey around the despair and disappointment that stifles, and be completely surprised by inspiration that lies dormant. I want to present a beautiful blog that is an inspiration to others, that's not just common place. It will take some effort, I know, but it is an adventure worth taking.

So, I hope that you will bear with me as I begin quieting myself, listening to my spirit, and becoming self-honest to see where this journey will take us. Perhaps you will see yourself in my words or in the pictures of my work that I chose to present in this blog. And hopefully, over time, you will begin to see the things for which I strive.