A Day of Rest...Road Runner Style

Get Your Name Out There! Advertising

Blog readership spiked 300% from 2004-2008*

In the olden days (hmmm 10 years ago) the only methods of advertising were television commercials, radio, billboards, newspaper or magazine ads or direct mail. The expense not only included the ad, but also the creative. So, you could expect to pay thousands of dollars just to get your name out there. Not to mention, the cost of direct mail included postage and purchasing a good mailing list. Then you waited for tear sheets or a monthly report of your "spot" rotation...hoping that your commercial found it's way into the day-part that was deemed your target.

The entire world of advertising has been turned on its head with the advent of the computer, blogs, twitter, and websites. Now when we think of advertising we think in terms of banner ads, 125x125, rotating, skyscraper and blinking ads or tweets. We search for blogs that target our market, or reach outside of it to gather customers that may have not noticed us in the past.

How do you choose what type of ad or what blog to place your advertising on? You should first take into account how well maintained the blog is. By maintained, does the blog owner update posts often? Is it visually appealing, or is it difficult to read? If it's hard to read people are not going to remain very long and will probably miss your ad. Does it attract a regular readership, or engage its readers? Are they commenting? The blog owner should be able to provide you with its statistics. Their page rank, total, returning, pageviews and unique traffic. How many people are subscribed to their blog, or receive their RSS feed.

Then the question becomes how do you measure the success of the ads you place on all of these blogs and websites? Now that's where you come in. In the past, advertising might be measured by the number of calls you received after your advertising ran. Or, if you saw a blip in sales just after a direct mail piece was mailed. These same methods will hold true, but if you are selling online, you will also want to connect to google analytics or some other tool to measure your site traffic. You need to keep track of where your ads are and when they run and then compare that to the referring sites and the number of people visiting you from that site.

Keep in mind that sometimes the quantity of people visiting you from the referring site, while important, isn't the only reason to have your ads out there. You are also aiming for name recognition. Consumers need to see you in many different places and many times to feel comfortable with your brand. Once they are comfortable they are more inclined to look further at your product and then make the decision to purchase. Brand recognition also provides you with a valuable tool, people look to you to set the standard for that genre of product.

I know that this can all be very overwhelming and I hope to share more information with you about advertising and how you choose and measure it. I wrote an article a while ago about the Cumulative Effect of Advertising that you may also be interested in.

I would love to know what your thoughts are about advertising on blogs, or your questions. Just comment and I will discuss in an upcoming blog post.

* Jupiter Research Corporation

The color is so boss you just can’t believe

We're trippen into the 1960s....

Fashion was hip, groovy, and choice... which of these would you be decked out in?

Artist Series -- CDek Christopher DeKnikker

A couple of weeks ago a challenge was issued by Piping Hot Papers to make a treasury featuring shops that you had never used before or had never discovered. This isn't a difficult task since Etsy is filled with a tremendous amount of amazing artists. As I was browsing through all of these shops I came across CDek. These beautiful pieces are made by using recycled pieces of scrap wood and yard debris. Are you as amazed by this work as I am?




When did you become interested in art and did you choose art, or did it choose you?

I can’t remember a time when art hasn’t been in my life. At a very early age my father taught me to draw and look at things differently. He opened this world up to me and I have been meandering my way through it ever since. I think art and I chose each other.




You get to spend one weekend each with three historical figures, an artist, a writer and one of your choice. Who are they and what will you talk about or do?

I can envision a weekend poker tournament with Vincent Van Gogh, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Wayne. I’m not sure what we would talk about, but I bet it would be memorable.




How has the popularity of the Internet affected your work?

The popularity of the Internet hasn’t affected my work, although it has been a great way to get rapid exposure to what I am creating. I try to avoid finding inspiration from the Internet as much as possible because I don’t want it to influence my creativity.


Have you discovered any new technique to creating your work that you can share? How do you overcome artist block?

I never quite know what I am getting in to when I start a piece. I usually make a few conceptual drawings and rough sketches so I am not completely lost during construction. About 20% in, I really start to understand how to build the piece and get comfortable with the materials. Each piece has taught me something new about techniques to use for following projects.

One technique I can share is to make the back hollow. In doing this, the cable pulls the piece tight to wall instead of tilting away from it. The slight tilt may not be a problem for many artists, but I wanted my pieces to appear as if they were coming directly out of the wall.

Fortunately, I have not experienced any kind of artist block. I wish I had more hours in the day to create the ideas I have rattling around in my head.



If I walked into your studio this moment what would you show me first? What would you want to hide?

I suppose I would have to show off my random collection of lumber and twigs…trash bin to others, raw potential to me.

I would probably try and distract you to the fact that my studio also doubles as a laundry room/gym/recycling center/garage. I may want to hide the fact that it is usually 33 degrees in the winter and 90 degrees in the summer.



Describe something that comes up in your work because of a life experience?

I think a lot of what I make can be attributed to digging around under my grandpa’s table saw for usable scraps of wood. Most of these scraps were used to build various weapons for cops and robbers or vehicles for G.I. Joes. I think he would be proud.

Describe what you do or who you are in a haiku

Pixies and Pale Ale
Making time in my garage
Adhesive and wood


Is there anything else that you would like to share

Art is everywhere! Materials are everywhere! You don’t have to have lots of money for expensive paints, clay, or metals. All you need is imagination and gumption. The rest is gravy.

Waterrose Blog Anniversary Giveaway Week Three!

That looks pretty yummy...don't cha think?






Third week of my blog giveaway....come and get your scoop!

Week three begins today, Monday, February 22nd, and the grand prize will be selected on Monday, March 8th!

This is the third week of the giveaway!

All entries will have a chance to win my Queen Anne’s Lace cuff. So here’s the ice cream sundae!

Scoop Three! (February 22 - 28th)

You win a free month of advertising!
& an entry to win the Queen Anne's Lace Cuff!

Entrants this week need to:
Comment and follow my blog
Must tweet this giveaway with hashtag #WCUFF3 (important or I won’t know you did it)
Subscribe to my newsletter

Extra Credit: add my Anniversary Button to your blog or blog about my giveaway

WINNERS of the SECOND Week!!!!!
I picked two winners from the Random Generator

Both receive a FREE month of advertising on my blog...and they are!!!

Strings of Me
LaPaperie

The Corny Concerto - Looney Tunes

Well it's Saturday morning....and this is what I use to rush to the TV to watch....Looney Tunes!

Arm and Hammer Fridge Fresh

I love these!

It's so much handier then putting an opened box of Arm & Hammer baking soda in the fridge. Since I seem to always knock over the box and then have to clean up the mess. There is a suction cup on the back and you can attach the product to the side of the inside of the fridge. I also like that there's an indicator that reminds you when to change them. The Fridge Fresh really does absorb any odor's and helps keep food fresh. Sometimes they are difficult to find. In one grocery story I find them with baking supplies, in another I find them with the household deodorizers. They generally last two months in my fridge and cost about $2 each. So if you happen to see them in your local grocery store try it out!

Meet....Queen Annes Lace and Confetti

Well you all know that I've been making Queen Anne's Lace cuffs for well over a year now. But, did you know that it didn't even cross my mind to make a Queen Anne's Lace ring. Until, Beth at Have It Sweet sent me an email and asked me if I could make one. The light bulb went off and I thought....Oh Duh! The Polka Dot ring was a special request as well. Loved making them both! Thanks Beth for the light bulb! And, if you are looking for some real deliciousness....visit her shop, but go run a mile first.

Dreaming Success: Goals

Goal: the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result

I know that in my last business post I said I would talk about Marketing Plans, but I think we need to go back to Goals. I only brushed on the topic and think it needs a bit more thought.

There are questions that you need to ask yourself about what you are trying to achieve. No matter if it’s in regard to your shop on Etsy, your art/creations or what you want your blog to convey. The goal is what keeps you excited and interested in creating, writing and doing. It is also what keeps you focused.

Goals carry very distinct aspects:

Establish specific, measurable, attainable and realistic objectives. There should also be a time set in the future that you want to attain the goal by.

First you need to establish the specific goal. Are you an artist trying to get your work into a gallery? Magazine? Do you want to create workshops and teach others? Are you an Etsy shop owner and are trying to quit your day job and make an income to support yourself with your creative efforts?

Second you need to be able to measure your progress towards your end goal. Set up milestones that keep you on track and signify small success. For the artist perhaps the first small goal is taking photographs and writing a press release to send out to the media. For the Etsy shop owner the first goal may to assess your budget and what it would take each month in income to make your dream happen. Then assess your creations and how many you would have to make and sell to realize this dream. With this information you can set a date to fulfill this goal.

Third, be realistic. If you are just starting out in your art form it is less likely that you are going to be included in a major magazine or asked to have an exhibit at a major gallery. But, you may be able to submit your work to local newspapers and local galleries and get accepted. The Etsy shop owner may need to build a savings up before making the leap, or realize that he/she needs to do each job part-time for a while. During this time he/she may want to identify boutiques, gather contact information, and set up appointments with the local boutique owners.

Some people think that setting a goal locks you into the final outcome. That other possibilities may pass you by because you are so focused on the end goal. However, we each have a gut instinct that helps us question if something we come across in our day would be to our advantage. Generally we are each able to assess if we need to change our direction slightly to include this new advantage. So don’t fear goals and don’t fear success.

This blog article Business Bits by Allisa Jacobs of Quiltish includes some other questions that you may want to ask yourself about what success looks like to you.

Have fun with this….remember it’s pencil and paper at first and you have an eraser!

Pretty Little Houses All In A Row

I saw these little porcelain houses on the front page of Etsy a few weeks ago and fell in love with them. They are tiny, bright and beautiful. I also got some tiny little square buttons as well. They are also bright and cute! Do you want to know what shop I got them from? Well I got them from Hodge Podge Arts. I am so delighted with them and can't wait to get started on the project I have in mind. They came very well packaged with no worry about breakage...and the shop owner is an absolute delight.

Oh, if only there were more hours in the day....I have a long, long list of ideas!

Waterrose Blog Anniversary Giveaway Week Two!

...da...da...da...da
Second week of my blog giveaway....come and get your scoop!

Week two begins today, Monday, February 15th and the grand prize will be selected on Monday, March 8th!

Each week there will be a giveaway of advertising on my blog.

All entries will have a chance to win my Queen Anne’s Lace cuff. So here’s the ice cream sundae!

Scoop Two! (February 15 - 21st)

You win a free month of advertising!
& an entry to win the Queen Anne's Lace Cuff!

Entrants this week need to:

Leave a comment and follow my blog

Must tweet this giveaway with hashtag #WCUFF2 (important or I won’t know you did it)

Sign up for my newsletter

Extra Credit: add my Anniversary Button to your blog or blog about my giveaway


WINNERS of the First Week!!!!!
I picked two winners from the Random Generator

Both receive a FREE month of advertising on my blog...and they are!!!

Patti of My Structured Chaos
Loren of Fruits of the Bloom


Sign up here for a chance to win advertising in Week Two...and be entered to win my Queen Annes Lace cuff. (winning in a prior week does not eliminate you from the grand prize).

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Arizona Desert Eye Candy

Spoonflower and Keys

I was so happy the first time I discovered Spoonflower, but I have never had a chance to design my own fabric. I use a lot of linen and at that time they didn't have a linen available, so I kept putting off the joy of designing. Just before Christmas they came out with linen and I was so excited. I use linen to line my cuffs so I went searching through all of the beautiful fabric others had designed. Both of these are destined for some new cuff designs and new embroidery styles....I can't wait to share them with you in the near future!


I also just bought some antique keys and watch parts from GUS Supply and will be making cuffs to go along with my continued story, "Key Triangulation." I hope to share that with you soon as well. I'm also waiting for two other special purchases...one will be my muse.

Are You Feeling Frazzled? Goals

The year has barely begun but all of the overwhelming feelings have settled in once again. Does that sound familiar?

If you have an Etsy shop, 1000markets, blog, twitter, facebook…promoting seems to be a never-ending task. How do you keep up with reading all of the articles on Etsy, or on your favorite blog? You seem to be going around in circles and feeling like you haven’t accomplished anything.

One of the things that I have found is that I need to plan my day so that Etsy or twitter doesn’t devour me. It takes a lot of self-control, but just think of the long-term benefit, your success. You may be saying, What if I miss a perfect promotional opportunity, while I’m doing something else? The chances of missing the next big opportunity is very much reduced in comparison to the success you can achieve by planning your success.

I spend a certain amount of time scanning through Etsy to see if there is anything that is important to me or that I need to take care of. I use twitter to not only promote, but also like office interaction. Since I work from home it’s like taking a few minutes to chat over the cubicle. It can refresh you mentally. But for each of these I have time planned into my day to handle all of that.

Take time to evaluate your day. There may be some areas that are time wasters.

Take out a pencil and paper and write down what you are trying to achieve or what your goals are. Unless you already have a good idea and have written them down, this could take a little while. Really think about it. Don’t try to complete it in an hour. Rather, spend an hour a day for a week or a month. This is the first stepping-stone to your success. This doesn’t mean that you can’t go back and revise, but if you have created a solid foundation to begin with it makes it that much easier to keep moving forward. I know you are anxious to begin and impatient, but this is a very important step. If you don’t do it now you will waste a lot of time in the long run.

Having your goal set will make it easier to plan your time. Really. Get excited about this. Look at your goal and see where you need to spend major amounts of time. Perhaps you need to write a marketing plan. Actually, a marketing plan is not a perhaps you definitely need one. It doesn’t have to be a traditional, take it to the bank, marketing plan. Take out your calendar, be it paper or on the computer and block out time. Don’t fill in every minute because we all know that unexpected things pop up. Look at the amount of time, on a daily basis, that you have to work on your goal. Even if you only have an hour a day, it is better to plan that time then leave it unplanned and feel like your aren’t getting anywhere. Then officially fill in your calendar. At the end of each day check off what you have completed. Remember with large tasks such as a marketing plan to reduce them into smaller chunks so that you have something to check off. Checking things off gives you such a feeling of accomplishment and that you are moving towards your goal. Each morning, look at your daily plan and, once again, get excited about the next “to do.” Each part of a whole gets you that closer to your goal.

In the next article we'll discuss marketing plans. But I would love to hear from you about what your time waster is and how you deal with it.

Camel in Paradise Valley

I see a lot of interesting things in the valley, but this is one of the more interesting I've come across yet. I was driving in Paradise Valley where multi-million dollar homes rule. I'm use to seeing horses everywhere, so when I looked to my left I had to do a double take...because standing there in the backyard was a camel. I think he (or she) was use to people gawking. I parked, happened to have my camera with me, and started taking pictures. He was almost posing. In this same backyard was a llama, miniature pony, peacocks...it was like a miniature zoo.

There is a history of camels in Arizona, but I don't think this one had anything to do with those. We also have a mountain in Phoenix that if you look at it the right way appears to be a camel. You can even see the head with the eyelashes made out of a rock formation.

Four Peaks Trail Clean Up 2010

The community of off-roaders in this video have been cleaning up local trails for the past three years. Amazingly, this is the same location that was cleaned up last year and the same amount of trash was removed again. It's pretty sad that people go out into the desert and drop off their stoves, refrigerators...unwanted appliances. Other people come along and use them as targets to practice their marksmanship. Leaving behind even more trash. It becomes a waste land and is pretty embarrassing when off-roading and hiking. We generally think that our community cares about natural areas and wouldn't treat things in such a way.

Off-roaders have gotten bad press for destroying the natural habitat, but many off-roaders practice tread lightly and have a great respect for our environment. It is activities, such as this clean-up, that we hope to convey to everyone that it isn't the act of off-roading that destroys the environment, it is the lack of respect that some people have for the environment.

The local news story about this event.

Waterrose Blog Anniversary Giveaway Week One!

Yay it's the first week of my blog giveaway....come and get your scoop!

The giveaway begins today, Monday, February 8th and the grand prize will be selected on Monday, March 8th!

Each week there will be a giveaway of advertising on my blog.

All entries will have a chance to win my Queen Anne’s Lace cuff. So here’s the first ice cream scoop!


Scoop One! (February 8 - 14th)

You win a free month of advertising!
& an entry to win the Queen Anne's Lace Cuff!


Entrants this week need to:

Leave a comment with a link from my shop of your favorite item.
Tweet this giveaway with hashtag #WCUFF1 (hashtag is important)
Follow my blog

Extra Credit: add my Anniversary Button to your blog

Waterrose Two-Year Blog Celebration & Giveaway!

I’m two years old!

The candles are lit…take a deep breath, make a wish and blow out all those candles!!

Wow you guys are wonderful…the candles are out and now you get your wish!

No pin the tail on the donkey…but a game that might be just as fun…

Each of you has a chance to win advertising on my blog and one of my hand embroidered cuffs!

Hope you had a chance to vote on which cuff you would like to win…

the votes have been counted and the favorite cuff is….

Come back tomorrow for the rules of the Waterrose Blogiversary game!

The Enchanted Rabbit

Etsy Project Embrace & Valentines Day

These shops are part of Etsy Project Embrace and they each donate a portion of their sales to the American Cancer Society. Beautiful creations....wonderful cause.

by: GlitzGlitter

by: JaneElizabeths

by: Btaylorquilts
by: RhondasOriginals

McCormick Recipe Inspirations...A Quick Homemade Dinner

There are times that I really need dinner to be simple and easy to fix, but still tasty and homemade. I was at the grocery store and came across these McCormick Recipe Inspirations. I think there were six dinner choices. Each one comes with all of the spices in individual packets to make a delicious meal. On the back of each is a list of ingredients you need to have to make the entire dish. It's pretty handy since you are already at the grocery store and can pick up any of the ingredients that you don't have in your pantry.

In this packet I used everything but the red pepper flakes since some people in my family don't like hot dishes.


I browned the ground beef and onions then added the rest of the ingredients...


Then all of the wonderful smelling spices from the individual spice packets...


Layered it in a casserole dish...


Then baked...and wa la...in less then an hour....dinner!

*this is not a sponsored ad...just want to share things that I come across that makes life easier!