New Daisy Photo

     It's been a few days since I've been in here. Not that I've been totally idle, but haven't been working too hard. The weekend was fairly quiet. I managed to get out a few hours in the afternoon on Sunday and watched the NASCAR race at the Legion. I've been wrapping up the ring project and toying with the idea of offering them to the prom girls at the schools. I'm not sure I want to get tied up with appointments right now for such an inexpensive item, because I'm nearly all set to start selling locally. 


     I've also been working hard on getting a new online shop up and running. The Etsy shop is ok, but I've come to find out how demanding it is if you want your shop noticed at all. The site has really become too large. There is also the cost factor. My new shop is www.decorativekindling.artfire.com and I hope it will be successful. There are more tools there to work with as well as Google Analytics so I can see more easily what is working and what is not. There still isn't much in there, but as things expire on Etsy, I'll be listing them on Artfire. 


     Here is a new pic of Daisy. We spent alot of time playing this weekend and we got some new photos. She spent this morning outside in her kennel as I had an appointment with our tax man. All is well and the government owes us a little, which is a bit of a relief as I was worried we might be owing them. Ha! It's nice to get some back. Since that is all finished, I've spent the remainder of the day trying to figure out what money will be going where over the next few months and my plan looks very promising. Now if I could just sell a few things, my hobby would at least pay for itself. I'm actually surprised that at times, it does. However, it's not easy ... designing and creating is hard work and selling is brutal. As much time is spent photographing, cataloging, posting, pricing and advertising as actually working with the arts and crafts, so half the time my job is fun. The other half is pretty boring. 


     Sale Silliness: Our Co Op this week has large blocks of cheese on sale for $3.99. I use a lot of cheese and this is a great deal! I bought 6 lbs! I'm home by myself until the end of August so most folks  would find this ridiculous. I beg to differ. This morning, I grated and froze 4 lbs of it for cooking. Great for toppings, melts, sauces, au gratins, baking, etc. If you toss some cornstarch in, it won't stick together.  I actually think it's quite brilliant. The rest will keep in the fridge for months as I use it for company and snacks. Brilliant I tell you!