Celebrating 4 years on Etsy

This Friday marks my four year anniversary of having a shop on Etsy, or as we Etsians like to say, my four year "Etsyversary". When I joined Etsy in 2006, I immediately fell in love with both the marketplace and the community. Although I haven't yet had thousands of sales like some other Etsy shop owners, I still consider my time on Etsy as a success. Etsy has inspired me and given me hope that one day I too will be able to fulfill my entrepreneurial dreams. I've learned a lot about myself, grown considerably since I discovered Etsy 4 years ago, and have made a lot of great friends along the way.

I've taken on a lot of side projects over the years, such as the EtsyKids Team and Modern Handmade Child, and I definitely want to continue those. But I also want to start focusing on my shop more again. Last year things got a little crazy, and I was not able to spend as much time creating new products and updating my Etsy shop as I would have liked. So this year, I'm going to make it more of a priority. I have a whole slew of ideas for projects just waiting to get made, and I can't wait to get started!

In order to make my shop a higher priority again, I'm going set aside a certain time each week that I will focus solely on creating. That means in that segment of time, I will not touch the computer, as it's far too easy to get distracted. I'm also going to start blogging more about what I'm working on, which will hopefully keep me motivated to really be working on something fabulous! So be on the look out for my new "Shop Talk Tuesday" posts. (My past "Toddler Tuesday" posts will be switching to "Mom Mondays"...after all, she won't be a toddler much longer!)

Snow!

The snow has arrived. We got a foot of it today, and little g was so excited to go out and play in it. After it stopped snowing, that is. She never wants to go outside when it's actually snowing, because she doesn't like the snow hitting her face. Such are the idiosyncrasies of a toddler.

After a good while of outdoor play, I told her it was time to go back inside. And of course her reply was "No, 2 more minutes!", which has been one of her favorite things to say for awhile now. So I give her 2 more minutes, then I tell her that "her 2 minutes is up", to which she now replies "No, 2 minutes is down!" I have to conceal my chuckles at her reply, while also wondering how anyone ever learns the English language. After all, that would seem a perfectly logical response!

Theme Thursday: Hearts of Maine

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, hearts are popping up everywhere! From soft wool hearts, to dainty metal hearts, and everything in between, there's surely a handmade heart out there for everyone! Here's some of my favorite hearts from the Etsy Maine Team:

Tiny Needle Felted Wool Hearts by Moon Dog Farm

Valentine's Day Vintage Style Wall Decor No. 2 by P's and Q's

Hammered Heart Earrings by Loving Anvil

Labor of Love Vessel by Kreatus


Brooch with Vintage Button and Heart by Quench Metal Works

Click here to see more beautiful hearts from the Etsy Maine Team!

Growing Up

Since my husband and I recently both had a few days off in a row, I decided to take some time to finally finish editing home videos and creating photo slide shows to make a dvd of my daughter's entire first year. It has been a lot of fun to look back on her early days, and makes me realize how grown up she is already. It seems that nearly everyday now she is reaching new milestones. It's hard to believe that only a year ago she was just learning to talk and communicate. Now she's telling us stories, talking about her day, and even attempting to boss us around!

While all these changes are very exciting, they can be overwhelming at times too. I think we've reached an age where she really finds in more enjoyable to go to daycare than to stay home with me. She definitely benefits not just from the activities at daycare, but also the social time with her friends too. It can be challenging to balance her needs with mine, and to squeeze everything into a day. Especially on a day like today, when I have a lot on my to do list, and she decides she does not need to nap. And it's often too cold these days to play outside for very long, so it's difficult for her to burn off all that extra energy she has. (I can only imagine how much I could do if I had half of the energy of a 2 year old!) Ah, the struggles of motherhood. Here's to hoping for a short winter!

Florist Friday: recovering from the holidays

Working at a florist can get a little crazy at certain times of the year. December is always a busy time for us, making holiday centerpieces, decorating for parties, and delivering poinsettias. Then January is usually pretty quiet and calm, which can be kind of a downer after the holidays, but it does at least give us a chance to rest up before the Valentine's Day rush hits. And it gives my dry, cracked, pitch-covered, holly-scraped hands a chance to heal just in time to be scraped up by all those rose thorns. Maybe this year we'll get lucky and get roses with very few thorns. We shall see.

In any case, this year we have 3 wedding shows to do in January/early February, so that should keep us busy. I love doing wedding shows, as they give me a chance to really be creative. Our first one is this weekend, so I should have some pics to share soon!

Theme Thursday: Carnations

January is here, and it's time to showcase the birth flower for this month, the Carnation. Carnations have been cultivated for over 2,000 years, and have a history rich in symbolism and mythology. Each color has a different meaning, red being admiration, white being innocence, and yellow being rejection, to name a few. Pink carnations are perhaps the most significant in that it is believed that they first sprouted up where the Virgin Mary had shed tears as Jesus carried his cross, and they are hold the meaning "I will never forget you" as well as a mother's unending love.

Carnation Organic Flower Ring by Royal Princess

Red and Pink Carnation Toddler Dress by De-De and Delores


Pink Carnation Baby Headband by Pois Doux


Hot Pink Carnations by Dumaop Shop

Flowers are Blooming Headband by Clementine's


Sweetness and Light Fine Art Print by Alice B. Gardens


PS: I know it's not quite Thursday yet, but I just snagged a treasury to featuring these carnations and more! Click here to view it. Expires Friday at 11:00am!

365 Declutter Challenge

As part of my New Year's resolution to simplify, I'm going to buckle down and focus on decluttering my home. Anyone who has seen my house knows that we have a lot of stuff. And now that we have a child, the stuff seems to be rapidly multiplying! The thought of trying to sort through all of the stuff in our house is pretty overwhelming. So I've decided to tackle it one day at a time, one piece of clutter at a time.

I had been thinking about starting a 365 Declutter Challenge for awhile, the idea being that each day you get rid of at least one piece of clutter. So that's at least 365 things that would be leaving my home over the course of a year. Yay! A couple weeks ago, I thought 'why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?', and started a 365 Declutter group on facebook, where each week I've been posting a different area of the home to work on decluttering. So if you want to declutter your home, feel free to come join us. If we stick with this for an entire year, doing a little bit each day, just think how nice our homes will be for the holidays next year!