Soulful Sunday: A Little Belly Laugh

We all need a laugh now and then. Many medical studies say it is good for you. There is a great site, where this is taken from, called Icanhazcheezburger.com is full of funny photos for a quick laugh. If you need to lighten your mood a little, I suggest checking this site out - it never fails to get a smile on my face. This Soulful Sunday, I thought I'd try a bit of humor for a change - heck, if you like it, maybe I'll keep this the theme for Sundays from now on - a little bit of humor for you all. Let me know what you think.

Considering the time of year, and the fact that I just had a chipmunk with so much of my birdseed in its mouth it couldn't close it fully, I thought this photo was appropriate. I did try to get a photo of said chipmunk, but, somehow, he managed to keep his top-heavy head up and run away at the sound of the door opening. I'll try tomorrow :)

For now, I'm off to work out, and redo some product photos before Brennan gets his new Wii going (an early b-day present from me) as the sounds of that are likely to make me join in the fun :)

Have a great Sunday!

Sweet Saturday: New Gift Wrapping For Packages

~Your Package Will Look Similar to This!~

Making people happy is, in my humble opinion, one of my favorite things to do, especially if it is unexpected. When people order from my shop, I give them extras, little trinkets to go along with their gift, as a thank you, and to make them feel special. Because they are. Ask any one of my family members how my face looks when I get a sale, no matter how small, and they'll tell you I look like a little kid on Christmas morning facing a stack of beautifully wrapped presents.

I LOVE when people trust me enough to order from me. It makes me feel so special that I WANT to thank people. So I give little extras. I make handmade origami gift boxes that have my flower and landscape photos printed on them. I give them care and handling instructions to keep their purchases looking fabulous for years. I give little thank you notes with offers for discounts the next time they purchase. I give them little trinkets, like key chains, buttons, etc. to add to their order.

Imagine my chagrin when I realized that many of my sales are destined to be gifts, and that the purchaser then has to go out and get a card for it! Here I am, wrapping everything so they don't have to go to that trouble, but I am making them get a card! A generic card, no less, to go with a unique, handmade gift, YUCK!

So I have decided that, although I also sell my cards, each order will now have a handmade blank card to go along with the handmade box and treasure inside it. It will look similar to the package above, except the card will be blank, and the photos on the card and box may vary. I can even personalize the card with a greeting done in calligraphy if you wold like, just let me know. It will be FREE, just like my other extras to you when you order.

A big, heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who has ordered from me in the past, and to those who will order from me in the future. I love serving each and every one of you, and I hope to be able to do so for many years to come.

Have a great day!

Fabulous Friday: Charity of the Month and Fall Photos

This month's Charity of the Month is being carried over from last month. Epic Farms is a wonderful charity, run by my good friend Jen. As sales last month were less than spectacular (thank you economy, lol), I wanted to give this month another chance to actually donate something meaningful to Epic Farms horse rescue. Click the image above to go to their website, or click the image below to go to their fabulous Etsy store.
They have many things to get you started on your holiday shopping, so please do visit them :)

Now, for my fall photos...
I awoke this morning a little later than usual...the fibromyalgia is always worst in the mornings, so I try to sleep in until 8 (bad, I know). When I went into my bathroom, I noticed something....odd. Everything was fuzzy! When my eyes had cleared I realized that it wasn't fuzzy, but foggy - VERY foggy! And at this time of year, with the trees changing, I knew I had to get this photo for you - it is on our road, just a few hundred yards from our house. I love this maple tree, especially when the weather turns colder and the leaves change - it is such a gradual change that the very outer leaves are often red before the inner leaves are even done being green.
This is a maple tree that is visible from our living room window. The sun always seems to catch it and make it look as though it is on fire.
And of course, when I got back inside, I was greeted by one of the best sights ever: My wonderful, faithful Wonder Dog, Arwen.

Have a great Friday!!

and Arwen

Thoughtful Thursday: A Few Changes

First, Arwen and I would like to thank everyone for their very kind comments yesterday and Arwen wants to reiterate that yes, she does looooove deer, as was evidenced by her frenzied barking this morning as two massive does crossed the road in front of our house. When asked what she'd do with them if she ever caught up with them, she said that she would try to play with them, doing her little bows and body wags (when the tail wags the dog, so to speak), and then try to lick them. Thank you to everyone who reads these blogs, and I hope we can continue to keep you all entertained :)

In an effort to streamline things, I have decided to make a few changes to the blogs. Entrecard is really becoming a pain, trying to make it more difficult to earn credits, and trying to keep paid advertisers on top of dropper ads paid for by credits. Therefore I am getting rid of Entrecard ads from my blogs, and will be using only Project Wonderful to accept ads. I will try to drop on my favorites, and possibly advertise through Entrecard until my credits run out, but I will not accept ads from them anymore.

This allows me to rearrange the items on the sidebars, giving my Project Wonderful advertisers more visibility. You can see the long bar on the left hand side is for Project Wonderful ads, so if you are interested in advertising here, please click on the bottom of the bar. Please do take a few minutes as well to click on the ads - you'll find some really delightful artists.

In the meantime, I am finishing up this month's newsletter, hopefully to be sent out today (have you signed up to be in on the inside scoop yet?). And Arwen is sleeping. Again.

Have a great day!
and Arwen