How to Use Polarity To Make Things Happen (you do not need a locket for this, but it might help)

I have been sitting on this series and considered not posting it because I feel like I am getting a little too heavy and serious with my blog these days

and preachy, maybe a little too preachy, but then I thought maybe someone will resonate with it and since it was mostly finished anyway, I talked myself back into posting it ... so here goes ...

(so much for 2011 and my year of deciding)

"I believe in polarity."

(not the locket here, although I believe in that, too, but the polarity that makes our thoughts into things. The non-content part of our thoughts - the energy part or at least the direction of that energy part - the part that makes things happen.)

Mostly polarity is not a thing people question -

(except maybe the same people who question human activity's impact on the environment)

but, polarity's part in the manifesting of our intentions is not something that can actually be proven.

(in the same way as melting glaciers and the depleted ozone)

I will try anyway.

Last week I talked about Cousin Daisy Mae and her amazing ability to manifest just about anything she wants through self discipline, passion and intention. There is one thing that I didn't mention about Cousin Daisy Mae.

(and I should add that her name isn't really Cousin Daisy and she may even be a he, but I can promise you this person does in fact exist and would probably never in a million years recognize themselves here or even read my blog)

Cousin Daisy Mae is a clinically diagnosed (although maybe only by me while sipping my green tea and puzzling through my sudokus) narcissist. She is the most self-absorbed, selfish person you may ever meet.

She is a master taker, a master manipulator, a master liar - well, let's just say Cousin Daisy is all about Cousin Daisy.

Since we were kids I have watched her manifest her every intention (and I would guarantee she never thinks the word manifest or intention and most likely nothing any deeper than - "hey, that's cool, I want one") - with maybe a little background thought of I deserve that.

I am truly, truly grateful though to have her in my life because she has taught me some incredibly valuable lessons about energy and manifesting.

I believe thoughts are things and that they have both content and energy. So when we set an intention to create something - the thought that gets this creation started includes 1. the content of that thought and this content part is important - so if your intention is to create health for example - the intention: I am healthy (good) is much better than I am not sick (not so good) and you are probably aware of this and there is lots of information out there on thought content if this interests anyone, so I am not going to get into it here -

and 2. the energy of that thought - now most of our thoughts have a neutral energy because they are kind of low-level nonsense stuff

(I have to do laundry, here comes the mailman, hmmm... Olive needs her nails clipped)

and we can even spend hours holding low-energy thoughts with great content (positive daily affirmations like - I am happy, for example) and we will manifest virtually no emotion, no action, and most likely no results.

Now energy is not something we create. It simply is. It is always there. What makes us feel strong emotion is not the energy itself (which is always there) but the flow of energy moving through us.

Our intention needs to get us so fired up (and if it doesn't why are we intending it anyway) that real emotion is created (and that emotion can be joy or love and it can also be greed or lust because this stuff is non-judgemental) that we are (for example) talking so much about our new idea or concept or way of being or thingamajiggie that people are telling us to "shut up about it already" then maybe we have something real.

And speaking of  "new" (which intentions do not have to be, of course) I have read a couple posts lately suggesting that maybe there are no new ideas anymore and sometimes posts supporting taking something that is already out there and making it better and I really couldn't agree less.

I believe there are people with new ideas every day, every second of every day, and these new ideas and concepts and ways of being and thingamajiggies are being thought up by people who believed a new idea was possible -

(if we think there is no such thing as a new idea then I am pretty sure we will never have one)

and as for taking someone else's idea and making it better - well, what is better? and I am talking art here and not functional automobiles and washing machines - if someone has created something from their heart and soul and taken it from step 1 to step 10 and we bounce in and take it to step 11 to make it better than what have we really created anyway? - probaby nothing any more impressive than a possible copyright infringement.

And I am not talking about inspiration here - which we obviously take and give to each other all the time and is something that absolutely needs to flow, but that is a whole other post.

Back Wednesday with Part II - How Daisy Does It

and my legal department (ie Olive and her best friend Ruby)  likely due to the possible conflict between next week's blog title and an 80's bachelor party flick (maybe there really are no original ideas) suggest that I add my usual disclaimer.

Disclaimer - since I am not an expert in energy and cannot be said to actually know what I am talking about, I cannot be held responsible for any actions you might take from reading any of my posts - please keep this in mind if you end up in your parents' basement obsessed with sudokus and green tea.

(unless of course, this would be an improvement over your current living situation, in which case, I take full credit)

Check out my Etsy shop critique this week for a wonderful sustainable jewelry shop Nature's Art Melbourne HERE and don't miss the last few days of love, maude's giveaway HERE if you haven't entered yet.

Next week I have my biggest dollar value of any giveaway ever - it starts on Monday and you won't want to miss it! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

xo

If Your Karma Runs Over Your Dogma - don't panic, just sprinkle nuts ... the dry roasted kind ... (a wednesday whine of sorts)

I have a new friend -

(or a friend depending on who you talk to)

she is an artist who teaches Hindu to non-Hindus and we were talking about karma and I was telling her how I thought things happened almost instantaneously for me and how I have to be very careful that I never run over a squirrel

(or anything else, of course, but squirrels always seem to be getting in my way lately)

because I think an airplane or a giant oak tree or a UFO -

(which would totally be worth it to all the UFO crazies in my family who would finally have some actual proof of their existence - not that my family needs proof to believe in anything - and my sacrifice would be a small price to pay, although to be fair to them I am pretty certain they would erect an amazing martian memorial to me along the highway - they are just thoughtful that way)

would immediately crash and crush my car and that would be the end of me, too.

She assured me that it doesn't work like this.

(but she may have let me in on a little secret I will pass along - because if you do ever run over a squirrel, and please don't, but if you ever do there are certain squirrel tributes you can pay in the form of Planter's dry roasted around the neighborhood, so don't panic)

She didn't actually say this, of course, but she did tell me something else that was very interesting.

We were talking about truth and I said " ... if you lie to protect someone's feelings - say for example, when you thank your mother-in-law who has just given your hubby a 10 gallon jar of homemade pickled eggs again that he will want to eat every night and that will smell up your entire kitchen every time the jar is opened - well, that's not really being dishonest, right?"

And she said something that was kind of an aha moment for me -

(and I can't have an aha moment without picturing Oprah nodding solemnly)

"When you try to protect another soul from hurt, you are preventing them from learning their own lessons and this may earn karma - for you. You might like to consider that you were actually trying to shield yourself from feeling your mother-in-law's pain."

(of course this isn't an excuse to be mean to people, but I certainly could have related more honestly about the size of these picklings or maybe I'll just take my karma lumps - anytime anyone wants to lie to me to avoid hurting my feelings and balance my karma, I am ok with this)

She said the same thing about all the things we do for our kids to protect them from failure - that we are preventing them from learning things they are here to learn and we earn karma for ourselves for blocking their growth and this karma must then be balanced.

(this balancing is probably the part a few years later where they tell us they hate us and we are the worst parents on the planet)

Anyhoo, just something to think about while I stock up on Planter's and transfer the pickled eggs to smaller jars - can you transfer pickled things into smaller jars without repickling them? - hopefully I do not poison George - I don't even want to think about the kinds of things I will need to sprinkle around the neighborhood to balance that.

* more good days than bad print by Jen Lewis of JayHell

Leaving the Poetry in What We Make - embracing wabi-sabi

At its most nakedness, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and wisdom in nature. It's simple, slow, and uncluttered and above all it reveres authenticity.

It is the gift of time and the thing that can't be rushed.

It is the reason we love real flowers instead of plastic ones, even though we know they will wilt, flea markets instead of big box stores, barnwood instead of pergo. It's the reason those botoxed, un-naturally smooth faces on television make us so uncomfortable.

(and as pretty as Target's colorful little plastic thingie is and how much it is calling my name at times, I can leave it in the store because I know my soul just doesn't embrace this stuff anymore - it has no essence, it has no poetry - I know I will forget all about it 10 minutes after I get it home)

It isn't about laziness or letting things come together or fall apart in a messy or sloppy way. It's kind of the opposite of that. The beauty of the frayed edge of grandmas's quilt can only be appreciated in a clean and unencumbered setting.

(this is why the vintage sellers do so much better with empty space in their photos and clean, simple backgrounds - trust me on this vintage sellers)

I have been thinking about Japan alot these last few days (I know we all have) and this concept stands out to me as one of the most wonderful of all Japanese principles.

And for small maker companies it means not being afraid to show the flaws in ourselves and our work because real is never perfect and that is why people connect with it.

It's OK that we're not perfect - it's more than OK actually.

* Secret Door print by SeaLilyStudio
xo

Self Discipline Part II - making things happen when we'd rather be doing something else

Ok, so back to WCIT.

(see Wednesday's post if you have no idea what I am talking about - you may have to read it two or three times to figure out what the hell I am talking about and when you do please let me know - I'm still confused)

Self discipline is about willpower.

We don't always want to hear this. There are so many commercials trying to sell us something that will take the place of this - something that will replace our own power of will with something fast and easy with a money back guarantee -

that they are pretty much guaranteed we will never take them up on because if we do not have the willpower to do the thing ourselves in the first place, we will be way too lazy to send the thing back when it doesn't work.

People who think willpower doesn't work for them or they have none are probably trying to use it way beyond its capacities to work. Willpower is the original thrust that gets things moving - the first action that sets the other things in motion - the starting point.

Self discipline is about challenging ourselves.

This is the hard work part - the part where we do the thing that we are too tired or too burned out or too lazy or too afraid to do - this is where we do the thing that is hard.

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you’re willing to work" - Oprah Winfrey

Self discipline is about industriousness.

(and Webster's is trying to tell me that this is not a word but I think I am just a wee bit smarter than Webster's on this one)

This is the kind of discipline that gets those little tasks done - the tasks that are not hard, but they add up.

This is the little stuff that is cluttered all over top of the big stuff, so the big stuff stays hidden. Maybe it is more comfortable for us to leave the big stuff covered up so we will not have to deal with it, we will not have to see just how amazing our life can really be - maybe this is a reason for our busy-ness and our clutter and our inability to say no when we need to - but we can change that and we can change that in this very moment!

This is the part where we clean up our email and our closets, wrap our thousandth bead, mail the invitations early, clean the tub again, fold the towels again - this is where we pay our dues. This is the place where there are no shortcuts.

Self discipline is about tenacity.

Tenacity is what keeps the action moving forward. This is the part where you keep going even when you just don't feel it anymore.

Now this doesn't mean that we never give up - sometimes giving up is the best thing to do - sometimes we clearly have to let go of things to make room for better things.

Have you ever heard of a company called Traf-O-Data? It was started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen (yes, the Bill Gates and Paul Allen who started Microsoft). It was the thing they let go of in order to make room for something better.

It's not about clinging to the past (if it is then it isn't going to work for us) - it is about moving toward our vision of the future - a vision that is so compelling we will do anything to make it real.

So, WCIT is how we build self discipline. And I think without self discipline all the amazing work we are passionately wanting to create may never end up in the hands of the people who will love it; it may even not ever get made at all.

So, we get clear on what we want - we set our intention - we use willpower to get ourselves going - we challenge ourselves by doing the hard stuff - we challenge ourselves by doing the tedious stuff - we don't give up.

It's really as easy and as difficult as that.

(I need a nap and yes naps are totally allowed and encouraged - there is an absolute balance to this - no one can do it all, not all the time)

Next week I am going back to intention and doing a post on polarity -

(not the locket this time, but the non-content part of our thoughts - the part that makes our thoughts things - the law of attraction stuff that really does work)

this sounds boring now that I write it but it isn't trust me and it is the thing that allows (along with self discipline and passion) Cousin Daisy, uh, I mean Cousin Daisy Mae to manifest all kinds of amazing things and we can, too.

* I Just Ate My Willpower print by persimmonandpink
* be posititve, patient and persistent print by trulyvera

If you are still awake after reading this post check out my interview on Lisa Jacobs blog HERE and my shop critique for Betsy and Bess on the Ecoetsy team blog HERE and Maki from JustBento has put together a great list HERE of ways to help Japan - have a wonderful weekend everyone! xo

Upcycled Tutorial - Leftover Clay Tile and Rubberstamp Chalkboard!

This is another easy-peasy reuse tutorial. We always have a leftover tile or two when we do tile work

(you can also purchase individual tiles super cheap at tile shops or home improvement stores)

and since I know from writing on them with chalk when we are laying them out that they make great chalkboards I thought why not make some tile/chalkboards for little places that you would like to leave a little note or message.

You can also use large tiles and tile edging as your chalk holder (see step by step pictures for a picture of this)

what you need -

tile (test chalk on it first - it must have a matte finish), epoxy, hangers, rubber stamp or ceramic edge tile

1. If using a rubber stamp for your chalk ledge - peel off rubber (you can glue this on some scrap wood so you don't lose your stamp!) 2. Sand off any leftover glue 3. glue the 'ledge' near the bottom of your tile 4. Add your hangers (there are probably better hangers for this project, but I already had these - they are supposed to attach to the wall, but since they are fabric and flexible they worked very well on the ridged back of the tile)- I needed some hoops to hang them, but I had something handy for that, too 5. Write something!

Why Passion Without Self Discipline Might Never Make Us Rich (or even pay our cable bill which is actually the same thing, now that I look at my cable bill) - Part I

Self discipline is our ability to take action regardless of whether or not we feel like taking action.

(imagine the amazingness we could create if we could just get ourselves to follow through on our best intentions no matter what)

I have a relative (we'll just call her Cousin Daisy) who manifests just about everything she sets out to manifest. When she tells us she is going to do something (and these somethings are often very unusual somethings) - we listen. She doesn't have alot of money and doesn't seem to focus on manifesting that.

But the thing she wants (and want is the wrong word here); the thing that most of us would assume you need money to have - well, she doesn't assume - she just skips the step of wanting (wrong word again) the money and goes directly to manifesting the thing.

Now, there are a couple things that I think she has working for her here and one of them is 'Polarity'. Yes, that's right polarity and I have a post or two next week about that.

(before polarity was a totally amazing locket it was playing a huge part in how the law of attraction really works - the secret within the secret so to speak)

The other thing she has going for her is self-discipline.

Cousin Daisy never does things half-assed. When she made the decision to eat a macrobiotic diet (this is just the first thing that popped into my head- it is not a manifesting thing, but it is a self discipline thing) - she just did it; cleared out her fridge and cabinets, bought 2 cookbooks, made a trip to the grocers and then proceeded to follow through for the next, oh, I don't know, 10 years.

She didn't think about how this was going to effect her lifestyle or say - let me try a meatless Monday or let me try this for a month - she just did it.

And it was easy for her because she already had this self-discipline thing down. Some people are just born this way I think and my family is filled with industrious folks who 'get the job done'.

I like to think I am self disciplined but sometimes have to admit I may be more disciplined by external things - other-self disciplined you might call it. I will get the job done for my customers - the making and the shipping of orders - no matter what it takes. In the weeks before Christmas I was getting up at 3am to get my orders made and out, but ....

the stuff that I am not held so accountable for by external circumstances, mostly personal stuff like laundry and cleaning and exercising, but even the business things like bookkeeping and marketing ... well ... sometimes they get done when they get done.

I can guarantee you that Daisy would not have a sinkful of dishes or a filthy car (yes, I will use the "f" word for this) or a half-assed bookeeping system - if she didn't have time for this stuff, she would either find the time or find someone else to do it and she would manifest that person without even thinking about how she was going to pay them and it would all work out perfectly. I am totally serious about this - I have seen her do it ... many times.

For free-spirited makers self discipline can feel a little too much like being told what to do, even when we are the ones doing the telling. It just feels rigid and planned and not very passion inspiring.

this is a test, this is only a test ...

(and yes, grades will be tallied, report cards mailed to parents and there will be no make-ups or incompletes given due to lack of self discipline)

I found this little self discipline quiz last year which I promptly failed.

•Do you get up at the same time every day?
•Do you have any addictions (caffeine, nicotine, sugar) you’d like to break but haven’t?
•Is your email inbox empty - are old emails you are saving in folders?
•Is your studio and home neat and organized?
•How much time do you spend watching tv or trolling the web every day?
•Could you fast for one day?
•How much sleep do you get each night?
•How often do you exercise?
•Do you usually eat foods based on their healthfulness or their taste?
•If you make a promise to someone, what’s the % chance you’ll keep it?
•If you make a promise to yourself, what’s the % chance you’ll keep it?
•When was the last time you consciously adopted a positive new habit or quit a bad habit?
•What’s the greatest physical challenge you’ve ever faced, and how long ago was it?

You get the idea. Self discipline is a powerful tool. It can wipe out addictions, procrastination, chaos and unhealthiness - it's all about Willpower (concentration of force), Facing Challenges (doing the thing we don't want to do but know we should), Industriousness (putting in the time) and Tenacity (sticking with it).

(so WCIT, it's all about WCIT - yeah, WCIT)

Back on Friday with Part II - MAKING THIS HAPPEN aka OK, so I see I need to be more self disciplined and less other-self disciplined, so how can I make this happen if I don't have the Cousin Daisy gene (which I don't because she is a married-into-the-family Cousin Daisy).

(wait, I think I will call her Daisy Mae, I like that better ... plus she will hate it and the more I think about how effortless she makes things look, I really want to annoy her a little)

* test screen necklace by bRainbowshop

we are all Japanese now ...

our only planet and its people - our brothers and sisters - are hurting.

I remember the days after the Three Mile Island explosion when we thought the reactor could meltdown and no one knew what would happen (they still don't) and how scared we were and my family trying to figure out what to do and where we should go. Although I was a kid, my eco-leanings truly formed around that time period and the little knot of fear that formed around the words 'nuclear energy' never really unraveled.

Sending white healing light, love and strength to the amazing people of Japan - there is truly only one of us here.

GIVEAWAY - Hand Embroidered Secret Message Necklace by love, maude - CLOSED

CLOSED - WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED FRIDAY!

"love, maude" is the amazing hand embroidered accessories shop of Sandie from Indianapolis, which she named after her grandmother.

I fell in love with her work at first sight and know you will, too!

I also fell in love with her profile which reads:

"I like pretty. Just because it's pretty. I like kind words and happy people. I adore manners.

I like traditions. Using my grandma's blue willow dishes for special occasions and looking through boxes of holiday decorations carried down from the attic year after year warms my heart.

I like red lipstick. Even though I am quite tall, I love to wear heels. I prefer to wear skirts and dresses. I'm just more comfortable in them.

I love to sew. I have a chinz, overstuffed chair in the corner of my living room that I call "my stitching chair". Curled up in my chair with a needle in hand, coffee on the table and stories in my mind makes a perfect afternoon."

Don't we love that!

We are so lucky to have one of her gorgeous pieces for this week's giveaway!

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive love, maude's gorgeous hand embroidered secret message necklace!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below and be sure to check out love, maude's shop - what gorgeous Mother's Day gifts!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone. CLOSED

when a hug isn't really a hug ....

I recently had a conversation about Facebook with my brother. He believes that Facebook represents the time we are living in and is not something a business person desiring 'personal' connections with people can just skip.

This is where my problem comes in becomes I can't totally silence the little voice in the back of my head

(the little voice that is often right)

that tells me something is not quite right about all of this.

I once read something like - you’re an introvert if you recharge your batteries while being alone and you’re an extrovert if you recharge in the company of others - and most people are somewhere in the middle and can do both.

When my daughter was little and I had a job in a place outside of my house, a place with other people, I definitely recharged from time spent alone.

Now, that I am alone alot - pretty much the opposite is true - I need the company of others more and more often to recharge.

Now, sometimes this 'company of others' takes place on Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr or wherever ... and these things do fill us; for a little while - the feeling just doesn't last though.

(kind of like eating Chinese food)

There's a great deal of talk about the business value of social networking.

I can't help noticing that alot of this talk is circulated by people trying to make money from it. But taking advice about how the fish are biting from the girl selling you the bait is not the best idea.

(this advice is kind of like the sellers on Etsy with ebooks about how to make money selling on Etsy who have never sold anything other than ebooks about how to make money selling on Etsy - now if this person wants to tell me how to make money selling ebooks on Etsy, well then, I'm listening ... but otherwise not so much)

Anyhoo, back to Facebook. Yes, it is happening right now. Yes, I am a part of this world, right now. Yes, I do not want the world to pass me by ...

(well, except for maybe that honeysuckle color that is Pantone's color of the year - I am just not feeling it, that can pass me by, I think, and Charlie Sheen he can pass me by, too)

but maybe there are ways to raise our visibility without always raising our accessibility. I just don't think this is all sustainable.

For now, I continue to update my Facebook and tweet once in a while - I am not about to jump completely out of these fast moving waters because it may be very hard to find my stroke if I have to jump back in.

(did anyone see that guy on Dr. Phil who gets off work at 3 and then runs until 6, all the while photographing his run and then spends every night after dinner updating his Facebook or blog about his run ... while his wife goes crazy with the kids and his entire life falls away from him and he doesn't even notice)

But, I think it is time for me to challenge myself socially and get out there in the real world because I don't want those muscles - that were never exactly Linda Hamilton in Terminator II anyway - to weaken to the point where upon meeting new people I immediately become their 'friend', give them a hug and a friendly poke (not too friendly) and a great big thumbs up.

(so today it's back to the library and off my Nook - a little face to face time with other readers and I think our librarians have been missing us ... baby steps)

* print #17 from HappyTownUSA

10 Days Until Spring (or is it 9 because we won't count today or is it 8 because we won't count the actual first day)

let's just agree on 8 that sounds alot better ...

* some new pieces in my shops within the last few weeks 1) the royal wedding cork bracelet, 2) the vineyard wedding cork necklace 3&4) the gorgeous photography of the amazing Joy St. Claire graces my lockets

Next week will be my final spring cleaning crafty closet cleanout giveaway - last week's winner chosen by random.org

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 356
Result: 201

is Karen L - Congrats Karen!

Also check out my post over on the Ecoetsy team blog where I give a eco-friendly team member Herban Lifestyle's shop a little tweaking and friendly critiquing - there might be something there that will resonate with you.

My new blog series will kick off next week! Have a wonderful weekend all ...

Upcycled Tutorial - Window Corkboard - create an industrial size corkboard with some old fashioned character in minutes!

There is almost no limit to the amazing things you can do with an old window!

If you don't have one in your garage you should be able to pick one up for just a couple bucks when the garage sale / flea market season starts up in a few weeks.

You can even make a huge industrial size corkboard!

You will need:

an old window
cork (I used cork underlay for flooring- you can also buy cork rolls at the craft store and cut foamcore sheets to fit underneath the thin cork and support your pushpins)
glazier points
flathead screwdriver

You can make your old window like new first with a fresh coat of paint

(you might want to use a lead test strip first if you do not know the age of the window and the kind of paint used)


I like things to look a little aged so I am just going to leave this one alone.

Measure your openings and cut your cork to fit (1), using a flathead screwdriver and some glazier points attach your cork to the window frame (2), that's it (3) - easy peasy

one guy's trash is another girl's excuse to dumpster dive ...

I am in the process of de-cluttering my life - making space for something new. This is a big undertaking for a packrat like me. Things and thoughts and emails and ... well, mostly crap actually ... is making life feel a little heavier around here than I like it to feel and even though I mostly love my crap

some of it just has to go ...

In the process of my own de-cluttering, I discovered that in a totally unconnected passion to untie some knots and clear some space, my brother and his wife were doing a massive de-cluttering of their own house -

they rented a huge metal dumpster, to toss everything that is not recyclable, and it has been sitting in their driveway for a week.

(they are totally lucky they live where they do because in my neighborhood a dumpster in your driveway for a week would be filled while you sleep with 3 barcaloungers, 2 tires from a '79 Pinto and a toothless guy named Pete would already be unpacked, settled in and receiving mail and guests)

When I heard about this I had to head over there and check out just what they were throwing out -

(I truly tried to hold back because I really don't need anyone else's stuff - I paced around my house, bit my nails, reread the Oprah cut the clutter issue, ate a poptart, tried to remember just what the hell they had in their garage anyway - but finally I gave in to my inner dumpster diver and drove over there)

It was kind of like this ----->


(except I was wearing way cooler shoes)



Anyhoo, I grabbed up some of the beautiful pottery the two of them created at art school in Boston -

(not sure what I am going to do with it all or how it fits into my own de-cluttering, but something tells me my life can use the kind of grounding this large pile of lovingly handcrafted clay is offering up)

a book on HTML for dummies and some CDs that were about to go to Best Buy including Harry Chapin, Jeff Beck and Pat Benatar.

(WTH Vinnie - tossing Pat Benatar?!)

So maybe I took a little step backwards, but it is all good because life is a process after all and some things cannot be rushed. Things are still getting de-cluttered around here because I know I need to create some awfully large space in my life for the awfully large, awfully amazing stuff that is coming my way.

At first when hubby saw boxes coming into the house he was all - "what the heck, I thought we were getting rid of stuff" - but then he saw the gorgeous pots and bowls and thingamajigs and he was smitten, too

and the Frank Zappa, did I mention there was a Frank Zappa?

(WTH Vinnie?!)

* let it go print by the amazing Nan Lawson (who also has a locket or two)

GIVEAWAY - Spring Cleaning at Olive Bites Week # 2 - Another Scrap Happy Giveaway

CLOSED- WINNER WILL BE POSTED THIS WEEK!

This week's giveaway is more stuff from my crafty closet clean out!

Most of these things are, I'm pretty sure, no longer available so your only chance to get them is probably to win them here!

WHAT YOU WIN:



The loot includes 8 making memories journaling tags, 2 narratives mini lunch bags, 1 making memories defined sticker sheet, 1 making memories chipboard flower sheet, 1 k&company dimensional stickers, 1 junkitz rubons, 10 making memories flowers, 2 hero arts rubber stamps - always and precious (large size), a 72 letter rubon monogram set, 3 tilez tiles, and 3 meters of 7 different fibers from ek success.

One lucky winner is going to be in scrap heaven with this take!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave a comment below with your contact information!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to US and Canada only (sorry guys!)

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight, Sunday, March 13th! Good Luck!

Have a Happy 1st Weekend in March Everyone!

I'm a little late seeing this quote since I haven't been reading as many blogs lately - trying to get myself organized around here - but this little gem from Seth Godin seems like a perfect way to get our weekend started right:

"Art is what we call .. the thing an artist does.

It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making.

Something risky. Something human.

Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist."

I love that.

The winner of last week's MOOZA DESIGN giveaway is Monapete! YAY for her! Mooza's work is amazing.

Also if you have a waffle iron you need to be making brownies with it (just don't overfill - cook for 3-5 minutes) yummy with ice cream and syrup - it is still officially winter and we are definitely allowed to hibernate and eat stuff like this ...

And thanks to everyone who sent happy thoughts to me after my rambling tweets about my car accident this week - I'm ok - and I'm pretty certain I will be whining about it next Wednesday ... stay tuned ...

xo all =^..^=

* Livewire print from the amazing Jessica Grundy of Solocosmo

Upcycled Tutorial - Acetate Transparencys For Your Matted Photos

This is a cool way to add a layer of words and whatnots to your framed pictures - looks especially amazing with black and white photos and is uber-easy to make.

I used to sell these at craft shows and people ate them up.

(no, I mean, they actually ate them up ... and it wasn't pretty .. in fact I am feeling a little light headed from the memories ... but I have been advised they tasted like chicken)

Anyhoo, the idea here is that you use a transparency (overhead projector paper available at Staples works perfectly) to add a layer of pure awesomeness under the glass of any framed print.

what you need:

a transparency
a computer
a picture to be framed, mat and frame

Using your computer lay out some fun and funky wording, imagery, boxes, etc that you would like to use to create your 'floating layer' - measure the inside of your matting and print it out on regular paper to make sure it will fit with your mat and picture.

To print on the acetate use the 'transfer' style paper setting (as if you were making a t-shirt transfer) and print on the rough side of the acetate on a regular setting (I used to find the 'best' setting would sometimes leave too much ink and smear) - allow a little drying time

Tape the acetate to the backboard of your matting and add your picture underneath the acetate. I like the picture to be slightly off-angled, but do what pleases your eye with it. Frame it- easy peasy.

Here are a couple mini ones I threw together to get you started and your creativity flowing:

BABY

LOVE

FRIENDS

Enjoy! xo =^..^=

Look At Me ... if I stand on my head and don't tell anybody that I stood on my head - did I actually stand on my head?

When I was growing up we had self-esteem classes in school where we filled our notebooks with everything anyone would ever need to know about us -

they were like little prehistoric facebooks.

These classes were designed to increase our confidence and self-esteem and basically imprint us with the message that we were OK.

Today, it isn't enough for kids to hear that they are OK- they need to be "special".

(and maybe we are all feeling like this actually)

And parents are encouraged to increase our kids 'self-esteem' by affirming their 'specialness'.

My adorable little niece serenaded me recently with a song she learned in nursery school -

"I am special. I am special. Look at me. Look at me."

(sort of to the tune of the farmer in the dell if you are old enough to remember that one)

I told her that I knew a better song and sang her something like -

"I am nice. I am nice. I promise to stop kicking Aunt Cathy in the face as she tries to put on my shoes because I am nice."

She told me I was mean.

(which I am, so maybe she is special)

Her brother, who is a few years older was insisting I wanted to watch him play video games

(having been advised by him that my own video gaming skills were not quite up to the par of actually being able to play with him)

I tried to drag him away from his controller and do something with me.

He wasn't going for it.

I tried a new tactic.

"I like to make jewelry" - he glanced up at me wondering where this was going.

"Would you like to watch me make jewelry?"

"Oh, I thought you were going to make me something", he said

"No, I like to make jewelry - would you like to watch me make jewelry?", I repeated.

"Why would I want to watch you do that?"

"Well, why would I want to watch you play video games?"

He told me I was weird.

(which I am, so maybe he is especially astute also)

Of course, I remember when we were kids and my sister and I would drag my mother into our bedroom to watch us do 'gymnastics' on the beds - shouting "look at me, look at me", until my mother, bored and achy with tennis-neck would find some excuse to leave

She could have said something about how amazingly special this all was, but more likely she said something like -

"OK, enough girls, I'm tired of sitting here"

since neither of us became Olympic gymnastic champions, maybe she wasn't the best encourager of 'specialness' - on the other hand we did think we actually had to do something to warrant an audience.

Of course, playing a video game is doing something - I sure as hell can't do it very well.

(now we all just go on our Blogs or Facebook or Twitter and announce what we are doing)

Kids today have never known any other world and are certainly not to blame here, but all this 'specialness' is making me a bit uneasy about our future.

(or maybe I have just had too much coffee this morning and am way overthinking this)

* adorable Look at Me print by The Extent of Silence

I should also add that when I redid my blog the other day I went to set up a Facebook fan page and the name Olive Bites was already being used

(I was thinking what has Olive been up to now?)

and then I realized that I had set up a fan page almost a year ago and then I forgot all about it!

GIVEAWAY - Spring Cleaning at Olive Bites - Win Some Scrap-Fabulous Goodies!

AND THE WINNER IS- CHOSEN BY RANDOM.ORG

Karen L - congrats Karen!

So, last week was supposed to be all about cleaning

(it wasn't, unless you count the cleaned up look of my blog and website - what cha' think guys? - but only say good things because I'm feeling a bit .. uh fragile, ok)

I did manage to get my crafty closet cleaned out (and 4 bags of clothes to Goodwill)!

WHAT YOU WIN:



This giveaway includes a 78 count rubon book of monograms, 3 hero arts brand spankin' new rubber stamps (big ones), 8 journaling tags, 2 pks of funky vintage flower stickers from making memories, 2 pks of K&Company 3D florals, 6 metal ribbon labels, 1 pk of definition stickers and 2 mini photo bags.

One lucky winner is going to be in scrap heaven with this take!

HOW TO WIN:

It's easy, peasy - just leave a comment below with your contact information!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to US and Canada only (sorry guys!)

DRAWING:
Enter by midnight, Sunday, March 6th! Good Luck!

Blog Break - Back in a Week!

Of course, I haven't really gone fishing.

(you can exhale now Mr. Big Billy Bass)

I'm really still here, but I need to get my head and closets and inbox uncluttered and do some early spring cleaning.

I will be back next Monday with my -

1st Annual Spring Cleaning Giveaway

(this is not a lazy way of cleaning out my crafty closets ... really)

so mark your calendar!

* Gone Fishin' screenprint by DMeyerDesigns

(Mooza Designs Giveaway Extended 1 Week!)

Marketing This Thing Part IV - strategy is not just for generals

Back to the basics of strategic marketing :

1. Identify an Opportunity -

look for holes in the market that might be opportunities to use our creative skills.

At this point things like brainstorming, focus groups of creative peeps, talking to your current customers - there are great survey sites like surveymonkey.com and
freeonlinesurveys.com that you can use to ask your current customers questions before introducing something new or to find out what they are looking for.

Once you have customers it is a whole lot easier to sell new stuff to them than it is to sell to an entirely different kind of customer.

(I have used surveys a couple times and always offer some kind of freebie when sending something like this out - it is amazing how many people who have already purchased something from you will take the time to answer a short - I have a 3 question max - survey)


A few words about showing your early ideas to people - sometimes they will not be so receptive and sometimes you have to trust your gut with this stuff and totally ignore them.

When I found this drawer of old auto parts in hubby's shop and started talking 'locket', he thought I had lost my mind.

He said, "Cat, girls want to wear silver and gold and gemstones and stuff that is shiny and new."

but I was thinking ... well, maybe not all girls ...

2. Niche thinking makes this strategic marketing a whole lot easier because a. there is less competition b. it makes it easier to find the customers who will be attracted to us c. our stuff has a higher perceived value since we can position ourselves as an expert in a smaller field and d. we can charge more.

It's like the travel agent who specializes in cruises for college athletes (if there is such a travel agent) or the chiropractor who specializes in golfing injuries. Their success comes from the fact that they are not worried about leaving out 95% of the market - they are just focusing on being the go to girl/guy for this niche.

(and it totally helps if the travel agent is an ex-college jock and if the chiropractor plays golf because there will be a kind of passion and presence and energy from that that will be unique to them)

3. Strategic marketing is about fulfilling someone's emotional need with our stuff.

Marketing people will tell us that people buy stuff based on their emotions and those primary purchasing hot buttons are:

LOVE,
HEALTH,
BEAUTY,
RELAXATION,
MONEY

How are we solving some problem for other people around these needs?

4. Strategic marketing is about taking what you love and being smart and creative about making money with it.

No one can really teach us how to do this, because it will be unique to what we do but there are lots of incredibly clever people on Etsy doing all kinds of strategic thinking within competitive markets.

Littlebrownpen is an amazing photography shop that could be teaching strategy to generals in the Pentagon.


1. The passion they have for their subject jumps off their pages.

It is clear they have an amazing and developed skill set - composition, depth, perspective, technique - just gorgeous. They live in New Jersey (yay) but their hearts clearly reside in Paris.

2. They have chosen a subject that is not available to everyone with a camera.

(for example - if you are going to sell photos of flowers on Etsy, they will have to be some very special flowers and you will likely need some photographic techniques to set you apart from everyone else because everyone has a digital camera and access to flowers and by everyone else I mean your customers - also people probably don't want to buy pictures of your cat - if they like cats, they have their own cats to photograph

this is the same reason if you make jewelry and buy your supplies at AC Moore or Michaels or other places available to everyone your work is much more likely to look like everyone else's work)

3. They think in terms of how customers use their products.

Sometimes it is hard for people to see how a single photo or print they love would fit into their home.

People often have large wall spaces to fill and by offering the groupings they do by color I could see how customers (even those with no interest in Paris) could immediately see how this could work in their home and be excited to buy. It is, I think, simply brilliant.

They do alot of other smart things; based around the fact that they think their customers are smart, too.

They are a great example of makers creating things from their heart that people want to buy.

Now, we want to be creating our own brand and not copying anyone else's, but seeing someone else doing something really, really well can get us thinking of new ways of looking and thinking about our own work.

Traditional target market thinking doesn't always work for creative makers intent on exploring our own passions and some stuff we just have to make even though we know we will never be able to sell it, but by staying true to our own hearts and factoring in those "other people" that our business needs to thrive I truly believe we can create something totally freakin' amazing, real and make some money, too.

* failed opportunity print by the amazing Jenni Penni

Have a great weekend everyone - don't miss the last couple days of Mooza Design's totally fun bathroom door art giveaway here!

Marketing This Thing - Part III - Grab a Breath Mint, It's Time to Cuddle

OK, now strategic marketing is going to mean getting very close to the customer

(not close enough for any type of disease transference, but close enough that we maybe could benefit from a wintergreen tic tac before proceeding)

and it includes market research although hopefully no trips to the mall with clipboards trying to make eye contact with people who are suddenly very focused on the shiny, tile floors.

Most makers -

(I am thinking all, but there may be someone out there who for some strange reason most likely having to do with trends is out there making things they do not love)

who are making a living with their makings are selling things that they are passionate about - things that you and I may not love - but things that they think are freakin' amazing!

They have also either taken the time to figure out that there was a market for their makings and where that market is or they got really lucky.

(and I totally believe in luck, but only beginner's luck - which life has a way of bestowing on us once as a kick in the ass to get us going, after that our luck is kind of like our face at 40 - we've earned it)

I think successful business owners need to have a personal passion for their business beyond paying their mortgage.

A friend of ours has a house alarm installation business that he started after his own house was robbed. Early on he thought marketing to new home owners would be a smart idea and he got lists of them and did mailings to them, but what he found over time was that his primary customer was not a new home owner at all, it was someone whose house had just been robbed.

At first he felt kind of weird to directly start marketing to them (even though this was the reason he got into the business in the first place) but when he really thought about what he is selling which is safety and peace of mind, plus he offers people all kinds of free services and advice, he started talking to these people and letting them know what is available and talking to their neighbors and he is doing really, really well. It is sometimes hard to sell the solution to a problem to someone who has never had the problem.

And strategic marketing is all about solving a problem for your buyer. It helps to be thinking - what problem am I solving and who and where are the people with that problem? And the earlier in your creative business start up you think about this the better.

When I saw Etsy I fell in love hard and fast - the head over heels at first sight kind of love that could have left me barefoot, pregnant and with high credit card debt if I wasn't careful ... luckily I was.

I was already a greenie (although an imperfect and sometimes lazy one) and remaker of all things remakable and I knew in my heart that there was a segment of the market - a pretty untapped segment - of people like me who were thinking about the impact of the things they were buying and who also wanted stuff that was modern and different.

I knew this would be my niche. Modern eco for people like me was what I was thinking. People who wanted to feel good about the environmental impact of what they bought, but who still wanted to buy really cool stuff.

People who wanted to own and wear things that were different - things that made a statement about who they were and that made other people ask them - what is that?

(but in a good way, not in a skin rash - is that contagious? - kind of way - or at least that was what I was going for)

This - "people wear things to make a statement about who they are" - is something everyone who makes wearables can think about when developing their line or planning advertising.

Now, I could see right away that there was alot of jewelry on Etsy, but I did not see this as a bad thing.

Think of how all the car dealers and furniture stores group themselves together on highways.

It would be hard though if you were a Honda dealer right next to another Honda dealer so you need to be working uniquely from your heart and you will probably need to be selling in other places - certain types of art will probably always do much, much better at shows and shops where people can really see them and touch them and hold them and walk away with that art in their hands.

Strategic marketing 1. Opportunity Identification

(this is more than I really love my stuff and so will they)

We need to be seeking holes in the market that might be opportunities.

Double Click Ad Planner by Google is an awesome tool for some strategic thinking. It's free and based on the incredible amount of information Google collects from us on a daily basis probably very accurate.
We can use it in 2 ways:

1. by looking up a site's url and even better 2. we can search by audience where we can choose our own parameters

I LOVE to enter a site where I might want to sell my work or buy advertising, etc and then click around on the other sites the same people visited! It is addicting.

Checking out Etsy.com I can see that Etsy's average browser (and I say browser and not shopper and you will see why in a minute) is a female, 25-44 years old making $25K-$45K a year, with some college or a bachelor's degree living in the U.S.

The keywords they most frequently searched on the day I checked were: fabric, pioneer woman, land of nod, hancock fabrics, joann fabrics, ballard designs, I should add though that the most frequently searched keyword by far was "etsy" or some misspelled version of it -

other sites they visited that day include artfire, craftgossip, craftster, fabric.com, regretsy, twopeasinabucket (scrapbooking supplies) and firemountaingems.

So what does all this mean to us -

(other than the fact that alot of these viewers are makers, too based on the other sites they visited and the keywords they searched and this is ok because we sell to each other all the time)

well, the income levels tell us something about the upper price points that will likely sell well on Etsy (in general) but other than that I think most of us would find our general customer categories working within these profiles.

Now, this is once again getting way too long so I will continue this tomorrow with some specific things we can do. In the meantime if you have never played with the Double Click Ad Planner have fun thinking about the type of customer your work would attract and what kind of things they are looking for and what places they are looking.

* finger cuddle photo by Dancing Pancake Studio
* love is the new black print by The Love Shop

Why Listening is Just as Important as Talking and why your target market may be able to avoid you - Marketing This Thing Part II

There are 2 types of marketing that those of us with maker businesses have to be thinking about - there is strategic marketing (this week's topic) and operational marketing.

Strategic marketing is about positioning our businesses to make money.

One of the ways to do this is to put the customer at the center of our core business thinking and decide what products and services to produce in the first place based on them.

This is no different than what any other type of business has to do to make money.

Now for makers this is not about selling just to be selling -

if we are not creating a business selling something that we are passionate about and is uniquely our own than we are not creating anything anyone will ever miss when it is gone and it soon will be ...

to make room for the passionate stuff that someone willing to put the time and energy and hours into discovering and working and reworking is dreaming up right now in their pajamas or their office suit or their McDonald's bright red shirt -

someone (to quote Will from Monday) who is not afraid to die on that treadmill.

A photographer who's soul yearns to roadtrip the country and photograph rusty cars in junkyards and battered old street signs should not be snapping birds on branches because maybe birds on branches are trending right now ...

(although I would totally hop on the hedgehog train if I were you - I had previously predicted the fox trend and am now predicting the hedgehog trend)

but a strategic, customer centered marketing focus would ask the photographer to think about just how infrequently most people change their wall art and maybe license her images for use on other products or maybe create a humorous 'junk in your trunk' greeting card line or package her photos in such a way that customers are more likely to buy them such as producing a Blurb coffee table book of her photos and selling that.

Now in one sense this does not really expand this photographer's "target" market (again I am picturing ducks in a shooting gallery) because her market is really the people who love her aesthetic (and the people shopping for those people) but it does give them more reasons to buy from her and more ways for her to operationally market her work.

Before I discovered Etsy I created and sold a line of scrapbook-type hanging boards that I called Graffiti Boardz.

I sold them in a few stores at the Jersey shore, but mostly I sold them at local craft shows, street fairs and music festivals.


I made them for about 3 years (it was a part-time thing) until I talked to the album frame manufacturer who fabricated the metal framing I used around the boards about resizing them just for me. I wanted them to make me a 12" frame (the size of standard scrapbook paper) instead of the 12 1/2" frame (the size of a standard record album).

Within a few weeks they had fabricated the special sized frames (yippee) for me and (not so yippee, maybe just a yip) for Michael's and A.C. Moore which they promptly stocked the frame department with and labeled scrapbook frame.

(yes, I am taking total credit for scrapbook frames in the craft stores ... as well as the Cheesecake Factory's crispy crab wontons ... I take total credit for those, too and possibly Obama's economic plan, but we'll see how that works out first)

Anyway back to the new (to me) Etsy marketplace because although these boards had sold very well at local craft shows where you need a broader appeal product with a high 'mom' factor (niche products will not make you the queen of the local craft show circuit) I knew instinctively they were not the right aesthetic for Etsy and that the big old internet, which was getting bigger by the nanosecond, demanded niche thinking.

(plus I thought hanging scrapbook frames were about to be everywhere - and I was tired of making them and my scrapbook store-owner friend, who sold me all her scrappy leftovers at below wholesale prices was ready to move on, too)

Of course, if my heart and my soul were still screaming Graffiti Boardz, I would still be making them (I am sure with a gazillion little adjustments by now) and truly if my heart and my soul were still needing to make them, then I would be making the selling part work ... even on Etsy.

So, what does all of this have to do with listening instead of talking and our so-called elusive "target market" - well, I knew that a successful creative business needed to be customer "focused" at its core -

putting the customer at the center of our business thinking in the beginning as hard and as much work as this can be -

is still alot easier than putting them at the center of our bullseye and "targeting" them later on by firing products at them and seeing what we can hit.

(due to the popularity of video gaming, customers are increasingly agile and able to avoid this type of 'targeting' anyway)

If we don't make what people want to buy

(note - I am not talking about things that everyone wants to buy - we'll leave that to Target)

then no matter how clever or creative our operational marketing is - it will probably fail.

Now, we have to do this without silencing our creative voice because if there is not a whole lot of what is uniquely us in our making then no amount of operational or strategic marketing is going to work for long anyway.

This is where alot of makers get stuck - they either decide to make what sells and it ends up looking an awful lot like what everyone else is making

and then spend alot of time looking for someone to buy it or get pissed or depressed if no one does

or they decide they want to make what they want to make no matter what

(which is, of course, totally ok if you are not wanting to sell it)

and then spend alot of time looking for someone to buy it or get pissed or depressed if no one does

but if other people are the center of a business, and I think they are, then it is just as important to listen to them in the beginning as it is to talk at them at the end.

Staying true to our own voice while seeing customers as active partners and not passive 'targets' is totally possible for all of us.

On Friday I will talk about some very specific ways we can do this in Part III of Marketing This Thing - Strategy is Not Just for Generals.

(I know you may lose some sleep waiting - please don't hate me for this)

*listen print by the amazing and uniquely herself elle moss