A New Shop, an Experiment and a Sale

Things have been so crazy lately I keep forgetting to post here on my blog. What is it about the holidays that does this to people? We take the one time of year that should be about relaxing and enjoying time with our families and turn it into a hurricane of obligations. We overextend ourselves to the point that we can't see any end in sight. Then add the media hype and all the TV holiday specials, the retail feeding frenzy, and who only knows what else, it's a miracle that anyone really wants to celebrate the holidays once they actually get here!

Oh well, I guess all we can do is sit back, take a deep breath, and try to remember what it was like to be a kid. Do you remember what that was like? When none of this other stuff bothered you? When the decorations went up in the stores in October and you walked through the isles in complete wonderment, anticipating the joys of Christmas morning. Not even caring that Halloween was just around the corner.

I think that is going to be my goal next year. To experience the holidays in all the glory possible when seen through a child's eyes.

As for this year, well, let's just see what happens.


Now, on to other subjects...

I've opened a new shop on Artfire.com. I don't have much in it yet because I am just getting a feel for the site and how it works. So far it seems like a pretty decent venue. Before I signed up I looked around the site and saw that they claim to be doing a lot of advertising in magazines and other places. If they really are doing as much as they say, then it should turn out to be a pretty good place to do business. Of course, I still have to do my own advertising, but that is true regardless of any site you sell on.

This part will be of interest more to other sellers then my customers, so skip this if you aren't looking for a place to sell what you are making.

Right now you can get their "Verified" membership for only $7 a month (it's usually $20). Also, if you refer 10 other members to the site who sign up as verified members, you get your shop for free, for life. They do also have a basic membership, but this offer only applies to people who sign up as verified members. Also, the referral offer is only good until December 31.

I do wish I had found out about the site before now, so I could give an accurate review, but I just signed up the other day. If you want to go try it out for yourself, here is the link that will automatically put me in as the referrer (hey, if I can get the shop for free, why not, right?).

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=sevenforlife&afuid=6191


Ok, my little Artfire advertisement is over. Next....


I've never been a big fan of Tigereye, but lately I've seen a lot of red colored tigereye. I read that it turns red once it's been heated. Silly old me decided to try and turn it red in the oven. Last time I ran the self cleaning cycle on my oven I put a piece of tigereye a friend had given me in there and let it run for 3 hours. I didn't think the oven would get hot enough to change the color, but it did. It turned it from the normal golden brown tones typical of tigereye to a deep bloody brownish red. It looks kinda cool.




And, last but not least... a sale.

Well, more like a reminder of a sale. I'm still running my 50% theme of the week sale in my etsy shop. I'll be putting different items for sale each week until New Year's. This week is Pendants. Next week, well, I haven't made up my mind yet. Any suggestions?

Here's a link to my Etsy shop so you can go check it out. http://gailavira.etsy.com.

Have fun, and in case I don't get around to posting here again for a while, I hope you all have a great holiday!