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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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/
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
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
"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. "
Just a BuffaloGal out tonight..surfing the web for its best and most interesting or fun sites to spend some time at.
I am now a Permanent "Snowbird" living in Florida. I'm close by to my oldest daughter and her family. I miss my Life in Buffalo, and my sweet Paul. But finding my "new normal" life is an adventure, with twists and turns, ups and downs. I am grateful to GOD for each of his Blessings he has filled my life with. Some folks online may know me only as LibMary...but I'm really just a "Buffalo Gal" - Out Tonight!!
