40 days without sugar begins now.

I’m giving up sugar for Lent. 

There. I said it.

It’s public and out for all of the internets to see.
I’m accountable now.

I was browsing the Etsy forums and someone mentioned they were giving up browsing the forums for Lent. The poster commented that she will be more focused on working on her shop, be more productive, and hopefully more successful.  I started thinking about what I should give for Lent.

I have lapsed in the past few years and haven’t given anything up in a while. When we were kids, it was most often chocolate, or potato chips. One year it was gum.
 
I remember the year I tried to give up liver.


Ma said that wasn’t the point and I had to pick something I actually liked.
I also remember the year I gave up coffee…let’s not go there.

I decided when I was eating the mini-baking chocolate peanut butter cups that I needed to give up sugar.
I crave something sweet after dinner, almost every night. I don’t know where this came from, because we were never a dessert-every-night-after-dinner family.

I know exactly where it came from.
Me.


Here are my rules for the next 40 days:

• No refined sugar; white, brown, raw or otherwise
• No chocolate, cookies, pie or candy
• No ice cream (sorry D)
• No pop (not even diet)

Honey and Agave syrup are acceptable as is Splenda in my coffee
Naturally occurring sugar i.e. fruits are acceptable

I’m doing this for me. To bring back my focus, take control of my health and show my strength. 
Lent is about many things, and I don’t necessarily believe it has to be entirely religious.  I can choose to give up something at any time, for any duration. 
I’m choosing to start today because I want to.  I have a start date, and an end date- Easter Sunday.

I also am curious to see what other benefits I will get out of this.  I expect to have more energy, be clear headed and hopefully lose a few un-healthy pounds.

I just looked at my list of rules and realized that I should clarify: I don’t have a completely unhealthy diet.  I don’t eat pie or ice cream on a daily basis (but I’d love to).  But the chocolate chips in the granola bars, a cookie here and there…it’s adding up.

So here we go.
40 days without sugar begins now.

Technorati Tags: Lent,40 days,sugar

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Confession: I’m not on Pinterest

Recently, my friend asked me “Are you on Pinterest yet?”.

“No. Pinterest is the devil”. 

It’s not really. 

Or is it? (disclaimer- I have nothing against the creators, or users of Pinterest nor do I really think they are the devil or any hellish beast)

I’ve heard from countless people “ I signed up for Pinterest; I was on there for hours!”.

Reason number 1 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I already spend too much time online. I run an online business and am in the process of launching a second online business (surprise! but more on that later). With email, Facebook, Twitter, Etsy, Flickr and this blog, I have enough to do. 
I share interesting links to articles or photos on Facebook or Twitter.

I’m always plugged in.

(PS- having your pins linked to your Twitter feed when you go on a pinning spree 5 x a day is the fastest way to get me to unfollow you)

Reason number 2 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I have enough trouble keeping up with what I have online already.  Take a look at the dates of the posts on this blog… I need to make my blogging more consistent, not less. 

Reason number 3 why I’m not on Pinterest:

     I have enough on my project-to-do list. 

The top argument I hear for joining Pinterest is “it’s so inspirational”!  

I’m not lacking inspiration.  And when I do get stuck and need some crafty  mojo, I have a Google reader full of blogs, pages of bookmarks I can review, my whiteboard and my notebook full of projects I can/want/am waiting to start.


Reason number 4 whey I’m not on Pinterest:

“But Stephanie, you have an online business! You need to be on Pinterest, so people go to your shop and buy your things”!

     Really? 

See number 3- if most people are using Pinterest as a to-do list for their own DIY projects…they aren’t my target market. 

Etsy recently added a “pin it” button in each listing, and beside the “tweet” and “share” buttons.  If someone wants to pin photos of my cards, they can.  People are free to pin my items if they so choose.

It also seems to be a faux-pas to pin your own items for your own promotion.  Whether that’s an actual Term of Use, or just frowned upon I don’t know.  But I fail to see how being on Pinterest would equate to more sales for my shop.  I’d personally prefer to be in more treasuries on Etsy, which I would consider to be the first pinterest-type arrangement.  People looking at treasuries are more likely to be buyers.



There has been some talk in the Etsy forums, that as other users “pin” your photos, and not all owners provide consent to the “pin-er”, the owner loses copyright protection.  I don’t really know about that, nor am I worried about it. I gave up my online privacy that day in grade six I signed up for an email account.  If you put anything on the internet you have to be aware someone, somewhere will probably use it, find it, or claim it as their own.  My photos on Flickr are more important to me than my images of my greeting cards.  Although Flickr has licensing and other stops in place that I can use to protect my images. And  my favourite images, the ones I really want to protect, are not online at all.

I think the idea of Pinterest is great; I can see how it could be useful to organize ideas,  be fun and inspiring. 


But I don’t need it.
I don’t want it.
And frankly, I’m over it.

Will I ever join Pinterest?
I’ve learned it can be foolish to never say never.

The way I see it is until Pinterest starts offering units of time to complete my ideas/projects, I won’t be signing up requesting an invite (and what is up with that?) any time soon.

Because time is what I really need.

S

ETA- Pinterest is a hot topic right now.  After I wrote this post (last night) there were no less than 4 threads on Pinterest in the Etsy business forums.  Most of the discussions were regarding legal rights to images that may be sold by Pinterest to affiliated websites (Amazon, Target, etc)- 'images', not "items".  Lore has it that Pinterest keeps the full file when an image is 'uploaded' (vs. being pinned).
The TOU's posted from Pinterest indicate you are to only upload an image that you own the copyright to, or have permission to upload.


There's also concern that Etsy didn't ask the member's permission to put the "pin" button in all of our shops.  


I haven't read the Pinterest TOUs in their entirety, but this seems to be a slippery slope.  I can see how a photographer could be caught in this loophole.  I hope that Pinterest addresses these issues.

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Hello!

How are you? It’s been a little while, I know.  Things have been quite busy here.  I had a great weekend at the Artist’s Affair Valentine Show and I’ve been working hard to restock the A Paper Buffet Etsy shop .  I have some great new ideas for 2012, but I don’t seem to have enough time to implement them all.  Don’t you hate when that happens? I’m trying to write them all down so that I can work through them one by one.  While holiday cards (Christmas, Valentine’s, etc) are very busy times for me, I also want to create some cards to keep on hand, that you can use for any reason…or for no reason at all!

I made a few of these cards for the Artist’s Affair show and got some really great feedback (and sold out!)  I’ve expanded the line and added a new option in the shop.  I’m going to call this the “hello” line, for lack of a better title.

Each card is made with a kraft base, with a stamped animal inked in a colour to match the card stock matting.  I love the white space on the card- which is usually a bad thing!

Lion

 

Owl

 

 

Fox

 

Turtle

 

Whale

 

I can’t decide which is my favourite, so I’ve decided you shouldn’t have to either.  I’ve offered a “choose 3” option in the shop (along with a slight discount for buying the set) so you’ll never be caught without a card!

 

So, tell me if you had to choose, which one is your favourite?

 

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: A Paper Buffet,greeting cards,animal cards,A Paper Buffet on Etsy,Owl card,Fox card,Lion card,Whale card,Turtle card

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day friends!!

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Project 365: January

Have you kept your New Year’s resolution?  My resolution was to complete a Project 365- one photo a day for a year.  I’ll be sharing my favourite pictures each month here.  So here’s some of my favourites:

Afternoon break

 

 

Covent Garden Market

 

 

 

My Godson Ethan

 

Snowflakes

 

Red Barn

 

I can’t believe it’s been a month already- have you kept your resolution so far?

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

S

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Extra Extra- read all about it! A Paper Buffet at An Artist’s Affair February 4th!

That’s right folks! An Artist’s Affair is planning another spectacular event at the Convergence Centre here in London and I’m happy to announce that  A Paper Buffet will be there!

When: Saturday, February 4th, 212

Hours: 10am-6pm

Where: Convergence Centre at UWO, London, ON

 

I’ll have Valentine’s cards as well as birthday cards and other paper items.  I would love for you to stop by and say hello! There will be many talented artists there; make a list of upcoming birthdays, get some shopping done (and don’t forget to pick up something nice for yourself!) and support your local London artists!

 

See you there!

 

Steph

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Yarn Wreath tutorial

Hello friends! I’ve been busy stocking up the shop, but thought I’d share with you a project I made before Christmas as a gift.  I know we’re past Christmas, but you could change this up for each season. So without further ado…here’s how to make a yarn wreath!
Supplies: foam wreath; yarn (amount will depend on the size of your wreath); floral picks; floral wire; ribbon and anything else you want to embellish your wreath.
Step 1: wrap the wreath with the yarn.  This part is the longest process; I wrapped two layers so that you couldn’t see the foam through the yarn.  After I finished my wreath, I was blog hopping and saw someone who had used quilting batting over the foam to give the wreath a more rounded appearance, so feel free if you want a “fuller” looking wreath.







Step 2: Take your floral wire and wrap it around the floral picks (these are the decorations you find at the craft store, leaves, mini ornaments, glittery bits, etc) so that you have a way to attach the decorations to the wreath. 








Step 3: Push the wire into the wreath to secure.  Continue adding all of your elements layering if need be.










Step 4: I then wrapped more yarn over top to secure it and cover the wire.  I suppose you could also use a dab of hot glue to secure things, but remember you’d just be securing it to the yarn, so make sure the yarn  is tight around the wreath.








Step 5: I used some felt and cut some flowers with my Nestibilities dies and Cuttlebug. I like how they are layered, but still lay flat.  For the next wreath I make {one for me to keep this time ;)} I think I’ll try making more dimensional felt flowers; here’s a tutorial from Scrapping Tonight. 







Step 6: Add a ribbon at the top to hang the wreath.  Ta –Da!




Here’s a few detail shots:




I love how this wreath turned out, such a welcoming decoration to hang on your front door and welcome guests to you home.  If you make one, be sure to come back and share pictures- or post them on the A Paper Buffet’s Facebook page .

Happy Tuesday!
Steph

Technorati Tags: Yarn wreath tutorial,DIY yarn wreath,winter wreath

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