It’s hard to earn money with the blog when the Google PageRank screws you over. I can’t get any opportunities to post. It is very frustrating because I was doing well getting good opps to post about and earning a nice chunk of change. That money helped with our Disney vacation.
I was hoping to earn a bit more money during the couple of months before our California trip (which is at the end of July), but at this rate the chances are slim to none of me being able to earn anything.
*huffy sigh*
We’re all sick in my house. Actually, my son is almost better - he’s the one who brought the cold into the house in the first place.
I feel like I’m about to cough up a lung. And my sinuses are going to implode.
Back when I’m better.
I’m finally getting back into the crafting swing of things after the vacation. I made two gifts this weekend - one is a bracelet for my friend’s daughter who is graduating from high school this week; the other is a similar bracelet (different colored pearls) with matching earrings for a friend whose birthday is coming up.
The supplies I ordered for the new bridal set arrived this morning so I’ll begin a “draft” of that necklace for the bride to approve tonight and also a couple pairs of earrings for her to choose from. I’m excited about the possibility for this set. It’s simple but different from what I’ve done previously.
I have an unofficial commission for a long necklace for a friend from church. I’ve back-burnered this project while I collected interesting beads and thought out a design for her. She said there is no rush and I haven’t been paid yet, but I know that she’s good for it and even if she changes her mind the beads collected are cool and totally usable for other projects. I’m thinking about making this one more in a rosary style than simple stringing, but it will involve a lot more work to make. Fun, though.
OK, I need to go get my son, who is supposed to be napping, but is playing in his crib instead.
Hey, Mom. You need labels. Here is a possible solution for you since they offer all kinds of food and beverage labels in addition to their Bottle Labels. What grabbed my attention was the Wegmans label they show as an example - mostly because I love that store and that they buy their labels from Label World means something.
And they’re geared for large printing orders, which is what you need now that your business is growing exponentially. They could be what you need for your scone mixes and might offer a better product than what your local printer could.
It’s worth looking into, at least. Thought I’d share the link and the love.
When I got married I did a lot of the printing myself. I printed our invitation envelopes and the maps/directions inside. I printed our wedding program, which turned into a little booklet since we sang 4 old hymns and I included the lyrics to them inside as well as the program/people information. I printed the rehearsal reminder notes to our bridal party to let them know of the date/time/location/other specifics. And I printed the tags for our wedding favors and for the gifts that I gave to the women in our bridal party. (The link is to my mother’s shop, she did our wedding favors and the ones pictured in the listing are from my wedding.)
Since Mom offers wedding favors in her shop, I get recruited to do the tags. So she has a new bridal client for 150 favors needed for an August wedding and I’ve been put into service. The colors are brown (mocha) and teal. The bride’s invitations were on cream cardstock. So I’ll be doing a few tag samples to include with the ribbon samples that Mom will send to the bride for final approval. I’ve ordered sample sheets of cardstock from the vendor I used for my wedding. Once I get those in, I’ll start designing and printing and cutting.
It’s a nice side job for my creative self. I have no plans to get into graphic design or printing. I don’t have the skills or capability for making that a full craft in my repertoire. But it’s fun to do anyway.
For my 2 regular readers, I am alive and working. Just not working on my business lately - still in vacation mode.
That said I have been working on it some:
1. I bought new storage containers for my beads. I bought two, but I think I need at least 3-4 more. Crazy! I definitely like how they look lined up on my craft table. It’s much cleaner and easier to find the beads that I want. And because the drawers come out completely, I can rearrange them easily.
Next up: a label maker so that I can mark the drawers and really get the beads organized.
2. I’m still waiting for the supplies I ordered for the new bridal set. I’m excited about this one because it’s a different style from the others that I have made.
3. My good friend’s youngest daughter is graduating from high school next week. What’s crazy is that when I first met them, this child was 9 months old and amazingly cute with white hair that stood straight up like a baby chick’s. She is now a very lovely young lady and still light blonde. Where does the time go?
Anyway, I was trying to come up with a creative gift idea and then it hit me - jewelry! She’s a girly girl who loved every second of helping to plan her older sister’s wedding (I helped as coordinator). As her sister made decisions, she would whisper into my ear the things she would like for her wedding when she gets married - all were much more formal and traditional. Since I know this about her, I think I’ll do something in pearls for her - a bracelet and earrings. Although I think her ears are not pierced, so I need to check on that with her Mom.
4. My mother is still selling well with her Etsy shop. I spend more time on her shop these days than my own. New teas have been added and she has some teas newly discounted as well, including some she is closing out. So go check them out and buy now because when those teas are gone, they’re gone.
5. The PayPerPosts have dried up. While I was on vacation my Google PageRank sank from 3 to 0. So now I don’t qualify for most opportunities that get listed which makes it hard for me to increase my chances for better opps. So you’re spared from blatant advertising for a while.
6. It stinks because I was really hoping to earn more side money to pay for our trip to California. At least we didn’t spend as much at Disney, so we have that leftover money available. And we found a hotel for half of what I had been seeing, so that’s a huge money saver. My husband is now planning our touristy things for that week, one of which is a trip to Monterey (one of the places I lived when in high school - it’s one of my favorite places, too) where I want to go to Cannery Row and the Aquarium.
7. I still want to feature other Etsians here, so I’ll get to working on that…
1. Via Gemmafactrix, comes this site that features beautiful chandeliers made from recycled things. Mom, you’ll appreciate #3 and #7. My brother-in-law will appreciate #6.
2. My Dad shared this story with us while we were on vacation - a neurologist is pushing for kids thought to have autism to have their brains scanned to rule out seizure activity. He thinks that maybe half of kids diagnosed with autism may not actually be autistic. It’s amazing, alarming, and sad to think of the thousands (millions) of kids over the years who may have lost out on normal life because their pediatricians assumed autism.
3. Annie-the-dog woke me up at 4:30am yesterday. As a result, I caught Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dance and Charm School on cable. It’s a sweet little movie that I enjoyed despite the slow start.
4. I’m supposed to be working, but I’ve got no motivation today. But I’ve got to get back to it. So … check ya later!
Since I work in law enforcement, I am surrounded by guys (and gals) who have cool stuff in their cubicles and on their persons. Their belts are amazing - almost like Batman, with handcuffs, gun holster, flashlight, keys of all kinds, etc. They have pants with about 50 pockets. I never thought anyone needed that many pockets, but when you’re a cop you do.
I enjoy perusing the sites where you can get tactical gear. I love the tactical pants. My husband, a gun owner who likes to go shooting at the range, would love a vest I am sure. It is very cool stuff. And father’s day is coming - time to go shopping!
I have another bridal set to work on - necklace and earrings only. Just sent the invoice and once she has paid, I will order the supplies I need (she wants pure white instead of the cream rose pearls - I have a plethora of cream rose in all sizes; I only have a few pure white in 10mm, which are too large for what she wants), and then begin work.
This set will be different from the previous ones in style - she wants a simpler look to go with her really lovely dress. Pictures to come when I’ve got it done.
So I’m thinking that I should learn some new skills to increase my repertoire in bridal jewelry. Simple stringing is working well for me, but it might behoove me to learn harder things to increase my marketability to the bridal market. There is a small part of me that doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed into doing bridal jewelry almost exclusively, so I hesitate a bit. But I do like working with brides to come up with the accessories they desire for their big day.
I’m back from vacation. We heart Disney World. The highlight was watching my 16 month old son on his feet in excitement at the Playhouse Disney show at Hollywood Studios - swaying, stamping his feet, and clapping along with Winnie the Pooh and Friends, the Little Einsteins, and Mickey and Co.
And then the next day he got a sweet kiss on the forehead from Princess Aurora at breakfast.
And then we drove home.
Regular blogging to resume when I can get my brain back in gear.
