Its Been A Long Time!

Its been a very long time since I've blogged! I just, well I gave up on it for awhile. No one really noticed me here. I tried visiting other bloggers, but only one two would politely visit in return. I decided I don't really have what it takes to be a blogger. But now I'm rethinking that. Maybe I'm not one of those fancy bloggers, or "out there" bloggers. But I think I might be able to hold my own and say what I want to say here. If anyone listens to me fine. If not, fine.

So what do I see from the sidecar? I'll have to start looking harder and share it with you.

Until next time!

Wendy

Of blogs, beading and anniversaries!

I've been out visiting some of the blogs I have listed below. There are so many more that I wish I could list. I do add to the list when I find one that is really special. I enjoy reading what other bloggers have to say. Some are very eloquent and other very down to earth. Its very different as you go from one to another. I think that's why I enjoy it so much!

I've been doing a lot of beading lately, but most of it is going to be donated to my church's craft fair for the Women's Group table. I would love to have my own table, but there just isn't enough hours in a day for me to bead that much. Besides, I'm working on some Christmas presents too!!

Hubby and I finally have plans in place for our 39th wedding anniversary in October. We are driving to Montana, just outside Glacier National Park. We will be staying at a very comfortable inn, The Izak Walton Inn. It has no phones, no tv, and it sits back from the road in the woods. Last time we were there we had bear sitings! Not that we don't have them here in Colorado, just not as many as close by. We are going to go for long walks, do some geocaching, visit the Park again and just be together without interruption! Wow! I wish we could leave now!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Doing a bit of catching-up!

I don't know where the time goes! I think I'll blog every day, but the days fly by. Hubby and I did get to Mt. Evans and Echo Lake. We had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful for it. We set out to find 4 geocaches and found all 4 of them. Then we spent the night in Central City and did a little gambling. We won some and lost some and in the end we broke even. All-in-all it was a nice get away.

I've been making quite a bit of jewelry recently too. I haven't put much on my Etsy.com shop, though. I'm saving some of it for the craft fair at church that is scheduled for November 8th. I'd like to take a table, but I really don't think I'll have enough items. I'll probably just donate my pieces to the women's craft table. That's what I did last year.

On a brighter note, I have sold a few pieces recently. Mostly my smaller, less expensive items. I'm just glad to be getting noticed a bit. I do wish someone would take notice of my more expensive pieces. I work hard on them and I have improved so much. Most people who see my work "in person" like it and buy it. I'm still struggling with the pictures, but those are improving also.

I joined another etsy group the other day, Christian Artists Street Team. I've introduced myself on the team forum thread twice. It seems hard to get yourself "heard" there. I think I'm going to have to try to introduce myself on their regular message board. Maybe its less hectic on that board.

I really like the socializing on etsy overall. For me, its another way to meet people, though its not quite the same as being with them. I like the people and my Lupus keeps me somewhat home bound or at least limited in my socializing. Most of the people I've met on etsy are very friendly and helpful. Its a bit like taking a walk in a neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by my neighborhood!

Wendy

Blogs, Etsy.com, My Shop Sale, Geocaching

Today I've been visiting other blogs that are written by my fellow etsy.com shop owners. There are a lot of them out there!! Someone posted a thread in the etsy forums about being new to blogging and sharing blog sites. Since I don't get a whole lot of traffic, I thought it might be a good idea to share my site and look at some of the other's sites. It would be impossible to look at ALL of the ones that got listed, but I did look at quite a few. I added some of them to my list here and I added two new shops to my list of Favorite Etsy Shops. I hope you will check out both my blog list and my Etsy Shop list.

The blogs I have chosen are all different, though many are related to etsy.com shop owners, they offer insights into business, crafts, personal thoughts, etc. Also, not all of the blogs are from etsy.com shop owners so you might find other interesting things to read about.

The shops I have chosen for my favorites list include those I have bought from and those I have not. They include etsy.com shop owners who have been helpful, unusually friendly and kind, carry a product that I find interesting or unique or are a shop that I have bought from and find to be a dependable owner with a quality product.

Currently I am having an END OF AUGUST SALE!!! All items that are on sale are listed in my sale section with their sale price. Original prices are listed within the description area. The sale ENDS at MIDNIGHT August 31, 2008. At that time the prices will return to their original amounts. SO DON'T WAIT!! HURRY IN!!

On an all together different subject, tomorrow hubby and I are heading out for a drive to the mountains. I think we will head up Mt. Evans and maybe picnic at Echo Lake before or after our trip up depending on what time we get started. NO, we are not hiking. My Lupus prevents too much strenuous activity at this time. We will be driving all the way to the top of the big Fourteener. For those who don't know, Mt. Evans rises to 14,000 feet and is one of several peaks that do in Colorado, which are known as the Fourteeners. Echo Lake is near the entrance road to the top and a picturesque place for walking, hiking and picnicking. We plan to do some geocaching on our way there. I have checked the geocaching.com site yet to see what is in the Mt. Evans/Echo Lake area yet, but there is sure to be something. We are looking forward to a nice quiet and peaceful day together!

Don't forget to check out the sale in my shop!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

A short note to update

The heat has finally let up and it is raining!!!!!!! It is a comfortable 80 degrees. So glad to get back to normal temps and be able to live and work normally again.

It all happened with good timing for this household. We have unexpected company arriving Friday and Sunday. Two cousins and a brother arrive first and then my son's girlfriend arrives Sunday. We'll have a houseful for a few days. It should be fun and exhausting. I just hope that it doesn't cause my Lupus to flare up!

I guess I won't be writing much for the next week or two, but at least you will know why. Please post a hello if you drop in. Check out my favorite blog sites and etsy shops if you can. There are also links to my shop by click on the banner at the top or the mini pictures at the bottom. I'll be back as soon as I can to tell you all the news about the family, geocaching, Lupus, and who is doing great at etsy.com!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Colorado Hot Weather, Geocaching, Jewelry Design Set

The weather here in Colorado has been breaking records for being HOT!! Its been in the 90's for weeks and today it was over 100 degrees! For those of us who love living here, even we are having a hard time appreciating the beauty of it through the heat of the day. It does take its toll no matter where you live when the temperatures are this hot.



The last few days I have been spending time trying to make my etsy.com shop more visible. This isn't an easy thing to do. I have change some of my descriptions and titles of my jewelry pieces to include key words. I changed my profile to be more descriptive of myself and hopefully more memorable. I added the address to my blog to my shop. That sort of thing.



The next thing I did was read some more business tips. Not that I really want to make a full time business out of my jewelry shop, but I would like to sell a few pieces from time to time. It would be nice to sell enough to off set the cost of my beads. I mean buying semi precious gemstones and Swarovski crystals does get expensive! Anyway, I did find some more information and I went to a few business type blogs that were mentioned to read those. I think it helped me out some, though my hubby and I have had a business before and much of it was done via Internet. This is just very different in how to "advertise" the business. I'm learning though.



Speaking of hubby, we also spent time this week on our new venture. I wish I could share more of it with you, but it is still in the top secret folder. We spoke to a few people who were able to give us some good information and then we made contact with that all important person - the money man! We will be seeing a potential investor on Tuesday! Its very exciting for us! Can't wait until I can share it with you!!!



We haven't had a chance to do any geocaching again. Its been too hot to do any in our area and we haven't been able to go up into the mountains where its a bit cooler. As much fun as we have with it, we don't have a lot of time for it, but we're going to try to make more time if our venture works out.



Before I say good-bye, I'd like to show you my most recent posting to my etsy.com shop. Remember you can get to it by clicking on my banner above!!!

Jewelry Design Set in Multiple Colors of Swarovski Crystals and Swirled Glass Beads

by Sidewing Creations

The glass beads are a swirl of predominately blue, green, black and brown, with hints of red and yellow in some of the beads. There are 6mm Bicone Jet Swarovski Crystals and 4mm Swarovski Crystals in each of the following colors, Montana Sapphire Blue, Chrysolite and Crystal Clear

Theses pictures just don't look as good here as they do in the original or even in my shop! I hope you'll check it out sometime soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Getting Away & Geocaching, Finding Other Bloggers, Saturday Night Promotions

This week hubby and I had a chance to do something fun! We went to the mountains to get away from home and the usual problems of life and did some geocaching. What is geocaching you ask? Simply put, geocaching is treasure hunting using a GPS unit. The size of the treasure chests vary from micro, about the size of a 35mm film canister or smaller, to much larger. Some people do it for the treasures and some people do it for the hunt. I think both can be fun. This hobby can be done alone, with a partner, as a team, with children and has varying skill levels. You can get very involved with lots of people online and off. There are group meetings, etc. Or you can choose to participate quietly and just do the hunts and not be so involved. The choices make it great for all types of people and personalities to enjoy! We found quite a few caches (treasures) on this outing. It gave us a chance to do a bit of moderate hiking, since that day I was feeling pretty good, have a nice lunch out, and be away from "it all". Geocaching is not very expensive once you purchase the geocaching unit. Learn all you need to know at http://www.geocaching.com or click on the geocaching icon on the right. This is the official site of geochaching.

I was on etsy.com earlier today. One of the threads was for exchanging blog links. I did add a few new ones to my list and a couple of new etsy stores to my favorite stores list. I hope you will take time to check out both lists. I think you'll find some great shops for your Christmas shopping or other holiday and special occasion shopping pleasure. The blogs I have listed are quite different, I think, from each other. They add variety to life!

I haven't posted any new items to my etsy shop today, but I do hope to get listed early on the SNS - Saturday Night Specials list on the Promotions Thread. I'll be offer 15% off of your total bill in my shop!! Please check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy

Its That Time of Year Again...

Its that time of year again! Yep! The open road is calling! Hubby and I are thinking VACATION!! But just where to go?? The economy being what it is, we're not sure just how far we want to go and we've already done the Colorado tour.

Not to worry! We'll come up with something! Let's see, we've been to Montana, South Dakota and Las Vegas. We've also toured Colorado as mentioned above. Did I mention we're talking about doing this on our motorcycle? Well, we are, but now we have a sidecar of course. I get too tire and sore from my Lupus to ride on the back all day, but I used to do that "back in the day". Now I do it as much as I can! Not that I'm complaining mind you. The sidecar keeps me riding and keeps the Lupus from taking over my life.

Maybe we could head for Idaho? We've never been there before and it might be fun. Depending on when we go, we could go to Arizona to the areas we've never been. Or we could go back to Las Vegas and then drive through some of the areas there that we've never been. Hhmmm. Anyone have any suggestions???




Here's a picture from our trip touring Colorado. That's Hubby on the right and our faithful companion Taz sitting on the trunk bag. He was a gift from our kids and came dressed in leathers, has club "colors" on the jacket and an earring. The sidecar opens by lifting the front up which is why it looks kind of funny.

This trip, like most, we were doing some geocaching. Its sort of like treasure hunting with a GPS unit. Lots of people are doing it all over the world. You can do it alone, as a family or as teams. Sometimes the treasures you find are more junk than treasure and sometimes you find something really nice, but always you have fun just searching for the treasure!! You can learn more about geocaching at http://www.geocaching.com/ or click on the "button" in the right column.

Anyway, geocaching takes to places we would never go when we travel. First, the motorcycle often takes us off the main roads and then geocaching also often takes you off the beaten path. Hubby and I have learned more about history of areas, found more fun places and met more people this way than we ever would have traveling the touristy way!

Just talking about this makes me want to pack up my backpack and hit the road! Only one problem. Hubby took the motorcycle to work today!!!

Happy Travels Everyone!

Wendy