Rate Me =)

Good evening bloggers, just letting you all know that you can now rate this blog. If you look in the upper right side, you'll see a rating icon/image. I signed up on Blogged and my blog was rated 7.5 out of 10. Not bad I'd say. :) You can rate it by clicking here & click on Review This Blog. If you submit a review (& I hope you do), please keep the following four things in mind:

1. Do not write personal attacks on the author or other users. Please focus your critique on the just the blog.
2. Do not promote a site in your review.
3. Please don't use curse words in your review.
4. Do not write incentive reviews. The "I gave you a 10, now you do the same" type of reviews will be not be accepted.

Blogged can delete or edit any comments that are abusive, considered spam, use foul language or are off-topic.

With that being said, please review/comment this blog on the link.

Sales & updates

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. We went to our 3rd sale this past Saturday. We found tons of stuff, including TONS of comics. Let's just say one of those comics will pay for everything we bought that day :-) If you're interested in comics, let me know & I'll contact you. Later that night (or Sunday), I ordered us some business cards & made a website for us. Be sure to check it out: Horry County Pickers & let me know what you think of it :) Aside from sales, I ended up seeing Red Riding Hood & Paul. I had a HORRIBLE experience at Red Riding Hood, but the movie was WONDERFUL. Why was the experience horrible? Click here to find out. Paul was a cute movie =)

As I was typing this, I made THREE sales on Etsy. It was from the same person, but still three sales. Talk about making a girl's day :D

I've also updated my photography website. Check it out here & let me know what you think.

XoXo

Holiday Ornaments

Today's feature comes to use from Leanne in Orlando. Her shop is called Holiday Ornaments. The perfect shop for Christmas ornaments. I had the pleasure to have a Q&A with her. Check it out below & don't forget to check her out.

Q How did you come up with your shop name?
A Since I hand design ornaments for the holidays, I felt like Leanne's Handmade Holiday would be a great choice. Unfortunately Handmade Holiday was already in use when I signed up for Etsy, so Holiday Ornaments seemed like the next best option.

Q How did you hear about Etsy?
A A girlfriend of mine told me about it, and thought it would be a perfect avenue for me to sell my ornaments.

Q How long have you been on Etsy?
A Since the end of August, 2010.

Q Is Etsy a full time job or something you do on the side?
A This is my passion, so no - it's not a full time job. Would I like it to be? Absolutely!

Q Since you make handmade items, do you buy handmade as well?
A Without a doubt! I'm a true believer in supporting my fellow crafters, and have made many dear friends through Etsy.

Q Do you prefer handmade over factory made?
A Handmade, hands down!

Q What is one of your favorite items that you've made?
A I claim that each new ornament I design is my favorite - it's crazy! But, I really love all the symmetrical look of striped materials.


Q What's the hardest part about the items you make?
A They're extremely time consuming. Each ornament is made from an individually folded piece of fabric or ribbon, which is strategically placed to make a quilted pattern. From beginning (prepping fabric and ribbons, etc.) to completion (adding bows, hangers and embellishments), each ornament takes between 2 and 3 hours to complete!



Q What inspires you?
A All it takes is a trip to my favorite fabric store - or to turn the corner and see the holiday ribbon aisle in any craft store. It's pure nirvana...

Q What would you say to a person just starting out in the handmade world?
A Don't give up. When I initially began making my ornaments many, many years ago - let's just say that they were *less* then appealing. Had I given up, I wouldn't be where I am today! As with anything, if you persevere, you can be successful at anything.

You can find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HandmadeHoliday



Tomorrows feature: #14 Steufel

A Collection of News

Last night, another contest ended. I wasn't sure if I was winning or not considering vote counts wouldn't show up. Well, I went the The Sun News this morning, & I WON! Yaay. Won best adult costume. Prize: $100 gift card to the movies. Finding out you won something is one way to start off your day :) Thank you to all that voted.


Click image to enlarge.

Now, on a serious note, I would like to bring up an important issue; FaceBook. I happened to be looking in the activity feed yesterday & came across a post from CBS News. Now, if you have them added, you already know what I'm talking about. For those of you who don't, I shall explain. It appears that a NJ pastor is blaming FaceBook for marital problems. He ordered 50 married church officials to delete their FaceBook account or resign from their leadership. Harsh? Yes. Now before I go any further, I just want to say that this "pastor" doesn't sound like a pastor at all. More like a person trying to control other people's lives. Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind as well. If you don't agree, then I'm sorry but I'm just voicing my opinion. It's one thing to not like FaceBook, but to FORCE people to delete their account...Now that's crossing the line. I went to church up until age 16/17 & our pastor never FORCED us to do anything. Moving on before I get off topic. According to CBS News, "Miller (the pastor) said he has spoken from the pulpit before about the dangers of Facebook, asking married couples to give each other their passwords to the site." Miller also states "What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great." I'm sorry, but if your spouse is going to cheat on you with their ex, they're going to do it with or without FaceBook. FaceBook is a WEBSITE. Blaming a WEBSITE for marital issues is like blaming a website for killings. It's not FaceBook's fault the spouse decides to go to his or her ex. FaceBook didn't hold a gun to their head & tell them to do it. How stupid can one be to believe FaceBook causes marital issue. It's not FaceBook that cause marital issues, it's the people without control. If your spouse saw their ex at a store, bar, etc. the same thing would happen their just like it would have on FaceBook. If any of you agree with this so-called pastor, then I'm sorry, but I'm not taking back anything I just said. In my opinion, you can't blame a website for cheating. You can read the full article here.

Now that I'm done ranting :), the Christmas feature contest is still open. Click here for your chance to be featured during Dec 1 - Dec 25. As long as you make Christmas items, you can enter. Entry submissions will end Nov. 28, 2010 @ 11:59pm.