Tornadoes & Mom

This evening I put pencil to paper to draft this blog entry. The local news played in the background, displaying a myriad of bright colors to illustrate the dangerous storm front moving into the area. There was the occasional break in by the National Weather Service updating the surrounding counties under the Tornado Watch. For my Virginia neighbors, you know that we have been experiencing far too many of these damaging storms lately (as evidenced by the heavy damage at Page Middle School and loss of life in Glouceter County).

As the sound of thunder rolled in the distance, I figured I'd play it safe and leave the computer turned off. No sense risking a power surge that could possibly damage it. So after scrounging around for some notebook paper, I set about the task of writing this entry, keeping a wary eye on the conditions out the window and an ear open for those NWS bulletins.

I couldn't help but think back to the tornado my family and I survived when I was about age 7. It was a beautiful day--a hot one though (much like today). My sisters and I were playing in the front yard--hopscotch if memory serves me correctly. We noticed the wind pick up by paid it little mind--oblivious to how green the sky was growing. There was a funny smell in the air as I recall. What I remember the most, aside from the sound of a freight train, was standing there motionless watching the cloud descend. The next thing I kenw, I felt an intense pain in the back of my head as my mother jerked me up by my pony tail. I was so mesmerized by the storm I hadn't heard her screaming my name. We ran into the house and were huddled in the hallway in the center of the house. Mom threw a blanket over the three of us, told us to hang on to one another, and that she loved us. The tornado seemed to bounce back and forth across the street and hit every other house. We were one of the lucky ones. Our house was skipped and left relativelyb unscathed by flying debris.

Thinking back, I don't remember my mother telling me that she loved me very often while I was growing up. I'm sure she did so more often than I actually remember. Buty my sisters and I grew up part of a growing statistic--products of divorced parents. So life wasn't always very easy for us. We weren't a family that shared our emotions with each other. So as an adult, I haven't found it very easy to express those feelings to them now.

Mother's Day always presents a challenge--not so much in terms of what to buy for her but what to say to her in a greeting card. Sappy lines of prose don't really fit. Picturesque description of childhood memories don't often apply. However, this year, things are a little different. See, my mother is beginning to have great difficulty with her memory. As the memory loss worsens, she has begun experiencing high anxiety. She now makes a point to tell me she loves me every time we talk.

So now my focus ha shifted--finding the words to use in a greeting card isn't so much about reminiscing about childhood events. It has become more about letting my mother know that I'm here for her, love her, and want to enjoy the time we have together now. I noticed that she has already started having a hard time calling me by my name, often calling me by one of my sisters'. Keeping this in mind, I created a design based on the premise of a family tree--incorporating all three of our names.

I've framed the print in a floating frame and paired it with a matching card. This design has been made available for sale on our Etsy site. It will be personalized with your own names and your choice of colors. It will be shipped out in Priority Mail, but be sure to order soon to make sure it's received in time for Mother's Day on May 8th (although it would also make a good birthday gift as well).

Whatever you give your mother this year, make sure you're focusing on what is more important--letting her knjow you love her.

Oh, and by the way, 5 tornadoes touched down in our area tonight. The damage reports won't be in until morning and we have another storm line heading to the area later tonight. However, my neighborhood didn't experience the brunt of the storm and I'm grateful. I hope you and your family are also safe. Time to shut down the computer for the next round...

Choosing Handmade

A fellow Etsy crafter is quoted as saying: “Choosing handmade is choosing a slower way of life, one rooted in tradition and creative expression. Handmade always involves a story that is as much about the maker as it is about the product.”

In the age of mass produced goods, it’s often hard to find handmade items. While the Industrial Revolution brought about a factory system that allowed for mass production of textiles and other goods, hands-on artisan skills shifted to mechanical production in factories in major cities. This mass production brought about a lower cost for goods and an increase in the number of jobs available.

Such advances in technology and energy led to urbanization, an influx of capital that allowed businesses to grow, and a new social class structure. However, today, a significant portion of American companies have found cheaper alternatives to production outside of our borders and failed trade policies with other countries have decimated the manufacturing base in the United States.

Today, we are hard pressed to find items in our own homes that were not manufactured in Bangladesh, China, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, and Thailand. The result of the lack of American-made goods available, unfortunately, has led to a drastically altered structure of our economy. Quality of merchandise and artisan skill has fallen to the wayside when compared to the cost benefit of mass produced items.

However, this cost savings has also cost valuable manufacturing job positions in this country. As a result of our floundering economy, focus is being shifted to the purchase of American-made products. A recent study has shown that if each American spent 1% more each day (just 18¢) on domestic goods, it could produce 200,000 new jobs.

That’s where websites like Etsy come into play. Etsy was formed in 2005 to showcase handmade or vintage items as well as arts and crafts supplies. It has grown significantly to tens of thousands of sellers and five times that amount in buyers. In 2007, Etsy celebrated its one-millionth sale. The site follows in the tradition of open-air craft fairs and allows sellers to have a personal online storefront from which to list their handmade goods for sale. Another rich feature of the online community is the “Buy Local” feature that allows you to search for artisans in your local community. So not only are your purchases helping American-based artisans, but they can also support local craft businesses that in turn help the economy by paying sales taxes.

Etsy has a permanent lab located in DUMBO, Brooklyn (New York), which they call “Etsy Labs”. They are also one of the main members of the Handmade Consortium—a 2007 effort to encourage buying handmade holiday gifts. Etsy keeps their pricing structure simple, charging sellers 20¢ for each item listing plus 3.5% of each sale. It doesn’t cost anything to create a buyer account and get started purchasing handmade goods, vintage items, and supplies.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the site, click here: www.etsy.com. If you’d like take a look at the handmade items Busy Lil’ Bees Designs has to offer on Etsy, check out our online storefront at www.busylilbees.etsy.com. REMEMBER: Shop local and buy homemade.

Make it a Great Day!

Make it a great day …or not…the choice is yours!

We often hear the frequently insincere phrase: “Have a Nice Day.” The truth is, it is up to us to determine what sort of day we are going to have. Notice the emphasis on us. While we do not have control over everything that happens to us on a daily basis, we have a choice to control how we react to things. Some days are greater than others—that’s just a fact of life—but every day can be a great day if we choose to make it that way.

Having a positive outlook goes a long way towards creating happiness for ourselves. Don’t wait for someone to make you happy—reach out and grab the happiness for yourself. Alter your state of mind and find the joy in life—even if it is in the little things that seem insignificant.

Attitude is a choice and I want to strive to choose to have a positive one. With this in mind, I want to share with you my plan of action to make this a part of my every day life:

1. Let go of selfish notions. “It’s not all about me.” Make a plan to help others—go the extra mile and share your gifts and talents. Everyone could use a helping hand—extend yours.
2. Acknowledge your blessings. Be thankful for what you have, and while you’re being thankful, remember to thank those around you. Thank the bank teller for assisting you, the stranger who held the door, the co-worker who helped you meet that deadline, etc.
3. Lighten up. Plant a smile on your face, even when the world seems to crumble around your feet. Just the simple act of smiling can improve your mood and those around you. Go the extra mile and throw some laughter into the mix. Don’t take yourself so seriously and look for the humor in every situation.
4. Let it go. Grudges suck the joy out of life. Everyone hurts someone—we are not perfect. Be the first to apologize and be quick to forgive. We feel better about ourselves the more we learn to accept and give forgiveness.
5. Live with passion. Envelope your uniqueness and believe in yourself. Don’t let you be the roadblock in your own success. Believe in yourself—the world needs you to do your part.
6. Look for the good in all things. You are going to face difficult and unpleasant circumstances in life. The key is to use those experiences to learn and grow. Turn negative experiences into positive life lessons. Learn those lessons well or you are doomed to repeat your errors.

I’m putting this plan in action moving forward, starting today. My first step is to create a line of positive, upbeat, and uplifting greeting cards. I plan to donate 50% of the proceeds to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund. I will post pictures soon and get these uploaded to both our website and Etsy page. Remember to check back soon, and while you are here, don’t forget to sign up as a follower of my blog and leave a comment about what methods you use to stay positive.

Bad, Bad Blogger

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. It’s been far too long since I contributed to my blog. While I do enjoy having an online presence, life just has a way of getting in the way—especially in the past few months!!! The bulk of my energy has been taken by a few unexpected projects and events. However, I am working hard to get myself back into the groove of things. So please accept my apologies for my extended absence, and while I am apologizing, let me do so in advance for any future absence that may be required as I struggle to juggle the complexities of the life of a busy crafter.

For those who don’t know me well, let me take a moment to reintroduce myself. I am a 30-something workaholic who stays exceptionally busy as a full time property manager, owner of a medical transcription company, and crafter who is in a joint venture with my sister called Busy Lil’ Bees Designs. I’m also the proud parent of a head-strong (but lovable) 17-year-old who will be graduating this year. I will be celebrating 20 years with my high school sweetheart (and 18 years of marriage). I also have a few health challenges (that’s what I prefer to call them) that tend to complicate things a bit. As you can probably tell, I like to keep busy, and with all the responsibilities I have on a day-to-day basis, that’s not hard to do!

Busy Lil’ Bees is where I get to let my creative juices flow—creating and selling all sorts of gift items (diaper cakes, cupcakes and wreaths; towel cakes; spa gift baskets; fleece blankets; etc.), home décor items (tole painting, cross-stitch, flower arrangements, wreaths, kitchen angels, etc.), and greeting cards. When I am not busy creating, I am working on marketing this craft business by blogging, managing a Facebook presence, maintaining our own website, selling our goods on Etsy, and booking local area craft shows.

I plan to continue to offer FREE paper piecing projects on a regular basis on this blog, as well as to showcase some our most recent products, keep readers informed of upcoming local area craft shows, and maybe even provide some helpful insights to other fellow crafters by way of advice and critiques of products.

So if you are interested in the crazy life of a busy crafter, don’t forget to sign up as a follower of my blog, and hang on for a wild and bumpy ride! If nothing else, I hope this blog can provide a few laughs with the funny stories I share (Confessions of a Cricut Addict or A Crazy Day in the Life of a Crafter) to help you get to know me. Thanks for stopping by!


P.S. If you have a moment, submit a comment. After all, you never know when I’ll send you a FREE surprise just for fun! I've been busy adding new products to our Etsy site, you can check it out at http://www.busylilbees.etsy.com/. I will be working on updating our website at http://www.busylilbees.com/ where any upcoming craft shows will be posted.

A Crazy Day In The Life of A Crafter

Looking for a little humor in your life? I know I could sure use some after the day I had yesterday. So I figured I would share my story. If nothing else…hopefully someone will get a good laugh out of it!

The day started off like any other typical gloomy, gray, rainy Monday morning. I had carefully crafted my daily “To Do” list, determined I was going to be able to check off everything on my list by the end of the day, no matter what. Isn’t it funny how life interrupts the plans you have made for yourself?!

I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time in the afternoon to put together several new autumn card designs I had been formulating in my mind. To ensure this, I decided I would get dinner started in the morning—letting it cook all day so that I would have minimal dinner prep to do before sitting down with the family to eat. So I pulled out my huge stock pot, filling it with yummy ingredients so that we could all enjoy a big pot of Great Northern Beans & Ham for dinner. I got it simmering on the stove and went on with the rest of my day.

Now most of you know that the “Busy Lil’ Bees” name we chose for our craft business truly reflects our schedule. I work as a property manager in addition to operating my own medical transcription company and managing this craft business my sister and I started. Needless to say, I stay on the move constantly and my days can get a bit harried at times. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining…I rather enjoy staying busy. I do, after all, take after my father who hasn’t been able to sit still a day in his life!

So off to work I went, ready to get my day going! Two hours into my work day, I knew it was going to be tough to get everything done on my list. Things just seemed to keep popping up and throwing the rest of my schedule off course. I shrugged it off, however, determined to keep plugging along. I was thankful that I only worked a half-day and would have the whole rest of the day to try to get caught up on my list.

Fast forwarding a bit…I ended up leaving work a half-hour later than expected. That’s just how it works sometimes in this business—you can’t just jump up, shoo everyone from the office and close the door in people’s faces while you flip the sign to “CLOSED.” I finally managed to get home and as I am heading up the walk I can hear my cats crying from inside the house. Keep in mind, that this is pretty strange. My cats rarely meow unless their food bowl is empty, they inadvertently get shut up in a room, or decide they simply cannot go on with their lives if I don’t let them in the bathroom with me. So I fumbled with my keys to get the door open—only to be greeted by a plume of smoke rolling out!!!

I make my way inside, heading to the kitchen with my eyes stinging and my throat burning. Despite being set on simmer, I find that the pot of beans I put on in the morning had boiled over and all the water cooked out leaving a charred mess in the bottom of the stock pot that was smoking profusely at this point.

I said a quick prayer of thanks that I came home when I did—before the whole house could catch fire. Then I set about opening up all the windows and turning on fans to try to get the smoke out. I checked and made sure our pets were okay—soothing two cats that were very vocal in their dislike of the disruption to their daily routine. Luckily, the dog seemed oblivious to all the chaos. In fact, she seemed perfectly content. What a trooper!

A friend, who had volunteered earlier in the day to come and help me get my cards made, showed up during all this and helped me get the kitchen cleaned up. Thank God for wonderful friends! I tried to convince her to go back home so she wouldn’t have to breathe in all the smoke but she insisted on staying. She got my mind off of the smoky mess by herding me into my home office and helping me get my mind back on to creating these autumn cards. She wisely pointed out that I couldn’t do anything more to clear the smoke out any faster so I might as well get to work on something I could get done!

Working together, we created the three cards. I didn’t get around to taking a picture of them yet. I think they turned out pretty good—considering all the chaos around us at the time!

The smoke finally cleared, although the smell still lingered somewhat. After offering repeated thanks for all her help, I sent my friend home and set to work on figuring out what I was going to do about dinner. Serving charred beans didn’t seem like an idea that would have gone over so well. I let the dog in the house only to notice that she had decided to wallow in the muddy yard from our recent rains. Keep in mind that my husband had just given her a bath the night before. I sighed heavily, breathing in the aroma of my charred, disastrous attempt at dinner, and decided at that point it didn’t much matter if she tracked mud into the house; nor did I have the burning desire to give her another bath. Besides, who would notice the mud past the smell of the house?!

My cell phone rang…it was my husband. Turns out he had to work late because he ended up sitting at the dealership several hours that morning waiting for his car to be inspected. This wasn’t bad news for me because it gave me extra time to get dinner taken care of. Then he told me that the car failed inspection and we had to get to get two new tires and a battery. UGH!

He was able to finally make it home a few hours later, we ate dinner, and I settled down for the evening to create my “To Do” list for the following day. I stared at my list for the day. I didn’t know whether to cry or burst out laughing. That’s just the way life works sometimes. I can make a list every day, with the greatest intentions of getting it all done, but there are just going to be days where everything falls apart and the list becomes less and less of a priority. So I decided to throw my list away and skip making a list for today.

I’ll just chalk it up to another crazy day in the life of a crafter…

P.S. I haven’t had a chance to take pictures of the card designs we completed. I will put that on my list tomorrow. Scratch that…I’ll get around to posting them just as soon as I can! In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our other card designs at www.busylilbees.etsy.com.

National Card Day

Tomorrow, October 2nd, is National Card Day. In honor of this special day, I've been very busy working on a brand new autumn greeting card design (pictured above).

I figured this was the perfect way excuse to run a contest! Each follower of by blog or a fan on our Facebook page will be entered to win a set of 6 of these cards. To have even more chances to win, refer a friend and you will get one entry per referral! Just have your friends become a fan of our Facebook page (or become one of our blog followers) and send us a message that you referred them. Make sure they tell us who referred them if you want to get credit for the entry!

Have fun and thanks for participating! The winner will be announced October 31st.

Reading Material

So I have been surfing the net off and on for the past two days trying to help get the creative juices flowing. In my search, I have stumbled across a few websites and blogs that I thought were worth sharing. So grab yourself a cup of coffee and curl up with your laptop somewhere comfortable so you can spend some time perusing through some of these sites. Hope you enjoy them!





www.craftgossip.com is a great source of ideas and information on everything from bath and body products to stamping. It's in the form of a daily blog post. There are even competitions and giveaways.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/ is an Etsy blog that showcases new talent, fresh shops, weird or odd merchandise, sellers tips, links to top posts of the week, instructions on new craft ideas, etc. I can easily spend an entire afternoon reading through everything on this site!

http://confessionsofacraftaddict.com/ is another fun blog to check out when you get a chance.

There are two local photographers that I think are wonderful so I am including links to both of their sites!

Amanda Anderson Photography is located the southside of Richmond. She specializes in children/teens, families, babies, maternities and now weddings. Check out the gallery on her website at www.amandaandersonphotography.com.

Jennifer, of Warthan Family Photography, has a wonderful blog where she shares lots of the incredible photos she takes of life on the farm. She also specializes in wedding and family photography. She offers a unique farm setting in Waverly for her photo sessions. Check her blog out at http://thecottonwife.com/.