Blogger now has a PAGES feature!

Thanks so much to art quilter Brenda Gael Smith for pointing this out to those connected to her on Facebook. Here's a link to a short tutorial. It's easy to add the "pages." I'm sure someone will figure out how to customize the links/tabs in the CSS code soon, too. For now, I've added 2 temporary placeholders to my blog but didn't have time to try to mess with the CSS code myself. Above you'll see links titled "About Holly" and "Products for sale". This is a great feature for Blogger to allow now, making a blog more website-like and hopefully keeping business for them because in the past, WordPress allowed this so people wanting this feature probably used WP instead.

I think it's fantastic for "fixing" information at the top of a blog that you want people to find easily, like all of the great giveaways so many artists and crafters are holding, and for those selling online. Products listed for sale in your blog post get lost as you add news posts, but now you can create a Shop page (or whatever you'd like to call it) and in your blog post, just point your readers to the Shop link, letting them know in your blog post that you have new items for sale above!

Jewelry world, here I come!

No, I'm not giving up on fiber/fabric art entirely, but sales of fine wall art are so sporadic that I need to try something else, in addition to that. For years I've been a huge admirer of broken china jewelry, and soldered jewelry where you take super-thin microscope slides (or similarly thin glass) and sandwich pretty images between the glass, like photos, tiny paintings or prints of paintings, decorative paper, vintage map sections, lace, etc., and then copper foil and solder the edges. Pictured above is my first soldering attempt with hubby's help (he's a stained glass guy) - decided to get fancy and try placing some "dot" embellishments on the front. Those need work but weren't as difficult as I thought they'd be!

I have lots of old china that I can use, some from our own use, some I purchased chipped from antique stores, because I also dabble in mosaics and have made a few broken china mosaic pieces. Pictured above is one that hangs in our bathroom, complete with handle from a teacup for interest - you could even hang necklaces from it! (I think I want to repaint the edges white, to get rid of the pink... I'm not a pink person). I'd also invest in a tile saw because using the tile nippers is so hit or miss - you can really get your cuts right the first time with the saw.

Some small pieces of china I found right on our property, which was farmed beginning around 1860. We have a neat old "farm dump" that I like picking through when the snow clears in the spring. Even colored broken glass could be used - I found a really pretty green ornate top to some sort of jar that's sort of hexagonal shaped with all sorts of raised designs on it that would be pretty cut into small pieces and soldered! It has a depression glass look to it. So stay tuned for some good stuff coming soon.

What personality are you, through your blog?

I stumbled across a link to this site, via another blog (I spend waaaay too much time on other people's blogs). Enter your blog's URL here and it will tell you, based on analyzing the text on your blog, what Myers-Briggs personality type you are.

http://www.typealyzer.com/

I beg to differ. I came out as an ESFP, a performer. !!! In all previous pencil & paper M-B tests I am always an I-something or other, an Introvert. Maybe I'm more outgoing on a blog but I am NOT an E! LOL! Try it. Have some fun.

artist-owned and operated galleries/upcoming eBook

To all my fellow artist/craftspeople readers...
I am writing an eBook on how to open and run an artist-owned and operated gallery
(often called a cooperative gallery, or co-op)...

as I have experience opening and helping run 2 such businesses in a great tourist town in upstate NY. There isn’t a lot of good, comprehensive information out there about this topic and I’d like my book to be a resource for artists who are contemplating taking the plunge. I’m also the author of the book “Quilted Garden Delights,” published by C&T Publishing, 2008.

If you are, or have been, part of such a business, I would love to have your input,
or perhaps you have questions if you’ve never been part of one that you’d like answers to.

If you’re interested, send me an email (hollykny -at- yahoo.com) and I will send you my survey.

If you’d like your comments to remain anonymous and confidential, I will respect that – there’s a spot on the survey to fill out for this. If you don’t mind me including your comments as source material, please fill out that blank in the survey. Thank you!

Lark Books "500 Art Quilts" preview copy!

So exciting! My copy of Lark Books' "500 Art Quilts" arrived via UPS today! What a surprise as all of us contributors just received an email 2 days ago saying they were running ahead of schedule and that copies would be mailed soon, and here it is! My cow quilt, "Buttercup" ...

and "New Hope PA Reflections, I" ...

are included in it, along with 498 other FANTABULOUS quilts. Karey Bresenhan did such an amazing job of selecting a great variety of quilts of all styles, techniques, etc. Be sure to get your copy ordered today!

"Batik Sunset"

And last, here is tonight's sunset that had me running, literally, for the camera, as every second counts with light like this as it changes so quickly. This closeup through the trees reminds me of an intensely dyed batik fabric.

A little beauty, and a little humor

Today's early Sunday morning sunrise was very soft and lavender and pastel-y, with some hot pink to spice things up. The temp was about 6 degrees (oddly much warmer than other CNY areas who saw -6, even -15 in the Adirondacks!), and it was very still, quiet and peaceful. I wouldn't have even noticed it if I hadn't been out feeding the feral kitties at that hour, happening to glance up. Then I enjoyed an episode of the Martha Stewart show with my hot tea, and downloaded these humorous photos I took of Noodle yesterday enjoying the stream of water from the kitchen faucet yesterday. His little claw makes me laugh!

New websites!

I've been a little behind in updating my website to show which new websites for artists and small businesses I recently completed. All is current now. Check out my website design services page. You'll see Wild Onion Studio, Anything But Boring, Don Faires, Patricia Mattison, Sarah Terry, Primo and Mary's Heritage Products, and Sandy Philips, all new from the past few months. Great to be able to help all of these folks finally get online, as we all should be! If you are in need of a website, don't hesitate to write to me and ask for a cost estimate. I'll send you my "New Customer Questionnaire" that will help give me a feel for what you're looking for. I receive tons of compliments for being easy to work with, and for the designs I come up with, and we could get you up and running in just a few months. If you're not ready for a website yet, DO reserve your domain name until you're ready. I am finding that common website names like "MarySmith.com" have been taken, so artists are having to come up with second-best names, like "MarySmithFiberArtist.com". That's not the end of the world, as your site will still be found in the search engines, but if you have a name in mind, grab it now, and keep the renewals current. When you buy a domain name, you are NOT buying it for life. Check the fine print. You may have to renew annually or every year or two. Keeping it in reserve should only cost you $10-20/year until you're ready for a website.

First birds to the new feeder!

Of all the birds to see in upstate NY in the winter, a goldfinch found our brand new fire engine red lantern feeder first, followed by the titmice and chickadees. It's hanging high enough off the ground that the outdoor cats will (hopefully) not be able to get to them.

Pictured above is a large pileated woodpecker waaay off in the distance on an old sumac tree. Didn't realize they didn't migrate south, as we only ever see them in the spring, and occasionally in summer.

more snow, day 6, and a new scarf

Yup, more snow. Not much in today's forecast, but it's still coming down very finely. I think it snowed all night but we only woke up to about another 2". I'm grateful to be working at home most days!
Pictured above is a new scarf I made a few weeks ago, that sold yesterday to one of our jewelers at the gallery. Everyone loves this fabric line, as do I. I no longer have the selvages - do any of you know who the designer is? I made 3 previous scarves in the dark gray-orange combo. Two sold instantly and one I finished for my mom as a Christmas gift. She loved it! Pictured below is hers.

Day 5 of continuous snowfall

Unbelievable. It has been snowing again all day, yet not much accumulation today. The temp hasn't gone above 24, but I guess the flakes are fine enough that they haven't added more than another few inches to the ground. Here's our current radar shot, which looks like they copied and pasted yesterday's, and the day before's...

Some snow wedged in an old maple tree bark.


And here's a macro photo of the end of an old apple tree branch. Love the macro settings!

Day 4 of continuous snowfall

Surprisingly, we are not buried under 10' of snow, but it has snowed continuously since Friday. Lake effect combined with a storm that came off the coast of New England, and this radar image shows how it seems to be currently stalled right over us. I animated the radar 10 minutes ago, and it showed a loop for the past hour that hadn't changed position!

There are steps buried underneath somewhere...

One of the feral cats, Little Black, making her way through a tunnel to one of the sheds.


Paul's snowman. I think he's saying, "HELP!"

The view out our kitchen window this morning. It was sunny, and still snowing!

Taking this online Photoshop class...

Mom and I have signed up together to take DJ Pettitt's online Photoshop class! I am pretty good with Photoshop so will probably whiz through most of this, but she's going to be teaching layer masks and some filter effects to achieve the look shown in her image above, something I thought would just be easier to have someone show me because I have so little time to play around these days. Plus, I am very curious how one teaches an online class in something technical when you're not all in the same room together and when people are at different levels, so I thought it would be fun to sign up!

holiday goodies

We made this really good warm brie - cranberry - onion spread on Christmas. Super easy to make. Take a small wheel of brie and remove the top and side "white coating."
Sautee about 1.5 cups of onions in a little olive oil and butter until translucent.

Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar and continue to sautee, caramelizing the onions even more. Add a few tbsp of chopped up dried cranberries and 1 tbsp of wine vinegar to the onions, along with a dash of thyme, salt and pepper, and a splash of dry white wine. The taste will be a sweet and sour one.

The Babich Sauvignon Blanc pictured above is one of my favorite wines. Place the brie wheel in a baking dish or glass pie plate, and spoon the onion/cranberry mixture on top. Place in 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes. You want the brie to warm and soften but not start to separate. Serve with some good crackers or warm or toasted bread. YUM!

Internet marketing

I found this man's post very interesting, and accurate, on internet marketing. With Ansel Adams being listed on page 81 on a search of "landscape photography" which seems ridiculous, and this quote, "Success in the age of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is no longer about distinguishing yourself by talent or skill but rather by being able to exploit the system. It’s what allows mediocrity to push in line ahead of excellence" it all makes it seem so overwhelming, doesn't it? That is - here we have the internet at our fingertips which brings our businesses in front of everyone in the WORLD'S eyes, but let's say there are 276,000 people making handbags. How do you get your website to appear in the top 5 pages of hits, let alone the top 10, or even 50? What if everyone making those bags has good websites that all have relevant searchable content on their pages, keywords in metatags for search engines that use them, etc.? How do those search engines figure out who to put at the top if a bunch of those handbag makers are all fairly equal in the eyes of those search engines? Apparently one cannot just make great looking bags and do a little advertising.

It reminds me of Etsy, as I plan on reopening my shop soon, and trying to be diligent about posting an item daily, or relisting an old one. That seems ridiculous to me to have to do that. Once you set up your shop, use good photos and good kewords (tags), shouldn't people be able to find you? Apparently not. There are currently over 6371 PAGES of handbags on Etsy. 6371! What determines which ones are shown on the first few pages? The most recent ones listed appear there. Sure, customers can still search for something specific and your good keywords (tags) will enable them to find you... but if they're not looking for something super specific like "tote bag red blue quilted magnetic snap 16" strap" and instead if they search on "tote bag quilted " they will not have honed in on your listing only, but rather, all listings that meet that more generic criteria. And I'll bet most people on Etsy just browse the top 10 pages or so. So how does one "win" on Etsy? I still have no clue, but I've read that aside from the things mentioned above, you have to list at least one item daily if not more often to stay in the top of the pile. To me that's wrong. It means those with more money (even tho listing is cheap) can afford to do it, or those with more time, and it means bumping down the other guys who don't relist. What if EVERYONE relisted daily? Then the listings would still be crazy and equal, so the fact that not everyone lists an item often means that some are always near the top and some will wind up near the bottom of 6371 pages. It's a clever tactic, but again it seems "wrong" because it seems like a sleazy way of beating the system instead of offering a high quality unique product and becoming known for your ART.
Make sense? And now to slide in a "toot my own horn self-promotional marketing plug because that's what blogs are for, right?" [grin] here's a pic of a pretty bag I made that my friend and fellow artist Lori Portka purchased as a Christmas gift for her mom last year. I'm working on more of that size.

Feral cats having fun in the snow

Our driveway is full of their little prints, and the yard is now full of "tunnels" as they race around and play hide and seek with each other in today's newly fallen foot or so of lake effect snow!

This is Mr. Hoodie, named as such by hubby because he said his tabby markings on his head look like a little hood, complete with chin strap. Hoodie is a stray, perhaps someone's barn cat, who appeared in our yard around last April, became friendlier to us (was aloof at first), and now has decided he's going to live here. He's a big affectionate guy and loves belly rubs, can't get enough petting, but plays roughly at times. We had him neutered a few months ago since we think he's the father of the kittens pictured below and we don't want any more!. He got a clean bill of health at the vet's and is up to date on shots, etc. Long story, but he lives outside with the actual feral kitties and they all have warm and dry shelters inside our garage to sleep in.

Here's Hoodie high up in the old apple tree, enjoying the view.

This is Noodle Junior (because he looks like our indoor cat named Noodle), and Little Black, siblings. They aren't really true ferals anymore. They were born to a feral mother, but after Hoodie seemed to drive her off the property, she was never seen again and they became more used to us. They come for regular meals, let me pet them while they eat, and Noodle Junior will also let me pet him a little bit if Hoodie is rubbing all over me. Little Black is much more aloof. But while skittish, they aren't wild like ferals and will actually follow me around the yard, playing with each other but keeping some distance. They are all half siblings to our indoor cat, Bean (same mother).

The third of the three siblings, pictured above is O.J. (for "Orange Juice," not Simpson). We refer to them as "Hoodie and the OJ's" (like Hootie and the Blowfish). OJ is a BIG kitten, stocky, a bruiser, just round and big in all ways. He's the kitten who was accidentally driven around the corner by me in the fall when I headed out to take some cow pictures. I didn't know he was sitting in my engine. Fortunately he wasn't injured, and in 2 days made his way home. I felt so bad and couldn't believe it when I saw him in the yard again, being only about 8-10 weeks old at the time and not within ear or eye shot of here, probably 3/4 of a mile away through corn fields and woods. He was the most skittish after that but is coming around. Canned food works wonders.
I love this shot of Hoodie! He was all hunkered down "hiding", stalking Little Black, but the falling snow kept catching their attention and distracting them. It's like having billions of little balls being thrown at the same time... which to catch first!

Hoodie again perched in apple tree, camouflaged.

Hoodie stalking one of the kittens in a patch of old coneflowers.

Here are The J's (OJ and Noodle Junior) after having caught some kind of mouse in the boxwood.
Heh heh, I love this shot, too. It's Little Black stalking Hoodie.

winter photos

Even old perennials can look pretty in winter. Enjoy!

A row of sunflowers above, wearing little snow hats

Queen Anne's Lace

Coneflower

I think this was crab grass...

Rose hips from a gorgeous Fourth of July Rose (red and white striped with a hint of yellow)

Ice on morning glory vine

Hydrangea

Some sort of gourd whose skin has been affected by the cold weather (ours mutated this year and looked very diff't from previous years, as well as from the new seed packet images)

Ahh- warmth!

blogger heading image - help!

Does anyone know why Blogger is taking my 760 px wide x 300 px high image and stretching it larger, which makes it look blurry? I've looked at the CSS template and there are 2 places that refer to header size (odd) and both are set to 760 x 300. Grr. Help! Thanks!

Shiny, satiny, shimmery bags

I made these recently to take to the shop - pretty wine bottle bags to give and reuse! Lined with red and black satin, the outer layer on one set is a shimmery sheer gold-toned fabric with little glittery beadlets attached, and the other has a purple tint. Festive!

Birthday greetings

Yesterday was my birthday. I am "Forever 29" [grin]. Had a lovely day with Mom and Dad who drove up to visit. Boy, was it cold out - barely above 20 degrees. It started to snow, something I always hoped for growing up in NJ which rarely happened, but which often happens here in upstate NY. Then hubby joined us at The Sherwood Inn, a gorgeous old tavern/inn in the village of Skaneateles dating to 1807. Roaring hickory log fires in the fireplaces smelled awesome, and all the holiday decor was so pretty and sparkly with the lake effect snow coming down so hard outside the window. Right now I'm enjoying a nice mug of hot Harney and Sons English Breakfast tea with a little cream and sugar...

and a chewy homemade brownie on the side, which is sitting on a Holly plate that was my grandmother Knott's from her Ivory Lamberton Scammell Trenton china collection which I now have part of. Chessie is sitting behind me, vying for my attention, looking for treats...