My New Widget

OK, first of all, let us just take a moment to say the word "widget". Widget, widget, widget. You're smiling right? I know I am. And I know my friend Linda Butterfly is smiling. It's just one of those words!

So, my new widget is the purple playlist on the right. This is the coolest thing ever. It is possible that I think this because I am just beginning to emerge from a Little People and Wiggles induced haze; 3 years of listening to my daughter's music has me a little behind the times. Making this playlist has given me such a walk down memory lane, though, and I hope you will find something to enjoy as well :)

There are 25 songs on the list as of today. Click on any song to hear that song, and click at the bottom of the playlist to scroll the list. Let me know how you like my choices, and let me know if you have any trouble. Behold the new widget. Widget, widget, widget!!!

Etsyfriends Challenge on the FP!

My Etsyfriends Team has a new challenge activity for November. All team members who want to participate are to offer up their interpretation of "Thankful for Friends". Entries will be listed in shops and will be shown all together on the team blog. Entries are due Nov. 3rd, and voting details will follow. Anyone interested can vote, and there will be prizes offered for doing so. I will share more info as it gets closer.

So, I was especially thrilled for myself and my team when I heard that my entry and our contest got some good exposure this morning. My upcycled BFF (best friends forever) bowls were chosen for this beautiful treasury by utilemud, and that treasury made it to the front page of Etsy! I believe it was on the fp from about 6am-8am EST. So, a big thank you to utilemud for creating such a gorgeous collection, and to Nikki at KaleidoscopeKorner and Karen at BusyBeading for your congrats messages!

My New Goodies!

Prettifying my packages is important to me, as is incorporating my *brand* at every opportunity. While I enjoy putting my own creative touch on my wrapping, I also recognize when someone else can do something better than I can! Many of my item tags and stickers have been happily purchased from other Etsy sellers; I highly recommend promosinasnap, kjpatino, tudorhouse, and wildmagic for their excellent work, communication and customer service.

I am just jumping up and down with excitement about my latest purchase for my shop, though! These appreciation cards were designed and made just for me by Jessi at jessijewels.etsy.com. Every single thing about this transaction was pleasurable. Jessi kept me in the loop with what she was working on and happily made changes as we tweaked the details together. The end result is beautiful, and the attention to detail and professionalism displayed by this shopowner is superb. I enjoy just looking at these in my craft room, and writing a thank you message on them when I send out a package is pure heaven. I LOVE my cards and I LOVE jessijewels!

Unbelievable!

What started out as an otherwise not very good day in the Thoma house got substantially better toward late afternoon. Incredibly, I found myself on the front page of Etsy again. Twice in one week!! This time I have lobello.etsy.com to thank for the honor. I also have several very good friends to thank for their congrats convos which alerted me in the first place. Super big hugs to Ally at iheartthatdance.etsy.com, Sarah at GenuineArticle.etsy.com, Michele at sweetirie.etsy.com, and Jessi at jessijewels.etsy.com for the kind messages! It would be no fun at all to be on the front page and have no one to share it with :)

Build~A~Bowl Part II

And then there were two! I'm really making progress on Nikki's bowl now. Next step, onward and upward!

Lucky Me!

For anyone reading this who might not know, the treasury on Etsy is a wonderful place to find yourself! At any given time there are about 333-700+ collections of 12 items in the main treasury section. These groups of items are created by Etsy members. The more views and *clicks* a page gets, the more popular or "hot" it becomes.

Perhaps it is an urban legend, but the hotter a treasury collection is, the more likely it is to be picked by admin to become a front page treasury. In any case, having an item featured in a treasury is an honor. It means that someone out there liked one of your items (or pictures of an item) enough to choose to place it in their special group. Out of the hundreds of thousands of items on Etsy, that's a pretty big compliment!

If you are an Etsy seller with an item featured in a treasury, you see yourself there by noting a gold/yellow star beside the list. Sometimes you will be an alternate in a treasury, meaning that if one of the items in that collection sells, yours may take its place. Alternates are denoted by a silver/grey star.

There are lots of little tips and tricks to getting a treasury and making one, but being included in one is really just luck. I got lucky today, thanks to CottageInTheSun.Etsy.com. I love the way she has put my wombEE in the middle of all of this beautiful color; doesn't that baby look peaceful?

Build~A~Bowl Workshop

No, silly, I'm not going to give away all of my crocheted bowl secrets! I am, however, going to begin cataloging the progress I am making on a custom bowl for Nikki at KaleidoscopeKorner.Etsy.com. She requested an 8" lidded bowl to use in her family room as a project keeper. She has given me lots of *artistic license*, but the colors she wants are mainly red, black, and khaki.

My first step was to go fabric hunting- one of my favorite things to do in the world! I found some beautiful red flannel and a khaki/black plaid cotton sheet to start me off. I will make the top of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl exactly the same...whichever one is slightly larger will be the lid. The other will be the base. Scientific, huh?

Here is what I have so far :) Stay tuned, as I will post more pics as I proceed. There are a few other custom orders to fill, but this bowl will be the special creation that I come back to when I need "me" time. Nikki has also been gracious enough to give me no timeline whatsoever, so this is an absolutely pleasurable, no-pressure project!

I Nabbed A Treasury Today!

It doesn't happen for me often, but I was in the right place at the right time today! I built this treasury around the Luna Moth shown here, and had a wonderful time finding artists on Etsy's Interior Design Team that had elements that fit my theme. The IDT has been very good to me, and I'm thrilled to be able to give back in a small way.

A Fine How Do You Do

I logged in to Etsy two nights ago to find several "congrats" convos in my inbox! I was thrilled to see my nested bowls on the front page, and there they sat for a full hour. This was my 4th and longest front page appearance! What an incredible honor, and what a beautiful treasury...many thanks to katinkapinka for including me :)

It's taken me two days to figure out how to post this picture to my new blog, and I have a feeling this whole bloggy thing will be a slow process for me. Please bear with me as I learn, and check back often to view my progress!