I’ve Been Tagged for Seven Random Things

Amanda from beadworkbyamanda tagged me for seven random things about me. Hmmm. I’m up for the challenge!

Here are the rules -
- Link to the person who tagged you
- Post the rules in your blog
- Write seven random things about yourself
- Tag seven people at the end of your post and link to them
- Let each person know they were tagged

1. I have a twin sister and we are best friends. We live seven blocks from each other and talk on the phone or email about 100 times a day. We have a fervent Poke war going on Facebook at all times. She Twitters @beautymama and blogs at thesexyconfidentwoman.blogspot.com

2. When I was about 5 years old I was attacked by a flock of turkeys… big, farm raised turkeys. It was at a farm where they let you feed the animals and I somehow managed to get between courting males and females. I was really only as tall as the turkeys. They began closing in around me. I screamed for my life. And like Superman, my dad waded in amongst the turkeys and lifted me out to safety. To this day, all family Thanksgiving jokes are mainly aimed at me.

3. In ninth grade I played the Wicked Witch of the West in the school play… opposite my twin sister who played Dorothy. I’m melting!

4. I lived in Plano, Texas, from ages 8-14 and, although I live in New York now, I still consider myself a Texan, y’all.

5. I have a torrid love affair going with a pair of scissors and all things monkey.

6. I keep at least three to four journals and notebooks at any given time. I do a lot of writing and note taking because I cannot remember what I was doing five minutes ago.

7. When it comes to politics and voting my house is a net zero. My dear boyfriend is a Republican and I am a Democrat. Our votes cancel each other out. Needless to say, political discourse in my house is very interesting.

The following people are hereby officially tagged:
MissFickleMedia
Joolie
WildflowerHill
Stefani Tadio
Shelly
Deanna Roux
Satin Doll Co

Etsy Twitter Team Shop of the Week: Flying Zoo Toys

First of all, let me welcome you to our new project called “Shop of the Week” where a different Etsy Twitter Team member will be featured each week. I’m looking forward to getting to know our team shops!

Our very first Shop of the Week is Flying Zoo Toys. From flying ladybugs to flying fish, this shop is filled with handcrafted fun! Each of the flying wood mobile toys has wings that flap when set into motion via a tug on a string. The artist, Monika Mrozkova, originally from Czech Republic, has been making these wooden mobiles for more than 15 years. She is a full time artist whose work can be seen in galleries across the USA. She has been selling on Etsy since April 2008.

Currently, she only ships to the US and Canada. To receive your purchases for Valentine’s Day, order by February 6th.


Her toys are painted brightly and have a whimsical quality about them. Anything from her shop would make an excellent gift for a baby or adults of all ages.

Everything in Flying Zoo Toys is 15% off for this week. A refund will be issued through PayPal after completion of your purchase. Take advantage of this offer – you won’t be let down by the magic of these toys.

(Photographs © Flying Zoo Toys/Monika Mrozkova)

Reposted from the Etsy Twitter Team Blog

Etsy Artist Feature: Wildflower Hill

One of my favorite things about Twitter is meeting local people. I find it fun to manage to “bump into” someone from the Rochester, NY area in the big, big online world. To run across a local Etsy seller is quite rare in my own experience. Being a firm believer in shopping local even if the shop is online, I wanted to let more people know about this great shop, run by Cindy Macca, called Wildflower Hill. This shop is chock full of gorgeous and very unique beads.

Cindy chose her shop name by taking inspiration from her Bloomfield, NY surroundings where she lives in a log cabin among a big hill of wildflowers that bloom in spring, summer, and fall. She is a wife and mother and has two dogs, five cats, and a guinea pig to care for. Running Wildflower Hill takes up much of her time and is her full time job. She openly admits that her house “looks like a bead factory exploded in it”. Her father and a brother are gemologists and appraisers of fine gems. One might call her bead store just part of the family business of working with precious and semi-precious stones. Her shop offers “a wide variety of stone, shell, fresh water pearls, coral, and glass beads along with copper, sterling, stone and ceramic pendants”.


What struck me most when I first visited her shop were her absolutely gorgeous photographs of her beads. Honestly, are these great pictures or what?! Plus the beads themselves are quite distinctive. I haven’t seen such a unique variety in many small business bead shops online, and trust me when I say I’ve spent a lot of time in online bead shops. The “Matched Set of Beads” section of her shop is genius. She does all the work for you by selecting great bead combinations and coordinating pendants.

I highly encourage you to stop by Wildflower Hill and to take some time to look around. You won’t want to leave empty handed!

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade wildflowerhill.etsy.com

Etsy Twitter Team

Late last year the Etsy Twitter Team was created thanks to Sarah from scraparcs.etsy.com. I thought this was a great idea and joined immediately. Since then Sarah has been kind enough to make me an admin for the team. We have a blog and a Google group going, too.

I’m really enjoying helping to promote other Etsy shops. It’s a nice break from working all the time just to promote my own. Plus I like giving back to a community that has taught me so much over the last year and a half.

I’ve had so many ideas for the team that I needed to start keeping a team journal! Quite a lot of people have joined so it was clear to me we required a big database to store everyone’s information. The better part of this week was spent creating that database. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know, but I really like making databases! Geeky!

My first project launched today. “Shop of the Week” has been born! We’re asking team members to sign up for the week they want to be featured on our team blog and promoted on Twitter by our members. As of this writing we already have three shops signed up. I hope this takes off and brings the sales fairy to our featured shops!

One problem I am still trying to solve is that of the Twitter tweets showing up on our blog. My dream is to see the tweets by team members in the sidebar of the blog, but I cannot figure out how to do that yet. If you know how to do that, please let me know!

So give three cheers for the Etsy Twitter Team! Yay! Yay! Yay!

Domino Charm Swap

For the December swap in the flickr group Altered Dominos & Other Altered Game Pieces.

This is a vintage wood domino altered with paint, paper, pen, vintage text pieces, beads, and wire. It’s sealed with Mod Podge and spray acrylic gloss sealer. So now it is off to the Post Office to ship to prpldy15. I’m a bit late for this swap due to my wrist injury.

I know I have been a bit lax on the blogging. Not much has been going on so you have not missed anything. My wrist is slowly healing and is almost pain free. I feel like an athlete on the bench with an injury… cannot work the way I want to and for as long.

My holidays proceeded with much fun and joy. Our New Year’s was a bit low-key and made me feel, well, old. Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve was filled with rock bands I have not heard of before. Is that how you know you are out of the pop culture loop? Is this how my parents used to feel when I was a teenager? I mostly listen to my CD collection of mostly independent musicians. I rarely hear pop radio because I cannot stand listening to ten minutes of commercials between songs. Maybe I’m just too cool to listen to pop radio. Yeah, that’s it. If you need me I’ll be rockin’ out in the studio to something obscure.