Etsyblogger Holiday Sale Treasury

Thanks to Shell Mitchell on the Awesome Etsyblogger team for featuring me in her treasury!

A Sleepless Creation

So I drank Star Bucks coffee at 9 pm last night while playing Phase 10 with one of my best friends (yes I whipped her butt)! Got home and for the life of me could NOT sleep. So I started creating because tons of creative thoughts blew through my mind! I was up until 4 am creating! Here is one of those pieces and I LOVE it!

Marie Antoinette award

The Fantastic SpiritMama has awarded
Unique Commodities Blog
with the prestigious Marie Antoinette award!
Thanks Spirit Mama!
So in keeping the spirit of the award,
I have nominated the following fabulous blogs:
*
Magdelene Jewels

Nature Manipulated

Beaded Tail

Memories For Life

The Copper Cauldron

The Story Beader

Carapace
*
Official RULES:1) Please add the Marie Antoinette award photo on your blog
2) Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3) nominate 7 exceptional blogs to recieve the award
4) put the links to those blogs on your blog
5) leave a message on their blogs to tell them they are the chosen ones!

The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E* - Featuring Tote-N-Tots

The Holiday Season is upon us so the Etsybloggers team decided to make shopping easy for you! Over 50 shops participating with a wide variety of great gift items to choose from! To help make it a bit easier for you, I will feature a shop or two DAILY for the duration of the sale! So let’s get shopping! WOOT!

Who: EtsyBloggers team!!

What: 4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

Where: ETSYBLOGGERS ALL OVER

When: Fri 11/28 - Mon 12/1 ---- Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!

Why: Tra la la la laaaaaa...la la la laaaaaaaaaa!


******ETSYBLOGGER HOLIDAY SALE – FEATURE SHOP**********
Got a Tot or need a Tote? Well here is your one stop shopping store! At Tote-N-Tots, they care about products for babies and toddlers. Their baby product line is handcrafted with design, style, functionality and safety in mind. Tot-N-Tots do not use buttons, sequins or beads in their baby shoes. Baby shoes are now made without any seams to rub on tiny feet or toes.

For the Holiday sale, Tote-N-Tots is offering 20% off handbags--See sale section (Price reflects discount). Free monogramming on select baby products AND Free domestic and discounted international shipping on orders $75.00 and over (before shipping)Portions of Tote-N-Tots proceeds go to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Check out Tote-N-Tots profile for more details.

The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E* - Featuring MIESMAMA

The Holiday Season is upon us so the Etsybloggers team decided to make shopping easy for you! Over 50 shops participating with a wide variety of great gift items to choose from! To help make it a bit easier for you, I will feature a shop or two DAILY for the duration of the sale! So let’s get shopping! WOOT!

Who: EtsyBloggers team!!

What: 4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

Where: ETSYBLOGGERS ALL OVER

When: Fri 11/28 - Mon 12/1 ---- Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!

Why: Tra la la la laaaaaa...la la la laaaaaaaaaa!

Miesmama is a mother of two who loves to be creative. She knits, quilts and oh yes most important of all - she day dreams - LOL. she makes handmade felt bags, bowls and other goodies! Anything to do with textiles inspires her and makes her happy! She wants to make you happy too with some great holiday discounts on her hand made felt items! Miesmama is is offering FREE SHIPPING to anywhere in the world!

Check out Miesmama's blog - her creative journal of a mother's passion for things handmade!

Wordless Wednesday

Unique Commodities

The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!! - Featuring BEADED TAIL'S SHOP

Who: EtsyBloggers team!!

What: 4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

Where: ETSYBLOGGERS ALL OVER

When: Fri 11/28 - Mon 12/1 ---- Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!

Why: Tra la la la laaaaaa...la la la laaaaaaaaaa!

******ETSYBLOGGER HOLIDAY SALE – FEATURE SHOP**********

Any ANIMAL LOVERS in the house?! Well look no further for a gift for your furry friend or a gift for a friend who has a furry friend (big laugh). Beaded Tail offers beaded jewelry for animal lovers and more than that a portion of ALL sales proceeds go towards benefiting animal awareness causes. You can See Beaded Tail's profile page for a list of charities they support.

Tres Kitties - Blue and White Porcelain and Pewter Beaded Bracelet

Beaded Tail's shop is offering 20% off ALL items in her shop (excluding custom orders and shipping)Free shipping on purchases over $30! So go on and get shoppoing with Beaded Tail - Beaded jewlery for animals lovers! Check out her blog as well for awesome animal pics and stories!

Red Tabby - Cat Face Lampwork Glass Bead Sterling Silver Earrings

Feeling the Etsyblogger Team LOVE!

To my pleasant surprise, here I am featured on the Etsyblogger Team Favorites!

The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E* - Featuring Roseworks Jewelry

The Holiday Season is upon us so the Etsybloggers team decided to make shopping easy for you! Over 50 shops participating with a wide variety of great gift items to choose from! To help make it a bit easier for you, I will feature a shop or two DAILY for the duration of the sale! So let’s get shopping! WOOT!

Who: EtsyBloggers team!!

What: 4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

Where: ETSYBLOGGERS ALL OVER

When: Fri 11/28 - Mon 12/1 ---- Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!

Why: Tra la la la laaaaaa...la la la laaaaaaaaaa!

******ETSYBLOGGER HOLIDAY SALE – FEATURE SHOP**********

Roseworks Jewelry offers beautiful things for beautiful women! Need to do some Christmas shopping? Well look no more! Here is where you go for one stop jewelry shoping! Roseworks Jewelry is offering 10% off ALL items in her shop! PLUS FREE SHIPPING on orders of $20 or more!

Even more special - During the months of November and December Roseworks Jewelry be donating 10% of all proceeds to Open House Ministries - a homeless shelter in her home town

Check out Rose Works Jewelry's blog as she offers great information and shares lots of great stories!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUTHIE!

4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

The Holiday Season is upon us so the Etsybloggers team decided to make shopping easy for you! Over 50 shops participating with a wide variety of great gift items to choose from! To help make it a bit easier for you, I will feature a shop or two DAILY for the duration of the sale! So let’s get shopping! WOOT!

Who: EtsyBloggers team!!

What: 4 day sale event!! The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY *S*A*L*E*!!!

Where: ETSYBLOGGERS ALL OVER

When: Fri 11/28 - Mon 12/1 ---- Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!

Why: Tra la la la laaaaaa...la la la laaaaaaaaaa!


******ETSYBLOGGER HOLIDAY SALE – FEATURE SHOP "SMOX"**********

Is it ever challenging to keep those little ones clean! When you buy your kids clothes, you want them to last awhile, or at least until they outgrow them. Especially in today's economy, keeping costly kids clothes looking good for as long as possible is a good investment. Additinally Smox’s shop offers har accessories and a range of other gift items. Need a unique gift idea for a niece, grandchild or friend with a young one? Well look no further!

Deluxe SMOX MEDIUM Pink Keys

Smox’s Shop is offering 10% OFF, and FREE shipping on orders over $40 (before shipping)Eating and art aprons, hair bows, fleece baby bedding, hand burned wood and other unique gifts

Turquoise Paisley Rosettes

Jariah the cutie pie

Jariah is my BFF Tecia's baby girl! Tecia and my daughter were actually pregnant at the same time and their girls born a week apart! Who ever would have thought?! LOL! Jariah is such a sweetheart and I enjoyed spending time with her in Florida! She gives big hugs and has the most gorgeous smile! She absolutely adores her daddy and gamma! Kicks her mommy Tecia to the curb when they come around...LOL! She had a cold while I was there but she still kept making us smile!

Look at that smile!

Laid off for the first time ever!

Well I go on an incredible mini vacation and come to work that Wednesday to find out that I am being laid off! First time I have ever been laid off and it was not a good feeling! I felt numb at first and the next day as I started to "unthaw" I suppose, I felt a range of emotions! As a single parent of two young adults both living with me (one in college and the other a single parent), this is definitely a nervous time for me. I am the only one working right now because my daughter recently got laid off from her job. Geez Louise! When it rains it pours! Anyway, I have a few irons in the fire and pray as I know God will open the door he wants me to walk through! I am a strong believer that in all things God works for the good and that he will provide for me and my family!

To all the rest of you (sure that is 97% of us) who have either lost your jobs, had a family member to lose their jobs or are just struggling financially! Hang in there and know that "This Too Shall Pass!"

And hey take a look at my supply shop and my Unique Commodities Shop

My Favorite Holiday Tradition - Blog Carnival

Mom says "Ronda" I am going to make your favorite Icebox cake for Thanksgiving". Book aka "Toot" for you I am going to make your deviled eggs. Rodney I know you, Poncho (my uncle that lived with us) , Robbie and Janice love the macaroni and cheese". Not really sure what Sandra (the eldest of the bunch) likes. We all smile with excited anticipation about getting to eat our favorite holiday item! I cut up the onions because for some reason they don't make me cry so much and I have to peel the potatoes because I peel the fastest. Hmmm...I think I got tricked! LOL! My brother Rodney is a great cook and loves to help in the kitchen. Janice, Book and Robbie are the youngest so they just play around or watch!

We all do our parts and then go sit at the table for a round of monopoly. Why is it that Rodney seems to always win?! He always gets Board Walk and Park Place! He is so business savvy at such a young age! I am fighting to get the yellow and the red properties! We are all happy there is no school and we have the long weekend at home! The only thing we don't look forward to is having to dress up to sit at the Thanksgiving table! What in the world?! We all have to share something we are grateful for and eat with TWO forks! huh? LOL!

There is nothing like family and building relationships! The laughter, the fussing about who gets to sit where especially since in our blended family! There were 10 of us in a 4 bedroom house that was about 1200 square feet with ONE bathroom! WOW! When you are living it, you just do what you got to do, you don't think about the how! We had so much fun growing up!

Now that we are all adults some married, some single parents, some no kids, some never married and hey some divorced too, we still get together for Thanksgiving almost every year and yep we usually play MONOPOLY and YEP Rodney still usually wins! Of course it is usually just the kids since our parents broke up! Sometimes it is a little sad though because Robbie was killed in a car accident at 19 years old. We all miss him! He and Book were the closest since they were only 2 years apart.

But just the same...memories of the good ole' holiday traditions are still treasured in my heart! Laughing, loving, crying...sharing things we are grateful for! I think for me as I look back on those childhood memories...my gratitude was for the simplicity of family!

Happy Holidays!

Jewelry Making Fiesta

My friend Tecia is the one who actually peeked my interest in jewelry making. I watched her do it first and thought "no way I can do that". Not too long after that - I was HOOKED! So of course when I came to visit her I had to bring a suitcase FULL of jewelry making supplies! LOL! Tecia, Niyah (Tecia's daughter) and I made jewelry all afternoon and we had a blast!

PS - I wasn't smart enough to get them to take pics of me at work and FORGOT to take pics of my items! You will see them in my store soon though! LOL!

Niyah at work!


Great job Niyah!

BFF at work

Love this set-My fav! Great job BFF!

Another jewelry item made by Tecia! How cute!

Another peice from my BFF!

MY BFF did my hair for me!

So while I visited my friend Tecia, she did my hair! Trust me it was a mess! I love my new do! Thanks BFF!

The Best Legal Drug EVER!

YESS! I am way behind on my blogging but I just had to share how awesome my BFF Tecia is. I went to visit her last week and I woke up on Friday morning to breakfast in bed! And of course I LOVE Coffee “the best legal drug ever”! I think we went through 3 small jars of coffee while I was there! Not to mention the three half-gallons of ice cream we ate between the two of us! She is soooo sweet! Whenever I go to visit her, I always feel taken care of and so encouraged! I even got her HOOKED on blogging while I was there! Check out her brand new blog! Tecia thanks for being the most awesome BFF ever! Love ya!

The Best Legal Drug Ever!

Featuring an Etsyblogger Newbie - Bliss Soybean Candles and Gifts (Just because)

Bliss Soybean Candles & Gifts is an established high-end soy candle vendor based out of the very beautiful Grand Haven, Michigan! Susan developed all of her own marketing, labels, branding, products, and ideas! Her goal in candle making is to provide a high quality product - the best available - while providing an attractive container and packaging.

Bliss Soybean Candles and Gifts

She started her business by accident... yes, really. she was reading a magazine article about melting old candles together back in 2004 and somehow that led her to the internet to look for soy candle making supplies. She knew back then that soy was much healthier and since she has terrible allergies and asthma, that was a big plus! Check out more great items in her shop and her blog

Get Stuffed -Slow Cooker Stuffing Recipe

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
12 cups dry bread cubes
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups chicken broth, or as needed
2 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS
Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, mushroom, and parsley in butter, stirring frequently.
Spoon cooked vegetables over bread cubes in a very large mixing bowl. Season with poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram, and salt and pepper. Pour in enough broth to moisten, and mix in eggs. Transfer mixture to slow cooker, and cover.
Cook on High for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to Low, and cook for 4 to 8 hours.

Make A Plan - How do I intend to use my blog for promotions and sales?

One thing I learned from the Block Head Rod Talk show was that I needed to sit down and make a plan for how I intended to use my blog for promotions and sales. How do I want it to look and how do I promote? Funny thing is I NEVER did this. I created my blog in order to be a part of the Etsybloggers team. I did start to enjoy it once I got started but my purpose and focus have evolved since I started blogging. With all that said I took John’s words to heart. Fact is I have felt quite aimless the past few months..not knowing what I am doing and why, joining everything under the sun with no sense of purpose though everything I joined has the potential to serve to advance my business. So where do I go from here? Well first things first. I need to be a student and take John’s advice.

How do I intend to use my blog for promotions and sales?

Promote other sites with the first priority being to my Etsybloggers Team members. Goal: Driver bloggers to my blogsite and then to my Etsy Store hopefully to make a purchase
Allow other artist (Etsy or not) to advertise on my site. I am a little green at this so will ask John the best way to go about this because truly I am clueless though know that I want to have multiple means of income.
Share my personal life – I want the readers/bloggers to see that I am a real person with struggles and joys just like the rest of the world. I want to be personable.
Post pics of my items as I create them. Allows the customer to see my creative process and know that it truly is hand made and to see that I work hard to develop a quality product. Besides I know people are quite visual!
Post actual sales items on my shop – Now UNTIL John mentioned this I SERIOUSLY never thought about it. I think I was more intimidated by the thought of figuring out how to do it than anything. Now that I know I have access to support and based on John’s explanation that it really is not that difficult! I am ready to give it a try.
BLOG CONSISTENTLY – I know that the more I blog, the more exposure I will get and hopefully the more sales I will get!
Networking with other Bloggers – Use my blog by whatever means to meet other bloggers and creative artist to learn from, share experiences and ideas with. I am confident this will help my sales and build upon my blog exposure!

Those are the things I have in mind so far. Please feel free to share your thoughts and offer your feed back.

10 Tips for a successful Craft Show by memoriesforlifescrapbooks

I was on twitter the other day and Memories for life Scrapbooks mentioned she did a craft show and showed us pics of her set up! I would love to do a craft show one day soon and suggested she do a blog about her experience with her show to help those that are new to that Venue. She did it and here is the link to Memories for Life's blog to check it out!

She gave some incredible tips and posted pics! I hope it serves to help your business to grow!