Indulge Your Shelf

I wrote about 9k words over the last couple of days, and 5k of it was last night, and 4k of it was this morning until early afternoon. I'm so happy to have finished! I'm also so pleased to have found the book's title, on page 90 as I was writing it: Stepping Stones, Straddling Fences. Now I'm going to go see a movie with my husband and son, and then we're going to get some dinner out. There's only so much turkey you can eat, you know? I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and I look forward to catching up with you all in the next few days, now that MY NOVEL IS FINISHED!

As promised, here is the full list of participating shop from the Etsy Bloggers Street Team, organized by shop type (mine is under Vintage): ☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆: H a p p y H o l i d a y s ! ! H a p p y S h o p p i n g ! ! ☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆:*¨¨*:★:*¨¨*:☆: *=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Accessories *=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Visart http://visart.etsy.com Holiday sale - 20% off all product orders over $50.00 before shipping (not includes custom orders) Hand made polymer clay accessories, beads and buttons. Wild Goose Chase http://www.WildGooseChase.etsy.com 15% off all items! Refund will be issued through PayPal after payment is received. Enter "Etsy Bloggers Sale" in the message to seller at checkout to receive cash back. Low priced stocking stuffers including One-Of-A-Kind awesome mirrors. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Art *=*=*=*=*=*=*=* tapestry316 http://www.tapestry316.etsy.com Huge sale featuring my watercolor paintings,...

It's Wednesday and all I have on my plate, so to speak, for today is to bake two pumpkin pies, clear my crafts off the dining room table so we can eat there tomorrow, and continue writing my novel. I have ~14k words to go and we're counting down with 5 more days -- yikes! Today, NaNoWriMo winners around the globe are uploading their novels into the work counter and sporting lovely "winner" icon/bars on their profiles. But not me. Not yet . I'm a little worried. This morning, I'd received a pep talk email from NaNoWriMo, and I particularly enjoyed it. It's by an author named Robin McKinley , and part of it went like this: I have always been a write-each-draft-straight-through-and-don’t-look-back storyteller; it’s the way I develop a feel for the pacing, for where the high and low, careening and meditative, places of each story are—and how I discover where and how it's going to end. Consistency and clarity (and spelling) begin to emerge in the second...

This month's Etsy Bloggers Street Team featured blogger is a regular read of mine: Becky Kazana, aka The Fab Miss B . Her Etsy shop can be found here . I love visiting Becky's blog because it's colorful, in so many ways. In fact, if I were to try to find a word to characterize her blog, shop, and style, the best I could come up with is "fanciful." In the best of ways! Becky recently moved to Hawaii (life's rough) and I have enjoyed her posts from that tropical paradise. Here are some of my favorite items from her shop : Mimi, the Chenille French Poodle Lena, the Burlesque Pipette I told ya: fanciful! Be sure to stop by and see Becky at her blog!

I promised to show some of the layouts I created during my all day scrap a couple of weeks ago. If you're just tuning in, after the death of my parents 10 and 5 years ago, respectively, I inherited all of my family's photos and am scanning them for posterity and also planning to scrapbook many of them. All of the papers, stamps, inks, etc. are from Close to My Heart. I'm using their That's Amore collection. I love the papers for their vintage look, and their warm and sort of dusty colors. As you can see, on most pages I have inserted the journaling pieces but haven't begun to write in it, yet. In fact, I'm not sure any of these pages are finished as far as embellishments! So, here's a photo of my paternal great grandparents when they immigrated with their children to America in the 1900s. My grandmother is the beautiful young woman on the far left: And here's the only photo I have of my father as a child: Here's his high school photo, graduation...

I just made the mistake of looking at the NaNoWriMo website and I saw that there are only 9 more days and some hours until I have to be at 50,000 words. As of this moment, I'm on track with more than 33,000 words but still means I need to get 17,000 or so in the next 9 days. This makes me feel a bit panicked -- especially with the holiday coming up, and my son being off school all next week... However, within the last few days, I've become very pleased with the plot and the story overall. I never expected this to happen; rather, I was approaching the month of writing as an exercise of sorts. Imagine my surprise when the novel fleshed itself out and took on depth! I truly think this rough draft is going to amount to something special. This makes me very, very happy. And those crazy things that writers talk about happening that sound pretty unbelievable? Well, I've had some of that, too. One example: I'm telling the story from the point of view of three peop...

Sweet and saucy Joy from Joy to the Blog has bestowed an award upon me and now I must blog about five of my obsessions ! That's not hard; here are five of them, in no particular order: (1) Vintage Wallpaper I am completely and utterly besotted with vintage wallpaper, like the kind that Karla Nathan uses in her creations, and sells, too! (2) Glass Cloches Like this one, from Fringe Studio . Actually...I'm obsessed with just about anything from Fringe Studio! (3) Jane Austen books and movie adaptations I never tire of the books. Also: I've had a lot of sad days lately...and when I'm sad, you can always find me watching a DVD or video of one of my favorite Jane Austen stories. They are like medicine. (4) Music from the 1980's Last year for my birthday, my husband had Sirius radio installed in my car; I keep it almost exclusively on the '80's on 8 or 1st Wave stations...although sometimes I will also listen to the Pulse station. I never tire of '80...

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I'm going to be participating in the Etsy Bloggers Street Team sale coming up next week from the day after Thanksgiving through "Cyber Monday," or, November 27 - 30. I'm marking down everything* in my vintage Etsy shop , Indulge Your Shelf, 25% ! And it's not just me -- there are many participating shops! I'll post a list of where to find these when the list is finalized. Whee! Get ready for some shopping! *(... except button packs which are already very inexpensive, starting at $2.25!)

I'm so pleased to have finished my second project in Artist Class: this wonderful Autumn Banner by Sandy Babb ,the artist and blogger at Quill Cottage . Here it is hanging in my sunny kitchen bay window: I loved this project... you wouldn't believe how many steps it had! (above - here's the reverse...) I'm so pleased with the results! Where shall I hang it? By the way, you may remember Sandy as the generous bestower of this wonderful gift I blogged about!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I can't believe this week is almost over! By the time it is, I will have been to the dentist twice, a chiropractor once, and been to a final audition for Wheel of Fortune. I guess that's part of the reason the week flew by...all those extra appointments! My Wheel of Fortune audition went very well, in that I got as far as one could get and was chosen to stay and go further along with 12 other folks. We played some additional mock games and when it was all said and done they told us we'd know within 2 weeks if we'd made it on the show. Squeal! The chiropractor thinks he can help my achin' feet within 6-8 visits, so here's hoping! Here are some more vintage thrift store finds to help you get started on your weekend: Antique redwork! I am in love with this stuff! Blue's not so bad either; this will go in my blue, white and yellow bedroom. I found the prettiest song book... it makes me wish I could read music! This yellow floral tablecloth was only $1, a...

Here's the finished stocking I was working on: I think my favorite element is these little snowmen charms that I interspersed with red swirled, clear glass beads. I also sewed on some tiny Christmas lights! I backed it with red velvet and lined the inside with red satin. It didn' t go as well as expected, though, when it came time to sew all those layers together. (I really am a novice machine sewer!)

Thank you Melissa! I was so pleased to be the lucky winner of these wonderful gift tags that were handmade by Melissa who writes a blog called The Handwork Chronicles . She is celebrating the restoration of her lovely letterpress by giving away beautiful cards every week. You must go see!

November is already flying by for me as I work hard each day to do all the usual stuff, prepare for the holidays, and write my novel, too. So far, I'm right on track and if I keep up this pace, I'll be a 30 day novelist! My story this time has become very emotionally-taxing for me to write; this is so unexpected! It has elements of a family's generational differences, and the changing attitudes about that family's ethnicity across those generations; then, those elements swirl around a poignant coming-of-age experience that is at the center of the story. There have been times over the last 9 days that I've felt like putting the novel aside altogether, because it touches something tender in me and causes such pain. But of course I recognize that stories like that, the ones you write in blood, are the ones most worth telling...so I carry on. On Saturday I took six hours and went to an all day crop hosted by my Close to Your Heart scrapbooking consultant. Here I am...

Welcome to the November 9th edition of the EtsyBloggers blog carnival! Heather presents Surviving the Holidays posted at Heather's Custom Sewing . Sumiko Shop presents is just the beginning ... posted at Sumiko*Handmade Creations* . Laurie Jackson presents Christmas in My Etsy Shops posted at Indulge Your Shelf . Two Zany Zebras presents Monster Mania! posted at Two Zany Zebras . Jannifer Long presents My Dream Show posted at EtsyBloggers Carnival Theme = irony posted at Punky Jane . Erika presents Examining Sales posted at NICO* Designs . Melissa Sinisgalli presents A Pat on the Back! posted at Made By Melissa . storybeader presents Etsybloggers Carnival - November 6, 2009 posted at Stroll Through Storyland . And Melissa of Rainy Day Art presents Successful Items at Rainy Day Art . Thank you to the above teammates who participated in this edition.

NaNoWriMo update: it's Day 5 and I'm on track (and a smidge over) with 8452 words. I've put a few more Christmas items in my Etsy shop, Twice Shy Restored : This little snowman trio ; Baby Jesus candy cane ornaments ; and, salt shaker snow scenes . In answer to the question, "What is your best advice for juggling the holidays, your business, and family commitments", I'd have to say, START EARLY. Everyone's different. Some people thrive on doing things at the last minute. I'm not one of those people. I am a listmaker. I'm an organizer. Nothing stresses me out more than having to rush to meet a deadline. So, when it comes to my business, I'll start planning for the holidays well ahead of time -- at least by July. By then I know if I'm doing any shows or have any products I'm reproducing in quantity. By August I've bought supplies. By September I'm in production. By the end of October, I'm finished with major preparat...

I've had a few people ask me about my participation in National Novel Writing Month , which I wrote a little about here . Officially, the best place to get your questions answered is to read through the tongue-in-cheek FAQs on the official site . Unofficially, as a five year veteran of NaNoWriMo, I have some thoughts of my own to share with you. One question I always get is, "Can you really write a whole novel in a month?" The unspoken part of that question is, "And if you can, how good could it possibly be?" Well, here's the thing: the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that it gives every writer, and every wannabe writer, a way to just start writing . NaNoWriMo is a challenge. When you sign up on the website you are effectively putting a goal in writing -- and everyone knows how important it is to do that, and how much more successful people who write down their goals are than those who don't. You "win" NaNoWriMo by meeting the goal to write 50,000 ...

Friends, a week from today on Monday I'll be hostessing the Etsy Bloggers Street Team Blog Carnival! That means that I'll be posting links to the blogs of other Team members who have written about one of two topics I suggested: 1) What was your most successful sales event or product, and why do you think it was? 2) Give us your best hints or advice for juggling the holidays, your business, and your family commitments. If you're interested, you can click on the first little box below to see our archives of previous Blog Carnivals. The second box below is for Etsy Street Team Bloggers to use to easily submit their links. Happy Monday! Is anyone else feeling that full moon as much as me? Sheesh!