Chocolate on the keyboard

Yahoo..it's National Chocolate Cake Day

2012-01-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

January 27 is National Chocolate Cake Day – Yahoo!!
Read all about it
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/288862/20120127/national-chocolate-cake-day-2012.htm

Find lots of photos to drool over via the PINs on Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/search/?q=chocolate+cake
and/or
Find recipes here
http://www.cacaoweb.net/chocolatecakes.html
and here
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipe-collections/chocolate-cake/index.html

The Joy of "Real" Books

2012-01-11T21:25:00.000-08:00

My daughter and my granddaughter are both now reading via a Kindle or an IPad...I'm still going with the Real thing. I like going to Libraries, and Book Stores, I subscribe to magazines in "print.
And I even love watching You've Got Mail over and over again...with its subplot of Book Stores big and "small"...Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are easy on the eyes too.

Here's a Cute video on YouTube that a couple put together: The Joy of Books: Enjoy

Merry 2011 Christmas

2011-12-25T10:33:00.000-08:00

Me and My Grandkids on Christmas Eve, Ready for Santa to come

Laura and Mariah just home from Christmas Eve Mass

The Gingerbread that Kate, Mariah and Darby
decorated for the Cookie Decorating contest
at the Marriott Resort in Orlando, on Christmas Eve.

Look Mom's - ALL CLEAN

Wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I am feeling very Blessed this Year and Especially at Christmas. This is a time for Celebrating the Dawn of our Salvation, the Birth of Jesus. This birth of God's son has brought forth into our Lives, a wonder and awe of the Miracles that surround us every day. There were no cameras 2000+ yrs ago, only word of mouth spread the "story" that's been told over and over again of the events that day. And historians have found little actual evidence, but they surmise that Dec 25th from what the story tell of this event, was probably NOT the actual time or day of Birth of Jesus. But long ago the tradition of this day and time was set. And the stories recorded in the Bible, were written long after the event as well. I am always amazed that without "real proof" or photos etc. that the story continues to be accepted and shared with every generation of Christians around the World. I BELIEVE and ALWAYS WILL. I Feel God's PRESENCE in My Life EVERYDAY. I know that I am Saved and Am a Child of His. This Christmas 2011, was spent with Family, some of my West Coast family came "East" to share with East coasters..My niece from San Diego, CA and her family and my niece from Portland, Oregon with her daughter came to Florida to be with their Dad..it's his First Christmas living in his new home in Florida's "The Villages". My daughter and her family and I, and those visiting Florida...all met up in Orlando and spent one day at DISNEY...a Magical Kingdom for sure. We spent some time at "each" of our Resorts / Timeshares that we each had, and all the kids had fun exploring the pools and activities going on. All the 3rd cousins had a good time together, and my granddaughter and my San Diego niece's one daughter became fast friends. I know that my late sister "Pinky/Flo" and my sweet Paul - are beaming their smiles from Heaven and are so proud of their families. They are all growing up and are happy,healthy and a joy to be around.

The WOMEN, Me, Laura, Karen, Kate, Mariah, Darby, Jessie, Diane

Fire Power

My family at Disney Dec 23, 2011

Mickey and Minnie

Cool Green Waters flowing at Disney

Red, White and Green - Everywhere in the Park

Niece Karen and daughter Kate from Oregon,
Kate in her Sparkling Hat..it really glowed

The MEN, Tony & Josh, Andy and his boys Vaughn and Ian

The San Diego Crew

Darby and Mariah

Niece Diane and son-in-law Tony

Daughter Laura and grandson Joshua
The Grandparents, Me and My Brother in Law

Andy and his oldest daughter Jessie

Niece Karen, with her daughter Kate, and nephews Ian and Vaughn

The Kick Line Darby, Mariah, Laura, Josh, and Diane

Tis a SAD Day coming..PC Crafter is Closing down

2011-12-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

at the end of December 2011, pcCrafter.com will be closing. It will be sad for so many reasons, that a once proud site that sold some of the most varied, delightful, and inexpensive Clipart sets, has come to this end. The shopping cart of the site, has been "Broken" since early October 2011. So customers were unable to buy anything or use their PC Purse Monies, or gift certificates that they might have been given in the past but had never bought anything yet. I wrote in another post back in the Spring of 2011 that although the Message Community Forums had "been" thrown off the Internet air - with no warning!!!, that the website portion selling Clipart was "STILL" up and selling Clipart.

Although the Welcome page on the site, never changed from its first Jan 2011 message, where they mentioned how they were discontinuing the HugClub, but they did hope to find new artists and offer up NEW sets in the year ahead. But NOTHING ever happened during 2011, NO NEW ART Sets were EVER RELEASED! When ever anyone emailed, or phoned, etc. they'd always get the run around....oh, they were pleasant and would listen, but rarely were things resolved. And then in October the Shopping Cart "broke", again emails and phone calls - only told us - We are working on it and are aware of the problems. I said to them, Please advise people right on your Welcome page, that the Shopping Cart is broken, don't wait for someone to go through the process of trying to buy something and then have them see a "Sorry" you can't buy anything right now - message!
Of course they never did fix the problem or mention it up front.
And then just a couple of weeks ago: this appeared on the Welcome page
I am copying and pasting the Message that people will see at least until Dec 31, 2011

Dear pcCrafter Members,

As you know, there have been some changes with pcCrafter.com over the past several months. After much deliberation and careful consideration, we have made the decision to close down pcCrafter effective December 31, 2011.

A few things for you to be aware of:

Please download and store on your home computer any content currently being hosted at pcCrafter. After 12/31/2011, content at pcCrafter.com will no longer be available.

Any credits you may have left at pcCrafter will be transferred to Cricut.com as store credit. You can apply these credits toward purchases at Cricut.com. Click here to transfer your credits.

The pcCrafter phone number will no longer be active after 12/31/2011. Please refer any questions to the following email address: support@pccrafter.com

if you are reading this prior to Dec. 31, 2011 visit http://pccrafter.com for the complete homepage message.
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Now isn't that a "Sad" way to end things - with so little warning and at a Holiday time, when most customers won't even see it. Leaving customers in the lurch, asking them to take a store "credit" for their PROVO CRAFT - Cricut line of products Store. Customers came to pccrafter.com to buy CLIP ART Sets, not Cricut products.

I hope that anyone and everyone who is wanting a complete and total refund of any/all monies that they may have in their pcPurse or on Gift Certificates- persue all avenues of complaint - Write to the Utah Better Business Bureau, to the Attorney General of Utah, to the Corporate Headquarters of Provo Craft, and even to the home town newspapers or local TV stations consumer departments of Provo Craft's hometown. Let them know that you do not consider pccrafter's business practices to be fair or ethical, to expect past customers to take a Provo Craft Cricut "Store" credit for monies the customer wanted to spend on "Clipart" and only Clipart. So demand a REFUND of all money they are holding and let you find new places online to purchase clipart. You'll see in the side bar to the right on my blog, A clipart and printables listing of some of my own favorite places to continue to purchase wonderful Clipart or Printables online. Be sure before the 31st of December 2011, to print out any/all documentation available from your "My Account" page on pccrafter, that indicates how much money you may still have in your pcPurse, and or, print out any/all communication or verification that you have any gift certificates that have not been redeemed with the amounts listed. Make copies of everything and keep originals, and attach your documents to any letters that you write to them in this matter. Please keep it simple and professional when you write and/or phone the company. You simply want your "money" back and fully refunded to you to spend as you choose.

State Attorney General office for Utah
http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/contact_us.html

Utah Better Business Bureau
http://utah.bbb.org/

Provo Craft.com Contact information
http://www.provocraft.com/help/contact.php

Their mailing address indicates they - Provo Craft's - headquarters are located in South Jordan, Utah - here is a link to the online news for South Jordan Utah. http://www.topix.com/city/south-jordan-ut I didn't see any links to an online "editorial" page that you could write letters or post online about an issue having to do with a Local company (such as Provo Craft), but check it out anyway to see if this might be another venue for you to register a complaint about the business practices of Provo Craft in regards to the matters of pcCrafter's closing of their Online store selling Clipart and refunds of any monies they may be holding that is rightfully "yours".

*UPDATE TO THIS POST* on Dec 20, 2011.
Over on the Hugsister Forums, a couple of gals have mentioned that they personally wrote via this email addy: support@pccrafter.com, saying that they had Money in their pcPurse'es and wanted to purchase specific Clipart Sets instead of getting a store credit for Cricut.com. Each gal said they received a timely response back from pccrafter or kkester, and the price of the clipart sets they each requested were deducted from their pcpurse, and the "download" links were next made available to them to download from their "My Account" page and Downloads.
So if you are reading this prior to Dec 31st 2011, you may want to try that email option first before filing a complaint about the company. Good Luck to all.
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PC Crafter's staff and company, once upon a time had NO Equal on the internet, for shopping for Clipart, and communicating with them was once a joy. The community message forums, buzzed with conversations, and many many "hugsisters" became friends for life. Prayers and Laughter, and Crafting Ideas were shared every day. I and others will always remember the good ole days.

But life goes on. And thanks to Lynne a.k.a. Blondemoments - we Hugsisters have at least a new Community forum(s) to communicate and share with each other.
visit: http://z15.invisionfree.com/HugSisters/index.php
See my post from April 14, 2011 which has information about the new message forum that hugsister Lynne, created for former pccrafter.com community message forum members
http://chocolateonthekeyboard.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-sad-pccrafter-messageboard-community.html

There is going to be a LOT of confused and angry past customers when next they link on over to pccrafter.com beginning Jan 1, 2012, and be most likely be redirected to "cricut.com" or worse...see a message "site not found".

Please take a look at my listing on the side bar under the Clipart and Printables heading for shopping sites for Clipart - there are still many Wonderful artists creating and offering their art in Clipart form for us. Past pccrafter artists that still sell clipart online, include Laurie Furnell, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, Joy Hall, and Shelly Comiskey. And Carolee Jones also hopes to within the next year have her own Etsy Store to sell her past pccrafter art online and new art too.

My Snowman

2011-12-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

Snowman Digi Layout created Dec 13 2011 that I posted all this same info on Facebook, the Hugsisters forum and now my Blog - so yes if you think you've seen this before, this is DejaVu

Recently I saw on Facebook that one of my favorite artists who creates wonderful clipart and art prints, and other items, had for sale at her Etsy store - some delightful handmade Snowmen ornaments. I wrote to Karla Dornacher - asking more information about the ornaments, as they didn't come up on her stores page. She wrote back saying she only had 2 left and she hadn’t yet posted them to her store. I shared with her my story about my sweet Paul's nickname "My Snowman", and also that I had been collecting Snowmen and Snow themed ornaments for years, and my grandson Josh collects Snowmen too. She graciously with her HEART offered to let me buy "both" of these unique ornaments. After returning from my trip to California, the ornaments arrived today and I couldn't wait to hang them up, the red hat one, I placed beside the Tree shaped ornament with Paul's photo inside. His favorite part of Christmas was "our" tree every year. But I would always kid him - that the trees needed "MORE LIGHTS" - there were never enough for me ;-). So included in this layout I made - I used graphics from a clipart set by Karla Dornacher named "Pure as Snow". Which was just perfect to use.

Info/Graphics Credits
Karla Dornacher
http://www.karladornacher.com/
Blog
http://www.karladornacher.typepad.com/
Karla's post about the Snowmen ornaments
http://karladornacher.typepad.com/karlas_k...nowman-fun.html
Karla'sEtsy Shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher
Karla’s shop on Aimee Asher.com
http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufactu...nufacturerid=39
Graphics set I used “Pure as Snow”
http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/product.p...70&cat=0&page=1

Font I used “SP You’ve Got Mail” – No, I can’t remember where I got it sorry :-(

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I came to know of Karla, through another one of my favorite artists - Audrey Jeanne Roberts, it was through AJ's Blog that she had a link to Karla's Blog - I was amazed both with Karla's art and creations, but also her Christian writings and the ideas and thoughts she shared. When any of us is fortunate enough to be able to "know" and "dialog" with our favorite artists - it is really something Extraordinary.

I so appreciate getting to know artists like Karla, but also others such as Laurie Furnell, AJ Roberts, Carolee Jones, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, and Shelly Comiskey...

I never thought when I was first buying clipart, that I would EVER have contact with the actual "Artists" - I feel Blessed by their Friendship and Humbled by their Giving Spirits.

Some of my favorite artists Blogs, or where they sell their Clipart and more

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

Audrey's Blog http://audreyjeannesblog.com/

Store on Aimee Asher http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=25

Zazzle Shop http://www.zazzle.com/audreyjeanne

Gina Jane

Her DAISIE Company store http://www.daisiecompany.com/Default.asp

Gina Jane’s products and clipart sets http://www.daisiecompany.com/Gina-Jane-Artist-s/384.htm

Laurie Furnell

Laurie’s Blog http://lauriefurnell.blogspot.com/

Laurie’s Etsy Shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriefurnelldesigns

Laurie’s store on Aimee Asher http://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=67

Shelly Comiskey

Shelly’s Blog http://shellycomiskeydesigns.blogspot.com/

Shelly’s store on DAISIE Company http://www.daisiecompany.com/Shelly-Comiskey-Artist-s/379.htm

Tammy DeYoung

Tammy’s store on Aimee Asherhttp://www.aimeeasher.com/shoppe/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=9

Tammy Blogs weekly on Aimee Asher too: http://aimeeasher.com/shop/

**Carolee Jones hopes to be opening an Etsy store in the near future to sell her wonderful Clipart sets.

Her blog http://caroleejones.blogspot.com/

Note: all these gals are on Facebook too

Christmas in Sunny Florida

2011-12-04T11:38:00.000-08:00

This is my 2nd Christmas in my house in Florida. And so far this first week into Dec...the weather has been delightful, certainly not frightful ;-) But since many of the decorations I brought from Buffalo are "Snow" themed - as I am also a Snowman Collector - my house decor consists mostly of "Snowmen" and Snowflakes, and all my lights are "White". This year I am doing just a wee bit of decorating, I'll be out of town for 10 days of Dec. so will only have 20 days worth of "enjoyment" of all the work that goes into putting things out and about. Just looking at my Tree though is still Enough for me. I've always liked decorated trees, and for my late husband Paul, our Tree each year was his Favorite part of Christmas. One year we spent most of a Dec in Florida helping my daughter move into her new home in Fla. When we got home, around Dec 20, I told him I didn't want to bother with pulling out our artificial tree and all that jazz. But he couldn't handle not having a tree up, so he took just the "top" portion of the artificial tree, put in a little stand he made, and he decorated it with white paper shapes he cut out, and made a paper chain. It was sooooooo cute. And I was happy I didn't have to get out all our stuff, and he was happy to have our own little Charlie Brown tree.

Here's some photos of my 2011 House and Tree

Now Cut That Out!

2011-11-05T08:26:00.001-07:00

See Create A Snow Blossom! and 1000's of others - or share your own on Cut Out + Keep

Lets Go Buffalo!!!!

2011-11-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Nobody Circles the Party Wagons like the Buffalo Bills Fans!!

Some of my favorite Etsy Shops

2011-10-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Seems like I don't take the time to Blog very much...but do spend lots of time online exploring and linking around to other Blogs. Love - Paper Crafting and Recipe blogs. But for this post I'm sharing some of my favorite Etsy Shops. I like these for Clipart and/or Printables.

Audrey Jeanne Roberts

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AudreyJeanneRoberts

Joy Hall

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JoysSketchbook

WeedsNWildflowers

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WeedsnWildflowers

Karla Dornacher

http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher

Clipart collections

http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher?section_id=7008653

Printables

http://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher?section_id=7011477

Laurie Furnell

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriefurnelldesigns

RetroGirls Digitals

Elizabeth, a.k.a. Slightly Crafty on message forums

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RetroGirlsDigitals

Water Lasso

2011-07-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

This week on the I Heart Faces.com site the Photo Challenge theme is WATER!! I have enough Humidity in the Air but can't get a picture of It and have it include a Face as well...so next best thing, take a photo with "seeable" water and a "face"

Round em up - Waterhide!!
Joshua Just Hosein Around, Keeping his Cool On

Who knew..My hometown the Birthplace of Airconditioner

2011-07-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

As I sit in my Florida home nice and cool...I am ever so thankful for the Air Conditioner Unit humming along outside. It is soooooo muggy and warm these summer days, I sometimes wonder how I grew up in a house and drove in cars - with no "air conditioners" in any windows or cooled air coming out of vents.
In my house only a couple of window fans.
I didn't know what I was missing until the day my late husband and I got a room air conditioner for "our" bedroom. My kids didn't get them - that luxury was reserved for us grownups. We figured "we" had "survived" a childhood without them, and they would as well.
After our girls moved away, we finally did get room air conditioners for their rooms though ;-) - we had one room set up as computer/office and the other was made into a "guest" room. Then 5 yrs before Paul passed away, he and a friend installed a whole house unit. I'll never forget coming home from work on a warm summer afternoon and wondered why all the doors and windows were closed. Then I stepped inside.....ahhhhhhh the coolness was ever so refreshing. I was so grateful for his talents and his ability to fix and do things around the house, that we didn't have to "hire" out for. We still opened all the windows and doors when it was in the "70's" outside, but when it got humid and hot, I cranked down the temps as fast as I could reach the thermostat.

Little did I know until reading an Article today in the Buffalo First news online, that a man from Western NY by the name of Carrier was the first guy to make air conditioners "practical" for offices and businesses, and later on for "home use".
Thank YOU, Thank YOU to Mr Carrier - you are one Cool Guy!!
Mr Carrier is buried in Buffalo's Forest Lawn cemetery.

Read all about Mr Carrier here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/blog/the_last_laugh/2011/07/buffalo-birthplace-of-air-conditioning.html

The Business that still carries his name today is still conditioning the air around us in our homes.

May is almost done.....

2011-05-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

Remember the Sacrifices So Many Have Given
for our Country and our Freedom
http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

Just noticed I hadn't posted anything for May...guess had nothing of much to say:-). It was a nice month. I turned 64 this month, had another wonderful "Mothers" day (my 43rd one!!!) to celebrate being a Mom to the 2 most amazing, beautiful daughters any Mom could ever wish for.

Got some nice gifts, cards, & the weather here in FLA was sunny and hot all month long.

Other than just hanging out at my house - didn't do much else.

On Friday - I went shopping or looking around at 4 different furniture stores in the area with my daughter and granddaughter for a new Entertainment/Wall Unit - I think we've narrowed it down to one or 2 that I really like and can "Afford"! And of course I saw lots of other things that I would love to decorate my home with or get new of, etc. etc.

Got a new camera (a Olympus SP 800UZ), didn't need one, just found a deal and decided I wanted it...it comes with a 30x Zoom vs the 12x Zoom I have on my Fugi 5yr old camera and my 3x Zoom I have on my 9 yr old Casio camera... I really like taking digital pictures, I never run out of film and I can delete what I don't want to upload to my computer etc. And I so enjoy looking at the birds and such out back of my house. Gives me something to do ;-) and keeps me out of trouble. Here's a couple more photos I took with the new camera.

PC Crafter is still in Business

2011-04-25T10:22:00.001-07:00

I posted on April 14th that the Message Community Forums had been taken down April 13th and how sad it was for many of us who had "grown" up and grown cyber friendships over the years on those forums.
Unfortunately in a case of bad timing, PC Crafter decided to perform regular Maintenance on their Servers, beginning on the afternoon of April 22, and many who went to the site and saw the Server Error message of course ASSUMED that the Site was also gone for good.
I personally wasn't in a panic, and knew that they had probably chosen Easter weekend as there wouldn't be a lot of traffic to the site or it just happened to be the time that was in their regular maintenance schedule.
So I waited till late this morning to see if indeed it would be back up...and it was, none the worse for wear.
There seems to be NO Changes to the Site, they still have yet to release any new Clipart Collections for the year 2011. I have read that Provo Craft (the mother ship of pcCrafter) has laid off folks recently and they are still focused on development and promotion of their Cricut line of products.
I have no idea how long the actual Clipart selling side of their Business will be in Business. Hopefully the Company will make a formal announcement if such a decision is made to Close that portion of Provo Craft. http://www.pccrafter.com
**Update to this post 12/20/2011 - PCCrafter.com announced on their website in early Dec 2011, that they will indeed be CLOSING UP SHOP on Dec. 31, 2011.

See my post from April 14, 2011 which has information about the new message forum that hugsister Lynne a.k.a Blondemoments created for former pccrafter.com community message forum members
http://chocolateonthekeyboard.blogspot.com/2011/04/so-sad-pccrafter-messageboard-community.html

So sad - pccrafter messageboard community is gone

2011-04-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Seems that the messageboard community forums of pccrafter.com are no longer online. Tis a sad day for "Me". It was those forums that really brought the "net" out in me. Most of the folks who do visit this tiny corner of the blogosphere - my blog, know me (LibMary) from those pccrafter forums.
It was back in 2004, that one of my web pages - a listing of links to free printables was being overwhelmed from traffic from the pccrafter forums. My then free website, kept exceeding its bandwidth because of the visits I was getting. So I traced the link to a message on the pccrafter forums - and began to look around the place. I kept seeing the same questions being asked...How Do You Fill a Blank Template with backgrounds and graphics, and also How Do You Remove the White Surrounding JPG graphics. These questions were something that I never had much of a reason to think about, but I was fascinated by how helpful and friendly everyone was in trying to help each other out. I also noticed that the gals seemed to share a special bond with each other. They told of their daily happenings, asked for prayers, told of their joys, showed photos of their crafts, and opened their "houses" (you pccrafter ole timers will remember when folks got "houses" on the MSN site) for us all to visit.
Now at the time in 2004, I had already been buying the amazing graphics collections from pccrafter and had joined the Monthly Hug Club in 2003 (discontinued as of Dec 2010 when they released their last Club selections) - but I collected graphics/clipart as a hobby. I did signage for the Library I worked in, but really didn't do much else with all the stuff I bought. I just fell in love with it, and had to have it, and it was a bargain, and it didn't require any "room" in my house, only on my hard drive....that's my story and I'm stickin to it!
So I didn't consider myself a "crafter" like so many hugsisters were, but I did understand somethings about computers and software programs. As I worked in a Hospital Library that had a computer lab, and had been working with software programs and computers since about 1986..so if I ever felt I could help out with an answer - I would offer up my "How I Do It" posts and threads.
Lots of gals over the years found my help - helpful - and the seeds of friendship were sewn forever into the fabric of my life. I learned a lot from them as well so it was a 2 way or 100+ way street between us all.

When my sweet Paul passed away suddenly on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in April 2008, I sat at my computer that evening, still in shock, but knowing that I needed to connect with my "hugsisters"...and let them know I needed them to pray for me. The response was overwhelming and still stirs my emotions today. Those women are soooooo special and I'll probably never meet most of them in person, but I know them very well.

Lynne, a.k.a. Blondemoments a hugsister, gave us pccrafter sisters a gift last Dec.
She opened a new messageboard community. We all felt that when pccrafter announced that they were discontinuing the Hug Club, and not renewing some of our favorite artists contracts, that things might be winding down for pccrafter as a clipart business. So Lynne thoughtfully "thought" ahead and created a Plan B / Backup Plan for the "Community".

The new Hugsister forums aren't quite the same as the pccrafter forums, but they already have 600+ registered users, and things are Humming :-).
I still help out with posts that I think I can offer something to someone in the way of information etc. Or I offer up links or resources I hope others might enjoy discovering. Come on over if you haven't registered yet and see what we're all up to:
http://z15.invisionfree.com/HugSisters/index.php?act=idx

I'm sure that folks will keep knocking on the pccrafter forum links, out of habit, and also hoping that they can find "lost" threads or the tons of information, tutorials, links, photos etc etc that the place had garnered over the yrs. But at the moment - it's all gone. I don't have a crystal ball, so don't know if pccrafter will repost the messageboard again. They did have an issue with folks who used any other Internet Browser than Firefox, not being able to login and post on the forums, an ongoing issue since January 17. So maybe, just maybe they took down the messageboard and community link to it - in order to "fix it". If it does appear again, I will "edit" this blog post.

A Birds Eye View

2011-04-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

I have been totally fascinated by the Eagles Nest shown 24/7 via a live camera feed.
The first baby eagle was hatched on April 2nd, the second on the 3rd and I think the 3rd egg hadn't hatched as of today the 5th.
Excerpt quoted from website:
The Raptor Resource Project brings you the Decorah Eagles from atop their tree at the fish hatchery in Decorah, Iowa.

The live video feed is streamed online 24/7. At night an infrared light provides night vision to viewers through the cam. Infrared light is not visible to eagles, they do not see it or know it is there.
Just amazing what Nature offers us: Enjoy!

Free live streaming by Ustream

Think Outside the Frame

2011-04-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Happy Spring & Everything!!
On Wednesday and Thursday this past week we really had some wild weather round these parts of Florida. I think they had 7 tornado's touch down within 50 miles of my house!!

On Saturday my grandkids were here for a little while and Mariah and I took a walk around the neighborhood soaking in all the wonderful "SUNSHINE" and looked at how green and flowery everything was. When we were walking, she approached a wee butterfly on the sand of an empty lot (I think someone is going to build on it soon - fingers crossed) and the butterfly flew to her finger and stayed with her through a good portion of our walk. She kept trying to let it go by all the various flower patches we passed along the way...but it kept staying on her hand till we found just the right spot ;-)

Graphics from pccrafter.com by Tricia Santry
Blooming Seasons creatable
**Tricia's Friends Forever creatable would have also been nice to
use with the photos. I love all of her artwork :-)
Please note: PC Crafter has NOT released any NEW graphics collections
since December 2010, and despite what they state on their home page
that they soon will release new stuff, I and many others have our doubts.
so if you're thinking of ever purchasing something from this company
I'd do it NOW rather than Later. PC Crafter still has some delightful
and reasonably priced clipart collections available to purchase and download online.
http://www.pccrafter.com
P/S some artists who are no longer producing new art for pccrafter
have found new spots online -
happy to say you can find Laurie Furnell now at AimeeAsher.com
and Shelly Comiskey is at DaisieCompany.com
Their older artwork is currently (as of March 2011) still available to purchase at
pccrafter.com**

**Update Jan 2012 - pccrafter.com is going out of business, and sets that I mention or link to that were once available on pccrafter.com may no longer be available for purchase. a few former pccrafter artists will continue to sell clipart online (Laurie Furnell, Shelly Comiskey, Tammy DeYoung, Gina Jane, Joy Hall, and Carolee Jones) but the vast majority of pccrafter artists they once had under contract.will not.

Out of Bounds Frames/Elements by Elizabeth Weaver @ Digital Scrapbook Place. https://store.digitalscrapbookplace.com/ind...roducts_id=5808

Check out ALL the amazing digital goodies Elizabeth has to offer
over

at Digital Scrapbook Place

If you want the font I used in layout:
Get it FREE at Kevin and Amanda's
(and find lots more fun fonts)
http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/pea-miss-mary/

FYI for those who want to think outside the frame: this technique is often referred to as
Out of Bounds (OSB)
I posted these links in a 2007 thread on the pccrafter.com messageboard community
and just thought I'd share here on my Blog

Image credits:
Frames: Out of Bounds Elements by Elizabeth Weaver @ Digital Scrapbook Place.
Fonts: SandyTextHmk, Sheer Beauty, Slumber Party
Cute boy - my grandson Josh!
Scenic photos taken at Letchworth State Park, NY, July 2007

-------------------------------------------------------------------
I have more or less just used tutorials made for other software programs, and adapted to the tools I have in my Microsoft Digital Image software to create my out of bounds or out of the frames compilations.

Here are some links that you may find helpful in doing some of these types of things yourself:

Digital Technique - How to POP out a Photo
3D Photo Technique
http://www.acherryontop.com/article?a=1178

Pop out photos in PSP
http://scrapyourartout.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/pop-out-photos-in-psp/

Out of Bounds tutorial
http://scrapbookideas.wordpress.com/

Tutorials for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements
http://www.escrappers.com/popout.htm

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/pop-out/

Out of Bounds tutorial
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28466683@N00/153507433/in/set-72157594146002408/

See some wonderful examples of out of bounds digital layouts
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=4408

------------------------------------------------------------------
And last year I put up a How I Do It page, showing how I separate a graphic from a background:
http://www.teas2dine4.com/hugbees/cutoutpic.html

Happy Cut Outs!
P/S
I used one of the Out of Bounds frames that I got in the kit by Elizabeth Weaver @ Digital Scrapbook Place to create a sigtag - that I had in my posts on pccrafter back in 2007

Photobucket....just another place I signed up for

2011-03-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

I own 6 web domains with lots of server storage space, so I don't really need ANOTHER place to upload photos to, just so that I can link to them in messageboard forums etc. - But some of the places that I hang out online, pccrafter's messageboard, the new hugsister forum that was created in Dec 2010 by hugsister Lynne a.k.a. Blondemoments (cause none of us knows how long pccrafters' will be online, not much going on with that once wonderful site for buying clipart collections), and I belong to Scrappy Friends, and Aimee Asher's forums too...and at those sites many of the gals use Photobucket.
Often over the years questions came up about how to use it, if it was easy, safe and or worth using. So a few years ago I did join it, just to see for myself just how difficult and/or easy it was to use. They've added new features over the years, but its still an easy site (for me anyway) to use and upload photos to and/or then be able to "link" to the photos or albums etc. and post images within messageboard communities postings that you might make.

You sign up for FREE, then from your computer - just begin to "Upload" photos, you can create albums, name them and then upload just photos you want to go into just that particular album.
You can resize photos right within the Photobucket.com options. Then if a photo is much too big to post full size in a forum, you can resize it and save that "resized" image as a new image, in your album.
OK - now if you want to post that "image" in a messageboard forum, find it in your album(s) and click on it so your are viewing just that image on its own. Then over to the right or underneath the image..are some boxes with "codes lines" in them...YOU want the IMG code line. Simply click on that complete IMG line it will start with [IMG] and end with [/IMG] you have to have that complete line copied - you can't miss a [ or a ] - and then that copied line goes onto to your computers clipboard. Then you go to your message that you want to put that image, and click on your computer keyboard the Control Key plus the V letter and that should paste whatever you just copied to your computers clipboard. Easy peasy.
A thing that I do when I want to post more than one image in a single post -
I copy each IMG line code into a WORD document or a Notepad document, and type any notes I want to go with each image. And then when I'm ready, I just copy and paste all that stuff from the document and paste it all into a message forum post.

When I opened my Photobucket account, I really didn't have a "Need" to upload much there. Most of my photos are stored either at Snapfish.com or at Kodak.com's album spots...and ones I link to for message forums, I upload to my web domains and link directly from there.

As long as an image is online and accessible** (**Accessible means: doesn't need passwords, and you are the owner of the image, and you have the "rights" to link to the website where the image is located, - meaning you can't see an image on someone elses website or blog or album, and create a link to it from that website or blog. That's called hotlinking and also stealing bandwidth!!! Don't do it!!!) you just need to get the web address for just that image (the url) - you would right click on the image, and find the Image Properties, on the Image properties you should see a Location line, that is the image's web address or location of just that image..copy it and enclose that entire web address within those image tags of [img] and paste the url here but with no spaces after the ] bracket and then exactly at the end of the pasted url put in the closed image tag of [/img] - every time you put a code on a web page, it must have an open and a closed tag. the back slash of / is the one used to "close" tags. If you use a forward slash \ the tag won't work for what you need the tags to do.

OK enough about that...I did all this blogging on and on, just so I could post a slide show of some of the pics I did upload to Photobucket and have just sitting there.
I uploaded digital layouts that I had posted on one of my community forums I once belonged to, its one I don't hang out at anymore, but I did have all the layouts on my computer. And they were all resized for putting in online galleries. So tonight I created a slide show out of that Digital Layouts album I have on Photobucket, I copied the HTML code (cause that's one I needed to use for a "Blog" posting) so that I could post it in a BLOG post...lets see if I got it right ;-) - I am pasting now:

Happy Birthday!!

2011-03-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

To my house. I can't believe that it was one year ago March 26th that I signed the papers to close on my new home. I still have lots of boxes to unpack, and things to change or decorate the way I "think" I want things to look. Its a lot harder to do this stuff on your own. Ya know how sometimes when you're married, you dream of a time when you don't have to consider any one elses tastes or lifestyle and you could decorate your home just the way you want. Well - I am in that stage of my life...I can make all my "own" choices. Only problem...I loved making a HOME for Paul and I, and he really liked the "majority" of my tastes. I decorated my home in Buffalo for "our" lifestyle and for that house. He did so many wonderful things to that home of his own..he remodeled the kitchen, the living room, the upstairs bathroom, added a shower to the basement, etc etc. But he left the furniture choices to me and the general colors and "decor". But here in Florida...not many of those things that I had in Buffalo seem to really fit here and I really don't know my NEW style or in what direction I want to take this home. When I get my tax refund this year, I think I'm going to buy at least one new piece of furniture and create around it...probably what I need the most is an entertainment center wall unit. Wish me Luck! Next yr when the house celebrates its 2nd Birthday...I'll bring y'all inside the place.
**My son in law did take you on a tour of the insides house back in January 2010 - remember
this You Tube Video ;-)

graphics credits: all graphics from various pccrafter.com collections that I own.

Afternoon Tea Time

2011-02-25T12:56:00.000-08:00

Afternoon Tea at the Marriott Legends Edge resort in Panama City on my late sister's(Flo a.k.a. Pinky) Birthday. For the past few years when ever Flo and my younger sister got together, we tried to find a spot for afternoon tea to share together. Today I am at a resort with my younger sister, her husband and Flo's (she passed away in Jan 2010) husband in one of their Marriott timeshares. My younger sister noticed on the activities calendar for the resort that they were having an afternoon tea this afternoon. So we went down and had an very pleasant time. We got to pick out our own cup, teapot and tea...and there was an assortment of mini cheesecakes. A little while later a group of 4 women came, and we shared some conversations with them. They were all from Toronto, Ontario Canada. We shared that our Mom was born in Toronto, and that we grew up just across the border in Buffalo NY. The woman who runs some of the activities for the Marriott, had said that they always have their afternoon teas on Saturdays - and when we had mentioned to her the other day that we would be down for Friday's tea, she said she didn't know why the schedule had been printed to show it being held on Friday - we told her that our late sister, probably had a hand in typing it up ;-)

Then after a wonderful week in Panama City - I went back to Jacksonville to stay with my sister for a few more days. My daughter came from Indianapolis too.....so it was a great get away.
While in Jacksonville my sister wanted to take me to a new Tea Room she had discovered near downtown...
Elizabeth's Tea Room - it was absolutely tea-lightful

Subway Art?...or just another form of Word Art

2011-01-14T16:05:00.000-08:00

Subway Art

What is Subway Art? – really its just “Word Art” – a collection of words related to same topic/subject arranged in pleasing fashion – those who create these pieces may use different fonts for each of the words or vary the size of the words.

Using Most graphics / photo editing programs you can create your own Wordart subway style prints.

But if you prefer downloading and printing the freebies online or need some inspiration – here’s a few links to what’s out there

Found these via internet searches

Free Subway Art >> Firefox search results Printables Internet Explorer Printables

Free Valentine Subway art

Eighteen 25

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-subway-art.html

see also the Christmas subway art printable

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-subway-art-banner.html

**see some of the names of the fonts used on making Eighteen 25’s subway art

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2011/01/fonts.html

Blooming Homestead

http://bloominghomestead.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-printables.html

**see also other free printables available from Blooming Homestead

http://bloominghomestead.blogspot.com/search/label/printables

Endless Crafting

Life lessons *I didn’t really find that the printable download was FREE

but you can get some ideas to create your own using the same words

http://endlesscrafting.blogspot.com/2010/09/subway-art-free-printable.html

More Free Subway art printables

Craftily Ever After

Christmas

http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com/2010/12/free-christmas-subway-art-printable.html

A Little Lovely Blog

Christmas

http://alittlelovelyblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/free-printable-christmas-subway-art.html

Bunch of Craft

Winter

http://bunchofcraft.blogspot.com/2010/12/winter-subway-art.html

Thanksgiving

http://bunchofcraft.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-subway-art-printable.html

Christmas

http://bunchofcraft.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-subway-art.html

Halloween

http://bunchofcraft.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-subway-art.html

Betty Crocker Wannabe

Family values

http://adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com/2010/09/family-values-subway-art-printable.html

See too the wonderful Scripture Christmas Tree printable

http://adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-scripture-word-tree-printable.html

and Fall printables

http://adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-fall-mantle-and-fall-scripture.html

See all printables

http://adventuresofabettycrockerwannabe.blogspot.com/search/label/Printable

Sew Much Ado

Christmas

http://sewmuchado.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-winners-and-christmas-subway.html

Hi I’m Francesca

Ghandi’s Top 10 Fundamentals

http://idea-obscura.tumblr.com/post/2409119224/ive-been-thinking-of-doing-this-for-a-while-now

I love it all

Calendar (*Jan to April)

http://iloveitallwithmonikawright.blogspot.com/2010/12/ready-for-new-year-subway-art-calendar.html

See too this Madigan Made blog post - for a Sporty themed Subway art

http://madiganmade.blogspot.com/2010/08/sporty-goodness.html

How I create my own style of Subway style Wordart - I use Microsofts Digital Image software (*the program is discontinued - but most graphic/photo editing programs - should be able to produce the same results)

I open a new blank canvas and size it 8x10

then just add words as individual layers in various fonts and sizes and arrange on the canvas

I name and save the basic compilation. Then I can duplicate the image
and have some fun

pic of the day

2011-01-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

I knew today was 1/11/11 but hadn't thought about the time...until I just happened to be in the kitchen and looked at the oven clock..to mark down the time I was taking some medication..and there it was 11:11 - so had to quick take the picture before it became 11:12 - Wish I could have remembered to take the picture at 01:11
But I still get a chance to catch the time 11:11 ...on 11/11/11
I totally forgot last year on 10/10/10...and next year it'll be time to wait for clock to strike 12:12 on 12/12/12 ;-)

pic of the day

2011-01-05T17:35:00.001-08:00

Wonder if this Stork in my yard is resting from a Delivery in the neighborhood or waiting on a pickup call.

Pic of the day...the process of De-decorating

2011-01-03T17:47:00.000-08:00

All the ornaments ready to get packed up, in the boxes I have stacked in the front bedroom. I don't know if that's a word or not..but I'm not de-cluttering, I'm just taking away the nice Christmas decor that I had so carefully put up just a few short weeks ago :-( and packing it back into the boxes. I really have sooooooooo much holiday decor that I could if I want too, put all different stuff out next year. But I still have to sort through it and decide what I really really want to keep. Figure the snow themed things will stay with me ....Snow, its just such a part of me, growing up in Buffalo, and my nickname for Paul was "my snowman" ;-) Well, time to get back to my de-decorating.

Think maybe I'll leave the tree up one more night and enjoy the lights

Pic of the day Green,Gray,Red

2011-01-02T16:52:00.001-08:00

My grandson and I enjoyed watching the sandhill crane couple walking by this morning in my yard. Usually they are around almost daily, but I hadn't seen them since a couple days before Christmas - I must have a couple hundred photos of them already....but thought that this pic was especially nice with the gray of the trees, their feathers, the green foliage and their red heads...kinda Christmasy and all ;-)

Excerpt quoted from National Geographic

Sandhills are the most common of all the world's cranes. A fossil from the Miocene Epoch, some ten million years ago, was found to be structurally the same as the modern sandhill crane. Today, these large birds are found predominately in North America. They range south to Mexico and Cuba, and as far west as Siberia.

1st day of the year....

2011-01-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

This is my Picture of the Day

it was really nice round these parts :-)
hoping for Smore just like it.
Happy New Year!

My kids got me a firepit for my yard...just for making Smores and maybe keeping me warm on a cool Florida evening.
They also set up a Badminton game in the afternoon
Watch the Birdie
Wishing you all a wonderful Year ahead.

IBand Christmas Video

2010-12-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

Free Gifts to Give this Christmas

2010-12-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

Found this online... If you're running short on time and money consider these priceless gifts to give for Christmas!
THE GIFT OF LISTENING
No interrupting and no daydreaming. No planning your responses. Just listen.
THE GIFT OF AFFECTION
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds. Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.
THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER
Share articles, funny stories and cartoons to tell someone - "I love to laugh with you".
THE GIFT OF A WRITTEN NOTE
A brief handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime and may even change a life.
THE GIFT OF A COMPLIMENT
A simple sincere "You look good in red" or "You did a super job" or "That was a wonderful meal" can make someone's day.
THE GIFT OF A FAVOR
Every day go out of your way to do something kind for someone.
THE GIFT OF SOLITUDE
There are times when we want nothing more than to be left alone. Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.
THE GIFT OF CHEERFUL DISPOSITION
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone, even if it is just saying hello or thank you.
THE GIFT OF PRAYER
Let your friends and loved ones know you pray for them, and then do it!

Got my wee little tree up..

2010-12-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Keeping it simple on the decorating this year, my first Christmas in the new house. Figured its not worth the stress of trying to really go out and decorate the place with all the many things I brought from Buffalo...so this will do for this year. I think the small 4ft tree looks fine :-)...gonna have a cup of tea and just enjoy it tonight.

My Niece sent me a lovely basket filled with Evergreens from Oregon
I put it with my 3 snowmen that another niece sent me a few yrs ago its so nice to decorate with things sent from those who love me and who I love

Tomorrow I'll put all the boxes and bins of things, back out in garage.

Where's the Line to see Jesus

2010-12-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the video online >> Here
Listen to the song from here link below - click to play:

It's beginning to look A Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

Cardinal at my next door neighbors feeder...just love the Smile the Cardinal's looking at :-)

Wait your turn

This will be my 1st Christmas in my new house. Sure is difficult going through my stash of Christmas decorations, knowing that the last time they were out of the boxes was for my Christmas 2007 with Paul in our North Buffalo home. But I will forge ahead...adapting to my *new normal* - which from now on doesn't include "Snow"...only White Christmas's around these parts are "man made" ;-) Did some decorating outside my house and added some fun using my stash of wonderful graphics. Please NOTE: I just took a photo of the front of my house and "added" the graphics using my photo/graphic editing program Microsofts Digial Image on top - None of the graphics are there in my yard in "Real Life" - they exist only on my computer ;-) Graphics credits: artwork by Tricia Santry from her Welcome Winter creatable at pcCrafter.com

My Thanksgiving weekend was just wonderful. My younger daughter came from Indianapolis and my younger sister and her husband drove from Jacksonville. They brought the most delicious Feast. I provided a Ham and Ambrosia salad...and my work was done ;-). We celebrated all we each had to be Thankful for in my home. I am very Blessed.

And another month goes by

2010-11-11T14:25:00.001-08:00

I see that I haven't "blogged" anything since I wrote about the Oct 10th Wedding I went to.
...time flies when you're not doing much or doing a lot...either way it justs keeps going. At least we gained a whole "hour" this month.

I so enjoy looking out my backyard window as I am on the computer - when I glance up I see the wonderful birds, the deer, the greenery surrounding the now weeeee little pond in the yard. We do NEED RAIN to fill it once again.
I take photos almost every day of something happening out back, I find it so peaceful to look at the wildlife and/or listen to the sounds of the birds chatting with each other.
Here's a collage of just of a few of the pics I took this past week

10-10-10

2010-10-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

My son in law's brother Joe married the beautiful Maggie in Hilton Head, South Carolina on October 10, 2010. I was one of lucky ones to witness this marriage and the beginning of a wonderful life I'm sure they will be blessed with together. I went with my daughters family and had a terrific time. My son in law was his brothers best man.

We rented a 3 bedroom condo on the Shipyards property where the Royal Crown Plaza Resort, hosted the wedding.
Here's just a few of the 800+ photos my daughter and I took over the 4 day weekend.

Autumn in Florida the view from my backyard

2010-10-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

Just some photos I took walking around outside behind my home...observing the sights of early October here in Florida. My grandson found a branch to swing on in the woods...he commented that he wanted to bring back a lawn chair and spend the whole day there ;-) ....very peaceful setting.

A place to dine for.....

2010-10-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

When I lived in my home in Buffalo, we didn't have an eat-in kitchen. Paul and I and the girls..usually ate in the living room. Or sometimes we did dine at the beautiful colonial cherry dining room table that we inherited from Pauls' mother. So a kitchen set wasn't something that I brought from Buffalo. The new house has a small 9x9 space for a table and I have been looking at sets for the past few months. Sets were either too big, too expensive, didn't suit the space or my taste... But over the weekend my daughter and I went to look at a set she thought would be just right. When I saw it - I wasn't so sure. But then I spotted an inexpensive set that had a tea/coffee cup cut out on the chairs. I thought....ummmm, I collect teapots, this set appears to have a teacup on it..maybe its calling my name. The price was right, the size was right..so I signed my name on the order and it was delivered today. I still need to spruce up and add more personal touches throughout the house. Gotta get all of my teapots out and figure out how to display them, it will mean more shopping for shelving units etc. etc......it never ends. I now at least have a place to "dine" and take in the view of my yard.

It's been one year already

2010-10-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

of Florida "residence".....amazing how time flies. Am I having fun yet??
A year ago I arrived in Florida, with the help of my wonderful sister Carol. 12 days later I signed a purchase agreement to have my new home built. And here it is...6 months into living in this home.

I think that as we age..time really does speed up, and our hours and days are shorter and shorter. Maybe that's why I'm still able to function with only 4 hours of sleep, my days are only 16 hours long instead of the usual 24 ;-)

Autumn is different down here in Florida - I miss my Western NY Fall season...but don't miss the winters. Today I went for a walk with my grandson in the little patch of "woods" that we have behind the homes in my stretch of the neighborhood. Its got some water still back there, but we need "rain", lots of things once lush and green are "brown" now, and not a golden hue amongst any of it. But we enjoyed the peaceful time....I was trying to settle down and relax after watching yet another dreadful football game of my Buffalo Bills.

Sigh....oh I still BILLieve

2010-09-26T15:02:00.000-07:00

But I just don't handle all the near misses & mistakes the Bills make, very well. The Buffalo Bills haven't had a winning season in YEARS....but I remain a loyal fan. Today they played pretty good for the most part (I watched the game here in Florida via my computer). Playing in New England has always been our toughest games, even when we had Jim Kelly and crew on board...its a difficult place to win in. I wanted to at least be entertained, and today I was until the last few minutes anyway. So on to next week...Go Bills!!
"We can't dwell on the past but we can learn from it; we must learn from it if we want a brighter future. We can't wait to live until things are perfect; we have to make the best use of the present." Thena Smith

Links of Interest to Professional Crafters

2010-09-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

I am a craft show-aholic although I haven't been to any since I moved to Florida. Through my friendships made on community forums like pcCrafter - I have found several gals that are the actual creators of beautiful hand made crafted items that I covet and enjoy buying or just wishing I could buy it all. These talented ladies (and some men too) often share their craft booth photos, tell of their successes and misses in what they craft and sell and it gives me and others the feelings of what goes on "inside" and "behind" the booth at a craft show.

And though I may not be a "crafter" myself - I do like researching and finding information about the business of crafting.
So I am copying and pasting all the links and info I had posted in a thread over at pcCrafter.com's messageboard to share here on my blog. (**just in case pccrafter.com should ever cease to be online with their community forums, I have begun saving a few of my threads that I have posted over the years over there)

Some links are "archived" links..as the original webpages have either been moved or "re"moved from the websites they originally were on:
in no particular order to any of these - Happy Linking Around

I wish all of my crafty friends, many sales ahead during this Fall and Christmas season of Craft Shows

About.com's Arts and Crafts Business resources

http://artsandcrafts.about.com/

Getting Started

http://festivalnet.com/other/news_letters/Artists/getting_started_craft_shows_05_08.html

Crafty Business Goal Setting
http://www.craftcritique.com/2010/03/tuesdays-with-toolulu-crafty-business.html

Tips For A Successful Craft Show
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/2009/07/24/tips-for-a-successful-craft-show/

Laura Bray’s Blog
http://www.katydiddys.blogspot.com/

Arts and Crafts – Business or Hobby
http://katydiddys.blogspot.com/2010/03/arts-and-crafts-business-or-hobby.html

other articles of interest
From Crafting an MBA
excerpt quoted from website
crafting an MBA asks, what would business school look like if it was geared towards crafters, designers, and makers?
http://craftmba.com/

copyright, trademarks, and patents
http://craftmba.com/2010/03/09/copyright-trademarks-and-patents/

Etsy and the culture of cheap
http://craftmba.com/2010/01/19/etsy-and-the-culture-of-cheap/

Visit too
http://www.professionalcrafters.com/articles.html

Excerpt quoted from website
MyMommyBiz Craft Business Central contains useful advice and resources for professional crafters as well as hobbyists looking to expand. Whether you are selling in crafts fairs, consignment shops, auctions, or online, you will find great information to help grow and expand your business.
http://www.mymommybiz.com/crafts/index.html

GetCreativeshow.com
http://www.getcreativeshow.com/Craft_Sew_Business/craft_sewing_business.htm
excerpt quoted from website
Learn from the experts how to run your craft or sewing business or SOHO in the most efficient and profitable manner possible!

Visit
http://artsandcrafts.about.com
Starting a Craft Business
Excerpts quoted from individual archived web pages:
Starting a Craft Business 101
Part 1: First Steps
Having a plan is important! Decide exactly what you want to do and how you are going to do it before starting. Here are some basic things crafters should know when planning a strategy
Read complete details/article
http://web.archive.org/web/20070104181301/artsandcrafts.about.com/bl101.htm
Starting a Craft Business 101
Part 2: Marketing a Craft Business
Marketing is the key ingredient to any successful business! You must have ways to get the word out about your products. Whether you will be attending craft shows, placing mail order ads, or selling your crafts online.
Read complete article:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070102155221/artsandcrafts.about.com/bl101b.htm
Starting a Craft Business 101
Part 3: Finding Craft Suppliers
Running a craft business requires finding reliable suppliers with reasonable prices.
Read complete article:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070110002138/artsandcrafts.about.com/bl101c.htm
Getting Started Selling your Crafts
http://web.archive.org/web/20060208100636/artsandcrafts.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/08022004.htm

Pricing your crafts
How to Price your Crafts
Deciding how much to charge for your crafts is an important decision. While ultimately you must decide what your products are worth, there are a few steps to follow that can help.
Difficulty Level: average Time Required: 30 minutes to several hours

Here's How: *excerpt quoted from website

From William T Lasley,
Your Guide to Arts / Crafts Business

"Decide how much you (or your employee) will be paid per hour to produce products. Multiply this hourly rate by the number of hours a week that will be spent producing crafts. Write down this figure, this is your weekly cost of labor. (If you need to make $10 per hour, working 40 hours per week the weekly cost of labor would be $400.) Calculate the total cost-of-supplies needed to make one finished product. Determine how many products one person can produce in a week. Multiply the cost of supplies-per-piece by the number of products produced in a week. (If your cost of materials per piece is $1 and you can produce 100 products a week, the figure would be $100.) Add this figure to your weekly labor costs. (In our example here that would be $400 + $100 = $500) Divide this figure by the number of products produced in a week. (So $500 labor/materials divided by 100 finished products a week would be $5.00 per piece.) If you will be wholesaling your products, multiply this number by two. (Which would give you a retail price of $10 per product.) Compare this cost to similar products on the market. If your price is more than similar products, you may need to reduce it by cutting hourly price, finding less expensive supplies or by increasing your production time. If your price is significantly less than similar products, you may want to consider raising your price. Tips:
Usually one piece will not use an entire supply unit. For instance an 8-ounce bottle of glue may make a hundred pieces. In this case, calculate how many pieces can be produced from a supply and divide by the cost of the supply. This equation does not take into account any expenses other than labor and materials. You can figure in weekly costs of any other business expenses that you may have and add it to the weekly labor and material cost. "

From William T Lasley,
Your Guide to Arts / Crafts Business.

Related Articles
Price Your Crafts
and read this article
Adjusting Prices of your products

http://handmadeforprofit.com/2009/02/barbs-quiktip-5-pricing/
Also:
The Crafts Report
http://www.craftsreport.com/
Industry FAQs
http://web.archive.org/web/20080327092305/http://www.craftsreport.com/commonfiles/faq-industry.html
Overcome Doubts and Fears about running your own craft business
http://www.craftsreport.com/beginning-business/168-overcome-doubts-about-running-your-own-craft-business.html

More articles
http://www.craftsreport.com/articles.html

6 Important Things To Know About Setting Up Your Craft Business
http://www.sunshineglassworks.com/articles/settingupbiz.shtml

THE 12 SECRETS TO STARTING A HOME-BASED CRAFT BUSINESS
http://www.getcreativeshow.com/Craft_Sew_Business/Business_Seminars/craftbusiness4.htm

Home Based Craft Business Survival Tips
http://www.craftmarketer.com/home_based_craft_business.htm

Selling your crafts
http://www.craftmarketer.com/sellyourcrafts/

How to Sell at Craft Fairs and Shows
Interested in turning your artistic hobby into a business? Find out how you can make money by selling your handicrafts at art shows and craft fairs.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/article76936.html

Do You Want to Make Money or Create
http://smallerbox.net/blog/growing-your-business/do-you-want-to-make-money-or-create/

Creativity Counts
Discover how to take your crafting hobby from downtime to big time.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneursstartupsmagazine/2008/may/193422.html

Making it yourself *PDF file 19 pages
In this book, craft refers to any handmade item that can be given as a gift or sold
http://www.entrepreneur.com/downloads/guides/1304_Crafts_Business_ch1.pdf

Barbara Brabek’s Homemade for Profit
http://handmadeforprofit.com/2009/01/home-business-family-issues/

See too:
Creative Printing and Computer Crafts
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/crafts/Creative_Printing_and_Computer_Crafts.htm

Computer Craft Project links
http://www.allcrafts.net/computer.htm

Video:
How to Blog
http://www.becomeablogger.com/

Updating with more sites of interest to the professional crafter
**may include sites mentioned in first thread
Websites for Professional Crafters

*note some websites may be out of date or not updated recently but information is still useful.

Buying and Selling Crafts Online
http://www.craftcritique.com/2010/07/buying-and-selling-handmade-crafts.html

Craft Marketer (sells books but has lots of Free Information too)
http://www.craftmarketer.com
example of Article online:
Hand Made Crafts that sell best
http://www.craftmarketer.com/handmade-crafts-that-sell-best.htm

The Crafts Report
http://www.craftsreport.com/
Read articles online for free
http://www.craftsreport.com/articles.html
Article Categories

Profile in Success Beginning Business

Article Examples

License Requirements for Art and Craft Show Businesses

http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/189/license-requirements-for-art-and-craft-show-businesses/

Patent Protection for Your Craft

http://www.craftsreport.com/crafts-law/75-patentprotectionforyourcraft.html

Art and Craft Show Display/Booth pictures

http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/469/art-and-craft-show-booth-display-pictures/

Booth Etiquette

http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/28/booth-etiquette-for-artists-and-crafters/

Indoor vs Outdoor shows

http://www.craftsreport.com/beginning-business/178-indoor-vs-outdoor-shows.html

Booth Layout at Craft Fair
http://www.craftsreport.com/show-basics/153-booth-layout-at-a-craft-show.html
How to Get Customers 4x More Likely to Buy
http://www.craftsreport.com/show-business/30-how-to-get-customers-4x-more-likely-to-buy.html

Psychology of Sales at a Craft Show

http://www.craftsreport.com/beginning-business/154-psychology-of-sales-at-a-craft-show.html

Think Crafts
http://thinkcrafts.com
**see winners of the Craft Room makeover contest
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/2010/07/07/winners-of-the-craft-room-makeover-contest/

Craft Professionals
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/category/craft-professionals/

Tips for Successful Craft show
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/tag/professional-crafter/
**written by Laura Bray – Laura Bray is a mixed media artist, painter and paper crafter. As an artist with an MBA, she strives to help other artists achieve their dream of making a living doing what they love.
visit her blog
http://www.katydiddys.blogspot.com/
sign up for her free newsletter : Get Monthly Tips for Your Creativity & Business
Check out her tutorials
http://katydiddys.blogspot.com/search/label/craft%20tutorial

more articles online
Do You Have A Niche To Scratch?
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/2009/01/15/selling-crafts-professional-crafters-art-and-craft-shows-bazaars-crafting-profit-do-you-have-a-niche-to-scratch/

Quick and Simple Pricing for Handmade Items
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/2008/06/09/simple-pricing-for-handmade-items/

Lets Throw a Home Crafts Party
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/2008/06/09/lets-throw-a-home-craft-party/

another article re:
Selling your crafts Online
Making the Internet and Ecommerce Work for Your Craft Business
http://artsandcrafts.about.com/od/sellingonline/tp/websitecraftbusiness.htm

Professionalcrafters.com
articles
http://www.professionalcrafters.com/articles.html
article example
Trends and Classics
http://www.professionalcrafters.com/trends_classics.html
21 Crafty Insights
http://www.professionalcrafters.com/craftyinsights.html

From http://extravaganzacrafts.com/
7 Ways For Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers Part 1
http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/54/7-ways-for-your-art-or-craft-business-to-outsell-the-retailers/

7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers

7 Ways For Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers Part 2

7 Ways For Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers Part 3

7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business To Outsell the Retailers Part 4

7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business To Outsell the Retailers Part 5

7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business To Outsell the Retailers Part 6

7 Ways for Your Art or Craft Business to Outsell the Retailers Part 7

Make Your Craft Show Display Stand Out From The Crowd
http://extravaganzacrafts.com/Blogs/776/make-your-craft-show-display-stand-out-from-the-crowd/

Grow Your Business During Tough Economic Times
http://www.art.mt.gov/soa/pr.asp?ID=1289

Other sites to check out

Artful Crafter
http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/

Craft Gossip - sign up for free newsletter
http://craftgossip.com/

Card Making Tips
http://www.making-greeting-cards.com/card-making-tips.html

Paper Crafts
http://thinkcrafts.com/blog/category/paper-crafts/

Wedding Invitation Ideas
http://www.wedding-invitation-ideas.com/

Free Stuff for crafters
http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/
Articles
http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/articles/index.html

Health Discovery: Dark Chocolate Health Benefits, Lowers Heart Failure, Disease, Risk - AARP Bulletin

2010-09-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Health Discovery: Dark Chocolate Health Benefits, Lowers Heart Failure, Disease, Risk - AARP Bulletin

Hose Hose on the Range...

2010-09-05T15:28:00.001-07:00

Where the deer and the grandkids play..round
em up water

8 days a week

2010-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

sometimes we do need that one extra day...just to get time to do all *We* want to do :-)

In Blogsville for Crafters...seems like so many blogs have "theme" days..Marvelous Mondays, Terrific Tuesdays, Wonderful Wednesdays, Thoughtful Thursdays, Freebie Fridays, Special Saturdays, SunSational Sundays...well you get the idea.
I found one blog that links to several other Blogs that have their "themes on" days -
http://www.thetshirtdiaries.com/p/linking-up-to.html

Found these blogs following the links on that page,just some of the neat sites to see and Link on over to:

http://www.craftskeepmesane.blogspot.com/

http://funtocraft.blogspot.com/

http://www.misscraftypants.com/

http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/

http://craftingreallyawesomefreethings.blogspot.com/

http://thegirlcreative.blogspot.com/

http://makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com/

Using things you already have : Stashbusting September

http://www.thetshirtdiaries.com/2010/08/stashbusting-september-blogs.html

If you can't get inspired by visiting some of these sites, you're not linking around enough ;-)

P/S just an fyi
8 days a week lyrics

Supper Time...ummm ummmm good

2010-08-23T18:24:00.001-07:00

New Computer in the House

2010-08-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Haven't done much on unpacking the many boxes "still" cluttering my spare bedrooms....but did unpack a NEW Box that arrived last week.
Got myself a new desktop to replace my 8 yr old Sony Vaio. The new one is a HP All in One Desktop. So far so good....on installing stuff and getting the hang of Windows 7 - which isn't all that different as far as I can see from Vista. But I've just turned in on, followed the screen prompts, installed a few programs, copied some pictures and files from my laptop backups on an external drive.
I'm a happy camper so far ;-)

I installed my pcCrafter Hugbug Deluxe Browser and then had it scan my harddrive for my installed graphics collections that I have accumulated over the past 7 yrs from pcCrafter.com
And I also installed my favorite graphics/photo editor software : Microsofts Digital Image Suite 2006. Its working fine in the Windows 7 Home Premium edition - 64bit system. So I'm good to go and play on this computer. Still will use my laptop most days - but wanted a Desktop that was current and that I could grow with. My laptop, a 2yr old Toshiba is running VISTA, and I'm happy with it, But gotta keep up with all the changes Bill Gates wants us to always be running out and getting new stuff.

What's inside that kitchen canister?

2010-08-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

what's inside a kitchen canister container - well - Read the Label ;-)
Found this link on my travels around blogville this morning
free printable kitchen labels here on Just Something I Made

Kitchen decals | free printables

http://justsomethingimade.blogspot.com/2010/08/fun-with-decals-part-1-in-kitchen-free.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

additional FYI

Purchase Water Slide Decal Paper online

http://www.decalpaper.com/category-s/2.htm

Another idea for paper sheets to use to apply to glass or ceramics or metal

PrintStix

http://www.ideastix.com/PrintStix.php

PrintStix paper purchase online

http://www.berlinwallpaper.com/Ideastix/PrintStix.htm

FAQ for PrintStix

http://www.berlinwallpaper.com/Ideastix/FAQ.htm

http://www.ideastix.com/FAQ.php

Same or similar Info on the PrintStix product in this pccrafter thread posting
http://messageboard.pccrafter.com/fb.aspx?m=466445

June 2008 thread showing graphics applied to coffee mug

http://messageboard.pccrafter.com/fb.aspx?m=443840

Are you ready for some Football!!

2010-08-07T14:59:00.001-07:00

Hi,
Its almost time..I'm looking forward to NFL Football being back on TV for the 2010 season. I won't be getting any of the Buffalo Bills games here in Florida. But I'll listen in on my computer via 97Rock.
Of course we have the preseason games starting up this weekend with the Hall of Fame game. The Bills first game is Friday the "13th"....oooooooh ahhhhhh (*update 8/14/10..it didn't go well...as usual, we're just same ole same ole...insert heavy SIGH here ;-( ). I don't know how the season will play out for my beloved Bills, but whatever they do or don't do...I'm still a 12th (Wo) MAN !!
Here's my recipe for Chicken Wing flavor DIP that is a big hit with my family...if we're watching the Bills...since I won't be doing that anytime soon...might have to make up a reason to serve it up :-)

Fun trip to Indianapolis

2010-07-31T18:00:00.001-07:00

I took my granddaughter to Indianapolis for a few days. We visited my younger daughter. She works at the Indianapolis Zoo as a Vet Tech in the Zoo Hospital. My dgd was able to shadow her on the job for a day. My daughter had arranged with some of the Animal Keepers..some one on one time with a few of the Animals, My DGD had an excellent adventure! We also visited in Indy the Butterfly Gardens and the Indianapolis Childrens Museum. Wonderful trip, great memories, and 900 pictures to sort through. Click on picture to see full web size
Credits:
Template by YinDesigns *template 212
Graphics and Background paper: pcCrafter.com creatable Born to Be Wild by Shelly Comiskey

Walk this way..

2010-07-09T08:15:00.001-07:00

Part 1 of video Walking exercise program

Walking Video

2010-07-09T03:34:00.001-07:00

Need to do more of this :-)

Its not easy being green

2010-06-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

We haven't been getting much rain here in Florida. So my little man made pond is slowly drying up..but still has some water to support the fish. I walked around the pond taking lots of photos from different angles. Got a few of 2 butterflies - fluttering by. My view of my backyard is very relaxing and is trying its best to stay green.

From Crayons to Perfume

2010-06-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my granddaughter graduated 8th grade. Amazing how the years fly by when you're having fun with grandkids ;-)

This is a photo of her with her "music" - 1st mp3 player - ;-) when she turned 5

This is her on the edge of 14 - **picture was taken
on the evening she went to her school's 8th grade dance.

For her Graduation & Birthday Gift She got a mini notebook computer and bag to carry it in. She was very surprised and very HAPPY!

Today I am having a Birthday

2010-05-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

and I'm OK with that.

We had a Birthday Cake my daughter ordered from ColdStone "first",
Chocolate Peanut Butter - YUMM!

then the family headed out to Carraba's -
where I dined on my favorite dish there "Chicken Bryan"

here are some pictures of my Celebration of Life
the past few days

My dd and dsil got me my own "dirt devil" or as they call it - the bug catcher -
as they've told me - I will find critters here in Florida that might
not have been seen in my Buffalo house ;-)

My Grandson got me hard candies which I like to always have

when I go for my walks or driving in the car

and both kids made cards...
Josh's was a pop up one with a cake, balloons, & teapot pouring tea

and Mariah's had a teapot theme too on the front

My grand daughter got me a water bottle to take with me over to the
Exercise Room at the Waters Edge Club House

My daughter and I out in front of Carraba's

My daughter Jen in Indianapolis sent me
bags of M&M's that were personalized with
sayings for my Birthday and Mothers - day
note the "Chocolate" theme...and I wore
a Chocolate colored shirt for my Day too.

I am finally staying in my new home full time.

The new house will be a work in progress for the coming months.
Trying to decide on "my Florida Style" is gonna take some time.
Decorated the guest bathroom with new "palm tree" stuff
this is the first new decor things I have bought
The Dining Room is coming together still have boxes to unpack and arrange in the Hutch and the Cabinet that Paul built for me
Got a solar planter for out front
that my dsil put together for me on Mothers Day
The WELCOME Mat is out...
so
Come on Down!

Over the past weekend the family drove over to the other side of Florida to Cape Kennedy and watched the Launch of the Space Shuttle ATLANTIS on Friday May 14.
There are only going to be 2 more Shuttles ever launched,
so we wanted to be able to say we saw at least "one" up close (or as close as us folks who want "free" looks can get)
We found a nice spot along the water directly across (about 12 miles away)
from the Launch tower.
The Experience was AWESOME!!!.

Kids brought Flat Stanley to view the Launch

We had a great view
when Atlantis - Blasted Off

The Power of the ZOOM lens on my son in law's camera

After the launch, we had a picnic lunch/dinner and then drove about an hour or so away to Vero Beach and visited with my Dad and his wife in their new digs - an assisted living facility in Vero Beach...Very nice visit and looks like a good place for them that will meet all their needs.

Me and my Dad
Our Group Photo

On Sat we drove back to Cape Kennedy and toured the Space Center....
Interesting, and Fun! Here is a pic of the Assembly Building
where it All Goes Together

Inside a mock up of the Capsule that 3 astronauts had to share

Last night (Tuesday) I went to my grandson's Spring Band Concert -
he plays the Trumpet in the "Beginner band" -
All the kids did great and it was an enjoyable evening here in warm Florida.

This is a picture of "half" the Band...
Josh is planning on continuing with the Band and Trumpet
next year when he will be a 7th Grader.
And now for something Completely Different

Found some fun and/or crafty links while surfing along this morning on my Birthday
- thought I'd share some with you:
Freebies

Free Circle Album Template and other goodies
http://craftingchicks.blogspot.com/2010/05/last-minute-mothers-day-ideas-free-digi.html

20 free baby announcements from Kodak – just pay S&H
http://www.kodakgallery.com/special-offers

Free Grilling Cookbook from Martha Stewart & Sirius Radio
http://www.sirius.com/marthastewartlivingradio

Fun Blog to visit everyday : Todays Creative Blog
Get Your Craft On - Tuesdays!
http://todayscreativeblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/get-your-craft-on-tuesday.html

From Crafting Chicks : Recycle juice can tops for magnets
http://craftingchicks.blogspot.com/2010/05/photo-magnets.html

Free Job Chart http://craftingchicks.blogspot.com/2009/01/job-chart-and-free-template.html

How to make a fun wall growth chart
http://craftingchicks.blogspot.com/2010/04/growth-charts.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you share May 19th as a Birthday...Happy Happy Day to YOU :-),
and may your Year ahead be Delightful.

If your birthday isn't today..
Well to you I wish a Very Happy UN-Birthday!!