Update On Casey's Allergies - No More Shots!

Hey, guess what? Casey doesn't have to take allergy shots anymore!! Woohoo!!

But, he is now on Atopica for his allergies, because the shots didn't help him at all. He has been taking the medicine for 4 days now and so far (knock on wood), there seems to be slight improvement, because I can now pet him without driving him crazy with the itchies. But, the medicine is even more expensive than the shots. The generic medicine is $96.36 from Costco for a one month supply. Plus, Casey is going to HAVE to have a blood test next month that costs about $75. I can't remember exactly why this is so, but it has to do with comparing where he is at now, with how he is doing after one month on the meds.

Well, I'm just going to have to dig a little deeper in the house and garage to see what else I can sell. I do have some things on Craigslist instead of Ebay, because of the shipping costs. I'm starting to sell our Native American collection of paintings and such, but these things are large. Plus, when I bought them (almost 20 years ago now), they weren't cheap!! I have at least 3 pieces from the very talented artist, Cleo Teissedre and one really HUGE piece from Celia.

I also have everything in my Artfire store at 50% off and I'm hoping to sell everything soon, as I'm just not getting any better. I can tell that I'm not going to be able to sell online for much longer now. BTW, I have a little mini store over on the right side of this blog that goes directly to my Artfire store. If I remember right, you don't even have to be a member of Artfire to use that little shopping cart.

I did sell my sewing machine the other day and it was harder than I thought it would be. That sewing machine was given to me by my youngest daughter on Mother's day two years ago, and I cried after the lady left. I was depressed all night long. It's hard enough to be in the position where you have to sell everything that you worked so hard for over the years, but to sell something your children give is heartbreaking!!! Well, I can't dwell on that any longer.

The main thing is to make sure that Casey is taken care of and as comfortable as possible. I'm really hoping that this medicine works, because he deserves to be able to go to the park this summer. It's just cruel to keep him inside when the weather is so nice.

Temporary Leave of Absence from My Etsy Store

Due to increasing disability pain, I am temporarily closing my Etsy store. I hope to be back soon, but at this time, I don't have a 'return to work' date. I have moved what listings I had left over to my ArtFire store, as it's easier to run. I have a few plastic bags in stock, but no bubble mailers, bubble wrap or other shipping materials.

I want to thank all my SUPER customers who have made my brief stay on Etsy a success! I've met a lot of extremely talented and super nice people here and I wish everyone the best! Hopefully I will be able to return soon.

Check out the new Rapid Cart by ArtFire!

Okay, I really have not talked enough about Artfire, so here is something new they just came out with. Look over to the right side bar (and down a bit) and you will see that you can buy right off my blog. Yes, that is right. It is called the Rapid Cart and it only takes 28 seconds to check out.

You do not need to go to my Artfire website to purchase and you do not have to be a member. If you click on one of the pictures, it will show you the details of that item. What makes this checkout special, is that it's only 3 small steps to purchase AND ArtFire does NOT keep any of your personal information on file, unless you decide that you like it so much you want to become a member! If you are interested in selling handmade items, vintage items or crafting supplies, you can become a member right now for only $7 per month for life.

But act NOW, because that fee will increase to $20 a month very soon.

Just click here and it will take you to sign up.

Rapid cart is revolutionary!

Check out my first attempt at making a video!


I know, I know. Video cameras have been around for ages now,
and I've had one for many years now.
But I've been too pathetic to try to learn how to use it.

But I wanted to make a video of our
Sesame Street Big Bird StoryMagic Talking Animated Toys.
So I dug out the camera and just did it!
Yeah, it was as difficult as I thought it would be,
but it was also a LOT of fun too!! lol!!

See them in action.

We are getting VERY close to our goal of

25,000 signatures, so please take a moment to read my original post about stopping Governor Palin's Approved Aerial Killing of Wolves.

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Governor Palin: STOP the Aerial KILLING of WOLVES!

Target: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Sponsored by: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Alaska is the last state where a few private hunters and private pilots are allowed to "control" wolves from the air or chase them to exhaustion before landing and shooting them point blank.

The hunters are allowed to keep the pelts as trophies or sell them for profit instead of turning them over to wildlife officials.

Despite federal law that bans the use of aircraft to shoot or harass animals from the air, Alaska continues to exploit a loophole that allows states to "administer" wildlife using aircraft. Alaska's aerial hunting program has claimed the lives of over 800 hundred wolves.

Too many wolves have died needless deaths - this brutal practice has to stop. Sign the petition to send a message to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin urging her to end the state's unfounded aerial killing program immediately.

CLICK THE PICTURE TO STOP SARAH PALIN - THE BARBARIAN!

FoundHandmade.com

FoundHandmade.com is a new kind of site for all buyers and sellers of everything handmade, vintage or supplies. They have artists, designers, store owners (that sell handmade, craft supplies, and vintage goods) from all over the web that link their store(s) to one convenient location.

For the buyer, the site provides an easy, simple way to view items. There are not many pages to click though, and they are able to take in a lot of information in one glance. They have a great search system that further enhances the experience of easy, simple, quick shopping. FoundHandmade.com pulls together all the sellers from various websites that sell handmade, vintage and supplies and conveniently puts them all in one place so the buyer does not have to visit each of those sites separately.

You can also win items, look up statistics on all those handmade venues and chat with a fellow seller or buyer in their community!

Advertising rates on FoundHandmade.com are very affordable! You can get one 31 x 38 pixel block for $5 a month; five 31 x 38 pixel blocks (non touching & randomly placed) for $20 a month. If you buy 5 single, non touching blocks at one time, you get a $5 discount; four blocks merged into one single larger block for $30 a month. You can buy a Homepage Featured Item, which comes up as the largest image on top of the search bar in the center of the web page for 10 days for $15. They say, "your image will pop up on the homepage about every ____ clicks, also includes seller profile at right side bar", but sadly they didn't fill in the blanks to let us know how many clicks.
Perhaps they will fill them in as they get more data.

Give yourself more selling (and shopping) oportunities and check out FoundHandmade.com today!

Happy Valentine's Day

Now is the time to really PUSH those Last Minute
Valentine's Day Gifts!

Today is February 09, so there is only 5 more days until Valentine's day and now is when all the last minute online shoppers (usually men), start thinking of getting that gift for a loved one, or they will be in trouble! lol!!

There is still time to get that special gift or card to the recipient or the buyer, if you ship by priority or better still, express. Post a note in your store announcements that you can easily change the shipping or you might even want to go ahead and make the changes to reflect the faster shipping charges. If you do this, be SURE to mention how the gift or card will be shipped, so that your buyer will know that the gift will arrive in time.

Be sure to take a few minutes today and TWITTER about the faster shipping. Then take a moment to watch an informative video by Timothy Adams on Social Bookmarking. According to Timothy Adams, "Social bookmarking is a powerful tool in promoting a website."

Today is NOT the day to sit back and hope for something to happen. Today is the day to get out there and MAKE something HAPPEN!

Final Day of February's First Weekend Shopping Event

It is the final day of the TEAM ESST February Promotion. If you are a crafter, then you need to move FAST and get over to Etsy to take advantage of HUGE event! Multiple Etsy stores are offering SUPER SALES on their unique crafting supplies. To find a list of stores, click here.

Be Sure To Update

Yesterday while blogging, I realized that some of my gadgets and links weren't working properly. I had to go get new code for a couple of gadgets, like the Etsy Mini and the Artfire Market Window. Then I noticed another gadget didn't work, but there wasn't a 'fix' for that one and it had to be deleted.

So take a moment once a week or a couple of times per month and check those neat gadgets and links you've got on your blog, so that your readers aren't disappointed!