Thank you

Thank you to Undefined Village of Frederick, MD for including my Chestnut Hill Tote in this CREST treasury! Stop by her shop to see her fine art photos and prints. If you go NOW you'll find out about her Cyber Monday sale!

Milestones

TODAY:
***I sent out my first email newsletter for Maggie Sue Designs. Now I'll sit back and hope that I don't have many people unsubscribe...
***I crossed the 500 "Hearts" mark on Etsy, 501 people now call my shop a favorite. THANK YOU!
FUTURE:
***I am hoping to have at least 250 sales from my Etsy shop by the end of this year. I'm at 246 right now. I have a lot of great bags made up for the craft show this weekend; if there are any left I'll list them in my shop and maybe that will help me reach my mark.

What milestones have you recently reached? Goals planned for the New Year?

EDITED 11/30 at 9 pm:
As of today I've reached 255 sales. And those numbers include shoppers who may have bought more than one item (Today someone bought 6 different things from the shop).
HOORAY!

Friday Favorites

After an afternoon in the cold air searching for the perfect Christmas tree, we are back at home for some R&R. A cup of hot chocolate would be perfect right now. With whipped cream on top.

But since I'm too worn out to make it, I'll just enjoy these related items instead:

A pair of polka dot mugs from JD Wolfe PotterySome Amaretto Hot Chocolate mix from the Teton Cocoa Company

And this Hot Chocolate Lip Balm from Miapella Organics

Get FREE SHIPPING with a purchase of $10 or more at Maggie Sue Designs! Offer good on shipping to the US and Canada for purchases made between Friday at 12:01am Eastern time and Monday at 11:59pm Pacific time.

I'm Thankful

Wednesday Welcome: Peaceblossom Candles

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to Peaceblossom Candles in Oregon. They are not just candle makers, they are beekeepers as well. Each candle is poured by hand. In the shop you'll find organic pure beeswax candles in tapers, pillars and in many detailed novelty designs. You can even work with them to create a durable, heatproof silicone mold so they can produce custom candles for your business, or you can purchase the mold for your own use.

Here are some of my favorites from their shop:

Not only are they nice to look at, they are healthy to burn. Burning 100% pure beeswax is good for you and your home. No scents have been used in these candles nor are there any chemicals, paper or metals in the wicks. Therefore they are ideal for those with allergies and/or multiple chemical sensitivity.

The Capital Region Etsy Street Team (CREST) is holding a Black Friday/Cyber Monday CREST promotion. Particiating stores are listed below, each one has contributed an item for a Gift Box, which will be given away through a random drawing. Several stores are also offering discounts; including my shop, Maggie Sue Designs, where you'll get FREE SHIPPING to the US and Canada on any purchase totalling $10 or more. Offer starts Friday at 12:01am Eastern time and ends Monday at 11:59pm Pacific time. To enter the CREST contest you must post a comment on the CREST blog along with your name and email address. The winner will be announced on the afternoon of Friday, December 5th.
This holiday season, MALL is a four-letter word~ so buy handmade, support your local artists, and give a one-of-a-kind gift!

Participating Stores
Athena's Olive Tree Gift Box Contribution:Layered Candy Cane Soap Bar. Discount Offer: I've placed 42 items on sale and will be giving away a free item to a random person who purchased from my shop in the month of November... and I'll be giving 5% off any order placed ON black friday! Ends Midnight EST.
babus Gift Box Contribution: I am offering up one of my wet-felted wool scrap yarn balls. Multicolored ball about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Discount Offer: I am offering free shipping on all items.
Bella Tote Gift Box Contribution: an attractive reusable tote!
Bette's Bags Gift Box Contribution: Small fabric wallet or credit card holder. Discount Offer: Free Shipping
DearSophie Gift Box Contribution: I am offering up a pair of new jade and sterling silver earrings. Valued at $8. Discount Offer: free gift wrapping on all items, free shipping on orders over $30. Early bird special: Make it a gift set! Limited number of free earrings with the purchase of a necklace.
Designs by Erin Gift Box Contribution: 2 knitted bangle bracelets: 1 light green & white cotton yarn, and 1 baby blue acrylic and blue Lion's Brand Homespun yarn.
Elizabethan Creations Gift Box Contribution: Set of 4 yo-yo coasters in blue. Discount Offer: 20% of everything in shop.
French Roast Gift Box Contribution: a pendant (value $15) Discount Offer: free shipping to the US (discounts overseas)
Generations Tie Dye Gift Box Contribution: A 12"x60" hand-dyed blue and gray silk scarf.
herban lifestyle™ Gift Box Contribution: organic holiday cookie sugar scrub. Discount Offer: 20% off all items in my store.
Jellybug Artworks Gift Box Contribution: a fused glass pendant. Discount Offer: $5 off on every $25 spent at my shop with free shipping on orders of $50 or more.
jetsy Gift Box Contribution: a small redecorated spice tin ("Warm Fuzzies") that the recipient can fill with glitter, bath salts, powder, or tea, spices, etc.
Katie's Kritters Gift Box Contribution: a duo of Christmas pins, Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Mishutka Design Studio Gift Box Contribution: Victorian Pink Rose Tags (Set of 6) Delicate roses and lovely pink ribbons are perfect together in these Victorian style gift tags. Delightful vintage tags to decorate your gifts! Or use them for scrapbooking and as bookmarks.
mloartwear Gift Box Contribution: Original upcycled bookmark and an original watercolor Christmas theme card. Discount Offer: Free shipping.
oblinaknit Gift Box Contribution: On The Go Pouch - A cute little japanese fabric pouch to stash you stuff! Discount Offer: 15% all items in my shop.
Silver Dot Jewelry Designs Gift Box Contribution: Crystal Rose Necklace A faceted rock crystal quartz briolette is accented with a lovely rose gold vermeil charm and suspended from sterling silver chain. Necklace length will be made to customer specifications. Necklace retails for $33.50 Discount Offer: BOGO Sale - Buy One item and get lower priced or equal value item at 50% off.
Shelby B's Designs Sale: 10% off all sales, and a free stitch marker to match your yarn purchase! Gift box: Skein of worsted weight yarn, in colors of the winners choice!
Undefined Village Sale: Buy one get one 1/2 off all prints 8x10 or larger. Gift Box: 5x7 photographic print, matted and signed.
Wild Honeysuckle Creations Gift Box Contribution: A pendant or ornament.

NEW: Daily Etsy

Check out Daily Etsy, where you can find free stuff daily! This blog is new as of today and already there are some great banners to choose from. Planning a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale? Pick up a free banner from Daily Etsy!
Creator Samantha Bird is the owner of Nest In Bloom Designs where you can find wonderful crocheted neckwear and also some jewelry. You can read her blog here.

I Won!

Thank you to Jen of Issue Girl for offering an earring giveaway~ I was one of the winners of a pair of Cosmos earrings. They are made out of spiraled wire cages with lever-back hooks and each has a light purple faceted glass bead inside. Jen's blog is a fun one to read and who knows, maybe you'll be her next winner!And look at the great packaging they arrived in!

Friday Favorites

Things That Make Me Laugh!

Recipe card sets of 10 or 20 available from NotMoira. She's not Moira, she's Amy. These would be perfect for me since I'm not a great cook. I find it hard to keep track of what is enjoyable vs. what is just edible.

Handpainted primitive wood sign by The Homespun Raven. Can be made in your choice of colors with no additional cost. New Issues? I already have plenty that are still current. (Don't we all ?!)

This card by Heather of HA! Designs says "Chocolate: It's cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment." I think it is time for my session right now...

What makes you laugh late on a Friday night?

Wednesday Welcome: Crazy Daizy Fiber Arts

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to Crazy Daizy Fiber Arts in Maryland. This shop carries a variety of wool items made using needle felting and wet felting. The artist uses found objects such as shells and beads in her work which adds even more interest to each unique piece.

If I were a choker-wearing kind of person, I'd choose this Sage Green choker:

This next piece, called "Breathe", is meant to be framed and/or hung up:

Or maybe you'd prefer this violet necklace:

Whatever you choose, get your shopping list ready! This shop is offering a FREE GIFT with purchase this weekend (November 22nd and 23rd). See the shop announcement for details.

Craft Show Shopping

It is a nice treat when I get to attend a craft show as a relaxed shopper rather than a busy vendor. It is even nicer to meet people from Etsy that I didn't know prior to that day. On Saturday I was drawn to a vendor's very pretty booth and there I met Julie of EAB Designs.

Although she describes herself as being new to Etsy, she started her company 10 years ago. In addition to these pretty frames, her shop also carries journals, albums, and magnets. Have a look at just a few of the pretty frames she makes:

Just Added

The "Quote of the Day" feature I just added can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

What IS That Smell ?!?!

For the past few weeks, there has been a strange and unpleasant odor in one spot of our home. It occurs on and off with no obvious pattern. It is near a bathroom, but is not coming from the sink or toilet. The shower drain could be the source but I can't be sure. Last time I smelled it I thought it was the drain, so I used baking soda and vinegar to freshen it which seemed to work. But now it is back. That shower is never used since it is on the main (non-bedroom) level of the house. We do have a septic system, but it seems to be working just fine and besides, when that has backed up in the past it was a different (worse) smell and came up through the drain in our basement. This smell is just in that one spot on the main level.
The curious thing is that sometimes the smell seems to be coming from the air intake vent right next to the bathroom that smells. Do you think maybe something died in the wall and I'm just getting the occasional whiff of decomposing rodent? There are mice all around us outside in the woods but our two cats keep them out of the house (or at least we've never seen signs of them in here). Any ideas? It needs to go away soon, I'm getting more and more grossed out just sitting in the next room from it. YUCKO!

Friday Favorites

There are just so many things I really like that it is hard to narrow it down each week.

Today's pick is vintage key necklaces. But not just a key on a chain, I like the ones that have charms and other bits of "flair" along with them. Here are just a few of the MANY great key necklaces I found on Etsy:

Live Simply Boro Glass Lampwork Beaded Vintage Skeleton Key Necklace by Venbead from Rhode Island

Return To Me... Vintage Assemblage Necklace by OhMyGypsySoul from Michigan

Enchanted Forest Necklace by mylavaliere from Chicago

There were many, many more that I really liked but I just couldn't put them all here. Do you own or covet a favorite key necklace? I think I need to get one...

A Treasury for Thursday

It is has been raining here all day. No sun at all. Very dreary. Hard not to doze off. So I made a colorful treasury to cheer myself up!

Wednesday Welcome: Alphabet Originals

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to Maureen at Alphabet Originals, located in New Jersey. The images used in her artwork are photos of letters of the alphabet as they appear in the real world, not altered or flipped in any way. How cool is it to spell words with actual images?!? All of her works are able to be custom made with your own word; what a great idea for a personalized gift! I've just added this shop to my favorites list and now you have the chance to do the same. Here are two examples of Maureen's work:

I Think I'm In Love

We were just introduced last evening.

By mid-day today I had made a commitment.

I think I'm in love with Project Wonderful. I've been trying to get by with word-of-mouth and free advertising up until this point, but I've been listening to the buzz about PW for months now and I finally took the plunge. So far so good!

I owe a big THANK YOU to Timothy at http://timothyadamdesigns.etsy.com/ who is very generous with sharing information. Not only does he create amazing metal jewelry, sculptures, furniture, and more; he seems genuinely interested in helping others improve their businesses. His presence on Twitter, Scoutle, and Etsy among other places is reaching a lot of people like me who will benefit from his tutorials and advice.

When you are ready to fall in love (with good business advice) Check out Timothy's blog at http://timothyadamdesigns.blogspot.com/

In the meantime, fall in love with some of Timothy's metal creations:

Busy With Buttons

I've just finished scraping the last of the E-6000 glue off of my fingers, so now I can type a bit. Although I don't plan to put them in my etsy shop, I am making stacked button rings for an upcoming craft show. They're quick and easy to make and I think the fun color combinations will catch shoppers' eyes as they stop by my booth. Now I just need to choose which one to keep for myself!

Saturday Night Serenity

The kids are playing at a neighbor's house (thanks Dave), the husband is at Home Depot, and the cats and I are relaxing at home. I love the quiet! Not all the time, I'd miss my family, but once in a while I like to read and drink tea and hear my own thoughts. And not hear Spongebob. Or football on TV. Or the words "I'm hungry". Or "Mom/Honey where is my ...fill in the blank...?" C'mon people, if you threw your whatever it is onto the pile on your closet floor, then there is a really good chance that it is still there! Did you look before you asked me? Of course not. But hey, all three of them have their redeeming qualities as well; guess I'll keep 'em.

With all of this quiet around me, I worked on starting an e-mail newsletter and I made a new treasury list as well. Have a peek:

I hope you are all having a relaxing evening too, unless you're busy having FUN!

Friday Favorites

Collage artists are some very creative people. I am not one of them.
If I am faced with a blank piece of paper, it stays that way.
Happily, these artists do not have the same problem!

Free Is Good

I just found out about a blog called "Etsy Giveaways" that I want to let you know about. It is a blog to find current contests and giveaways that are etsy related and FREE to enter. How have I not discovered this before today!?! There are lots of great contests that are in process right now so go check it out. I'll be filling out entries for the rest of the afternoon...

Wednesday Welcome: MaryJeansThings

Each week I'm using Etsy's Pounce feature in order to discover new items "from undiscovered shops waiting for their first sale" as the Etsy site states. This week's welcome is extended to MaryJeansThings of Coral Springs, FL. Formerly an eBay power seller, she has now joined Etsy and has some great things to offer. The item in her shop that first caught my eye is a stack of folded origami boxes; they are so colorful! You may also be interested in a large gift set of magnets which come packaged in the wonderful boxes. Enjoy!

EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

I voted this morning and Dunkin' Donuts gave me a free coffee when I went to their store wearing my "I Voted" sticker. Thanks DD, your coffee is really good!

Go To Sleep!

I'm heading up to bed now instead of coming up with a creative blog post. It is 11:20 pm here. I need to get a good night's rest tonight so I can stay up late tomorrow night watching election results. And so do you, so Go To Sleep!

Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition

Main Entry: excess
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: overabundance of something
Synonyms: balance, by-product, enough, exorbitance, exuberance, fat, fulsomeness, glut, inundation, lavishness, leavings, leftover, luxuriance, overdose, overflow, overkill, overload, overmuch, overrun, oversupply, overweight, plenty, plethora, profusion, redundancy, refuse, remainder, residue, rest, spare, superabundance, supererogation, superfluity, surfeit, surplus, the limit, too much of a good thing, waste, wastefulness

Usually it is my belief that there is no such thing as "too much of a good thing" when it comes to chocolate. But I've recently had to re-think that idea. Halloween candy givers were very generous in our area this year. On Halloween night, our son went out trick-or-treating with a friend in a nearby neighborhood. My husband and I took our daughter to a local parade. Our neighbors and their daughter went with us and a good (and candy-filled) time was had by all. Last night our small neighborhood had a party followed by trick-or-treating on our two streets. Which was followed by another small party. FUN! But back to my point about EXCESS~ I think you'll get the idea from the following photo which shows the candy collected by only one of our two kids. I sense some heavy-duty tooth brushing in our future...

ETSY FINDS found me!

MaryMary of Etsy admin wrote an article for the Storque today that mentioned some of the many Etsy weekend sales~ and one of my zipper pouches was pictured! Here is the link to that article:
Etsy Finds: Weekend Deals November 1st and 2nd, 2008

I'm also sending a "thank you" out to Erzuli Mojo for including one of my bags in a CREST treasury list! This is the one she chose:

I also have a CREST treasury list right now: