Happy Veterans Day

First, I want to thank all of our service men and women for all they do and our Veterans for the sacrifices they have made. My dad was in the Army and both of my brothers retired from the Navy. The commitment these men and women make to their country never ceases to amaze me. My dad carried the burden of war with him his entire life. His nightmares were the most terrifying thing I can recall as a child. You can read about it here. Yes, their sacrifices are great.

Because of those awesome men and women....I have the day off today, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I can't even begin to tell you how many things I have made since spring that I have NOT listed in my shop. No....you have no idea. I have cake stands, and brooches, and wine bags, and pin cushions, and pillows, and coasters, and tote bags, and picture frames and I'm not even sure what else....and I'm not talking one or two of each, I am talking MANY of each.

The sun is supposed to shine all day today, which means I might be able to capture some well lit photos in the morning in my workshop window and then in the early afternoon in my kitchen window. I figure if I can get most of it photographed...then over the next couple of weeks I can touch up the photos and get things listed in time for the holidays. That is the plan. We will see how it goes.

I also have given a tremendous amount of thought to my etsy shop situation and have decided to keep FourDogDay and eventually close MyOtherShop. Your comments were very helpful and gave me much to think about.

I really don't have time to promote two shops, and now that I know that fabric is really my thing..I plan to concentrate on that. I will list all of my new items in FourDogDay and slowly move other fabric things over. I feel SO great having made my decision!

So, without further hesitation....I am out of here today! Glad I charged all of the batteries for the camera. I will need them!

Have an awesome day everyone!

It's January 5th...Do You Know Where Your Goals Are?

Okay folks...it's January 5th. Have you set your goals? Do you plan to set some goals? Did you read my blog posts about goal setting and achieving your goals? Here is one, and here is the other. I did set my goal and I have my plan in place. I just need to make the final copy and post it by my computer so I can stay on task each and every day.

I got off to a great start this morning. I got up at 4:30 a.m.......yes, that's what I said....4:30 a.m. I start work at 7:30 and I have a 50 minute commute on most days. In the morning, I am going to work out, fix a good lunch, check my etsy shop, my blog and the forums and then get ready for work. I need 2 hours to get it all done. I don't like to rush. I did it this morning and hopefully it will be a tiny bit easier tomorrow and each day after that.

Work was tough today. I had so much to do and I have only been at work twice in the past 2 weeks. There were things on my desk that I looked at and went, "Hmmmmm, now what the heck was I suppose to do with this?". It was quite a day. I am normally extremely organized, but I felt totally out of sync this morning. (No, that is not really my desk!) As the day went on I started to remember what my job was and by the end of the day I was thinking, "Oh, yes this is what I do for 40 hours a week!"

When I got home I immediately changed my shoes and grabbed the dog's leash and we headed out the door. Poor little Wrigley hasn't had a nice walk in weeks. The weather has been awful and the roads have been covered in salt and that hurts her little feet. So, off we went. The first street we went down, I heard 2 guys yelling for their dog, Lady. I slowed down a bit because I don't know Lady. The men were yelling and chasing and doing all of the things you aren't supposed to do, but we'll save that topic for another day. I'll tell you tomorrow about what happened.

Anyway, we did survive our walk, in fact, it was quite nice. We got back and I headed into the workshop. I did not spend my hour talking to Irv like I planned, but I needed to get pics of my new decoupage stuff done so I can post a couple of things tonight. He understood. He asked what I would like for dinner and he headed for the kitchen. I'm so lucky!

I started photographing and most of them turned out pretty good. We'll see how they look when I get them in my shop. I did have trouble with one of them and I'll have to redo those next time around.

So, with pictures taken it was time to blog, so here I am! It's 7:30 p.m. so that means I have less than 2 hours to finish up my "to do" list for today. I am bound and determined to do this.

Like I said in the beginning, have you made some goals for yourself. Have you developed a plan to help you achieve those goals? If not, what are you waiting for? Let's go!

The Oh So Elusive Orchid

I am making the invitations for one of my daughter's wedding showers. Shouldn't be a problem...I make cards all the time for my etsy shop. Making the card isn't the problem. See, my daughter has allergies, and one of the only flowers she isn't allergic to is the orchid. So, she has chosen the orchid as her wedding flower.

Well, I got the bright idea to use a photograph of an orchid on the front of the invitations. I have been so excited about it, that I just couldn't wait to buy a pretty little white orchid to photograph. They sell orchids all the time at all of the big home improvement stores for about $14.99. My husband and I have looked at them many times in the past, however now that I needed one and wanted to buy one....no one had any!

We looked at all of the places we remembered seeing them at, without any luck. I called some florists and they would be more than happy to order one for me for about $60.00. One said she could get me a "stem" for $18.00.

Just before I had given up, I called one of our local grocery stores and lo and behold they had a white orchid plant!! My husband was going right by there on his way home, so he stopped and purchased it....for $12.99!! What a deal! I was so excited. I ran out this morning and got some green satin fabric to use as a backdrop since that is her wedding color and I was ready to go. Keep in mind....I am NOT a photographer. Most of the photos I use on my cards are taken by my son, but I was ready to give it a try.

I think I took about 60 pictures of all different kinds, some of them with the poor little plant lying on it's side so I could cover the stem and some of the flowers and just photograph one or two of the blooms together. What a project it turned out to be. I only found one out of the first set I liked and decided to try again. I think if the poor little orchid had legs, it would have taken off running when it saw me coming!

I realized that in order to get the shot I wanted....one of the little blooms was going to have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Now trust me, I felt awful. I stood there with the scissor contemplating what I was about to do for quite some time and then SNIP, I did it. I cut the little bloom right off the plant. I just kept telling myself it was okay, but I really felt sad.

Then my husband comes in and says, "You cut the flower off?????" I said, "Remember, we bought the plant so I could make the invitations. I had to do it". Now I know that professional photographers don't go cutting the blooms off of the flowers every time they want to take a picture, but I am not a professional and I really just wanted to get this done.

So, I took the next set of pictures and it was a heck of a lot easier moving around one little bloom than it was a potted plant, and I think I got some nice shots. Now, I have never played with the different little options in Picasa before, but I tried some of the effects to see what would happen and fell in love with the soft focus one.

Tomorrow I am going to have all of the shots I like printed and then I will pick the one I am going to use for the invites. I have the little bloom in a dish of water, and I still feel really bad....but I'll get over it. The invtiations are going to be great!