Jon and Kate (let's stop the hate)

I haven't seen an episode of this show in, well, maybe this entire season, but I would have to be living under a rock (which I am not as far as I can tell) to not know about what is (supposedly) going on with the Gosselins.

In case you ARE living under a rock, or in case you have an actual life that keeps you busy and focused and unaffected by 'celebrity' gossip, the Gosselins are a young married (as of right now, at least) couple with a reality tv show and 8 children under the age of 8; twins and sextuplets. Just writing the words "8 children under the age of 8" makes me feel tired and worried and somehow picturing octomom's lips (which has nothing to do with the Gosselins, but this is just how strangely my mind works).

If you've ever seen the show you have probably seen Kate organizing her little brood in formations and situations that would make the general commander of the U.S. military proud. You have also seen Kate stressed to the max and Jon very (shall we say) not stressed to the max. You have probably also seen Kate go full-blown, throw a net over her somebody already, freakin' crazy ...

Now, I have only raised one child and not 8. I have never had a camera crew documenting my every move (although this is probably the only thing, other than out of town guests, that would get my house clean these days and of course, the bundles of cash they would have to pay me would be nice).

The kids are totally adorable and I think that Jon and Kate are doing the best they can. In the episodes I have seen, they truly love their children (and maybe even like each other) and I can't even imagine the kind of work that goes into making their family run as well as it does.

Since the show has skyrocketed them to reality tv "super stardom" their lives have, I'm sure, totally changed in so many ways (and I am talking about things other than Kate's hair- but, what's with THAT?!- and both Kate and Jon's super suntans - what's with THAT, too?!).

I actually stopped watching (for the most part) this type of show last year when I found myself sitting mindlessly on my couch watching the Little People's children have a pillow fight and thought - I am CHOOSING to watch other people's kids pillow fight - not exactly a mind-blowing thought, but one that did get me to click off the tv and get myself off the couch and onto something else (it might have been surfing the web- hopefully it wasn't).

Does Kate have particularly intense perfectionist tendencies? Yup. Does Jon need to dial back in? Probably. Should Kate stop berating Jon on national television? YES. Is Jon sleeping with his kids' preschool teacher? Have no idea- hope not. Is it easy to be married- NO. Is it easy to raise a family- NO. Have I said enough about this- YES.



A. 8 Ornery Babies & Octo-owl by FlyingButtons
1. 8 is great by TypeTypeType
2. 8 Vintage Typewriter Key Tie Tac by KeysandMemories
3. 8 and other numbers by SingleStoneStudios
4. 8 Tentacled - Clara's Portrait with Simon by HeatherFuture
5. 8 Splendid Suns Scarf by Subrosa123
6. 8 Tentacled - Low Tide PeppermintDaydreams Artwork; Locket by Polarity

RE-Packaging My Packaging

Lately I have been thinking about my product packaging and my business cards and my need to make my brand (am I a brand?) a bit more consistent and as cool as (I think) my products are.

When I started selling on Etsy my packaging was very cool, very eco and ultimately very hard to keep up with. So I got myself some biodegradable bubble wrap and some moo cards and called it a day- always telling myself it was something I would get back to when I had the time and I never seemed to have the time. I need my packaging to be cost efficient, time efficient and yet still scream COOL.

Now that I am recommitted to revamping my wholesale packets, it's time to revamp my retail packaging, too and those pesky business cards (plus those adorable moo cards are SO pricey- I am sure I can do this for less).

My first stop is always Etsy as I see no need to totally re-invent this particular wheel so I search - business cards. After a few pages of How to Sell On Etsy and even What to Sell On Etsy (huh?) downloads from sellers bragging about their Etsy expertise and many sales (looks like many sales of these downloads... but maybe this is my jealous nature speaking) I give up on my Etsy business card search and scope out the web for some inspiration and I will see what I can come up with later in the week. What are all you other Etsians doing with this?

New Artists Added to Polarity Lockets!

This week I have been fortunate enough to add 9 more AMAZINGLY talented artists to my Polarity locket artist series!
Dudadaze - Diane is the incredibly talented mom of three boys and she enjoys creating charming little pieces of art and being able to do what makes her happy. Check out the spring issue of Artful Blogging for Diane's article and amazingly fanciful artwork!

GollyBard (new set) - Holly's paintings represent a whimsical and peculiar narrative of both an everyday and make believe world. Watercolor scenes painted with detail and exactness, though filled with ambiguity. They are jumbled, untidy stories inspired by anything and everything that she is infatuated with for the moment.
HouseofSixCats - Bill is a Portland photographer and has been taking pictures since he got his first SLR camera for his 16th birthday. He fell in love with the art from his first roll of film! Long story short; Bill worked too long in the custom photo lab business, and hated everything about photography. Didn't pick up a camera for over ten years, until his daughter, Cyan, was born in April of 2007. When Bill saw the images of Cyan, that his friends had taken of her with their DSLR, he knew he had to get one! Bill picked up a Canon Rebel XT, started shooting his beautiful little girl, and his passion was re-ignited - and we are so glad it was!
Illusio - Lorrie specializes in drawing and illustration, mostly abstracts and pop art using both traditional mediums and digital. She also paints on canvas using acrylics, does embroidery and photography. The majority of her work has been commision based for private collections.
ShellieArtist - Shellie is an expressionistic artist and studied painting, printmaking and alloys at Appalachain State University. She now lives in South Carolina with her husband, son and five pets creating amazing works of fabric on wood.
SnappingTwig - Teina started out as a self taught mixed media artist selling and showing her work in galleries and shows. That lead her to the film industry where she worked for 15 years as a Prop Stylist and Set Designer. She merges original photographs of her mixed media art work with scanned found objects and saved scrap from books and other sources of inspiration into her amazing pieces!
StilettoHeights - Jennifer is the creator of the indie comic book "Stiletto Heights" which has received critical acclaim for it's realistic portrayal of life and love through a woman's eyes. The book contains realistic dialogue, and beautiful art combined with prose and poetry. Her mixed media art creations are another form of storytelling- her love for antique letters led Jennifer to an exploration of the hidden stories of letters of the past.
TorbusCo - Carmen loves to make mixed media art works that are a combination of layer after layer of rich color, texture you’ll want to touch, beautiful papers and inspirational messages and affirmations. She is a Bliss Follower, Inspired Mind, Creative Thinker and Big Dreamer who loves to make a huge mess with anything she can get her hands on. Carmen is passionate about creating art that encourages connection, validates emotion and nourishes the soul!
Xenotees - Noelle is the awesome artist behind Xenotees. She strives to have a unique and original approach to making t-shirts and it shows! After studying art and design for many years, she loves to be able to use her brain more creatively and decorate people with her ideas! For every shirt sold Noelle donates $1 to Flat Iron Wildcats of Philadelphia.
Yaelfran - Yael lives in beautiful Argentina and is the mother of two GREAT children (13 and 10 years old) and is a graphic designer. When Yael has a little time... she loves to do any craft thing with her hands.

Check out their amazing shops! The purchase of any locket from my new locket series gets a FREE set of extra lids this week.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

We have a very large, very old black walnut tree in our yard. My husband has hated this tree for years. Normally, George loves trees; I mean he has planted trees and cared for trees. When the sole dogwood in our front yard started to go after a particularly terrible ice storm a few years back he used herculean methods that winter to try to save it and shed a few tears when it died anyway. But the black walnut tree is another story.

There are a couple problems with this particular black walnut tree. Its dripline is over our roof and it drops gigantic green 'fruit' (you need to run these babies over with your car to crack them open) every fall. I am sure this tree is one of the reasons we have so many squirrels (another of hubby's nemesis lately since he is convinced they are getting into the garage out back and eating into our gas cans and lawnmower gas caps - no idea why our squirrels or maybe one particular squirrel would want to do this, but George is convinced).

Every time George has to go up on the roof, which believe me is surprisingly often considering the terrible state our gutters are in - what he does up there I have no idea - he gripes and complains for days about the pits in the roof left by these fruit. When we replaced our roof a couple years back, George tried to get that roofer to agree with him and tell me that this black walnut tree needed to be cut back; way, way back, like into the last century kind of back. Fortunately, the roofer could see that he was stepping into a little domestic landmine and safely did not choose sides.

The other problem with a black walnut tree is that it emits a certain poison that restricts the growth of some plants which are planted within 75 feet of it; these plants include tomatoes and peppers which are our favorite vegetables to grow. Now, we didn't know this for a long time. We had a couple summers of wilted vegetables before we realized the problem was the nearby black walnut tree and George, being very stubborn and slow to reach forgiveness still begrudges the tree those missed seasons.

Now that we are trying to grow as much of our own food as we can, he is trying to use this to turn me against the tree (even though we have enough yard to avoid this area and the solution of raised beds in this area is very do-able also). We both know that I am the only thing standing between that tree and the chain saw which he does not get to use nearly as often as he would like to. For a man who likes to build things- he really likes to unbuild them.

There are many things working against his ever swaying me to do anything about this tree. First of all this tree provides lots of backyard privacy between our house and our nearest neighbor (privacy is not a word my husband really understands but something I will not give away willingly). Its nuts attract the squirrels that I do not see as pests but as outdoor pets (how would Olive spend her afternoons if she was not chasing squirrels?). And the new firehouse being built across the street from our house has resulted in so many trees being cut down that I have wept openly and often (once so out of control I had to call upon my inner Norwegian to get a grip on myself) for their loss.

So when hubby starts griping again about this "problem" that we need to do something about - which although I am no home improvement expert I hardly see as our biggest "problem" around here- (I mean, I don't think most people have to mow their asphalt driveways and most fence gates probably do not need to be lifted and twisted in a certain sequence of about fourteen steps, that only a handful of people on the planet could ever possibly remember, to get them to latch as ours has since the Clinton administration) when he starts to gripe - I will just tell him he is barking up the wrong tree.

Through Thursday May 14th get a free pair of matching earrings with any necklace purchase from either of my shops Uncorked or Polarity by writing Black Walnut Tree, Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Annoying Husband or some such something in the comments to seller section of your order.

A. SnappingTwig - Walnut Light Photograph
1. GollyBard - Logs Print
2. LydiaLayne - Large Tree of Life Necklace
3. GetReadySetGo - Upcycled Train Case
4. Larimeloom - Olive V Neck
5. UnderGlass - Twisted Oak Necklace
6. BareTree - Woodland Green Cap
7. 3BeesDesign - Tree Baby Quilt