Thursday, September 30, 2010

Congratulations, SpareBedroomStudio, on the FP treasury!

And Team Discovery has done it again! Thanks to SpareBedroomStudio and congratulations to all who are featured!



To see the entire treasury, click here.

Congratulations, Waterwaif, on the FP treasury!

(I really mean congrats to myself but that sounds funny, eh?)

Congrats to all who made the FP in this one, and I know a few were FP-first-timers!



To see the entire treasury, click here.

Thursday Themed Challenges: September 30

September 30 is International Translation Day.
So today's theme for the one day only Thursday Themed Challenge is: 
International Translation Day




Here are the rules:

1. Interpret International Translation Day any way you want to or any way you can and let that be the theme of your treasury! Be creative! This is a chance to let your artistic freedoms shine!

2. Use at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less) and the rest team members. Do not include yourself or non-team members with more than 20 sales.

3. Put "treasury challenge" somewhere in your treasury title.

4. Tag the treasury "teamdiscovery" and "TDthemechallenge". You must include these two tags so your treasury can be found. Other tags to include if you can or want to: undiscovered, pounce, lessthan20.

5. Link back to this exact blog post in your treasury. You must include the direct URL to this blog post. This will help the word get out and make our challenges (and exposure) exciting! If you cannot think of what to write, try this:

This is a Team Discovery Thursday Themed Challenge!
These challenges run one day only and the winner receives awesome stuff! Anyone can play. Come check it out here:
http://etsyteamdiscovery.blogspot.com/2010/09/thursday-themed-challenges-september-30.html


6. Comment on this blog post with your treasury URL. This will count as your entry.

7. Follow our blog, please. You can do this by clicking follow over there in the right sidebar ---> or by clicking follow all the way at the top left of the blog.

8. Promote your treasury in any way you can. Tweet it, facebook it, forums, too! The top 4 treasuries (by views and/or hotness first thing Friday morning) will be open to voting on our blog this weekend. The winner will receive ad space in our sidebar for one week, until next Thursday's themed challenge. Last week's winner is not eligible to win this week but is encouraged to participate for the fun of it.

9. Please follow these rules exactly if you want your treasury to count in the challenge and be found.

10. This challenge ends at midnight tonight, eastern time and the voting for the winner will begin Friday morning. 

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Most Improved Photo Challenge!



This challenge is for Team Discovery members only.


Do you have photos you want to improve? Enter our team contest and compete for a prize!

Here are the simple rules:

1. Pick one photo from your shop that you would like to improve upon.

2. Take a new photo of that same item.

3. Send the before and after photos to our panel of judges (make sure you send them to all three):
RedLeafGallery
merriweathercouncil
cindy columbia

The due date for this is Wednesday, Oct. 6 at 6pm.

You may submit only one photo per shop.

Each judge will pick their favorite photo. The top three will be posted on the blog for voting. The winner will receive a pair of earrings from KathleenCavalaro's shop similar to these (can be customized for color and metal).

ALL photo submissions will be posted on the blog in a separate post for the community to see your hard work.

Good luck and have fun!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Meet Undiscovered Shop: Singing Cat Studio

by popwhiz



You may have seen the gorgeous polymer clay and mixed media jewelry and beads from Singing Cat Studio popping up in recent Team Discovery treasuries. This new shop is full of beautifully photographed, colorful and unique pieces. I recently talked to seller Kim about her creations....

Pop Whiz: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Do you have a day job outside of your creative work?
Singing Cat Studio: I grew up in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County in a family with no inclination to be artistic, so I was a bit of an anomaly. Among my other past "lives," I earned a certificate in fashion design and ran a business making custom-made clothing for women. Today, I'm a writing professor at an area college where I teach primarily freshman composition.

PW: When did you get started making your clay and mixed media jewelry and beads? How did you get into it?
SCS: About five years ago, I took my first basic beading class. As soon as I finished my first necklace, I returned to the bead store and have been a beadaholic ever since. After taking ceramics classes at my local art center for a couple of years, I seriously started to think about making my own beads. I had always considered the polymer clay in craft stores with interest and, inspired by my work with pottery, decided to give polymer a shot. I began by buying some books on the medium and looking at lots and lots of stuff on the Internet. I love the medium because so much can be done with it to achieve different effects.

PW: How do you like to create? Would you share a little bit with us about your creative process?
SCS: The only thing I can clearly say about my creative process is that I engage in some sort of creative chaos. I always have dozens of ideas running through my mind, and I often don't know what I'm going to make until I sit down at my table and start to work. Sometimes I get stuck on a particular color. Other times I start with a texture. Mostly, I love having an entire day to play without interruptions.

PW: Which is your favorite piece in your shop?
SCS: I can't pick a favorite piece in my shop although one of my recent additions, the pendant in shades of lemongrass green and blue, is a fave because of the button. I wish I had dozens of buttons just like it, especially because I love mixed colors in metal.

PW: What do you like to do with your free time when you aren't creating beautiful jewelry and beads?
SCS: Between teaching and trying to get Singing Cat Studio running, I have no real free time, but I enjoy anything to do with the arts, and I'm a ninja gardener. I'm also not embarrassed to say that I'm addicted to reality TV, especially any show that involves making something, because I need an escape from all the student papers I read.

PW: Have you learned any important lessons while selling on Etsy thus far? Any tips for other undiscovered shops?
SCS: I'm very new to Etsy, but I've learned in the last month that there's an incredible network of people on Etsy, and the site offers tremendous resources and support. I'm finding that I have to reserve at least a little bit of time most days for checking out Etsy's resources, posting on the forums, and then developing other forms of social networking media. Facebook has me totally confounded, so I haven't yet managed to link my shop to my Facebook page.

PW: What are your long-term plans for your shop? Do you sell your art outside of Etsy as well?
SCS: Long-term, I hope to grow my Etsy shop as big as it will go. Although I can sort of envision quitting my "day job," at this point I can't imagine walking away from teaching because I love my job so much, especially now that I focus most of my energies on working with urban, at risk, and non-traditional students. In the meantime, I am selling work outside of Etsy. I did my first big bead show in August, have some pendants in a local bead shop, will soon have work in my local art center, and hope to do some local holiday craft shows in the next few months. I will also have a booth at the Tucson Bead Show in February.

PW: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?
SCS: The only other thing that I'd like to share is that I've dreamed of being an artisan and selling my work since I was a kid. Balancing teaching with starting a business is time-consuming, but I feel very lucky to be at a point in my life when I can pursue my passions.




You can visit Singing Cat Studio on Etsy and find Kim on Facebook and Flickr.

Tagging Your Treasuries



Those 18 spots to fill after making a treasury can seem a bit daunting. But eventually you'll get to a point where you wish you had more! The following tips are intended to be used on treasuries that meet the Team Discovery criteria (at least half of your spots given to new/undiscovered shops):

The given tags that should always be used on a Team Discovery treasury are "teamdiscovery", "new", "undiscovered", "pounce" (only if you actually have at least one shop found using Pounce), and "lessthan20". Notice there are no spaces inbetween the words. If you are participating in a challenge, you should use all of the above plus "tdchallenge."

Now you have 12-13 spots left. The first thing you should do is look at the monthly Merchandising Desk themes and colors. September is here and October is here.

Look at colors. Let's take September's Merchandising Desk for example:

"Color Trends: Punches of turquoise, richer earth tones, mustards, cranberry, deep berries and wine, muted greens, gray and camel solids."


Let me preface this by saying you should never tag your treasury with colors/themes that do not reflect what you have in your treasury. That would be very misleading and some would call it cheating. But if you have any of those colors at all, you should use those specific words - "camel solids" or "muted greens". You may also want to try different variations of those words like "light green" or even a specific type of light green like "mint" or "sage".

Also in the Merchandising Desk for September, they specifically look for certain themes:
"Woodland Emphasis: Forest animals, especially foxes, bears, and owls. Feathers, acorns, wood-grain, branches, logs, and leaves."

If you have even one owl, tag it "owl." Use as many of those descriptions as you can.

There are tons of themes in the Merchandising Desk. The above were only a few examples of many. The nice thing about the Merchandising Desk is they actually give a list of specific words. Go through all of those lists and see if any of them fit your treasury.

I have always overlooked this, but here's a tagging tip straight from the mouth of Etsy:
"Tagging tip: As Etsy continues to become a more global site with international currencies and languages, consider internationalizing your item listings. When tagging your items, be sure to use all 14 tags to describe your item; as you run out of words, use a thesaurus and language dictionary to generate new variations of your most important tags. Great languages to start with include French, German, and Spanish."

Please notice though there is actually room for 18 tags. Please try to use them all!

In addition to the themes Etsy chooses each month, there are also lists of trending treasury searches that are different every day. If you go to the main Treasury page, you will see to the right "Today's Trending Tags." Today it happes to be - beautiful, fun, winter, creative, cute, nature, earthy, fashion, bright, cream. If you've run out of ideas for themes and colors, go to the "trending tags" and see if any of them match your treasury.

I hoped this helped! Please feel free to leave in the comments anything I may have missed and/or how you tag your treasuries.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Vote for your favorite Thursday Theme Challenge!


Thursday's Challenge Voting




It is time to vote for your favorite from the Thursday themed challenge! This week's challenge was The Autumnal Equinox & the Harvest Moon!

Keeping in mind that last week's winner is not eligible, which would you like to see win? And the top 4 finalists, in no particular order, are:

1. Under a Harvest Moon by ScrapHappyLyrebird

2. ...And Sailed By the LIght of the Harvest Moon by palimpsestic

3. Sept. 23 Autumn Full Moon Romance... That's Tonight! by MyFairLadee

4. Harvest Moon by SerendipiT



Voting has ended!
Because the schedule has been off on this particular challenge, the winner gets to have their banner up for the remainder of the week AND alongside the banner of next week's winner as well.

Monday Treasury Challenge - Gray Blossoms

Congrats to MyFairLadee for an extraordinary win in last weeks treasury challenge! And what a beautiful shop to be featured in this week's challenge.

Anyone is welcome to come play but there are some simple rules that must be followed in order for your treasury to be considered as a finalist.






#1: Your treasury must include these earrings made by MyFairLadee You can put them in any spot you like but they must be there somewhere. The theme can be anything you like as long as this photo is included.

#2: Your treasury must contain at least 8 new or undiscovered shops. Undiscovered shops have 20 sales or less. The Etsy Pounce function is good for discovering brand new shops and there is a thread in the Etsy forums here that is chock full of new and undiscovered shops.

#3: Your treasury must fill the remaining spots with Team Discovery members. The team members are listed here.

#4: Your treasury MUST be tagged "teamdiscovery", all one word, and "TDchallenge", all one word, without the quotes. Also, we recommend you fill every tag space that is appropriate for your treasury and use "new" and "undiscovered."

#5: You must follow this blog.


#6: You must post the URL link to this blog in your treasury. This is important and is how the word gets out. If you are unsure of what to say in your challenge treasury, feel free to use this:


This is a Team Discovery challenge treasury made up of undiscovered shops (less than 20 sales) and team members. Anyone can join in this challenge.
http://etsyteamdiscovery.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-treasury-challenge-gray-blossoms.html

#7: Your treasury must include "Treasury Challenge" somewhere in your title.

#8: When you have completed your challenge treasury, come back here and add the URL to that treasury here in the comments. You can create as many treasuries as you like and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will end Thursday evening AT 6PM. The winner will be announced next Monday.


The winner of this challenge will be able to have one of THEIR OWN items featured for next week's challenge!

Meet and Greet Monday: September 27

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Etsy's October Merhandising Desk is up!




This is a fantastic resource for both treasury making and for getting items prepared for your own shop.

Read the list and notice themes, colors, textures, etc. that Etsy plans on featuring in the month of October. And if you want to get your shop ready for some treasuries, try to list a few items that fall into these categories. And hopefully each of us will be able to add the above image somewhere in our shops soon! :)

A Friday Front Page!

To see this entire treasury, please click here!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Vote for your favorite finalist in ReadLeafGallery's treasury challenge!


We had an tremendous amount of submissions this week! Thanks to everyone who participated. There were so many wonderful treasuries to choose from but ReadLeafGallery narrowed it down to her four favorites:

1. Autumn Rust

2. Candy Apples, Pumpkins, and Carousels

3. Hippo Finds Pumpkin

4. The Haunted Corn Maze Enter at Your Own Risk


VOTING CLOSED

Voting will end 8pm Sunday evening and the winner of this challenge will have an item from their shop featured in next weeks challenge!

Look back on Monday to see what it will be.

Meet Debra of MeeMonkey!

by jenni4k







Tell us a little abou
t who you are?

Well, Hi! My name is Debra-Anne Barnes, I was born on February 6th, which I figure is a rather great day for a birthday. I currently reside in the 'Main-Gerr' neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto, Ontario. It is close to the lake and out of the central noise of downtown. I've been making monkeys since 2007 and prior to that my primary focus was drawing, painting and screen-printing. I make toys as an outlet for my overly active imagination and horrendous case of 'drawers block'. I'm completely obsessed with surfing, which despite being landlocked, I have always thought was my ultimate destiny. Admittedly I can barely swim and have never actually surfed yet, but one day I will! My blood is salty and my heart is full of sand. No big d.

I noticed from your profile that you are self-taught. How did you get into sewing objects?

I'm very lucky to have grown up with access to my mothers sewing machine and notions, but the turning point really was my seventh grade year. I had come down with mono and was pulled out of school. I had hours and hours and no cable TV to watch, my Mother in a stroke of genius sent me to a sewing club to keep me busy. Soon it was very apparent that I had some strange natural ability and she bought me a serger to encourage me further. I cut and re-pieced everything in my closet that fall! Nothing was safe from my creative fervour!


Each of your monkeys have such unique character! Where do you find your inspirations?

I'm one of those visually observant types. I may not remember your name, but I will never forget your face. Honestly the inspiration comes from the time I spend with the socks. I make these 'blanks' and go from there. It's a very organic process unless it is a custom order, where I will spend the time drawing out sketches prior to sewing. The faces just emerge. I grab a little embroidery floss, pick out some buttons and the next thing you know they have a spirit of their own. I will admit that sometimes after making some of my monkeys, I take a good look at them and can really see the facial expressions of the people I love dearly. Not that I would ever usually tell them, as being compared to a monkey is typically a little unwanted!

Do you have a favourite monkey? Is there a story behind it?

I usually end up with a favourite monkey every batch I do. Right now I am totally in love with my "All Ears Monkey". He just turned out so right! I wouldn't change a thing about him and really had a hard time listing this guy! Another one of my favourites was a custom order I received prior to opening my Etsy shop. They asked for a Joker monkey from the new Batman movie. I loved translating that character into a sock monkey and the costuming was a blast to sew.

What is a typical day like for you?

I really am blessed in regard to my current lifestyle. I quit most jobs in order to allow myself the maximum amount of time for my artistic pursuits. It is often tough to make even the simplest ends meet but I have the freedom at any point to work feverishly into the night and sleep in the next day if need be. It also allows me the quality time with the people I love and the all important time alone.

My average day starts by awaking when I am rested, a simple breakfast then sewing, tiding, puttering and plenty of thinking, maybe in the evening I will catch a movie at The Fox theatre down the street or meet up with my fella for a good snuggle. I live a very quiet simple life and I wouldn't have it any other way except maybe by the sea with some surfing in the mix.


Any other hobbies other than creating for your shop?

I have many other creative projects on the go at any given time. My life really is just one big hobby! I do love cooking and adapting recipes, picnicking, strolls and going to the movies. If I had the land or space, I would be gardening as a hobby, one of my past studies was Horticulture. Right now I tend to two small window boxes, one full of Swiss chard, the other with ready to harvest beets.

Favourite books you recommend?

My book choices usually come from friends with the old "Oh my gosh, I know the perfect book for you" Which has led me to have a collection of books as eccentric as my collection of friends!

Five Greats:

Land Of Little Rain By Mary Austin
Magical Thinking By Augusten Burroughs
Surfing the Great Lakes By P.L Strazz
R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz and Country
Atlantis and The Kingdom of the Neanderthals By Colin Wilson

Other then that any How-To books or natural history book will whet my need to read.


If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Wow! Well, you would find the left overs from the anniversary meal I made for my fella. No matter how hard I try to only cook for two I always end up cooking enough for ten. You will find roasted cauliflower soup, black-eyed peas, collard greens, jalapeno corn bread and the remnants of a pecan pie. Feel free to message me for the recipes. I love to 'veggi-fy' classic soul food recipes. Other then that you'll always find more condiments then any person should have, almond milk and a sprouted bean crunch mix I grow weekly (peas, lentils, garbanzo beans, kamut). I am lucky to live by two great fruit and veg markets, and since I have allowed the time in my life, usually buy as I need the day of.

Thanks so much for wanting a little sneak peak into my life. See you at my shop! Bananas Over and Out!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Congrats to MyFairLadee on today's front page!



Click HERE to see all of it!

Thursday Themed Challenges: September 23

September 23 marks the Autumnal Equinox (for the northern hemisphere) and for the first time in 19 years, it comes on the same night as a full moon. The moon on the Autumnal Equinox is called the Harvest Moon and this time it will be full, too!

Today's one day only challenge theme: 
The Autumnal Equinox & the Harvest Moon




Here are the rules:

1. Interpret Autumnal Equinox & Harvest Moon any way you want to or any way you can and let that be the theme of your treasury! Be creative! This is a chance to let your artistic freedoms shine!

2. Use at least 8 undiscovered shops (20 sales or less) and the rest team members. Do not include yourself or non-team members with more than 20 sales.

3. Put "treasury challenge" somewhere in your treasury title.

4. Tag the treasury "teamdiscovery" and "TDthemechallenge". Other tags to include if you can or want to: autumn, equinox, harvest moon, full moon, fall.

5. Link back to this exact blog post in your treasury. This will help the word get out and make our challenges (and exposure) exciting! If you cannot think of what to write, try this:


This is a Team Discovery Thursday Themed Challenge!
These challenges run one day only and the winner receives awesome stuff! Anyone can play. Come check it out here:
http://etsyteamdiscovery.blogspot.com/2010/09/thursday-themed-challenges-september-23.html


6. Post your treasury URL here in a comment on this blog post. This will count as your entry.

7. Follow our blog, please. You can do this by clicking follow over there in the right sidebar ---> or by clicking follow all the way at the top left of the blog.

8. Promote your treasury in any way you can. Tweet it, facebook it, forums, too! The top 4 treasuries (by views and/or hotness first thing Friday morning) will be open to voting on our blog this weekend. The winner will receive ad space in our sidebar for one week, until next Thursday's themed challenge. Last week's winner is not eligible to win this week but is encouraged to participate for the fun of it.

9. Please follow these rules exactly if you want your treasury to count in the challenge. Failure to add "Treasury Challenge" to your title or improper tagging might result in us not being able to find your treasury at all and it won't count!

10. This challenge ends at midnight tonight, eastern time and the voting for the winner will begin Friday morning. 

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wednesday Friendsday: Link Up Your Twitter for More Friends and Fans

Welcome to Wednesday Friendsday, hosted by Team Discovery!

Our mission is to find and promote undiscovered shops and new sellers because everyone needs a break once in a while, a leg up, a helping hand, and a friend! Marketing and networking are just a couple of the ways we help each other and promote ourselves. Twitter is a perfect way to do just that.

Here at Wednesday Friendsday, we share our twitter accounts with each other, "follow" each other, and support and be supported. 


The rules are simple:


  • Follow our blog. 
  • Add the URL (link) of your Twitter account to the list below. 
  • Follow as many fellow sellers and teammates as you wish.  
  • That's it! Thanks so much for stopping by and helping us help and support you!


Yay to Withaflourish for another front page!


To see this entire list, click here.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Come meet Ally of CrookedSmileCreation!

by lolasjewels



LJ: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself.
CSC: Hello, my name is Ally. I live in Tampa, Florida. I am married and have one daughter who is 23 years old. My husband and I have come back home from living abroad in the UK for two years. We've actually been home for almost a year, now that I think about it. Time has flown by. His job required us to move to Bournemouth, a town on the southern coast of England. While we were there we enjoyed traveling around Europe and had the opportunity to see many things and meet some interesting people. It was a unique experience that we would not change, but we are tremendously happy to be back home in the US.

LJ: When did you start making your bags and what was your inspiration?
CSC:
I have always been into crafts, in one form or another for as long as I can remember. While my husband and I were living abroad, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I spent much of that time sewing. It was during that time that I began to experiment with many ideas in sewing. One thing led to another and now I make bags. My inspiration comes from so many areas. Sometimes I see some fabric, and I know exactly what I want it to be. Other times (usually when I'm about to fall asleep at night) I get an idea and I just have to try it.


LJ:
Is there one bag that is your favorite and why?
CSC: My favorite bag is always the one that I am working on at that time. I really have enjoyed making every one of them. In looking at my shop, I would have to say that the autumn leaves bag is a favorite. Have you ever had an idea, but you’re not sure it will come out how you envision it? I was elated as I was making the Autumn Leaves bag. It came together exactly how I wanted it.

LJ: What inspired you to open your Etsy store?
CSC: I had never heard of Etsy. Then my daughter mentioned that a friend of hers had an "online store" (turns out it was an Etsy store). Shortly after that, I was reading in the local paper about a Tampa get-together for Etsians. When I started to look further and I saw all the Etsy resources and the support in the Etsy community, it all started to come together for me. It was a process that took some time to gel, but now that my store is open, I am truly enjoying it.

LJ: Tell us about your repurposed bag.
CSC: The repurposed bags came about in an interesting way. My daughter had some jeans that she couldn't wear anymore. It was a shame because they weren't old or worn, they just didn't fit her. I took them off her hands not sure what I was going to do with them and thought I might just give them to a charity, then that late night light bulb lit up and that's when I started repurposing the denim into purses.

LJ: What are your personal dreams for the future?
CSC: I try to live for the present, so I really don't get too detailed about the future. My personal dreams for the future? A simple life.

LJ: Favorite quote or saying...
CSC: "People don't care what you know until they know that you care."

Thank you Ally for taking the time to tell us a little something about yourself! Please visit CrookedSmileCreation to see even more beautiful designs.

Tempt Me Tuesday Week 2: Linky Party! Link Up What YOU Are Selling and Tempt Us!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Meet and Greet Monday: September 20

Monday Treasury Challenge - Pumpkin

We had a lot of entries in last weeks challenge and the winner is RedLeafGallery's treasury! And what a coincidence because RedLeafGallery happens to have a beautiful photo that fits in perfectly with the Etsy Merchandising Desk themes for this month.

Anyone is welcome to come play but there are some simple rules that must be followed in order for your treasury to be considered as a finalist.





#1: Your treasury must include this photo made by RedLeafGallery. You can put them in any spot you like but they must be there somewhere. The theme can be anything you like as long as this photo is included.

#2: Your treasury must contain at least 8 new or undiscovered shops. Undiscovered shops have 20 sales or less. The Etsy Pounce function is good for discovering brand new shops and there is a thread in the Etsy forums here that is chock full of new and undiscovered shops.

#3: Your treasury must fill the remaining spots with Team Discovery members. The team members are listed here.

#4: Your treasury MUST be tagged "teamdiscovery", all one word, and "TDchallenge", all one word, without the quotes. Also, we recommend you fill every tag space that is appropriate for your treasury and use "new" and "undiscovered."

#5: You must follow this blog.


#6: You must post the URL link to this blog in your treasury. This is important and is how the word gets out. If you are unsure of what to say in your challenge treasury, feel free to use this:


This is a Team Discovery challenge treasury made up of undiscovered shops (less than 20 sales) and team members. Anyone can join in this challenge. Details here:
http://etsyteamdiscovery.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-treasury-challenge-pumpkin.html

#7: Your treasury must include "Treasury Challenge" somewhere in your title.

#8: When you have completed your challenge treasury, come back here and add the URL to that treasury here in the comments. You can create as many treasuries as you like and enter as many times as you like. This challenge will end Thursday evening. The winner will be announced next Monday.


The winner of this challenge will be able to have one of THEIR OWN items featured for next week's challenge!

Congrats to hiyapapaya on another front page!

You can view this beautiful treasury here!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Managing Friends on Facebook

by, Jennifer

Having 30 or 40 friends is not hard to keep track of. But when you have a few hundred friends, one can easily loose track of their friends. So, how to manage your friends? The easiest way would be to use lists. Create a list named Surfin' Buddies, Family, High School Friends or whatever is easy for you to know who those people are. Only you see your lists so no worries if you call a list "Enemies I am keeping close".

Where to start? Idealy, in the beginning is a good place to start but if you are like me, you created your facebook account and started adding friends. So start now. When you send or receive a friend request, add the person to a list by clicking on Add To List and selecting a list from the drop down. No lists? Simply type in a new list name and then send or accept the friend request.



Now, about those friends you already have. At the top right of any Facebook page, click on Account and click on Edit Friends from the pop-out menu.



Here you can manage your friends by adding them to a list, deleting them, moving them to another list, or just look for them.

To create a new list from Edit Friends, just click on Create New List and type a list name in the little box. Then you can scroll through the list in the pop-up box and click on each friend you want to add to that list. They will be highlighted blue if selected. To unselect, just click them again to remove the blue highlight. When you are finished, click Create List.



If you want, you can scroll through your list of friends and add each one to a list one friend at a time. Just locate the friend, click Add To List next to their name and click the list you want them to be added to.



Too many friends to scroll through? Looking for a particular friend? You can find your friends easily in 2 ways.

First, while you are on the edit friends page, you can type in the search box (on the left, not at the top) the first letters of their name. As you type, the list will reduce and show only friends with that combination of letters in their name.


Second, from any page of Facebook, you can type in the beginning of the name or page you are looking for in the search box at the top of the page. A pop-out box will show all pages, groups, friends, etc. that have those matching letters. Sometimes, it will show you even those you have not yet connected to.



Need to delete someone from your friends list? Yes, this happens that we picked the wrong person to network with. From the Edit Friends page, just find their name and click the X to the right of their name. A pop-up will ask you to confirm you really want to delete them.



And finally, now that you have your friends organized, where did those lists go? On the Edit Friends page, you will see the lists on the left hand side. Just click on the list you want to view, and only those added to that list will show up.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Congrats withaflourish! Another FP Treasury!

WOW! What a morning! Back to back FP team treasuries! Congrats to withaflourish and everyone in her treasury. Way to get the word out about undiscovered shops!

View the Sweetness treasury here.


Congrats OonaJamesStudio! Another FP Treasury!

I woke up this morning to hear we had another FP team treasury! Congrats to OonaJamesStudio and everyone in this treasury. Way to get the word out about undiscovered shops!

View the Sand & Stone treasury here.



Friday, September 17, 2010

Creative Minds: [taking you behind the scenes]

Mixed Media Art with the talented Cindy Columbia









Hey Cindy..thanks for letting us step behind the scenes of Mixed Media Art. This interview forms part of the collection of Team Discovery member interviews, where we delve deeper into the creative minds of our members and showcase the handmade goodness that is available.

I was first drawn to your paintings by your bold colour palette. Your unique paintings entice with the splashes of colour dancing on the canvas.



What did you want to be when you were growing up and have you always had a passion for art?

Would you believe me if I told you there was no other thing I wanted to be but an artist? I started drawing at a very young age. My mom was an artist and to keep me entertained and out of her hair she would give me a piece of paper and charcoal pencil and let me have at it.


Could you please write a few lines that capture your journey thus far…

Mom nixed my plans for art school, as she wanted me to be a trial lawyer, which I had no desire to be. So I got married instead at only 19, which really should be illegal! After my divorce I was a single mom for 14 years and life was pretty much about supporting my son and myself. I did manage to get an interior decorating job after hounding the store for a year and that is what got me back into using my creativity for fun. I remarried and had my youngest and was a SAHM for 12 years. Last year I decided to dabble in paints again but this time I was not going to do what I used to do which was realism and portraits. I wanted fun so did abstracts. Then in May I opened my Etsy shop.


You describe your paintings as whimsical folk art. Folk art is commonly described as drawing inspiration from life experiences and cultural backgrounds. Would this be an accurate description for your paintings and do you relate to any of the characters that you paint?

I guess the answer would be yes and no. Yes there is a side of me that is totally down to earth, loves nature and the simple life. There is also a side of me that likes bling! So how do I mesh these two things? That is what I am trying to find out. As far as the characters I create, you noticed I do a lot of people. I LOVE people. I love knowing what makes a person tick. I love abstract and folk art because you can totally exaggerate something about a person to make it stand out and be noticed. Many times I start off drawing someone and have no particular person in mind, but all of a sudden someone I know shows up on my canvas and I am like WOW hey there :)


Where do you draw inspiration from for your artwork?

Tough question. It is never the same thing. Sometimes there is a color palette I want to try and so I figure out what I can create using those colors. Other times I will meet a person who is just so animated or such a character that I decide I need to recreate them. Often though history is my inspiration.


Please choose two pieces of your own artwork and allow us to explore behind the scenes…

There are two pieces of work that I consider "serious art". They are both abstract in nature but the sentiment behind both of them is very important to me. "The Twin" was one of the first paintings I did when I started a year and a half ago. My reading of Hitler's Europe during the Holocaust is the inspiration behind the piece. I was so moved by reading books by survivors that I felt I had to make something permanent to express my feelings about the tragedy. One book in particular "Children of The Flames" tore deep into my soul and I felt I had to do something so I painted The Twin. It depicts the surviving twin who was part of Dr Mengele's experiments. When one twin died they called for the other to come forward, they killed him immediately so they could autopsy them both at the same time of death. This painting has my soul in it. It has evolved from an almost cartoon character to what it is today. It is impossible to describe for you what that process was for me as there is just not enough space or time to do so. I have a before pic and an after pic of him (painting thumbnails are in order below).



This painting will never be sold. If anything it will be donated to an appropriate venue. It is currently being proposed to be shown at Yad Vashem the Holocaust authority in Israel. I do not know if it will be accepted because they have never shown any artwork by anyone other then a survivor or one of their children. Just the thought of it being considered is a very humbling thing to me. Of all the work I do, none will ever be as important to me as that piece. It has been shown to survivors living in Israel and it has brought them to tears not because of the sadness of what happened but because someone decades later, myself, was so touched by their story that I felt the need to remember them. I completed that painting and dedicated it on Holocaust Remembrance Day 2010.


Aside from your Etsy store, Mixed Media Art , do you sell your artwork through other means?

I have sold artwork at another online store as well as on EBay. I am only now focusing on creating a local following. I know some wonderful folks who are willing to allow me to set up displays in their brick and mortar shops. I am also planning on doing some local shows this fall and see how that goes.


Any sneak peaks into what items will appear in the future in your Etsy store?

I have been making a transition from regular acrylic painting to mixed media painting. I am currently stocking up on supplies to bring my work into yet another dimension, which is, altered art. One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was make collages. My walls were plastered with little vignettes I had put together. The rise in popularity in altered art thrills me because it will allow me to go back in time and pick up where I left off 30 years ago. This time I will be approaching it from an adult perspective so I am very excited about it!


What item in your wardrobe have you held onto that has come back around in fashion?

Funny you mention this. I have a pair of black wing tip patent leather shoes that I used to LOVE to wear that I got in the 80's. I am a pants person and love oversized sweaters and wool jackets. I wore them long after I guess I was not supposed to simply because I liked them. Recently I was out and about and came across a pair of women's patent leather men's looking loafers! I almost bought them but thought wow I have those other ones at home and they are worn in perfectly!


A place that you have visited, anywhere in the world, that has blown you away and why?

Cancun. The water blew me away totally. I have been down to several beaches in southern states and of course many northern shorelines but they don't hold a candle to Cancun. Perfect color, perfect temperature, and total visibility. I am a water sign (Scorpio) so water and my close proximity to it is important. I could live the rest of my life on a beach there, own nothing but what I need to survive, and be blissfully happy.


How do you decorate your home? Is there an abundance of artwork? Bursts of colour?

LOL not at all. As I mentioned before there are two sides to me. One is down to earth the other is bling. I love the juxtaposition of old and new and things that really should not be put together, put together. My house is totally monochromatic. A palette of black, gray and brown. Cream leather, metal, French hand carved wood casegoods, IKEA dark wood modern mixed in there. I like unusual things displayed uniquely. I love high contrast and drama. If I were to have to describe my decorative style it would be Art Deco slamming into Traditional while yanking some Modern in for the ride. Very eclectic yet classic.



Thank you Cindy for allowing us to peep through the keyhole into your creative mind.

Interview by Belle of down the alley