Spring IS coming!! Honest.

JUST A REMINDER: Spring arrives in just 25 more days!!!

Proof that there is life after snow!!
Little green shoots were evident in a flower bed at
the Tennessee/Virginia border last week.
Can they be far behind here at home?

Spring DOES arrive (astronomically) at about 11:20 p.m. on March 20. So, if that danged rodent up there in Punxatawney (You know who I'm speaking about, Phil.) was right, this snow should be melting instantaneously and the temps shooting right up there.

I think I'll pull out some of the Spring stock for my Etsy shop today and tomorrow to get us in the mood.

For now, I think I'll cuddle back under this afghan for a little longer.

Yea, Phil ! ! !

Punxatawney Phil predicted an early Spring this morning!! I, for one, can't wait.
As the legend goes, if Phil sees his shadow, we'll have six more weeks of winter. Normally, this ceremony attracts an early morning crowd of 10,000-15,000 onlookers at Gobbler's Knob, located a bit northeast of Pittsburgh. This morning it was 35 degrees and raining. Sleet and snow were forecast. The crowd was small. Most importantly, there wasn't enough sun to form a shadow ! !

So, just how accurate is a groundhog's prediction? Turns out - not very ! He's been right only 39% of the time. Good news is, he's been more accurate when he's predicted an early Spring than a longer winter. His early Spring forecasts have actually come through 47% of the time!! (Incidentally, the National Weather Service only claims a 60% overall accuracy rate and they use all kinds of sophisticated equipment and charts and such.)

Ever wondered how we've all come to ask a groundhog to predict the weather? Seems an old German superstition says that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2 (the Christian holiday of Candlemas) winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, the legend claimed there would come an early Spring. Now, which would you rather disturb - a sleeping bear or a small rodent ?!?

I guess that's why we have come to celebrate Groundhog Day and not Grizzly Bear Day !!

Flowers are bursting out all over!

Spring came to our neighborhood, seemingly overnight this week. After a glorious weekend, we had a fairly cool and damp Monday and Tuesday but it warmed up again when the sun came out on Wednesday. Voila!! By Thursday morning, the flower beds around the corner from home were in full bloom!


Before you get too excited, this is what the blooms look like in my yard:

Not real impressive. In past years, we had a full bed of daffodils in the middle of the yard but when the boys dug up the front yard last summer they dislodged about 300 bulbs. I'll admit, I'm the one who did not get them replanted. They're still sitting in a box in the garage. (Wonder if they'd be any good next year if I planted them now.) So, for the first time in over 30 years, there are no daffodils in my yard (Okay, there are a few strays but VERY few!)

Thursday was such a pretty day that The Big Guy came home from work and announced we should take a picnic to the park. (How convenient. I'd neglected to get anything out for dinner and was scrambling to think up a meal plan!) We packed some drinks and fruit and stopped and got carryout chicken and a loaf of good bread. (Nothing like a lot of prep!)

The park was beautiful and we enjoyed watching a few boats glide in and out of the marina but the air turned chilly fairly quickly so it was a short picnic. Hopefully, just the start of evenings to come.

Sunshine!!!

While I was unable to get online due to internet problems, I spent time working on creating new merchandise, doing things around the house, talking on the phone (with email, it has almost become a lost art), entertaining house guests and, most of all, enjoying some of the great Spring (almost Summer-like weather that we've had).When the temps climbed into the mid-70s under fantastic bright sunshine, we headed for the boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J. Yep, us and everyone else within 100 miles!!! It was mobbed. The bridge was backed up and the even the beach was crowded. It may have been March in New Jersey, but there were bikinis on the beach anyway!!
All in all, it was a great weekend!!! I even got a little sunburn. (No I wasn't one of those wearing a bikini!! The Big Guy did wear shorts, though.)

Hope y'all had a great weekend, too!!!

Daylight Savings Time - We're Springing Forward....

Spring's coming. It really is!!! Time for fresh starts, new growth and pushing forward.

It's been a weekend of catching up with folks through some long phone calls and newsy emails. Maybe everybody is just waking up from winter's hibernation. Spring MUST be on its way - we turned the clocks forward. It was well worth sacrificing an hour's sleep to encourage Spring to get here soon!

I finished up a fair-sized order this weekend and it was picked up today. Good news is, I've got more orders to work on. Business has begun to awaken from its deep winter sleep. (It may have been in a coma as opposed to a nap!)

In the spirit of fresh starts, I think I've created a monster within myself. I reopened my Facebook account that I had closed last June. I've spent a lot of time logging on to see who has responded to my friend invites and actually catching up with some folks that I haven't had a chance to speak with recently. I haven't posted a lot there yet as I'm still getting the hang of it.

Last year, I found too few of my friends and family there and never really learned the gist of the whole thing. Now, many of those folks are on there and have settled in well. At the moment, I only have a regular personal page for friends and family. When I finally get a Fan Page set up for my shop, I'll let y'all know.



Then, when I should have been working on some merchandise or at least getting this blog together, I got into reading the many blogs I follow. It' so easy to get lost in that activity!!! I truly find it relaxing to read what everyone else is up to and commenting to so many.

I'm still working my way through the plan to visit with each and every one of my Followers. While many are already on my blog list, I constantly find new folks to follow. So much chatter, so little time!

I'm beginning to believe Spring IS just around the corner!!

Well, even when the internet doesn't cooperate, life goes on. we still had trouble connecting for most of the weekend. Between attempts to get online, we squeezed in a busy weekend away from the computer.

The weather was fantastic - sunny and in the 50s!!! We had to get out there and enjoy it so we headed off to Amish country on Saturday to wander the back roads and visit the little gift and quilt shops and such. Apparently everybody else in this end of the world felt the same. Our first stop was at the Farmers' Market at Bird In Hand (PA). The place was mobbed!! We did shuffle our way into a seat at one of the lunch counters and had a quick bite accompanied by homemade birch beer (one of my faves!) We headed on down the road toward New Holland and then put in an appearance at the Kitchen Kettle Village Shops in Intercourse. The crowd there was so big, they had men on the parking lot directing visitors to available parking spaces!! I made the mistake of jumping back on the main highway to head toward home and ended up sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic that crawled along just due to the heavy volume. I headed back onto the back roads first chance I got!

There's a little spot near home where folks simply park along the roadway and walk down to the river that flows under the roadway to fish. We laughed Sunday to see the men literally standing shoulder-to-shoulder along the river banks. Those poor fish didn't stand a chance!!! Looked like you needed a ticket just to get close to the edge. The Big Guy has never dropped a line there but judging by the fact that there seems to be somebody fishing there just about all the time (when the river's not frozen!), they must be catching something.

The sunshine and warmth really brightened our moods and lifted our spirits We came home smiling!

The weekend also brought happy news from several angles among family and friends - a much anticipated engagement finally took place and another branch of the clan announced yet another baby coming our way in a few months. Yes, this Spring is definitely bringing some fresh new beginnings.

Hope y'all have finally dug out from under all the white stuff too, and are happily anticipating the coming Springtime !! (These warm sunny days are causing that big mountain of snow in our yard to do an incredible shrinking act each day!)

Working the Shows Wednesday - What shows are you planning to do this year?

Hard to picture that Spring craft show sitting on that field in just a few weeks isn't it? Spring IS coming!! Or, so they say! I'm choosing to believe it. Go ahead, use your imagination!!

I’ve been reading a number of posts, both in blogs and on various craft forums, where the poster has commented that they intend to participate in more craft shows during the coming year. Since “show season” seems a good ways off, most have indicated they “want” to do this, or they “plan to look into” or they’ll be doing shows later in the year.

Well, if they haven’t begun to set up that calendar yet or look into just what shows they plan to do, many will have missed the application deadlines for a lot of the better shows.

Easter is 9 weeks away. Mother’s Day is 14 weeks away. Around these parts, the Mid-Atlantic, and for many other areas of the country, indoor shows try to capitalize on the Easter rush and the outdoor shows and festivals kick into gear for Mother’s Day buying. Many of the Spring and summer shows I am looking at have February deadlines.

In fact, a lot of the better Fall and Christmas holiday shows have deadlines as early as March and April. Now is the time to determine what shows you intend to do throughout the entire year and check into the application process for each of those shows.

I have actually spoken with new crafters who have busily spent months building up stock for the great show they want to do in October (pre-Christmas) only to realize they have not checked into the application process for that show and just assumed they’d sign up in time. When they get around to looking into actually doing the paperwork and paying their fees, they find they’ve missed it by months.

So, if you are one of those PLANNING to do some shows later in the year, now is the time to put together that list, contact the organizers and get the paperwork in.

NOW is also the time to take some great pictures for jurying processes and giving solid thought to booth displays. For more information on both of those subjects, check out some of my previous posts in both the Working the Shows Wednesdays and my Marketing Series archives. (Find these in the side-bar.)

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[I’m not ready to bring this back as a weekly feature yet as we are still in the slow season in the world of arts and crafts shows. However, there are some things happening “back stage” so to speak that I do want to call to folks’ attention. So, for now, this feature will appear on an occasional basis until the show season gets into full swing once again.]

New for Spring --

I really have been producing some new merchandise this week. I'm finally getting a chance to post some pics just to prove it!

I'm calling this one "Big Mouthed Fish" and it is one of the bigger kids and adult sized shirts.

This one is another kid-sized (as opposed to baby-sized) item. It simply reeks "Spring" to me! I'm calling it "The Posies and The Butterfly."

Then, I felt bad for all the baby girls that wouldn't be able to enjoy that Spring-y design, so I altered it a bit to fit a onesie for those tiny gals!

I guess this one might be called "Little Butterfly and Posies."

I hope to get these listed in my Etsy shop within the next couple of days. (I've got more Spring designs drying as we speak. They're really hard to photograph while the paint's wet!)

Spring is coming - flowers are sprouting, at least in my workroom!

"Spring is in the Air" --Okay, I'll grant you, today looks like a COLD Spring, but the daffodil sprouts have broken the ground and there are actually little bumps of buds forming on the trees (if you look verrry closely)! All this made we want to paint flowers yesterday.





I sat down and started to produce some cute little "mini plaques" with catchy sayings and lots of little flowers, hearts and stars to adorn them. I got a little carried away and had turned out at least thirty of these little pieces before taking a break. I'll be adding them to my shop a few at a time over the next week or so.




The first three are garden themed and I plan to list these in the shop later today. Sized at 4"x4" and 5"x3", they'll fit just about anywhere!






At $5 each, these are great for just a little touch of cheer to hang in a small place. I like to keep one near the sink and another near the computer to brighten my day while I work. They make fantastic little "token" gifts for aunts, teachers, neighbors, etc. - anybody whose day can use a little sunshine. They're very lightweight and can even be hung on a bulletin board using a push pin.


***As a "mini special," I'm offering free S & H on these little guys.

THINK SPRING, Y'ALL !!!!!

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http://www.handmadeology.biz/

I"ve been promising to tell you about Handmadeology. Today's the day. Let me start by saying, there's a lot of information on this site and it will take you a while to go through it. I'm still checking it out and learning something new each time I stop in.

The creation of Timothy Adam, "Handmadeology: The Science of Handmade" is designed for anyone looking to sell handmade goods online. If you are new to selling online, Tim can take you by the hand and guide you step-by-step with easy to follow instructions and suggestions to get you up and running in an efficient and, hopefully, successful way. If you've been out there marketing online for a while, Tim has a myriad of suggestions and tips for refining your site, finetuning your promotional efforts and optimizing your sales.

Many of us are familiar with Timothy Adam from his great helpful and informative comments in the various craft related forums and the tutorials he's known for creating. For those who have never stumbled upon his words of wisdom, he's a metal artist who makes his living selling online. After opening a shop on Etsy in March of 2007, Tim began a blog in July that year journaling about his online selling experiences. It quickly became the place for fellow crafters and artists to study and learn online marketing techniques.

At Handmadeology, Tim has created a central directory of dozens of tutorials for dealing with Etsy, Artfire, Twitter, Facebook, etc. If you don't take time to check it out, you are limiting yourself and your sales.

WARNING: Have a comfy seat and a beverage handy. You'll want to stay awhile when you stop in to look at this site!

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So, go out there and be creative today!!!