Happy Halloween!

I'm sure I'll have lots of little ones

coming to my door

for candy...

they'll all be my grandchildren!

Most of them are now living here...only the older two..

who now have their own lives...live outstate.

I don't 'do' the handing of Halloween candy to the neighborhood children

since I spend most of Halloween by myself...

and I just can't get up and down

over and over

to answer the door!

It's a little sad...but it's my reality

and I have to deal with it!

Still

I do wish everyone who is still able

to have fun...

to have a

'Happy Halloween'!

Man in the Moon

I was reading an article on Etsy about

'telling a story'.

It concerned item descriptions...

and what makes an item 'unique'.

After giving it some thought...it occurred to me that,

while I intend for each work of art to 'tell it's own story'...

perhaps I should also include something about what

inspired me to create each piece.

So...I started with the

'Man in the Moon'.

Someone commented on my Facebook page

about what I would do with a 

Lovecraft 'Cthulu' subject.

I really didn't know the subject...so I

looked it up in the wiki.

And..I 'accepted' the challenge.

While creating the piece...I thought about 

the demons and fears

most of us face during the course of our lifetimes...

and about 'embracing them' instead of running from them.

So..I guess there really is

'more to the story'

on every piece of art I created...

sometimes it's conscious and sometimes it's not...

but the 'story' unfolds all the same.

It's going to take me more time than I care to think about...

but I will be including those little 'stories'

in my descriptions 

(if I think it 'pertinent' to the piece)

Maybe I'll shoot for 4 or 5 every day until I get them all finished.

And..from time to time...I'll post a blog about

those that I would like to share with you all:)

Gearing up for a Busy Week

Last week I had a family emergency that took me

clear across the State...

driving in the middle of the night..

sleeping until 8 pm when I finally got back home and got some sleep...

and just kind of threw my normal routine

totally upside down.

It was filled with drama...stress...and just plain exhaustion.

And...it's not over yet!

Still I have to work at what I do...or I don't pay my bills...

so I'm really 'gearing' up for a busy week...

trying to work,

visiting with a sibling I haven't seen in a couple of years,

and dealing with my oldest...who is the last of my children to move

back home (not actually into my home..but only a few minutes away).

The Show Season is a bit of a Disappointment

Here are a few pic's from the first local show of the Season.

It was such a disappointment that we still have most of the 'stuff' left and listed

in our Shops.

Our sales were more than half as many as last year's show...

the weather was perfect...

there were no extra events going on in town...

and more people have jobs this year than last...

so

I'm not sure what to make of it...

or whether to do the last three shows or not.

Maybe we'll do ONE more and see what happens...

New Apps on Etsy

I am so excited about some of the new apps on Etsy

that I just had to share...

especially with those who have an Etsy Shop.

My new 'favorite' is...

Etsy on Sale

This app not only lets me schedule the beginning time...and

ending time for each Sale that I have in my Shop...

it allows me to do it by Sections...

it changes the prices and the titles

for me when the Sale starts...

it also changes the price back and removes the 'sale' wording

in the titles

when the Sale is over.

Oh my gosh...this saves me 'literally' hours and hours of work.

In the past it has taken me a minimum

of two hours...(for a small sale)

to four or five hours...(for a store wide sale)

And...the app is free to use...

though the developers have a donation tab..

which I think is more than fair.

Another App that I often use is

Craftopolis...

or 'Etsy Love'...

they now have a new feature that allows me to

change the prices by section.

This is soooo handy for those prices that were lowered

before I found 'Etsy on Sale'

and I will be using it in the near future

to put my prints back to their regular prices.

It has BEEN a Week!!

Oh my goodness....it has BEEN another one of 'those' weeks!

I 'long' for the day when I can afford to buy a new computer...

I think my poor thing is on it's last 'leg'.

I try very hard to keep it 'cleaned up' so that it doesn't just crash on me

before that day...but it needs to come sooner than later.

So my computer was down for part of the week...and then I had a family

emergency that took me out of town for a bit.

Like I said...it has BEEN a week...one of those that I won't mind

putting behind me.

In the meantime...since I really do need to work up the funds for a computer

on top of my regular bills....I'm having several different

'Sales' in the Shop,

going on at the same time.

The painting sale ends tomorrow...while others will end on Friday and

others on Saturday.

New items in Shop

I have...or will be...listing quite a few new items

in my Shop.

I'm hoping to have all my new items listed by next week-end.

Shop Updates...

Since the move from 1000 Markets to Bonanza,

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to figure that site out.
I've got several items that are pretty much exclusive to the site...

I was originally going to wait until after the upcoming show..

when I had a little more time..

but I made a sale within a day after moving over

so I felt I needed to begin working on the site right away.

There's a lot more that I need to do...but those things will HAVE to wait...

I plan to have 25 Scrabble Tile pendants listed in my

Etsy Shop before the week-end.

Then...next week I'll begin listing even more pendants.

I will be pulling most of my original paintings to take to the Show...

I'll put those, that don't sell, back in the Shop

once the show is over.

I've got a Question on Facebook...

I posted a question on my Facebook page...

I was curious whether or not

people would like my prints framed or unframed.

I'd appreciate all feedback

to help me make up my mind whether to offer this or not.

To 'weigh in' on this...

check out my Rustic Goth page.

Thanks for your help!

First Show of our Regular Season

This coming Saturday is the

'first' show of our Regular Fall Season.

We're able to take some of our paintings to this

show...

and with all of our other new items..

we're really looking forward to this one.

I've posted our Fall Show schedule for anyone

who is wondering what shows we have coming up.

I'm Not Sure I Like Changes that are 'Thrust' Upon Me

I do understand that change is a necessary fact of life...

we are in a constant state of change.

But...when I'm just getting 'used' to something...

it seems someone comes along and

changes things on me.

Recently...Etsy has been undergoing a lot of changes.

I had been so used to 

looking to the right...

for 

Shop sections,

Shop Info...etc..

now that has all been moved to the left.

Not a big change I know...

but it still

'drives me crazy'.

Recently, I got an email from 1000 Markets 

saying

they had been acquired by 

Bonanza.

I had 'just' gotten used to 1000 Markets...

so Bonanza is just going to have to wait

until after the first of the year.

The items from the 1000 Markets shop have transferred

over...but there is no

'rhyme or reason' to how the items

are showing up in Bonanza

(I had them so carefully placed into their respective sections in 1000 Markets.)

But...

such is life...

constantly changing.