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Love is in the Air....

2011-02-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhhhhh...........the wait is finally over! The Feb/Mar issue of ReadySetCreate is now available for you to purchase (right here) and it's FULL of great ideas to show how much you love your special ones. I was shocked and thrilled to find my stamps being featured on the lovely little tray right on the front cover!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How exciting is that!?!

Originally, I had only included the Dapper Daydreams stamp on the left, but Monica had the idea for this darling little tray and asked if the lonely little guy had a girl companion stamp. I got to work on one right away and she turned out lovely, don't you think? Here's a close up of her as seen in the shop:

(Pardon the pinkness of the carving material. I had some issues recently with my product supply so I had to resort to a back up of "the pink stuff". It carves more easily, but I am particularly fond of the whiteness of my regular carving medium. No offense, pink stuff.)

Well, I've been a busy little carver over here as of late and have a few new designs to add to the shop this week. Here's a sneak peek at them before they get listed:

First, there's "Heart Strings"

this little guy is "Love Bug"

here are a couple more "made for you" pals; milk and cookie and needle and thread

and these two are my new favorites!

I also have a couple design ideas in the works to be carved this week. You'll likely see them listed next week, but here's a little sneak peek at those as well:

a couple different mugs inspired by my morning hot tea and occasional cocoa :)

and for the boys.................

Alrighty, there you have it. I am off to clean house and pack more orders. Have a wonderful day!

A New Year.....a fresh start.

2011-01-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

My goodness, how time flies. I finished out the last few months of 2010 being more busy than I imagined I would, but it was all good.

I hooked up with my friend Kari from KLS Reflections and participated in a few holiday markets where I enjoyed meeting some new fellow crafters and admiring their wares, discussing business, marketing, blogs and websites as well as making plans for the holiday season of 2011. I was nervous going into it having only taken part in one other business fair last summer, but I really enjoyed hanging out with the other ladies involved and chatting about handmade goodness.

Something about the end of one year and the beginning of a brand new one make us reflect on what has transpired and what we would like to change. A new year is like a clean slate. A fresh start. A chance to experiment with new ideas and make any adjustments you see fit.

Looking back on lemonade sun over the last year, I can think of a few things I would like to adjust:
I would like to blog more regularly.
I would like to take part in more bazaars, craft fairs and holiday markets.
I would like to develop my brand a little more specifically. (Maybe not have such a wide variety of items in the shop...maybe I'll create another shop....hmm)
I would like to work ahead and release items on a more timely basis.
I would like to streamline my studio space to make working more productive and less like juggling.
I would like to launch a website for the business.
I would like to establish Longjohn's Paperie as it's own entity.

I know. It looks like a big list of changes to me too, but I'm putting a plan into motion that I'm hoping will help me take little bites out of this huge list at a time so it's manageable and I don't lose heart because I feel overwhelmed (which I have done in the past). It's going to take a LOT of work, but it's like one of my favorite quotes says:

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison

Now, some of you might remember that I told you all about the online magazine, ReadySetCreate, wanting to feature some of my stamps in their Dec/Jan issue. Well, I was so busy that I missed the mail out date for sending my stamps in time for them to create their items for that particular issue, but they asked if I would be interested in sending some for their Feb/Mar issue. No problem! I packed up some of my cute little valentine themed stamps and a couple new designs for them to choose from.

One of the design team members got my "Dapper Daydream" guy and immediately asked if he had a female companion stamp. I told her not to worry. He would soon! After a few quick sketches, I was thrilled with this little lady and called her "Lovely Daydream" (I had to use a different carving material as my normal white sort had been all used up) :

I can't wait to see what they do with my stamps. I will be sure to post a link to the issue here so you can check it out if you are interested. Each issue costs $4 and is jammed full of creative ideas and layouts.

Life Happens...

2010-10-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like everything is in a fog? Like your life is one big blur? That's how I've been feeling for the last two months. It can be extremely frustrating to an artist. Despite all my brainstorming, I have not been able to focus on the business because life keeps getting in the way. I don't know how single moms or other successful working moms do it every day. How do they balance work and family and have enough time to get anything accomplished? It is often a mystery to me.

My children are growing up quickly (my oldest is a freshman this year....wow!...and I have one in 8th grade, one in 5th and one in 1st) and I don't want to miss any milestones in their lives. For me, that means I have to let the business sort of float along on itself while I attend soccer and volleyball games, band concerts, make an endless supply of lunches, accompany classes on field trips to pumpkin patches, help 1st graders learn how to read, coach a brilliant freshman through geometry, encourage an 8th grader to become more self-reliant and responsible, assure a blossoming 5th grader that she is beautiful and be there every day after school to help them all recover from their exhausting day. That often doesn't leave much time for me to focus on my vision for a business, but honestly, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It IS difficult and frustrating, but I have to keep my perspectives in order. My children need a Mom who is there...completely.

So, if you've been wondering what's new with lemonade sun productions, or you've been concerned that I've fallen off the grid, you can rest assured that while I may be off the grid it just means I'm probably on the field cheering for one of my children. I am still here and I am working in the background when I can steal away a few moments (usually late, late at night when the rest of the house is asleep) to focus on my little business.

I guess this is how it is done. At least for now.

Things looking a little different?

2010-08-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. I've changed the blog layout again. I guess you could say it's one of those "it's what I do" moments. Like rearranging my furniture in the house about every 4-5 months. I haven't found a blog template I'm totally in love with yet so I keep rearranging things and trying on different looks hoping I will one day run across the one that really fits the look and feel of the business. I'm sorry if this causes shivers to run up the spines of those of you who are resistant to change. I say embrace change. It's a good thing.

So........tell me what you think about this template...................

Ready, Set, Create!

2010-07-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Well, things have been hopping in the shop lately. I think I've had my busiest month since I opened shop on Etsy a year and a half ago! Whew! I have enjoyed working with some lovely new customers on several custom stamps like these:

two stamps for astorastilbe on Etsy

I loved carving this lovely teacup design drawn by Anna Taylor and creating this custom stamp made for her sister Ellie who weaves beautiful pine needle baskets and wanted something to use for tags so she could sell them.

I also had my first ever request for a t-shirt graphic! Eek! Miss Beth (soon to be a Mrs.) asked me if she could use my pbj forever stamp as a logo to put on t-shirts to use as wedding favors for her guests. After quite a learning curve and lots of adjustments, I was able to create the graphic for her.

Here's how it turned out:

I am super excited to see how the finished shirts turn out! She's planning on printing the ladies shirts on pink and the mens on light brown. {ahhh perfection} Beth says she will send me a picture of them so I can see and I'll be sure to share it with all of you! Hmmm.....that got me thinking about whether or not to make shirts and sell them in my Etsy shop. I have a friend, (hi Curt!) who owns Newell Ink, a local screen printing business who could make them for me if I so desired. I think I need to think about it a little more before jumping into it, but that could very well be something you might find in the shop someday. What do you think about that?

The most exciting thing that's happened this month is when I found this convo in my Etsy mailbox yesterday:
{I copied it right from my mailbox for you to read with your own eyes :) }

by JenniferRSC profile shop contact

Ready-Set-Create
For the Creative Spirit in YOU!
949 South Avenue B, Yuma, AZ 85364

Hello! I am Jennifer Bliss, a Creative Team Sponsor Coordinator for Ready-Set-Create online magazine. 2011 marks our 8th year of publication and we would love to have our Creative Team design using your products! Please let me know if it's something you would be interested in. I am providing links to a sample issue for you to look through! RSC has been around for 8 years and we take pride on presenting the top products to paper crafters, stampers, digital scrappers and fiberartists. We have 15 Creative Team members for our paper team and another 10 for our digital team, but we are very appreciative of any level of contribution - whether it be one item or 15. We are currently looking for companies to spotlight in our Dec 2010/Jan 2011 issue. Our deadline to receive products is September 5th, 2010 in order to be included in the next issue. Inclusion is based on quick reply because our slots fill up fast. If you are interested, contact me, or email Jen Blackwell (founder/publisher) at {her email here which I will not share...sorry} . Here are links to a sample issue:

here you go - enjoy!
{I removed the link because I don't know if I could legally post it. You know...creative copyright and all that....}

Jennifer Bliss
Creative Team Sponsor Coordinator
http://www.readysetcreate.com/

-- Jennifer

I've been in contact with her about it and she is excited to have my stamps featured. I will, of course, keep you all updated about the whole thing right here on the blog. {eeeeek! happy dance! happy dance!}

So how about it? Have any of you heard of Ready, Set, Create? I think I ran across a few issues while browsing for layout designs once or twice.

I'm excited for the opportunity to get lemonade sun productions out there! And to be in their CHRISTMAS crafting issue! Wahooo!!!! How cool is that?! I am expecting great things to come of this for my little business and I can't hardly wait to see what they will be.

So tell me.........what new products or stamp designs would YOU like to see in the shop???

something old....something new........

2010-06-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Hello there!
Things may have seemed all quiet here on the western front, but let me assure you there has been much stirring under the surface.

Well, first thing's first. I'm sure you've noticed the new blog layout. I am still working on connecting all the dots and figuring out how to tweak all the code to get it to do what I want (...grr...sigh...), but rest assured that it will not always be so disjointed. I am working on it when I can steal a few minutes away to submerge my brain in code-speak. This is so very out-of-character for me as my perfectionistic qualities usually will not allow me to put anything out there in public that is not 100% complete and as I like it. What can I say, I'm stepping out and stretching boundaries............

Speaking of stretching.....I am working on an extra special project this week that is giving me flashbacks to my glory days. Once upon a time, I worked as a cake decorator on the side. I even made my own wedding cake! But, I don't often make this crafty aspect of myself known, so you can imagine my surprise when I received a phone call from someone in the church office a few months ago asking if I would consider making a wedding cake for someone. Oh my goodness! I haven't made any "official" cakes in a very long time, though I do occasionally go all out on a birthday party or two. I took a few days to consider it (read: pray intensely about whether I should attempt such a thing after so long a hiatus from the skills) and felt like I should say yes and accept the provision God was supplying from this unexpected opportunity.

SO...here I am now in the middle of a massively nerve-racking undertaking (I mean, this is someone's once-in-a-lifetime day we're talking about here!) and I have to tell you I am having so much FUN! There are so many creative and innovative designs for wedding cakes out there it's truly amazing. Here are a few I've found that I really like (the bride's color is aqua or teal):

I love the alternating color in this one

and the simplicity of this one. I will probably do something like this.

or like this one (minus the polka dots)

gorgeous and elegant

I have a MOPS friend (that stands for Mothers of PreSchoolers for those of you who are wondering) who is an absolutely AMAZING photographer and I just love to look through all the photos she has on her gorgeous blog. Wow! When you have a second, check it out for yourself. Avayah Photography.

Be prepared to ooooo and aahhhhh a lot! ...I prefer to ooo and aahhh with a delicious cup of tea in hand, but that's my personal preference :)

You can look forward to pictures at the end of the week. (though they will be nothing like Karen's as I am not yet accomplished enough to understand the inner-most workings of my new camera......YET!)

p.s. I still can't believe that I had the wherewithall almost 15 years ago to make MY OWN wedding cake! I'm either absolutely off my rocker insane or the more likely explanation is that I sincerely believe that "can't" means "won't". I will look for the photos of that one and post them if I can.

delayed.....again

2010-06-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

Well, as you might have guessed, my plan for the project-a-week has not been activated as of yet. I have had the best intentions, but life is cruising right by at mach 5 and I've not really had any spare time to settle down into a workable routine.

I have decided to begin this plan starting the first week of July with new stamps. I've had a couple ideas swirling about in my head, so I'll be setting aside time to get them down on paper and vinyl then.

This is the way of things sometimes for a mompreneur. Don't worry. I will get there. It's all a work in progress :)

Project-A-Week decision..........

2010-06-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
It's been a little while since I posted about Noah's inspirational idea of challenging yourself to be creative daily with the Project-A-Day notion. I've been pondering how I could make something like this work with my busy life as a wife, mother and mompreneur taking into account the amount of time I could realistically devote to it and my what I know about my personality.

I've decided to make mine a Project-A-Week {instead of daily}. I have 4 main sections...or types of items...in the shop so I had the idea to assign each section to a specific week each month and spend time that week creating something new for that particular section. Here's what I've got planned:

week 1: Stamps {I will use this week every month to develop new stamp ideas, carve and list new stamps...at least a minimum of one stamp each week}

week 2: Longjohns Paperie {this week will be used to develop my line of paper products and paper related items with the goal being to list at least one new item at the end of the week}

week 3: Jewelry {this one should be fairly straight forward and somewhat obvious}

week 4: Yarn Works and any extras {...I think you're getting the idea....}

and then in the months where there are 5 weeks I will either take the week off or use it to focus on refining the shop, my branding, packaging or maybe even right here on the blog :)

I am excited to have this new challenge in place. I'll be kicking it off starting next week with the Paperie. I think it will help me stay focused on creating and listing and building the business. It reminds me of a verse in the Bible that says "people without a vision perish". Businesses without a vision for their future will perish or shrivel up and fade away.

So, what are you doing to challenge yourself? Leave me a comment and let me know. I'd love to hear all about it!

Project-a-Day ..........hmmm................................

2010-04-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well hello again. Today I have a lot on my mind swirling about in a big thought cloud so far.

I sat in on one of the most helpful, interesting and truly inspiring virtual labs I've ever been to over at Etsy.com yesterday. Noah Scalin, who wrote the book Skulls about his project-a-day experiment spoke about how to inspire creativity on a daily basis. Check out this little interview of Noah in the Etsy Labs to see what I mean:

So, now I am really thinking I need an idea for my own project-a-day experiment. I think that I need to limit myself to a project-a-week though to start out (and maybe make the timeline something more like 100 days or something) or my poor family will be utterly neglected and I could end up a basket-case before I am through. But who knows, perhaps it will be so inspiring that I will feel the need to do it daily for an entire year. I guess we'll see.

I sat down last night and wrote out some ideas for what I could do as my project-a-week thing (which I'm going to start referring to as the PAW simply because it's easier on my little typing fingers) and here's a list of what I've come up with so far:

carve a stamp a day
work on a project each week for each category of the shop (i.e. week 1: stamps, week 2: paperie items, week 3: jewelry and week 4: yarn works)
one blog post a day
learn one new Photoshop technique or trick per week and blog about it.
take a photograph of one thing that inspires me each day
create a post about one useful thing a day (or per week)
pick one business related thing to use as a theme each month and find links to relevant info about it
pick a theme for each month and use that theme to create something in each of the shop categories (similar to the second idea in this list). So for example, if I chose flowers for the month of May, I would focus on flower stamp ideas for week 1, flower cards etc. for week 2, flower jewelry for week 3 and flower yarn things for week 4.

I am also thinking of doing this in a non-business related context for my other newer personal blog (which you are all invited to check out if you like right here) with ideas like these:

trying a new recipe a day
a link a day to some sort of healthy lifestyle thing
a photo a day (could do chicken photos, plants, parks, pets, kids, family, hmmmm? )
a quote a day
a prayer a day
a purge a day where I photograph something I'm getting rid of each day for a year.
a wish item a day where I create links or pics or a post of something I really want that day (maybe each week so my wanter doesn't get out of control :] )
?????

Well, hmmm. Now you know what's swirling around in my head. I would love to have your opinion about this idea. Please tell me.........what do you think I should do?

Friday Find........Etsy Ireland team!

2010-04-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! Ahhh...the sun is shining, the air is sweet with spring and I am here with my lovely cup of tea. What could be better than this?

How about this lovely box filled with wonderful goodies to marvel over, hmmmm?!

Back on St. Patty's Day, as I browsed through Etsy's forums...(a thing that is becoming more of a treat now that I only get to do so about once a week instead of daily)...searching for anything interesting, I stumbled upon an intriguing post from the Etsy Ireland team about a team treasure hunt. I had read a few other posts in the past about team treasure hunts, but had never taken the time to figure out exactly what they are and how they work. Hmmm....interesting.

According to the post by Ruth of Nicedaydesigns on the Etsy Ireland Team's blog, all I had to do was follow the clues to each participating shop and search through their items for one that had a picture looking like the one below with a letter in it.

Then I had to unscramble the 13 letter phrase and submit my answer. Sounded easy enough, so I gave it a go. There are over 100 crafters in the Etsy Ireland Team and they all have so many wonderful shops that I have to confess....I had to remind myself what I was doing quite a few times as I would find myself getting distracted with so many of their amazing shops! In the end, I finally was able to unscramble the phrase (which was "Crafty Ireland", by the way) and submit it to Ruth. It was with great delight that I read Ruth's convo to me announcing that I had WON the treasure hunt! I was so excited I was bouncing up and down!

Want to know what I won??? .......................................Ok, I'll show you!

The first thing I had to do after the box arrived in the mail was clear off the kitchen table so I could lay everything out and photograph. It was like Christmas and my birthday all in one! :) I love seeing how each person presents their items. Wonderful creativity. Ok, so here we go:

first up is a selection of beautiful cards from LuckyRainbowDesigns

on the left is a selection of cards and tags from PropellerPrints

and on the right are two cards and a set of fridge magnets featuring lovely artwork from Brid Bird

I loved how Beth Egan of magpieandbutton packaged her wonderful green button ring. What a treat to open!

Ok, top left: a beautiful handmade baby ball with a bell rattle inside by PatchworkDelights

On the top right: a gorgeous little knit cardigan by Irish Woolen

(I have a little niece due in May, so I know right where these lovelies will be going!)

On the bottom left is a knit shamrock barette from Purls of Colour

and on the bottom right is a handmade hairband from tanyamac

Top left: my selection of things from Nice Day Designs ...the DIY queen button really gave me a laugh as many of my friends often refer to me as such.....if only I looked that good!

On the bottom is a fun little handmade bag from 2Boos

These lovelies from Laura Cassidy Design are beautiful, aren't they?

and these "Wee Shamrock earrings" by Balanced are amazing.

Gayle from Palace Gems did a wonderful job on these simple little beauties. Those green pearls are lovely.

(I think they are my favorites...though it's hard to decide)

Gayle, I could not find your Etsy shop so I linked to your website instead.

and these are just beautiful don't you think?

Anastasija from Lightkeeping did a wonderful job on them.

These sketches by Bridget Farmer mesmerized my children. We all loved them.

She has two shops: Bridget Farmerbooks and Bridget Farmer prints

(she is traveling at present and will return sometime in the end of April)

and last, but not least:

Oh I love lil' Paddy here enjoying his Guinness in a quiet pub. I'll have to find somewhere perfect to place him on my wall so I can show him off to all my visitors.

Well, please click on the links to each of these wonderful Etsy artisans' shops (which I have painstakingly looked up and made available just for your convenience). They all have such wonderful items I'm sure you will come away with several new favorites! Also, check out the Etsy Ireland Team's blog so you can keep up with their many happenings. Who knows........maybe YOU'LL be the next winner of one of their fun little treasure hunts!

A special thanks to Ruth of NiceDayDesigns who gathered and orchestrated the delivery of my fabulous little goodie box all the way from Ireland. Thank you for not drooling in the box ;)

Bless you all for your creativity and willingness to share it. I'm going to sit back, sip my tea and pour over all these wonderful gifts one more time.

Hope your day is wonderful.

Blog Givaway...Le Papier Studio

2010-04-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

While browsing through a few of my favorite blogs today, I came across this wonderful giveaway from Le Papier Studio. You should enter to win too and maybe one of us could score some of her amazing silouette creations. Here's a few of my favorites from her Etsy shop:

Click this link to read all about her giveaway and enter today!

Hope on the horizon.....

2010-04-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Been wishing you could see NEW stamp designs in the shop? Believe me, I am dying to carve some, but I've had to exercise some major self-control as I wait patiently for my favorite medium to become available again.

As many of you know, my online supplier for the carving medium I love has been having issues with production for the last several months. The company she was puchasing her supply from ended up filing for bankruptcy and decided to sell the business, ..........so...she bought it. She has been working very closely with the crew to solve the production issues and get the carving medium back on the market again. I make it a point to check in with her on a pretty regular basis hoping that she'll give me the thumbs up and I can place a massive order for carving medium since I've nearly used up all my back stock and am having to resort to "the pink stuff" (which is decent, but not quite the quality I prefer).

You can imagine my excitement last night when I clicked over to her store and read that she is very close to resolving the issues with production and that in the meantime has created a new material that is very similar. I wanted shout "Hallelujah!" but it was after midnight so I thought twice as I didn't want to wake up the rest of my sleeping family. Being the skeptic that I sometimes am though, I only ordered a tester sized piece of the new material to see if it really is as good as she says. I'm stuck with quite a bit of other carving medium (from a different supplier) that is really just horrible quality and I can't do anything with it that I would even consider selling! From now on I have decided to test them first. If it is good quality, according to MY picky standards, then you could finally be seeing some wonderful new designs in the shop soon.

In the meantime, I just finished making these handy Soap Savers that I'll be listing this week a few at a time.

I have some extras left over from my first batch of handmade, cold-processed soap that I made as Christmas gifts. I was thinking of cutting the bars in half and packaging them as a bonus/sample for anyone who ordered one of the Soap Savers. What do you think? The soap is oatmeal honey scented and smells delicious. I have to confess, I am trying to decide whether I will get into the handmade soap arena or not. I really enjoyed making it. While I'm considering the cost of adding soapmaking to my crafty belt, why don't you go ahead and order up one of those Soap Savers? ......and I would love some feedback on the soap sample.

Have a wonderful day!
Bless you,

Upgrading...

2010-03-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

I love my husband. First he sends me off and a lovely birthday getaway with my Ya-Ya's and then he surprises me with a new camera! That's right. I am now the proud owner of a new Canon Powershot SX20 IS.

I took it to Ashland with me on the afore mentioned trip to play with it. I love some of the shots I got with it like these for example:

but I think I am going to need to study the manual and a few of my favorite photography websites (like http://www.strobist.com/ ) to learn how to work the macro thing all over again. I tried for the life of me to get one clear shot of a pussy willow for my little guy back home since they've become a new fascination for him......ummm ....yeah. We'll, here's what I ended up with:

So...it's back to the drawing board for me. I'll be spending the next few weeks with my nose in the manual and shooting shot after shot after blooming shot until I get it right.

I'll let you all know how it goes!

Much Ado about ......me

2010-03-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with some of my best friends. The four of us drove about 3 hours south to the little college town of Ashland, Oregon for a girlfriend getaway.

Ashland is one of our favorite places to visit because it is the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This year is the Festival's 75th anniversary and they have several wonderful plays on the performance list like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Pride and Prejudice as well as several Shakespearean masterpieces like The Merchant of Venice, Hamlet, Twelfth Night and more. You can find all the information you need about the festival on their website at http://www.osfashland.org/ . We had tickets to Pride and Prejudice, which is my all-ti,e favorite love story! I am an Austen addict through and through. (The play was incredibly well done, by the way! Kudos to all of the Ashland actors.)

Going to Ashland, for us, has developed somewhat of a routine to it (though we've only been there 2 or 3 times now). We do our best to stay in the Plaza Inn & Suites hotel for several reasons. First, they are conveniently located within walking distance of downtown and the theaters. Parking spaces in Ashland can be rare and difficult to come by when the Festival is on and the town is so beautiful that we don't mind walking wherever we go at all. Secondly, they have beautiful rooms and a lovely garden where I, for one, could happily spend the entire day relaxing.

And lastly, the Plaza is famous for their late night snacks of warm cookies, icy cold milk and pbj's.

The best thing in the world after seeing a play is to get into pj's and sit in the garden room eating a toasted pbj with ice-cold milk and a warm chocolate chip cookie (or snickerdoodle, or oatmeal raisin cookie if that's your wish) and discussing what a wonderful job the actors did and how amazing the set was or the beauty of the theater. Ahhh....we love it.

The plays are not the only reason we go, however. Another staple of Ashland is Lithia Park. This gorgeous 93 acre park is located right next to the Elizabethan Theater and demands a mandatory visit each time we go. Beautiful in every season, a walk in Lithia Park is something I have often daydreamed about :)

Being avid letterboxers, my friend Jen and I often trek off on the hunt of either hunting or planting a new one. On this particular trip, we were saddened to discover that one of our previously planted letterboxes has gone missing. Our spirits were raised though, when we retrieved a box I had placed with my sister several years ago. She and I had written the clues to the box, but I had never actually posted them. To my knowledge, the box was waiting all these years untouched for me to tell people how to find it. Jen and I were surprised to find that was not the case at all! In fact, SEVERAL people had discovered the box and left stories and signatures in the logbook for us! What an incredible treat!!

Another highlight of Ashland is the wide variety in restaurant choices. Ashland boasts over 40 restaurants so it's always a challenge determining where we will eat. One of our favorite places to fill our bellies is Munchies. We simply cannot leave Ashland without a visit to Munchies and often we will take one of their enormous slices of carrot cake home to our hubbies as a thank you for letting us getaway to such a wonderful place.

Before our play, we chose to eat at Sesame Asian Kitchen. The atmosphere was really nice. A great place to enjoy good food and lengthy conversation. I loved the look of the place right away.

The food was really fresh and good too.

On Sunday, after browsing the downtown shops, we stopped in at Pangea to grab a bite to eat. Being a soup lover, I chose their Lentil Dahl soup and an "Eat Your Heart Out" pannini with chicken, artichoke heart, spinach and feta cheese filling. Mmmmm.... Yum-O.

If it were up to me alone, this would be how I spend every birthday from here to eternity. I loved everything about the weekend. Good friends, good food, good fellowship all around. I can't wait until the next trip to Ashland!

To tickle your funny bone...

2010-03-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

I just received an email from my bestie with some funny little stories and I instantly thought I just HAD to share them with you all. A little something to pick up your day. Here you go:

Who says Troopers have no sense of humor?!

In most northern tier states there is a police policy of checking on any stalled vehicle when temperatures are in the single digits or below. About 3:00 a.m. one very cold morning, a Montana State Trooper responded to a call that there was a car off the shoulder of the road outside Great Falls.

He located the car, stuck in deep snow and with the engine running. Pulling in behind the car with his emergency lights flashing, the trooper walked to the driver’s door, to find an older man passed out behind the wheel with a nearly empty vodka bottle on the seat beside him.

The driver came awake when the trooper tapped on the window. Seeing the rotating lights in his rearview mirror, and the trooper standing next to his car, the man panicked. He jerked the gearshift into ‘drive’ and hit the gas. The car’s speedometer was showing 20-30-40 and then 50 MPH, but the car was still stuck in the snow, wheels spinning.

Trooper Nixon, having a sense of humor, began running in place next to the speeding (but stationary) car. The driver was totally freaked, thinking the trooper was actually keeping up with him. This went on for about 30 seconds, then the trooper yelled, “PULLOVER!” The man nodded, turned his wheel and stopped the engine.

The man from North Dakota was arrested and is probably still shaking his head over the state trooper in Montana who could run 50 miles per hour.

The power of a badge...

DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas , and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher says, "Okay, but do not go in that field over there," as he points out the location.

The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me." Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the rancher. "See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish. On any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand? "

The rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores. A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life chased by the rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull. With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer, and it seems likely that he'll get gored before he reaches safety. The officer is clearly terrified.

The rancher throws down his tools,runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs.....

"Your badge.. Show him your BADGE! "

A Tuesday treasury.....

2010-03-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

Good Morning everyone! Happy Tuesday.

I thought I would share with you a little treat I woke up to this morning. Nancy over at NancysBagsEtc on Etsy has included my lovely "My Heart" earrings

in her Reds and Swirls treasury!

Thank you, Nancy! Your treasury is gorgeous.

Please check out her shop full of beautiful bags. I'm sure you will each find something you love.

(Sorry about the cropped picture of the treasury. I can't seem, for the life of me, to figure out how to get a capture a complete screen shot of any treasury and it is so frustrating. If anyone would like to share this knowledge with me I would be extremely grateful!)

Well, I hope you all enjoy your Tuesday. I'm going to sit back and soak up the bright rays of sunshine pouring in my studio window. I think spring is just beginning to burst forth here in rainy Oregon and I am more than ready for it. My body is starving for sunshine. I say bring on Spring.....and on into glorious Summer!

A Sneak Peek....

2010-02-23T16:46:00.000-08:00

Well folks, things are looking a little different around here. Consider it a sneak peek into the new look of lemonade sun productions. I'm still working on the website. The store setup is giving me a bit of trouble, but it's nothing I can't figure out. I'm excited to have one seemless look for the company.

I would love to hear your suggestions for content on the blog. Please leave me a comment below with your ideas. I'll see what I can do to incorporate any suggestions I get.

Well, it's a short post today. Too much to catch up on. Keep your eyes open for a new feature coming soon......... :)

Valentine thoughts...

2010-01-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

Good morning all!

Well, here it is the middle of January and weather is dreary here in Oregon. Rain, rain and more rain. Ah well, that leaves me lots of time to be productive. I've sketched out and prepared 44 new stamps for the shop...mostly Valentine related. Here's a peek at the line up:

I've been a busy little carver over the weekend and finished 11 of them already. Keep your eyes open for them as I list a bunch in the next couple days.

Hope you're having a great day. Think sweet thoughts.

Hey.....I'm my own Friday Find?

2010-01-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

Well, not exactly. My actual Friday Find is one of my Etsy teams, LabRats.

An Etsy team is a group of etsy shop owners who have banned together over a shared craft, location, idea or just about anything really to help build each other up, supporting each other and encouraging business for each other through the power of networking. For example, we LabRats are a group of sellers who share a love for Etsy's virtual labs. We can often be found amongst the other sellers chatting and learning from each other as well as encouraging each other nearly every day of the week.

If you are an etsy seller, or you think you might want to be one someday, I would definitely encourage you to find yourself a team that shares your areas of interest and check them out. The benefits are too numerous not to. You can browse through and read more about Etsy's 450+ teams right here.

In the meantime, check out my interview on my fellow ratsies' blog at etsylabrats.blogspot.com and tell me what you think.

A Website in the Wings.....

2010-01-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

Sigh...

Well folks, after weeks and weeks.......well, months actually.......of checking out site after site and building multiple website designs and asking everyone I know who would know anything at all about anything related to website design, I've spent the last month flip-flopping between two possible designs on two very different sites.

The questions all boil down to this one: what is going to provide me with a professional looking website that my business will be able to grow into over the next few years for the most affordable price?

After much mental debate and a few pro/con lists, I have decided to go with Weebly.com for my website hosting. They offer a pro package that includes a domain name (yes, I checked and mine is available) for only $39.95/year. There are many really nice features available and they recently added several new choices to their line up...including an e-commerce option. I've spent hours customizing one of their templates and adding my information. Now the only thing left to do if finish uploading my products and waiting for my next couple of sales to cover the cost.

I've dreamed about setting up lemonadesun.com for many months now and I was beginning to get frustrated that things weren't working out like I thought they would. While Weebly.com is not my first choice for what I had in mind, it is a very good second choice and I am excited to see it finalized in the near future.

Have any of you created your own websites? Did you agonize over the decisions as much as I did? When you spend so much time creating wonderful handmade products and you are trying to create a real business from it, it's sometimes hard to make a choice because you don't want to have to keep adjusting the look of things over and over if it's not just right. That's a LOT of work! and can be confusing to your customers.

Thankfully, I am almost done. It might have been easier to hire a computer geek to do it for me, but I'm not very good at describing what I want all the time and ....well, they can be downright expensive! This way, I may have given myself a few headaches, but I will not only have saved the extra expense, but I will also have the pride and satisfaction of saying that I did it all MYSELF. In the end, it will all be worth it.

Another Year full of Adventures...

2010-01-05T11:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

It's been a busy season for us, so I haven't had much free time to update my blogs lately, but I'm excited to begin another new year full of blessings.

I've been working hard on several ideas for the shop ranging from adjustments to the longjohns card line to figuring out how to create printable valentine pdfs in time for the next holiday and, of course, I'm still working some kinks out of a website design. I was hoping to get one up and running before Christmas hit, but it wasn't to be. I'll keep plugging away at it and hopefully one day very soon I will be able to announce the launch of my own website!

I've got some new ideas for Valentine's and love related stamps down on paper so I will be spending some time with my carving tools soon as well. My goal is to get my listings up above 100 items in the shop by the end of the month! I've got a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm up for it.

I am in the midst of sorting receipts and paperwork for taxes and trying to figure out if I actually made any profit at all in my first year of business, so my brain is a little sore from all the thinking and mental organization and calculations. I will definitely be keeping paperwork MUCH more orderly this year so that I do not end up with such a headache next tax time! cripes!

Well, speaking of keeping myself organized, I am also finding that I need a written schedule that includes all things business related as well as all of my responsibilities here at home. It is definitely a challenge to be a work-at-home mother. I sometimes (ok...most of the time) have a hard time balancing my housekeeping/grocery shopping/homemaker duties with all the things I do for lemonade sun productions. I am looking forward to implementing the finished schedule so I can see better results all around the board.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed time with friends and family. Expect good things this year and work hard. Enjoy life and love each other. To the best of your ability *live happy*! I had better get back to work on some of those ideas while everyone is at school and the house is quiet because it will not last long. Of course, I need to switch the laundry first...............

Friday Find.....alaskaleash

2009-12-11T11:53:00.000-08:00

Having two rambunctious doggies of my own, I am always on the hunt for wonderful pet products tough enough to withstand my doggie duo (who tend to be super hard on their toys and such).

I stumbled upon this fabulous fellow Etsian last summer and spent hours going through all of the wonderful products she makes. Her leashes are extremely rugged and durable and handcrafted from mountain climbing rope. Built to last. Check these out:

I love the way the couplers look. I think I will have to splurge and get one for my pair of pups. They love to tangle their leashes when we go for our walks and it makes me totally CRAZY. I just want to hug Julie Clem over at alaskaleash for coming up with these marvelous things!

My dogs....ahh yes. Would you like to meet them? First there's Peanut.

We spent many hours searching online and made several visits to our local animal shelter before deciding to go meet her. There are so many animals looking for someone to care for them it was a bit overwhelming because our hearts went out to all of them. We finally found her on the website http://www.petfinder.com/ by doing a search for dogs in our area. We set up a time to meet her through the agency that had rescued her and her 4 siblings from an abusive situation. Peanut was the runt of the litter .....and the dominant dog of the pack! Such a determined personality in this little ball of fur! Bet you're wondering what breed she is huh? Hahaha. It's only the most asked question whenever she's around! Her dad was a full blood Welsh Corgi and her mama was ...get this...Saint Bernard and Golden Retriever. What a match up, huh? They sure made a beautiful little girl though!

Then there's 'Quita (short for Poquita which means little girl). She is just the sweetest little thing ever.

When Peanut was about a year old we decided she needed a friend to play with, so once again, we hit the local animal shelter and searched online. We found 'Quita for sale on Craigslist and had to see her. The selling point for us was that she is a mix of Corgi, Boxer and Mini Aussie. We affectionately call her "The Tongue" because she licks EVERYTHING! It's amazing. Once, as she walked by our kitchen island she licked it once and kept walking! Weird. It made my daughter and me laugh for a long time.

Anyway, with these two around I am always looking for cool doggie things and I absolutely love alaskaleash! Please go check it out. You could find a neat little gift for the pup in your life!

***If you are thinking of getting a pet, we would like to encourage you to check out your local animal shelter first and go to http://www.petfinder.com/ to search in your area. Then make time to go meet them before you make your choice. Each animal has a unique personality and it is important to find the one that is the best fit for you and your family. There are so many animals that deserve a good home sitting in shelters just waiting for someone like you to come along. Adopting an animal is a decision you should not take lightly. Puppies are cute, but they grow up to be dogs. If you adopt a pet, please make sure you are ready to make a lifelong commitment to care for and love them. They will reward you with their love and faithful companionship for the rest of their life.

Black Friday Weekend Deals!

2009-11-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

Shop Handmade this Holiday Season

~show them how much you care~

Grab your gift lists and head to the shop this weekend for the best deals on

lemonade sun productions

you'll find this year!

Nov 27th - Nov 29th

All scarves: Buy One Get One 1/2 price!

(that's a $7.50 savings)

Crocheted from soft Lion Brand Homespun yarns in rich, beautiful colors, these lattice patterned scarves are a stylish way to keep your neck toasty warm while you're out in the cold weather. Give a wonderful handmade lemonade sun scarf to everyone on your list this year. Don't see your favorite color?
Contact me and I'd be happy to make a custom order just for you.

30% off all jewelry!

Find the perfect accessory for someone on your list (or treat yourself to a little something special) with my handcrafted jewelry. Perfect for moms, sisters, daughters, friends, coworkers....and more. If you see something you like, but wish it was in another color, size or design, please contact me. I would love to work with you to create something that suits your unique style.

20% off all hand carved stamps!

All of my stamps are designed right here in the studio and hand carved by me. Each one is a work of art that requires precision, patience, time and effort. Every stamp is carved to order and therefore completely customizable.

Add a name to personalize a design for that rubber stamp lover or scrapbooker you know.
Have a bibliophile in your family? Have a stamp created just for them to use as a bookplate.
Need a gift for a fellow Etsy shop owner? Have a customized stamp made with their logo and shop address.

I love custom orders. Let's create something special for someone on your list!

Paying with Paypal?

How to use the code:

1. Choose the items you want to purchase and add them to your cart. Click "checkout".

2. Fill in your shipping information and click "final review".

3. Enter the code "BFSAVE" in the "message to seller" box and click "commit to buy".

4. Finish purchasing the items via Paypal. I will send you a refund for the amount of your total savings via Paypal before your order is shipped.

Prefer NOT to wait for Paypal refund?

1. Choose the items you want to purchase and send me a convo with the code "BFSAVE" and your list.

2. I will change each of the listings for the items you want to "Reserved For: (you)" and discount the price to reflect your savings.

3. I will send you a convo telling you that process is completed.

4. You add each item and finish the payment process and enjoy your savings right away.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Introducing longjohns paperie

2009-11-24T00:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm a bit behind in posting. I've been busy creating cards for the newest addition to the shop: longjohn's paperie.

I've wanted to add a line of cards to the shop for quite some time now, but I didn't want them to be just like everyone else's cards. There are so many super talented paper-masters on Etsy that I worried my creations would slip into the norm and get lost in the mix. I had been looking for that one thing that would make my card line unique and memorable. After browsing through magazines, card shops and online searching for creative inspiration, I was struck by an interesting idea one day. I really liked the look of some tall and skinny cards I had seen in a stamping idea book. I'm sure you've seen them around. They fit inside a business (A10) sized envelope. I know I get tired of sending the usual run of the rack greeting card, so I'm always on the look out for new and different presentations for my sentiments. I put the tall, skinny card idea in my mental file and started thinking of clever ways to market them or a memorable name they could go by. My oldest son piped up in one of my audible self-brainstorming sessions (a.k.a. "mom's talking to herself again") and told me he thought I should call the cards longjohns. Hmph....longjohns. Longjanes? Longjohns?...........yeah. I liked it. Brilliant. It's like a long card for your John Hancock. Ha! Wonderful. Thanks, son.
There you have it. The birth of longjohns paperie. But that wasn't the end of it. Now I had to create a brand look. Something not like everyone else's. That's when I ran across the perfect long envelopes for the cards. What do you think?

Stay tuned for news about the upcoming Black Friday Weekend Deals!

I'll post info about that tomorrow.

For now, have a marvelous day and remember to shop handmade for the Holidays.

An early Friday Find.............another wonderful collage

2009-11-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

Hello little lovelies! Here it is Thursday again already. Things are about to get crazy around here for a bit. My oldest daughter is going in for surgery to remove a thyroglossal duct cyst (in her throat) that keeps getting infected. Though not necessarily life threatening (though we certainly came close with the last infection), the cyst is a constant lump in her throat and flares up in irritation with any cold or sickness she contracts and we've opted to have it removed. It is an outpatient surgery so she will come home tomorrow evening sometime to rest and recover here. We are looking forward to her much better health after the healing process is finished.

My youngest daughter is due to have a gigantic birthday bash to celebrate her "golden" birthday next week. For those of you who don't know, a golden birthday is an occasion that only happens once in your life when the date of your birthday matches up with the age you are turning. She was born on November 10th so her 10th birthday party is scheduled to be a fantastically huge production! I was not quite as fortunate with mine as I was only 3 when it occured and my mother was not aware of such a concept. I suppose I will just have to live vicariously through each of my children's parties :)

Due to the fact that I will be at the hospital for most of the day tomorrow, I thought I'd share some of my favorite thanksgiving holiday items from Etsy a little early for tomorrows Friday Find feature. I've compiled another collage since I love the way the last one came out. I've listed each piece and the corresponding shop owner with links to both below so browse away. Each item reflects this wonderful season in my opinion. Enjoy the autumnal/wintery weather wherever you are this week!

Sit back and have a nice hot cup of cocoa for me,

1. Autumn Inspired Wreath by krouzer

2. Mini Assorted Harvest Cookie Sandwiches (50 pc) by HolidayCandyLane

3. Thanksgiving Pumpkin Placecards by SoftDayStudios

4. Golden Acorn Ornaments by staceywinters

5. Embroidered Shades of Autumn accent pillow by StoneKittyGarden

6. Give Thanks blocks by sassytalk

7. Golden Poppy- handmade flower hairpin by KimArt

8. Handpainted and Woodburned Gourd Bowl by natskreations

9. Lampwork Bead Wine Stopper by raelslady

10. Thankful 6x6 pre-made Scrapbook by craftysweethearts

Ingenuity at work...

2009-11-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

I ran across this video posted by rikrak during one of Etsy's virtual labs recently on packaging and was immediately drawn to the idea. The technique is called Furoshiki wrapping. Used for centuries in Japan, this wrapping technique had begun to fade with the post-war introduction of plastic shopping bags, but in recent years it has seen renewed interest as environmental protection became a concern. Furoshiki are most commonly used to wrap lunch boxes (or bento boxes) in and double as a placemat for the lunch. I know I could think of several different things I would use it to wrap. How about you? What a great way to use scraps of fabric left over from those sewing projects. Check out the videos I've posted below for examples of beautiful furoshiki wrapping.

Friday Find........glitter me!

2009-10-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Today I am in the mood to decorate my house for the upcoming holidays. I've spent a good part of the morning pouring over options and ideas from so many talented Etsians, but one item in particular jumped out at me today. That was this wonderfully simple and yet elegant sign by glitter me that sums up the entire holiday focus for my family:

She has several others in her shop that I added to my wish list for my dear husband who casually asked me what I wanted for Christmas the other night. Well, he really opened himself up to this one. I don't think he realized quite how long my wish list has become ;) Anyway, here are a couple more of my favorites by glitter me:

Check out her sparkly little etsy shop right here for more gorgeous glittery signs!

What's on YOUR wish list this year?

Friday Find....Celebrating the Harvest

2009-10-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

The rain poured down outside today while I browsed through Etsy's seasonal items under the search term "pumpkin". When I look for my Friday Find items, I typically open the possibilities in another tab and keep browsing, then I go back through them and whittle it down to one or two really good ones. After only a few minutes of looking today, I realized I had opened 23 tabs in my browser! Well, this was going to be more difficult than I had thought. Looking back through the items, I could not decide which ones to feature. That is why today's Friday Find is my lovely collage of Harvest-themed beauties. Enjoy!

1 Pumpkin Orange Tutu by bellasbowtique2008

2 Ireland Wool Pumpkin by WillowCreekSparrow

3 Aunt Helen's Pumpkin Bread by jewelofthelion

4 Autumn Photography cards (set of 8) by EmeliaJane

5 Pumpkin Spice beaded crochet bracelet by underthewire

6 Thank You for Thanksgiving soap gift set by sacredsuds

7 Fabric Pumpkins by vickisheehan

Click on the links above to check out more wonderful work from these fabulous Etsy sellers! I'm going to take a few minutes for myself today.......maybe I'll brew myself a cup of hot tea and curl up on the couch (while the rain continues to pour) and rest while my little monkey takes a nap.

2009-10-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

Due to unforseen production trouble with the supplier of my carving material, I will not be able to accept custom orders for stamps right now. She's having difficulty with the product production so I am in a stall pattern at the moment. I suppose it gives me the opportunity to focus on filling up my Paperie section since I only have one card listed. I just ordered some really cute envies from an online envelope company, so I can't wait until they get here!

As always, I have a million different ideas of things I could make and not enough hours in my day to focus on making them. I promise you I am working on it, though. I checked into places that could produce a rubber stamp image from my own designs to see if it be economical and found an interesting potential option for sometime in the future. I'm keeping that one on the back burner for now as I don't have the steady influx of finances to make it happen right now. Someday I will though! I know it.

October has been a good month for me. I am very pleased. I've been implementing more marketing advice and spending more time optimizing my productivity (which means simply less messing around when I need to be working) and I can see some results.

Thank you again to all who participated in my online survey last month. The results have been food for much thought and were encouraging to me. I am developing a couple new product ideas which are still in the tweaking stage, but hopefully I can implement them before the holidays to help with sales.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. Mine will be a busy one as usual.
Bless you,

Friday Finds....Of Home and Hearth Treasury

2009-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

Today I was inspired to do a treasury for Treasury West. With the chill of fall crisply in the air, I am drawn toward all things "home"...from cozy fireplaces and toasty blankets to delicious homemade jams and jellies. Anything that came to mind I used as a search keyword. These are just a few of my wonderful finds today:

Burgandy Elegance Wreath by Stylishstems

Homemade Goodness in a Jar by catay

Whimsical Vinyl Wall Art Decal by empressivedesigns

Nutmeg and Almond Biscotti soap by savor

Trio of Driftwood Cedar Candle Holders by woodswise

Chocolate Caramel Blast Cupcake by babycakes1011

You can see the whole treasury HERE until Sunday evening. Now, go curl up next to that crackling fire with a cup of hot cider or cocoa and a cozy blanket and enjoy the crispness of autumn.

Paperie projects......the order of the day

2009-10-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ahh...finally. I am working this week on filling up the Paperie section in the shop. It's been very empty since I sold the last journal I had. I will get cracking and make some more of those here in the next month, but for now I am working on the stationery end of things. I made a couple of this card yesterday just for fun.

Today I'll be trying my hand at something new. I found some really cute A10 envies in a shop online the other day which inspired me to try some A10 cards. These are the ones that would fit in a business sized (or #10) envelope, for those of you who might not know what an A10 is. To be honest, I didn't either until I looked it up.

These cards are sometimes called "tall and skinny". I thought I should think up a new cute name to call them in the shop. My son thinks I should call them "longjohns"......I think I really like it. Or I could call them "longjanes".....hmmm. We'll see what I decide when it's time to list.

Friday Find.....cottagehomedecor

2009-10-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Well, better late than never, huh? I'm a little off my posting schedule, but since today is still Friday I thought I'd post this lovely little shop as my latest fabulous Friday Find.

Cottagehomedecor's etsy shop is just getting started, but Linda is not new to the online retail market being a veteran ebay seller with an outstanding 100% approval rating.

I'm a sucker for anything "shabbychic"-ish and the country cottage style has caught my eye for many, many years now. When I stumbled upon Linda's little shop I was not surprised to find myself clicking away on her darling items. My personal favorite is this:

I think it was the color that grabbed my attention first. I absolutely love that color! (In fact, I love it so much that I painted my entire downstairs bathroom that color... with white stripes on one wall)

Please check out her shop if you love the beauty of country cottage decor. You will not be disappointed. I cannot wait until she fills her etsy shop to the brim. I will be like a kid in the proverbial candy shop!

Have a fabulous Friday!

And the Winner is.....

2009-10-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, the numbers are in. There were 10 people who finished the survey on my stamps. I want to say thank you to you if you were one of them. I received lots of encouragement and insight from all of your responses. I have several new ideas mulling around in my brain now as a result.

And speaking of results, I suppose you want to know who the lucky winner of the 50% off coupon code is, don't you? Ok, I'll tell. I used the random number generator at http://www.random.org/ to determine the winning name.

Congratulations go to Michelle Isom!

I will send out an email to Michelle today containing the coupon code and instructions on how to use it to save 50% off whatever she orders from the shop...whenever she decides she wants to use it.

Here are a couple screen shots in case you were wondering:

Thank you again for all of your responses. I learned quite a lot and you can look forward to more surveys in the future. Now I'm off to finish up the first issue of my newsletter. If you haven't signed up to be on the mailing list you can do so here.

The Buzz....

2009-09-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

When I first thought about starting my own business, I had visions of a little boutique storefront with a shabby-chic type french country atmosphere full of lemonade sun productions ....well, productions. I imagined, as I'm sure all budding entrepeneurs do, that I would be nearly overrun with orders and customers would be taken by all of my creations. Well, though I have yet to achieve such fame and notoriety, I am taking one step closer to that little storefront. At least in the cyber world.

I have spent the last 2 weeks designing my own website with the help of a wonderful website called Wix.com
I have to say as someone who knows hardly anything about web design, I am loving their drag and drop features! What fun! I have spent many hours in front of my computer simply playing with all the different options they supply. If you are in the market for wonderful flash websites, portfolios, flyers and even MySpace layouts, Wix is the editor for you. Check it out. Best part about it: it's free!

Now all I have to do is get myself a domain name next payday and lemonadesun.com will be up and running! I'm so excited!

What do you say?

2009-09-15T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been simply curious about a few things for far too long now, so I've created a nice little survey about my shop lemonade sun productions . Now, in order to really get an idea of what people think about the things I am curious about, I need audience participation. Not just a little......a LOT.

So..........

I've come up with an incentive for you to participate in my survey. A carrot...if you will. Come on now, here's your chance to score. Don't miss it!

Check out my shop at www.lemonadesun.etsy.com and look around a bit. Make sure to check out a few of the stamps. Then be one of the first 100 people to take part in my survey between now and September 30th and you will have your name entered in a drawing to take place on October 1st. What's it for, you're wondering? So glad you asked.

One 50% off coupon code

for any item of your choice at

www.lemonadesun.etsy.com

You may use the code at your convenience on anything you see in the shop or on a custom order item just for you! Christmas is right around the corner. You could use it to score a great deal on a gift for that certain someone on your list.

Ok.....now it's all up to you. Just click on the link in the sidebar right over there to take the survey and have your name entered in the drawing. Don't miss out on your chance to win big!

Friday Find.....BagsByColette

2009-09-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Hello again! It's time for another fabulous Friday Find on Etsy.

I've been on the lookout for a new purse lately, so I thought I'd check out Etsy's wonderful world of artisans and see what I could find. It didn't take long to stumble across one that caught my eye. I am in love with these lovelies by a wonderful fellow Etsian, BagsByColette! (click the link to check out her fabulous shop)

I am a sucker for rich, gorgeous bright colors and these bags have it all. Definitely going on my Christmas list!

Congrats to Colette too because as of June 15th she quit her day job as a Civil Engineer Technician in Louisiana to devote herself to her husband and 4 yr old and to flourish in her Etsy business. All the best to you, my dear! You can make it happen.

Friday Find......mmmm! Hungry?

2009-09-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

Hi there,
It's been awhile since I posted a fabulous friday find. I was inspired with today's theme as I perused our local fresh food market full of delicious summer fruits and vegetables. I did a search on Etsy for edibles and found this scrumptious collection of goodies. Check out Etsy for your favorite delights and I'll bet you will find 'em.

While we sleep.....

2009-09-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

I woke up to a treat today. There were two messages in my etsy inbox notifying me that one of my items has been chosen to be part of someone's treasury! What fun! Here are the links to the respective treasuries so you can check them out, but remember that the treasury is only available for a few days before it expires. Enjoy!

"Sneakers on the Fly" by justjanesthings
"The jewels that CAST fall colors!" by my fellow C.A.S.T. team member abbasgirl

Thanks ladies! You made my day.

I'm also working on a custom stamp order for Boise Beanie Company over on 1000markets. Check out her great little shop for the cutest beanies for your little bean! Here's my favorites:

Computers....rrrrgggghhhhh!

2009-08-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

I apologize if you've been wondering why I haven't been posting lately. I've had a bit of trouble with my computer. It started when I noticed it was running more slowly than usual. After finding that the usual maintanence wasn't fixing the problem I resorted to my favorite computer guy. In casual conversation about it we discussed the possibility of having to wipe out the hard drive and reinstall everything. I told him to do whatever he had to to fix it and to save my pictures. A little busier than usual with his tech-y job, it took him a week to get enough time to work on it and it ended up that he did have to wipe out the hard drive, which he did.........but he forgot to save my pictures :(

I am grateful to him for fixing the problem because now my computer runs at lightspeed, but I mourned the loss of 3 years worth of pictures I cannot get back...some of which were of the last trip I got to take with my mother who passed away unexpectedly. Though I cannot get those pictures back, I have learned a VERY valueable lesson. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR STUFF!

Among the things I lost were all of the spreadsheets I had painstakingly created and populated with all the information about my Etsy business since it began, all of the digital files and product pictures for everything on Etsy from my items to my banner and all the templates for things like tags, labels and earring cards....etc, etc.

*Sigh*

Needless to say, I've been spending the past couple weeks attempting to restore all the missing items as best I could. It's exhausting.

Hopefully, I will be able to get back to creating again soon. For now I will at least get back to posting again.

fabulous Friday Find....Meg by Rose

2009-07-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

In honor of celebrating our freedom, here's a fabulous Friday Find for you:

This fabulous party pennant banner by Meg by Rose on Etsy is made from an assortment of vintage upholstery fabric, denim, and cotton liberty print. Best of all is that it's completely reusable! I would proudly share my patriotic colors with this little lovely year after year!

Happy Independence Day to all of you! Now go out there and thank a soldier and a veteran for the freedom they sacrificed a part of themselves to bring you!! They certainly deserve it. They are the heroes of this great nation.

Friday Finds....spoonfullofchocolate

2009-06-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, here it is another gorgeous Friday and have I got a fabulous Friday Find for you! I stumbled across this particular Etsy seller's shop through a post in the forums. When I checked out a mini of her shop (which is one option available with the Etsyhacks add on from Greasemonkey) I was enchanted right away!

Spoonfullofchocolate sells book bags. No really! Purses made from the covers of your favorite books. No pages are harmed during the purse making process. She takes gently used books and carefully removes the covers to form the outer foundation of her purses. She then creates a sleeve and wraps it back on to the fully in-tact book and donates that to a Refugee Center called the IRC in Arizona, where she lives.

Born out of a desire to help her father save the house he built with his own hands, the business is a blessing to him by donating 100% of the profits to save the house. I wish her much success as well. Please check out her profile to learn more about it and consider buying one of her masterpieces for yourself or that bibliophile on your gift list. Remember, Christmas is not that far away :)

Here is my favorite example of her lovely products:
The Jane Austin Pride and Prejudice book

2009-06-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Ooohhh...after listing a few new stamps last week, I found a fun little note from TwirledTreasures in my inbox today with a link to her BNR treasury. Gotta love that!
Here's a peek at my new listings and a link to her treasury:

Beautiful Bride stamp:

Shower the Bride stamp:

Mixing Bowl and Electric Mixer stamps:

So you can check out the treasury right here!

Friday Finds....Monsterpromos

2009-06-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

Whew! It was a busy week around here. June is turning out to be a good month for me :)

Ok- it's Friday again and time for my fabulous featured Friday Find this week!
While browsing Etsy for some creative inspiration in the area of marketing, I came across this wonderful product from monsterpromos :

This is a wonderful way to spread the word about your Etsy shop! You can have your shop banner right across the top of the frame (or another image if you prefer) and your etsy shop name across the bottom.

Monsterpromos has a whole shop full of goodies to help get your name out there. Check out her shop today and start spreading the word about yours with some of her marketing helpers!

Friday Finds....ShopRedLeaf

2009-06-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Another fabulous Friday Find:

While perusing the multitudes of products from the many talented bath and body artisans on Etsy, I came across something that caught my eye right away.

ShopRedLeaf's fabulous shaving soap. These would be a great gift for my husband for Father's Day. I love the simplicity of the labels. Everything about the product reminded me of my husband's style. Intrigued, I clicked to see more pictures. That's when I found these:

Bubble Bath Dough! What an interesting product. Being a bath enthusiast, I was enchanted by the idea of a bubble bath dough. That got an immediate heart from me and is now at the top of my Christmas Wish List! *Wonder what other lovely treats ShopRedLeaf has to offer?*

Now I'm totally hooked. I spent a good hour checking out each product he offers trying to decide which one to feature today and I just couldn't decide. Everything in the shop is a product I would proudly give as a gift and gladly use myself everyday. What a wonderful shop! Please check it out and add a few things to YOUR Christmas lists.

If you are like me and couldn't make up your mind, you could always do what I did and buy some of these samples:

So, here's my shout out to ShopRedLeaf on Etsy! Great job, and blessings on your business. You've got a fan right here.

Enjoy your Friday,

Revised Yart Sale...

2009-06-10T11:00:00.001-07:00

*after re-evaluating my YART sale choices I've decided to up the ante a bit with a deeper discount*

IT'S HERE! The Etsy YART sale. What the heck is a "YART" sale, you ask? Just think...Yard + art = one fabulous sale. (Read the Etsy Storque article to learn more)

This is my first YART sale and I'm excited to see how it goes!
I'm offering:

30% off all jewelry and handmade scarves

from June 10th-14th

I'm also offering FREE SHIPPING FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE

Come on by and check out my YART sale section to enjoy these savings! Order now!

Friday Finds

2009-06-05T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today begins a new adventure, friends. My fabulous Friday Finds feature. There are sooo many wonderfully creative people in the world and I am amazed every time I browse through Etsy and 1000markets, so I decided to feature one special find each week to share my wonder.

Today's featured Friday Find is something I stumbled upon (and by the way, I marked it in my stumble acct. as soon as I found it!) simply by watching the ticker at the bottom of Etsy's front page.

This piece of creative genius was made by dragonpuzzle1. (Click the link and check out their shop) What a wonderful way to baffle your guests. Imagine what your friends would say when they saw this beautiful piece of wood "magically" holding a fabulous merlot or cabernet sauvignon. Wouldn't this make a lovely, unique gift for a host/hostess paired with a luscious pinot grigio?

I know it's only June, but I'm already thinking about my Christmas list and there are a few people on my list who would love one of these!

Enjoy your friday!

One of those days.....

2009-06-01T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where it seems the world is on the wrong side of your universe? Where everything that needs to go right goes so wrong too quickly? Well, that's what kind of day I'm having today.

Waking up this morning, I was not prepared for the irritation the events of the day would bring. As I walked downstairs to begin the Monday morning ritual of breakfast and school lunch preparation, I could not see the impending cloud that would soon settle over me. Getting 4 children (all a bit grouchy) fed and prepared for their day and out the door on time is always a major feat. Saying goodbye to my husband as he heads off to work, I put on my taxi hat and deliver 3 kids to their respective learning institutions. Upon arriving back at headquarters, I situate my 5 year old in front of his favorite cartoon for a few minutes and begin my Monday routine with a cup of tea at the computer to check on business things online.

On the to-do list today was filling an order for 5 custom stamps, updating the blog and the usual twitter and facebook posting. Knowing how I am so easily distracted by the computer, I began with carving, telling myself that I would use the "carrot" of computer time as a reward for completing each stamp. That is when the cloud descended. About halfway through the first stamp, the exacto blade slipped and I stabbed my pinky finger. OUCH! Bleeding, I hunt for the firstaid kit (which is, of course, not where it is supposed to be) to get a bandaid. Sighing, I decide to take a break and check on my blog. Everything is going well until......I decide to try a new look. I had come across a new template that I loved and since things were slow and it's easy enough to switch, I thought I'd go ahead and try it out.

Being a little computer saavy, I knew to download a copy of my current template just in case the new one didn't work out or I ended up not liking it. I downloaded it right to my desktop. So far so good. Then I installed the new one. It didn't like some of the extras I had added to the old one, so it asked to delete them. I thought to myself, "that's fine 'cuz I have the copy of how it looked before saved on the desktop." Delete? sure. click. On with the show. I love the layout so I decide to keep it and add the things it deleted from the other template back to the new one by hand. I open the saved template from my desktop and ........that's right- it's not there. Well, technically, it is there but there's some problem (which I don't know how to fix) that prevents it from being opened. *...sigh......*

One thing lead to another today and here I am at the end of the day shaking my head in amazement. Really? Ok, God. I'm gonna chalk this one up to character building and move on. Hopefully tomorrow my little world will be on the right side of the universe again.

A Dainty Treat.....

2009-05-21T17:23:00.001-07:00

A while back, I was contacted by a fellow etsy seller, thebrickkiln, about possibly using one of my stamps on their little dishes. I agreed and they have just finished the listing for this little lovely and were so kind as to put a link in the description back to my shop. I'm very honored they chose my image. Check it out and let me know how you think it turned out!

2009-05-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhh.........sunshine at long last kisses this rainy valley. It's 75 degrees outside and beautiful. It's hard to be motivated to work when the sun calls your name.

Well, I've been sketching up some stamp ideas and now that I finally have more carving medium I should be able to get some new stamps done for the shop.

Mother's Day was a blessing again this year. My kiddos and their Daddy bought me some beautiful perennials which I finally got in the ground after a couple rainy days. They will be so pretty once they get established and grow a little. I'm excited!

School is almost out and the little people come home everyday with that summertime spark a little bigger in their eyes. I can't wait for summer. Camping, swimming, sunshine and friends! It's going to be fun. I may just have to have a sale to celebrate it.

Just in time for Mother's Day

2009-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I posted on here, but I haven't forgotten you! I've been busy setting up shop over at 1000 markets. I still have quite a few pieces to list there, but the shop is shaping up nicely and is live if anyone wants to check it out!

www.lemonadesun.1000markets.com

I've been poking around in the forums and marketplaces admiring the wonderfully talented artisans who peddle their wares there. There are so many talented folks out there! Amazing. It's the best place to "windows" shop :) I've ever found!

We'll see how I like it as time goes on. For now, I am liking it a lot. It's easier to list items and I can have as many pictures of any one item as I want which I like very much.

Keep your eyes peeled in the shops for my new stamps. I've been designing up a storm and I have almost used up all the PZ cut I had so I am ordering more tomorrow!
I have made it a goal to have 100 items listed in the shops by the end of May, which means I will have to list about 13 items a week for the next 4 weeks to reach that goal. I have decided to start making cards with some of the stamps I've designed, though I am still working out the details of that new line of products. I've been tossing the idea around for quite some time now and going back and forth about whether or not to do that. Hmmm....

Ok, let's talk business- I'm having a HUGE sale in the shop for Mother's Day so please come on over and check it out!

*********************************************
Want to show Mom how much she means to you?
Know a new Mom you'd like to bless?
Deserve a little treat for all your Mom-work?

Buy a handmade item Mom will treasure.

Now until May 5th
---SAVE 40% ----
on everything in the shop!

~Order NOW and SAVE~
**********************************************

Well, that's it for now. Hope you are enjoying your springtime wherever you are. Remember, life's shore to *live happy*

Take care,

April already?

2009-04-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello again. Things have been busy around here. Sorry I haven't been blogging since the last post about a month ago...sheesh, time can really get away from a body, huh?

I've been caught up in normal everyday life lately and haven't had much time to sneak away to my sanctuary...which is my studio (also known as my upstairs walk-in closet). I'm currently wrapped up in baking 22 apple pies for my youngest son's Ladies' Spring Tea school fundraiser, but I did manage to carve out some time to work on more stamps for the shop and I finished the custom order stamp for Sarah which will go out in the mail today. I am very pleased with how everything turned out. I'll try to get them listed this week if I can.

I am working on getting at least 100 items listed in the shop by the end of May. I have so many stamp ideas finally down on paper and ready to be created and I am excited to share them with you! For now, I'll leave you with a peek at my creativity space and my latest accomplishments.

Remember, life is short so *live happy*-

A Winner and the end of Winter

2009-03-15T23:54:00.000-07:00

Time's up! Hope you all got your names into the drawing for the custom hand-carved stamp GIVEAWAY in honor of my birthday. Drum roll, please...and the winner is:

SARAH
(who shares my very same birthday, coincidentally!)

Congratulations, Sarah! I've sent you a convo thru Etsy and I can't wait to get started on your stamp.

Ok, now on to more exciting news. Here it is, nearly spring in this rainy Oregon country. The days are full of clouds heavy with precipitation that soaks the ground and prepares the earth for the growing season. The kind of weather that inspires a snuggle on the couch with a blanket, some hot tea or cocoa and a fascinating book.
Much as I would love to indulge in that snuggle, I have a busy life and business to attend to which draws me out into the elements. It's times like these that make me reach for my favorite scarf to wrap my neck in warmth and fend off the last bit of winter's chill.

So I was inspired to have a sale in my Etsy shop. A little treat for those of you also fending off the chill of these last days of winter....or the start of the fall season if you live on the other side of the planet. Either way, here's your opportunity to save money and enjoy that snuggly feeling at the same time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SCARF SALE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
40% OFF ALL SCARVES IN THE SHOP!
Limited time only
BUY NOW AND SAVE!

Now's the time to get that lovely scarf you've
had saved in your favorites for so long or to
buy yourself or someone special a beautiful handmade
treat to keep them warm and snuggly in the cold weather.
Don't see your favorite color? Send me a convo. I'd love
to create a custom order for you!

Sale ends March 31st
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy nearly Spring everyone! Now go buy a scarf!

My Birthday Giveaway...

2009-03-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, it's that lovely time of year again when I get to claim being one year older and hopefully wiser. My birthday is officially tomorrow, but I want to celebrate it starting today with another wonderful blog GIVEAWAY!

What should I give away this time? Hmmmmm........Well, I'm feeling rather generous, so I will give away a custom stamp of your choice up to 3"x3"in size! Do you have a picture of your kiddos you'd like to have made into a stamp? How about your shop? Need a stamp of your logo or shop address made? Have an idea for a stamp you've always wanted to buy? Send me a a convo in my etsy shop and we'll work out a design.

Just for fun, and because it's my birthday, I want to know when your Golden Birthday is. If you aren't sure what this is, you'd better ask around or google it to find the answer. Mine was 3 years.

Ok, so to be clear, you must post your golden birthday in a comment to this blog post with your name and a way to contact you if you should be the winner. That will get your name into my lovely drawing bowl. The contest will be open for entries until 11pm March 14th when the winner will be picked by random drawing.

Just for kicks, here are some of the stamps I've carved for my etsy shop and in my letterboxing days for you to check out:

(click any picture to see it up close)
So tell all your friends and be sure to enter before March 14th so you can win a custom stamp of your choosing!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :)

2009-02-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Well, thank you all for participating in my February blog GIVEAWAY. Everyone who commented on their favorite item from my shop had their name put in the bowl and a few of you earned more than one entry by following the blog and sharing your favorite Valentine's Day memory. My husband chose one of your names from the bowl and the time has come to reveal our winner for this month.

Congratulations to Angie Riopelle!

Angie chose the "Be My Valentine" scarf as her prize.

I'm looking forward to hearing all about what she did for her husband this year. Enjoy the warm and cozy scarf, Angie.

Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for my March blog GIVEAWAY because it's going to be extra special. It's my birthday month, so I'm looking for wonderful ideas to make this one a real doozie in honor of ME.

How will people remember you?......

2009-02-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

A friend passed this story along to me and I feel it is worth passing on to you. What we do and how we are with people is far more powerful than we realize most of the time. How will people remember you?......

Why we are here

When I drove up in my taxi cab at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many taxi drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute and then drive away.

But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself...

So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.

After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like someone out of a 1940s movie.

By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.

She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated".

"Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way", I answered quickly.
"Oh, I don't mind", she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice."

I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left", she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long."

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
"What route would you like me to take?" I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.
"Nothing", I said.
"You have to make a living" she answered.
"There are other passengers" I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.
"You gave an old woman a little moment of joy" she said. "Thank you."

I squeezed her hand and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut...
It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?
What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.

We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware- beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

Did You Miss it?

2009-02-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, for those of you who missed Shay's beautiful treasury here is the picture of my Blue Skies scarf (and my lovely daughter):

So, what do you think of it? Post your opinion below.

Another new look...

2009-02-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, as you may have noticed (unless this is your first time visiting), I changed my blog background.....again.

You may find this to be the case for the next little while (and invariably throughout the course of your following me as it is simply a part of my nature) as I try to find a background I'm in love with. So far, I really like this one. The last one was alright except I didn't really like the pink accents as pink is not a color in my shop's "scheme".

Please feel free to post your opinions and suggestions about the look of the blog. I love feedback.

A little Blue Sky anyone?

2009-01-31T02:13:00.000-08:00

I came home to a lovely little convo in my etsy inbox this evening. Shay from simplydoodles added my Blue Skies scarf to her beautiful treasury.

What the heck is a treasury, you ask? Well, I tried to summarize it, but nothing says it better than this quote that I took from an article written by fellow Etsian, sweetestpea. Treasuries are a very fun way to celebrated the creativity of our favorite artisans.

Please check out this gorgeous treasury right here and leave Shay an encouraging word or two. It wouldn't hurt to mention one really pretty blue scarf either :)

Bless you,

A little SHMILY goes a long way....

2009-01-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Most people who know me well know that I am a sucker for little grandmas and grandpas. I just love them. There's something so sweet and beautiful about two people who've spent their lives together loving each other. Nothing brings me to tears quite like when I see them walking in the park,

or holding hands.

My favorite is when they dance together.

My husband and I want to be one of those little old couples some day. It isn't always easy to be in love with the same someone day in and day out. We work hard in our marriage to keep the end in mind when life throws us obstacles like bad attitudes, areas of disagreement and misbehavior toward each other and we strive to work things out to the best of our abilities so our relationship can grow and stay healthy. We often look for opportunities to learn new ways to show each other how important we think the other is. My favorite thing we've learned is "SHMILY".

Once, when reading Dr James Dobson's devotional book Nightlight for Couples together before bed, we read the story of SHMILY. We knew immediately that this was something we would make a part of our relationship with each other. Here is the story behind the word:

SHMILY

Written by Laura Jeanne Allen

My Grandfather and Grandmother were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they had met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word "shmily"
in a surprise place for the other to find. They took turns leaving "shmily" around the house, and as soon as one of them discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more.

They dragged "shmily" with their fingers through the sugar and flour containers to await whoever was preparing the next meal. They smeared it in the dew on the windows overlooking the patio where they always had warm, homemade pudding with blue food coloring.

"Shmily" was written in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, where it would reappear bath after bath. At one point, my Grandmother even unrolled an entire roll of toilet paper to leave
"shmily" on the very last sheet.

There was no end to the places "shmily" would pop up. Little notes with "shmily" scribbled hurriedly
were found on dashboards and car seats, or taped to steering wheels. The notes were stuffed inside shoes and left under pillows.

"Shmily" was written in the dust upon the mantel
and traced in the ashes of the fireplace. This mysterious word was as much a part of their
house as the furniture.

It took me a long time before I was able to fully appreciate my grandparents' game. Skepticism had kept some of them from believing in true love-one that is pure and enduring. However, I never doubted my grandparents' relationship. They had love down pat. It was more than their flirtatious
little games; it was a way of life. Their relationship was based on a devotion and passionate affection
which not everyone is lucky to experience.

Grandma and Grandpa held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses as they bumped
into each other in their tiny kitchen. They finished each other's sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble.

My Grandmother whispered to one of her friends about how cute my Grandfather was, how handsome and old he had grown to be. She claimed that she really knew "how to pick 'em."
Before every meal they bowed their heads and gave thanks, marveling at their blessings:
a wonderful family, good fortune, and each other.

But there was a dark cloud in the couples' life: my Grandmother had breast cancer. The disease had first appeared ten years earlier. As always,
my Grandfather was with her every step of the way.
He comforted her in their yellow room, painted that way so that she could always be surrounded by sunshine, even when she was too sick to go outside.

Now the cancer was again attacking her body. With the help of a cane and my Grandfather's steady hand, they went to church every morning. But my Grandmother grew steadily weaker until, finally,
she could not leave the house anymore. For a while, my Grandfather would go to church alone, praying to God to watch over my Grandmother.

Then one day, what everyone dreaded finally happened. My Grandmother was gone.

"Shmily." It was scrawled in yellow on the pink ribbons of my Grandmother's funeral bouquet. As the crowd thinned and the last mourners turned to leave, my aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members came forward and gathered around Grandma one last time.

My Grandfather stepped up to my Grandmother's casket and, taking a shaky breath, he began to sing to her.

Through his tears and grief, the song came, a deep and throaty lullaby.

Shaking with my own sorrow, I will never forget that moment. I knew that, although I couldn't begin to fathom the depth of their love, I had been privileged to witness its unmatched beauty.

S-h-m-i-l-y:
See How Much I Love You.

I am brought to tears again by their devotion to one another and the satisfaction of their souls being knit together so completely. That's love. That's what I desire.

My husband and I leave little notes to one another every now and then expressing our love for each other and whispering encouraging words, buy none are as special to me as that one tiny, silly word. Shmily. It makes you smile to say it. Shmily has been written on the window, in the snow, on notes stuck inside books or magazines, left in sock drawers, coat pockets, suitcases when one of us left on a trip and the other could not go along, I've left it taped to the dashboard of the car....the list goes on. It is my favorite game. When I am having a bad day, my husband is quick to leave me one-word voicemails that make my entire day brighter. "Shmily" he says.
It's the sweetest word.

Love is in the Air.....

2009-01-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well, Valentine's Day is right around the corner and lately my eyes have been drawn to my most prized possession.

A painting by Jack Vettriano entitled Dance Me to the End of Love.
This painting captures the essence of my best Valentine's Day memory.

Because I've not been able to divert my thoughts from the subject of love lately I've decided to host a

BLOG GIVEAWAY

centered around it! Hooray for all of you!

Here's how you play:
1. To enter, you must visit my shop on etsy and pick a favorite item then come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me what you've chosen (make sure to include a way to contact you should you win).

2. You can earn a bonus entry if you become a follower of my blog. You'll find the link on the right side bar.

3. You can earn another bonus entry if you share me your most creative Valentine's Day memory. You can read the rest of the story about my best Valentine's Day below.

That's it! You're in. So, what am I giving away, you ask?
How about one of these?

The contest will be open to entries until midnight on February 12th, 2009. The winner will be announced right here on February 14th.

Now, here's my favorite V day memory:

February of 2004 (I think...?), I was inspired to create a special Valentine's Day for my husband. Ideas began to stir in my head and I wrote furiously in my notebook until I'd settled on a plan. I began to pour over my cookbook collection in search of relatively simple gourmet dishes I would be able to pull off with confidence. After a few rounds of elimination, I had assembled a menu for the evening and sat down with some tea at the computer and created my own menu for the evening. When that was done, I opened my CreateACard software and designed an invitation for my husband. Here's the actual card I made him:

I placed the card on the front seat of his truck after he went to bed the night before V day. The next morning after getting everyone out the door to school and work I got down to business myself.

I had searched the house earlier for what I would need to transform our humble little home into the quaint Cafe Rustica. I found an old curtain rod in the garage and found two matching twin sized flat sheets from our linen closet which I used along with a swag from a previous curtain set that I wasn't using at the time to create the curtains separating the entryway from the living room. I moved almost all of the living room furniture out of the living room and set up our dining room table (minus the leaf) with more lovely sheets as tablecloths. The red velvet napkins were a find at an after Christmas sale that I had tucked away for the next year. I pulled out our china and set the scene.

I purged all the shoes, coats, backpacks and bench from the entryway and brought in my outdoor fountain for ambiance. I had created a Cafe Rustica sign on the computer earlier which I hung beneath the painting on the wall. It was really beautiful.

Now it was off to the kitchen to whip up the recipes I had found.
The menu for Cafe Rustica was as follows:

Antipasti:
Baked Brie with Cranberry Wine Sauce
Fresh Bread with Olivada and Basil Garlic Oil

Entree:
Raspberry Turkey Roast
Tuscan Marinated Steak

Verdure (side dishes):
Pear Walnut Salad
Barley Pilaf
Asparagus with Roasted Peppers and Olives

Bevande (drinks):
Sparkling Juice
Lemon-Rose Water

Dolci (dessert):
Cappuchino Teardrop Mousse
Chocolate Marbled Cups with Fresh Fruit

My kids got home from school and I could tell by their amazed looks that my hard work was going to pay off. My mother arrived shortly, as we had arranged, to whisk them all away for a special Grandma's Valentine's Day party at her house and I quickly showered and changed.

A call from my husband saying he had "an errand" to run told me he was out looking for something for me and gave me a few extra minutes to put the finishing touches on the food, put on one of my Andrea Bocelli cds to set the mood, and light the candles.

When the time finally came, he rang the doorbell. Amused, I answered it with "Welcome to Cafe Rustica, how may I help you?" Without missing a beat, he replied "I have a 7 o'clock reservation." Giggling, I let him in and will never forget the look on his face. He was completely thrilled. He made me get the camera so he could take pictures of everything.

I finally got him to sit after taking pictures of every little detail (at the time we didn't realize that I had black and white film in the camera and after developing the film we were sad to see that most of the pictures turned out too blurry), only to have him jump back up and say "I'll be right back!" He came back in carrying that beautiful painting and I cried when he gave it to me.

We finally sat down and enjoyed a wonderful evening together with fabulous food, conversation and even dancing right in the middle of our very own living room. It was the best Valentine's Day we've ever had........so far :)

Here are a few pictures I can share with you:

(the beautiful table)

(a shot of the entryway)

(the Vettriano painting took the place of the other)

My first TREASURY...

2009-01-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

Well, it took me nearly 12 hours to figure it all out, but I finally managed to snag one of the coveted treasury spots.
This is my very first attempt at putting together a treasury on Etsy.
Check it out and tell me what you think!

Blush of Romance treasury

Trying something new...

2009-01-17T03:01:00.000-08:00

Well, with the start of a new year I thought a new look was in order. I am trying my hand at designing my own website via weebly. Please feel free to leave me feedback on the contact page about how I'm doing. I am interested in your opinions.

Stay tuned in the next few days for my very first blog giveaway. I'll post details about the contest soon.

2009-01-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

If you have any questions or input about lemonade sun productions I would love to hear from you. Please use the form below to drop me a line and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for your interest.

Only 2 Days Left!

2008-12-18T03:50:00.000-08:00

Hurry and shop now to SAVE with my last sale of the year!

The Christmas Sales event will end on December 20th which is this Saturday! Don't miss your opportunity to SAVE 25% off everything in the shop*!

Tie up those last few gifts on your list with something from lemonade sun productions.

Merry Christmas!
*live happy*

*sale does not apply to gift certificates.

A Little Holiday Cheer for you

2008-12-09T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hey there folks,

Came across this today and thought you might like a little fun contest to boost your holiday spirit. Check it out:

Not Your Average Soccer Mom: My First Ever GIVEAWAY...

Maybe I will do one of these someday soon. You just never know. Keep your eyes open.....

*live happy*

It's that time of year again...

2008-12-04T11:58:00.001-08:00

Hooray! It's time for cocoa and extra blankies, mittens and mufflers, bundled children and brisk wintery days........and SNOW!

I love snow. I grew up in Northwestern Montana in a little town at the foot of a glorious ski mountian surrounded, covered, sometimes nearly buried...in snow, so when I moved to Oregon 11 years ago I was glad to say "good riddance" to the wicked white stuff. I was tired of shoveling my way from the front door to the car and from the back of the car to the end of the *l o n g* driveway. Tired of snow getting into the space between my coat sleeve and my glove cuff. Tired of strapping on chains to drive to the store...and freezing in 40 below 0 weather....(ok, maybe only 15 below)

But after about 3 years of living in a more temperate climate where winter= rain.....and more rain, I must confess, I began to miss that snow. There's a quiet hush over the world when it snows. I love to watch the flakes fall delicately over the landscape. It changes everything...softens everything. It covers everything in a peace that is so beautiful. Even people are changed sometimes. Their outward guardedness gives way to smiles and "Merry Christmas" greetings.

We don't get very much snow here, though it has snowed a little for the last couple of years. (I hope it does again this year)

Our family makes an hour long drive up to one of the passes nearby for our annual "Snow Day" sledding trip. We try to coax as many of our friends into joining us as we can, pack up a bunch of food and lots of hot cocoa, load all the snow gear into the back of the truck and drive up to the snow. The air is thick with anticipation and excitement as the kids plan their snow forts and strategize about the inevitable snowball war. The camera is at the ready and my husband and I exchange knowing glances and secret coded expressions that tell the kids we are planning on "getting them" somehow. I love it all.

As I sit here typing, my mind is lingering on memories of last year's "Snow Day" trip and I am planning our next one........now where is that bin of snow boots?

Cyber Monday is nearly here!

2008-11-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

So how many of you strategized a plan for the Black Friday sales? Anyone get up at the crack of dawn...or maybe the backside of dawn before its crack was even seen... to freeze your mitts and other bits in the pre-light chill in order to score that special toy for whomever was on your gift lists? Hmmmm???

Not me, thanks! That whole bag o' beans is NOT my thing. It would have to be a 100% off sale in order to provide enough enticement for me to venture into the midst of a human-crushing crowd machine like that! No Way!

Honestly, I am thrilled for those of you who enjoy saving money so much that you would risk life and limb just to acquire that one special item at a discount I will most likely see in another 6 months anyway, and I am baffled by those who actually THRIVE on this particular thrill. *shakes her head in amazement*

Well, it's not over yet, folks. Tomorrow is lauded as "Cyber Monday". Apparently touted as the internet equivalent of the physical world's retail Black Friday. (I wasn't aware there even was such a thing before opening this business!)

As most of you know already, I am running a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale in my etsy shop. Tomorrow is your last day to save 20% off everything in the shop, so come on people! Get out there and buy that cute little pair of earrings you loved, or that beautiful scarf or journal. The best part of it all is that your little fingers will stay nice and toasty warm as you click away on those buttons! You can buy those last gifts to finish off your list from the comfort of your own pjs or even shop in your underwear if you wish......whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Ok, I'm off to do a little shopkeeping before bed in preparation for all of you to come clicking on my shop door in the morning! Here's hoping your Holidays are wonderful and full of all the good stuff!

*live happy*
-Melody

Black Friday Sale extended!

2008-11-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

************************************************************
BLACK FRIDAY SALE!
20% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE SHOP
11/28-12/1
-new listings daily!
************************************************************

Check back often for new listings throughout the weekend! This is the perfect time to find that special handmade something for that special someone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY SHOPPING!

Black Friday Sale!

2008-11-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

Ok, come on over and shop til your heart's content.

20% off everything in the shop all day November 28th!

Got those last minute gifts or stocking stuffers all taken care of.

There is still time for me to do a custom order for you if you see something you like but want to tweak it a bit.

I am the chosen one!

2008-11-20T13:22:00.001-08:00

Hooray! I checked my shop this afternoon and I had a convo from designingit telling me she had picked my Blue Lagoon Scarf to add to her Treasury. Check it out! It is absolutely gorgeous!

I finally got some new stuff listed last night after a monumental argument with my computer all day. It was just being way too slow to do everything. After consulting the appropriate wise counsel, I did a system restore and soon enough I was flying through the listing process.

I am currently working on some new stamp designs and have several quote stamps in the works as well. I am hoping to list them next week.

My mind is full of amazing ideas for new things. I have found that I not only need to carry a notebook with me wherever I go, but now I stash one in the car and near the computer.

I am toying with the idea of making the stamped onesies again, but I would need to find a wholesale deal on onesies in order to make any money. We'll think about that a bit more for a while.

Well, back to work! I've got a custom order to fill.

It pays to have good friends!

2008-11-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

A while back I sent out an introductory email to my contact list trying to get my name out there. I'm sure some of you were probably on that list. Well, one of my friends passed on the email to HER contact list and yesterday morning I got a call from someone from church who had "gotten a message to check out a fun little website" and she wanted to place an order! She bought 4 things! I was so happy I nearly screamed......ok, after I got off the phone I let out a little squeal or two...and I did the happy dance around the room while my hubby smirked at me. WHATEVER, DUDE! Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

Hooray! Thanks, Teri, for passing my shop info along! That simple act has blessed me big time. (Thanks to anyone else who passed on my info to their friends. I appreciate it a ton!)

1st Sale Already!!!!

2008-11-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hooray! I made my first sale in less than 24 hours of posting my items in the shop! Fantastic!

Thank you to The CrackedCup for buying my Cracked Ice earrings. (If you're curious or don't remember them you can check the shop under sold items to see a pic.) You can click on her name to visit her shop. She sells lovely handmade scarves.

I've been pretty busy these last few days creating new jewelry to add to the shop. I also crocheted a couple scarves so I can fill out those empty categories. Today, my goal is to carve a bunch of stamp sets and get them in there. I know a few of you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of some stamps. My goal is to have 5 sets done and posted by the weekend.

I think I will take advantage of the sunshine today and retake my pictures outside to see if that helps. I was using a homemade lightbox I built using this tutorial I found on The Strobist's blog. It works well for small things, but some of my pictures turned out dark. I manipulated them a little in Photoshop, but that is a brand new program for me (multi-thanks to my computer guy.....you know who you are!) and I am still learning how to use it.

Well, this day is getting away from me the longer I stay on here, so I am going to go for now. Be looking forward to my new pictures.

*live happy*

Grand Opening!

2008-11-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to lemonade sun productions!

I am so glad you stopped by. I've been working very hard these past couple weeks in preparation for the Holiday Shopping season. I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the shop hunting for treasures to give to the special people in your lives for the holidays.

*** Grand Opening on November 10th. ***

Here's our introductory flyer:

I am excited to see where this new adventure leads.
Click on the link in the shop name above to be taken to the shop site.