on Creating Efficiency, a Theme on a Goal

My new posts will feature the things that inspired my jewelry.

One of my goals this year is to be more efficient with my time in order to free up more time for the family. 

I’ve noticed more posts on FB doesn’t necessarily equate to more interaction. In fact I increased postings before Valentines and my stats dropped. So a high frequency of posting isn’t necessary at all, but a good quality posting still is. 

I opened a Hoot Suite account for scheduling purposes but I still haven’t used it. I have however started working on putting together some posts and trying to work out a schedule that doesn’t put the same post everywhere at the same time - no one likes that either, or at least I don’t, maybe no one else actually minds and I’m just weird that way. What “my” audience does seem to really like are in progress shots and inspiration posts and gasp posts about me? lol I don’t know why that surprises me, but it does. I kind of like it though. It’s like I’m finally finding that little something I’ve been hunting for.

The whole less posting thing has freed up a bit of time for me, and I feel more productive with my time when I am online and posting. More importantly my family is happier with my increased presence and availability for them. And THAT is what it’s all about. 

Aventurine Gemstone Donut & Silver Stampings

This weeks Year of Jewelry piece is a green Aventurine donut adorned with silver plated stampings, a sterling rolo chain and a couple sweet crystals in a matching green. I believe this one is running off to live on the east coast fairly soon but if someone were interested in a similar necklace I can easily pick up another gemstone donut or two…. or more. As pretty as it is in Aventurine, think how sweet this could be in the soft pink of a Rose Quartz! Or how fun a composite Turquoise would look with it’s metallic veining! I might have to buy some just so I can play with it now, I wonder who has some Mojave Turquoise available?? What do you think? Blue, Purple, Green? Or the heavy black matrix with pops of blue/green turquoise? I am really going to have to check this out as soon as I'm done posting here.... or after I get back from the post office... customer service first, shopping second.

Thanks for stoppin by!

See ya next time!

the Infinite Possibilities Project

As you know last week I wrote about setting goals instead of resolutions. I had briefly touched on a couple of my goals and noticed efficiency seemed to be my mantra for the year. 

You may also recall I subscribe to Notes From the Universe (click here!! to see what that’s all about ) I love starting my mornings out on a good note and I encourage everyone reading to start theirs our on a good note too. The Infinite Possibilities Project (click here! to join in the fun) is the brainchild of Mike Dooley, who just happens to bring my notes to my inbox every weekday morning. I thought since the notes start my day so well THIS would be a great way to start my year. It’s 30 days of quick activities to help you achieve your dreams. Day one was all about setting goals, right up my ally! 

Since I talked about some of my goals with you last week and since it’s so on target with this time of year I thought I’d share my 30 days on the blog here throughout the month of January, and since it’s a new year and I have a new shop to fill up I’m also participating in the Year of Jewelry Project again this year, so I may sprinkle some new goodies in there from time to time as well.

5 goals in order of importance, ordering them was kind of hard because they all kind of intertwine with each other…… 

1: Health; Continuing regular exercise and improving on our nutrition. Because even Pizza Night can turn into a family meal with a salad.

2: Business; you’ve read this one already : Social Media Marketing, Inventory, Book Keeping and the business plan revisited for the bread & butter business. You might feel this one should be lower but once it gets rolling it will free up time for 1, 3 & 5 (my Mantra for the year) and will actually help create 4 but it is 2nd because health above all else, without it you can’t fully enjoy the rest.

3: Home; finish my existing projects, prioritize what needs to be done and get those started

4: Finances; my little business has been self-sustaining and has met it’s goals consistently, this is the year I want it to contribute to the household.

5: Family; help the kids build their dreams, be kinder, be happier, cook together. Once the kids were big enough to cook without supervision I backed out of the kitchen when they cooked to allow them to stretch and develop their skills. But I really miss cooking together, some of our best happiest and goofiest moments are had in the kitchen together. If they’re making pizza, I can make a salad. Which brings us right back around to Goal number 1.

Day 2 was about choosing a theme for the year and I immediately thought ha! I’m ahead of the game my word is efficiency. But then I thought no that’s not my theme, efficiency is the key to finding balance so that I can create abundance.

abundance |əˈbəndəns|

noun

• plentifulness of the good things of life; prosperity

Abundance of Love, of Creativity, of Time, of Success, of Health and sure of Wealth too. So the word might be efficiency, but the theme is Abundance.

Day 3 was getting into detail about day ones goals……. hahaha umm yeah did that on day one :)

Day 4 start a journal to record your 30 day journey lol again ahead of the curve I started writing this on day 2 because I loved how well it tied in to what I was already writing about.

Consider creating a vision board on Pinterest….. that might actually be fun too. If I decide to make one I’ll post it on next weeks blog for those of you following along and need ideas for your own board. Or I can do that now! (that's the magic of writing posts early lol)  Here's my Board! 

As this publishes for you to read it will be day 5  - I try to write my posts a couple days early so I can post them in the morning, and now you know why some posts are late.

All in all it’s been a productive week around here, I love the renewed energy a new calendar brings, it’s fresh and new and full of potential. just waiting for me to fill it up with wonderful things!

Speaking of Pinterest boards…… I have one for the Year of Jewelry Project, I started it last year so don’t let the dozen or so posts fool you I’ve only posted the one bracelet so far this year.  It’s here if you want to see.  https://www.pinterest.com/winddancerspin/a-year-of-jewelry/

Ramblings on...

We used to have this exact alarm clock on the night stand.
Works a charm to get you up especially when it's on the
other side of the bed!! lol 

It's clear it's an election year coming. The discussions out and about are getting deeper and have more substance than the idle chit chat that flows through FB most of the time.

It's a very good thing when they stay civil. It's really interesting to see the way other peoples minds work and what really clicks for them.

The only problem is I'm an introvert so while I love the discussion they can be a bit draining emotionally for me. They steal my day away and my energy.

I thought I might deal with this by starting my day with some outdoor time, do a little weeding and some watering out in the garden. Then take a couple laps around the house, sounds like a great plan right? It is! Until you realize how out of shape you are!! It was only about a half mile but the humidity popped up and I was so ready to head back inside lol

Since I had sold several pairs of earrings the plan was to shower and head into the studio to replenish stock but then I checked FB and I got caught up in a couple discussions. The time got away from me again. I need to set a timer or a limit or something, I really do.

And of course B'Sue's blog hop is coming up in just another couple weeks. Thankfully I finally have an idea for what I want to do, I was really beginning to wonder. I just have not had the urge to create for the hop at all and it's been kind of unnerving. I have ideas I want to play with, they just aren't for the hop. sigh This never happens, normally I'm all over it! Make make make, I like a challenge! I think I'm going to be ok now that I have an idea to play with though!

I just need to actually get off the computer and Get In To The Studio...........

The kiddo has been feeling the same way too. Good news though, we finally found a kiln for her!
She's excited and I'm excited for her! I'm so looking forward to seeing her really take off now! She's been getting so antsy since school started up again. She really needs some hands in the mud time. I'm so glad she's finally going to get it!

Thanks for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

Of A Story on Nature as Inspiration or Telling the Story of Inspiration Naturally

The view from my window.

I live on a dirt road at the top of a hill along the river valley in a clearing in the woods. I regularly have deer in my front yard, doves in the back and I hold near daily conversations with hawks and other birds. It should come as no surprise that I find inspiration in nature. The colors, the shapes, the utterly calming ground it provides.

I have two pages here on the blog, one for my writings and the other showcases my Rebel Mouse account. If you ever wonder about what I’m finding and posting out and about on the web just click there. You can even subscribe and receive what I’m up to in your inbox. I might only blog once a week, or post to Instagram sporadically but it all ends up there on a daily.  It’s always kind of surprising to me when I get my rebel mail, while I'm finding and posting I don't think anything has much of anything in common, but seeing them together in the email  I can see the repeating forms, the themes and similarities.

I had thought for all the “planning" and posting and pinning I do, I am not nearly cohesive enough. But as I looked over the page I realized I tend to run in themes all the time, even more so when I’m not thinking about it! Here I had a slow day just two posts both on Pinterest, one a Design Seeds color palette, and the other a pair of earrings I was sharing and without meaning to I had a nature theme going. Then it dawns on me, I have so many nature themed pieces in my shop, including several pieces on my desk right now, and a ton of inspirational photos and color palettes that without any effort at all I had this beautiful story to tell. I’d been telling it all along and didn’t even know it!

I think we might all be just a little guilty of this. We love certain things, and they tend to show in what we do in various ways. But because they are so second nature to us, we fail to recognize them as part of our story. I do love it when things become serendipitous, last week I said I planned on telling my stories again and this week my eyes open to the stories that have been there all along. What a fun beginning to this reawakening of me. After all, that is the story isn’t it? How what I love finds its way into what I love doing and being able to share it all with you. Happiness

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see you next time!…….. I always say we, but it’s just me lol…. oh and you! That makes a we doesn’t it?  :)

of Faith and Magic or Perception and Goals

I'm having a business/pricing crisis and since so many artists have difficulty with pricing/business I thought I'd post here as my crisis could turn out to be beneficial for someone else. :)

In one of the groups I belong to on FB, one of the members posted a set of wood/stone stretch bracelets she found priced at $175.oo. Set of 4. Cute but nothing extra special about them, just a single gemstone connector and wooden beads. At first glance I thought Wow! I am not charging enough. Breakdown the price and it's about $45 each bracelet. Looking up the components and how I charge for bracelets that aren't stretch the numbers seem to be about right. Poke around her shop and she has had 3000 sales, quite a few of these sets. That makes an estimated $90k a yr in sales.  Her shop is full of bolo leather, wooden beads, and single gemstone on a chain, prices from $150 - 890 Nothing that I can't make, using materials I have on hand. 

So why does this create a crisis for me? I look at my shop and then look at hers. She has mostly production pieces, things that can be made made quickly and easily over and over again. I have mostly one of’s with only a small handful of production pieces. We opened at almost the same time, days apart at most, I’ve averaged one sale a month, she’s averaged 11 a week and I haven’t come any where near 90k total. One third of my sales are production work,  20% is custom work, and the other half is one of. 

Until I broke down those numbers I felt the bulk of my sales were production work. I felt I wasn’t charging what I should be, I felt woefully underpriced.

When we compare ourselves to others it creates a "what am I doing wrong" thought process, and that is a dangerous place to be. It’s comparing apples to oranges.

My goal has never been $90,000 a year in jewelry sales. My original goal was a consistent one or two sales a month. Combining all sales from Artfire (I started there and moved to Etsy) sales on Etsy, sales on FB and offline I have met that goal. The whole idea when I began selling was for this to be a self supporting hobby, gold and silver, and all those sparkly things can get a little pricey :) To me meeting your goals is the definition of success, once met it’s time to set new goals.

This crisis though, has gotten me thinking about the direction of my shop, about my pricing, about business vs hobby. The moment I started selling it became a business and I have treated it more like a hobby. Oh, I’ve priced properly taking all things into consideration. Considered other avenues for sales and weighed those options for profitability, and added items based on sell ability. But still, there are things I would do as a business I am not doing now.

this showed up in my feed this am on FB pretty apt I think

Perception is a powerful thing. I don’t really like it when people say I ONLY USE THE BEST. This shop did that, she’s selling wood stretchy bracelets, and has managed to convince people they are something extra special. My hats off, she turned a simple inexpensive material into an only the best product. Maybe my crisis has more to do with marketing than pricing, as we do seem to price similarly. I understand marketing and, having been self employed since the age of 20, I know what to do. I’m not entirely sure why I resist it so much in this endeavor of mine. My hand work has always sold itself, someone sees, comments on it, a little chit chat, asks how much and orders. It’s just different online, and while I can still follow the premise it’s difficult to replicate that "in person” experience online, the warmth of the interaction, the smiles, the laughter, seeing their face when they hold it. I do however, have a couple ideas on how to maybe bring some of that warmth to the screen.

Ok then, having met my goals I suppose next is doubling, setting a dollar amount to aim for. 90k is more than I want, that’s full time work and I think I’m pretty happy with part time!  Up until now I have done nothing more than passive marketing, a little cross promotion working with Etsy teams but nothing truly marketing myself. I have felt like I might be ready to step it up a notch and have been laying out ideas and I think it just might be time to start developing those plans. End of year is coming fast and it will be time to implement them before you know it. So the next couple of months will be all about the holiday season and me planning my marketing strategy. Don’t worry I Hate a hard sell, I won’t even buy something I need if it involves a hard sell, so the plan will still include passive marketing. I’m just going to get much more creative about it.

Hopefully this has helped someone in some small way to remember to use a crisis to push you forward, don’t let it hold you back. You are worth it!

Til next time!

Thanks for stoppin by!

An Homage to Best Friends

I've finally finished up my hopping for Bead Soup!! But, if you're still hopping - click HERE.

When I was growing up I rode and showed Western Pleasure and Trail (trail is an obstacle course for horse and rider) my best friend Cindy was a barrel racer and a pretty darn good one. Many of our afternoons were spent either riding trails through the orchards and countryside or training poles and barrels at her house, after homework of course......  maybe not always after..... ok ok maybe mostly before.

We did almost everything together. When I found myself grounded during song leader tryouts, I gave her my routine and cheered when she made the team. She became Rodeo Queen and I  1st runner up Miss Antioch. Her show schedule was busier than mine and I went with her to quite a few of hers. I cheered her on when she raced at Nationals in San Francisco at the Cow Palace. Together we admired the "assets" of bull riders and ropers while waiting for her events to begin. We wore moccasins, we wore boots, and finally we wore high heels. Even as we grew and found ourselves busy with life we still managed to do things in tandem and our daughters were born just weeks apart, even giving them similar names.

We managed to keep in touch for many years. When my husband and I moved to Arkansas we knew we'd still find time together as the rodeo circuit came our way and she and her husband could stay with us. When the girls started school, the decision was made to cut the circuit out here and though we didn't get to see each other we traded school photos and Christmas cards. When she moved I figured I'd get the new address with the Christmas card, when the card didn't come I decided I could call her Mom and get it, but kids and PTA, volunteer work and housework and a new construction business took up a significant amount of time and I could always make the call tomorrow.

Tomorrow in fact, turned into several years. But, she was still a large part of my life as most of the stories I told my children about growing up involved Cindy and her family. Then last week I ran across her brother on Facebook and was devastated to learn she had passed. It was if I suddenly had a hole in my life, I cried and mourned my loss, and then a realization hit me. She had been with me in my heart and memories even though she was no longer of this earth for the past several years, the only difference was I was now aware. I took solace in that, knowing how alive she felt in my heart.

This morning Amy of Modern Outlaw on Etsy contacted me. The idea she had was to cross promote each other and I thought that was a great idea. As I poked through her shop I thought a Polyvore type  collection could be fun and pulled together some of her vintage finds with my jewelry and then started filling in the outfit from a few other shops creating a treasury that breaks all sorts of Etsy rules! As I finished pulling it together I realized I had actually pulled together an Homage to Cindy and our friendship with an outfit for each of us fitting of our personalities.

It offers a small glimpse into our friendship and I hope I have managed in some small way to honor her memory. If you see anything that strikes your fancy please visit the shop, I know they will be absolutely pleased to have you shop with them.

Since the original idea started out as a sort of self promotion/cross promotion collection of our two shops I opted not to make it public on Etsy but to take screen shots to share on here and on Facebook. It does no good as a promotional tool if not clickable so I'll include the shop names in a list and make those clickable.

Best Friends = A Modern Vintage CowGirl

Horseshoe Hearts = Rustic Designs by Riley
Long Sleeve Shirt = Fae Aura Design
My Jewelry = Wind Dancer Studios
Vintage Clothing = Modern Outlaw
Blinged Out Cowboy Hats = Time Two Change
Moccasin Boots (Love these!!) = Bastets Closet
Tooled Leather Accessories = Delos Leather
Horse Photography = Wild Hoofbeats
Leather & Crochet Bag = V and H
Vintage Wranglers = Beta Apparel
Barn Photography = Feng Shui Photography

Thanks for stopping by and more importantly, indulging me!
We'll see ya next time!

Inspiration

You Are It!

Whoops! I came pretty close to missing this weeks post! I had one planned and even started to write it up but I got a little sidetracked with life and a couple custom orders. One of the best reasons if you ask me!. Now, just incase you're still hopping - I know I still am!! Bead Soup Post is HERE!

First thing Monday morning my FB feed had not one but two back to back inspirational posts, my daily note from the universe made it the triple threat and then to top it all off the feed for Pinterest and Etsy were both full of inspirational quotes. Well, with the constant feel goods I knew the week was going to be all about inspiration! And all about inspiration it was.

Believe!

We all need the reminder to believe in ourselves from time to time don’t we? Oh the mountains we can move when we do!

Believe, believe you can, believe you will.  Believe it and you can achieve it. I do believe and I hope you do too.

It’s nose back to the grindstone for me... The sketch and price have been approved so I have another custom order to work on.

Custom work is one of my favorite things to do, so it has been a very good week!

Thanks for stoppin by!

We’ll see you next time!

Pros and Cons of Etsy Beta testing

Looking for Bead Soup? You can find it HERE !

Etsy has been doing a little Beta testing streamlining the shopping cart and cleaning up the design of our front pages. I am NOT in the test group, when I'm on Etsy everything looks like normal but I'm able to see the differences when I click on a link in my e-mail . This is how one shop looks in my browser.

Cool little thing I can do while reading my e-mail is open the links without opening my browser. Makes reading email so much faster! This is how it looks when I opened the shop in my e-mail. 

Same shop, same listings, same computer.  First thing you notice is the banner is gone. It's a much cleaner look and as a designer I like that, BUT  they just erased her branding, her personalization of her shop. Quite a few shops pay for that, and quite a few more make a living creating that for others. Ouch for both of them!! I like her banner, it has clean lines and is relevant to her shop.  I'm also a little partial to my own branding including my banner :) They've even shrunk the avatar a touch,  it's surrounded by a white frame making it appear bigger, but a side by side in full size screen shots, shows it's smaller. If they keep this streamlined look a work around for losing the banner could be to move it into your slideshow. Use it as a header or footer for your photos.

Next thing you notice is the featured items are gone. I'm actually on the fence about this, I have been using mine to showcase one item from each shop section. 1 Brass, 1 Copper, 1 Silver, 1 Gold. Lately I've been using it to point out items relevant to the month, birthstones, holidays etc. When you list things in time for early shopping, they end up buried for the last minute shoppers, featured items makes it easier to find them. I like this because it allows me to give a little extra to my customers. But as you can see in the comparison, it also drops the newest items in the shop below the fold. You have to scroll to see them. When you have seconds to convince someone to click through and browse your shop, you don't want them needing to scroll just to see what you have. IMO that's ArtFires biggest design flaw in their storefronts. So while it's nice to showcase, I suppose if something had to go that would be one I'm ok with. I do actually want you to see what I've got!

Moving on, you might notice the welcome/shop announcement is gone. So much for Hi how are ya?! In some small way I get that too. Some shops seriously abused that tiny space, Elevator pitch people. Keep it succinct! Most do just that, some don't use it at all. I really like my welcome message and would hate to see it go. I could move it to my about section if needed and will probably do a copy/paste into a text document just in case....

The side bar feels much cleaner in this new layout and the About section is up top, that's a good place for it honestly.

Recapping:

Pros:                                                                       Cons:

Cleaner layout                                                        Loss of Branding

Easier Navigation                                                  Smaller Avatar

Larger photos above the fold                                 No Featured Items

About Section in the Forefront                              No Welcome Message

The two things that are key here is a Con loss of branding and a Pro larger pics above the fold. 

Hopefully the two can be resolved in a positive manner. They aren't mutually exclusive and I think can be blended in a way that serves us all.

Unfortunately, I never know when clicking inside the window from my email will end up opening my browser so I didn't get a good look at her shipping profile from the beta test in order to do a comparison of that. I know they've been testing moving shipping into a single click during check out and that this has made quite a few people unhappy. There are plenty of places that don't show shipping, including Amazon until the item is in your cart. It's kind of hard to compare our tiny presences to Amazon in regards to shipping though. I have a feeling they may receive bulk shipping discounts we don't.   Not having seen the disappearing shipping costs myself I don't feel I can honestly compare anyway.

What I do know, whatever Etsy decides to do with the results of their testing, we as shop owners NEED to be able to roll with it and adapt. So find the good, find the challenge, find whatever it is that motivates you and find a way to make it work. Every change Etsy has implemented to this point has improved my ratio of views to sales and I am good with keeping that trend going.

Thanks for stoppin by!

We'll see ya next time!

PS

Seems I get to be a part of the testing aferall. I was updating photos and my shop changed - just - like - that! This is what my shop looks like today.......

I like the aesthetics of it. Got to keep my banner! We'll see how it goes from here, but it this is nice so far :)

Socializing Social Media?

What’s on the Desk! My desk has been pretty empty lately between cleaning, assessing goals for the year, and miscellaneous end of year office duties, my Muse has sat patiently waiting for me to quiet and listen.

As most of you know I taught my son Alex how to weave a cross. He was in the process of weaving one and decided he just didn’t like it. I tried to convince him it was a very nice cross but he wasn’t having any of it. So I took it and attached it to a filigree and hung that from a choker I’ve had sitting here that I wasn’t thrilled with. Shhh No I don’t know where he gets it from!! Wait, it’s his father, yup that’s it he gets it from his father! Believe me? Stop laughing! HE is just as bad as I am! Poor kid, between the two of us he didn’t have a chance!

Getting back to the choker, I just adore the copper bale, found a pin on Pinterest and knew it would be perfect for this piece, I whipped one up right away and was not disappointed. While this isn’t a first collaboration for Alex and myself, it is the first one we'll be selling. It’ll be heading to the shop sometime later this week. Along with another piece that I’ll be telling you about next week - the first of my 25 sketches!

As I mentioned and you’ve been reading, I’ve been assessing my goals for the coming year. After looking really closely at my posting habits I haven’t been very sociable as Wind Dancer. I’ve been posting in groups and such but as myself not Wind Dancer….sigh

socialize verb

interact, converse, be sociable, mix, mingle, get together, meet, fraternize, consort; entertain, go out; informal hobnob.

ooooh hobnobbery! I like that!

One of my New Years resolutions/goals was to start using my social media in a more consistent and well, social way. I used to spend a lot of time posting to Twitter, Facebook, here and boy I could hang out on Pinterest! But then I discovered I could feed the blog into Facebook, and feed Facebook into Twitter, and Twitter into Linked in. Whoa what a time saver! But far less social and all duplicate posts, and it dawned on me I really wasn’t posting much about what I was doing as Wind Dancer anymore and I sure wasn’t being social. Oh sure my weekly posts here on the blog are pretty much uninterrupted but Wind Dancers Facebook page and Twitter have gotten quite dusty.

Rebel Mouse does a wonderful job of compiling what I’ve been doing out and about on the interwebs but I still haven’t quite learned how to use it to my advantage yet. I know it all feeds into my Mouse and I can post from it too. I’m thinking maybe what I need to do is unlink all the feeds and use the Mouse as command central to post to all my media so my posts aren’t identical anymore an SEO no no and I can hopefully become more social again. I considered Hoot Suite for this reason but the idea felt slightly off.

Next up on my list then is a regular media schedule, I already post to the blog on Tuesdays and was considering Treasury Thursdays. I still need the rest of the week filled out …….. photography Fridays? photos for the blog, Facebook and listings. Does Twitter still do Follow Fridays? Master Monday….mastery…. Map it out Mondays …mapping out the week, blog theme, what I’m working on , need pics of etc etc. Ok now I’ve got Map it Monday, Blog (talk lol) Tuesday, Treasured Thursday and Photography Friday. That leaves Wednesday…… Wow Wednseday? hmmm whatever wows me? Sharing something someone else has done that wows me? A color scheme, a photo just whatever wows me. I like that!

My media schedule - sounds too official doesn’t it?! ahem
My Schedule of Hobnobbery is as follows:

Map it Monday
Talk Tuesday
Wow Wednesday
Treasured Thursday
Photography Friday

I like that, it gives me prompts of a sort of topics to post on and a routine to follow so that you my awesome followers know you can peek in on any given day to see whats new on that topic. That way it doesn’t really matter if Monday provides a theme for the week to follow or if I’m being completely eclectic. Mondays will always provide a what to expect, Tuesdays will always have a blog post to read, Wednesdays will always have a little eye candy etc etc. It also allows me to post in whatever media I choose AND be social. Did you notice? I gave myself the weekends off. That allows me time to just be me, with the family or online. Or even get a little ahead from time to time.

It may take me a little to get the whole thing pulled together. New habits and all but I’m optimistic and off to a good start I think.

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to share your social media routines here too. Maybe together we can make it less trudge and more fun! I seem to recall a time in my life where social actually meant FUN not work and I’m sure you do too.

A New Year, A New Old Strategy

I read somewhere that you can only keep so many balls in the air…… actively keep up with x number of friends, businesses you like or hobbies, work, and family. I’d say this is the modern take on you can only keep so many irons in the fire. But I have to say I think it really is true. The actual number may vary from person to person but I know that personally, for myself, the more I use social media sites, the older forums I used to visit get less and less attention. The more groups on FB I become a member of, the less I use Wind Dancer’s page. And if by some wild miracle I do manage to keep up with all of that, my family misses my face.

I like my family, my kids are on that verge of taking flight and I don’t want to miss out on what little time I have left with them in our little nest. So I’m thinking a little streamlining is in order. Not so much a cutting of anything... I Like, REALLY like, the circle of friends, family and acquaintances I have managed to surround myself with.

I just need to get back into the habit of managing my time a little better. I had a pretty good routine going for awhile and I seemed to have slipped back into old habits - actually, I think I overloaded my plate a little and haven’t quite figured out how to juggle it all. I need to categorize and prioritize and schedule. Oddly enough (or Coincidentally?) I’ve had several e-mails arrive lately touching on this very subject. I know it’s January and I usually do this in late August or May, I’m either early or late but that doesn’t really matter. What needs doing, needs doing. And as evidenced by my recent e-mails, doing in January just means I have lots of company in the doing, right? Right!~

It wasn’t that long ago - or maybe it was - my morning was cup of coffee, get the kids off to school, hit the gym, second cup of coffee, quick pick up around the house and THEN e-mail etc. Book keeping and Errands before picking kids up. I could sit and make while they did homework and we could talk about our day.

Look at how productive that was! I’m pretty sure a very large part of all that productivity had to do with all the energy I had from morning work outs….. not to mention the set schedule.

The nice thing is when we built the house we included a gym - once I finish cleaning up my studio (I still have several items that need relocating) I am moving on to the gym! I've managed to fit in some morning work outs. It’s been awhile but it has really felt good to get moving again. As does that little burst of energy that comes along after a workout. I think I just might have it back on track in no time!

To reinforce what I had just typed - serendipitously, this showed up in my e-mail…….

5 Morning Rituals to Keep You Productive All Day Long

Most of us work long hours: 40, 50 or even 60 hours each week. But chances are, given distractions like online entertainment, office snacking habits and ill-designed time management, we're only churning out high-quality work a portion of each day.

Here are five practical steps to incorporate into any morning routine to optimize your time at the office and maintain productivity all day long:

7 minutes of exercise. Yep, not 10 -- just seven. Why? It's short enough that it won't impact the rest of your morning routine and long enough to shake off any residual sluggishness from the night before -- including that extra glass of wine.

There are endless fitness routines to turn to, but the one I like best is called the 7 Minute Workout (and yes, there's an app for that). In just seven minutes, it works all major muscle groups with 12 total exercises.

Start your day out green. Sure, we've all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it's pretty easy to reach for a bagel, bowl of cereal, egg sandwich or cup of yogurt to get your metabolism going.

While all of these options are fine choices once in a while, you'll be shocked at the morning lift you can get from a green smoothie. And healthy juicing requires less time in the morning than toasting a bagel and slathering it with low fat cream cheese.

I go quick and easy, blending (for about a minute): one apple, one banana, one orange, a handful of spinach, half of a cucumber, any juice or coconut water on hand, a few cubes of ice and some flax seed. It's cheap, easy and energizing.

Pick 3 wins for the day. While you're waiting for that smoothie to blend, get ahead of the evening's conversation with your significant other -- you know, the one that starts, "How was your day?"

Decide on the three things that you'd like to accomplish in the next 12 hours in order for you to feel like the day was a success. Sure, not every day will be an epic win, but strategizing in this way will help to move the ball forward.

Block your calendar to achieve wins. One of the most common mistakes people make at the office is not turning to-do lists into time-bound, effective project lists. I've found that people who have mastered this hack are far more likely to deliver tasks on time.

It's simple: For each of the big things on your list, block off the amount of time on your calendar that you estimate the task might take -- and then add 33% more time just to be sure.

If a project is multi-day or has dependencies, break it up into digestible chunks. Use one block to plan and a second or third block to accomplish.

This simple method will help hold you accountable and immediately help you refocus on the tasks you've prioritized when you do get distracted. Too often, we let one distraction steamroll an entire morning -- now you don't have to let that client email derail you from your winning plan for the day.

Power up after lunch. Take the 15 minutes right after lunch to refocus on the day -- a kind of professional meditation. Get away from your computer, turn it off, go sit in a conference room and determine what you have on tap for the rest of the day.

Think about how the list you set in the morning is shaping up. Are you ahead of schedule? Behind schedule? You'll find that these 15 minutes help you identify how you got derailed, what's causing you distractions and help you to rediscover a rhythm to be productive all day long.

Give this simple formula a try for a week and I think you'll be pleased with the results. Here's to a more productive 2014!

I don’t remember who posted it or from what group/subscription it came but here’s the link:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230734#!

Have a great day, Week, Month, and Year!

Thanks for stopping by today!

See ya next time!

The Here and Now…. or Looking Back and Planning Forward

The end of the year is fast approaching. I’ve been assessing my goals and where I stand, I’ve met or have nearly met most of them - yay me! So it’s time to create a new plan for the new year, building on where I am now and in keeping with where I want to go.



During the Bead Hoarders Blog Hop, Perri mentioned idea hoarding, and I had to admit I had been hoarding quite a few ideas. Mine mine mine, my precious….. all mine! Maybe not quite that bad, but it was getting there. So first things first! I’m going to sift through my sketches and pull 25 of them into the light. Originally I thought 52, a sort of on the fly homage to YOJ but, I do like to participate in a hop or two and that might tend to over load my plate. 25 on the other hand gives me plenty to work with and leaves me time to play, learn new techniques, and participate in hops, so that’s my number and I’m sticking with it!

I’ve noticed I have not been as active with Wind Dancers FB page as I would like to be or even as much as I used to be. As an added bonus the 25 sketches gives me a way to engage, to show my processes and start sharing again. I’ve also been looking into Rebel Mouse, if what I’m reading is right, it can act as the front page for the blog here and feed into FB the way this blog used to. What’s cool is it gives me back the ability to share the pins I find that are relevant to my blog posts. I really really liked that and I miss being able to share them. Annnnd it turns all that I spend way too much time on (place your fav soc. media site here) into actual productive time again. That kind of jazzes me, must be the Virgo coming out! Organization AND Productivity WHOOT!

Expect to see (hopefully) some finished UFO’s over the next few weeks I have a couple I’d like to get finished up by years end (knocks on wood!) and of course the home made Christmas features, only SIX weeks left!! Yikes, I haven't even decided yet what I’ll be making for gifts this year! ….. sigh I feel so behind …. Then we can get started on the new years postings!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
We’ll see you next time!

In Which We Machine Wash a Favorite Leather Jacket

My son normally keeps his bedroom door closed. He doesn't want to accidentally close a cat or dog in the room and come back to a puddle. Smart thinking I say. Unfortunately on the extremely rare occasion of having left the door open someone with four legs and a tail left a puddle for him, on his bed, with the door wide open and access to the proper place for that unhampered. Needless to say he was a very unhappy camper. To make matters worse his favorite leather jacket was on the bed.

We spot cleaned the jacket, stripped the bed and sprayed a peroxide and baking soda mix on the mattress. By morning the bed was fine and freshly washed sheets were in place. The jacket on the other hand stunk to high heaven and was discolored too. The discoloration I'm thinking was cleaning residue.

Sad and still a bit angry he started calling dry cleaners looking for someone to clean his jacket. No leather cleaners in the state, the dry cleaners would have to ship it out of state and he would be charged a minimum of $50 regardless of whether or not the jacket came back clean. They told him the jacket was garbage, just toss it.

You all know I've spent a fair amount of time on Pinterest. In my Pinterest travels I came across one of my new favorite blogs One Good Thing by Jillee. She has compiled a wondrous amount of useful info in her blog and I remembered a very recent post about cleaning leather. I instructed Alex to get on my computer and head to her blog to search for that post. Her post said she cleaned her leather purse using Castile Soap. Lucky us I just happened to have a bottle of Castile Soap on the shelf.

Over to the washing machine we went castile soap in one hand, stinky jacket in the other. Following Jillee's directions we washed the jacket while I gathered towels for a second load. After a brief drying on gentle with some fluffy towels we hung the jacket up to finish drying.

Alex thought he caught a slight whiff of the nasties so I directed him to hang his jacket out in the fresh air for a little while. Something about line drying makes everything smell so good I figured it couldn't hurt. The skies started clouding up so Alex brought it back inside and …… no smell, not even a hint of the nasties.

The favorite leather jacket is clean, smells good and is still soft and supple. Alex waited until it was absolutely dry and gave it a nice wipe down with some leather conditioner to be on the safe side, but that jacket looks and smells just like new!

Thanks to a slight Pinterest obsession and a newly beloved Blog, we saved the favorite jacket that everyone else had deemed garbage! Thank you Jillee!

And thank you for stopping by!
We'll see you next time!

I Reject Your Label and Add my Own?

I, like many of my fellow artisans, am on Linked In.
While you are on your profile they have this little pop up that asks you to recommend your connections.
Does so and so know this?
Does so and so know about that?
Most of the time I ignore those little boxes as they like to ask questions of me in regards to folks I've "just met". I don't know them well enough to know their backgrounds as yet. Most are fellow jewelers, some are in antiques and still others are in other avenues of home spun goodness whether it's in the business of publishing about it or of selling it.

I have recently been getting a flush of recommendations for sculpture and textile design. While I can do both, it's not what I do. So, I have been hitting the little x.
But then I got to thinking about it. I CAN sculpt and I CAN screen print, knit, crochet and sew, I HAVE done all of the above. In fact if you really want to, you could say the copper roses I made for my son were small sculptures, I did form them from a piece of copper sheet that I cut from that roll standing in the corner over there. Maybe I was hasty in my x-ing out those recommendations.

Maybe I have been too hasty in placing myself in a small box with a label of jewelry maker. My lips and fingers have said time and time again, Artist first. They refuse to be placed in a small box with a label and yet there I am x-ing out a recommendation that doesn't fit with that label I seem to have placed upon myself!

If I am to be an artist first should I not embrace all that I CAN do rather than ignore it in favor of what I CURRENTLY do? For that matter why couldn't I sculpt a focal and screen print some ribbon to make a truly unique piece of jewelry. Fully embracing the OTHER things and welcoming them into what I currently do…..
I enjoy combining techniques and styles, always have, it's just what I DO!
huh Imagine that……

Thanks for stoppin' by! If you'd like to leave me a comment, I'd love to know what other things you can do to enhance what you do but might not have thought of. We'll see ya next time!

read label gif found here: http://npic.orst.edu/health/readlabel.html
rolls of labels found here: http://www.webermarking.com/