Stimulating the Economy

It is a hard for us all and luxuries are set aside in an effort to put away some emergency funds for the worst possible scenario. This being said, remember what we were challenged as Americans to do? "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." With this said, how can we apply this lofty admonition to our little lives?

The first thing that comes to mind is to stimulate the economy by helping small businesses make it. We all know that the little guy often gets trampled by the big bully business who snuffs him out. Let's take it upon ourselves to be upstanding citizens and choose one, two, or even three businesses to patronize. How about that mom and pop cafe around the corner? Go there for Saturday breakfast instead of Perkins or McDonalds drive thru. How about the independent coffee shop in your neighborhood? Take the extra five minutes to go in and order a coffee instead of going through the Starbucks drive thru. Finally, patronize small business ventures such as those who sell on Etsy.com when you are thinking of buying gifts for family and friends. 

It is amazing how when citizens start taking pride how a wave of change can happen. We don't need to be victims of circumstances and we CAN make a difference. Try it and let me know how it changed your life.

Ode to Saint Valentine

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Etsy loves Valentines Day

So should you

Check out these sellers

Something unique for your lover or friend

A memento, a thought

something lovely from Etsy bought

                    ~V~

What Catches Your Eye?

Looking at photo after photo on Etsy, I begin to ask myself what draws me to one store vs. another? The featured items on the front page always seem so apropos, but is it the quality as an individual item or the collaborated effect? 

It is a good question to ask yourself and with your own critical eye, apply those same stringent guidelines to your own store. So much is making an object appear as art no matter how ordinary. Give it dimension, give it flare by the background being accentuating and not just boring white advertisement style photography. Dramatic is the name of the game. Think outside the box and use those Theatre 101 techniques that you never thought you would need. Props, people, objects, foregrounds, backgrounds, nature or not, these are all tools at your disposal. Those loving and supportive family members may need to be called in to do some free modeling!

In my humble opinion, these are a few examples of excellent technique in marketing to an audience who only can see a picture and not pick up and examine the object. Of course all these rules apply to me, but I can criticize with the best of them.

Etsy.Com brings Vintage to You

At the end of 2008, I stepped out and did something that I hadn't ever done before - take something I love to do and try to make money at it. Selling Vintage. After moving from a one bedroom tiny apartment to a four bedroom house last April, it was time to find things to fill up all the rooms. The house I live in is in the Arts and Crafts style (early 1920's) and has lots of charm, so in order to enhance its already beautiful qualities, I wanted to fill the house with vintage and antique items.

It started with garage sales and thrift stores and then moved on to Estate sales. Before you know it, a full addiction had been born. Within less than a year, I had started collecting a lot and it was getting to be an expensive habit. Believe it or not, my empty rooms were filling up pretty fast too.

My mom actually was the one to introduce me to Etsy and how many hours she was spending online looking at Etsians' stores. She was also buying a lot. Hmm... there must be a lot of people like my mom out there who kill time with online shopping, so Viola, the idea was born.

Etsy isn't really about supporting myself or thinking I ever can, but rather about being in a community of artists and lovers of beautiful objects that mean something. What is so incredible is that the idea of supporting small businesses is really on the rise everywhere. It is about appreciating art for art's sake and not just mass marketed "things" that have no meaning. It is about dictating what we think is beautiful vs. the Fashion and Trend Tycoons. It is about supporting eco-friendly efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. It is about a lot of things and it is truly wonderful to be a part of an actual succesful venture that is making a difference on the global community.

Pop in and enjoy all the creativity and fun that Etsy offers. You can be unique too!

Below, I have linked a few fellow vintage sellers that are awesome and worthy of a peek~

Thanks for reading,

Lisa
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15036653
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19534866
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19516300
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18914356

Life According to Beaker

As the New Year has arrived and the infamous holiday fallout begins, I turn to Beaker, the wise dachshund for example. Although the displays of cookies and candies have been replaced by diet food and exercise equipment and resolutions are being thrown around like last year's good intentions, stepping back, I  refuse to join the throngs. 

Beaker, faithful little low-t0-the-ground black dog summons enough energy to tear one mad lap around the living room when I arrive at home, then an exuberant sprint to the favorite "spot" in the backyard. After that, it is reclining on whatever piece of furniture he has followed me to and with a tantalizing rawhide in reach, nap after nap is indulged in. Why it isn't one continuous nap is due the fact that as any faithful beast, he must summon up enough strength to follow me into the next room if I go to get a drink or to the bathroom. This is accompanied by long, deep, jaw fully extended yawns and full body stretches. 

In short, this is how I want to pattern my life. Energy is overrated. What do we have to prove? Doesn't life require enough of us that when one reaches the end of the grueling work-a-day week that it is just best to kick back with a figurative rawhide in reach and put your feet up...?grrrrrt!