Sunday, December 30, 2007

Spring Cleaning in December Part 2!!

This is part 2 to my post a few entries ago.....

While I am not completey finished with my spring cleaning in december, I do think that it is as good as it is going to get for now without spending anymore money on new furniture or organizational accessories that is. It actually didn't take very long to get it all done, maybe 3-4 hours with about 90 minutes of help from my hubby to move the furniture around!


Here are the finished pictures!!





EtsyFriends



Well as part of aNew Year's Resolution, I am trying to get more active on Etsy!! I want to help promote Etsy and in turn promote my shop therefore hopefully increasing my exposure and sales in the upcoming year!!!

So in order to do that I have joined an Etsy team called, EtsyFriends!! The team will be in full swing after the first of the year!! This group is made of some great crafters and I am honored to be a part of it!!!

If you are interested in joining check out this announcement:

Thank you for your interest in EtsyFriends!
http://team.etsy.com/profilest/etsyfriends.shtml
EtsyFriends is a new Etsy Street team made up of members from all over. Our shops sell a variety of items.
If you would like to become a member, please make sure you have the time and effort to put into this team to make it a big success! That means help with promoting, participating in our contests and helping with our charity store.
Each member will be asked to hand make at least one item per month (more if you would like) to add to our Charity store.
http://www.etsyfriendscharity.etsy.com
100% of proceeds go to our Charity of the month.
Blog: http://etsyfriends.blogspot.com/
Please add us as a myspace friend
http://www.myspace.com/etsyfriends use the email: etsyfriends [!at] yahoo.com
Here are the groups to join
http://www.flickr.com/groups/etsyfriends/
http://groups.google.com/group/etsyfriends
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EtsyFriends/

Please put the tag "etsyfriends" in all of your listings.
In your shop announcement please put "Proud to be an EtsyFriends Member"

If you need business cards or other promos for your shop, use this link for 25% off. (do not accept the free trial)
http://www.vistaprint.com/frf?frf=199907637934
Every order made though this link will add $2 towards new business cards and other promo items for EtsyFriends.

If you decide EtsyFriends is the team for you please fill out this form and reply with it in a Convo to CraftyMamaMia.
Name:
Email: (we will send you an email invite to view our google calendar of events)
Etsy Store Link: (Please make sure you sell handmade items, not just supplies)
Blog: (do you have a blog for your shop?)
Any other links: (such as a myspace or website)
Address: (to send EtsyFriends Business cards to)

We update our member list with Etsy once a week, please be patient.

Thank you,
Amanda
a.k.a. CraftyMamaMia

P.S. We will not start our contests and promos until Jan 1. Our staff would like to get through the holidays first. When you get an invite to our calendar, check in frequently.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Holiday Week

Well I have had the entire week off from work and I had high hopes for getting lots of things done this week but I can report that I didn't get a fraction of what I wanted to get done. Although I did get to hang out with my husband's mom and bake up a storm and then I spent the rest of the week hanging out with my best friend while she was in town from New York for the holiday!!! We went shopping the day after Christmas, saw P.S. I love you, setup my new sewing machine so she could show me how to use it but we didnt get that far with it, it is still sitting on the dining room table and has not yet been used!

I have found a sewing class as this cute little fabric shop that I found when shopping for Candice's Christmas present. I am going to sign up for that and hopefully I will learn how to use it : )

I do still have the goal of getting all my craft stuff situated and my hubby promises to help me with that task!! We are going tomorrow to look for a new L shaped workspace to put in the spare bedroom to hold our desktop computer as well as give me a new workspace!! I will report back tomorrow to let you know what we find!!

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Holiday or should I say After Holiday Traditions...

Well I am sitting her waiting for Candice and Debbie to meet me so that we can partake in our 2nd annual shop til we drop followed by dinner and a movie!!! Every year my best friend comes back down to florida to visit for about a week and last year we decided that the three of us (her mom-my 2nd mom, Candice, and I) would go out and brave the crowds the day after Christmas to spend gift cards and get all the good after-christmas sales!!! Then we finish the day off with dinner and going to see a movie!

We had so much fun doing this last year that we have decided to make it a new after holiday tradition!! This year we decided that we would be a little more organized instead of driving all around multiple towns and counties lol, so we wrote a list of all the stores that we wanted to go to today so that we could make a plan of attack for the day!!!

I am getting very hungry and need some fuel before we get started so I sure hope that they remembered the cinnamon rolls and tea like they were supposed to remember : )

Well I will post an updated blog about our adventures either later tonight or tomorrow!!!

I hope everyone has a great day!!!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!!!

Well it has been a very long day but I wanted to post a short blog for everyone to enjoy! Here is a slideshow of pictures from dinner tonight at my sister's house...Enjoy!!! I hope that everyone had a merry christmas and a happy holiday!!!



Monday, December 24, 2007

Cute Kitties

Well I promised more information on Cute Kitties, so as I bake a pumpkine pie, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies I am multitasking so here it is....

Cute Kitties does not currently have a website but here is her catalog, and you can contact her at cutekitties4u@hotmail.com to place an order!!!





Saturday, December 22, 2007

My Pledge to buy Handmade in 2007!!

Well I pledged to buy handmade this year and while I was not able to buy or give everyone handmade gifts, I did buy a few! I bought my boss/ my best friends mom/my second mom this amazing bracelet and earring set that was created by Silverliningdesigns6. Unfortunately I wrapped it before I was able to take a picture of it for my blog so I will have to take a picture of them at a later date to show off on here!!

I also bought the cutest dachshund earrings from Silverliningdesigns6 for my mother-in-law!



I normally bake cookies and other pastries for my family that I do not see on the holidays but this year I decided to send handmade soap by Kopah. I sent each of them a 5 piece selection of gift size soaps!!! I hope that they all enjoy them!!






I also sent my best friends daughter a handmade FSU cat made by Cute Kitties. As soon as I get her website I will post it on here for everyone to take a look at! Unfortunately I mailed that gift before I had the idea to write this blog!!! I know I am slacking a bit on the pictures this time around!!

I hope to be able to buy more handmade gifts next year!!!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Spring Cleaning....In December!!!

So Kopah asked me today if I had given up on my blog and I promise I haven't although I know it has been a little while since I have written! So tonight when I got home from work I came up with an idea to write about!!!

As I was flying home from New York on Friday night, I was writing myself a To Do List and I decided that I was also going to write a To Do List for household projects that I wanted to get done over the next couple of months. I got inspired last night when I was putting laundry away and began work on my first project, going through all of my clothes, shoes, and handbags so that I could donate things that I was no longer using. So I was able to fill up 4 bags full of stuff!!! My bedroom looks much cleaner now---although it still needs to be dusted hehe!! I promise I will get around to that one day!!

So tonight I wanted to start work on Project #2, which was straightening up the garage so that I could get my second workstation better organized. I forgot to take a before picture but I have included an after picture! This is phase one of this project, Phase #2 is moving my scrapbook work space into my spare bedroom as I am tired of looking at my dining room and it being a disaster area not to mention that my husband and I have to eat dinner at the coffee table every night because I also have the entire dining room table covered in finished projects and miscellaneous craft supplies. But in order to do this I must clean up the spare bedroom and pack up all of my books and loose pictures so that the bookshelves can come out and the new craft setup can go in. I have included the before pictures of the spare bedroom and my dining room, so that you guys can be impressed when I show you the end result : )






Thursday, December 6, 2007

Tagged!

Well I have been tagged by Kopah so here goes:

I’m to share seven random/weird facts about myself, post the rules, and then tag seven other people.

Seven Random/Weird Facts about Melissa:

1. TV is my vice, I always complain that I am too busy and never have enough time to do things but I always seen to find time to watch my shows. Even if its weeks later---I love my DVR!!
2. My favorite color is purple.
3. Although I am a girl, I still love a great violent movie lol!! As cheesy as it sounds I grew up watching Jean Claude Van Dam and Steven Seagal movies with my dad! And yes they are still making new movies lol!
4. I finished my masters in Oct 2007 and looking back it seems that I went to school for 21 years with only one 6 month break between my bachelors and masters degree (not including summer vacation of course)!
5.I love anything pumpkin- candles, donuts, bread, muffins : )
6.I have never broken a bone (fingers crossed)!!
7.When I was in younger I was one of those nerds who loved getting all new school supplies for the new year and getting everything organized for the first day of school :) I still have the office supply addiction!!



The rules:
Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

My 7 tags:

1.WendiWinn
2.Bonghi Vestiti
3.Thank God for Naptime
4.Crafts from the Heart
5.Adventures In Sewing
6.MelissaKate
7.Miranda Girl Designs