On Storms and Paying it Forward

Leonid Afremov on Etsy
Find him HERE

It's storming again as I write this. Yes, AGAIN! This has been a rough month storm and rain-wise. If you remember the bread and butter business is in Construction, rain makes for downtime lots of downtime. Downtime means the bills run late because you need to work to make money. Which actually brings me to todays topic believe it or not.

I’m sure I mentioned I’ve taken a part time job recently. Our expenses have increased just enough that it was becoming a strain on the hubs, especially with the weather we've been having, and I wanted to help take some of that stress off. I've also been going a little stir crazy cooped up on this hill all by myself for so much of the time.  So, I’m working as a cashier at our local Dollar General. 

My In-Laws insisted I was going to hate working there, but I am really falling in love with this job. It’s a lot of hard work I’ll admit. Stocking shelves between customers can get to be a heckuva  work out. I was working on sky boxes (we keep over stock on the top shelves) the other day and I joked it was the best leg work out I’d had in a long time - up and down the ladder all day long! 

My customers, though, are the reason I love this job. They are just amazing people. They make me smile on days I don’t want to. They make me laugh when I think there is no more laughter. They love one another and me. I get teased for being short and for no reason at all. I even have customers who will come along behind me and place things back up on the top shelf after I’ve pulled them down to restock shelves. Best of all I regularly get to see acts of kindness and pay it forwards that genuinely warm my heart. 

I have missed this so very much! What I see of the world lately on Facebook isn't so nice. It's political and personal, angry and sad, and that wears on you, it wears you down and I was feeling it. It took its toll on my marriage too. I can't tell you how much I needed to have my faith in humanity renewed and my customers have done that in a big way.

Be kind to one another, commit random acts of kindness and pay it forward. The love and compassion you share has an amazing ripple effect. Those acts touch many other people as well and that’s a VERY good thing. It's what makes my job a joy, thank you!

I haven’t made anything new lately, but that doesn’t mean I’m not making. Amazon sales have remained steady and I make to order most of those. Once I get my routine back in order I’ll get back to new goodies again I’m sure. Those “leg days” are kind of whooping me lol

Thanks so much for stopping by!

We'll see you next time!

Infinite Possibilities Week 4

Day 19 Imagine how those you love will benefit from your success. This one is easy, the kids will have been set up in their own businesses and will be little successes in their own rights. The hubs can spend more time with the kids as they build their businesses. We all get some toes in the sand time.

Day 20 Meet your peers. Make a list of those who are where you wish to be, add your name to list. Sounds like my screensaver :) 10 days left and I was already doing so many of these on a daily basis. It’s nice to hear I’m heading in the right direction.

Day 21 Have a chat with someone who gets your dream and speak to them as if it’s already reality. Make it celebratory …. for each of you.

Day 22 List 20 things you love from the simple to the exotic if you love to do it, list it. Just a little reminder of the wonder that is in your life or could be. *I love puttering in the garden and around the yard with a butterfly perched on my shoulder. *Feeling the sun on my face and shoulders. *Snuggle time with the hubs. *That he brings me my coffee in the morning. *That 25 yrs together feels like no time at all.  *Listening to the birds sing, *watching the sun rise in the morning and *set in the evenings, *being awed by the immenseness that are the stars and *the curve of he world. *I love the satisfaction that only comes from doing it yourself and well.* I love being goofy with my kids *I love toes in the sand, waves at my feet, salt air in my face *I love listening to the chirpy purr of the Siamese and the instant deep I love you purrs of the other cats. *I love no matter how many times you give the dog a biscuit he ALWAYS takes it and puts in in the kiddos shoe before he eats it….. no matter where that shoe is lol *I love that we built this house together to live our lives in and we’re creating memories on a daily. *

Day 23 List 10 things you are deeply grateful for.

Day 24 Write a letter to yourself from an admirer, what wonderful qualities/inspiration/talents do you have? Shower yourself with love and appreciation. I see the potential for a revamp of my about page here. Like several of these activities I think I’ll work this one privately. I think this one has a great amount of potential.

Day 25 set your intention for the day. I already do this daily. I have a little pop up reminder that is set to run when I’m reading my e-mail. It says what do you want today? Some days it’s to get something done, some days it’s to enjoy the quiet moments, some days it’s about attitude. It’s really a nice way to focus on the days priority, whatever it is. Today I’m going to schedule this blog post, download tax forms, and decide on this weeks YoJ piece. I have several UFO’s and a handful of ideas for refinishing some pieces. Sometimes the taking away process was ended too soon and sometimes the piece was finished too early, either way it was called finished but it niggles until you realize it isn’t truly finished, hence re-finishing. I believe all pieces have someone who will love them, and being properly finished helps that along :)

Speaking of Year of Jewelry:

This week I kept it simple with matching bracelets for last weeks necklace set. Red Creek Jasper with a Shell focal and brass. And a skinny bangle of twisted copper and brass.

Over on my Facebook page I’m sharing hearts and flowers everyday until Valentines. Giving you a virtual bouquet, pop on over anytime you feel you need a pick me up or a flower to make you smile. If you haven’t already. hit that like button and receive notifications to get those flowers on a daily!

See ya 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?  :)

The Art of Business or the Business of Art

There's a discussion on returns happening as I write this in one of my groups on FaceBook. One of the ladies has made a purchase and it arrived broken in half. She had contacted the shop owner who insisted she return before issuing a replacement. Somewhat frazzled as this was a gift she asked opinions on how we would handle it.

The majority stood behind the seller and her return policy.

I personally would be mortified if something I made had arrived broken in half. It's a reflection of me and the quality of my work. I stand behind what I make, while I have had pieces survive being driven over, I can't actually guarantee they will - but they sure shouldn't fall apart in transit or even before wearing.

I made a similar Cross (available in my shop) for my son.
The purchased clasp failed and he lost it between the bus stop and our house.
We finally found it sticking out of the dirt road in front of the neighbors house,
months later. It had been driven over countless times with only a single bead lost. 

I was all set to explain even the big boys will replace without question. My customer service has got to be at least to par on that. Then it struck me. Of course they will, it's all machine made, factory mass produced, costing pennies to dollars and it's cheaper to send another than to waste wages on man hours dickering over it.  It's cost effective to just send another.

It really isn't cost effective for the individual artisan, though it is good customer service. If something is broken, replace it. If it's damaged in transit, it may be time to reconsider your packaging. What some call fluff others call protecting the good stuff.  I'd rather protect with fluff than have it arrive damaged. Some might consider it wasteful, but is it?

A protected item takes less packaging than a broken one.

A broken item costs: the original packaging, the return packaging, the replacement packaging. Man hours discussing the problem, offering solutions, and follow through. Not to mention the added stress on both buyer and seller.

Broken items just aren't cost effective to the artisan no matter how you look at it.

So there's your peek into my brain for the day...... the kiddo is learning all this in her final semester of college.
They've written their Artist Statements, created their wares, priced them, curated the exhibit, promoted it and are critiquing their accomplishments today.

She worked well past midnight every night all DURING spring break to prepare for her Senior Exhibit opening today. Kiddo had a minor melt down Sunday when the kiln gods decided to grace her pottery with a different color than her test tiles had shown the glaze to fire at and with only a mere few hours left there was no time to regroup.

So we focused on display and showing things to their best advantage. We pulled some of her older pieces to fill if she needed them and once she set up her display, she realized it wasn't as bad as she thought. She didn't need the older work at all, just a good cry and someone or four to believe in her and tell her it would be OK. Don't we all need that from time to time?

The Kiddos Cup centered under exhibit :) 

The Kiddo's work can be seen on display at ATU's Arts Center. It is available for purchase and what doesn't sell from the exhibit will be offered again at the Art Sale benefitting the Art Department and from there it will move into her Etsy shop.

I'm proud of her. This last four years has just flown by and I'm not sure I'm ready to have one of my babies graduating from college. But ready or not it's happening.

Hoping your days are stress free!
See ya next time!

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Singing it with me?

I absolutely adore the passion in artists, we feel strongly about almost everything. It shows in what we do, in what we make, and how we express ourselves. As such there is a tendency in the Etsy/Art world to panic loudly and leave en masse any time a change happens that isn’t immediately understood. Take for instance the newest FB revelation that spammy posts will no longer be allowed. OMG the sky is falling, they’re trying to destroy MY small business, why oh why!!! <<<  exaggerated to make my point, but it is the same reaction every time a change is made. People as a whole dislike change, artists as it turns out are no exception. 

For the last several years I’ve tried to advise my fellow artists to NOT do the copy/paste/run thing. It’s spammy, it shows in the newsfeed several times over, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff!!!! People DON’T like that. They want kittens and funny stories and updates of what’s going on. Yes, they want to see what you’re working on but they don’t want you screaming BUY MY STUFF all over their feeds. 

 FB has been running surveys for the past several months, Guess what they discovered……. read the above. That’s right. So the spammy content is being filtered.

But you know what? “I" don’t want to see ads in my newsfeed either. I want stories from my favorite pages, the pages I clicked "Receive Notifications" from. The stories I’m NOT getting now because of the spammy ads. This filter is “supposed” to keep spammy ads out so you CAN get the stories you want. Time will tell if that’s the way it actually works. We’ve all seen the decline in organic reach right?

So what’s an artist supposed to do? Ever hear the old adage Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket? Don’t put all your marketing effort into FB. And don’t use a singular campaign of BUY MY STUFF. I’ve been saying this for several years now, if you’re on Social Media BE SOCIAL, be yourself. I read an analogy once and I really wish I could remember where to give proper attribution but it went something like this: 

Social media marketing is like being at a party.  

 Would you walk in, head straight to the middle of the room and yell BUY MY STUFF and leave? 

 No, at least I hope you wouldn’t. 

 You’d walk in, mingle, talk to people, share stories, laugh, listen. 

 You’d be wearing your jewelry, you’d respond to compliments with Thank You I made this to wear tonight, or I sell on Etsy or however it is that YOU TALK to people when at a SOCIAL event.

Now even if you aren’t the Party Girl type you have been to more than one person’s party. You go to your Parent's for one holiday, your Relatives for another and your In-Laws for yet another. You go to Birthday Parties, Retirement parties, Moving parties, Paint parties. Think of them as FB, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Wanelo, Polyvore, Blogs, Tumblr, Google +, Flickr, you get the idea. You don’t have to go to every one just as you don’t have to hit every social media site. Choose the ones you like best, the ones that fit you. Don’t forget to Mingle, SMILE, laugh, and share stories, don’t just run in and yell BUY MY STUFF.

And don’t forget the power of an old fashioned piece of paper called a business card. Make it a point to eat out at a restaurant or diner that encourages pinning your card to their wall or placing under the glass at check out. Check in on it every once in awhile to see if someone has taken it and replace it if they have. Most of all Don’t forget the most important accessory you own - a SMILE. That smile makes people want to get to know you, and then you can say Buy my Stuff. Or you can be social and tell them with the passion I know you have about this wonderful thing you do.

Til next time when I hopefully actually share the cookie recipe I promised!

Dana