Simple Abundance Update

Wow the time is flying, huh? We are already half way through February and it's time for me to touch base with my journey through Simple Abundance, just in case my SA partner is reading my updates ;)
This month seems to be focusing on keeping in mind that each day is a new 24 hr period in which to experience new adventures, even if they are out of our comfort zone. Many times when we try something different, it opens us up to a creative juice that we would not have found otherwise. This month I have tried listening to different types of music, without complaining :D ...and sharing time with the hubster learning about history, when I really wanted to be chatting in the forums.
There have been a couple of excursions we were challenged to take, that to be honest, I simply did not do because of bad weather. I adapted them to our shut-in situation and completed the task my own way even if it was indoors.
All in all I am still on track and still recording 5 things everyday that I am grateful for.

One of the things I am always thankful for is writing for HandMade News. As of this writing I have 15 of my articles on the 50 Top Articles list. This means that these articles have gotten over 25 votes. I absolutely love featuring shops and sellers! It totally makes my day when I get to send someone the 'Congratulations! You're the Featured Artisan!' message. It makes their day; it makes mine. It's a win win situation.

I would like to share a link with a couple of articles that are only a few votes away from being on that Top Articles list. If you could spare a minute or so, I would really appreciate a green thumb's up vote (located at the bottom of the article, just above the comments section)
http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=3709
and
http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=3473

Til next time,

XOXOXOXOXO,
Cindi

I got Featured!

Yes I got featured, but that's later....I simply just can't believe how fast the time is flying! It's already half way through September! Our garden has really begun to produce, and even though this garden is tiny compared to years past we still have more than we can eat. We have made several trips to our neighbors unloading tomatoes and zucchini and yellow squash.
This week I canned/pickled sliced jalapenos and cherry hots and froze 4 quarts of roasted and peeled anaheim chiles. I also made a batch of chocolate chocolate chip coconut zucchini bread(not a misprint-it IS double chocolate!) and Mr. Clay and I had fun delivering our 'dessert' bread. Maybe I should give you all the recipe. If you'd like it, leave me a comment and I'll get it on a future post.

Sorry, the pictures Mr. Clay took of the garden highlight his tractor more than his garden:

I will get some better shots tomorrow morning when I harvest another bucketful anaheim chiles.

Other than the garden stuff, I've been real busy this week writing. An article that I submitted to HandMade News a loooooong time ago was published in between my regular column days. And it just so happens that the article is a polymer clay mosaic project I did. (I'd post a picture, but they are with the article.)

So I had three articles publish at the end of this week. Thurs, Fri. & Sat I have been busy promoting them. And one of them got the highest votes of any article in our section! Way to go Christie...she sent the word out to a gazillion peeps and she has the most votes.

I have now written 17 articles and 9 of them are on the top articles list. Thank you everyone for all the thumbs up votes. I really appreciate it.

So my articles this week were:

Sarah of BellaSweet who loves to work in gemstones

Christie of ChristieCottage who has varied artistic interests

And saving the best for last..ME ! :P My Mosaic Planter It's really a cool planter ;)

As always, I would appreciate a thumbs up vote (at the bottom of the article just above the comments section)


Until next time, have a great week!
XOXOXO
Cindi

Blushie!

Blushie was the first skin care products seller/shop that I've been able to interview. I really enjoyed getting to know her and I hope you will too. Here is Meagan of Blushie . Please go and vote her a thumb's up. (at the end of the article just above the comments section)

Doesn't that soap look delicious? Check out Blushie's feature and find out about how she came up with the name of her shop.

Until next time- have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

XOXOXXO,

Cindi

Featured Artisan-JenniferLynnProductions

Well my regular publication days on HandMade News are Thursday and Saturday, so I hope you all don't mind when I get on here twice a week and ask for your click and vote on those days. My last article has top # votes in our Dept! And that is with only 30 votes! If I could get everyone who follows my blog to vote, I'd be top dog :D



Anywho here is JenniferLynnProductions' interview. I've been promo-ing it all over the place. If you've run into it twice, I apologize. And here's a sample of Jennifer's photographic art: How cool is that?

Have a Great Day everyone!

XOXOXOX

Not One But Two!

I had another feature published this morning on HandMade News...and come to think of it I had one published two days ago.

Ok the first article is Lin of FlauntRox , FlauntDesignsJewelry and well she just flaunts where ever she can :P

The next one is Erica of SierraPelonaCrochet, and she claims she has more earrings than she could possibly wear. And then she sent me a beautiful picture of herself with NO earrings :P

So for any newcomers- When you click on the article, be sure to vote a thumbs up (located at the bottom just above the comments sections)
The more votes and comments I get, the longer I will be able to feature great shops/sellers. Maybe you'll be next?

Also could you please leave me a comment here as to whether you can see the advertising on the right hand side of the article. If you don't see the ads, can you tell me what you do see?

Thank you for all your help...BBL to announce a new giveaway

Sheee's Baaack :)

A long time ago in the cobwebs of my mind I remember doing a feature here on my blog with Quiltingdiva. If you ever try and have the last word with her late at night on a thread, you'd better be able to type fast. I still laugh about the night we were both trying to have the last word before Etsy shut down for maintenance.

Well the Qdiva is back and this time she snagged an interview for the Featured Artisan Dept on HandMade News. So click on over there and meet Stacy Edell of Quiltingdiva. And be sure to check out her shop. This diva has been a busy bee and her shop is stocked with all kinds of new items. and be sure to check the purses and totes. I found all different colors pictured within the listings, and the 6 pocket purses are a very cool idea. But you need to click on the listing to look at the other pictures in it to see where the pockets are. See? Do you see 6 pockets on that purse? Go take a look, and you'll see why she is the Diva :) BTW- you can click on the picture ------>

I must tell you that HandMade News has changed the layout of their site, so if it looks a bit (OK, very) different to you, that is the reason. Leave me a comment on what you like (or dislike) and I will be sure and pass it on to the main editor. I absolutely love that our editor listens to our feedback.

Until next time have Great Days :)

My Last Two Articles

The last two???
Well, only for the Just For Fun Dept. The first one is about 'Nothing'
Can you just see the look on my editor's face when she got the file titled 'Nothing' and then the first line said 'This is an article about nothing' I'll bet her eyeballs rolled right out of her head..LOL; at least that is what I was going for.
So if you didn't click on nothing above, here is your last chance: My article about nothing . I do believe it's one of my best, but you'll have to be the judge of that. I must say though, I am a little worried about PizzamanMike out there in Nothing, AZ. When I tried to send him a link to the article, the email bounced back to me. It would be sad if he invested all that money, to not even have nothing to show for it. If anyone will be passing through Nothing, I would really like to hear that Mike is still there.

And now for my last article in the Just For Fun Dept- It's all about BumbleBees and it too has an interesting tale - about some undiscovered gold still rumored to be near a ghost town called BumbleBee.

So you know the drill - please click over to my articles and vote me a thumbs up, and if you are so inclined, you can sign in and leave a comment. I promise you they won't spam you, if you sign in. I have had questions where is it to vote? If you go to the bottom of the article just beofre the comments you'll see a line that says "Tweet this article" "Share this article" and then "Vote for this artilce" with pictures of two thumbs; one goes up and one is thumbs down...you can just ignore the thumbs down for me :D When you click on the thumb, it registers a vote. And you can only vote once, oherwise I would vote myself a winner everytime!

My bestest news is, I transferred to the Featured Artisan Dept. where I will be doing interviews of shops/sellers full time! It makes no difference what venue you sell on, or if you have your own website; if you are interested in being featured you can leave a post here with a way for me to send you a set of interview questions. I am so happy to be doing this. Spotlighting people is my most favoritest thing to do! So please bombard me with requests. I love it!

Have a creative week everyone!

XOXOXOX
Cindi

ps I know I need to list another giveaway. I am really hoping to get that done this evening. Keep checking back. Look in the right hand upper corner for the announcement.

My First Main Feature

Yay! I finally got my first main feature published this morning! Absolutely Gourd-geous is all about gourds, and it features some incredible gourd artists and a couple of shops that sell gourd seeds. Take a look at this picture; it's one of the artists featured:

Can you believe someone made that from a gourd?


I would really appreciate it if you would click on over there and vote me thumbs up. You can leave a comment if you sign up. I promise they don't spam you; it's only for ID purposes to see where visitors come from.


My editor is leaning on me to improve my views...I'm doin the best I can, but I need your help.





Thanks and have a Great Day!


Cindi

Painting Puzzle

Well moving right along with my writing career, my next article was published this morning on HandMade News. It's a quick painting puzzle . As always, I need all the thumbs up and comments possible. I am a little bit down, cause I've only got 2 comments, and I've been promoting all over the place!

I realize that they make one sign up to leave a comment, but I promise you, there is no spam involved. All you have to do is create a user login name and a password, that's it!

Please , please , pretty please with a cherry on top :) leave me a comment and vote. My views have dropped waaaay down, and they are starting to lean on me for more response to my articles. If I don't get a following, they will drop me :( and then I won't be able to feature shops, items, and sellers.

And I really do like making someone's day when I get to tell them they have been featured.
Til next time...keep on smiling :)
XOXOXXO,
Cindi

Chalk Art

Wow! I got two articles published this week! And so without further ado, I bring you the link to the next, in my journalistic career

http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=2833

Please click on over there and leave me a vote and a comment. The more I get, the longer I get to feature shops and items. Who knows? Maybe yours will be next :)

And you really must click on the two artist's links while you are there. Their sidewalk art is totally freakin amazing! I was wandering the web for hours checking out 3-d art. I had no idea there was so much. I guess that's what comes from living in a small town for the last 10 years. (I have no excuse for the other 15 years of my life)... ;)

And while I am on the subject of articles, did anyone (besides my best friend from 5th grade) try out the dinner roll/bread recipe? I should have made bread two days ago as we are all out, but I bribed my way out of it when I found a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix hiding in the cupboard.

Christmas in July sales are in full force. ClayItAgain has finally joined in on the action, with a half dozen or so items listed on Etsy and Artfire.

And the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild will be featuring a Christmas in July event next week. Details will be announced in a few days.

One of my most popular items last year was these little elves. and out of all the different colored packages that I use, the red is the most popular.

I have a bunch more stuff still to list for the Christmas in July sale. I hope I am able to get them all listed before August gets here, or I'm going to be having a Christmas in August sale.

I still have more wreaths, elves, and snowmen to get photographed and listed, so I better say good bye for now.

Have a great week everyone...I'll be back soon *waves*

XOXOXOXO

Cindi

ps Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway! (Upper right hand corner for details)

Week 2 of My Publishing Career

My second article on Handmade News was published this morning. It's a mouth watering, fill the house with good smells, tastey recipe....yummmm. And Mr. Clay has woofed down every last bit of it, and has already started asking when am I going to make more.
So please click on over to my article and show me some lubs. I guess the more comments and clicks I get, the higher it goes in the rankings. My last article got so much action it was #8 on the top ten list of poplular articles! Yay!
I am making this post short and sweet.

Don't forget I am having a giveaway. If you would like to win the flip flop earrings pictured in the upper right corner, please leave a comment with a way for me to contact you should you be the winner. So far I only have 3 entries. That sure is good odds!
Have a great rest of the week everyone.
XOXOXOX

Yay!! I'm a Published Columnist!!

This morning I awoke to my first column being published! I have been tooting my horn all over the place. Please visit Handmade News and read my article and show me some lubs. The more comments and thumbs up I get, the more I can keep writing and featuring sellers and their items. Plus as an added bonus, there is also a quiz to test your smarts. So now that I've told you all that, you probably want a link, heh? OK, I'm in the Just for Fun section and my article is Attracting Birds (not my choice of title, but whaddya gonna do,huh?)

In celebration of my 1st article published I am offering a 20% discount!! on anything in either of my shops til July 4th! Just send me a convo (thru Etsy), a message (thru ArtFire) or an email (clayitagaincindi [at] yahoo[dot] com) and I will reduce the price for your purchase before you have to pay. Oh, and let me know you saw the special here on my blog. That's all there is to it. That means you could actually get $50 off my larger paintings and the discount is not limited to one item either. This is my stimulus package to help stimulate the economy :)

Ok to bring you up to date with the rest of me :) I finally broke down and set up some Facebook Fan Pages. I guess it's the newest rage for promoting; so now ClayItAgain has it's own fan page....and 12MidnightOils has it's own fan page. So why am I telling you this? Well, become a fan of each of them, and when my fan list hits 100 I will draw someone's name for a $10 gift certificate. Good toward's anything in either shop. That's going to be 2 drawings, not just one. And just in case 1 person happens to win both drawings (not likely..BUT just in case) yes, you can use both at once for a $20 savings. Now how can you turn that down? I have not yet begun to promote my fan pages, so they don't have any fans, except me. I am my #1 fan! How vain is that? So hurry on over there and become a fan. I've always wanted one.......hundred!

And as soon as I get the pictures taken I am going to start a giveaway here too...I am hoping to get the blog promo up and running by this weekend.....so stay tuned to me me me me :P
Have a Great Day everyone!

Hubby, Job, & Garden update

I have been waiting for a quick break in features to post a bit of news that I had to share with you all. I got a "job" writing articles for HandmadeNews on ArtFire's home page ! I am in the Just For Fun section. See? click on that link...but come right back afterwards; you'll see a teensy weensy avatar of me. If you click on my name, it takes you to my bio. Soon, that page will start filling up with articles that I've written. My first two articles are due tomorrow, and I'm not sure how soon the articles are published, but you can count on me to rattle your chain and give me some love when they are published :) They have a comment section down below each article and a 'thumbs up,thumbs down. So at least be sure and leave me a thumb :)) I am hoping to get a widget or a button for my blog soon, so it will be easy to click your way over there. And hey-they still have a link up at the top saying they are hiring, if you are interested.

As for the hubster's health. Well, a few weeks back he was sitting up in bed and coughed at the same time. It wasn't a big cough, but it was enough that it separated the cartilage in his ribs where they went in and did the biopsy. He was in so much pain that I took him to the Dr. They gave him some pain pills, but figured that it was time to wean him off the steroids. So he had to cut it down 1/2 pill every week. The first day of the cut back he could already feel a difference. And by the second week he was noticably weaker. It also affected his attitude, and he was an absolute meany to be around. Constantly trying to pick fights over nothing. The worst part was that he couldn't see it himself. He thought everyone was trying to provoke him. He's now off of them completely, and is tolerable most of the time. And he gets so weak and out of breath even just watering the garden. It frightens me because I see what's coming. I don't say anything to him though.

We just got a letter today from the Social Security Disability and they want the hubster to go take a breathing test at the government's expense. But that won't be til July 1, so now we are wondering how much longer we have to wait til they make a determination on his disability claim. I also dread these breathing tests. It makes me cry to see him try and blow into a machine and then the coughing and nearly throwing up afterwards. Enough of that talk :(

I still have not been able to get a job, and financially, things are extremely tight. We've been able to survive this whole year on less than 5K. I'm not sure I know anyone who could do that. We are sooo fortunate that our house is paid off, but we still need water and electricity to make our beans and rice. I wish I knew how to make a donation button on my blog. And then I even wonder if anyone would help. I know things are tight out there. I wonder if some people know how fortunate they are right now.

We have begun to eat radishes from the garden. As as I suspected, the hubby didn't water the lettuce seeds enough and they didn't even sprout. So he planted some more and still hasn't watered them enough. He wanted to do this garden HIS way, so I have stayed out of it. I was going to plant some lettuce in a planter for us, but he nabbed my planter for radishes too. So... at least we have radishes lol

Well I better wrap it up for this time. I have another feature waiting in the wings. Take care everyone and think good thoughts for us.