Cathy's Creations Making it Personal

Goodbye~~~

2009-05-24T22:32:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to let anyone know who comes here that Blogspot has broken me down. I just have too many bugs since one of their earlier "updates" and it's almost impossible to post on here anymore :(

Anyway, I have moved to http://sagaofawahm.com Saga of a Work at Home Mom if you want to catch up with me.

And if you are a dog lover, check out http://bloggydoggies.com Bloggy Doggies

Love yall!

A Cure for Facial Tics

2009-03-04T23:39:00.004-05:00

I don't normally do site reviews but I just had to do this one as it covers something that is very close to my heart. The site is called Facial Tics , and the reason why I wanted to do it is because it offers a way to eliminate the facial tics some kids have.

I first noticed my son Ryan making some odd jerky motions with his head when he was about 2. Shortly after that, came the constant monotone hum and the weird blinking. I had no idea what was going on and thought I had a very strange child on my hands. It never occurred to me that it could be Tourette's Syndrome. I had heard of it before and had even seen several television dramas about it. But in those, the kids were always shouting out obscenities. Ryan made weird noises but he didn't say any words at all.

When Ryan was in Kindergarten, his teacher told me she thought he may have Tourette's and that I should have him checked out by a neurologist. So off we went to the doctor who told me that my sweet little son did indeed have Tourette's Syndrome. I was both relieved and upset. I was relieved because at least now I knew he just wasn't weird or crazy. I was worried about his future. I knew he would have a hard road in school. Kids can be very cruel and the strange tics were perfect fodder for school yard bullies.

The doctor said that they didn't like to medicate young children as the medication often caused serious side effects. They saved it for the extreme cases. Fortunately Ryan's was mild to moderate. The doctor did say that once Ryan started puberty, he could either get much better or much worse. Puberty seemed to bring on a change in the condition for some reason. I prayed that Ryan would be one of the lucky ones who would improve with adolescence.

In the meantime, we had at least 6 years of a hard childhood for my little boy. And it was rough at times. He did have friends who liked him despite his weird facial tics. But a lot of people including his own grandmother just didn't understand. She actually spanked him one time because she thought he was irritating her on purpose with his tics. How I wish I had come across the Facial Tics back then. It would have been a god-send.

I haven't tried the Facial Tics product so I can't attest to the effectiveness of it but just looking at the testimonials gives me hope for all the other families out there that struggle with the same thing we went through. They say they can help you eliminate your child's tics within 72 hours, safely, with no medication! And there is 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back.

If you have a child with tics, or know of one, you owe it to them to give Facial Tics a try. There's really nothing to lose and you could save your child years of trauma like my Ryan had to go through.

Gifts from Scrap Clay

2009-02-16T01:47:00.005-05:00

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This past year, I learned from the Make Mine Pink ladies that presentation and the little extras that you give customers were almost as important as the bought item itself. So for awhile, I bought little things to add to my packages.

I decided this year though to be more frugal and green. So I looked at the big tub of scrap clay and thought about what simple things I could do with it to make little gifts for my customers. I came up with simple shapes (hearts, dog bones, leaves, stars) from the marbled scrap clay, put magnets on the back of them and personalized them. Some came out prettier than others. It's a timely process. You have to condition the clay enough to get it smooth and flat, but not so much that it looks like mud. So after a few pass throughs threw the pasta machine, it's back to the scrap pile.

Below are some of the magnets I came up with:

Frustrating Blogs

2009-02-14T21:11:00.005-05:00

You know, I'm up to 5 blogs now. Several, I'm not promoting as they are very niche oriented but my "babies" I promote quite heavily and write to daily. Which got me to wondering, "why don't I post to this, my first blog, more often?"

I have an answer to that question. It's because I'm using the blogger platform. Yes, I have gotten my own domain name but I'm still using blogger's platform & it drives me CRAZY. I used to love blogspot. It was so easy to use, even a non techy could set up a blog in just a few minutes!

Somewhere in the Fall though, during one of Blogspot's updates, my blog got all wacky on me. Now, it's a rare occurrence that I can write a blog post without something going wrong. Usually, when I publish it, half my post has disappeared. But I have had other issues too. And with Blogsot, there is no support so I'm stuck with a buggy blog. I did ask in the blogspot forums but no one could help there. So out of frustration, I just unconsciously started posting less and less to this blog.

So if you wondered why I went from posting almost every day to just several times a month, this is why. As much as a learning curve there was with getting used to Wordpress, I feel more comfortable with it now and don't have the same frustrations. I probably should figure out a way to transfer this to wordpress now. I know you can with blogspot blogs but it might be a bit more complicated with it being on my own domain too.

Anyway, if you'd like to check out my other blogs, I started a brand new one recently called "Saga of a Work at Home Mom" or http://sagaofawahm.com It's about my life as a single work at home mom but each day I will add a life tip or business tip.

And if you are a dog lover, check out "Bloggy Doggies" or http://bloggydoggies.com
And do keep checking back here. Since this blog is tied to my Cathy's Creations business, I don't plan on abandoning it. I'm gritting my teeth and forcing myself to deal with the blogspot issues and post twice a week. I think I can handle that much without going completely bonkers.

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Niche Affiliate Marketing Semnar or #nams & Me!

2009-02-01T21:23:00.003-05:00

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I have been in Atlanta since Friday for the Niche Affiliate Marketing Seminar or #nams if you know what hashtags are.

I have been having such a good time and have been learning so much. The next #nams is in August and I really hope I can come back.

Here are some pictures from the conference.

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Lynn Terry in the middle

Lynn is just as sweet and gracious in person as she s online. I want to be her when I grow up. LOL

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Willie Crawford & Cathy
Another mentor of mine.Willie Crawford is just a wealth of wisdom and integrity. And we both wll be the big 5-0 in March!

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Jeff Herring and Cathy
Jeff Herring the Article Marketing Guy. Isn't he handsome? He's a great wealth of knowledge & just as nice as he can be.

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Cathy & Natalie Akpele
Natalie is one of my tweeter friends. She is such a sweetie!

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Fred Van Ryn & Cathy
Here's my new "partner in crime". Fred has a dog site too. We haven't really figured out the details yet but we plan to do a joint venture together.

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Steve Szudera
This poor guy was stuck sitting next to me the entire 3 days. Thanks for putting up with me Steve!

More pictures from #nams

Okay, thanks for humoring me by looking at my pictures!

After Pictures of my Studio

2009-01-27T00:41:00.006-05:00

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I just realized I never showed yall my AFTER pictures of my studio. I cleaned, organized and moved things around a few weeks ago and so far it's still clean! So let's hope I can keep it up.

Here are some pics:

My new desk that I inherited from my dad.

My work table where the clay magic happens!

Here's my "Packing Center" where I pack the orders.

Ok, that's it for now. I'd love to see some pics of other studios!

Smarter Office Organization Week

2009-01-06T22:50:00.004-05:00

This week is Smarter Office Organization Week at Frugal Work at Home Moms Talk Radio and do I have a doozie for you! Now, in my defense, for the last 4 months, I have been working 18 hour days and haven't had a minute for myself much less a minute to clean and organize my office/studio. But now, things are slowing down some and I have a chance to look at this messy room in disgust.

It's time to get it clean and organized so I can feel peaceful and productive again. Now the major problem with me is I can organize just fine. Maintaining is another matter. I would love some tips on how to maintain my work space after it's cleaned and organized. And I wouldn't mind orhanizing tips too. I'm always collecting new tidbits in orgainzing hoping maybe I'll find the magic bullet that will click for me. Or at least make things easier.

I have the added incentive of having my dad's beautiful roll top desk sitting in the middle of my living room, just waiting for it's new home in my office.

I'll go ahead and list some of my tips.

* When cleaning, leave a basket by the door to put things that need to go to other rooms.
* Have a box for things that need to be given away and a trash bag for trash. I also have a basket for things that I don't know what to do with yet.
* Have "stations" for things. For example, I have a station where I pack my orders, a station where I do the finishing, etc.
* Try to clean up every night before you leave your office for the day. This is hard for me as I often have ongoing projects that really can't be put away. But if I clean up what I can, it makes things much smoother the next day.

Ok, so please don't think less of me. Here are the pictures of my room that looks like a tornado hit it:

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Show and Tell Monday -BloggyDoggies.com

2009-01-05T00:58:00.004-05:00

I hope yall had a great holiday. I sure did. It was actually better than I was expecting. But I'm ready to get back into a routine. How about you?

This week's Show and Tell Monday I want to tell you about the blog I have been working on just a little bit at a time, here and there between my regular business. It has been a labor of love. I have combined 2 of my passions. My dogs, and writing!

Bloggy Doggies is "written" by my 4 dogs and myself. Each day, one of us will post and we each have our own topic to cover. Mondays are Joey's advice column. Tuesdays are Roxy's Doggie Fashion Report. Wednesdays are Harley's Dog News. Thursdays are Buddy's Dog Joke. Fridays are my day when I will do a product review. Saturdays we will have a dog video, either made by the doggies or taken from You Tube. Sundays we will feature a profile of a dog that is up for adoption at a pet rescue. Also over the weekend, I have joined a meme that will feature an animal picture that I took. I will sprinkle informational articles through out the week to help you with your doggie education.

Oh, also for the month of January, it is Doggie Resolution Month. Go over and leave a comment under any blog post of your dog's resolutions for 2009 and I'll add them to the sidebar category. Some of the ones I have already gotten, have been hilarious!

Talk to yall tomorrow,
Cathy
CathysCreations.com

2008 The Bipolar Year

2008-12-31T16:35:00.004-05:00

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2008 was such an odd year for me. It was a year of high highs and low lows. I could almost call it the Bipolar Year. I am grateful for the highs, not so grateful about the lows but it is part of life I guess.

Some of the highs were that I broke out of the depression and stinking thinking that had been plaguing me for several years. I actually put myself out there, made new friends and business associates, and forced myself to take chances and do things I never would have had the nerve to do in the past. For the most part, I was very successful. Much more than I had imagined. Yes, I did get my hand slapped once or twice. That's the chance you take when you actually start to open your life up to new things. But you know what? I'm still here. Those few little hurts are nothing compared to the wonderful things I received by actually taking the chance. Now I wonder about all the things I missed over the years because I was afraid to try. I think that's why I always get tears in my eyes when I hear that Lee Ann Womack song "I hope You Dance". It just hits too close to home. I didn't dance.

Some of the other highs was that I was laid off from my full time job. Now on the surface, that may sound like a low. And it was in a way. I'll discuss that when I get to the lows. But this job was suffocating me. I was very good at it but I hated it. I wanted to cry every morning when I woke up at the thought of having to go there for another day of micro management and drudgery. I felt like I had no choice. That I couldn't make it with just my business. But guess what? So far I have! In fact, it's been my best year yet! And I couldn't be happier being my own boss. Yes, I can be quite the slave master but I love what I do & I can't wait to get up in the morning to work on my business! How many people can honestly say that? I anticipate that 2009 will be even a better year for my business as I'm fine tuning things and discovering what's really profitable AND enjoyable.

My oldest daughter who had moved back home, moved out. Yes, that makes me sound like a horrible mother not wanting her here. But she is 23, has her own way of living and was sacked out on my living room couch for several years. It was time for her to go. We get along so much better when we aren't living together. And I have to say that I am so proud of her! She had such a rocky youth, I often wondered if she would even make it to see 23. She seemed hell bent on self destruction. In the past year, she has gotten a stable job and worked up to a supervisory position, gotten an adorable duplex down on the oceanfront (wish I could live there!) and has taken responsibility for her prior actions. She has finally become an adult!

The lows were pretty low at times. I started out this year extremely tired, depressed, worn ragged and at the end of my rope. I was working a hated job, trying to keep my business afloat, having problems with both of my daughters and being the caretaker of my father who was fluctuating between the hospital and the nursing home and taking care of my demanding, wheel chair bound mother. I have always been a Daddy's girl and to see my strong, sweet dad, who always took care of everyone deteriate into a tiny shell of a man who had multiple medical problems and the mind of a 3 year old was just heart breaking to me. When he died in June, it was actually a blessing. His last few months were so horrible for him and for us. His loss has really been hitting me hard the last few months when I'll see him in my dreams, healthy and strong and then wake up to the reality that I will never see him again. At least not in this life.

I also lost my dear, sweet 18 year old kitty. I can only assume she died. She was a beautiful, but tiny Himalayan that was with me through my childrens' growing up years. She had had a problem with an urinary tract infection which is common in cats, specially older cats. But she had gotten better with the help of the vet. Not long after, she started crying alot again. The vet could find nothing wrong this time and thought it might be psychlogical. The crying continued for several days until she just dissappeared. We assume she got out through the doggy door. She had always been afraid to go outside in the past, so we never feared her escaping that way. I can only assume she ran away to die. We looked for her and my son thought he saw her at one point; but she ran away from him. We never really had any closure with her sudden dissappearance.

And then we come to the job I alluded to earlier. I worked for a large ministry & because of the economy, almost half of my office was laid off. We had heard inklings that it might happen but frankly, I wasn't worried. I was the fastest worker in my office, learned things easily and could do any job in there with no supervision. They'd be crazy to let me go, right? Well, they did. And what hurt was they laid off the 4 slowest, least productive people and then me, the most productive and fastest worker. That's a slap in the face right? It's like saying, "We laid off the others because of their lack of productivity but we laid off you simply because we don't like you." Actually I knew they liked me. I'm easy going, friendly and get along with everyone. But because my life had gotten so sucky over the past few years, I was questioning my faith in God. And that's a no-no in a ministry where they actually grade you on your spirituality, (yes, I'm serious, you get graded on that!). Because I refused to play the game anymore, (it would feel like a sacriledge to fake it when I didn't mean it) I was now a liability to them. I understand where they were coming from but part of me kept hearing the words of one of my friends who said that Christians tend to eat their own. I didn't know what she meant until this happened.

As this year closes, I wonder what 2009 has in store for us. I have so much hope and anticipation for the future. There is so much to be grateful for and look forward to. And it's so nice to feel that way after so many years of dreading the new year. I hope it's a wonderful year for you too where you make your dreams come true!

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday -Custom Name Tags

2008-12-22T00:08:00.005-05:00

< I don't know if you have noticed but my blog, though still a blogger blog, now has it's own domain name: CathysCreationsBlog.com . I thought it would be simpler than the long, drawn out blogspot name it had. Just a little Christmas gift I have given my beloved blog.

Another new thing for Cathy's Creations is a new category! Check out Custom Name Tags
for a great idea for the person in your life who has to wear a name tag. I have several samples there, and you can see them in the picture above. The nifty thing about this, is you basically design it! I can do any simple shape (samples are a comb, star, oval, tooth, & heart). You tell me the color of the tag, basic details about the person and the text you want on the badge. And I take it from there. Within a week or two, you will have a cute, personable, one of a kind gift. Cool huh?
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

72 Hour Brainstorm

2008-12-17T13:43:00.003-05:00

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Recently my buddy Tina from WAHMBizTips.com told us on our show about 72 Hour Brainstorm
It's a new site that specializes in

snappy business slogans
catchy advertising slogans
time-tested business names
note-worthy press releases
action-producing sales letters

This team will send you the completed work within 72 hours and it cost $72.
For a limited time, they are offering 3 free advertising or business slogans for free! All they ask is a testimonial. I decided to give it a try. I'm starting a dog blog and needed a tag line for it. They not only came up with 3 great slogans, but they came up with 8 great slogans! They are all so wonderful, I can't decide which one to go with! I am highly impressed & plan to use them to write my press release when I open the blog!

Definitely give them a try. You won't be sorry!

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tip Tuesday

2008-12-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

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Ok, yall ready for some more great sites to help you business? Have you ever wondered just what your blog is worth? Or what kind of ad revenue you can get from your blog? This site http://www.text-link-ads.com/blog_juice/ will tell you exactly that. I was kind of dissappointed with my results.

The second one is http://www.xinureturns.com/ With Xinu you can check your page rank, back links, indexed page rankings and more. Interesting info.

Have you ever wanted to get into O Magazine? Who doesn't? Well Joan Stewart from the http://www.publicityhound.com has written a wonderful article about how you can get into O Magazine. You can find it here: http://www.publicityhound.com/free_publicity/Articles/o_magazine.html

And now for a bonus. If you find yourself stuck and your creativity at a standstill, go to http://www.daydreamingonpaper.com/prompts.html
This nifty little site will give you questions that you can use in your blog or article or just help get that old noggin unstuck.

Ok, that's it for this week. Enjoy. And please email me at cathy@cathyscreations.com if you come across a cool resource you would like for me to write about.

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday

2008-12-14T22:18:00.003-05:00

< It looks like the Christmas rush is finally on a downslide. Although I'll miss the income, I need the break! I actually mailed out 52 packages on Friday & over 40 the week before! I'm still getting orders, mind you, but just not such a large volume.

Today I wanted to ask you creative types a question. How do you get your ideas? What is the muse that inspires you? For me, I often have a hard time coming up with idea. That's why I ask on my website for anyone to email me with an idea of what they would like for me to make. I also have it as a question when someone signs up for my mailing list. I have gotten some great ideas this way. My latest idea came from my buddy Sue Durivage of Obama's Health Plan and Pet Rabbits. Sue asked me to make some butterfly ornaments for her 3 daughters. So off to the pasta machine I went & I came up with these cuties. I made these according to Sue's request in the colors of black/purple, black/red & purple/pink. I'm thinking of adding these to my 2009 line. What colors would you like these to be carried in? Or maybe I should let this be one of those things where I let the customer choose their own colors? What do you think?

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

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I know everyone and his brother is doing a "thankful post" today and I guess I a no different. You know, with all the bad stuff going on in this country, you might think there isn't much to be thankful for. The media sure doesn't help when that is all you see on the news. It can be quite depressing. Which is why I'm thankful I can choose to not watch that depressing garbage on tv...and I don't. I figure I will hear about it if it's really important. It's probably been several years since I have seen the news.

More importantly though, I have so much to be thankful for. My kids, my sister and her family, my mom, my wonderful dogs, my home, that I'm a work at home mom, my health, that I am changing my future, my way of thinking and my life, that I live in a free country, that I live near the ocean in a relatively warm part of the country, and that I have a yummy turkey dinner to eat today! Oh yeah, I'm also thankful for all of you! I love my online buds and you have kept me sane and happy for quite awhile now!

So think today but better yet, start a gratitude journal (here's a good free one: http://www.gratitudetracker.com/) and be thankful everyday for all the wonderful things you have in your life.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVEYRONE!

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

The Marie Antoinette Award

2008-11-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Raspberry Rabbits

She actually gave it to me a few weeks ago but I was just too swamped to get it up. Well, now, I am making time to do it!

According to the rules I must now pass it along to 7 other people that I admire. So many enrich my life every day, but these 7 are standing out right now.

Here are the rules for the Award.
1. Please put the logo on your blog.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs.
4. Put the links of those blogs on your site.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them.

http://designsbyginnybaker.blogspot.com

http://frugalwahmstalkradio.com/

http://www.wahm-cafe.com/

http://thescentedcottage.blogspot.com

http://miniaturepatisseriechef.blogspot.com/

http://shweetdoodlings.blogspot.com/

http://sisterlysavings.net/

I love all the above blogs and admire the women behind them!

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tip Tuesday

2008-11-25T02:03:00.003-05:00

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Are you ready for some cool free resources today? Ok then! Here we go.

The first one is http://www.xheader.com/ and it is a free tool to make easy, professional looking header graphics!

The second one is: http://www.googlerankings.com/ This nifty site will tell you how your site ranks in MSN, Yahoo, & Ask all at once.

The third is http://www.aged-domain-finder.com If you are looking for a new domain name, look here first for an aged domain that has just expired that will save you time in ranking. Domains can be bid on for as low as $5.

The last site is more personal. If you have lots of old electronics laying around collecting dust, why not get paid for them. You can get cash for them from
http://www.gazelle.com/

Ok, that's it for this week. Enjoy :)
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday: Another Craft Show

2008-11-23T22:21:00.007-05:00

Today, I did my my 2nd favorite show and usually my best money maker. It was the Indian River craft show in Chesapeake, VA for the last 10 years. This is the show I have made the highest amount in. It's a good show. Set up is fairly easy, the booth spaces are clearly marked, they give us a coupon for free coffee, and the food they sell in the cafeteria is cheap & good. You can get a yummy cinnamon bun for a buck!

But I think it's time this show goes to a one day show. In years past, I would make about half on Sunday what I made on Saturday. The last 4 years, I'm lucky to make $200-$300 on Sunday & today I made a whopping $79. The place was dead.

Anyway, I did ok on Saturday but my total for the weekend wasn't what I expected. I still have 2 more shows to go so hopefully they will be better. They are both one day shows.

Below you will find a few pics from the show. I completely forgot how dark this room is & forgot to bring my lights for my booth.

Here's a booth shot in my "dark cave".

Here I am hard at work personalizing an ornament.

Even Mrs. Claus shops with me! Here's Santa's wife buying some dog bone ornaments. What nothing for the reindeer?

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tip Tuesday

2008-11-18T11:34:00.005-05:00

Since I have missed the last few Small Business Tip Tuesdays, I'm adding an extra one this week.
The first one is from Lynetter Chandler & is called BlogEnergizer.com
to find some great free resources for bloggers. I'm in love with this site! Thanks Lynette!

The second is Widgiland.com this is a cool place to find really good widgets for your website or blog.

DNScoop.com is a totally cool site to find out loads of info about your website like what it is worth, how much links would sell for on your site, and lots of other interesting facts about your website that you probably don't know.

A bonus for those of you who are curious about twitter but don't know how to sign up or what it's about, etc., go to my friend Jack Bastide's blog tweeterblog.com He has a great little tutorial video that explains it all. NOTE: It's not the video about the twitter whore although that is pretty funny.

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday: A Mom to Be Ornament

2008-11-16T22:54:00.004-05:00

< I'm taking a break to do one of my favorite things that has unfortunately been neglected alot lately. And that is write in this blog. It's been a whirl wind of activity here at CathyLand with getting ready for another major show, working on orders, trying to get my dog blog up and running, and taking care of family (why is it the busier I get, the needier family members seem to get?).

I have had several requests to come up with an ornament for expecting moms. I had planned on debueing this ornament in my 2009 collection but because of the multiple requests, I figured I'd bring her out early. Meet "Molly". She's my new Expecting Mom Bear Personalized Ornament . She measures almost 4 inches long and of course, like all my ornies, she can be personalized to order. If you'd like to order Molly for someone you know who's expecting a bundle of joy, click here.

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Odors? Try a Reed Diffuser

2008-11-06T20:50:00.005-05:00

< Ok, I admit it. I have an odor problem. Shocked? Well, don't be. I bet a lot of you pet owners may have one too. Specially is you have multiple pets. Now, I keep my house relatively clean. My pets are clean too. And house trained. For the most part. But having multiple doggies around can sometimes leave doggie odor. I actually don't notice it since I'm here most of the time. But if I have been gone for any length of time, I'll notice that special furry fragrance upon opening my front door.

As much as I love my pups, their smell is not the first thing I want guests to smell upon entering my home. So a few years ago, I set out to find a solution. Of course, I first tried air freshener sprays but they were short lived. I tried the different fragrance units that you find in the grocery store and they work ok, but it seemed like I was buying one every week and the fragrances weren't anything special.

Then one year on my birthday, my sister gave me a reed diffuser kit. I had never heard of such a thing and frankly, it seemed a little odd looking to me. Who would think of putting a bunch of wood sticks in a bottle of oil?

I decided to give it a try. The smell was gingerbread and it was WONDERFUL. I kept it in my downstairs bathroom but the fragrance pretty much permeated through out my whole 1st floor. It seemed to last forever by just turning the sticks whenever the fragrance waned.

Sadly, all good things come to an end and eventually the oil ran out. I asked my sister where she got it, but she couldn't remember. So the next time I was at Walmart, I went to their candle section and bought a cute diffuser kit there. Big mistake. It barely lasted a month, even when turning the sticks. At the one month period, there was still oil in the bottle but it was no longer fragrant. Also the smell, when it actually existed, was nothing to write home about.

So, I have been on a quest to find a nice looking, long lasting, wonderful smelling reed diffuser. I also wanted to get it from a work at home mom since as one myself, I want to support them as much as possible.

I believe I have found the perfect company for reed diffusers! It's called The Diffusery . I ordered a kit and it was on my doorstep within 2 days. I'm ashamed to say, I don't offer service that fast!

I bought the 8 ounce gift set with the fragrance "Home for the Holidays". You can check the gift sets out here: http://www.thediffusery.com/sets.htm With 30 different scents, it was hard to pick just one. I plan to buy some more for gifts and will probably get holiday scents such as "Oh Christmas Tree", "Spiced Cranberry" or "Perfect Pumpkin".

The FAQ says the fragrance will last 6-8 months so when I do need to replace it, I plan on ordering from the refill page here: http://www.thediffusery.com/oils.htm I wonder if I can use a different fragrance in the same bottle? I'll have to ask Dawn, the owner. There are lots of scents I want to try. Maybe I'll just get a kit for my upstairs too!

Anyway, I'll let you know if I continue to be as impressed with http://www.thediffusery.com/ as I am now.

Cathy

www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday

2008-11-03T01:20:00.002-05:00

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I feel like I have been gone a year. I miss not blogging everyday! But at least for another month or so while I'm in the midst of my busy season, I'll have to settle for just a couple posts a week.

I would have something to show this week but my digital (Cannon Power Shot A560) camera broke. It was only a year old. I never liked the extremely short battery life of it anyway. So I'm on the look out for a new camera that will take great pictures (specially close ups of small objects), is easy to use & is relatively inexpensive. Any suggestions? Am I asking too much?

What I was going to tell you, was about the latest show I did. This is my favorite show. It's the first show I started with 17 years ago. This show has been around so long, I remember visiting it when I was a teen! It's called Santa's Stocking at the Kempsville Recreation Center in Virginia Beach, VA.

I love this show cos I know so many of my fellow crafters. We are all buds and often see each other at multiple shows. I have made long lasting friendships from this show and see some of my pals through out the year. I also have a following of repeat customers who come and find me year after year to see what new offering I have. It's just a fun show to do.

I did see something that I felt pretty bad about at this show. It didn't affect me but it did affect alot of vendors. It was the over run of jewelry vendors. It seemed out of every 3 booths, 1 of them was jewelry. Not only that, they were often side by side & across from each other! In one area, I counted 6 jewelry booths all together. No one looked like they were doing very well. How can they compete? Very poor planning on the coordinator's part.

As for how I did. It did seem alot slower than usual. There have been times at this show that on Saturday, I would not get a chance to get a bite to eat or go to the bathroom until about 3 p.m. I had lots of slow times this weekend. I was really worried that my sales would be way down but surprizingly they were in the range that I expect ($1500-$2000). I don't know how I managed that but I'm not complaining!

Oh, one thing I brought with me that I just got was a nice tall director's chair with a little attached side table. It's often advertised for sportsmen but I think it's perfect for the crafter who does shows. See, I personalize so I always have to be sitting. And trying to do it on my table proved to be a challenge as people were always knocking it and it would shake as I was writing. So, I thought this might be a good solution. I would be high enough to be eye level. I brought a little padded lap desk to bear down on. And I had my little side table to hold my drink and pens. The chair was so much more comfortable than the plastic chairs most shows provide you with or the plastic chairs I bring from home. I have to say, I could kick myself for not getting this chair years ago. Love it!

Now, I'm got to get moving on all my orders and get ready for my next show in 2 weeks!

Small Business Tip Tuesday

2008-10-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Today, I have some great tips for you!

The first can be used for business or your personal life. It's called www.couponchief.com You can find coupon codes that you can use at all your favorite shopping sites. Just use the search box & put in what you are looking for. I plan to use this site alot when finishing my Christmas shopping.

The second source is for all of us mom bloggers out there. This is a great place to network & learn with other mommy bloggers. It's called www.mombloggerclub.com

The last resource is for those twitterers out there. By the way, if you haven't joined twitter, you should. It's such a great place to network, learn, get great resources and make friends. I really didn't like it too much at first but not I'm totally addicted to it. If you'd like to follow me, my twitter name is: http://twitter.com/CathyBendzunas . Anyway this site is called www.qwitter.com You give them your twitter name & email addy & they will let you know when you lose a follower, who it was and after what post you twittered did they live.

Ok, that's it for this Tuesday. Enjoy! And let me know if you have a great resource to share!

Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday: Land of the Rejects

2008-10-27T00:00:00.001-04:00

Today, I am calling Show and Tell Monday, Land of the Rejects. This is a little experiment where I again, let my readers help me make a decision in my business. Ya'll get to be a part of the research for Cathy's Creations. Don't expect a paycheck though. LOL

Ok, above you, you will see some pictures of retired personalized Christmas ornaments. Is there any, that you would like to see back up on my site for sale? If so, leave a comment and let me know which ornament should make a come back. I'll announce in a later post, the winner.
Thanks!
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

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Upcoming Holidays, Love Them or Hate Them?

2008-10-23T17:22:00.003-04:00

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Ok, show of hands here. How many are looking forward to the upcoming holidays? How many are dreading it? How many, like me feel a mixture of both?

I have always loved the Fall holidays. Starting in October we have a cool holiday each month. Halloween, Thanksgiving & then the grand puba of holidays: Christmas! It's such a fun, special, homey time of year. I think of the smell of turkey baking in the oven, the crunch of leaves under my feet, the cool, crisp air of Autumn, and the family and friend get togethers. Who could not love this time of year?

Well, I can understand those who don't either. Some people don't have a lot of friends or family to hang out with. So this is a very lonely time of year for them. It seems like everyone is with their loved ones except them. My heart goes out to them. I know I have felt lonely in the past, even though I do have kids and extended family nearby.

Some others, who are on a top budget, worry about all the money that you feel you have to spend this time of year. Specially if you have kids. You don't want to disappoint your little ones. And what about all those other people who you feel obligated to buy a gift for? And all the special food, decorations, etc. I have a feeling the expense of the holidays will be more of a concern this year for a lot of people than it has in the recent past.

Then there are those who are involved in retail or specialize in Christmas items (like me). We are so busy just trying to keep up with businesses or jobs, it's hard to deal with all the other stuff of the holidays, no matter how wonderful it is.

So what's the answer? Have a ban on all holidays? Heavens no! Life would just not be the same without them, would they?

There are things we can do to make the holidays easier if we think about it.

Plan ahead of time.
Purchase gifts through out the year.
Make whatever food items ahead of time that you can and freeze.
Delegate chores.
If you have a craft business like mine, stock up on your inventory through out the year so you will be ready for the onslaught.
If you are lonely, reach out to others in the same situation. If you look around, you will find lots of lonely people around you.
If nothing else, you can volunteer at a shelter. You'd be surprised at how your own problems disappear when you are helping someone else.

So what else can you think of to ease the stress of this time of year?

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-10-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

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It's one of my favorite times of week again. Small Business Tips Tuesday again! Are you ready? Ok, here we go!

Have you heard of Ladies who Launch? It's a great resource for those of us who need help & encouragement in growing our businesses. One thing I love to check everyday is their tip section. They have a tip written by a different person each day & I've found some great ones. Here's where you can get the tips: http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/magazine/category/launch-tips

Next is a cool resource for you twitterers out there. If you know what google alerts are, TweetBeep.com works the same way. You just fill in the keywords you want to be alerted for, and then Tweet Beep will alert you hourly or daily (your choice) if those keywords come up in conversation. Great way to find interesting people in your niche. Or you can even put your business name in there and find out if anyone is talking about you!

I found a great keyword tool that comes with some videos that will help you learn how to properly do keyword research. It's MattsFreeKeywordTool.com . Very easy to use and the videos are very well done.

Now, for my tip. You probably know that back links are important in search engine ranking for your site. Ever wonder who your competetors' links are? If you go to google and put in
link:competetorURL.com (obviously put in the company's web addy there in the middle) It will give you a listing of all their links. When I did this, I found loads of great directories and other places that I could also link too!

Ok, that's it for this week. I do have a question for yall. I love doing this so much, I was thinking about starting a blog with one business tip or resource every day. What do you think? Should I do it? Would yall be interested in it? Let me know. It's just something rolling around in my brain right now.

The Greatest Marketing Advice and a Cool Giveaway

2008-10-19T23:14:00.005-04:00

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Do any of you ever go to Sparkplugging.com ? You should. they have a lot to offer the small biz guys & gals like us. Even online classes!

Right now there is a really cool contest there. Here's the link. Want to know what you will win?

Here’s the Prize Package:

A kick-butt Epson WorkForce 600 Wireless Multifunctional printer
Extra set of full-color ink cartridges
Paper, cardstock, business card paper, labels, envelopes and everything else you could possibly need to create a complete set of business collateral
And to top it all off, Randa Clay from Randa Clay Design is going to give our lucky winner a new logo to plaster all over your new marketing materials!

It's very easy to enter. Just go over there and leave a comment. Or write about the greatest marketing advice you received when you first started your biz. I'm doing both.

I started out in the stone ages of home businesses (before the internet). My almost 18 year old was just a baby! He grew up with my biz.

Back then, there was no internet, no mastermind groups and very few other women working from home with the exception of home daycare providers.

I can't remember where I even got the idea of wanting to work from home. It was just something I always wanted to do, even before it was popular or well known.

I knew there had to be a way. So I turned to the information highways of that time. The library and the book store. I bought or checked out every home business book I could find. Some were great. Some were useless. The best ones I could find were by Barbara Brabec & I devoured everything she wrote. I still get her newsletter.

To tell you the truth, it's been so long ago, and I took in so much of her advice, it's hard to remember specific advice that stuck with me. I know her books were my bible! She gave me encouragement when I was ready to give up. She taught me to get my name out there. Back then, it was with flyers, biz cards, catalogs, car decals, etc. I also seem to remember that she said to make sure you do at least one thing everything on your biz.

I want to thank her along with all those other biz book authors who were my mentors in those early years! Thanks guys!

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-10-14T10:00:00.005-04:00

It's Tuesday so you know what that means. More biz resources for you! Ok, let's go:
Even though some of us do not use RSS feeds or even know what they really mean, most of us know it's good to have them. Most blogs already have them but most static websites do not. Now you can make an RSS feed for almost any website. The site is called http://www.dapper.net/ .

Next we have http://www.buzzblogger.com/ . This is an awesome site for teaching you SEO and other web stuff. She has some great videos you can sign up to get on how to dominate google. The videos take you step by step and make things simple to understand. Love this site.

Now we have a great legal guide site regarding your website or blog. It's called http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide .

Now my tip for today is about Business Plans. Now don't groan or go run away screaming. I'm not talking about those long, legalistic plans you have to make up for the bank in order to get a loan. Most of us don't need that. But we do need a plan and it can be very simple. It's really for your use so you know what your goal is and how to get to it.

Your plan needs to answer what, why, who, where, how, and when.

What is your business about? What are the componets to the business?
Why are you in business? What is your ultimate purpose for this business?
Who are your customers? Their ages, sex, race, income, geographic loacation
Where will conduct your business? Will you have retail or office space? Do craft shows? Have an online site?
How will you conduct your business. What will the day to day activities be for this business? What are you policies?
When is the timetable for your business. Make a tentative schedule of what you want to accomplish and the timetable and steps for accomplishing these steps.

Talk to yall later!
Cathy
http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Show & Tell Monday

2008-10-13T21:16:00.013-04:00

I know I'm late with Show & Tell Monday but it is still Monday right? And I have a good excuse. I have been out of the country. Technically anyway.

Let me explain. My mom had the idea that she wanted to take the whole family (my sis & her family & me with my kids) on a cruise for our Christmas present. To tell you the truth I wasn't really crazy about the idea. So I may be biased against the whole cruise. Although I was looking forward to it by the time we got there.

I have always wanted to go on a cruise. But I actually wanted to go somewhere. This was called the cruise to nowhere which means basically the ship went 8 miles off our coast & sat there for 2 days so people could gamble in international waters.

It's a really busy time of year for me & I really don't have time for a cruise. The Spring would be so much better but my mother insisted we do this now. Anyway I reluctantly agreed. Besides, if I had refused, then I would have been the mean family member who ruined this family outing. So off we went. I had to stay up til 3:30a.m. the night before getting orders out so I could go on this trip. And I'll probably be doing the late night thing all week trying to catch up.

I have to say this cruise definitely cured my desire to ever go on another cruise! We were on the Carnival Victory which was kind of small for a cruise ship & didn't have all the amenities the larger ships have. Also seemed to have lots of broke stuff on it. I did have some fun, but it really wasn't worth the aggravation. The check in process took literally hours. We stood outside in line for over 2 hours and by the time we finally got settled in our rooms, and the mandatory drill was over it was 5 hours later! It was very unorganized. Someone in the hallway told me that a woman had actually died while standing in line, waiting to get on the ship! Getting off the ship wasn't much better. Veteran cruisers told me that this was unusual and most cruises are much better organized. I would hope so.

The ship rocked the whole time so I stayed sea sick the whole time. The purser's office was kind enough to give me some meds for it & it did help with the queasiness but I still couldn't read while on there. I was hoping to catch up on my reading so this was a disappointment. It felt like trying to read while riding in the car.

Also if you missed dinner or breakfast in the dining room or wanted lunch, you had to stand in line for 40 minutes to an hour and a half to get some food. It was ridiculous & also very unorganized. For example, I stood in line for 45 minutes at the omelet bar & when I finally got to the front, I found out that the plates were across the room, which means I would lose my spot to go get a plate. Ugh! I just didn't eat that morning.

There really wasn't much on the ship for me to do. The pool & hot tub were open but packed & I didn't want to be seen in a bathing suit by so many people. I don't like to gamble, play bingo or drink. The only crafts they had were scrap booking which I'm not interested in. There seemed to be lots for old people and kids to do though. These were some of the bad things about the ship.

Now the good things about the ship. Our room was huge and beautiful (my mom got the handicapped suites). One hint though. Never get a room at the front of the ship. Ours was so bumpy and rocky, we couldn't sleep & actually had to hold on to things just to walk around in the room. I fell once because of the rocking. I guess this is another bad thing.

Our beds & pillows were wonderful. Most of the staff were very gracious. Our dinners in the dining room were fantastic & our waiters even entertained us. I saw a show Sunday night with a comic that had me laughing so hard, that I cried! I had a good time bonding with my daughters, my brother in law, and my sister. So there were positives too. Just not enough to chance going on another cruise anytime soon!

Oh, when we got home, my mother found out that the envelope she had in her purse is missing. It had $400., her driver's license, her Visa, and a blank check. So far no one has turned it in. My mother is having a melt down. So guess what I get to deal with this week.

Below are some of the pics I took:

Here's a pic of the ship and my nephew Kevin Jr. in the red shirt.

My 23 year old Shannon and me waiting in line.

My 20 year old April in our room with our towel "ghost".

My kids Shannon, Ryan, April and my mother. Don't I have beautiful children?

My nephew Kevin Jr., my son Ryan and nephew Kyle.

One of my "mermaids" Shannon.

My other mermaid April talking to her new friend Andew.

Isn't this ceiling breathtaking?

Ok, off to play catch up!

Cathy

http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Adds You....Something New

2008-10-10T07:00:00.001-04:00

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Have you heard about Adds You? I recently heard about it on twitter and had to check it out. It's very interesting and different.

Below is an except from the site that explains what it is about:

AddsYou.com is a social publishing network that pays authors for their written works. This compilation of novels, blog posts, how-tos, news articles, short stories, poems, screenplays, etc. is positioned to become the world’s largest database of knowledge.

Right now you can request an invitation for the alpha launch by going here. Hope to see you there!

Update from Craft Show Helper Quandry

2008-10-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

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I wanted to thank everyone for their responses to my quandry about helpers at craft shows. I did get some ideas from it.

I do have to mention that Ryan totally did not want to do this at all. I just didn't have any other choice this time. I was going to pay him $150 for the weekkend but he came to me later & said I could pay him whatever I thought was fair since he fell down on the job.

I do want to comment on a few suggestions.

Several suggested that I take orders and have them come back later. We actually already do that if there is more than one ornament to do or more than one customer in line. Without a helper to handle all of the customer care, I'd never get the orders caught up!

He did have training before hand. I even wrote out a cheat sheet for him. He just didn't want to be there. I know part of it is because he is shy and not comfortable around people. And that was not an atmosphere most teen age boys would want to be in. LOL. And I think part of it is that little trick men use to do a very poor job at a chore so their wife (or in this case, mother) will not ask them to do it again.

A suggestion came in to share a booth with someone else. I would love to do that & I used to do it with several friends. It really helped with the cost of big shows. But it turned out they get the short end of the stick since my customers need so much more care than theirs to check out. So they ended up spending more time helping me with my customers than they did their own.

I am going to check with my local colleges & art asociation. I thought of even advertising for help on Craig's list but I'm a little leary about that. Checking with the online forums I'm on is a good idea although, I don't think there are many local people on them. I do belong to a VA crafters forum where there would be some locals but they tend to be doing shows at the same time I am. I was thinking of asking my daughter to ask some of her friends too. Alot of them work in retail so they would know how to deal with this. I could also ask my 2 friends who are my helpers if they know anyone.

Fortunately, I think I'm ok for the rest of the shows this season. Thank God! I just have to be thinking ahead to make sure I won't be in this situation next year!

Thanks all for your help! I don't know where I would be without my online friends for support and advice!

What Happened to my System?

2008-10-08T11:03:00.003-04:00

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What happened to my beloved systems??? I thought I had it all down to a science. A little background so you know where I'm coming from.

Up to last Spring, I spent the last several years just living in survival mode. I had a demanding full time job, I had my beloved craft business that I hardly ever had time for. I had a house, 3 kids who unfortunately rarely helped out, a house full of pets, and my elderly, ill parents who I had to care for daily. I was lucky to get 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I managed to keep the dishes done & clothes clean but that was about it. My house was messy, dirty & cluttered & I would be mortified if anyone came to the door.

I hated living that way. I'm one of those people who needs clean, and clutter-free environments to feels peaceful and creative. Wasn't feeling any of that for quite awhile & I longed for it.

Fast forward to this Spring/Summer. I get laid off from my job. One child who was sleeping in my living room with all her stuff, moves out to her own home. My sweet, wonderful Daddy passes away so I'm not going to the hospital or nursing home every day. So suddenly, I'm out of that constant crisis mode. Not that I'm stress free mind you. I still have my mom to take care of and she can be quite a handful at times. I still have 2 messy kids & 4 messy pups. I still have deadlines in my biz, bills to pay, etc. But it's SO much easier to deal with than it was a year ago.

It took me several months, but I got my house clean, organized and clutter free. I come up with a daily/weekly/monthly schedule to stay that way. I was so proud. I was so productive. I was so peaceful. Finally I could let people in and not be humiliated. My kids were not embarrased to bring their friends over. I felt like Suzie Homemaker & I liked it.

So what happened? The Fall happened with multiple orders coming in through my web site every day, and 4 large craft shows to do. Now, I got to say that I absolutley LOVE all of this. I love being immersed in my business. I love craft shows. I love my customers. And it goes without saying that I love working with my clay.

But now my house is back to being cluttered and messy. Not nearly as bad as before but all those wonderful systems I put into place have gone out the window. I don't have time for it and my business too.

Now the ideal solution would be to hire a housekeeper. Ummm, maybe when I'm making alot more money. Or clone myself. Ok, well that's obviously out. Or get my kids to help out. They will a little if I bug them enough but all the energy it takes to pester them into helping, I could have gone ahead and done it myself.

So I guess I need to come up with an adjusted system for 4 months out of the year. My original will work great for the rest of the year. Or I need to just come to peace with the fact it will be like this every year til after Christmas.

So how do any of you go through this and have systems that work for you when there just isn't enough hours in a day?

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-10-07T10:28:00.007-04:00

Hello there. It’s Tuesday so time for more tips. The first one comes from a reader who left a comment last week. It’s
http://www.gtdagenda.com/ and promotes an organizing system called Getting Things Done. This totally rocks! It organizes your business and life!

Next we have http://budurl.com/ This site makes it so simple to shrink those long, annoying URL's down into teeny little URL's. So convenient!

I'm editing this because Andy from Budurl wrote and left this comment:
Thanks for the mention of BudURL.com. Just to clarify to your readers, BudURL not only shrinks your URL, but it gives you amazing insight into the clicks that your URL is generating. You can see instantly when someone clicks on your URL, where they came from, and how they found you.
Now this definitely will become one of my new favorite tools! Thanks Andy for the clarification.

Now we have http://contestmachine.com/ If you would like to have a contest on your site, Contest Machine will handle everything for you. No fuss for you!

Now for my tip for today. This may be common knowledge but I didn't know about it so I'm sure others don't know either. This is specifically for people who do any kind of shows or have a business where they are out in front of the public.

I did a craft show over the weekend and my neighbor had this nifty metallic name badge with her business name, web addy and personal name. It looked so professional. I asked where she got it and she said from one of those big box office stores. She couldn't remember if it was Office Max or Office Depot or what. I went to Office Max. There is no minimum order. You can order 1 or you can 100. It was really cheap, only $14. for a nice metal name badge. I got 3. One for me, one for my helper and an extra. I also noticed while looking through their design catalog, that they had clothing, aprons, totes, and loads of other things you can order with NO MINIMUM!

I'm thinking of getting some aprons to wear at the shows with my biz embroidered on them. The pockets will be great to hold change.

Ok, so hope you can use some of these. I have been coming across lots of great sites lately so there won't be any lack of things to write about on Small Business Tips Tuesdays.
Cathy
http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Show and Tell Monday

2008-10-05T22:54:00.009-04:00

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted. I missed you all! So glad I'm back.

I just completed a craft show this weekend and I'm exhausted. It was a good show. It's rated one of the top in the nation. I have to say, it is the best organized show I have ever participated in. I was impressed.

The show is The Newport News Folk Art Fall Festival and it was held in a beautiful park. The weather was chamber commerce picture perfect. My neighbors were wonderful. Crafters are the best people in the world in my opinion. The crowds although not real heavy, were there. I did ok. I wasn't sure what to expect but I had a goal in mind and I almost reached it. Some of the veterans of the show said, their sales were down quite a bit, some as much as 50%. Not a good sign for the economy. I'm claiming here and now that the rest of the shows I'm in will be very profitable for me & everyone who participates in them!

I will definitely do this show again. However, I will not ever again take my son with me to be my helper. I make and sell personalized Christmas ornaments so I need a helper with me to take care of the customers, the money, the wrapping, etc., while I'm doing the personalizing. I usually take one of my daughters, both who are excellent at doing this. Or I take one of several friends who are willing to help. This time, no one was available to help me so I had to drag my poor son with me. He's excellent at setting up the tent, table,racks, etc. Not so great with the customers though. I would have my head down, concentrating on pesonalizing ornaments and I would hear someone clear their throat. I look up to see hundreds (well not hundreds exactly, but maybe half a dozen or so) of people standing there waiting to be checked out. So where was Ryan? He was there. Physically anyway. He would be staring off into space. Or playing with his game boy. Or talking or texting on his cell phone. Argggh!

Anyone have a solution to my dilemna? I have to have a helper. I have yet to figure out a way to do these shows alone since I do personalize on the spot. But I always struggle with finding helpers. I do pay, but I can't afford a lot. I would do alot more of these shows if I didn't have to depend on someone else to come with me. Problems, problems....

Anyway, here's some pics from the show. Unfortuanately, I wasn't able to walk around much sothese were taken at my tent. The first two are of my booth.

Now here's a shot of my happy son. Doesn't he look thrilled to be here?

Here's a picture when he's a little happier. I think it was because it was close to the time we would be going home.

Finally, here's a shot from my booth.

Hope yall had a great weekend!

Cathy
http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Small Business Tips Tuesday....A Day Late

2008-10-01T01:06:00.005-04:00

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It’s officially Wednesday now so I missed Small Business Tips Tuesday. I have a craft show this weekend and I have clay flying every where in my studio trying to get ready. LOL. I was determined to make 30 ornaments today and in between laundry, taking my son to school & making dinner, I did it! The last batch is baking in the oven right now. Let’s see how many I can pop out tomorrow.

The first one is http://textfixer.com/ and is an online tool for fixing the text and html on your site.

The second one is http://www.klatcher.com/ . This site will allow you to sell your art work, photos, writing, etc.

The last one is strictly personal but if it improves your life, then it improves your business right? You may have read my blog post about gratitude & abundance journals a few days ago. Here it is if you'd like to read it :http://cathyscreationsmakingitpersonal.blogspot.com/2008/09/abundance-and-gratefulness.html
A wonderful reader left a comment with an URL of a free computer based gratitude journal that you put on your desktop & use online or off. It's http://www.gratitudetracker.com/
I LOVE this tool. It's so easy to use. After installed, you just click on it, and it automatically goes to the correct day. Then you just type in what you are grateful for and close. Easy as pie.

Now for my last bit of advice comes from the wonderful Lynn Terry of http://www.clicknewz.com/ A few weeks ago when I was in one of her webinars, I having a product based site, felt alittle out of place with all the internet marketers there. Lynn sent me a link to her wonderful blog post on how to optimize an ecommerce site. Here it is. Read and enjoy:
http://www.clicknewz.com/1479/how-to-optimize-an-ecommerce-site/

Have a great week!
Cathy
http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Show and Tell Monday

2008-09-29T11:53:00.005-04:00

You may remember a few weeks ago when I came up with my big girl panties ornament .

Well my pal Francie from The Scented Cottage left a comment that I should make some boxers for the guys. I thought that was a great idea. Sometimes men need to act like grown ups too, right?

So here it is:

You can buy them here for your big boy.

Cathy

www.cathyscreations.com

Abundance and Gratefulness

2008-09-27T23:23:00.005-04:00

For the past year, I have been actively trying to change my life. I have suceeded in some ways but still have a ways to go.

Early on, I realized that one of the major things I would have to change in order to change my life, was my mindset. I tend to be pessimistic or as I always called it, realistic. It's been a tough attitude to change when you have had well over 40 years to perfect it! But I am doing better.

I have written before that one of the things I do is to keep a gratitude journal. I don't always write it down but I do try to go over it in my mind at night before I fall asleep. Often times during the day, I will seek things out to be grateful for. Doing this really does help me notice how many good things are in my life.

Recently I heard about something new. It's called keeping an abundance journal. Similar to the gratitude journal. Basically if you want more abundance in your life, you need to notice all the abundance already in the world around us. Ok, being the naturally negative gal that I am, I first noticed all the clutter in my studio and all the bills in my bill paying basket. LOL. I don't think that's the point. You are supposed to notice all the GOOD abundant things in your life. So I started to look for that. And I immediately started to find things. Like food in the pantry, and in the fridge, clothes in my closet, water from the faucet, flowers in my yard, toads and frogs in my ponds, happy teenagers running through my house, the abundance of soft fur and wet noses from my 4 sweet pups, all my craft supplies in my studio. I can go on and on, but you get the idea.

So, I think on days when I really want to write in my blog but can think of nothing to write about, I may just list all the things that I'm grateful for or all the wonderful abundant things in my life. It will make me feel better and hopefully inspire you to make your own lists!
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Crafters Tips for Finding Good Craft Shows

2008-09-25T01:16:00.003-04:00

< Even though I have had my ecommerce site up since 1996, I knew very little about the web until this past year. Not so with craft shows. I have been doing them since 1992 and have learned quite a few things that the beginning crafter may want to heed.

Stay away from first year craft shows.
I'm sure there are exceptions to every rule, but I have yet to find a decent first year craft show.

Stay away from church and school shows.
I do know some exceptions to this rule, but most of these shows have very small budgets for advertising and usually get very little traffic. This may be a good venue for your very first craft show just to get your feet wet. Like I said, there are exceptions. I do one high school show that I do very well at. However, the show has been running for 19 years now and has a large following.

Finding shows is not that hard.
There are plenty of places to find craft shows. The easiest is to do simple google searches. Just type in craft shows and then your city and state and see what pops up.

www.craftlister.com is another resource for shows.

I found a forum that focuses on craft shows in my state. It has been a wonderful resource. Check yahoo groups & google groups to see if there is a forum like that for your state. And if you are in VA, let me know and I'll tell you how to join mine.

Also ask crafters you meet that do work that is complimentary to yours, what shows they like. This has been my best source for finding shows. You almost always get to talking to your neighbors when doing a show. I always ask them what shows that they do that they would recommend.

Check them out first
I usually will check out a show a year before doing it. I look at the style there. If I do country crafts, and everything there is contemporary; then it's probably not going to be a good show for me.

I talk to the crafters to see how they are doing. Some will be honest with you.

Look to see if the customers are carrying bags or are they just browsing.

Check out the price of the show you are considering.
But don't automatically discard a show just because it is expensive. Often times, the more expensive shows are bigger, have more advertising and draw in the bigger crowds. Just do your homework first so you aren't throwing away your money. And make sure you can handle the inventory volume a large show requires.

Realize that part of doing craft shows is the luck of the draw. Sometimes a show will do well for you one year, but not the next. There are many factors that could affect that such as the economy, the weather, the full moon (just kidding), too many vendors with similar items, your pricing is off, you are located in a bad area at the show, or maybe you need to come up with some new and fresh stock.

I will evaluate a show that I'm doing that is not going well. Is everyone doing poorly or is it just me? If it's everyone, then it may be a bad show or something beyond our control such as weather or economy.

If it's just me, I'll do some little on the spot research to try to figure out why. If it's something I can fix, I will try the show again next year. If I do a show twice with poor results both times; I mark that show off my list.

So that's my list of finding good shows. Anyone have anything they want to add to it?

Worktable Wednesday

2008-09-24T09:59:00.000-04:00

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You get another look at my messy worktable. Hey, isn't a messy work space a sign of genius? Well that's my story & I'm sticking to it!

Below you will find parts of my cute little snowman ornaments being made.

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-09-23T11:08:00.002-04:00

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One of my favorite times of week is here. Time to bring you more free business resources.

Here we go. The first one is Nameboy.com This is a great place to come up with domain name ideas. You put in one or two keywords and this site will give you multiple suggestions of domain names you can use, that haven't been taken yet. Great tool

The second one is Pingler.com which is a great resource to ping your blogs and websites for more traffic.

Then we have Edicy.com which is a great resource for the total newbie who wants to build a nice looking website but doesn't have a clue as to how. This is an easy to use resource that will help you do that.

I have decided to add an actual business tip each week too along with the reource sites. The first tip comes from the MMP seminar I was just at over the weekend. It comes from our wonderful keynote speaker Lena West of Xynomedia.com . One of her key phrases is to go ugly early. What she means is don't wait until everything is perfect to start your business or put out a new product or whatever. Everything has a learning curve and you will learn much faster if you put yourself out there & as Nike says "Just Do It". If you wait til everything is just perfect, you probably will never do it at all.
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday

2008-09-21T23:13:00.012-04:00

I'm back from the Make Mine Pink Retreat in Williamsburg, VA. I'm tired & I have a mountain of stuff to catch up on but it was totally worth it. We learned so much from the speakers. It was wonderful to get to know my MMP sisters and to put faces with names. They fed us constantly & the food was wonderful! It was just a great time that I will remember forever!

I don't have that many pics since we were told we will be getting the ones the photographer took but I did get a few. And here they are:

A B C

D E

A- Francie from The Scented Cottage

B-Gail from Gail Friends Designs

C-Janet from Janet's Creative Pillows

D-Shell from The Raspberry Rabbits (Isn't she adorable?)

E- Lena West from Xynomedia Technology (she was our fantastic keynote speaker)

I wish everyone could have been there!

Cathy

www.cathyscreations.com

Make Mine Pink Friday

2008-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

I don't have any offerings for this week's Make Mine Pink Friday because I'm off to the Make Mine Pink Retreat in Williamsburg, VA! It should be a weekend of fun, networking, chocolate, and some serious business learning! I'm really looking forward to it, I'll give a report when I get home.

Cathy

www.cathyscreations.com

Ramblings About Finance and Accounting. UGH!

2008-09-18T10:26:00.006-04:00

So sorry I missed Worktable Wednesday yesterday. I spent the day doing accounting and taxes in Quickbooks. I didn't think that would make an interesting picture so I just skipped it.

Like most people, I really dread doing the financial paperwork that comes with a business but it sure feels good when it's all done. At least it's done til next month when you have to do it again. Ugh.

It's funny, being a creative person, I never enjoyed accounting and finances, but in every J.O.B. I have ever had, it had to do with money and accounting. And I kind of liked it when it was dealing with someone else's money. And I was getting paid to do it. When it's your own, it's just a necessary evil that you get nothing out of except to keep the IRS off your back. I look at the stack of orders I have, and the 4 big shows I have coming up in the next few months. Those are income producing activities. And they are FUN. That's what I want to be concentrating on. But Uncle Sam wants a piece of me too so I have to obey him. And it is really good to know where I stand financially and of course, I have to pay bills.

Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time, knows that I love my organization systems. Well this is an area, I am sorely lacking. I guess I keep putting off putting a good system in place because A- I haven't found anything that really works for me and B-I'm a procrastinator and haven't really looked into finding a system that works for me.

But since it's a necessary evil that won't go away (what's that saying about death and taxes?) it's time to develop a good personal and business financial system.

So does anyone have any advice for me? What works for you and is the least painful to implement? I'm open to any and all suggestions! PLEASE!!! Help a finance-a-phobe out. Uncle Sam & I will be forever grateful.
Cathy
www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-09-16T06:00:00.002-04:00

So all you ready for another Small Business Tips Tuesday? I got enough positive feedback about it to decide to keep it. I'm glad actually, since I enjoy doing these for you :)

First is just for Blogspot Bloggers (sorry wordpress, typepad, etc.). Did you know you can make your own slide show for your Blogger? Cool Huh? Click here for the link.

The next one is a new Photo Shop comparable program called Get Paint I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's good.

The last is called Snafu and it's used to find those pesky broken links on your site.

That's it for this week. If you come across a cool link you would like for me to add, please email me at cathy@cathyscreations.com

http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Show and Tell Monday

2008-09-14T11:14:00.005-04:00

It's that wonderful time of week again. It's Show and Tell Monday. My first offering is a Patriotic Map with a candy cane border. Cute huh?

My second ornament has a little story behind it. When I worked in an office, my best friend there and I would sometimes whine about our lives, the work, the problems we were having with our teenagers,etc. When it would get to a point, one of us would look at the other and say "Time to put your big girl panties on and deal". It always got a chuckle and gave us the fortitude to carry on.
A few days ago, Andie from Brown Bee Studio was on twitter and said the same thing. I thought that it would make a cute ornament. So I made one. I keep it hanging on my wall to remind me to be an adult when I want to act like a brat.

Sorry again about the photgraphy.

Cathy

http://www.cathyscreations.com/

Make Mine Pink Friday

2008-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

I love this time of year! School starting, the air getting cool and crisp, and all the colors and smells of Autumn. Our theme at Make Mine Pink this week is "Harvest Home". To see what I have on sale, click here.

Below is one of the pumpkin pins you will find on my site that I showed you in progress on Wed.

10 Frugal Food Organization Tips-Part 2

2008-09-11T06:00:00.002-04:00

Here's my 2nd in a series on Frugal Food Organization tips. Hope yall glean something you can use from it.

1-When I get home from the grocery store ( I may sometimes wait a few hours if I'm tired), I do some prep work with my meat. I will go ahead and marinate steaks, roasts, cut beef and marinate for shish-ka-bobs, and shape hamburger patties. Then I freeze them in freezer bags and label with contents and date, or plastic containers and label with a piece of tape on the container. If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll go ahead and cook up a pot of chicken and shred and freeze (save the broth) or fry up hamburger for spaghetti sauce, casseroles, etc. and freeze. This really cuts meal prep time on busy nights.

2-Even though I have an automatic ice maker, I keep ice cube trays on hand. I freeze leftover gravy, and broth in them and then place in a freezer bag and label and freeze. Then when you need some for a dish, just pop out what you need. I have even done this with leftover coffee to reheat on another day.

3-My crock pot is my most favorite kitchen appliance. I use it 3-4 times a week. It cuts down on the heat in your kitchen, allows me to prepare meals in the morning and have them ready in the busy late afternoon and is so easy to use. Very little mess with 1 pot, and everything tastes great cooked in it.

4-I am the child of older parents who grew up in the depression era. My dad had something yummy that he made about once a month that we called "Dad Soup". He would save leftover meat, gravy, veggies, pasta, rice, whatever, through out the month. He would put these in a large margarine container or two in the freezer. Then once a month, he would put it all in a big pot, add a little tomato or V-8 juice and cook all day. It was always so good and virtually a free meal. I do it today and although mine isn't as good as Dad's, it's still pretty yummy.

5-From the time my kids were little, I would get try to get my kids to help me fix dinner when they would. When they got to be around 10 or so, I instituted a kids meal night. They had to choose the meal & put the ingredients up on my grocery list. They had to cook and clean up. It taught them the art of how to plan and implement meal preparation and gave me a night off.

6-When I do make casseroles, stews, meatloaf, etc. I will often double the recipe and freeze the other meal. That way, I can just whip it out of the freezer on days I know I will be too busy or too tired to cook.

7-I try to have at least one night a week as a vegetarian meal. If it were up to me, I would eat vegetarian almost every night but my kids like meat. So we do the vegetarian thing one night a week. I have found some kid friendly veggie recipes over the years that they like. It's healthier for all of us, and cheaper too.

8-I live in a high humidity area and was tired of having my salt get all hard in the salt shaker. I took a tip from the restaurants around here & add about 1/2 teaspoon of uncooked rice grains into the salt shaker. Keeps the salt from hardening.

9-I don't hand wash my dishes too often since I have a dishwasher but when I do, I add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to the dish water. It cleans the dishes better and is great for your hands.

10-Since I do use my dishwasher, I have set it to the air dry setting instead of the heat dry setting. That alone, saves about $30 off my electricity bill.

Ok, let me know if you have any good house hold tips. I love trying them out.

Worktable Wednesday

2008-09-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

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I have some cute little pink pumpkins I'm playing around with on my work table this week. My friend Francie from The Scented Cottage gave me the idea. On Friday, the theme at Make Mine Pink will be Harvest and I have several things I plan to put on sale that day. But I thought it might be fun to have a few pink things too such as these pink pumpkin pins. Here's what I have so far:

What do you think? I'm making some round ones too.

www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-09-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

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Ok, it's time for a small business tips Tuesday but first I have a question. I have noticed that I get very few comments on Tuesdays. So my question is, do you want me to continue with Small Business Tips Tuesday? Are any of you getting anything out of it? Comment and let me know so I will know how to decide whether to continue it or not.

On to this week's resources. This site I-Education has lots of videos on how to start an internet business. And I love the speaker's accent.

The second site is The Cutest Blog on the Block which is a great resource for blog how-tos, blog accessories and free backgrounds.

The third source is another one that an be used for personal or business. It's an online countdown timer called Timber frog. I use it to limit myself in reading emails, playing games, reading blogs or to work for a certain amount of time until I take a break.

Ok, that's it for this week. Enjoy. And let me know if we should keep the business tips Tuesday or nix it.

www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday

2008-09-08T01:30:00.000-04:00

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It's that wonderful time of week again. Time for Show and Tell Monday. This week I'm showing you a few more of my new oraments.

First is my angel ornament. Remember the old Jimmy Stewart classic? You can get her in light or dark skin. As a side note, any of ornies that have people on them can have dark skin if you prefer. Just request it.

The other ornament is my buddy bears. I made these in mind for best friends but they can be any combo of boy bears with a bow tie and girl bears with a bow in her hair.

Ok, so that's it. Comment and let me know if you like them or not. Sorry for the poor quality on the angel ornies. Photography is not my forte. I hope to change that as I am going to the Make Mine Pink Retreat in a few weeks and there is a photography expert there to teach us. Also I may have a professional who will be taking some pictures for me soon. Cross your fingers that it works out!

www.cathyscreations.com

10 Frugal Food Organization Tips-Part 1

2008-09-07T06:00:00.004-04:00

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This is my second set of tips in my series on frugal living and part 1 for food organization. These tips are things I have learned over the last 30 years of homemaking.

1-Take a few days to make up a master grocery list. As you think of things you buy, write them down. When you can't think of anything else, you can organize it any way you want (food categories, alphabetically). You can make copies of this and put one on the fridge. Just put a check mark by something when you find you need to buy it. You can take the list with you when grocery shopping and replace with a fresh one.

2-Make another list. This is your Master Meal List. You can do one for each meal (brakfast, lunch, dinner) if you want but I just do one for dinners. Try to get a month's worth of dinners down. I put these in seperate categories: beef, chicken, pasta, vegetarian, etc. This may take you a day or two to come up with too.

3-I go every other week to do my main grocery shopping. I look at my meal list and pick 2 week's worth of dinners and check off the ingredients I will need off my grocery list.

4-The alternate weeks, I'll go pick up just the few perishables or things we have run out of. Also if any new great sales come up that week, I'll pick up those items. Takes just a few minutes.

5-I check my grocery store circulars when making my lists and develop meal plans according to what is on sale. You can also look online to check your local circulars if you do not get the newspaper. Just do a google search.

6-It goes without saying to use coupons. I have saved as much as $70 on a $300 bill (that was for 2 households-mine & my parents for 2 weeks) with coupons. I will often use a coupon to try a different brand of something I use to see if I like it. It's great when you have a coupon for something already on sale. You can sometimes get things for free this way.

7-I always stock up on meat & freeze it when it's on sale. I'll do that with everything as long as it won't go to waste (perishables that can not be frozen).

8-Some people have set nights for set meals such as Monday-pasta night, Tuesday-beef roast night, etc. I do that for several days a week but the rest of the week is pretty flexible. I have a list I made when making my grocery list of the dinners we will have for the next 2 weeks. I just mark it off when I cook one. That way, there's no wondering what to have for dinner. My choices are on my list on the fridge.

9-This is probably common knowlege but don't go grocery shopping when hungry. I guarantee you will buy more impulse items if you do.

10-Also try not to take the kids with you. If you have no choice, give them jobs to do. Even toddlers can put things in the cart for you. Older kids can go fetch items for you. I'm one of those moms who would buy her kids a small toy or candy at the checkout. BUT it was understood, they only got it if they did their job well and didn't beg me for everything throuh out the store. If they saw a special cereal or something they wanted while shopping, well then that was their prize instead of the toy or candy.

Ok, part 2 will be coming soon:)

www.cathyscreations.com

Smiley Saturday

2008-09-06T06:36:00.001-04:00

Online Lightening
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Another Smiley Saturday. I have had kind of a tough week and Hannah is on her way so it ain't over yet. I had to think awhile this week on what I had to smile about. Normally I have no problem of thinking of "smiley things".

After I thought about it awhile, I realized even during tough times, I still have plenty to smile about! That's what I like about this meme. It's so positive and it forces you to think that way!

I think today I'm just very thankful to be able to work from home. I realized years ago that although I could do it, I just wasn't cut out to work in the corporate world. I am so much happier to work for myself. There are things I do miss about working for an employer (insurance, steady paycheck, comrades) but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm so grateful for this oppurtunity and I know there are thousands, maybe millions of moms who wish they could also work from home. I wish I could encourage them not to give up. Research! Learn! Network! Find your Niche! You can do it girls! I believe in you. After all, if I can, I know anyone can!

www.cathyscreations.com

Organizing Your Christmas Gift Giving

2008-09-05T06:00:00.000-04:00

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Here is an article I put in my newsletter. Since Christmas will be here before you know it. you all might benefit form this.

Organizing Your Christmas Gift Giving

There were many years where because I was so busy during the Fall, I didn't get around to buying Christmas gifts until the week of Christmas. Sometimes even on Christmas Eve! Yikes! Some people seem to enjoy the thrill of the last minute gift hunt. Not me. I hate the stress and the feeling of that constant knot in my stomach! I hate worrying that I won't find what one of my kid's has their heart set on or that I will forget to buy something for someone.

So, as my business grew and I knew the Autumn months were just going to get more and more hectic for me, I decided to put in some organizing systems to help me out. Here is my gift giving system.

Start right after Christmas for the following Christmas. This is a great time to pick up gift wrap, cards and presents very cheaply. I will often pick up generic gift items now such as candles, bath toiletries, small toys, stocking stuffer items etc.

Keep a Gift Giving Notebook (this can be used for any gift giving occasion). In this notebook, you will keep a master list of everyone you buy for. I keep them organized in groups: Immediate Family, Extended Family, Friends, Business Associates, Neighbors, Miscellaneous.

Decide now, what you will spend on gifts this year and even what you plan on spending per person.

For each person, keep a basic list of their size, color preferences, likes and dislikes and make any notes if you hear little hints of what they want. I also write down what and when and the dollar total when I buy something for the person so I won't forget. I keep the receipts in an envelope stapled to the back or sometimes I will include the receipt in with the gift, if the recipient may want to exchange it.

I buy through out the year, whenever I see something that someone on my list would love. Specially if it's at a good price! Don't be afraid to buy online too!

I wrap the gifts as soon as I get home with them. It keeps prying eyes from finding it, and reduces the stress of having a mountain of presents to wrap on Christmas Eve (been there).

As for wrapping. I keep a big plastic bin in the corner of my closet for gift supplies. I have gift bags, tissue, wrapping paper, tags, scissors, tape, and pens. I ten to be frugal so when ever I get a gift bag, or get tissue from boxes that were shipped to me; I throw them in my box. I also will throw other things in there that would make good wrap: pretty fabric, the color funnies from the paper, and interesting containers. I just pull out my gift box when I need to wrap something. I also throw a couple of plastic grocery bags into the box to put the waste in.

I keep another large plastic bin in my closet to hold the gifts. The wrapped ones are tagged and ready to go. The generic ones, I leave unwrapped so I know what they are. I can always slip them in a gift bag at the last minute. I have a friend who uses the top shelf in her linen closet as her gift shelf. It's high to keep the kidlets out and it's a shelf she would seldom use anyway since it is so high. Perfect for a gift shelf.

Worktable Wednesday

2008-09-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

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Hi Blog World! Today is another Worktable Wednesday. I just realized my first show is in a month. Yikes! I thought I had at least 6 weeks or so but time creeps up on you before you realize!

So I am busily working on stock. I decided to first work on my pea pod ornaments. Everyone who sees them in person falls in love with them so I expect they will be a good seller. I know I'm in love with the cute little guys.

Below you will find a picture of a pea pod couple ornament in progress:

www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-09-02T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Ok, are you ready for today's free sites?

Here's a great place to help you develop your elevator speech. I tried it & love it. It's called 15 Second Pitch

The second one is probably something alot of you know but I didn't til a month or so ago so maybe some of yall don't know either. It's called My Live Signatures and it will make some a pretty signture for your emails, blogs and forums. See mine at the bottom of this post?

The last one can be used for personal or business. If you are trying to hone your writing skills and get those creative juices flowing, this site will help. It's alot of fun. They give you one word and you have one minute to write a story about it. You aren't supposed to think about it. Just let the words flow. You will be surprised at what you can come up with. It's called One Word

Enjoy!

www.cathyscreations.com

Show and Tell Monday

2008-09-01T06:00:00.002-04:00

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I'm just about done showing you my new prototypes. I'll have a few next Monday but that will probably be it for the rest of the year. Now is the time when I really have to build up lots of stock for the busy Fall and craft show season.

The first one I showed you a few weeks ago. Remember the palm tree (scroll down to Aug. 11th)? I decided to lose the lights and add little personalized starfish instead. I also added a few coconuts. Do you like this one better or the first one? Please leave a comment and let me know!

If you'd like to buy this fun ornie, you can have up to 12 names (starfish) on it, click here

The next one is my hanging snowman ornament. I really like this one, hope yall do too. Let me know what you think. This ornament can hold up to 16 snowman faces/names. If you are interested in purchasing it, you can find it
here

So I'd love some feedback. Let me know what you think of my 2 new ornies!

www.cathyscreations.com

Fitting In..It's Not Just for Kids

2008-08-31T07:00:00.000-04:00

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I don't know about your high school life, but mine was bitter sweet. I had plenty of friends but I never felt like I belonged to any particular group. There were the brainiacs, the jocks, the losers, the "In" crowd. I didn't fit in any of those groups. I wish there had been an artist group. Then maybe I would have found a "home". But maybe not. I also didn't feel like I belonged in my family. I was just different than they were. I used to think I was adopted and my real family would come and find me and then I would finally feel loved and accepted. Totally silly since I look just like my dad. No way was I adopted. Just different.

You would think we would outgrow our need to belong to a group as we get older. But nope. We still have that need to identify with others? Why is that? How did that human need get inside us? I'd love to know.

I think those of us who work at home in particular need groups we can belong to and identify with. We are alone all day and feel very isolated. We need that comradeship, and friendship not to mention the benefits from learning from each other and getting feedback.

As an adult, I still struggle with finding a group I can identify with. I thought I had found such a group but I let my guard down and found out that my life is just a little too gritty for them. That's ok. I have felt alone all my life so this is nothing new. Part of me wants to give up and realize that I may just be one of those solitary people who go through life alone. Sounds very dramatic, doesn't it? And it really isn't totally true. I have 4 very good friends in my life. I'm not a total loner. Just like I wasn't in High School. But I don't easily fit into any group.

Maybe that's ok. Maybe I should once and for all, just celebrate my "oddness" or differentness and look at it as it makes me more quirky and interesting. I have been striving to be more positive in my life and this would be the positive way of looking at things. But then there's still that longing of wanting to belong, to identify with others. Will I ever find it? I really don't know. Is there anyone else out there that feels like me? Hey, maybe we can start our own group. The Misfits?

Smiley Saturday

2008-08-30T06:10:00.004-04:00

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This is my first Smiley Saturday meme. Isn't the little guy above just too cute? He makes me smile.

When I was searching for memes to try on the weekends, this one just popped out at me. I strive to live my life being happy and finding the good things in life so this looked right up my alley.

There are so many things that make me smile, I had a hard time deciding what to write about. I decided to post a picture of sweet little Sophie here:

I met this little Bichon in June. She belongs to my best friend Donna. Donna's evil husband Walt took her away from me years ago (just kidding Walt, I love you almost as much as I love Donna & Sophie). I still get to visit her once every few years.

I was born a dog person. I have had dogs all my life and can't imagine a life without dogs. Donna, however was never much of a dog person. Until Sophie came into her life. This little ball of fluff is non stop energy and fun. She is so loving. I would bet my last dollar that this little pup could melt the heart of the most hardened criminal. She is just so funny to watch.

One of the things she does, is to get under low chairs and then she slowly "stalks" some imaginary prey. Once she pounces on it, she comes out, shakes herself off and goes back to her usual Sophieness.

Sophie, sweetie, you make me smile :)

If you would like to see where this meme originated and see more Saturday Smileys, go to Lightening Online

www.cathyscreations.com

Make Mine Pink Friday

2008-08-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

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This week over at Make Mine Pink is "This is a few of my favorite things" Friday. Remember that old Sound of Music song? I have picked my favorite things that I love to make.

You can check out my favorite things here

www.cathyscreations.com

7 Things I Want My Son to Know About Women

2008-08-28T06:00:00.006-04:00

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This week my son has been out of town visiting his cousins. He has done that a lot of times before but this time it got me to thinking about how grown up he is. He's almost 18, he's a big guy, well over 6 feet tall. And he's a great kid.

While I was basking in what a wonderful young man he has turned out to be, I started thinking about what else did he need to know before he ventures out into manhood. There are a lot of things he will need to know that I can't teach him. A lot of things that life itself will teach him. But is there anything else I can teach him?

I always said I was not only raising a man, I was raising a husband. My son can cook better than I can. He knows how to do house cleaning. I do need to work on laundry skills with him but that's another story.

On a deeper level, though I wonder if he understands and knows how to treat women. The obvious answer would be yes. I have taught him manners. He has lived with his 2 sisters and myself all his life. He should understand women.

However, women are mysterious creatures. We often expect men to "just know" how we want to be treated. We expect our men to be psychic and in tune to our needs. Frankly a lot of men are not that deep. They aren't walking around all day trying to figure out what their wife is needing at any given moment.

So to finally get to my point, I decided to come up with 7 things I want my son to know about women. Particularly the woman he will be interested in romantically.

1-Be her friend. I can not tell you how many times when I was young and in the dating world that the guy I dated would just be after one thing. It felt like a constant wrestling match. I wanted someone to get to know me as a friend first. A woman wants to be able to talk to her man as a pal. Of course, he can't and should not replace her girlfriends but there should be more than just hormones between them.

2-Have good manners. Despite women's lib, most women still appreciate having the door opened for them, their chair pulled out, etc. I am not some delicate little southern belle. I have been known to hold doors open for men. It's just common courtesy. Manners mean a lot no matter what gender is performing them.
An example of what I mean. Last week, I had a business luncheon with a very nice man who had atrocious manners. We met at a coffee shop. He went in first & the door practically slammed in my face. We sat down and when the waitress came to take the orders, she looked to me first. But before I could even open my mouth, this man gave his order. The waitress gave me a sympathetic look and I wanted to scream out "he's not mine! This is just a business lunch". Oh, I decided not to business with this man. Can you guess why?

3-Give your lady little surprises from time to time. It does not have to be expensive. A wild flower, a little note where she will find it when you are not around. Just anything that lets her know that you thinking of her and she is special.

4-Don't be a wimp. Women do not respect men who let them walk all over them. I do believe part of the fault here is thanks to Women's Lib (please don't flame me, I'm all for equal rights, I just think in some ways, things are worse thanks to WL). Men aren't sure who or what they are supposed to be. No woman wants a man who lets, or makes (by default) her make all the decisions. I am not saying the man should run over the feelings of the woman either. There is a healthy balance.
An example of what I mean here is most men I have dated will ask "what do you want to do?" I will usually respond, "I don't know what do you want to do?" and so the cycle goes. A better thing for the guy to do is call with an actual plan and say something like "Hey, I was thinking I'd like to see such and such concert. Would you like to go with me? Or do you have something you'd rather do instead?"

5-Giver her honor, respect and be interested and supportive in her accomplishments. I can not tell you how much this means to a woman. A woman wants to feel that her man is behind her and supporting her.
An example of this is recently, a male friend was interested in what I was doing on the web. So I sent him links to my website and blog. He called me later to tell me how proud he was of me and all I had accomplished. I was so touched, that I got a lump in my throat and couldn't answer for a minute. It meant so much to me that he had acknowledged my accomplishments and was proud of me. A little of this will go a long way with your lady!

6-This was touched on in earlier points but let her into your world. And be interested in hers. There's an old Billy Joel song called "Tell her about it". Listen to it. It has good advice.

7-Finally, this goes more for married couples. Do not sit around like a couch potato all day while your wife is taking care of the house, the kids, the pets, probably a job or business and a hundred other things a woman has to deal with on a daily basis. Yes, I know you work hard but I can almost guarantee, she has worked much harder. And then don't wonder why she's not a sex vixen in bed at night. You may have had a chance to rest, but she's exhausted. And since you have done very little to help her all day, do not wonder why she is not willing to do anything for you. The best aphrodisiac is the husband who says "what can I do to help?" or better yet one who can actually see what needs to be done and actually do it without being asked. I know, that may be asking for too much.

One extra tip. Give affection without any sexual conotations attached. A hug, a snuggle, a kiss, a short back rub. Women need and crave affection. Often more than sex. If you give her the affection she needs without expecting anything in return, she will be more apt to feel affection towards you in the way you need it.

Ok, so hopefully this is not too over whelming or controversial. I know this will not apply to all men. There are some wonderful, sensitive men out there who seem to understand women. This is for those who do not understand women and would like to a little better. I think if more men would read this and take it to heart they would find women crawling out of the wood work to be with them! I'm sure there's a list out there for women too but I can only address this from a woman's point of view. So there you have it. My 7 things I want my son (and all men) to know about women.

www.cathyscreations.com

Worktable Wednesday

2008-08-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

I'm going to take a page from my pal Ginny Baker at Designs By Ginny Baker and make today a Worktable Wednesday. Here's a few very simple, new designs I just finished:

Lip ornaments , these have my daughters name on them. You can order them here

Badge ornaments for police, firefighters, etc. You can purchase it here

And in case you miss the usual Animal Wednesday I have, this picture cracked me up:

www.cathyscreations.com

Small Business Tip Tuesday

2008-08-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

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Here we go again. More business resources for you:)

The first one is the PayPal Fee Calculator I have used this & it works great. Totally cool!

Next is Submit Express which will analyze the meta tags on our website.

Finally is Family Calender from Cozi. Great to keep your family and business organized!

Ok, I appreciate your feedback. Let me know what you think of these resources.

Show and Tell Monday

2008-08-25T06:00:00.002-04:00

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Well I've been a busy little bee finishing up my prototypes. I still have one more ornie to make-a police man badge. But I found a cool cookie cutter online for that so I'm waiting for that to come in before I make that one.

The first one comes from a request from a customer. I think she turned out cute:

The next 2, I put my own name on cos I like them and plan to use them myself :)

A Christmassy flip flop ornament:

Here's a blow dryer ornie in honor of my daughter who is a hair dresser:

I have more but I don't want to over whem yall so I'll add them next Monday.

Anjelah Johnson Nail Salon Video

2008-08-24T07:05:00.001-04:00

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This video is so funny and rings true (judging by my last trip to nail salon):

Getting ill at a Caddy Dealership

2008-08-23T07:00:00.002-04:00

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Today was a hectic day. I picked up my mother early this morning to pick up her Cadillac that was being serviced at the Caddy dealer. Talk about luxury. You drive up under a covered driveway and a well dressed adorable 25 year old cutie pie comes out to talk to you. If you do go into the service center, there are complimentary cookies (Pepperidge Farms!) and coffee for your pleasure. Of course you pay for all the luxury. My mother's bill came to about $1100. Sheesh! I thought she had been taken til I heard another lady say her bill was $1500. So they overcharge everyone because they figure if you are driving a Caddy, you are probably loaded.

Anyway I did need to go pay the cashier while they were getting the car. While I was paying her, a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I manage to hold it back until I got outside & then I managed to throw up all over their nice pretty potted plant encrusted driveway. I was mortified! Someone would have to hose that off or the next customer would have a nasty little surprise when they stepped out of the car.
After my uh little episode, an attendant immediately ran out to check on me and offer me water. I was so embarrassed, I assured him I was ok, got in the car & left. My mom was worried too. But I think it was just too much tea on an empty stomach. Sometimes caffeine on an empty stomach will do that to me. Well, I got a free breakfast at Denny's out all of this. My mother wanted to make sure I was ok, and had something on my stomach.

The rest of the day was busy with running kids to and from their jobs, running errands and grocery shopping. I felt fine.

I know it's weird, but one of the fun little things I do is try to find a lesson, a positive message or something fun or funny out of every experience I have. It helps me to grow as a person.

So, what could I take from the nausea experience? Well, for starters, I need to quit drinking anything with caffeine before I eat something. But what else? Hmmmm. Well, I wonder, would I have been mortified about throwing up if it had happened in a used car lot? Actually I probably would but maybe not quite as humiliated. I wonder if I would have gotten the same attention though? Would I have been as embarrassed if I threw up in a junk yard? Probably not. But that's because I doubt anyone would even notice or care there. So what's the lesson here? You know I'm not really sure but I feel a lesson is in there somewhere. Let me know if any of you have figure it out.

Friday Funnies

2008-08-22T06:30:00.000-04:00

What can you learn from a baby?

2008-08-20T21:19:00.005-04:00

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The other day I was in a fast food restaurant eating my grilled chicken salad & trying to read a magazine. There was a young mother nearby with a bevy of restless little boys around her. It was obvious they were all hers, they all looked like her. The oldest looked to be about 8 & the youngest just a baby of about a year.

The youngest became so restless and squirmy, his mother finally let him out of his high chair & asked the oldest boy, who had finished eating, to watch the baby while she and the other 2 boys finished their meal.

Now my kids will always be my babies but physically they are all grown up at 23, 20 & 17. I remember those days of having little rug rats under foot and all the milestones they go through while on their journey to adulthood.

I became fascinated watching this little guy. He was just learning to walk. He would push himself off the ground, wobble a little on his unsteady feet, and take a step or two. The look of joy and pride on his face that he was doing it was so fun to watch. But then, guess what happened? He fell right on his well padded little bum. I know it couldn't have hurt too much. I think it hurt his pride more than his bottom. he cried like his little heart would break for about 20 seconds and then he stopped. Almost as fast as he started. Then, he got back up on his chubby little legs and toddled again.

It only took a few seconds before that aha moment hit me. I realized there was something I could learn from this baby. Something we all could learn. Something we probably all knew at one time. Many of us have lost this life skill over many years of having life throw too many curve balls at us.

This baby didn't give up. He lives fully in every moment he is alive. He experiences pure joy at his accomplishments. He's not thinking about what time mommy is going to put him down for a nap, nor is holding a grudge because his brother took his toy that morning. No, he's just living in the moment and enjoying the pure joy of doing what he set out to do.

Next, he experienced a let down. Literally and figuratively. He fell down. He didn't bury that disappointment deep in the pit of his stomach. He didn't blame every one else. He didn't go into a depressed state and feel sorry for himself. He felt the emotion fully for a minute and then he got over it. I'm thinking if he hadn't invested himself fully in that moment and let himself feel deeply, it would have taken him much longer to get over it.

The last really intelligent thing this little guy did was he got back up! He got over the sorrow & then he tried again. How many of us when something does not work out, decided: "Well that's it. That did not work so I am not putting myself out there and trying that again!" Hey if we all had that attitude as babies, we would all still be crawling around the floor.

So there you have it. Even as an adult, we can still learn from the little people around us. Next time I have a set back, I plan to remember that baby and emulate him. And when I fall on my naturally padded bum, I plan to have a good cry for a few minutes, and then I am going to get up and try again!

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-08-19T10:46:00.002-04:00

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Time for another Business Tip Tuesday. Sorry I missed Show & Tell Monday. Personal stuff came up.
Now for my new resources for today:
Did you know you can get Quickbooks for your office for free? Ir doesn't quite have all the bells & whistles that the paid version has but for us solo entrepreneurs, it does the job and is easy to use. Here's the link: Free Quickbooks
The next one is for those of you who like me, struggle making a business plan. This site has free business plan templates: Bplans.com
The last resource is more for your personal life. It's for those of us who don't have a handy auto mechanic in our lives to help us keep our cars up. It's called
Ask Patty
Ok, so hope these can be of use to you. Have a great Tuesday!

We Do Have The Key!

2008-08-16T07:00:00.002-04:00

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"Often times it happens, we live our lives in chains. And we never even know we have the key" from Already Gone by The Eagles

As I was out running errands the other day, the Eagles song "Already Gone" came on. Now I don't know how many times over the last 35 years (yikes, showing my age here) I have heard that song. For some reason this time, the phrase "often times it happens, we live our lives in chains. And we never even know we have the key" jumped out at me. Why haven't I ever noticed that phrase before? I know I must have sung along with that song at least 20 times over the years.

This time it did jump out at me. And I realized how true it is. We have the key to our own life. We have the key to what we will allow in our life and what we reject. We have the key on how much we will compromise our values and desires.

I don't know why but for so many of my 40+ years, I assumed life just happened to us & we had to accept whatever we were given. Because of this belief, my life was a total mess.

I'm not sure if it was a mid life crisis or if I'm just a slow learner, but about a year ago, the light bulb finally went off. This is my life. It's a short life & it's half over! If I don't change things, I will go to my grave with no legacy but tons of regrets, feeling totally empty and like I didn't do what I was put on this earth to do.

I immediately decided that was not going to be my fate. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I was going to change my life. And you know what? I did! It didn't happen overnight. When I look back over the past year, I can see the progress of how my life changed for the better.

The first step is to research. Learn everything you can about adjusting your mind set, thinking positive and changing the core beliefs about life and yourself. I'm not sure I buy into the whole New Age thing with The Secret. But I do agree there is a Law of Attraction. That is a scientific fact. I believe that our minds are very powerful and by adjusting your thoughts and beliefs, you can adjust your life. I believe all this was given to us as a gift from God but so many of us are ignorant about it. Be open to changing your mind set and attitude.

Have I "arrived" yet? No. But I sure am alot further along than I was a year ago. And if I can grow and change my life this fast in just one year, I can't imagine how wonderful it will be in the next year, and the next 5. I now look forward to the future and I have hope. And where there is hope, there is life.
So thank you Eagles. I wish I had paid attention to this song 35 years ago. My life would have been very different.

Friday Funnies

2008-08-15T20:08:00.002-04:00

What's So Special About Personalized Christmas Ornaments?

2008-08-14T06:42:00.000-04:00

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I just had my second article published on Ezine Articles. I really enjoy writing. Anyway, I thought maybe you all might want to read it. It's all about my niche: Personalized Christmas Ornaments.

Have you ever received a gift that touched your heart? What was it about that gift that made you feel that way? Was the gift expensive? Was the gift something you had been wanting? Was the gift something that the giver put a lot of thought into and picked something special just for you?

Personalized Ornaments are not just for Christmas anymore. As an ornament maker for over 15 years, I have had people buy special ornaments for their loved ones and friends year around. For new babies, new graduates, teachers, bus drivers, hair dressers, new mothers or grandmothers, and for newly marrieds or engaged couples are among the occasions that people with give an ornament as a gift. Some ornaments that are not particularly "Christmasy" looking can even be used as small wall hangings. You can buy ornaments for other holidays too such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and 4th of July.

What are the advantages of giving a personalized ornament as a gift?

Well, for starters, they are personal. It's something special, and unique for that person alone. You give that same ornament with the same things written on it to someone else, and odds are that person will not appreciate it. The ornament is personal to the recipient alone. It shows that you thought about the "giftee" and did not just grab anything off the shelf at Walmart.

Another advantage to giving personalized ornaments is that they are relatively inexpensive. Most of them range from $5 to $20. Where else can you get something handcrafted and unique for such a reasonable price?

Where can you find Personalized Christmas ornaments? There was a time when craft shows were the only place they were available. Now, although craft shows are still a good option, you can also find them on the internet, and you can make your own (there are plenty of tutorials, and booklets on this). You can also sometimes find them at mass retailers but you are not going to get something handcrafted there and you are very limited on what personalization you can have on them.

Tradition is a major reason people buy or make personalized Christmas tree ornaments. Something that alot of my customers do is collect personalized Christmas ornaments. They get a new ornament for their kids and/or their family every year. One woman buys every new ornament that I have out that year. Her tree is nothing but personalized ornaments and red glass balls. Really pretty.

Collecting personalized ornaments year after year chronicles the life of your family. You can see when new children were born, special occasions happened and of course there are memories of prior Christmases attached to each ornament.

If you prefer, you and your kids could start a tradition every year of making family members their own personalized ornament. Polymer clay is readily available in craft stores. Home made dough recipes are made from salt and flour, bread, or apple sauce and cinnamon for a fragrant scent. Below is a simple salt dough recipe.

Simple Salt Dough Recipe

2 c. flour

1 c. salt

1 c. water

Store these ornaments in a airtight bag in a cool, dry place away from possible infestation from rodents or bugs. Ornaments that you buy are sometimes made from this type of dough & require the same care but usually they are made from polymer clay or resin, are quite durable and will last pretty much forever.

So take the plunge. Make someone feel special. Or treat yourself. Start new family traditions. You won't regret it!

Mix flour and salt.
Add water, a little at a time and knead until dough is smooth.
Roll out dough and use cookie cutters to create shapes. Or sculpt your ornament free hand.
Make a hole for the hanger with a straw or skewer.
For sculpted ornaments, use wire cutters and cut a paper clip in half. Stick the points of one of the rounded wires from the clip into the ornament and pull out. Dip the points in a white household glue and place back in ornament.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1-2 hours. The thicker the piece, the longer it should bake.Let cool before removing from oven.

You can decorate with acrylic paints, glue on buttons, sequins, ric rac, and sprinkle glitter over wet paint. When dry, seal with an acrylic sealer. Personalize with permanent markers.

Hot cars + Pets= Disaster

2008-08-13T06:12:00.000-04:00

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I have thought about discussing this before on Animal Wednesday but I have been putting it off because of the pain involved. But I saw something today that changed my mind. And if my pain and shame saves one little life, it will be worth it.

Today I took an hour to go get a rare manicure. I don't think I've had a professional one in about 3 years and I felt like treating myself.

When I reached the shopping center parking lot, and got out of my car; I heard pitiful little cries. I looked around and at first saw nothing. But I was not about to give up. So I scanned the cars until I saw a little ball of white fluff in a large expensive car looking at me with soft brown eyes.

Immediately I was transported back in time 20 years ago. The pain still hits me & if I think about it too much, I'll start crying.

A little background. I was born an animal lover. Particularly dogs. My mom says when I was in a baby in a stroller, I would reach out & try to love on every dog I saw. When I was in my early 20's, I was so involved in the dog world that I worked as a Dog Groomer, & I was showing and breeding my 2 beloved Yorkies Ernie & Chassie. Then I married and had 2 girls 3 years apart. My dogs were still my babies and I was still dog crazy. Nothing will ever change that. But now I was immersed with 2 small children, a part time job and household duties too.

As a young family, we could only afford a mobile home in a small trailer court. The lot owners were an elderly couple who did not like kids or animals. So I was always trying to keep my dogs & babies quiet. Not an easy job. Every day at around noon, I would walk the 20 yards behind my house to the mailboxes to get my mail. The mailboxes were right by the elderly's couple house & they tended to sit out on their porch & scowl at me. So I would try to wait to when my kids were napping to get the mail because I sure didn't want to remind these old coots that I had kids. Or animals.

One pleasant day in June, my dogs were particularily "barky". They were small dogs and you know how "yippy" little dogs can be. So when it was time to get the mail & the kids were sleeping, I stuck the dogs in my car so they wouldn't wake up my kids while I took 2 minutes to walk to get my mail. I wasn't worried about the dogs. After all it would just be a few minutes and although it was sunny, it wasn't really hot, just the low 80's. So being the young, stupid, sleep deprived mom I was, I put my dogs in the car (with the windows rolled up so no one would hear them barking) & walked to get the mail. On the way back, one of my neighbors stopped to talk to me for a minute & then I heard my baby cry so I ran in the house to take care of her.

Well, I guess you can see where this is going. I didn't think about my sweet little pups for several hours. When I did, I ran out to find them dead. It was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I was heartbroken and extremely angry with myself for doing something so stupid & being so forgetful. I went through a depression and lost all self esteem and confidence. How could I be trusted to raise 2 little humans if I couldn't even keep my 2 little fur babies alive?

It took awhile to get over it & I don't think I ever will completely. This is also so hard for me to confess and talk about. But I think it's so important because so many people think nothing of leaving their pets, and sometimes (gasp) even their babies, in hot cars while they go do their thing. They may think like I did, that it's not that hot. What they don't realize is that a car will become like a oven in just a few minutes. Your little pup has a FUR COAT on. Your dog can't sweat to cool himself. It doesn't take long to cause brain damage or death.

Please, please, leave your dogs at home if you cannot take them inside with you. I know they like to go for a ride, but it's just not worth it. You don't want to live with the grief and the guilt for the rest of your life like I do.

So, what did I do with the little Maltese in the big Cadillac? There was no way from where the car was parked, to tell what shop the owner had gone into. I decided to wait a few minutes & if the owner didn't show, then I was going to call the police. Fortunately, the owner did come out after a few minutes. An older, obviously wealthy woman. I tried to politely talk to her & to tell her why it was such a bad idea to let her little fluff ball stay in the car like that. I even tried to share my story. But, she stormed off in a huff. Hopefully, even though she was angry, maybe I somehow got through to her after she had a chance to think about it. Hopefully her precious little pup will be important enough for her to think of his welfare first. Hopefully.....

Small Business Tips Tuesday

2008-08-12T06:00:00.001-04:00

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Hey guys and gals! I have some more goodies for you today. Below you will find 3 new (well new to me) resources for you. Hop yall can use them!

The first one is called Poll Daddy. This is a free resource for those of us who would like to put a free poll on our website or blog. I have not tried it yet but I hear it's easy.

The second resource is SEO Digger Here's what the site says it does: Detecting search keywords for which a site is ranked high.
With Seodigger.com you can find out for which keywords your site ranks high enough to be in Google Top 20. You can analyze your own sites as well as sites of your competition, using the information obtained for SEO analysis, building a semantic core, finding out how well is a site optimized for this or that search request, and a lot more.

The third resource is a great site to get press release tips. It's called The Publicity Hound

Ok, well that's it for today. If you have any resources you would like for me to include in next Tuesday's post, please let me know!

Show and Tell Monday

2008-08-11T06:00:00.002-04:00

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I got lots to show you today! First, it was suggested that I do a few beach themed ornaments. Why didn't I think of that? Duh. I live in Virginia Beach. You'd think that would have occurred to me.
Anyway, the first one I did was a flip flop in turquoise & fuschia. Any other color combo suggestions for this?

Then I made a plam tree ornament. Not sure I'm liking this. Don't care for the rectangle shape & it still needs something. A cute little star fish maybe?

After that I thought maybe a cactus ornie for our dessert dwelling friends. I do like this guy.

Last but not least, I did remake my little angel pin. The first version is on the left. The new softer version is on the right. Do you like her better? I think I do.

Ok, so I'd love your opinions on these new creations. Please let me know what you would change, what you like, etc.

Know You Are Loved!

2008-08-10T08:00:00.002-04:00

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I just love this. I got it from Artsy Clay . I don't know who the original author is.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

And always remember....

when life hands you Lemons,

ask for Tequila and Salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars........

You don't always see them,

But you know they are always there.

Whenever one door CLOSES another always opens, even though sometimes it's hell in the hallway.

I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I'm here
than a whole truck load when I'm gone.

I've Been Tagged! 7 Things you Didn't Know About Me

2008-08-08T23:28:00.004-04:00

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I've been tagged! My friend Michelle from Tales from the Raspberry Rabbits has asked me to tell you 7 things about myself that you probably don't know. So here goes:

1-I have 2 famous people in my blood line. The first is Elvis Presley. He's lke a 3rd cousin or something.

2-The other famous guy is Captain John Ratcliffe. If you don't know who is, your kids probably do. Watch Disney's animated movie Pochohantas. They made the villian good old John (he really wasn't a bad guy at all). He was my umpteenth great grandfather & my maiden name was Ratcliffe.

3-I'm double jointed. I can put both legs behind my neck & I often use my feet like hands by picking up stuff with them.

4-My very short first marriage was to my high school Art teacher who was 10 years my senior. Yes, he pursued me when I was in his class. It was the late 70's so it was frowned upon but not forbidden. I didn't marry him til my early 20's.

5-Despite my fair, freckled skin and strawberry blond hair, I have Cherokee blood in me. Also English, Irish, and German. In other words a mutt.

6-When I was a young teen, I got involved with a friend & her mother who were witches. I learned the "art" myself & was surprised to find that the spells I used actually worked. I was scared out of it when weird things happened at my house (my family & neighbors are eye witnesses) such as things flying around the room & a Ouja board that "screamed".

7-I am living my dream. Sort of. As a girl, I pictured my adult life as an artist working from home (check), married to my soul mate (not yet), with 3 boys (I have 1 boy & 2 girls), lots of dogs (check, I have 4) & I would live in a log cabin (it's on my vision board) and drive a cute yellow VW bug that I would affectionately call "Buttercup" (also on my vision board).

Ok, that's it. Now, I'm tagging the following friends:
Ginny from Designs by Ginny Baker
Tishia from Tishia Lee
Angie from Angie Rambles
Patricia from Patrica Rose
Carolyn from

The Odd Sparrow

Silena from The Enchanted Valley Boutique
Carmen from Shweet Doodles

Frugal Work at Home Household Tips

2008-08-07T20:33:00.005-04:00

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I know alot of us moms who stay at home with our kids or are starting our own business at home, are on budgets (sometimes extreme budgets!) Been there, done that, got the T shirt.

I have mentioned before that I'm a new co-host of Frugal WAHM Talk Radio
I really am a frugal work at home mom and as such, I have come up with my own frugal tips over the years.

Below are 10 of them. Please be nice if some of them seem weird or extreme. What can I say? I'm a weird mama.

10 Frugal Tips for the Work at Home Mom

1- I bought the large economy size bottles of shampoo and conditioner with pump tops. I pour half of the liquids into jars & store. Then I add warm water to almost the top & shake to mix. Hair products are often way too thick & you will use too much if you use a squirt bottle. Pump bottles give you more control of the amount and the thinner product that has been mixed with water is actually easier to use.

2-I love the Dawn Foam dish detergent but it's alittle on the expensive size. I found that when you are done with the detergent, you can take the cap off the bottle, refill about 1/3 full with regular dish detergent, mix with warm water, replace top & shake. It will pump out foam just like before for a fraction of the cost!

3-Same with laundry detergent. I have found that using half the detergent, works just as well.

4-If you like using fabric softner sheets, after they have been used; save them for dusting your furiture or wiping off the TV or computer screen.

5-To make liquid fabric softner last longer, you can also dilute this with half water. I also just pour a tiny amount of this diluted softner onto an old washcloth & throw this in the dryer. For a family of 5, I have had a small bottle last over 6 months this way.

6-When my kids were babies, I would save the long, clear bags that come off the newspapers (I also got my family to save theirs) & tuck them in my diaper bag. They make great bags for dirty diapers & are long enough, you can tie off the end to keep the diaper (and smell) in the bag. Now I use them when dog walking for doggy poops.

7-When my jewelry needs cleaning, I get an Efferdent denture tablet from my mom & put it in a bowl of water with the jewelry overnight. In the morning, the jewelry is clean & like new. (Don't use on pearls)

8-Baby wash makes a great makeup remover and is much cheaper (I buy the generic & do the half water trick here too).

9-Bar soap lasts longer if you let it dry outside of it's package for a few weeks. You get a double benefit by putting the unwrapped bar in your linen closet, clothes closet and drawers to make them smell nice.

10-I save all my little slivers of soap in a jar. I do one of two things when I get a "bar of soap's" worth of soap depending on my mood. Sometimes I will wrap a piece of netting & tie it off around the slivers to use in the shower. Sometimes I will put the slivers in a small flat microwave safe container & melt them in the microwave. When they cool, you have a new bar of soap.

And a bonus tip from my partner in crime Angie Wenke, is to go around your house and get together all the products you love. Look on the back of the product & find an email addy or snail mail addy. Write and tell them how much you love their product & ask if they have any coupons available & to be put on their mailing list. Angie says you can get quite a few products this way. She says also to keep track of who you contact & what they send in a small notebook & periodically repeat this process every 6 months or so with new companies.

I have more tips to share so if you are interested, I'll share more in a few days. Happy Frugal Living!

Show and Tell Monday

2008-08-04T17:35:00.003-04:00

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Today I want to share with you something pretty cool I made for the Fall craft shows that I do.

I make and sell personalized Christmas ornaments made from polymer clay. I leave lots of pens out for the customers to write out what names they want personlized on their ornaments, writing out checks, etc.

Inevitably, the pens seem to disappear through out the day. I'm sure no one is stealing them. They probably are just absently putting the pens in their purse thinking that it's theirs since they look like any other ordinary pen.

Today, I bought some silk flowers, floral tape, a bag of stones, and a cheap wide brim vase. I filled the vase with the stones & wrapped a raffia bow around the vase.

I cut the flowers off the stems, leaving a few inches of stem per flower & wrapped the floral tape around the pens & flowers to make the pens look like the stem. Then I placed them in the vase to make a pretty bouquet!

Don't think anyone will mistake these for their own pens! Below is a picture:

Baby Nursery Make Mine Pink Friday

2008-08-01T01:35:00.002-04:00

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Like my new blog header? It matches my website header! It was made by a wonderful fellow Make Mine Pink member who has 2 businesses. There is Business in the Bag where I got this header from & Jorabeels where there are the coolest candy lights. You have to see them to believe them!

Anyway, this week at Make Mine Pink Friday, the theme is Baby Nurseries so my contribution to that is some sweet little personalized baby ornaments. They are great as shower gifts, for your Christmas tree or as small 3 dimensional wall hangings. They are all on sale. You can check them out here.

Here's one of them to give you an idea:

Animal Wednesday

2008-07-30T17:44:00.002-04:00

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Cute Moose Babies Play

This video says it all. It reminds me that moms and babies, no matter human or animal, are basically the same. They love to have fun while mom watches protectively.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Small Business Tuesday...and Other Stuff

2008-07-29T10:58:00.006-04:00

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Ok, so I missed "Show & Tell Monday". But I had a good excuse. Well maybe not so good but it was something I needed. I spent the morning running errands & the afternoon, I went to lunch with a friend and then we went to see the new X Files movie . It was a great movie! It didn't have the government conspiracy junk that the series had which was fine with me. I never cared for that. Unfortunately it didn't have any aliens either which I did kind of like. Still a great movie. I think Chris Carter needed this break from the series to refresh his creativity.

Speaking of creativity. Here is what I wanted to show you yesterday. It's my updated version of my tiny angel pin.

She is 1 1/4" tall & will sell for $6. She's not up on my site yet because I'm not sure I like the face. What do you think, should her face be a little "softer" & not so "cutesey"? Leave me a comment & let me know.

Now for Small Business Tuesday. First of all I'm not sure if I should thank or spank my buddy Angela Wenke of Frugal WAHM Talk Radio for getting me started on EntreCards. This is a fun resource if you have a blog & are looking for traffic. Warning: It's highly addictive & you can waste hours on it before you really notice (been there, done that).

My next resource is 5 Minute Videos
This is a site where you can learn about pratically anything in 5 minutes!

My last resource is Copyscape.com where you can enter your URL & check & see if anyone id stealing anything from your website!

Ok, so ya'll have a great day & don't forget to leave me a comment & let me know if you like this angel's face & if I should change her. Thanks!

Largest Blog Contest Ever

2008-07-27T17:54:00.003-04:00

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This will be just a short post today as I am dealing with a sick mother.

I wanted to let ya'll know about another cool blog contest I found. All you have to do is enter your email addy. Here's the link: Largest Blog Contest Ever

So have a great Sunday (what's left of it) & here's hoping I won't be making a trip to the hospital tonight. My mom wan't go now but she's having breathing problems so we may have to go later. Keep her in your prayers.

Win a Blog Makeover Contest

2008-07-26T13:17:00.004-04:00

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I found out about a cool new contest. If you comment on the blog, you get a wordpress blog makeover. Now I know I'm not using wordpress here but I really want to be able to host my blog on my own domain. And yes, I know blogger allows you to do that but only if the page you are putting it to ends in a .com. No html pathes allowed. And that's how I would need it to be on my site since I don't want my blog on my home page.

To make a long story even longer, I downloaded wordpress but have done nothing with it. So I'm really hoping to win this. If you are interested in checking it out, here's the link:
Win a Blog Makeover

In other news, I am now guest co-hosting on Frual WAHM's Talk Radio. It's on Tuesdays & Thursday mornings at 11:30 EST. Here's a link to my first show: Cathy's Debut

And my final bit of news is that I got my first ezine article published! It's the article on happiness that I wrote on this blog. If you'd like to see the ezine version here's the link: Happiness-Keys to Stay that Way

Ok, so ya'll have a great weekend!

Animal Wednesday

2008-07-23T23:34:00.002-04:00

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see more dog pictures

Because of my deep love of all furry creatures (and some non furry ones too) I am declaring Wednesday on my blog "Animal Wednesday". Isn't this puppy adorable? He's the perfect fur baby to kick off "Animal Wednesday".

Business Tuesdays

2008-07-22T19:05:00.005-04:00

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I've declared Tuesdays as Business Tuesday here on my blog. If I come across something cool for fellow entrepreneurs, I'll share it with you or I'm hoping to interview other amazing women in business in the future.

Today, I have 2 things for you. The first one was an excellent podcast I heard on Blog Talk Radio on Beverly Mahone of Boomer Diva Nation . Her guest on her radio show "Passions" was Donna Cutting who spoke about how small businesses can deliver superior customer service. Very enlightening! Click here to listen to the episode.

The second thing is something that can be used for business or pleasure. I heard it on Stephen Pierce's DT Alpha Talkback show. It's a site called Mygazines .
You can download almost any magazine you want here & read it online for free! I love Stephen's show. He always gives such great resources.

Well, that's all for the sharing of resources. In other news, my son has seemed to settle down so I guess he's over his little teen thing. Thank God.

Not much else going on with me. I'm almost done reorganizing my house. It's been slow going with all my other responsibilities. Now, I'm just wondering how to maintain it. Specially in the Fall when my business gets extremely busy. Any suggestions? Anyone use Flylady?

I'm also coming up with a few new prototype ideas and can't wait to create them in clay. I really should be working on building up stock for the Fall & I will get to it...next week.

Grandma's Little Angels Ornament

2008-07-21T19:03:00.004-04:00

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Here it is almost the end of Monday & I'm just now getting around to Show & Tell Monday. I was so busy today, this is the first chance I have had to sit down. I had what my family lovingly calls "mamaw duty".

My mom is wheel chair bound & does ok on her own for the most part. She needs help getting out & help with household chores which my sister & I do with the help of my kids occasionally. My father died almost a month ago so there's lots of red tape to go through & some days it seems all we do is go from one insurance company, bank, lawyer, etc. to another. It's quite exhausting on me so I can only imagine how hard all this is on a disabled 80 year old lady.

In honor of my mom, I made her a "Grandma's Little Angels Ornament" with the names of her 6 grandkids. If you'd like one for yourself, you can order it here:
Grandma's Little Angel Ornaments

Double whammy of Goodies from Mom's Morning Show

2008-07-18T23:55:00.003-04:00

Today (well actually since it's after midnight, it was yesterday) while listening to one of my favorite podcasts Mom's Morning Show,
Kelly McCausey asked for first time callers to call in to ask a business question. The first caller would win a Burger King gift card worth $10.

Now, although I've listened to this show since the beginning, 80% of the time, it's been on my ipod, not live; so I have never called in before.

So, what does a hungry, small business mom who needs lots of help do? I decided to call in of course. I got some excellent advice from Kelly, Angie Newton and Tishia Lee that I definitely plan to implement. Oh yes, and Tsoniki Crazy Bull gave some good advice in the chat room. So not only did I get great advice, I get to have lunch with the king to boot!

Ok, on another note, anyone want a 17 year old boy? My son Ryan who I normally have a great relationship has been such a pill lately. He's always been such a great kid. Unlike his 2 older sisters, he's never gotten into trouble, he's always helped me do the manly things arond the house I can't get to, and he actually still wants to talk to me other than just wanting something (unlike his sisters most of the time). But pretty much all week, he has tried to constantly pick fights with me. What's up with that?

Here's a "transcript" of our conversation today. I'm doing dishes, he's close by on the computer.
Ryan: "Mom. when are you going back to work?"
Me: "I don't know Ryan. Hopefully never. Why?"
Ryan: "Cos your'e bugging me."
Me: "How am I bugging you? I didn't even say anything. I was just doing the dishes."
Ryan: "I don't know, you just are."
Me: "So, you don't like living in a clean, organized house and have real meals every night?"
Ryan:"mumble, mumble, mumble" while looking sullen.

So I'm hoping this is just a stage.I really miss feeling close to my kids. I'm just starting to feel that way with my oldest Shannon, now that she is an adult and maturing. With my middle daughter April, it's still touch and go. Some days, she loves me, other days she wants nothing to do with me.

So, after pouring my heart out here, anyone got any advice for a mom of a teen aged boy? Here's a pic of Ryan.

Pink Friday!

2008-07-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

http://www.makeminepink.com/pink-friday/

Today I am involved in my first Pink Friday on Make Mine Pink. Our theme this week is gardens. Check out my home page at http://www.cathyscreations.com
to see what I am offering. By the way, my offerings are on sale!

I just heard through the grapevine that Ivillage is offering free classes on Ilearn. They have them on small business, time managment, dieting, weddings and more. I signed up for a marketing class. Here's the link if you are interested:
http://ilearn.ivillage.com/

I am thinking of having one day a week or every other week to interview an amazing woman biz owner or artist/crafter. I have a handful of local friends and loads of online friends I would love to interview. I think we could all learn from them and I'd love to promote their business too! If you are interested, email me at cathy@cathyscreations.com

Lady Hortensia Bugsby

2008-07-16T23:26:00.008-04:00

I'm happy to announce that Theresa of http://cottageviolets.blogspot.com won the "Name the Lady Bug Contest". That cute little pink bug you see to your right is now known as Lady Hortensia Bugsby

Check out the cute limerick under the bug that Theresa wrote! Isn't that adorable?

In other news I have been a forum member for about 3 months in a group called Make Mine Pink. This is a wonderful, warm group of ladies who always support each other & help each other grow our businesses. I have learned so much from them.

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to open my own Little Pink Boutique. I am so glad to become even more enmeshed with this wonderful group and to grow my business even more this year. Click on the big pink logo to the right to visit my boutique.

On a totally different topic, I keep hearing that if you have a business, you should have a Wordpress blog installed on your domain. Now I really like Blogspot. It's easy to use. I've already made my home here. I know you can now install Blogger on your own domain but the problem with that in my case, it would be on my home page since it's my understanding, you can't install it in sub folders. As an ecommerce site, that just won't work. No problem with doing that with Wordpress. But I aldo hear Wordpress isn't as user friendly as Blogger. So there lies my dilemna. Can anyone tell me any other reasons I should (or shouldn't) switch to Wordpress?

Show and Tell Monday

2008-07-14T01:47:00.004-04:00

This is my first Show and Tell Monday! I'm so excited. I've been so busy getting my site moved & getting this blog going, I don't really have any new products.

I will however, post a picture of a sampling of my products. This will give you an idea of what I make. Click on the picture to get a better view.

And you can check out my updated site: www.cathyscreations.com and let me know if you like the new look! I'm still adding product photos so it's still alittle bare there.

I would love to exchange blog links with anyone who'd like too. Just let me know in the comments, & I'll add you to my blog roll.

Why I Love Working From Home!

2008-07-13T18:39:00.004-04:00

See the banner at the right? I feel so blessed to be a work at home mom. Actually for most of my children's lives, I have been one but for the first 10 years, I worked part time at night outside the home as a payroll clerk.

Then I stayed at home full time for 4 years and worked at my craft business. Unfortunately, circumstances forced me to go back to work full time and I did that for 4 years.

Still I loved my business. It's part of me. I was not about to give it up. So for 4 years, I did both. Not an easy task, let me tell you! But I made it work, sometimes on 2-3 hours sleep but I kept at it in the hope that someday I would get back to it full time.

I have to say, though being pulled so many different ways with raising 3 teens, taking care of my elderly, ill parents, taking care of my home, my business and my full time job, my business often suffered. It really stagnated.

Last year, I decided, despite all the obstacles I had, I was going to make it work & build it up so I prayed for guidance from God to show me ways to grow. Almost immediately, I "stumbled" upon different groups, podcasts, forums, etc. that has really helped me to do that! Mom's Morning Show on http://www.momstalkradio.com/ was one of the things that was a great help to me.

This last Spring, I was laid off from my J.O.B. so now I am again officially a WAHM. I'm growing my business by leaps and bounds and am just so happy that I have a second chance at this! I would love to hear your stories of how you came to do this.

Stress Causes Fat?

2008-07-11T22:02:00.006-04:00

Thanks to all your comments about yesterday's post, I have lots to be grateful for! Thanks so much. You made a happy gal even happier.

On another topic, I have come to the conclusion that alot of weight problems are due to stress. Alittle background on me: I was a skinny child & young adult. I didn't put on weight until after each pregnancy. It seemed like the weight I gained just would not come off & I gained more with each child. Then I had a few years where my weight really ballooned & I'm ashamed to admit I got up to 315 pounds. I felt so sick all the time & it was discovered I had hypothyroidism so severe that my thyroid had died. Medication helped me drop some of that weight but I have still struggled with it for years.

The sad thing is, I don't eat that much. I take in an average of about 1500 calories. Now, granted I don't do much exercise either unless you count pushing a wheelchair around & lifting it in & out of a car trunk exercise.

I was in very stressful job that I hated. Along with all the other things I'm dealing with, I was just one big blob of stress. At the end of April, I was laid off along with half my office. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Sure I was a little worried about finances but so far, so good. The added benefit is, that without changing anything else in my life; I have lost 19 pounds since then! So I'm thinking it had to be the stress that was keeping me from losing weight. I do know there is a stress hormone called cortisol that causes us to hold on to fat. Maybe that's it. So, what do you think? Am I off my rocker or do you think it's possible?

Above is me at my heaviest and me taken in May (12 pounds heavier there than I am now). As you can see, I still have a long way to go. But I got to tell you, I'm feeling great. I feel better physically now in my 40's than I did in my 30's.

How to Be Happy

2008-07-10T19:28:00.003-04:00

Today is National Happiness Day. Which got me thinking: Am I happy? Yes, yes I am happy. I haven't always been. I've had some very hard, dark times (hasn't everyone?) and due to overwhelming, ongoing, bad situations in my life, I even got to the point of thinking that if this was going to be my life, I didn't want to hang around this planet any longer. Fortunately I have enough self preservation to do some research on how to change things in my life. Unfortunately there was no way I could change the circumstances at the time but fortunately there were ways to change my attitude towards them.
Some of the things I do to keep happy:

Smile. Simple but effective. It's hard to feel sad when you are smiling.
The first thing I do when I wake up is pray, "God, make me a blessing to someone today & let something good happen to me too!
The second thing I do is list 5 things in my mind that I am grateful for or look forward to that day.
Before I go to bed, I write in my little gratitude notebook, 5 things I am grateful for. Either things that happened that day or things in general (can be as small as "It was sunny today" or "Suzie gave me a compliment today").
I try to meditate for at least 10-30 minutes a day. It really does help to center me.
Look for the good in every situation. I make it my mission to try to find some joy, fun or a learning experience out of every situation I go through, no matter how tough it is.
Realize you only get one shot at this life. Take chances. Squeeze the joy out of life. The older I get, the more I realize life is too short to waste it being miserable.
Try to stay away from negative people. Those you can't stay away from, tune them out. I pretend I have a suit of armor on me when I am around these joy suckers & whatever they say just rolls off the armor and can't penetrate me. Realize that often people are this way because they are so miserable in their own life.
Surround yourself with things, places and people who bring you joy.
Realize that this to shall pass. Just as we have bad times, good times will eventually return.
I keep several positive thinking mantras in my arsenol & whip them out as needed. It does seem to calm me down.
Realize that no matter how hard you try, you will have down times. Hormones, exhaustion, situations or just plain old bad moods will effect all of us at times. I don't beat myself up when I get like this. I try the above methods but if they just don't work, then I decide today is going to be a "pity party for me" day. I over exagerate my misery & play it up. This often makes me realize how silly it is & gets me out of the funk.

I hope this will help someone who struggles with this. Please comment and let me know what you have tried that works for you. I'm always on the look out for new techniques.

Fresh Tomato Salsa Recipe

2008-07-09T21:05:00.004-04:00

My wonderful, sweet dad died 2 weeks ago but his yummy tomatoes that he grew every year, are ripe and ready for picking. The funny thing is, he was too sick to even plant tomatoes this year so these must have come from seeds in the ground from last year's harvest.

Years ago, when I used to get an overwheling crop of tomatoes every year from him; and didn't quite no what to with them; I came up with my own salsa recipe. I thought I would share it with you today in case you have lots of tomatoes too and don't know what to do with them all.

I almost hesitated to share this because I really don't use measurements. I just add according to taste. So I guessed on the basic measurements but I suggest you adjust the ingredients yourself according to your taste preferences.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

3c. ( or more) fresh tomatoes

1 (4.5 oz.) can chop. green chilies

1 c. finely chop. green onions

3 T. lemon juice

1/2 t. dried oregano

1/4 t. black pepper

2 T. dried parsley

1 T. garlic salt

Boil water and drop tomatoes in until skin cracks (usually several minutes). Remove tomatoes, peel skin and chop the tomato. Combine with all other ingredients, stirring well. Adjustingredient amounts according to taste. Cover & refrigerate for 3 hours. Will keep for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Joey's New Haircut

2008-07-09T00:07:00.003-04:00

Here's Joey with his new cut. Doesn't he look snazzy? He has to feel better in the 90 + degree south eastern Virginia heat. The other picture is of him eating his "chewie" I always give my dogs a special treat after making them do something yucky.
In other news, I am diligently working to finish my updated website and hopefully, I can announce it's grand "re-opening" within a day or two.
Odd trivia for today (it's technically Wed. July 9th since it's after midnight!) Today is National Sugar Cookie Day. Now that's a holiday I can get behind & support! Yesterday, the 8th was National Video Game Day. That's a holiday my 17 year old son, Ryan would love.

Day 2, and I'm alittle ADD here with several topics

2008-07-07T21:09:00.007-04:00

There were so many great name suggestions, it's going to be really hard to make a decision! I'm going to have to ponder it a few days before I make the announcement.

I want to thank everyone for the warm welcome to blogging! Now I'm wondering why I never tried this before. It's quite fun!

Today, I'm making crabs. No, not the kind you eat. I'm making tiny little crab buttons for a long time needlework wholesale customer. I enjoy making these little guys. They are very simple & it's sometimes monotonous, but I can really get in a zen like state while making them. I think that's why I enjoy working with clay. It's so relaxing for me! I'd love to know if anyone else feels this way about things you create & if so, what is it that makes you feel that way?

Well, my last thing to tell yall about is my poor little ragmuffin doggie Joey. He's the scruffy looking old guy above this post. At 12, he's the oldest of my 4 dogs and has to be the sweetest dog you could ever meet. He LOVES children, specially babies, loves other animals & is extremely smart. I swear that dog understands everything I say. Joey's occupation has been as a pet therapy dog. We go to nursing homes, disabled adult centers, & hospitals to visit and he absolutely loves doing this. Anyway, this poor guy is badly in need of a haircut. He looks like a big woolly lamb. Tomorrow, is grooming day for Joey so I'll post a picture then of his new look.

In the Beginning....

2008-07-06T18:15:00.003-04:00

Wow, my first post to my new blog. Do you like my cute little pink lady bug? I think I may make her my "mascot". I need a name for her and I'm so not good at coming up with names. If anyone has any ideas of what I should name her, please leave a comment and let me know. If I choose the name you come up with, I'll send you your very own lady bug pin!