Blog Hop is HERE!

Welcome to the Ch{all}enge Masters F{all} into a Ch{all}enge Blog Hop! The challenge Divas have gotten together to create some fantastic Fall themed projects for you to be inspired and enjoy. You should have arrived here from Design Diva Jamilie's Blog. If not, then you need to start back at Tammy's Blog (Stash & Tag Diva) (http://tampatha.wordpress.com). We all have a secret word that you need to collect to spell an autumn phrase and to be entered to win one of the grand prizes. All the details are on her blog and you don't want to miss out on any great prizes along the way as we all have something special that you can win!

My project was a Halloween card with an Alice in Wonderland theme. I used Graphic 45's Halloween paper line for 2010 and some natural cardstock. I did some distressing and used dimensional glue dots to set the image up. Inside you'll see a sentiment that I accented with

orange peel Stickles. Here's the outcome:



Now we are sending the ch{all}enge out to you! We want to see your fall themed projects! You can upload them to the CM gallery here. You'll need to sign up to the forum and while you are there we hope you'll have a look at all the great challenges we do every week! You have until midnite on Saturday September 25th to upload your project and then the winner will be announced a few days later! You can win a fantastic prize pack! My contribution is a Grandiflora stamp set from Heartfelt Creations, Timeless Lilac Glimmer Mist, and Lettuce Alcohol Ink.


Now you are on your way to Leija's blog to see what she's created for you and don't forget the word you are looking for from me is....................IN.

Thanks for stopping by ladies and gents!

Blog Hop with Prizes Coming SOON!

Keep your eyes open for a blog hop coming later this month! Over at our awesome challenge forum, Challenge Masters, we are hosting a blog hop. Each blog will post a fall-themed challenge and have a word that will in the end spell out a phrase. By uploading your projects to the CM gallery and figuring out the phrase, you can win a fabulous prize pack! So be on the lookout and check back soon for your project! The prizes at CM are always incredible and worth a good chunk of change, so you don't want to miss out! :)

I am also in the process of hosting a YouTube mini album challenge. Check out my channel at http://www.youtube.com/theElegantCriminal for more details. More info will come as I get the prize pack together.

In other news, I won the weight loss challenge on scrapbook.com! I was floored by the prize pack! INCREDIBLE. I will be making a YouTube video of the mini album Martica made. The prize pack video is up on my channel already with a sneak peek of the album, but I want to go into more detail. It's mind-blowing.

I went to the doctor today for a check-up on my meds, and finally got my thyroid and A1C checked. He didn't give me an option this time, he just sent me to the lab and made me get the tests done. It's been 2 years since I've had my thyroid checked (I have low thyroid function, hypothyroidism) and I am borderline diabetic so he was done letting me put off the tests. He said he would try to get me a discount on the cost ($70 for everything I got tested for). No health insurance sucks. And chances are I won't have it again until I graduate and get a job in a professional field. Bummer :(

I also likely have a pinched nerve in my lower back. It's incredibly painful, but isn't full-blown painful all the time so I can manage with some pain meds. My dad just gave me some of his nerve pills (Neurontin) which I have taken before to see if that helps. So far I feel a little on the fence of loopy/coherent. And for some reason I just got nostalgic for rainy elementary school days. Weird.

Ok, enough of this post...later friends!

Another Day...

I woke up sick yesterday (well it's still "today" to me). One of my parents woke me up at 10:30 to remind me I needed to be at work at 11...as I was saying, "I need to call and tell them I'll be late..." I get a call from work telling me that it's been slow and I don't need to come in until 2. That was awesome. When I got there basically I rang up orders, helped people occasionally, made a card, and made 4 kits for that card. We closed at 5 due to it being Labor Day. I was happy to have a short day though, being sick sucks.
I got $75 worth of Etsy orders today! One is for $52...100 mini 3x3 envelopes, my Prima-inspired flowers and butterflies, and an altered clipboard. Those things (clipboards) are selling like crazy! I'm going to the Dollar Tree today to get some more. I think they'll sell well at the craft fair as well, and I'm selling all my inventory of it on Etsy! So happy about that though. They're mini organizers, and I must say they're pretty cool :) I get $13 for each one, and they cost less than $4 to make at the most. Of course shipping is always free in my shop so I have that to consider but it's still a great profit to me considering the short amount of time it takes to put one together. Here's what one looks like:


I'm still itching to list more stuff on Etsy...I need that USB cable!

I am waiting for Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and the Dollar Tree to open to go shop. And the post office. I need to pick up some black sheets for my table covers at the craft fair, but those are WM...open 24 hours but I'd rather just do all my errands at once. Hopefully I can stay awake until then...if not I'll sleep through most of the day!

I also got an order for a dozen red paper roses arranged in a bouquet. Got $16 for it :)

Anyway, that's today's blog post. Leave a comment if you stopped by!

Updates!

So my camera's USB cable has bitten the dust. I have stuff to list on Etsy and it's driving me crazy not doing it! I just overhauled my entire shop to make everything come with free shipping. Took a few hours, but hopefully it will attract more sales.

I have entered a huge challenge at scrapbook.com hosted by Megan...it's going to be a challenge just keeping up with points! But my goal is 15 layouts this month. I have got to crack down and get some more done!

That's all for now, later!

Giveaway!

Ok so a site called Giveaway Scout wants to put my Etsy credit giveaway on their site. What this site does is search blogs for different giveaways and then compiles them into one place for people to find. It's actually pretty cool, a neat concept I hadn't thought of before. So I just wanted to share that with you :)

Onto other news: I am employed! I got my dream job: at Archiver's, a scrapbook supply store. I started on Saturday and worked late, so hopefully that will help my reputation there and get me lots of hours. I sure need them. I want my Macbook Pro back SO badly! I am so sick of this old thing. It's slow and every time I see a Macbook Pro or look-alike on t.v. (which is a LOT), I get so sad. One day I'll have that $1,280 to get it fixed. I hope to save at LEAST $100 from each paycheck. I am opening a savings account just for that. I miss my graphic design software SO much. Photoshop, Illustrator, iMovie, iPhoto...I miss it all. One day...I'll get it back. I hope to get it back by Christmas. That would be the BEST present ever. I am head over heels in love with my 17" Macbook Pro with glossy screen and my external hard drive named Sylar...

My scrapping suffers due to the lack of my Mac, as well. I can't edit photos as elaborately, can't split up 12x12 layouts and print them into fours and then connect them (that made no sense to you, I know, but I know what I mean!) so I can get exact measurements...and this computer gets viruses and malware and I'm just sick of it. And I don't have iTunes on this computer. I would have to reformat my iPod to work on a PC and it would erase all my songs. So I can't add new songs to my iPod now :( It's been that way since January. It sucks so bad, but I am happy to have a laptop to use in the mean time. It may be five years old but it still works. Trying to count my blessings here :)

Ok, back to some projects!

Challenge Masters $10 Etsy Credit!!!!

Have any of you checked out Challenge Masters? It is the most interactive forum I know of...each week there are several challenges for you to participate in, and one winner is chosen! Sometimes you get a RAK (random act of kindness) for winning, sometimes it is all for the glory!

I am in charge of altered art, a link to my challenge this month is at this link.

I am looking for ideas for an altered challenge for next month...any takers? I would love your input for altered art! Maybe a canvas, maybe a book? Hmm...the possibilities!!! September's challenge will be issued the first Sunday of the month, so check back to Challenge Masters for next month's challenge!

To encourage all of you to join the fun at Challenge Masters, I am offering this incentive: $10 of credit at my Etsy store (www.naiveglowarts.com)! To be entered, do the following:

1. Comment here letting me know you signed up at Challenge Masters (www.challengemastersonline.com) and give me your user name that you chose.
2. Introduce yourself in the Introductions subforum on the site!
3. Enter one challenge by September 10th! Come back here and tell me what challenge you entered.

Once you complete all these steps, you will be given $10 of credit towards any handmade item on my Etsy site. (This excludes the kits). Remember you must complete ALL three steps to get this credit! You can join ANY challenge but you must have your entry uploaded to the gallery there by September 10th! If any of these steps is not completed, you will not receive the credit.

If you're not familiar with my Etsy store, check it out here: Naive Glow Arts By joining and participating in the Challenge Masters forums and challenge(s), you will get $10 of credit at my store, not including shipping. So that's $10 of free product, no additional purchase necessary! So you get $10 of free product with FREE shipping to anywhere in the CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES. If you buy $15 worth of product, your total will only be $5, no shipping charges! If it comes to $10, you owe nothing :) If you are outside the continental US, you will only pay shipping.

Any questions? Let me know! Again, the site is ChallengeMastersOnline.com. Check us out!

Inspiration

Are you starting your own business? Be it official or just something on eBay or Etsy, you need motivation. You need something to drive you to succeed. That old adage, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail" is pretty true...though it kind of contradicts itself...not planning in the first place doesn't lead to planning to fail...it just leads to failing...but anyway, we all know what it means :) But before we jump into planning (which I'm still learning), I'd like to share a few (ten to be exact) inspirational quotes that resonate with me.

1. "Follow your passion and everything else will fall into place."
   
   
2. "The secret of life…is to fall seven times and to get up eight times." - Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist
   
   
3. "Each moment of our life, we either invoke or destroy our dreams.” - Stuart Wilde
   
   
4. “I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know it has got to get down to work." - Pearl S. Buck
   
   
5. "I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou
   
   
6. "You can make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you blame others for those mistakes." - John Wooden
   
   
7. "The only thing all successful people have in common is that they’re successful, so don’t waste your time copying 'the successful strategies' of others." - Seth Godin
   
   
8. "Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads." - Erica Jong
   
   
9. "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
   
   
10. "Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." - Mark Twain
    

I hope these mean something to you, too. They made me stop and think, and if you really read them with an open mind, you'll find that they ring true.