Priorities and Time Management

I am this week's host for the EtsyBlogger's blog carnival. Here are the two topics I gave our team to write about: 1. How do you prioritize your time? How do you get more hours out of the day? 2. Are you a multi-tasker? Or do you prefer to finish one project before starting another? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I start each day with a to do list. I make my list at work that night so when I get home in the morning, I know exactly what I need/want to get accomplished for the day. Having a list and having priorities helps me stay on task! And I love crossing things off my list :) I try to get as much computer work done at work on my breaks as I can. The more I can get done before I get home means more time to create :) And now that I have my smart phone...I can read and comment on blogs anywhere I am! (Like waiting for Jesse to get out of Napa!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am a huge multi-tasker! I do as many things as I can at once! I love my laser machine because it works while I work :) I can be working on scrapbooks while it's cutting out guest books for me! How cool is that! Or I can be printing earring cards while I'm updating my blog! I also don't spend much time doing leisure things like reading or watching TV. Our TV is rarely on and I'm about 6 months behind on all my magazine subscriptions! I do spend time browsing the net, but I try to do this while I'm eating breakfast or lunch. (Yes, I eat all my meals at the computer!) One more way I can multi-task :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, share your tips with me! I'm always looking for ways to get more hours out of the day! It seems 24 just isn't enough :)

School Memories - Blog Carnival

Erika at Artful Rising and Little Andalucia is the host of this edition's EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival and she has Back To School on her mind!

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Here are this week's topics:

1. It is Back to School! Show off your back to school fashions, jewelry, supplies, gift ideas from your shop.

2. Share a memory from your school days.

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With the first day of school just starting up, this always reminds me of a tradition we had at our house. On the first day of every school year, my mom would take a picture of my brother and I ready to head to school :) We would hold up our fingers representing what grade we would be in.

My brother graduated 5 years ahead of me, so for my last few pictures...it's just me. This is my last school picture of my high school career. Here I am ready to start my Senior year!

What memories do yo have from school? Any traditions you'd like to share?

Featured EtsyBlogger - Tamdoll

I'm a little behind in getting this posted, but my congratulations go out to Tammy of Tamdoll nonetheless :) Congrats Tammy!!! Tammy is our Featured EtsyBlogger for the month of June!

What I love most about Tammy's shop is the beautiful variety she offers. Just take a look at these great finds:

Sherbert Necklace - Soft Fabric Beads with Shell Pearls - Gift Boxed - SALE

Lilac Oak Leaf Tiny Pin - Brooch of Wool Felt

Pink Confection Cuff Bracelet - Fabric Jewelry - OOAK

Here work is truly one-of-a-kinds and so fun! And she uses pink a lot too...which makes me love her shop even more :)

And of couse she's a blogger...check her out HERE!

What's your favorite item from Tammy's shop?

Blog Carnival - Summer Colors

This week's blog carnival is brought to us by...ME :) Here are my topics:

1. Summer is right around the corner!!! What are your favorite activities to do with your family during the summer months?

2. What colors remind you of summer? Have you been using these colors in your shop lately? Show us!

I just love all the bright, fun colors of summer! As you already know, pink/purple/aqua is my favorite color combo! These colors remind me of summer and cheer me up in winter months. Some other color combos that remind me of summer are yellow/orange and aqua/lime green. Yellow reminds me of the sun and aqua reminds me of swimming pools :)

What colors remind you of summer? Share your latest summery creation in the comments!

May's Featured EtsyBlogger

Beware...Doggy Cuteness Ahead!!!

This month's Featured EtsyBlogger is Nancy from NanjoDogz. Nancy has a shop full of super cute doggies in the form of polymer clay beads. Her work is amazing! And she gives them all "puppy dog eyes" making them so hard to resist! Her shop is like a walk through the pet shop...and you can bring them ALL home :)

Here are a few of my favorites...

Black Pomeranian Pandora Polymer Clay Dog Bead - Charm

(of course I'm going to show you the Pomeranian!!!)

Boston Terrier Polymer Clay Dog Plaque with Art Print

(How cool is this! Her doggy prints are just as cute as her beads)

And don't forget to stop by Nancy's blog to congratulate her and check out her latest cuties :)

Friday Features - Summer Lovin'

Well, right now it feels like summer is ages away here in Iowa! Rain, wind, cold...yikes! But luckily anytime I need a little dose of summer, I just click on over to Etsy for some Summer Lovin' :)

This week's features are brought to us by the EtsyBloggers Team and our weekly team treasury!

All items are click-able...so check 'em all out up close :)

Hope Summer is just around the corner!

Down Under and a Lesson

This week's Blog Carnival is brought to us by JAC-BER CREATIONS and she gives us options of talking about "Down Under". I have never had the opportunity to visit any countries in the southern hemisphere, but I have had the pleasure of shipping some of my items there. In fact, I had to learn a hard lesson recently about shipping to Australia! I received a rush order recently for an order to Australia. The buyer was willing to pay the extra for Express International shipping, so everything was set. The USPS website said it should arrive in 3-5 days, so it would get there in time. Apparently when it says 3-5 days, it really means 3 days to whenever they decide to delivery it. The item sat in customs for over 10 days! And then I was informed that in order to get guaranteed 3-5 days delivery, I would have had to mail it Global Express...which would have cost $90!!! So not only am I out my shipping cost, but my customer didn't get her item in time either! This was a hard lesson to learn, but now I am well aware of how International shipping works! And I know not to guarantee any international deliveries!

Luckily I had a great, understanding customer! She could tell from the tracking info that I had shipped it when I said I did and that it left the US within 3 days. She was very nice and understanding through the whole process and has finally received her item :) This may have been a hard lesson to learn, but I do love shipping International orders :) I love knowing that my items are traveling the world, even when I may not get to. Have you learned any lessons lately that you'd like to share?

Friday Features - LindaB

Today's Friday Features are brought to us today by our Featured EtsyBlogger of the Month...LindaB!!! Linda has been an EtsyBlogger member since November of 2008 and has been a wonderful supporter of fellow teammates!

On her blog each week she features several items from fellow artists and has readers vote for their favorite. She then features the winner in a separate posting of their own! Check out this week's poll HERE. And leave her a comment to have your item considered for next week's voting

And she has a beautiful Etsy shop as well! I love the variety of style, color and design that she offers. She literally has something for everyone! Here are my faves:

Pink Pantone 2011 Color Dahlia Cabochon Adjustable Ring

Astrological Sign Scrabble Tile Pendants

Pearl Beads Wire Wrapped Hairclips-Barrettes

Stop by her shop and find your favorite today!

Friday Features - Happy Earth Day

For today's features, I actually have an entire treasury for you! I created this treasury with all recycled/upcycled items from the EtsyBloggers Team! I love upcycled items as they keep trash out of our landfills and they each have such a unique story to them! No two upcycled items will ever be alike!

Happy Earth Day!

How I Unwind

Angela of Alice's Owl is our blog carnival host this week and one of her themes for us is Stress Awareness: April is Stress Awareness Month. How do you take time for self-care and help reduce stress in your life? Is there something you do each night? A practice that you do each morning? Something you do weekly or monthly? How does it melt the stress away for you? How does it make your body and mind feel? A great way to spread the awareness!

My favorite way to unwind and destress is with a nice hot bath and a cold glass of wine! I turn on the radio, read a magazine and just relax! I would love to have a hot tub, but I don't think I'd ever get anything accomplished! I'm so relaxed when I get out and I'm able to fall asleep right away :) I like to do this at least once a week. It's a great way to let my mind rest for a while and do nothing but relax!

You should try it sometime! And if you're not a wine drinker...hot chocolate is great too :) How do you relax?

Featured EtsyBlogger-MysticWynd

Congratulations to Karen of MysticWynd for being our Featured EtsyBlogger for March! Karen's shop is full of beautiful jewelry in every color you can imagine. I purchased a gorgeous Pink Ring from MysticWynd a while back and wear it all the time. I get so many complements each time I have it on! Here are a few other items I have on my wish list: ON SALE Blue Earrings - Czech Glass w Antiqued Brass - Grace Purple Rose Necklace w Pearl, and Glass Beads - Reverie in Indigo Pink Faux Pearls, Roses on Brass Necklace - Rosalyn

Diamonds-EtsyBloggers Carnival

This week's Blog Carnival is brought to us by Cindy of Devine Designs Jewelry and our topics are:

1. April birthstone: diamond- write about it's history, gem info, whether or not you like them, or if this is your birthstone! 2. April Fool's Day: Do you participate? Tell us about a joke you played on someone, or if one has been played on you. What do you think about this "day"? 3. What is your favorite gemstone and why?

Since my birthday is just around the corner in April, I decided to write about Diamonds :) I do love colored gemstones as I'm drawn to color! But my favorite piece of jewelry is the diamond ring Jesse got me over 10 years ago :)

On our first Christmas together, Jesse gave me the ring pictured above :) It was such a special gift and meant so much to me and our relationship! I put the ring on that night and I've worn it everyday since :) The ring means just as much to me today as it did on that Christmas night.

What is your most prized piece of jewelry?

Friday Features-Ready for Spring!

We just got hit yesterday with another snow storm here in Iowa! It wasn't too bad, but we had just gotten rid of the snow from our last storm! I'm really ready for Spring! Good thing Etsy has so many great flowery items to look at!!!

Pink Flower Lucite Earrings Antique Look

by twistedbeading

Five Matchbook Notepads - Pink Flowers

by zany

Pink Flower Triple Strand Necklace

by PaisleyZane

Wrinkled Satin hot pink Flower shoe clips

by finkshop

And I also created this Spring Treasury for the EtsyBloggers this week as well :)

Going Green-EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival

This week's EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival themes are brought to us by HoneyfromtheBee and our themes are:

1) St. Patrick's Day will be our next holiday. Write about any St. Patrick's Day traditions you have or memories... crafts.... food...

2) Thinking Green... write about what you're doing to make this a greener planet. This could be about your art or just around the house or at work.

I'm always trying to find ways to "go green" in my scrapbooking by using odds and ends from other projects to make something new. I just can't bare to throw away pretty papers and perfectly good scraps of chipboard! With my new laser cutter, I've found the perfect way to use part of my stash!!!

Chipboard Alphabets

I plan to make these in several different sizes and different fonts. I can even make custom requests from any font someone wants!

And for the larger pieces, Chipboard Words

Maybe this will help put a dent in my very large stash of chipboard :)

February's Featured EtsyBlogger

Diana is this month's Featured EtsyBlogger! She runs the shop Faerie Garden Fancies under the username bunnykissd. Congrats Diana!!!

What I love most about her shop is the variety of pretty items she has! Here are my faves:

Plaid Bunny Pin

Falling ACEO

Dark Marbled Dragonfly

Please stop by Her Blog and tell her Congrats!!!

Featured EtsyBlogger-The Art of Joy

TheArtofJoy...don't you just love the name! And the concept behind it :) Joy is our featured EtsyBlogger for the month of January! Of course her shop name has to do with her real name, but I also feel that her shop brings me joy when I look through it :) She has so many great printable options to be customized! And she even has freebie printables on her blog! Check out some of her goodies... Printable Stork Pink Theme Baby Shower Invitations or Announcements

2011 Printable Write In Kawaii Calendar with Stickers

Don't forget to keep a watch on Joy's Blog as she'll be introducing us to her newest "Bundle of Joy" soon! Any day now :)

Treasury Tuesday

Usually I post our team treasuries on Saturdays, but with Christmas (and no internet) I decided to wait til today to share our latest treasuries. I have three treasuries to share today!

Click on photos to see all the images up close.

EtsyBloggers: Winter by RandomCreative

Enjoy by fiveforty

Blog Away in Blue and Green by nanjodogz

Team Treasury Beauty

This week's beautiful Team Treasury is brought to us by HoneyFromTheBee!

She gives us lots of great gift ideas for all our best girls :)

Click on the photo to see all the great items up close!

Congrats to PruittHandCrafts

Linda of pruitthandcrafts is our featured EtsyBlogger for the month of December. Congrats Linda!!! Linda runs three shops on Etsy as well as a blog! And she stays just as busy in her home life...with 25 grandkids! Here are my favorites from each of Linda's shops: Cute Birdie Print Cup Cozy from pruitthandcrafts Rose Swarovski Bicone Flower Earrings from PruittDesign Pink and Yellow two inch yo yo's from PruittSupply And make sure you visit Her Blog to see what else she is up to. And give her a big congrats for being our featured EtsyBlogger :)

Treasury Time

Today I'd like to share two treasuries with you...one that I'm featured in and one that I created :)

Oksana of disheveledideas was kind enough to add my Pink and Red Glitter Notebook to her Whimsical Winter Treasury!

And I created this Gift Guide Treasury for the EtsyBloggers Team. Everything here is $25 or less! Perfect for gift giving...or a treat for yourself :)