Everything Has Changed...

Change happens all around us...

everyday.

But...sometimes I am 'overwhelmed' with change...

and have a hard time adapting to it.

Recently..

Etsy changed it's look..and a lot of the

things behind the scenes.

I'm constantly clicking  back to the 'Classic'

view of my Yahoo email...

the new look isn't what I'm used to...

Twitter changed it's look..

and I'm always switching that back to the old one..

but

the most difficult change for me by far..

EBSQ

Things have pretty much been constant

there since I signed up in

2004...

now

with all the changes to EVERYTHING

I can't figure out how in the heck to

use it.

So...when I can get my computer all 'fixed'...

I think it's going to take me a whole day...

or more...

just to get all of the art that I need to upload to my portfolio

done and in the proper galleries.

I guess I'm pretty set in my ways

as I get older.

I'm Back Home

Well...it took almost a week and a half...

but, I'm back home.

I'd like to say...back to normal...

for now I'll just say...I'm very appreciative of my home.

It's taken me almost five years for this to 'feel' like

home...

and I haven't always 'treated' it as such...

but...home is where the heart is...

and right now 

my heart is in this house I have called 'home' for the

past five years.

I'm Amazed...

I know that I complain a lot about my computer

and all the problems the poor thing has...

in it's defense..

it's totally overworked

and not exactly 'new'.

After thinking about it...though...

I'm actually amazed.

I grew up in the middle of the last century...

heck...

I remember when the transistor pocket radio first came out

and how amazed I was that that tiny...portable little radio...could

operate without a plug...etc...etc...

I've always been amazed by radio and TV...

the internet is a whole 'nother matter...

wow...

I've just got to give kudos to those pioneers

who came up with all these wonderful things

that have made our lives so much easier...

Bookmark Day

Last year I participated in the First

'Bookmark Day'

over on the wonderful

Bibliophilic Book Blog

This March 15th..the sweet Monica

is having her second

Bookmark Day.

Instead of giving away bookmarks...

this year I'm going to offer a special

promotion discount through Bibliophilic Book Blog...

I'll let you know more information...

as soon as I have it.

Displaced

My year isn't off to a very good start...

and I'm not really sure what is going on.

I've been temporarily 'displaced'...
and it's too complicated to go into...
but I'm staying with Jaime and Mikey for a few days.
(And their little 'family' of pets...two dogs and one
very 'feisty' kitty..she bites when she plays.)

My friend has been too busy to get to my computer..
and I really needed to be able to stay busy...
so I just grabbed it back and I'll have to
'deal' with it for now.

Anyway....it's been one challenge after another this new year...
I'm ready for things to get back to 'normal'!

Taking another Little Break

I've been having computer problems again....I keep transferring

all my pictures and Photoshop brushes...documents and the such...

to a second zip drive...

just 'waiting'..

I find this makes me very nervous.

I haven't made anything near what I need to buy a new computer,

so I have to try to keep this one

up and running as long as I can.

So...since this is a really slow time in my business,
I'm having my friend see what they can do to clean my computer

to try to get me by until I can finally give it the 'rest' it needs.

In the meantime...I'm hoping I can get my studio

put back together...

even if I can't work in it until the weather warms up.

I've Changed My Mind

The great thing about running one's own business...

is that one has the option of changing their mind,

if they've had second thoughts about a decision they've made.

Like my decision to pull my bookmarks from my Etsy Shop

and make them only available in my Bonanza Shop.

I'm not sure I ever thought the Bonanza Shop would equal Etsy...

but I did think it might do better than it has.

So....with that in mind...(and I'm not giving up on Bonanza by any means)

I've put a handful of bookmarks BACK in my Etsy Shop

and added a few new ones.

But...I still plan to keep the number of bookmarks at a manageable level,

so I'll be monitoring how each bookmark 'performs' and replacing them,

as needed, with new ones.

Hurry Spring...

I am really anxious for this nasty, cold, icy and snowy weather to be over for the year.
For one thing, it keeps me inside....I not only don't drive in this weather (I had to do that
for so many years that I just don't anymore)...I also don't try to maneuver the sidewalks
and parking lots more than I absolutely have to.  One slip and there goes a hip!!

What I'm most anxious to get out and do is...go thrifting!  I LOVE thrift shops...especially for
the frames I like to use with my smaller paintings.  These frames usually have so much more
'character' than the frames I can find in the art supply shops.  Every now and then, during the
warmer weather, my wonderful neighbor has 'endless' yard sales.  He's an elderly widower
that likes to go to estate auctions then bring the stuff he buys and have a yard sale.
I have found so many really wonderful frames from these sales.

Yes...I'm anxious for spring to hurry and get here...the walls are beginning to close in.

I'm Having a 48 Hour SALE

I don't usually offer so many original paintings in my Etsy Shop..

because my storage space for keeping them safe and sound is very limited...

at least until I can finally get my studio back in shape.

Well...it's been cold as heck here and the studio is in the basement...

so I need to wait until it warms up a bit,

so I can go down there and get it all put back together.

Not sure how Ryan handled the cold for as long as he did.

I've got all these long tables in the garage...that I am just itching

to get cleaned off and put in my studio...all that space to paint!!!

Then I have some shelving units and craft show backboards that I can set

up for storage!!!

I can hardly wait until it warms up!

In the meantime though...I need to move the paintings I've already

painted...so I can paint some more!

So I'm having a 48 Hour SALE with 

50% off the Prints and Larger Paintings...

and 25% off my small canvas sheet/ acrylic paper Paintings.

I Was Going to Have a 'Me' Day....

...but I ended up painting instead.

I remembered back to my 'eBay days'...most of my paintings were smaller ones...

because I've never had a home with walls that would actually hold a lot of the larger

canvas paintings that I do like so much.

That doesn't mean I never paint larger or multi canvas pieces...I do on occasion.

But...I like to keep those little spaces that just 'need' that something extra in mind.

I like painting on watercolor or acrylic paper...and on those scrap canvas pieces left over

from the art covers...(I'm really not much of a 'waster').

Then, I love to mat and frame these smaller pieces in larger frames...to give them a little more 'flair'. For some reason I really like to frame a 4" x 6" painting in an 11" x 14" frame. I once saw someone do that with a postcard collection they had matted and framed. It so impressed me that I could have original 'small' art on my little walls in frames that actually drew the eye to the art.

So I spent my Saturday, painting several little abstract landscapes, with the silhouette trees I like to do...

I will be offering them 'unframed' with the option of getting them matted and framed before shipping...for extra of course.

I know I'm constantly having to 'pull' some of the older pieces to make room for the newer ones...(in an effort to keep my Etsy Shop listings to only 175)...and rather than retire all of those pieces, I'm putting them in one of my other shops for now.

Adding new Abstract Landscapes

These are my newest paintings listed in my Rustic Goth Etsy Shop.

I haven't done many abstracts or landscapes in recent years...and I miss doing them.

So...

I am giving my 'Creepers' a rest...

and for a while I'll be concentrating on some different

style paintings.

Maintaining my Sanity!

I've been in the
'customer service'
profession
my entire life.

Every job I ever held required that I deal with people.
And...I've always tried very hard to do the best job I could possibly do.

To my horror, when customer service is taken 'out of my hands'
i.e....International Shipping/ Post/ Customs...etc..
I tend to Stress majorly!

Everything's okay now...the week off did wonders for my stress levels...
but I did decide to maintain fewer listings in my Shop
keeping the number of items between 150 and 175.

To do this...and still be able to list new items...
I will need to pull some of the older items from time to time.
I've already pulled some items...
Wearable Art Bracelets...
1/3rd of the Scrabble Tiles and Some Prints.

I'm right at 175...with new pieces in the works...
so  I'll be pulling more items this next week.
I've decided to put some of my 'favorites' in my other Shops...
since those shops don't get the 'love' I give to my Etsy Shop.  Course...there's
really no place quite like Etsy...but, I have a few pieces I just can't bear to
retire just yet!
 

My "Me" Days

My "me" Days have always been Saturdays.

Turns out...these are getting harder and harder for me to take...

at least on Saturdays.

Since Ryan moved to North Dakota...and Patrick is always in school

or doing something school related, so he doesn't have time (or much opportunity)

to do my errands...

consequently...Saturdays have become my 'errand' days.

Not as laid back as my 'me' days.

This past Saturday...I attended Patrick's 

'University Directing Debut'

and went to see the play 'Dog Sees God'

...I thought he did a good job directing it!

I think though...that my 'me' days are going to be more like

'me' hours...to catch as I can!