enjoy the holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving - prelude to the holidays

As Thanksgiving approaches, preparation for the holiday season looms. Luckily, this year, I get to spend the holiday with one of my best friends - Alyssa. I'm thankful for the relaxation that awaits instead of the stress of travel and family get togethers (sorry guys! I still love you). We've planned a nice little break with food, wine, movies, spa treatments, Christmas tree shopping, and whatever we damned well please.

Alternately, my thoughts turn to everything I have to get done in the upcoming days and weeks. As usual, I'm far behind on all of the things I've intended to get done like training for a 5K that's now 3 weeks away. Creating a to do list would be helpful, but I've even put that off. Right now, as I sit in my living room going through old inventory, I can't help but think of the new inventory and how it needs to be ready by December 6 for Bazaar Bizarre. That seemed so far away, especially with 2 birthdays and Thanksgiving next week and the shortened work week (that includes an increased workload!). Looking at the complete disarray, it's time to buckle down and get organized... so here's the 1st draft of my to do list (a work in progress)

1 - update etsy page with clearance items

2 - update blog/twitter/facebook with etsy holiday sale info

3 - check inventory and update

4 - design new tags

5 - think about promo items (this is probably the part that will give me the most trouble!)

6 - buy ribbon for new labels

7 - stamp, iron, cut, sew in new labels

8 - keep making new stuff (eventually get it posted on etsy)

9 - prep thanksgiving dinner (this can wait til Wednesday)

10 - Clean apt! (no big spring cleaning, but a dust, polish, vacuum would be nice).

11 - and clean out refrigerator

12 - Hope random craft elements (findings, headbands, etc.) make it here by the end of the week so new pieces will be ready for Bazaar Bizarre!

I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting, and this list will grow (and shrink!), but it's a start. Wish me luck! No matter what your holiday plans, I hope you have a fabulous time and enjoy the company of whomever you're with!

cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!

Alana

so...

Finding time to do anything these days seems nearly impossible. I haven't started thinking about holiday shopping and it's already hectic! With the spare time I've managed to find, I've been doing some internet research on images in the public domain. I'm not sure what took me so long to look into this stuff, but there are some cool sites out there with vintage illustrations. If you're a crafter, designer, scrapbooker, or just like vintage images, these sites are a treasure. Most of the images posted are for personal and commercial use - and they're free!

The top hit was a site called Old Book Illustrations - it's full of interesting illustrations from books of every era. From nature and wildlife to literary characters, this site focuses on black and white images.

Another interesting, and free site is Victorian Vignettes. This site has tons of images (I haven't sorted through it all yet) and they're sorted in so many convenient ways. Looking for a vintage image? You're bound to find it here!

and it also has links to other sites for more illustration. Take a look, but if you plan on doing some serious browsing, set aside some time - it's definitely worth it.

Hello there - it's been way too long!

So after nearly 3 months of blog-abandonment, I'm back! Blogging is hard when you are so busy with work, crafts, life, etc. Reading the blogs I love, I have to wonder what it is that they do to make it work? Maybe that's it... work! I've decided to set aside time each day for Maxine's blog, so I'll be back tomorrow with a new blog topic and a renewed sense of purpose. Right after I get my birthday root canal...

See you then,

alana