E-willow part 2

I have some items on E-willow. I have not abandon the Etsy site yet, but I felt that product was not moving, and I really need someone to purchase cards that have been there since January. I know that my first pictures were taken with a camera that I had not gotten into using, except for pointing and shooting, and not caring if the picture is out of focus or not. I found out some things about the camera, and the trick (if you want to call it that) is to stand far away, but not too far. A white focus area means that you are ready to take it, a red focus area means that the picture is not, and green focus area means it is a good picture.




Anyway, as for E-willow, I did the following:



Two of the items came from Etsy. I know, I know, I am not supposed to have the same item up on two sites. Bad move according to Etsy, but for one, I just deactivated it, and the other is for making custom scrapbooks, so it does not matter, because each scrapbook is going to be unique to the person in mind. So as I maintain and building both shops, I would love it if you or someone you know come visit my shops, which are listed on the right-handed side. I love referrals, and will be grateful if you do visit. Also visit My Shop at www.longaberger.com/patricialogan. There are so many things coming out for fall at Longaberger, and I want to share them with you. The holidays are coming up, and before that, the campaign for Horizon of Hope is still going on, and you have until October 31 to purchase those items. I do advise you to get them now, before the end of the month, because now you can go directly through my website for it, after August 31st, you will need to contact me through this blog, my Tricia's baskets and more blog, www.triciabsktsandmore@blogspot.com or email me at plogan@columbus.rr.com. For the Horizon of Hope products, for every purchase, $2 will go towards cancer research and one step to finding a cure for this type of disease.



5 reasons for doing what I do:



I know redundancy is not the best policy, but it helps to remind myself why I do the things I do.



Gift giving. The giving of gift is nothing new. People have been doing it for years, even centuries. The Wisemen gave gifts to Jesus as a baby, and those gift were of gold, frankincense, and Mir. Gift giving during that time, was often reserved for royalty, as a sign to welcome the new king, and a king yet to come. Since that time, you give gifts in celebration of a birthday, wedding, holidays, birth of a baby, and so forth. In terms of the products that I sell, that is what I want to think about in those terms; rather it is in the form of a card, candle, or a scrapbook of a loved one. What if you do not having any money? Well, the gift can be in the form of doing something for someone special: teaching someone how to read or a hobby you like doing, visiting someone who is shut in for any reason; taking someone to get their errands done, even if they know how to drive. I have still have my best example for that type of giving still living, that is my parents, especially my mother. For over thirty years, she has been Sunday School Superintendent and Christian Education Chairperson, and has done so, without asking for anything in return, except cooperation from the congregation. In return, she has gotten standing ovations, rewards, that she did not ask for, and the cooperation that she needed for God to help her get His congregation ready for what awaits us when Jesus returns. I have a feeling that when it is time for her to stand in front of God almighty Himself, she will not say, this is what I did, but what was accomplished while she was here. She has rubbed off on all of us. I work with the youth, and dad is a trustee. My brother, Leon was touch and go for a while, but he now lives in Dayton, and is about to become a dad for the second time, and will be get married soon. My oldest nephew, Mike, who is Leon’s son from a previous relationship is in the youth group, helps with the audio equipment, and is on the youth usher board. The jury is still out on my sister, Schaundra. She was on the Youth usher board, and a liturgical dancer, but now she is finding own way at the moment. So I pray that she does, and find her way back to church, not necessarily back to the church that she grew up in, but to a church family that she is comfortable with, and will steer her in the right direction. This is the type of gift giving my mother gave to us, and I am grateful for it.



I love the products.



OK, it is time for me to confess…I love doing what I do, because it relaxes me. It also goes back to the gift giving part. I shared with you in my last post on how to make a $1.00 card. That is how I started with cards, making a $1 card. It grew from that point, and they started getting fancier, but still simple. Even though I can make these types of cards, for myself, I prefer not to, because I want to simplistic of the cards to shine through. That is the different between a $1 card and $5 card, and some shops that mass produce the fancier ones (I am not naming names) prefer it that way, because it is more profit. I prefer to save it for the customer who wants it. I prefer to produce a really good card for that person’s budget than producing a half way decent fancy card and charging them a lot of money for something they simply cannot use. It is a waste of my time and theirs, but if that is what the customer wants, than I will tell them that it will take longer than the estimated time we originally agreed on. I actually made my first fancy card, three months ago. Before, it was a fold the card blank in half, put embellishments on, a little sentiment with a good inside quote that there you have it. Now I know how to do gate fold cards, double pocket cards, and a new one I made a sample of the other night, thanks to a Stampin! Up rep on You Tube. I can now make them on my Cricut Expression machine. I am loving it more and more. Next stop, beading (probably not for a while), LOL. I still love scrapbooking of course. I still love to sell Longaberger, because of the durability of the product, and you can organize and have it sit there to make it look pretty, but don’t. The products are functional, and for those who say it all the time, they are not country, and there are ways to make them inexpensive. They are also very green, because for every basket that is made a tree is replaced to grow, and you do not have to use those nasty plastic bags. I never use them, but I have a confession to make, I need to take my reusable bags more to the groceries, because they will automatically put them in the plastics, and I hate that.



Oh gosh did I say 5, I meant to say 2.



OK I am running a little at the mouth, but I do have a couple of things to show you:







Are these a beauty?

My new venture outside of cards. Bookmarks. I see them all the time and I wonder about them. I have these up for sale on E-willow, and I am proud of the way they turned out. I used The Storybook Cart on this. Yes, I know I have to save on electricity, but I did cut bunch of these out. I glued them to the paper clip with foam dots, but before I did that, I stamped the center with a retired Stampin! Up stamp set called Olive You. It is a love note done in Sepia. The heart is colored with a copic marker (R29-Lipstick Red). I started to put a little bling on it, but for the sake of it being too heavy on the paperclip, I reneged on it.



My next venture is actually an old one: Tags.

This is part of my altered collection. I have two sets on E-Willow both made the same way: Sponge ink like crazy on the store bought tags (sorry no Cricut this time), a splash of copic markers on it. Some feux stone on it, color on the feux stone, cardstock in bit and pieces glued on, and top it off with a pink initial in the corner. Super simple.



Well that is it. See you next time, and God Bless you.