Just Another Manic Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...

Well, I guess the weekends have been fairly good. Not today really.

There's something about Mercury retrograde that brings all kinds of problems with it. February has been absolutely the worst month I've had in a few years. First an abscessed tooth and following extraction. Then who knows, maybe all the changes to my body from chemicals, made me not as cautious. But I had a bad fall on the driveway.

I assumed it was ice, but I really wasn't paying attention. I had mail in my hands and I was looking around, and all of a sudden my foot flipped up, there was a loud "pop" and I was on the ground. It didn't feel good so I crawled on my hands and knees to the house and called 911. Fortunately my 16 year old grandson was visiting, so he helped me in and get ready.

My first ambulance at the new house. Apparently they had been there a lot for the previous tenant. Actually, in the past 5 years, I have only had the sniffles for a few days at the most. No other heath problems.

It was a very long day in the ER, but to make a long story short, my fibula (ankle) was fractured. On
top of that, I was so hypertensive (high blood pressure) that they were freaking out and made me have all kinds of tests would not let me leave till My BP was down.

I guess my ankle could have been a lot worse, I've heard horror stories. Looks like if it doesn't get displaced, I'll have a cast. I'll know for certain next week. I was happy, but now I hear it's actually a shorter recovery with surgery. Who knows.

I was in a great mood considering, but apparently vicodin can make you feel depressed. I don't like that. I'm going to tough it out if I can and just take some at night to sleep pain free. Apparently pain makes the healing go faster anyhow. I'm all for fast healing.

As you may know I have no car either, although I wouldn't be able to drive it right now anyhow. My daughter's family and my cousins have been helping and I have another friend who will be there too. I really didn't feel too bad about this till I did some reading.  Maybe next reading I do, I'll wait till I'm off the vicodin.

Economy - Changing Your Perception

The goal of Marketing is to make you believe that you really need something. It would be unfair of me to say that I don't try to persuade you, that you need my lovely flowers. I don't do a very good job at it though. Maybe I don't sell my flowers much, because I truly believe that they are a luxury and not a necessity. (See akaCINDERS over there --->)

I was watching a commercial for a NuWave oven and thinking to myself, that that monstrosity that we have taking up half our kitchen is a totally unnecessary thing. We have the tiniest kitchen, and we could use more storage. If we had a cupboard, with a counter top oven and electric range, we would have more room, and more counter top. OK, maybe you can't cook a large turkey in it, but I've cooked them out on the grill in the middle of winter before, and they're great. The perception is that you NEED an oven with 4 burners to feed a family. We NEVER use more than one burner at a time. Do you?

Now lets look at your house. How much does it cost to heat your house in the winter (cool in the summer)? Look at your family all sitting together watching TV. How much space is there around them, and between them and the TV? Is all that space necessary. The bigger the gap between them and the TV, the bigger the screen needs to be. Now look at the TV, hold your hands about 15 inches away from your face and frame your TV. How big is that?

I usually watch shows on my laptop. We have a tiny house with a 36" HDMI. My laptop screen at viewing range is 4 times the size of the TV. I usually watch TV on a teeny tiny portable TV. Last night the boy wasn't in the room and I thought, what a great thing, I can watch on the big bedroom TV. As I was watching I did this measuring thing. The big TV at it's distance was half the viewing size of my teeny TV when I watch it.

I realize that some of these suggestions are impractical for a larger family. You can't all sit around a laptop, but you can consider a smaller, not larger house if you are buying. They are easier to maintain and cheaper to climate control. And you can use a smaller TV.

Consider alternatives to your kitchen, or bath to make them more economical and spacious. And my very favorite, hang your laundry and fluff in the dryer to soften. You can even do this in the house in the winter. After all, you have all that extra space.

My point is, that we've all been brainwashed to think that we NEED certain things. We need extra space and a larger TV and a large capacity dryer and a smooth cook top range and the biggest fastest newest car. It's not that I don't think that if you have the money, you don't need to spend it to help the economy. It's just that if you don't have the money, you should check your perception of what you're actually using and need. Then you'll have enough money to come to my new shop and buy my lovely flowers.

Puppies are a PITA

Remember when we got the puppy? She was 7 weeks old. Just a cute teeny thing. If you've seen my posts about her peeing on the floor and teething on our arms, you probably wonder what all the fuss is about. She was such a cute little thing.

Here's the thing, puppy's grow and they don't realize just how big they are. Yes this is the same boy, and this is the same puppy three short long months later. And when she pees, it's a flood, and when she nibbles on your arm with her razor sharp puppy teeth, or jumps on you to play with her monster paws, she isn't really cute anymore.

Actually I still think she's cute, but that's because I'm the only one in the house she listens too. I'm working on her again. I was very busy the past few months and didn't pay enough attention to her. As a matter of fact I'm pleased to say she did not pee in the house for the first time yesterday. I'm hoping it's a trend not a fluke.

Anyhow, I just thought you might like the to see the pictures of the tiny pup. She's not done growing, so if we don't ship her back to the pound for bad behavior, I'll post more pics later.

Indie Seller Tips - Refreshing Your Shop

I've been looking around at some shops lately and I see that for the past 4 years some of you have been selling the exact same merchandise. Many of you have improved and changed. But it's a very competitive market out there. If you're selling the same thing as you had in the past, or you're selling the same thing as 1000 other shops, why should people come to yours.

I've also found that my felt flowers, no matter how lovely, do not sell well on Artfire. I am going to revise my offerings at akaCINDERS. I will still have a limited flower section, but I just can't live off of the very few customers I have that love them. This is busy season, so I need to focus on other things, and work on it later.







I have focused heavily on PoppysGardenGate, which is my bread and butter. I have added several new items this year and it's paying off. Some I dreaded adding, but turns out they weren't so bad and fairly easy to make, like the new purse that is doing very well after only two short weeks online.

 I've added bow ties, and I'll be adding men's neckties soon. Not looking forward to that one either. I have even started to design my own fabrics on Spoonflower and I will continue to make more original fabrics as soon as I have free time.


I'm trying to be competitive, and it's working. I'm looking for trends and meeting buyers needs. That's what we need to do.


 Be flexible, even if you're old and set in your ways. If you're not satisfied with how your business is doing, take a good long look at it. Take a look at your competition. Is there anything you can do to make your business successful?

What's Cooking - Sweet Hot Pepper Jelly

I really can't believe I never posted this recipe. It's one of my favorites. For some reason, I love it in the winter, maybe it's the bright green color. It's wonderful on simple saltine or water crackers that are spread with cream cheese and then a drop of the jelly. The flavor will change a bit depending what hot peppers you use.

The original recipe calls for jalapeno, but there are so many yummy hot peppers that I leave it up to you and your personal temperature likes. If you have no hot pepper experience, jalapeno is a good choice.

If you have no hot pepper experience, DON'T touch the peppers with your bare hands when cutting. The hot stuff will get in your skin and stay there a long time. Rubbing your eyes or nose with those hands can be quite painful for a long time.

I prefer also to mix in metal, glass, or ceramic, as absorbent plastic and acrylic hold the heat for a while too.  A jar of this jelly is also a very welcome and inexpensive gift.


Sweet Hot Pepper Jelly

1 ¾ cup Ground Green Peppers
¼ cup Ground Hot Peppers
1 cup Cider Vinegar
5 cups Sugar
1 - 6 oz bottle liquid fruit pectin
green food coloring

Combine ground peppers, sugar and vinegar in a 5 – 6 quart kettle. Stir over high heat to dissolve sugar and boil 4 minutes at a rapid boil. Remove from heat. Cool one minute. Add liquid pectin and food color. Pour into jelly glasses and seal in 1/8 inch paraffin or hot water process as directed.

Goals and Tiny Houses - Setting and Keeping

Love this little cottage - click pic for more info

When I make goals, I do it in a big way. When the kids were little, I wanted to go back to school. I did  (even though it took me 11 years to graduate). In High School, I wanted to go to school in France, I did (Summer abroad in college). I wanted to become an artist/designer (from a very early age, maybe about 5) and I did. I wanted to travel around the world, and got to do that with my career. I've also started reading again, something I've wanted to do for years and made easy with my kindle.

It's really been about 5 years since I've had goals. I went through a period of depression when I lost my job, and decided I didn't want that life anymore. I really had decided it, before I lost the job. I hated working for the type of arrogant jerks that my business forced me to. It does seem, however, that working freelance, makes them a bit easier to work with. I recently returned to freelance and I get paid cash plus commission. I also have my online craft stores, as many of you already know.

There are still a few places I'd like to travel to. And when I can work AND collect retirement, I plan to do a lot of traveling. That will be soon. I will live meagerly so that I can travel, because my retirement will not be too great. Maybe my freelance income will pick up too. You never know.

I recently have set a new goal, but I'm not sure how I can accomplish it but I will figure it out. I want to build myself a tiny house, pretty much by myself. The issue is not so much the building of the house. I can do that pretty easily if I can do it fairly soon, before my old body gives out. The issue is finding a small lot, close enough to a city that will allow the building of a tiny, off the grid house.

Most cities have a minimum square foot limit, and I'm not even sure a trailer park will allow you to build something without wheels. There are small lots here, but our county will only allow a certain size lot for septic and well. They don't have provisions for composting toilet or water cistern, which I plan to use. I also hope to use minimal electricity via solar panels and maybe corn pellet heating. I'd also like to use as much scrap/junkyard material as possible.

This one is portable and has a porch - click pic for info

It's a dream, I'm not sure will come to fruition, but I won't give up on it. I would really love to design and build a house all by myself (cept maybe a little heavy lifting, like the tub. I built a big shed mostly by myself with one hand (the other was broken). I raised the walls myself with levers. The house I plan on building is not much more complicated than the shed. I can do wiring and plumbing too. Of course if you want to come and cheer me on, you're more than welcome.

Resources tinyhouseblog.com  - tumbleweedhouses.com 

Life Without Etsy - Nearly Two Years Later

It's been nearly 2 years since My daughter Poppy and I were unceremoniously removed from the ranks as Etsy Sellers. Can you believe it? Well she had her shops shut down a bit earlier than mine, and she did brazenly open other shops and sold under different names until they found her and shut her down. Her offense? Mistaken reports of copyright infringement. You can read more in my post Etsy Shop Closings

First Poppy was mad, and rightfully so. She has been with Etsy since the early years, promoted it, and earned her living there. They were not even remotely kind or willing to listen. She wasted a lot of energy, trying to work things out, or break their system. She had already opened an Artfire shop, but back then, Artfire was just a startup, and not working the way it does today.

One day I suggested she go back to eBay, where she started. Statistically eBay as far more traffic than Etsy, so I thought it worth a try. Poppy knew that only her genre clothes would sell there, and sell they did. Sadly, she eventually had to give up her very popular Longstockings and beautiful designer clothing, but she found a niche on eBay with genre clothing and cosplay. After time, her business on Artfire grew nicely too.

This year, in this poor economy, Poppy will be earning close to double the money she made on Etsy. It took a lot of work and re-imaging, but she is a success once again. It really can be done. For those of you who think Etsy is the Sun and the Earth, take a step back from your computer and breathe the real air.

There are many sellers who have left Etsy for their own websites, craft shows, brick and mortar shops, and other online venues, with great success! I know this, because I've done it myself. I had to re-image too, but between my eBay store, websites, and Artfire stores, I've made a living too.

You can visit us at our websites. Poppy's is poppyswickedgarden.com
Mine are akacinders.com and poppysgardengate.com
They will all link you right through to our Artfire shops. We use the websites as a gateway to our shops. Artfire is great for this, because you don't need to be a member to buy, so it's just like having an online shop. And if we decide to switch venues, it's just as easy to do it this way.

Life on Mars - Labor Day

Who doesn't like a little time off work. Well, if you're like me, there is no such thing as time off. I've been working on a new design. A purse. And if all goes well, I'll be selling them in my Poppy's Garden Gate shop. And it looks like they're going well. So exciting! Making me think I might be able to make that messenger bag I've been talking about. Here's a sketch of the new purse.


It's even cuter in person. It's a REAL purse with inner pocket, zipper top, and adjustable strap.

Hard to believe I'm actually doing this. I thought it would be so hard, but, turns out it's not so hard after all.

That's the kind of thing I do on holiday's and weekends. (thus the name LABOR day)

Things have been very quiet in our neighborhood lately. I'm beginning to think there is something seriously wrong. But if it's good luck and peace and quiet, I'll take the seriously wrong.

This weekend was Doctor Who premier and marathon. The 9 year old and I watched and ate fish fingers and custard. I LOVE the new Doctor Who. After watching the old ones for so many years, I even went to conventions with my kids and met Jon Pertwee and Sylvester McCoy (3 and 7), this new version is such a blast. I love all 3 of the newest Doctors dearly.

And there is the annual dinner next door with the neighbor's high school friends on Sunday. Spaghetti this year. Great way to celebrate Labor Day, spaghetti with meatballs, meatballs the size of baseballs no less. And did I tell you how much the bees like spaghetti? Well, at least we have Monday for a real picnic.

Life on Mars - End of Summer 2012

I am so sorry that I haven't been posting here so much this Summer. Believe me, it's not that Summer was without our usual events. As a matter of fact, it was so bizarre and eventful, I really didn't feel like sharing. Twisted relationships, police visits, arrests, fights, crying, wild kids, sad deaths in the family. Too many full moons, alcohol and Mercury retrograde. I must say that it was the most stressful Summer I can remember and I was literally a bystander to it all. Most of my stress was from the bounce effect.

That's all I have to say about this summer. One good thing was that before Summer hit, I had some of the best sales I've had in years. And I bought a used kindle and a few cheap and free books, so I started reading again. I really, really didn't care for the Hunger Games Trilogy. Hate me if you will, but I really didn't like the message it sent to the youth it was geared to. I can't even begin to point out how many flaws there were in that story, and leaving the heroine weak and depressed was not where I would have lead the reader. I've read more positive stories about survivors of Hiroshima.

I'm reading Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 now. Started out so boring, but I'm really engrossed halfway through. I love the voice he writes in. Reminds me a bit of J. D. Salinger. I plan on catching up with a lot of classic literature I missed out on, because I had trouble reading in the past. I have 60 books waiting on my kindle now and I watch for deals. The next book is a semi fictional book about Pearl S. Buck. I really want to get The Good Earth, but have to wait until I get better sales to afford it. I'm fascinated with China and her people and want to read more about it's past.

There were good times too. Out of town visitors were fun. Time spent with family, visits to the zoo and Art Museum, and the weather, although hot, was pretty nice this year. We had a booming crop of tomatoes thanks to my intent work on the garden this year. Every penny put in was worth it.

One good thing I can say about this Summer is that things have been so crazy busy here that the woman next door didn't attack the little shed and pull everything out on the lawn like she has every summer before. I think she's been too busy chasing around her adult boys who keep getting in trouble. That and the fact that they finally have a car and she can just get away from the house when things get stressful. I've just been going for walks. Stress has been better for my health in the long run. Arms are stronger from lifting a heavy baby and cardiovascular health is better from the long uphill walks.

I Want to be a Writer

I've wanted to be a writer for some time now. It's not like I haven't done enough things in my life that I need to be successful at something else.

Maybe because of the ADD, I really seem to like variety. I do a thing for maybe 5 to 7 years and then I get bored with it. I can't imagine ever doing the same thing for my whole life. So not me!

So I'd like to write, maybe a book. But what do I write about? How do I compete with all the other with all the other writers out there? There are so many writers, what do I write and how do I complete? I'm obviously not that great at competing in the handmade jewelry business. I am however, fairly decent in residential lighting design, as there are very few of those by comparison, but I've been doing that for 17 years on and off.

Maybe I need to do a little research and compare book subjects. I can pick a seldom used topic. There, that's it. Or maybe I could just spam away on twitter like others I get followed by do. Follow and drop, there, that's the ticket.

Or maybe I should just join a convent. I've never done that before. Are there convents for agnostics?

Life on Mars - Business as UNusual

At the beginning of this year I wrote a blog about spending Four Months trying to increase my sales of my handmade jewelry and doing some freelance design work because I really didn't enjoy making the Aprons and Bow ties as much as I liked making the jewelry and designing.

It's really the sewing thing. I have to cut fabric on the floor and it hurts my aging hips and knees, and I have a hard time actually seeing what I'm sewing. Meaning I have to wear reading glasses to sew, then I can't see anything else when I look away. It's kind of a pain.

I guess I have to wear them to make jewelry too, but I just need to complain. It's who I am.

Well I did increase business in my jewelry shop a bit, by reviewing my product and making some serious changes. Mostly I added reasonably priced brooches and have sold a lot of those and some large orders too. But still, that shop income is nothing to make a living at.

As for my design career, I'm sure the small commissions I get will be good, and it is fun, but I'm not willing to give up my freedom at the moment, to go at it full time, and that's where the money really is.

I have however, found that opening up a real store on eBay has found me the income I really needed, through my Aprons, Bow Ties and Pillowcases. Yes, the thing I really didn't want to do. By opening a store, and a facebook page and more promotions, I've nearly doubled my sales from last year. However, that does include better jewelry sales, and freelance design commission, no matter how small those are.

I've resigned myself to sewing. I've even accepted it as my lot in life at this moment in time. I'll still keep my jewelry shop open, and work on new merchandise for a time, but my main focus right now is income. And after all, those designs are cute too. Now I need to finally design those messenger bags I've been wanting to make. And maybe, just maybe, I'll add some jewelry to my eBay store.

Best Garden Ever

One would think that with as little space as I have to work with, I might do better with my garden. Someone keeps threatening to move. Not until after harvest PLEASE, because I finally got things to produce in this lousy piece of soil.

Just look at the lush green. OK, so maybe the turnip and radishes have a few holes in the leaves, but mostly it's perfection. I've actually eaten some of the onion green, some radishes and a tiny pepper that had a dead spot on it. I cut the bad part off and removed it to not affect the whole plant. I think it was from the scorching hot sun the past few days.

Not that the garden is perfect, something ate my cucumbers, and my lettuce and carrots. The rows between the turnips, radishes and beans are a bit wider than planned. And OMG the tomatoes are so much bigger than I had imagined they would get. I am so eager to pick those puppies.

See my little row of herbs. Some are in pots, but most of them are in collars sunk into the ground to keep them from spreading. In front of the basil (out of view) is oregano, parsley, and a pathetic globe basil that I will never try again. The cilantro grew from last years seed I replanted in the pot. It's fabulous. The mint is growing like mad.  I "borrowed" some from the gardens down at the lake. This is the second year for the oregano too.

I decided to do this with the herbs after my DD's MIL kept weeding them out of our front beds. She apparently can't recognize leaf shapes, or the smell of herbs on her hands.

The line around the garden, isn't really a fence, it's more of a trip wire. Actually it's a line of demarcation, in hopes that the same family won't mow over the plants, or put the lawn furniture on them when they mow. So not kidding about that one. You should have heard me scream when I found our wagon on my budding onion sprouts. 


The overall view of the garden. The buckets in front are full of potatoes. When they are ready, you just dump them over and voila, No digging. Behind the potatoes are in order, onions, beans, radishes, turnips, tomatoes, patty pan squash and in pots at the back, green and jalapeno peppers.


 A row of corn runs down the side and there'a a huge squash type plant I didn't seed, at the back of the garden. I think it might have been Halloween pumpkin compost overflow. We'll see when it starts to produce. 

Oh how I hope that I can keep the garden this lush and harvest more than a few green tomatoes this year. The corn is fast growing, but I don't have much time to get it knee high by the Fourth of July. I plan on it being a fence to keep unwanted visitors out. 




As for the tomatoes. Here is a sweet baby, just waiting to grow and be enjoyed. isn't he a cutie?

Life on Mars - A Week Abbreviated

I didn't post last week, because I was sick. I need to catch up with life so I'm giving you the abbreviated version of the week.

No ambulance or police visits, but MIL did get out of the Hospital, seems she was really sick last time.

Kids and Animals really do go crazy during the full moon.

Even if you throw the damn cat out the door for a few days he will still find a way to pee on the new carpet.

Cats with muddy paws will find their way onto the new sofa even if it's covered.

I know why God gave us fingernails, and, that She did intend for us to invent the sharp kitchen knife.

The human sinus can hold an absolutely astounding amount. My brain must be smaller than I thought it was.

I don't care enough about you all to blog when I feel lousy.

I can get hooked on Downton Abbey too.

Cars do not heal themselves. Damn things!

Giveaway Winner!!!

Not sure, this will get to the winner by Valentines Day, But I will try, because the winner lives in Spain. Congratulations Pili, You are the winner. Sorry to all the other entrants, but keep an eye on this blog because you may get a chance to have a great gift certificate on my blog.

What Evah! - Websites and Whatnots

I still have lots to do. Bathroom and all. That's almost done. Hopefully this week I'll get the trim up and I'll post some new pictures. But with all the orders finished and packed, I'm getting bored.

I had this brilliant idea. I need to sell my Jewelry in Brick and Mortar shops. So how do I do that. I can't walk all over the country. I also want to focus on shops that will appreciate my eco-friendly flowers. So I'm starting by designing a Web Site. I started with the cool one from Weebly. If you don't have a site yet, they have free ones and the pay ones are pretty reasonable too. The thing I really like about it is that it is so EASY to set up it's sic.

I got the free one for now, I'm still working on it but I like where I'm going. Something good to work on to keep me busy on the slow days between Christmas and New years, before Valentine sales. If you're interested use this link http://www.weebly.com/link/UDhLfS to start yours. You will get a free month of their pro service when you use the link (I'll get one too, thank you)

When I'm done with my website. I'll be sending samples of my flower jewelry to various stores, first in my home town, then around the country. I think, garden societies, floral designers, and health food/naturalist shops will be great places to start. I'm only offering items that I can produce at a reasonable price so that they can be marked up for the retailer. I think I'll have to make some new designs too. Maybe with other recycled materials like glass.

So what is a whatnot? Merriam Webster "any of various other things that might also be mentioned" Word of the Day! Now back to the Bathroom trim and whatnot.

Life on Mars - Babies and Holidays

Another Hectic week. Luna is still settling in and I've forgotten how to handle a babe. Well it has been 8 years since Poppy had her last. So this week I grabbed Luna from Poppy to help her out and sat right down in a plate of leftover Riggie Sauce. Had to hand her back to change my clothes.

Tried to put up some Christmas decorations. Had such a horrible winter last year that most of the lights were ice damaged. It happened so suddenly that there was nothing we could do about it. Heavy Snow melting from roof froze. Our Penguins were one big block of ice, but I was able to save them - until sometime this fall.

The Penguins were under the porch in plastic bags. I looked and looked, but only one bag. I swear there were two. Maybe I was wrong. Nope only 2 penguins holding the letters O and Y. No J penguin. Looks like Poppy's FIL thought one of the bags was garbage and threw it out with the recycling. Not too angry, just kind of sad, I set out the two penguins and was resolved to have a Hanukkah display, spelling Oy! instead of Joy.

Then I had a brilliant Idea. We had Candy Cane path lights. I took one and hung it upside down in front of the O and Y Penguins. And this is what it looks like.

Not the Greatest Picture. But you get the idea. I didn't feel like setting up the manual settings, so I shot on auto. What's that saying? Desperation  FrankZappa Necessity is the Mother of Invention?

No one will dampen my Christmas Spirit I say! Can't wait to see what Thanksgiving has in store for us.

Life on Mars - Getting Acclimated to The Surface of Mars

WOW! I never thought I would be getting so used to it here on Mars. But I am. Maybe that's because as surrealistically as things got bad, things are getting better.

Not that there isn't still some crazy sh-t going on here. Like this week when Someone came to our door screaming at the top of her lungs that "THE DAMN WATER SOFTENER IS UNPLUGGED! MY DAMN HAIR IS FLAME RED! IT'S FLAME RED!!!" Poppy hates when I keep repeating that, but she wasn't here to hear it, and now it's permanently scarred in my psyche. BTW her hair is not even tinged red and the softener (for the well for both houses which is in our teeny house and not their BIG house) was plugged in and full of salt. She just saw the extra bags her DH bought sitting outside our door and freaks. She even made her 66 year old DH with artificial knees crawl under our TV to make sure it was plugged in, even though I assured them both that it cycles in the middle of the night EVERY night while I'm TRYING to sleep.

I've even gotten used to the kittens dancing on me at night. I found that if I cover myself with a thick blanket, their little claws don't dig into me so deeply. Thank goodness it's getting cooler out, or I would continue to be full of little tiny claw marks.

Now onto the Good. Last week we finally got our new (used) Dryer in the house, and yesterday I got it all hooked up. Mind you, I love to save by line drying, but a last minute towel fluff in the dryer, or a quick dry for blankets is so nice. And line drying baby diapers is not so wonderful. This was a donated dryer that is Huge and Powerful and economical and not that old. The former owner just wanted an upgrade to a fancier one. OMG this thing dries so fast and has the best lint catcher. Not to bore you, but it's almost like we have money again. Actually this dryer is the nicest one I ever had. <3 <3 <3

Although I never found the parts to the crib Poppy bought, I did find parts on line. Yay! We are going to try the hardware store first, then if not, I'll buy online. We should have a month and a half left, I hope.

Poppy is selling like mad, costumes! We are both picking up sales very nicely on Artfire and may eventually be able to get off of eBay. That would be so nice, because our fees there are ridiculous.

MORE GOOD NEWS and this is the best one. My DS FINALLY got a letter from the Government that his Disability has been approved. He has to call to get more details as he got the letter late Friday. But this is just wonderful news. He should be able to get his surgery soon.

So you see, the surface of Mars can be a little hot to walk on, and the gravity, makes it a little hard to stay in one place, but all things considered, it's a tolerable place to live.

Bizz Buzz - Relevancy of Adtuitive

“…I found out it is not what happens, it is how you tell it and who does the telling.” 
― Nancy Willard

I promised to give you all the information I could find on all the Etsy changes and what the heck relevancy does Adtuitive have. Because I have been permabanned (like permamuted, but with a blocked IP address, and yes they really did) from Etsy I can only give you information and links I have found on the internet, but I'll do what I can. 


You, of course can find all the information Etsy has to share about relevancy (slim to none), but what do others have to say about it? I love ecommercebytes.com because they have the latest info on all top seller sites. Here is a Great post on the Why of relevancy Etsy Pulls Trigger on Relevancy Search


There are so many tips on relevancy that I just can't list them all here. EVERYTHINGETSY has some good ones. Here are more great tips from Brittany's Best. You can search Etsy Relevancy for more great tips.


I can tell you though, that relevancy is pretty direct, logical and intuitive. ARTFIRE uses it, and it took me some time to get the Etsy brianwash out and us it. For instance, go to Bing or Google shopping and search Black Eyed Susan Jewelry. Look at what you find. It's my necklace at Artfire. 


Relevancy is simple. Look at what you are selling, It's not a Midnight Amanda Parabola. who the hell is going to look for that? Etsy Trend colors terms will only get you other sellers (but might get you in Treasuries or Finds. I guess Etsy is going to have to watch what they preach if they want  peapod to only pull up pea pods and not every shade of light green.


I also found that although Handmade Jewelry or Sterling Silver may be the most searched terms via Google Analytics, there is too much competition for that out there. You would get better results from Blue Stone or Orange Flowered Hat. If it's a shoe, call it a shoe, but whatever you do don't use the term RED HAT, because you'll get saturated with competition for that Red Hat society, unless that's what you're selling.


So what does all this have to do with Adtuitive? Here is what EcommerceBytes has to say about that. Etsy is not divulging much information on it's Adtuitive information, other than that they have hired 5 "Etsy simpatico Geeks" to work on it and probably integrate with their "Showcase". 


As relevancy trumps recency in search results, the money they were making from your frequent $.20 relisting fees will be vanishing like the popularity of the moustache festooned mugs. And as Google and Bing shopping search results don't bring outsiders to Etsy, I would venture to guess that the new Adtuitive in combination with Etsy Showcase will. Hold on to your wallets guys, Etsy is not through raping you yet. So enjoy the break while you can, because while you are all struggling to get found, I'm picking up sales like mad at my Artfire shop.

Update - Life without Etsy

Well it happened again, another shop suspended. Etsy did one of their sneak attacks Friday at the end of the Day and suspended the shop of a seller, without any warning. This is a seller whose sole income is that of her Etsy shop. These are the cruel people you work under and support. Etsy shuts down shops on Friday at the end of the day, because no one is there on the weekend to answer your emails or calls. I know because it happened to me.

Type in my old address and this is what you get akacinders.etsy.com

So how is life without Etsy? I just had to compile my finances for the past 5 months. I was on Etsy in January, sales very good, then I was booted off on February 11th. It was very hard for me to look at that month. While I was trying to negotiate with Etsy, and trying to figure out what to do, I had NO sales for 2 weeks. I was misty eyed as I filled out the financial statements.

Then in March when I decided to get back on the horse and fight, I started making sales again. I really love Artfire, and my shops had sales, but the traffic is still not as good as Etsy. Although I didn't want to, I went back to eBay too. I spent weeks trying to figure out my niche there. I made some sales, but it was 1/4 of what I made in January.

April got a little better, some Artfire Sales and a new Product on eBay that was selling. Still not as much as I was making last year on Etsy.

May, now there was a month. But mostly it was due to hours of blogging work and exposure from a blogged item. Now if only I can get more people to blog my work, life could be rosy. My sales in May were actually higher than my Sales at Etsy last year. But we will see how that goes when I'm not freshly blogged.

By the way, I am selling my Genre Aprons and Clutches. My Jewelry suffered terribly and I was just getting off the ground with it on Etsy. Very disheartening, as it was to My daughter Poppy when she got her shops shut down too.

So even though it was a struggle, there is life without Etsy. If you ever get yourself into the same predicament, please feel free to contact me HERE and I'll help you get through it.

May 17 Giveaway - 6 Months Ad Space

Does this look familiar? Well this one is even Better. 6 months of Ad Space. Look barleecreations won and she already has her ad posted. Click on it and go right to her shop.

Remember to follow the basic rules posted HERE. And your task will be to do something nice for a stranger and post what you did in the comments. Crazy right? I'm just that kind of girl. Go to someones shop and Tweet of FB comment about how much you like what they have. Look at a blog you've never read and leave a nice comment, or even buy something from a new seller.
And remember. You MUST follow this blog to win.

Good Luck and Congrats to Thursday's Winner

Due to the Big Blogger snafu (that was Blogger Down for over a day) and the fact that they lost all of Thursday's posts, I had to delay the contest and announcements. The winner of the May 12th Gardening Set is Laura.

I will be announcing Friday's giveaway and Monday's giveaway winners Wednesday and I think we will just about be caught up as long as Blogger doesn't have another breakdown.