Happy Festivus

Yep, it’s that day...

And for you George lovers out there (bwahahaha—-you weirdos!) You’re welcome 😉 

Christmas music marathon

So I wore my fibromyalgia support bracelet for so long it wore out and broke. Does that mean I'm cured now? Hahahaha...yeah right.

Other than that today was pretty good. People have been getting really slack around here so I put the tv on the Christmas music station and told the kids it will NOT be changed until the kitchen & living room are cleaned up and the Christmas decorating is done & the tree is up. Then I just spent the day doing ME stuff. It was very enjoyable and I'm going to be doing a lot more of that :)

Guess what's still playing on the tv? Guess what's not up?

Guess who is quite OK with *that* and with Christmas music and has control of the remotes? Bwahahaha...and I will sing along if I feel like it too. No worries, no how. I've got some nice projects I plan on working on, I've got peppermint & mocha hazelnut coffee and I can do this all week

Hope everyone had (or is still having) an awesome Independence Day!

 I loved spending the day with the bunch, love my nieces and nephews, it was so great :)


Here is a wonderful fireworks show from a different perspective. It's so beautiful, definitely worth the watch: Fireworks filmed from the inside via drone (click on the link, it's awesome!)

and winding down our wonderful Independence Day but not the end of our 4th of July weekend, I leave you with one of my favorite songs this time of year: Mother Freedom by Bread. Give it a chance, you might like it LOL.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Question of the Week #54

The "Sunday Morning Craftiness" Studio

So yesterday I loaded up a bag with some beading supplies and went to my Mom's for "Sunday Morning Craftiness" (that's what we are calling it anyway, lol). 

One of my mom's many hobbies is quilting and she's really good but as her Parkinson's progresses she has more troubles so she's trying to get some specialty quilts she's always wanted to do crossed off her list before she's back to "grade school level" (her words, not mine, I never progressed above high school level in most areas of sewing, lol). She's currently working on a puffy quilt for one of my brothers for his birthday (July 7th) and we needed to put in a major crafting session since she wants to present it to him on the 4th. It's a king size quilt so even with her previous dexterity she would still have needed help with this large amount of fabric.

I brought my beads so she could work on her project and I mine and when she needed a hand stretching or pinning (about the extent of my skills in quilting) I could just jump up and help out. It's fun because she's got this huge long dining room table and we set up tv trays beside our respective chairs to hold our tools to keep the table from getting too cluttered for the actual projects and she likes to listen to an old time radio program (and I don't mind a bit) and we talk and sip our coffee while crafting.

One of the things we talked about was our "game plan" for Independence Day festivities--- we are having a grill fest and all but one of my siblings and their children will be attending. At last count I have 18 nieces and nephews ranging in age from 24 yrs to 6 1/2 months old. At least 14 of them are going to be in attendance. The weather is supposed to be nice so we've made sure to have the big swim rafts ready and I'm picking up some bubbles for the smaller kids on Thursday and let me tell you, I am really looking forward to all that bubble blowing and wet kid chaos!

I still have a bunch to do though and I am really enjoying getting the opportunity to get a lot of stuff done ahead so most of the entertaining prep work is minimized on the actual day. I know some of you don't celebrate this holiday but it made me wonder what everyone else is doing this week. Holiday prep or not, going out or staying home, I know everyone is doing something...even if it's just resting and recuperating.

and there is this week's question:

What is on your schedule for this week? Bunches? Nothing? Is there something in particular you are looking forward to this week? Care to share?


OK...Looking forward to hearing your answers!

Please remember to submit your suggestions and questions to: spdychevy@gmail.com with Question in the subject line and we'll get your question up here soon!

Happy Monday to all :)

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Facebook Group

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Blog

Question of the Week #52

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do. (I posted about this at length yesterday, sorry if any of it seems repetitive.)

Usually any holiday specific jewelry or projects that I make are gifts, with a specific recipient in mind. An example is if a friend has a birthday in early October (and likes Halloween, lol) then I'll make them a gift they can wear for the holiday. Same with Christmas. With November I tend to make seasonal (Fall) themed jewelry rather than Thanksgiving but I'm sure you get the idea.

Now, that said...(lol) One of my goals on my 2014 list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer some seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

From what I've found online it is generally considered best to start selling for the holidays at least 12-14 weeks ahead, especially for the Christmas season.

That would mean around September 16th for Christmas, around August 21st for Thanksgiving and around July 25th for Halloween!

I'm thinking that is pushing it a little too much to go all out (really? lol) but if I start listing holiday items low key with just a note or a reminder here and there reminding people about their upcoming gift lists...well maybe.

I chose June 15th for the start of my designing and crafting for the fall season but I am still working out listing dates and deadlines.

I just want to be ready and front and center when the holiday season hits full bore for once just to see how it goes and that takes a lot of planning to get to "do" the holiday season and enjoy it too. My slogan for my goal list (multi-year goal list BTW) has been "In it to win it" and so far it's been "try to get in it...try..." so this is a step IN (yay!)

Right now though I am enjoying focusing on the season I am preparing for and fully savoring checking off another goal on my list. 

I've got two questions again this week:

If you have a goal list, how are you doing on it? Care to share? :)

and

Halloween in June and Christmas in July...is anyone planning on major listing increases and/or increasing online sales this coming holiday season? It doesn't have to be seasonal/holiday specific, just more offerings as gift items etc.

OK...Looking forward to hearing your answers!

Please remember to submit your suggestions and questions to: spdychevy@gmail.com with Question in the subject line and we'll get your question up here soon!

Happy Monday to all :)

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Facebook Group

Short and sweet link to the PCASG Blog

Christmas in July means Halloween (and Thanksgiving) in June

I don't know if you've all heard the phrase "Christmas in July". I have but I have always associated with it differently than the definition found here on Wikipedia: Christmas in July

As to the "Christmas in July" article above, I really don't know much about it and that is not what I am talking about here.

I am talking about a phenomenon that used to exist in the world of periodicals and magazines. I don't know if still exists in this sped up world of easy push button desktop publishing but when I sat down at the end of last December to write down my wishes and goals for the coming year I kept thinking of this marketing preparation concept and how it could relate to increased online sales in my store.

I have been mindful of this marketing preparation because "back in the day" (about 10-15 years ago, lol) in the writing world, this is when print magazines were prepping their holiday features and spreads for the holiday editions. So if you wanted to pitch a Christmas article you needed to be pitching in May because you'd be writing in June for a July article and photo spread deadline. It was the same way with Thanksgiving & Halloween but of course plan even earlier.

I normally don't do much (or any) seasonal specific designs and I usually don't offer them for sale online if I do.

One of my goals on my list concerning my etsy store is to increase my listings and seasonal sales, specifically targeting the three commercially big U.S. holidays in Fall and Winter. AND make and offer seasonal specific jewelry too PLUS all the fun vintage stuff we have been finding to list online as well. (Oh boy do I love the vintage holiday decorations! LOL)

Keeping the "Christmas in July" preparation in mind I planned on designing and making some projects earlier than that to be finished, photographed, inventoried and ready for listing.

Checking the etsy listing length dates was another thing that I had to check and coordinate as I list a shipping deadline for each holiday about 5 business days in advance of each particular holiday. For instance, my shipping deadline for Thanksgiving 2014 (November 27th) is November 20th but the Christmas shipping deadline is a full 7 business days (December 16th) before the actual holiday due to the inevitable "mail crush" that happens to slow up the mail every year. I don't want seasonal listings (unless they are a holiday "overlap" such as Fall/Harvest/Halloween (some) and Thanksgiving) to run past the shipping deadline date. I calculate etsy listing date lengths so that I can tailor my listing end dates to the precise shipping deadline date.

What all this planning and preparation means is that June 15th is my kick off for designing, making, photographing and writing listing copy for the 2014 Holiday season...

If any PCASG member is interested in joining me in this silly adventure of crafting for Fall and Winter in the Summer, please let me know and maybe we could share our progress (or stumbling blocks lol) with each other.

So Happy Halloween in June so to speak :) I'm knee deep in black and orange and pumpkins this afternoon. Hopefully with more pictures and progress updates coming soon :)