Take Ten Tuesday - or drop your glue guns tax day is next week!

Now hopefully, if you have a craft, design or art business you were organized last year with your receipts and paperwork and you know what you made and what you spent and what you actually made after all that spending

(this was a huge awakening for me recently)

How do you know if your crafty enterprise is a business or a hobby? Well, generally the IRS believes that you have yourself a business if you are in it to make a profit.

(whether you actually make one or not).

And if you have a business - here are some links you might want to check out:

1. IRS Schedule C Instructions Profit or Loss from Business

2. IRS Publication 535 Business Expenses (things you can legally deduct from your income- hint, your brand new sephora bronzer probably did not make the list)

3. Turbo Tax (super easy to use and you will not need to download all the IRS forms)

4. Craftypod's podcast Taxes for Your Crafty Business with Hunter Coleman (great info and links)

5. Outright (Etsy bookkeeping tool- I haven't tried this- if you have or do- let me know how it goes)

6. Tax Info for Small Businesses from those crafty mavens at Design Sponge

7. A Free Virtual Small Business Tax Workshop - 9 Lessons from the IRS

8. Tax Resources for the Arts Resource Network

9. The Most Overlooked Tax Deductions from Kiplinger

10. What to do About That Swiss Bank Account (you do have a swiss bank account, don't you?)

ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES or baring our soles this Thursday

TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: for every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need.

The TOMS one for one business model transforms customers into benefactors! Don't we love that!

Why shoes?

Many children in developing countries grow up barefoot; at play, doing chores or going to school, these children are at risk:

•A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet.

•Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores.

•Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform.

I love TOMS and their great business model- my hubby has a pair of their canvas classics that he loves. Check out their link for events near you, spread the word or just do like me and spend as much time as possible sans shoes this Thursday.

This is reminding me also of the need for a proper pedicure and my own sole baring horror story last week.

Let me set the stage- it was one of the first really nice weather days here. I had been in slippers all morning and was about to make a run to the post office. I couldn't find my sneakers and it was way too warm for boots.

I spied a pair of sandals and even though I knew I needed that pedicure I decided to grab them anyway.

(I mean how vain am I really and who the hell would be checking out my feet in the 5 minutes I would be in the post office, right?)

so, I get to the post office and it is more crowded than usual and there is a cute little girl in front of me and her cute little mom

and the little girl is talking about her new sandals and then she says to her mom "why aren't you wearing your new sandals mommy?" and the mommy answers "I need a pedicure first Kaylie"

(or Kylie or Kayla or some such name that sounded so cute at the time, but kind of sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me now)

and then the little girl looks at my feet and sees my sandals

(at this point the post office is very quiet and everyone is watching the little girl)

and I see her mouth opening and I am thinking (oh, no- a kind of OMG premonition is causing my vision to go all black and I can just see the little girl's mouth)

and she says "that lady doesn't have a pedicure"

and suddenly there are 10 sets of eyes on my feet

the feet that should have been safely tucked into my sneakers

the feet that have not been out in public in six months

the feet that will have a pedicure before Thursday.

(just need to pop for some new polish and a few cotton balls)

Happy Easter Everyone!

“when Rabbit asked, "honey or condensed milk with your bread?"

Pooh was so excited that he said, "Both" and then, so as not to seem greedy, he added,

"But don't bother about the bread, please." .... A.A.Milne

Wishing you a Happy Easter filled with all things milk and honey....

xo

Thoughtful Thursday - you rock, no, seriously you do ...

"No one is a rock star, superstar, world-changing artist all the time. In fact, it's a self-defeating goal. You can't do it.

No, but you might rock five minutes a day....

And five minutes of rocking would be enough, because it would be five minutes more than just about anyone else."

Five minutes sounds good to me (leaves me time for a nap)

Conversation by Seth Godin, Illustration by The Black Apple