A Treasured Gift

My grandma recently went through her whole house and cleaned and donated a bunch of stuff. In the process, she found some very special pieces of jewelry. One of which she saved for me! I was so honored to receive this ring! This was my great aunt's wedding ring! It is extra special to me because she was my aunt Edith :) She is the aunt I was named after and have always felt a great connection to. I did not know her well as she died when I was very young. But I will carry on her namesake...and now her wedding ring :) I couldn't believe my grandma was giving it to me! Even more, I couldn't believe that it fit like a charm! After giving it to me, my grandma asked if I wanted to put it back in the box. I said "No...I think I'll wear it". And it still sits upon my finger as I type this :) What a great treasure!

Wordless Wednesday - Camera Shy?

Real Wood Greeting Cards

I am so excited to finally get these super cute cards listed in my Etsy Shop!!! I've been working on them for a while now and am so happy with how they turned out!

Create your own free slideshow design

I've been making these for everyone I know and am so excited to offer them in custom options in my shop! Add your own personal message to each one :) These are all 1/8" thick so they really make a statement! And after the celebration...they can be put on display!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look for them in my shop...I'll be listing all week long :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Edited to say: I just listed three of these yesterday and I've already sold two!!!!! Time to relist!

Advertising/Marketing/Branding

I've been looking at different ways to advertise my shop and get my web address on all of my products. That way when I sell a product, it's like a little business card goes with every item :) Without my address right on the product, people may forget where they purchased the item and could easily lose my business card. Plus, if they give the item as a gift (which happens with my items quite often) they most likely won't pass along my business card. Here are some ways that I add my etsy addy to my products: *Stickers on the backs of my albums *Engrave my address on the backs of picture frames, plaques and other wood items *On any packaging I make, like my magnets shown below *At the least, I add a hang tag to items I'm not able to engrave on or add a sticker too. Like my wine glasses or champagne flutes Branding is also important when advertising your business. All of my tags (except my hang tags, which I still need to update!) match my business cards. They also match my blog and my etsy banner. I used to have my magnets on a large jelly roll pan for display. I recently decided to put my magnets in sets and add a card with them for advertising. Now my magnets have a little built in business card with them and they match all of my other cards and web sites. The stickers on the backs of my albums also match my business cards :) Put your web address and other information anywhere you can! Get your name out there! But remember to do this tactfully. Don't ever let your info take away from the product or distract from your product.

Treasury Times Two

Yay! It's treasury time!!! That means I was featured this week :) Not once, but twice!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks to Rose of RandomCreative for this Back to School Treasury

I am in love with THIS cuff from her shop!

And thanks to Demet for this Autumn Violet Treasury!

THIS pink flower brooch from her shop is just great!

Thanks so much ladies :) You made my week!!!

Friday Features - Back to School Etsy Style

As the kids start going back to school, it is time for us shop owners to start thinking about doing some studying as well. There is always something new we can learn! So get out your #2 pencil and start taking some notes. Etsy has some of the best guides for helping your online business! Etsy Guide Get Off The Internet and Market. Custom tips to promoting your shop off of the internet by ataglancegraphics (What I love best about this one: "You will not be getting a generic marketing guide. Your guide will be a customized, shop specific guide. I will look over your shop and work on marketing ideas that “fit” what you are selling.") Etsy Tax Guide - Your Etsy Tax Solution EBook by JJMFinance REDUCED RATE for 2 Guides - The Art of Photography AND The Art of Pricing pdf by EurekaGuides Social Media Marketing Success Guide for Etsy Ebook- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Blogging by SnazzieBusiness I wanted each of these guides to give you specific help instead of generic "success guides". This way you can work on a specific part of your shop each "term" this "school year" :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you used any of the guides on Etsy? Or else where on the web or in the library? Please share with us!

What's For Dinner?

Most of you know, I'm not usually one to share recipes. I'm no gourmet chef by any means! But when I run across a great, easy recipe that we love, I like to share it :)

I found this recipe in a magazine and had to dash to the grocery store to find this Philly Savory Garlic Cooking Creme! I love that there are very few ingredients and it all cooks right on the stove! (Great for summer when you don't want to start the oven!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are the ingredients:

*1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces *1/2 cup halved red pepper strips *1 pkg. (6 oz.)baby spinach leaves *1 tub (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme *2 cups hot cooked penne pasta *2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And you can find the entire recipe HERE.

I had no idea that I liked spinach! In fact I would have turned my nose up at it had I not used it in this recipe! I actually quite like it :) And I've used yellow peppers in place of the red ones as well. I don't usually bother with the pine nuts. That's what's great about this recipe...change it up/use what's on hand/add a few extras!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS...Do you say Supper or Dinner?

I usually say supper, but the title sounded better with dinner...LOL :)