At Least We Didn't Have to Go to the Emergency Room

This was the first year since we were married that we spent Thanksgiving without family. It was just my husband, our 4 year old son, our 15 month old son and myself. It was quiet and nice. My husband made beer braised shoulder pork, potato gratan, acorn squash and finished it off with a sinful creme brule. That is until dinner almost didn't happen.

While the pork was cooking, the baby was napping, I was putzing around and my husband and oldest were outside playing. At some point my son got a rock. No big deal. Dirt is his best friend. A while later I am upstairs and I hear there is a rock up his nose. You read right UP HIS NOSE. I go downstairs to investigate. I look up there and see nothing. And like any good mom of a little boy, I stick my pinky up there and don't feel anything. I give him a tissue, tell him to blow really hard and tell him we got it. I'm thinking he had some dirt fly up there and it was irritating him.

As I'm walking away, I think to myself, this is MY son, he is 4, he's done some pretty strange things. Would he shove a rock so far up there I couldn't see it. YUP. So I go off in search of a flashlight. Sure enough, he has a rock shoved up his nose. Almost clear to his sinuses. After a couple fits of hystrical laughing and seeing my future with not one but two boy children, I go tell my husband that unless I can extract this thing that an ER trip my be in our iminent future. "I thought you said there wasn't one up there!" he said. "I needed a flashlight", I said. Boy, can his eyes get big.

I find a thin pair of tweezers and somehow convince my son that it's ok for mommy to try to get the rock. He didn't like me shoving the tweezers up there. The rock going up was ok. The tweezers weren't. Now, he's crying because the rock hurts. Mind you, he'd been walking around with it in his nose for maybe an hour before he told us about it. I try the tweezers one last time and he isn't having it. I see our Thanksgiving being spent in the ER with a laughing doc as he gets the rock out. And probably nasty cafeteria turkey.

By now, the kid is laughing and crying and producing truckloads of snot. We try one last trick. We get him to hang upside down and blow his nose really hard. And Woo Hooo!! He expels the rock.

Now, we have a great story to tell for years to come. I'm sure it will come up at his wedding. I've saved, blogged and called all the grandparents.

Maybe I need to take out an ad now.

So, I'm Done...

I had read a post from an etsian about renewing and keeping your item at the top of the pile and how that will promote sales. Well, renewing if you didn't have a new item to list. And, sometimes I don't, so I would renew. The last 4 weeks I ran my own little experiment. I listed new items up to 3 times a day or renewed if I didn't have a new item to list. So, you may ask, how were your sales? How much extra money did you make? Did you find that you were working extra hours, sleeping less, needing more coffee to keep up with your extra orders?

Nope

I sold one card. One. To a really nice woman also named Beth (funny, isn't it), whose daughter knows of my shop because she is an etisan. Does she know of my shop because of my experiment? That I do not know, but I wouldn't count on it.

So, my cards will settle to the bottom of the pile with the rest of the other card sellers who have already figured this out and I will continue to promote here and on twitter, flickr and if I ever get caught up on my facebook page (perish the thought), there too.

What Happens When You Give a Baby a Pierogi?

Obviously he uses it for hair gel.

And facial treatments.

But, there's always bath time.

Picnik for Photo Editing

Part of selling on Etsy is getting articles to your email about how to improve your business. One I received a few days ago was about a free on-line photo editing site called Picnik. Here you can edit your photos using such tools as exposure, resizing, editing, cropping and the like. For those of us, me included, that aren't quite up to par with photoshop, this is a great way to edit your photos.

I used to use picasa, mostly because it was free, associated with my google account and a great way to also house my pictures and send albums to the grandparents. One of my basic complaints, however with it was when I uploaded my photos back to my hard drive, it created a separate folder. For photo editing for Etsy that just got messy for me. With Picnik it replaces them. That is an aspect I very much like.

As you can see, the first picture is brighter than the second. The second picture was taken in front of a window, with secondary lighting and on a macro setting. Now that we are heading into winter, finding days with decent lighting are going to be hard. I can eventually buy or rig a light box, but that won't happen for some time. Picnik is my next best option. Considering that the above picture is the third card I have used the site with, I am happy with the results. I think as I use it, I will get better at it. But, as a third try, it isn't too shabby.

Elegance Treasury

On Etsy there is this thing called a treasury. It is much like a favorite list or an admired list. Someone puts it together and waits and waits for a treasury spot to open then submits theirs. I have had the honor of having one of my favorite cards put in by andreabaker. She did a great job putting such a pretty treasury together, didn't she? So, head on over to Etsy and give this treasury some love while it lasts.

The Place Is Lousy With 4 Year Olds!

This week I have been watching my girlfriend's almost 4 year old while she has been on jury duty. The times have been interesting to say the least. I have had my 4 year old, her daughter and a teething 15 month old. The conversation yesterday went like this with Lauren, her daughter:

Miss Beth, can we have some crayons?

Do you and Stasiu want to color?

No we want to run around.

With Crayons?

Yes.

NO!

She thinks on this for a minute.

Well, can we have markers?

The things these kids come up with.

Bring Home a Tree

Did my first ever craft fair this past Saturday and did a few new cards for it. I'm just getting to putting them up on etsy. Between a baby that is getting his molars at 15 months--go figure--, a girlfriend with jury duty in need of child care and a couple nights of very little sleep, I am running seriously behind. Not the best time of year to be behind, is it? But then again, you could probably say that at any time.

I like this card because of the little cars. They are just fun. It is a wheel from Stampin Up! and since I am a Demonstrator... Yeah, had to use it! This wheel is called Time for a Tree and you just roll and roll and you get different images. So you could keep doing different cards and unless you are seriously anal--which I do not have time to be--all your cards will be just a wee bit different.

So, enjoy the new card and if you like, hop on over to my shop and take a look at my other Christmas goodies. I will be posting more Christmas cards and I'm working on some packs and a new idea for next year.... I think it will be fun!

I Believe Christmas Card

I believe in Christmas. I believe in family, kids, the smells of trees, baking cookies, being together, making dinner, watching The Polar Express 65 million times with a 4 year old, wrapping presents at 12am, and everything else that comes with it. I like this card because it expresses all of that. I keep it blank inside so I can write long notes to those I like to do that with but stamp sentiments to those who I know just want pictures of the kids.

In my etsy shop I am doing something a bit different for Christmas. I am offering sentiment options. Buyers can opt to have all or some of their cards stamped on the inside with a Christmas sentiment either in black or a matching color. I think that will make it easier for a lot of the Christmas card buyers out there looking for choices. Below is a list of what I'm offering right now.

Off to make, glitter, emboss and stamp more cards!