The Kingdom of Procrastination....

'Imaginary Dandelions'

Am I the only one who visits there occasionally (or, OK, often maybe) ? I'm really trying to get some large boxes together to ship some framed photography in but I'm sitting here blogging instead. I think my rationalizing starts with 'well, I'll just check my Etsy shop while I print out these labels' which leads to, 'hmmm, I really wanted to post in my blog today, let me do that right quick', which is followed by 'wow, it's 2:30 already, I think I better eat lunch'......meanwhile the labels finished printing an hour ago and I'm still sitting here with open boxes ready to be sealed, labeled and taken to the post office which of course closes at 4:00. Did I mention that I've been trying to get these boxes to Michigan for at least a month now? LOL. Don't worry, it's not an order from a customer, nothing like that. It's an open ended agreement as far as their arrival date with a gallery/shop up there. First I didn't know how to best package them (six large framed photos with glass). I finally figured that out but didn't have the right sized boxes. Then there was the money issue because I knew it was going to cost a lot to ship them and I mysteriously stopped having sales in my Etsy shop and at the farmer's market. They've picked back up this week though so I feel more comfortable about going ahead and shipping them. Then I went all over town yesterday to see if I could find boxes to ship them in that I didn't have to purchase but nothing was to be found in the size I needed (at least 20"x20"). So I finally caved in and went to office max and paid for one. Now it's just getting it all together and to the post office. Sheesh, why do I have to make things so difficult?

Now, I think I'm going to go downstairs and get that lunch...




'Sunny Side Up'




'Imaginary Dandelions Part Deux'

Featured Etsy Team Member

I featured a team member from the Interior Design Street Team last Sunday, this Sunday I'm featuring another fellow Etsian from the Etsy Bloggers Street Team. Maybe Sunday is going to become my "Featured Artist Day" lol. I try to set aside different days to focus on different aspects of my online life and Sunday has turned into team day/post in blog day. The featured artist that was chosen by the Etsy Bloggers this month is......*drumroll please*....... A Keeper's Jackpot. She is a fabulous jewelry artistan at Etsy. Here are some examples of her work :

This is a wonderfully chunky necklace in shades of gray. I love the colors and the dramatic appeal. It reminds of peaceful rainy day complete with puddles and storm clouds.







Below is a beautifully intricate bracelet. I love the colors of the beads combined with the silver wire.




Next we have the aptly titled 'Root Beer Earrings'. I think they would look amazing with anything that's the color of the minty green bracelet above.



Below we have another fantabulous pair of earrings in my favorite shade of green. These are so pretty and fresh, perfect for summer.



And last, but certainly not least, these very unique earrings made from tree bark. I don't believe I've seen anything like these on Etsy.....they are natural and beautifully made.





I hope you enjoyed your tour of A Keeper's Jackpot :). Pop in and give her shop a visit, I'm sure it would make her happy. She has lots more wonderful creations for you to browse!

Life is Challenging

Overlooked


Quote for the Week:

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results."

-Anonymous
Delta Dawn


I feel challenged right now with our circumstances which tends to give me a bad, downer attitude. We're really trying to make things work out - working from home together, paying our bills, making sure all our teenagers have plenty of food to eat. It just seems like things haven't come together well for us the last couple of weeks. Or they've come together but just barely. The economy probably has a lot to do with it, the fact that buying art is an optional rather than a necessity. I've decided to view this time period as a challenge and keep a good perspective on it all. I really want to focus on the good things that we have now instead of worrying about the things we don't have yet.



Pointless Sentiment

Featured Artist - Funky Chicken Designs

I'm starting a new feature today - I'll be featuring artists from the various Etsy Teams I'm a member of. Today's featured artist is Funky Chicken Design and she's on the Etsy Interior Design Team. Her primary focus is light switch plate covers although she does pillows as well some adorable push pins and magnets. I also spotted this incredibly awesome magazine bowl in her shop that was obviously very labor/time intensive to make.



This bowl and the frame below were done using recycled magazines. Michelle, the shop owner at Funky Chicken Design, is a big believer in recycling as she uses recycled packaging when mailing out her fabulous creations as well.


Here is a frame done using similar materials. Very intricate and colorful.

She obviously enjoys working with paper and decoupage is her primary art of choice :). Here are a couple of my favorite light switch plates from her shop. She has a ton of styles and color schemes to chose from, you're sure to find something for every room of your home.




She also has items for your home office including pushpins and magnets. Here's some oh so cool pushpins. Once again she has several different ones to chose from.



Here are just a couple more items from her shop - a nightlight perfect for your rockabilly boudoir and a gorgeous pillow that would be right at home in your bedroom or your living room.


So head on over to Funky Chicken Design and pick up some cool items for your abode :)!

Quote for the Weekend

"When one of your dreams come true, you begin to look at the others more carefully."

- anonymous

I'm off to the farmer's market in the morning to sell my photography. I'll let you know how it goes when I get home (probably on Sunday actually, I'm usually wiped out when I get home lol).

A Rainy Sunday Morning...

'Fade to Gray'



We had a full house this weekend - Chloe (my 17 year old who we always have), Erik (Richard's 16 yr old son who we have every other weekend or so), and Mia ( my 15 year old who lives with her Dad and who is supposed to come every weekend but has been sporadic about it this summer), + Chloe's assorted friends and boyfriend who was in and out. Chloe and her boyfriend Nicky apparently have gotten a puppy, well, Nicky got a puppy and Chloe's taking care of it a lot I should say. It's adorably cute but not something we want at our house because our Golden Retriever is getting ready to have puppies next week. Then we're getting both our dogs spayed because this was an unplanned pregnancy. Sesame , the Golden Retriever , is just a little over a year old and has only went into heat once. We let her out for like 30 seconds to go to the bathroom and a German Shepard that had been hanging around immediately jumped her and had his way with her. She is undeniably, hugely pregnant right now. I know she'll be glad to get it over with, she has absolutely no energy right now. Richard took her to the vet Friday morning and got her some prenatal vitamins which will hopefully help.


'Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head'


I must go and make a big Sunday breakfast now, everybody's starting to get up. It's an awesome rainy Sunday here in TN, what a great day for sleeping in :). I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend !

'Rainy Day Feeling'

New Website!

'Cream'



So, I'm in the process of setting up a new website, it's not quite ready to go yet...it's going to be really cool and pretty though. I'm working with an amazing website designer named Richard Johnson - I really love his ideas :). More to come on that later.

Nothing really exciting or fun has happened this week, I've been a little under the weather it seems like. I had some issues with UPS sending me some of my photos for a big order completely bent and beat up. There were seriously indentions of a cart wheel on the outside of the envelope....I'm going to put a picture in here so you can see what they did. If this were a South Park episode I would have said 'those bastards' lol. And of course it was an order that needed to be there by July 15, that I had put a rush delivery on and everything. My printing company handled it beautifully though. All I had to do was send photos of the damage and they replaced all 3 photos absolutely free of charge ( large 16"x 16" photos) AND they arrived the very next day. Pretty darn amazing :). I will love them forever and recommend them to anyone who asks :). Look at what UPS did :




outside of envelope - see the cart wheel track in the corner?!



back of one of the photos

Went to the Famer's Market Saturday..

'The Study of Botany



I had a great day at the farmer's market in Knoxville today. It started out really soggy but ended up with beautiful blue skies. Fluffy white clouds included :). I should have taken some photos but I kept my camera in the car due to aforementioned sogginess :). I meet so many awesome people there - I really could just sit there and people watch. Of course selling my photographs is an added bonus lol. I'll have to post some photos of my booth soon. Just a photo or two of new artwork today.



'Daydream Believer'