New Beginnings

I've always seen New Years as a time for self reflection rather than celebration. I guess that is my introvert coming out, or staying in. We were going to go to Columbia this morning to see some friends and stay the night up there. Mike and I both were up late feeling miserable for different reasons. He had to help his Mom change a tire yesterday in the cold and wore himself out while still just on day 3 of the stomach bug and I ate too rich of a dinner for my tender stomach to handle. So we ended up canceling and here I am. I will probably post later this evening with some rambling reflections but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you celebrate or not whatever is most appropriate for you.

I love this print from mdsdesigns. It really reflects how I see the start of a new year. Time to look at things and think about change while still a happy and free time.

Entrecard Ads

I haven't been dropping as much this week since my home modem is so much slower than my work one. By not as much that means I've been averaging 100 a day rather than the 300 I usually get during my lunch hour at work. I was explaining the dropping system to someone this week and they said that is sounded too much like work to them. For some reason I find the dropping process soothing and I enjoy checking in daily on so many of the crafty and other blogs I've discovered through entrecard.

I've found that most people get an average of 20 or so clicks by advertising on my blog whereas I seem to get fewer than that on other people's blogs. I am having someone make a new button for me to use on entrecard and possible Project wonderful ads since I know the one I have is not all that clickable. I am really not a graphics person at all and the person I had make my banner for me seems to be out of business. Today was a banner day since I had advertised on Art by Paul Baines and received almost 100 clicks from his blog, the most I've ever gotten from an ad. Top Cat Creations got almost the same number of clicks through to her blog, the most anyone's ever gotten from my widget. I try to advertise on at least 15 widgets a week. Here is the widgets I've got the most bang for my entrecard point bucks in the last month:

Widget shown on	# of clicks
Art By Paul Baines	95
Contrariwise Jewelry	61
Thyme2dream	58
Jenny Karlsson Design	43
my beautiful creations	20
Steam Powered Rings	14
Alteredevents	12

Let me know how your entrecard experience compares!

To Fringe or Not To Fringe?

Some of you may have noticed the little poll on the right corner inquiring about your deepest and most intimate feelings on fringe. Many of you may have never given a second thought to fringe but it is something I've been thinking about more than usual lately. My Uncle Jack got me started when he asked why I didn't put fringe on more of my scarves. Apple Jack, as he is affectionately known in our family, is one of my biggest fans and supporters both in life and my knitting business. He's brought me many sales from his co-workers at the funeral home he works at and he tells everyone who compliments his scarves where they can get one of their own. He told me that he gets the most compliments on his brown tweed scarf which he attributes to the fringe on it.

That got me thinking about why I haven't been doing as many fringed scarves lately. Honestly I don't really like the process of fringing much. When I finish a scarf I like to move on to the next project and stopping to do fringe annoys me for some reason. I like the way it looks in most cases and it adds a nice design element when I am using a plain or simple stitch on an inexpensive scarf. It also tends to photograph well and as I was reviewing my sold items I noticed that I have a higher number of fringed scarves sold in my early selling history. Some designs don't need it but I am really wondering how you feel about the necessity or look of fringe. Even if you have no strong feelings I'd like to know that.

I'll probably be doing a number of polls in the coming months as I research what designs to focus on for the coming year. They are quick and painless and will take far less time than reading this post about the fascinating topic of fringe. I know I always stop to do whatever poll is being featured in the blogs I read just to help a fellow blogger out whether it is something I care a lot about or not.

Under My tree

I was obviously a very good girl this year and wanted to share my haul with you. I gave my husband a wish list of jewelry on Etsy and for the first time ever he chose the most expensive item on the list. I actually put it in there thinking that there was no way he would get if for me but I thought it was stunning. It is the gorgeous necklace above from MAKUstudio. She also sent along some lovely raku beads I can't wait to use and a fun magnet. She has a whole range of items some surprisingly affordable and some downright decadent.

Mike's family tends to go the safe route so I had the pleasure of spending my gift certificate to yarn.com this morning which was great fun. I bought some things I normally wouldn't be able to afford without any guilt, not to mention they are having one hell of a year end blow out sale. I got some non wool fibers in my traditional bright colors since I've had a number of people let me know that they have wool allergies but would like a unique scarflette of their own. I'm particularly looking forward to working with a soft linen that is normally $24 which I snagged in 2 colors for $9.99 a piece.

My Uncle Jack got me book one in Barbara Walker's treasury of knitting patterns. This really is the premier work and the one all others use as a foundation. You will never find it discounted, not even on Amazon, which discounts everything, trust me I've tried. Even used they will rarely knock more than $2 off. It's that good. I've been devouring it as much as I can when I haven't been asleep the past few days.

My Mom got me some clothes, including a gorgeous red cabled jacket from Coldwater Creek, which will be great fun to wear. All in all I'm very happy with my "take" and I hope you all got something to make your day.

I promise to have some real content coming soon, including a post on picture taking that I've been thinking about the past few days.

Handmade Holidays

As I've discussed in earlier posts I spent a lot of time working on trades for family members this year and shopping on Etsy. Most of these handmade gifts were received well and were appreciated. For some reason I didn't have my camera handy for most of the festivities. I stole a few pics from my sister in laws flickr page but I've got nothing from my family. My mother in law really liked the custom portrait of everyone's favorite poodle from beccasophie. And Kai really liked his Day of the Dead shirt and i-pod holder made from ties that I got at the Big Ass show. Anh loved her scarf and wristcuff I made her and the pink skull pouch. Her comment was my favorite of the weekend when she opened it she said "You know me so well Aunt Paige". We spend a lot more one on one time with these kids so I would hope that I would be able to pick out what they like. My sister in law seemed to like her bag of handmade goodies also and her son Graham liked his handmade train crayons even more than the weird space creature I got him.

My sister's girls are not as open to original designs but I think that they enjoyed the variety of my gifts. They have a much more name brand mentality and when they got an American Girl Doll knock off instead of the real thing this year there was some grumbling. I really try to show them that to be one of a kind is better than being just like everybody else but they are growing up in the West County world and they only see me so often.

Little Typhoid Savannah gave the gift of a nasty stomach bug to everyone in the family so Mike and I have been in bed the past few days and feeling incredibly miserable. I'm starting to feel a bit better so hopefully it won't ruin the rest of my time off.

Season's Greetings

I just wanted to wish a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate since I will be pretty busy the rest of the week. Today is my last day of work until Jan. 5. One of the great perks of the community college, we get lots of holiday time. We'll be celebrating with Mike's family tomorrow. They are total pagans and celebrate on Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning we'll head to the farm to be with my fam. Not all of my siblings will be there but it will still be a nice little gathering. So however you celebrate I hope you have a few moments of peace this holiday season. I love the holiday card above from LaurieCoyleDesigns. It says perfectly what my wish for all of you is!

Blog Love

I'm seriously dragging this morning and damn is it cold out, but I got a nice pick me up when I discovered I'd been tagged not once but twice with the Blog Love Award. KAT over at Candles Crafts and Whatnot put it nicely when she called the award "stunning. It really is a very well designed and thoughtful award and I'm thrilled to be recognized by my fellow bloggers and crafters. Simply Charming in SC is another blogger that I've discovered through Entrecard and it has been a joy to read all about her crafting adventures in SC. Blogging really has opened up a lot more doors for me and I'm so glad to know that there are others out there going through the same things I am.

There doesn't appear to be any rules associated with this award so I'm just going to share the Blog Love with a few other blogs that I highly recommend you check out:

1. Kala Pohl Studio
2. My Art and the Mom in Me
3. Contrariwise Ramblings
4. Rose Works Jewelry
5. Jealousy Design
6. Simply Shiny
7. Success Bound