FishPrincessDesigns~Welcome Friends

Pin it and win it!

2012-02-01T10:51:00.000-05:00

Just when you're feeling like nothing is going your way. BAM! Something good comes along! Life's funny that way. My artfire studio has been just languishing in January, I've been working hard on promoting, spending way to much time on Facebook, but I haven't been able to shake the January doldrums. Maybe it's the weather, or economy. Anyway, I haven't worried about it too much. I figure time has a way of evening out things-just like in life. At least I been busy taking some new soldering classes and being able to create a lot of new items!

Well Artfire started a new promotion-Pin it and win it. What's Pin it? Well If you haven't heard about Pinterest yet you will soon. Think of it as a virtual scrapbook-anything you can see online you can pin, recipes, inspirations, pets, people, places, things, flowers, wedding ideas, cookies, holidays, Valentines, Christmas ,New Years, Easter, ......Oh it does get crazy and addictive! See how easy it is to get side-tracked...Well Artfire has jumped on to the Pinterest bandwagon to. To get Artfire members using Pintrest, that came up with a promotion, first Artfire members would tweet or post on facebook an item from their studio that they would like Artfire to promote, then Artfire would randomly select one of those items and put it on the Artfire pin board. Members of Pinterest would (hopefully) repin the item and at the end of the week Artfire would buy it for one of the repinners. So have I confused and lost you? The details can be seen in this forum posting. "Pin it and win it!".

For the first item in this promotion my Sea Glass Bracelet was chosen! Not too bad, considering I only tweeted it and posted about it once. It is my lucky day!

So if you are on Pinterest here's the link to the Artfire board. Maybe you'll be the lucky person that wins this! Anyway, be sure to check out Pinterest. it's fun, and oh yeah...it gives you another excuse to stay up to 3 in morning!

This is what I learned this week

2012-01-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

I learned a new wire wrapping technique this week. This is the first wire wrapped pendant I've made. I think it came out pretty well! The stone is a faceted smoky topaz. I think it looks pretty good with the copper wire. I was happy to take a class locally at Armstrong Tool and Supply. If you need jeweler's tools or supplies you might want to check them out. Don and his staff are the greatest to work with. They specialize in all sorts of tools and in addition to jewelers' bench tool and supplies they carry casting equipment, mold materials, sheet metals, boxes, display items, silver chain, silver findings, and Sterling Silver sheet and wire in a variety of sizes.

I can't wait to get my order of wire in hand. I'm thinking about using some mixed metals in my next few pendants! I originally took this class so that I could wrap some of my sea glass pieces that I have. I can't wait to get started!

Complimentary Colors

2012-01-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

Complimentary col...

Curated By: BlueShedCrafts

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Paintings

My sea glass earrings have been featured in this collection today. Actually I've been having my items show up quite a few times this week in collections on Artfire. That makes me very happy! I hope you will take a look at some of the artisans that have been featured. BE sure to look for the sea urchins!

I've been busy making earrings!

2012-01-08T12:01:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd get busy and add a few new pairs of earrings to my studio, so I sat down the other day and started making earrings. And when I stopped I had over 24 pairs of earrings! I really like this style of pearl earring. It's simple and elegant. I was lucky to find a great bunch of pearls at one of my favorite local jewelry suppliers. If you're in the Berkley, Michigan area you have to stop into Munro's I just love to pick out my materials in person. Sometimes you find new shades of pearls, or great new stones. I find all sorts of new and exciting items. I know that after the big gem shows in Tuscon, I'll be able to see lots of new things.

How often do you get to sit down and just create? I treasure the time when I'm all alone at home-and that's not often and can just sit down and make new pieces. Sometimes it hard to carve out time in our lives. But, all things in balance.

How do you create time for yourself?

Pierogi Recipes from my kitchen to yours

2011-12-20T23:02:00.002-05:00


My Pierogi making partners 2011

I want to share my family's pierogi recipe with all of you. It wouldn't be Christmas in my house without that favorite traditional Polish food, the pierogi. For those of you who don't know what a pierogi is, think of it as a large, stuffed dumpling. In our family we made 3 kinds of pierogi, potato-cheese pierogi, sauerkraut pierogi and plum pierogi. The dough is the same for all of the pierogi-only the pierogi filling recipe changes.

Pierogi dough:
4 cups white flour
4 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream

Measure flour into a large bowl. Add eggs, salt and sour cream. Mix together. I use a mixer just to get the dough started and then hand knead to finish. You don't want to overwork the dough or it will be tough. The dough will begin to form a ball as you knead the dough. If the dough is sticky, add a little additional flour and knead a bit more. Cover with a towel and let rest about 10 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface-a counter or kitchen table is a great place to use. I roll the dough about 1/4 thick and then cut dough in circles with a lightly floured glass or biscuit cutter. I then roll the circles out again to about 1/8 inch think and a slightly oval shape.

Put the filling in the center of your dough. Fold over and seal the edges. Here's a tip save the water from your potaoes and use the starchy water on your fingertip to run around the inner edges of the dough. Pinch and crimp well to seal the edges.

Drop into a pot of boiling salted water until the pierogi float. About 5-7 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. To prevent the pierogi from sticking to each other butter the boiled pierogi and stack between sheets of waxed paper.

To serve the pierogi, saute in butter until they just start to brown. As Aunt Sophie always said to me, don't let them get brown! Serve with sour cream. Smacznego!

Pierogi Filling Recipes:

Potato-Cheese Pierogi Filling

2 lbs peeled potatoes-about 6 cups-boiled, mashed and cooled.
1 cup of minced onion
1/4 cup butter
1 lb farmers cheese if you can't find farmers cheese in you market, you can use 2 lbs cottage cheese that has been well drained in a cheese cloth.
salt and pepper.

Saute the minced onion in butter until soft and lightly golden. Add to mashed potatoes, mix in farmers cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Use about 2 Tablespoons of filling to each pierogi.

Okay-I used 10 lbs of potatoes!

Sauerkraut Pierogi Filling:

1 large can or jar of sauerkraut
1 oz dried Polish mushrooms (you can substitute any dried mushrooms)
1 cup minced onion
1/4 cup butter

Rinse and drain sauerkraut. you can chop it if you like it finer. Simmer dried mushrooms in water until soft-about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse well to remove any grit. Chop until finely minced. Saute chopped onions in butter until light golden yellow. Combine all ingredients together. Use about 2 tablespoons of filling per pierogi.

Plum Pierogi Recipe:
1 large can of plums.

Drain plums. Remove pits from plums. Use 1 plum per pierogi. My Aunt Kay would dip the boiled pierogi into butter and then into fine white bread crumbs and then saute them in butter.

Sweet Cheese Pierogi Filling Recipe:

1 lb farmers cheese

1/4 cup sugar

1tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. grated orange rind

Mix together ingredients. If you can't find farmers cheese, you can substitute 2 lbs of small curd cottage cheese that has been pressed through a cheesecloth to make a dry cottage cheese. Use about 2 tablespoons of filling per pierogi.

I'd like to thank my brother Adam, who compiled a recipe book of our family's traditional family recipes. Thanks to his hard work, those memories, stories and recipes are preserved for future generations of our family.

How to remove tarnish from silver naturally

2011-12-04T17:11:00.002-05:00

Have you ever wondered how to remove tarnish from silver without using chemicals? I don't have anything horrible against commercial tarnish removers, I just try to subscribe to a philosophy of living a simpler, more natural life.

You can easily remove tarnish from silver using a few ordinary items that can be found in your kitchen. All you need to remove tarnish from sterling silver are: aluminum foil, baking soda and some hot water. That's it! Take a look at this tarnished sterling silver that I had in my studio:

Pretty ugly-right?

Here's the same sterling silver beads and ear wires afterwards :

Amazing isn't it? What a difference. In less than a minute the sterling silver went from unusable to bright and shiny as new! Here's the steps to remove the tarnish.

1. Place a piece of aluminum foil in a shallow dish. I used a glass cake dish, but a shallow bowl or plastic container would work just fine. Just line it with the foil.
2. Put in your tarnished silver. Add about 2-3 teaspoons of baking soda.
3. Cover with very hot water.

The water will foam up a little -it's the action of the baking soda. I shake around the container a few times. If all the tarnish doesn't come off right away, you can repeat this a couple of times. I use a fresh piece of foil each time I repeat the process.

Finally just rinse and dry. Your sterling will be bright and shiny. This works just as great on your tarnished jewelry too! The only caution is using this on dyed pearls and stones-you might want to test this first to be sure you don't lose any color. I have used this on my dyed stones and pearls without any trouble, I just use warm water and don't let the pearls and stones soak to long, and dry them promptly.

Please let me know if you have tried to clean your silver with this method. I'd love to hear about your results.

If you share this natural method of cleaning your silver, please cite my blog. I hope you will share my tipsand leave me a comment!

Thanks Friends!
Felicia

It's time for a beach getaway

2011-11-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

Its time for a be...

Curated By: FishPrincessD...

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

I hope you will check out some great ideas for a beach get away on my ArtFire Collection.

Exploring Handmade Holiday Shopping Event-Day 6 Jewelry Designers

2011-11-21T06:57:00.000-05:00

Today is the day that I'm part of the Holiday Shopping Event!

I hope you will have a chance to check out all the artisans in this Holiday Shopping Event. To celebrate my addition today I'm offering a special offer: Free Shipping to the US and Canada. It's for today only and all you have to do is enter the coupon code FREESHIPPING when you checking out and paying for your items!
So be sure to check out my studio.

Happy shopping everyone!

Exploring Handmade Holiday Shopping Event-Day 5 MIxed Media and Personalized Gift Artisans

2011-11-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Holiday shopping everyone! Today's artisans are mixed media and personalized gift artisans. The holidays are the perfect time for personalized gifts. Be sure to order soon, to allow the time for your custom pieces to be done. These ladies are seriously multi-talented and can make you great gifts for any occasion and anyone on your gift list!

Here's an example from Christy Carroll of Taylor June Gifts:

Sometimes talent does run in the family. Yesterday you met Kae's daughter, Yasuko. Yasuko originally started her online shops to promote her mother's work. Kae, born and raised in Japan, has been a Japanese Calligrapher for over 40 years. She creates beautiful calligraphy artworks, Shodo and Sumi-e paintings.

This piece is very lovely:

I hope you are keeping up with all the Days on the Shopping Event. Just a heads up, tomorrow I'll be one of the featured jewelry artisans. I hope you'll stop buy and take a look!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Exploring Handmade Holiday Shopping Event-Day 4 Quilters and Seamstresses

2011-11-19T08:56:00.000-05:00

We're off to another great day of shopping today! Today's featured craftspeople all are make sewn items. Whether you love the look of hand made quilts like this one by Sieber Designs:

Or perhaps you're in the mood for a new purse? Just like shoes, you can never have too many purses!

I love the vibrant colors in this bag by Yasuko of KaeArtworks.

There are more crafts people to meet on the event blog. We've got a week to go, so I hope you are checking back in every day. I have to say Debi has put in a lot of work, selecting and doing all the write-ups and promoting. Just think about it, if every person bought just ONE item handmade this year, what an impact it would be.

In these economic times, wouldn't it feel great to support local crafts people and artisans? I know I'm going to be shopping hand made this year. I hope you will join me.

Exploring Handmade Holiday Shopping Event-Day 3-Jewelry Designers

2011-11-18T12:16:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying the Handmade Holiday Shopping Event.
Today's featured artisans are Jewelry Designers, but wait where am I? Not to worry, my turn will be coming up soon! Can you believe all the different things that are available out there?

This kumihimo braided necklace really caught my eye.

It's from the Etsy shop of Kim Stewart. I've tried kumihimo braiding-it's not that easy. Her necklace is very well done.

I hope you've had as much fun looking at some of these talented artisans. I can hardly wait for tomorrow. I think I need to start buying some items. Be sure to let me know if you have taken a look at the shopping event. I hope you have liked it on Facebook.

Exploring Handmade Holiday Shopping Event-Day 2 Crocheting and Knitting Artisans

2011-11-17T06:54:00.003-05:00

I hope you had fun exploring the lampwork artisans on Day One of this Holiday Shopping Event! Today's featured artisans of Textile Artisans-also known as Knitters and Crocheters! We're having so much fun showcasing craftspeople and bringing you a handmade shopping experience.

Here's just a sample of what 's in store for you!

Shopping handmade does so many things, first you're dealing directly with the artisan or crafter. You get to meet and find out a little about who created your purchase. If you need customization, they right there to help you out. Also, small craftspeople tend to continue to spend and buy in their local communities. I know that when I source my materials, I try to shop local.

You can follow the Holiday Shopping Event on Facebook to hear about the latest shopping news.

I'd love to hear your comments!

Happy Shopping!

Exploring Handmade ~ Holiday Shopping Event ~ Day 1

2011-11-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

Exploring Handmade ~ Holiday Shopping Event ~ Day 1

Here's a way to explore a myriad of gift selections for the Holiday period. From today until November 28th over 75 Artisans will be showcasing some special gifts for the Holidays. Think about it, no driving to the mall, no hassling with parking, You don't even have to get out of your pajamas to shop!

Occupy Wall Street this Holiday Season AND Get Great Gifts

Need gifts for loved ones? Want to send Congress, Wall Street and Corporate America a message loud and clear? Want to do both at the same time
I'm sure everyone's heard about the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and others like it around the world. Well, I'm hoping to start an Occupy Wall Street movement of my own to aid in global economic recovery... yup, BIG dreams :) How, you ask?
Well, we know Congress, Wall Street and Corporate America are NOT going to get us out of this mess. That's for sure. It's SMALL businesses like mine and those of other artisans and entrepreneurs that are going to do it.
We're all doing more with less so make the most of your hard-earned dollars this holiday season...let them do TRIPLE duty!! No matter what gift-giving holiday you're celebrating, you can Occupy Wall Street AND help our economy by shopping with handcraft artisans online and locally.
When you buy from individual designers, artists and other crafts people, you're supporting small businesses. You're supporting the business of the individual designer AND all the businesses...usually small businesses...that they do business with. And growing these small businesses is what will get our economy back on track and be instrumental in keeping it there! This applies in any country around the globe.

AND at the same time, you'll get truly unique and precious gifts for your family and friends that will make your holidays more meaningful. It's a win-win-WIN :) And I'm going to help you!

Todays featured artisans are lampwork bead makers. Oh their work is so pretty! This is just a sample of one of todays featured artisans.

I'll be part of this unique shopping experience too! I'm not sure what day my work will be featured, so keep checking back and as soon as I know I'll let you know to! To find out more about this event and to get all the current info-like this on FaceBook! I'm asking all my followers to pass this on to their friends.

Happy shopping!

Is there such a thing as work life balance?

2011-11-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

I've had my shop active on Artfire for a while. Admittedly, I really haven't put much effort into it in the last few months. It got to be a bit overwhelming. I really enjoy creating my jewelry, but I'm not good at marketing it. Do you really expect people to be beating down door with sales if you don't try to get some exposure? Yes, I've had sales. Mostly I think I've been found through searches. So I decided it was time to figure out what I wanted to do for my business and how much time and energy I wanted to put into this. Since I have a full time career outside of Artfire, work life balance is something I really struggle with. Do you feel this way too? Life seems to tug at me in all directions at once!

After laying "dormant" for a a while-was my last post really in July?I decided it was time to try to figure out how I could fit in my jewelry business in with the rest of my life. One of the first things I came to realize is that when we try to allocate X amount of time to everything we do, life gets in the way! Work life balance needs to be just that. It doesn't mean that I have to have a rigid schedule everyday. Life happens.

I decided to sit down and figure out what it is I REALLY want to do. And I came to the conclusion that I really do enjoy making jewelry. In fact, I want to further my craft. I took a beginning solder class and I want to pursue that further. As far as business is concerned, I've decide that it is something I like to do. I'm going to work a bit harder to promote my studio, and to get onto a schedule and habit of posting new items and blogging and promoting.

Do you have have any suggestions on how you balance your time? I'd love to hear about your challenges.

In the mean time, have a wonderful day!

Frozen Key Lime Pie

2011-07-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

Easy, No Bake Frozen Key Lime Pie

A super simple summer dessert. This key lime pie has no raw eggs in the recipe. Cool and tangy with a zesty lime flavor. Perfect for a hot summer day!

Ingredients:
1 8 oz container Cool Whip-thawed
1/2 c key lime juice
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 prepared Graham cracker crust

2 limes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tblsp confectioners sugar

Directions:
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together lime juice and sweetened condensed milk. Gently fold in Cool Whip, mix until well blended. Pour mixture into a 9-inch prepared graham cracker crust. Freeze 3-4 hours or overnight until firm.

Zest 1 of the limes, and slice the other lime thinly for garnish. In a chilled bowl, Mix whipping cream until thickened. Add the confectioners sugar and lime zest. whip until the cream is thickened and stiff. Garnish the pie with the whipping cream and lime slices.

Serves 8

This is a super easy no fail recipe. It's always a hit at summer cook outs. Light and full of lime flavor. I prefer to use key lime juice, but regular lime juice can be substituted. I hope you enjoy this!

Industrial Revolution. I think you need to join me.

2011-05-19T20:30:00.000-04:00

My new studio home on the web is a wonderful place called Artfire.I've been so happy to join a talented group of artisans and craftsmen. Artfire has been having a promotion in which they feature a daily Collection curated by a member-and in today's email...what a surprise! My collection, Industrial Revolution, was chosen! I enjoy making the collections, not only do I get to showcase some very talented artisans, I get to see many types of craftwork that I would not normally look for.

And don't forget-if you use my referral code to join up you can get your third month free! How great is that!

industrial revolution

Curated By: FishPrincessD...

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

So need five great reasons to join me?
Here's my top five:

1. A fabulous group of quality artisans. I used to sell on Etsy and always felt I was competing with resellers and millions of other pieces of jewelry. Here on Artfire you notice the difference in quality as soon as you start browsing.

2. Reasonable usage fees- low monthly fees and you can list as much as you want-no more paying relisting fees just to get your product higher in the searches.

3. A commitment to the artisan members by the staff. I can't say how important this is. I think Artfire is continually working on its site and giving us all the tools we can use. The staff is quick to help out and answer questions and give suggestions. A great help to those of us how are fairly new to online selling. They listen to their community and implement many of our suggestions.

4. Feeding our items into the search engines-If you're a seller you know how important it is to be "found".

5.You'll make friendships with many talented artisans. If you need some help you can just give a shout out and someone will give you a hand.

I hope you will think about joining me on Artfire. I can't wait to see your studio.

Working my way through the 45 Day Success Guide-Week Three

2011-04-03T16:48:00.002-04:00

Well it's been a bit over a month that I've had my Artfire Studio up and running. I'm still working at my own pace on the Artfire 45 Day Success guide. I've been taking my time to set-up my shop, join some guilds and do a bit more in the way of promotion. Here's some of what I've been working on:

Day 15-Setting up your SEO testing. SEO? anything like REO? What the heck is SEO and how do test it? SEO means search engine optimization. In other words, it's how people find you in search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines. Each search engine has it's own way of ranking your listings. It's usually a combination of your product title and description. By testing different ways to write your descriptions you can help determine what descriptions work best for you. I try to vary my titles-especially when I list similar items. Today I listed 13 pairs of sea glass earrings. In some of the listings I started off with the words "sea glass" in others "beach glass" in others I started out with other descriptions. This way I hope to capture the attention of people searching using different terms.
Day 16-Has you listing some of your prior work. I listed some things I've listed when I was on Etsy, but that I haven't listed yet on Artfire. Many times people will list things from their art or craft shows or prior sold items.
Day 17-Meet the staff. The staff often posts in the forums-hey it's nice to know that frittering away some of their day hanging out with us too! Tony, one of the co-founders is usually checking in daily. If you have a problem just ask. I had an issue come up this week with my studio announcement and they we right on top of it. Good work!
Day 18-It's a work day. Hey it's fly fishing season for me around here. I think I'm heading to the stream. Work can wait. The trout won't.
Day 19-Setting up your Rapid Cart and Facebook Kiosk. If you look to the right side of my blog you'll see a Rapid Cart feature. I've got it set up to view 6 random items from my studio. The cool thing about it is, that instead of just linking to my studio, you can actually purchase something without navigating away! I haven't had any on try it yet. But for my type of blog, which brings in a lot of people looking for things likes recipes or tutorials, I'm hoping it will be a nice feature. The same thing goes for the Facebook Kiosk-it's a check-out application on your business page.
Day 20-More SEO-by now you should be starting to get more comfortable with writing titles and descriptions. The one thing to remember is that your not really writing nice flowery titles naming your products. Think of them as you would try to "Google" an item.I suggest searching on a couple of different search engines on how your titles show up. Here's a good example. If you search "strawberry jello pretzel desert" in exactly that order you'll find my recipe number 1 in Google-and I might as it's been in number 1 (or very close to it) since 2009! I even beat out places like cooks.com and allrecipes.com! On Bing and Yahoo it doesn't come up until page 3. It also places on the first page on Ask.com.. So you can see I'm happy most people use Google and I try to optimize my titles for Google searches. One of the things you'll notice in my posts are links. Click on my titles and the highlighted words and you 'll be taken to something I've mentioned. Did you know that having these links in your posts actually improve your credibility? I didn't. But having links in your posts increase the likelihood that you will increase your ranking in the search engines. But, don't over do it. You want to be credible without selling every word to an add or link! Don't you just hate it when you get to a post and just about every word in the post is an ad!

I hope you're finding my journey interesting and helpful. I'd love to hear how some of you are doing setting up your shops and studios. If you have been around for a while, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain. ~Author Unknown

Working my way through the 45 Day Success Guide-Week Two

2011-03-22T20:30:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm working my way through the Artfire 45 Day Success Guide, albeit it's going a lot more slowly than the 45 days. Like many others, my Artfire Studio isn't my only job. I have to fit it into my schedule as time permits. I check in daily-I'm hoping to see that first sale on Artfire-I usually post in the forums, check out facebook when I can and even sneak in a couple of tweets. When do I have time to create? So here's the second weeks goals:

Day 8-Listing and Starting your blog. One of the features of Artfire is that your studio has it's own blog tab. I find this a bit redundant for those of us who already have outside blogs such as this one. I have posted a couple of articles, but I'll stick with this as my main blog. The upside is that Google seems to like blogs when it crawls for content. The goal is to post 10 more items and 3 posts in the forums.
Day 9-Studio Clean-Up-silly me-I thought this meant the cleaning genie was going to appear at my house and clean up my studio-A prayer answered! funny thing, that's not what Artfire had in mind. Their idea of studio clean-up is to add categories to your studio. Lucky for me I had them already in place. Oh yeah list another 10 items. Well, I'm still working on that.
Day 10-Work Day! Yeah a day off to create....or just catch a few extra zzzz's. This is the kind of a day I can enjoy!
Day 11-Social Media Set-up Day. Now I know why they gave me that day off yesterday-Artfire want to lull me into believing I was sailing right along. Yea, more like a moth drawn to a flame. Here's todays goals: Set-up a Twitter and Facebook Fan Page. But if that wasn't enough How about 3 tweets and 2 Facebook posts, 3 Forum posts and just for good measure post 5 more items. Hey these people aren't fooling around! Well I may not be the most Social Media savvy person on my block, but I do manage a tweet now and then, and Facebook-I don't like to be too spammy. In fact, The fastest way to have me "unfollow" you is when I see dozens of posts from your shop.
Day 12-Social Media Day Two-What there's more? Actually Artfire recommends an outside blog...like here on Blogger. Well at least I've got that covered. Maybe I should tweet about it...
Day 13-Listing and Interacting-Hey isn't this Social Media Day 3? List 5 more items-Tweet one and feature another on Facebook. Didn't I say something about not being spammed with all those look at this item I listed today posts. Really people, I don't mind looking at all your things, but not all in one day. And make it a bit interesting for me.
Day 14-Work Day! thank goodness. I need to take a nap.

Actually, following the 45 Day Success Guide has done a few good things for me, it keeps me off the streets, out of the bar, neglecting my family, shot my diet all to Hell...no really, I find myself at least trying to maintain a bit of a schedule of working on my studio daily. I just need a bit more time to create and photograph my items-it isn't easy to get natural daylight at 9 pm in Michigan this time of year!

So if you're new to Artfire...How goes your Week? For the rest of you lucky souls, why don't you go check out some of my latest designs. And how about leaving me a link to your Facebook Fan Page or your Twitter Link. I promise-I won't spam you! And for all you lurkers-Hey leave me a comment!

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison

It's A Handmade World: A Glimpse of Spring

2011-03-22T07:35:00.002-04:00

It's A Handmade World: A Glimpse of Spring

If your looking for some spring gifts, or just some inspiration, how about going over to the blog It's a Handmade World. She put together a blog post where artisans with handmade goods can post there items. This weeks theme is spring. It's quite a collection.

No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

Red Winged Blackbird

2011-03-18T19:34:00.000-04:00

What's your harbinger of Spring? For some it's a robin, but here in Michigan we get robins that stay all winter. For me it's the first red-winged blackbird that I see.I look forward to seeing the birds and hearing their distinctive call. I got a bit curious about my favorite spring bird and found out some interesting items about him on this entry:

The blackbird has long been associated with omens and mysticism. Its color, alone, has evoked both fear and promise. Although called a blackbird, only the males are black. Females usually have a streaky, brown plumage. Not all blackbirds are black. One variety has a yellow head and throat which stands out strongly against the black plumage. The yellow and black coloring has long been associated with the Archangel Auriel. Auriel is considered the tallest of the angels, with eyes that can see across eternity. This being oversees all of nature and all of the nature spirits. Auriel has traditionally been associated with the summer season.

Another variation of the blackbird is the red-winged blackbird. This bird has a red path on its wings, with a dash of yellow as well. These colors connect this bird to the level know as Binah in the Quabalistic Tree of Life. This is the level associated with the Dark Mother and primal feminine energies. This bird has ties to all of the creative forces of nature. On the Tree of Life, black is the color for Bnah and red is the color for Geburah (Mars type of energy). Yellow or amber is the color of the path that connects the two, and it is the path of Cancer, the mother sign of the zodiac. The red-winged blackbird is thus a totem associated with the stellar energies of Cancer.

Who knew? My astrological sign is Cancer, maybe that's why I like this bird so much. Anyway, I hope you like my harbinger of spring. Do leave a comment and share with me what you consider to be a sure sign of spring. I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain"

Until later,

Enjoy your day.

It's time for Paczki! Polish jelly filled doughnut recipe

2011-03-07T20:19:00.001-05:00

What Mardi Gras. In the Polish tradition of Fat Tuesday, we enjoy eating Paczki or Polish jelly filled doughnuts. The Lenten tradition of fasting called for using up the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit that you had in your home. My Aunt Sophie and grandmother, Babcia, would make these delicious filled doughnuts. Certainly a treat you waited for once a year! This recipe comes from my brothers collection of family recipes. I hope you enjoy it!

1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 whole egg plus 3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam

Optional: 1/4 cup white raisins

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and egg yolks. Add the yeast mixture, vanilla, orange rind and salt. Gradually add flour, and optional raisins, blend until well mixed.Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Cover, and set aside in warm area until the dough has doubled in size. On floured board roll out until about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles with a glass or biscuit cutter. Place a spoonful of raspberry jam at the center of each circle, fold in half, pinching closed sealing in the jam. Roll into ball shape. Fry in hot oil (350 degrees) or shortening until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels, to absorb excess oil. When cool, dust lightly with powdered sugar. Note: for a lighter texture, the filled and formed paczki can be set aside to rise again slightly before frying.

You can also fill the paczki after frying with a cake decorating tipped bag. Try lemon curd, custard, or even prune filling for a change! Whatever filling you choose enjoy these treats today!

Week one on Artfire-working my way through the 45 day Success Guide

2011-03-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

So I've survived my first week! Moving and setting up a new studio is a lot of work. There is so much to learn-almost like moving to another country and learning about their customs and language!

One of the helpful guides Artfire has is the 45 day Success Guide. It's no holds bared, fast paced introduction to getting you studio up and running. I'm trying my best to keep up with m daily tasks.

Day 1-Getting rid of your progress bar. when you first register on Artfire, you see a progress bar on top of your screen. You need to set up the basics of your studio. Your bio,policies,payment methods and your avatar and banner-now that's a full day one!
Day 2-Time to read up. You've got a lot of guides here-You'll find answers to a lot of questions. Don't be lazy or frustrated. get reading!
Day 3-Getting your studio ready. Time to figure out layouts, color schemes and shipping policies. Start listing 5 items.
Day 4-Getting the feel. Artfire actually has a "test" buying area. Sometime sellers have have not purchased items-this test area actually has you checkout an item-without having to pay for it. You also list an additional 5 items bringing you studio up to 10 items.
Day 5-Getting your front page filled. Since your first page holds 20 items. It's time to fill up your shop. Listing 10 more items is a bit of work-but at leat your first page will be full.
Day 6-It's a work day You've been so busy listing and setting up your shop-don't forget to keep reading those guides!- That you probably haven't had the energy or time to be creative! So take a day off-get those creative juices flowing again.
Day 7-Introduce yourself. Time to check out the chatterbox forums. You'll find a lot of information and helpful people hanging out here. I like to visit the forums on a regular basis. you'll meet all sorts of people-and soon you'll be chatting away like old friends. Don't forget to check out the promotions area and games when you need a break.

Phew! so much for the first week. No wonder I'm tired.Tomorrow I hope to get a lot more pictures taken. I usually do my photography on the weekends when I can photograph my items in daylight. I've got a lot of items to photograph-that going to take some time.

Hope you're enjoying the "behind the scenes" look at what it takes to set up an online shop. It's more work and more fun that you think it is!

Be sure to leave some comments if you have visited. I'd like to know what's interested you the most.

Until later,

"Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower".
Hans Christian Andersen

Seafoam is Serious Business

2011-03-02T22:41:00.001-05:00

My seafoam sea glass bracelet has been featured in a collection on Artfire!

Seafoam is Serious Business!

Curated By: byapryl

ArtFire.com

Handmade Jewelry

Hope you'll take a look at the collection and leave your comments!

Here's what I've been working on

2011-03-01T20:01:00.000-05:00

I've decided to concentrate on my sea glass jewelry in my new studio on Artfire. Here's a peek at a few of my latest creations:

What do you think? I'd really like for some of you to pop over to the new studio and let me know what else you would like to see. I've been concentrating on taking better pictures and I really think it's been paying off. I'll be sharing some photography tips in my upcoming blogs, so check back again.! How many of you are also on Artfire? Let me know and I'll be sure to pop and and visit your studio.

I've moved to Artfire!

2011-02-27T14:54:00.000-05:00

It seems like a long time since I last posted, and looking back it has been! So many things have been happening in my life, some good, some sad, I really didn't take the time to share them with you.

In December, my best friend passed away. She had been suffering the effects of diabetes for many years, having undergone multiple amputations and dialysis for many years just to keep her alive. I just really miss her. You can not know how many times I pick up the phone to give her a call...and then realize that I won't here her voice again. We had been friends for over 30 years-all of my adult life. I have been so lucky to have known and had a friend like her. I know It is rare in this day and age to keep friends for so long. We been through husbands and loves, good times and bad times, we've shared all the secrets you only tell your best friend. Through it all we could always count on having each other.

I hope that you have that someone special in your life...that being said, I've looked at a lot of things in my life. I realized just how important jewelry designing is in my life. It truly is a passion that I enjoy. So looking forward to promoting my business in new way, I looked at the venues I have been using. I decided to move my studio to Artfire I hope you will check out my new studio. I'm going to be concentrating on my sea glass jewelry. I look forward to sharing much more with you in the future. I hope you'll stop by and see all the good things to come.

Peace to all of you!
Felicia