Southern Squirrels Love Their Biscuits!

Just wanted to share a shot I got the other day – it cracks me up.   Apparently when squirrels ‘Down South’ eat dinner they stick with a popular staple – biscuits!  He patiently chewed away while I tried to get a better angle, and didn’t feel threatened until I got a little too close.  Then, of course, he took his snack and made a run for it.  lol!

 

Got gravy? : )

Click here, if you’d like, for a look at the listing in my Etsy shop.  Thanks for having a ‘look’!

Happy Monday~
Heather

 

My Photo Made the Front Page of Etsy!

This may seem like I’m patting myself on the back, but it’s difficult to contain my excitement and so I must share the news.  In order to quit talking about it to my husband repeatedly or spamming my Facebook family, I thought I’d post a quick blog and try to get it out of my system…  Ready?

ONE OF MY PHOTOS WAS ON THE FRONT PAGE OF ETSY!!!!

Whew!  I feel a little better now…

For those of you are not familiar with the site, Etsy is a social ‘market’ website focused on buying/selling handmade and vintage items along with art and craft supplies.  One of the nifty and unique features of Etsy is the option to view and create “Treasury” lists.  A treasury is like the front window of a store – it’s a gallery of items for sale that a site member has picked out and placed together in a grouping.  These curated lists are on a part of the website that can then be searched and viewed by others.  Most treasuries contain 12-16 different items and consist of 3-4 rows of pictures that list the seller and link back to that item’s page to view and (hopefully) purchase.  Creating treasury lists is a great way to keep track of groups of items you’re interested in, helping to promote other businesses and meet and network with people.  I happen to love creating them and enjoy viewing other the treasuries of others.

Sorry for all the detail!  I just wanted to provide a bit of background so it would make more sense when I tell you that Etsy uses treasury lists to provide the bulk of the landing page of the website.  It’s changed throughout the day to feature different treasuries and lists each seller/price/brief item description below the pictures and credits the creator of the treasury.  Here’s a screen shot of the current Etsy front page:

Etsy front page...

I set up a small ‘shop‘ on Etsy a couple about a month and a half (2 months?) ago and offer a variety of artistic photographs.  Since Christmas is coming up I recently added a few pictures that were holiday related.  A couple of days ago someone included one of my photos in their Christmas treasury and it was chosen to be on the front page!  So, long story not at all short, one of my photos was ‘treasured’ and then featured on the front page of the website!  It was thrilling to discover!  I never thought one of my listings would be included in a front page group and I’ve already chatted with quite a few sellers that have waited for years to receive that honor.  Wow!  (I should probably add at this point that unfortunately I didn’t get to actually SEE my photo on the front page because I wasn’t online during the timeframe it was there or I would share a screen shot with you.  Doesn’t it figure that I would be honored like that and miss it completely?  *sigh*  Still – other people saw it and I got a lot of extra traffic in the shop, so it’s still SO exciting!)

Well, enough about me… How are you?  lol!  Hopefully blogging about this has helped me put it (slightly) behind me and I’ll be able to quit talking about it soon.  In the meantime – you should definitely check out Etsy if you haven’t already!  There are so many amazing handmade and vintage items that would make perfect holiday gifts…  And if you see someone’s listing has a little note that says “This Item was Featured on the Front Page of Etsy”, please understand that they probably had to put that on the listing in an effort to try to diffuse their excitement a little so they’d stop driving people crazy by talking about it everywhere else!

haha!

Etsy Sale, Being Thankful and a Coupla Pictures

Wow.

Busy week, huh?  One blogger was talking about our “death march to Christmas” and sometimes it kinda feels that way.  To me, anyway!  Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely LOVE this time of year!  However, Thanksgiving is slowly but surely getting edged out and I find that unfortunate and unacceptable.  That is not to say that I didn’t avidly read Black Friday sale papers and have a sale in my Etsy shop.  : )  (40% off the photo of your choice – use “BLACKFRIDAY40″ as your coupon code.)  I won’t use this as an opportunity to get you to visit my shop (although I won’t complain if you DO want to go check it out), but I WILL say that Etsy has so many deals and bargains this weekend!  It’s a great site and there are so many unique gift options available that you’re not going to find in a massive retail chain.  Most shops that have sales tagged items with “Black Friday” or “Cyber Monday“, so it’s pretty easy to find discounts…

Ok – I’m going to move on so I don’t sound like a bloggery advertisement for myself.  : )   Switching back to the original topic of Thanksgiving and its turkey and festive family gluttony suffering in the shadow of the Christmas season —

Even though I can’t deny the allure of a turkey feast and I LOVE my after Thanksgiving sandwich, I do try to remember all the things in life I have to give thanks for.  This year was no exception although there were a few obstacles to overcome in my quest to “thank”!  I broke my favorite mixing bowl and a plastic measuring cup (how that happened, I’m still not sure), argued with my hubby about goofy things, found out we have been harboring  a mouse in our house, and sometime after midnight discovered in a fit of shivers that our heat had died.  Sounds like a holiday, right?  : )  Still, recognizing the wonderful things I have and giving thanks helps put the icky moments into perspective.  Perhaps if we all made it a daily practice to note at least one of our blessings it would bring more joy to life.

Today I’m thankful someone read this… I hope you’re glad you read it too!

Sounds kinda corny, huh?  Well – deal with it ’cause it’s sincere!  : )  To wrap it up, I’m posting a few of the pictures I took in the past couple of weeks.  Enjoy!

First batch of popovers I have ever baked~

 

A seed pod "fluff" caught on a tree branch...

 

Bare trees against the sky at dusk~

 

I love blue Christmas ornaments! So when I took this picture I added it to my Etsy shop in case other people do too...

 

New Etsy Shop Additions!