Baby gets a new home

The problem was Buddy, Banjo, and expecially Tinkerbelle. This little baby was terrified of everything. You can imagine with all he had been thru. Tinkerbelle would traumatize him if I were to let her near him. Not on purpose, of course, but, she's a Jack Russell Terrier! So, this lil' peanut lived in the bedroom. Tink started barking at the door whenever I was in there with him. (which was all the time!) Hubby wanted to give him to a shelter! Oh no! Absolutely not! We were at odds about it for a while. I was so upset. Called my friends to try to find a home for this baby. Somewhere I knew he would be safe and loved. But, my heart was breaking because this little peanut had his paws all wrapped around it. How could I give him to anyone? We had bonded. I didn't know what to do. One day I called my sister about it. She's a kitty lover, too. I was in tears. I loved this baby so much. My sister said she knew of someone who had experience with little ferrell kittens and she would talk to her about taking my little one. It looked like lil' peanut was going to a new home. Then, the gal changed her mind and we were back at square one. I was at my witts end. (should I stop here???.....Naw...)
My sister decided she would take him...sight unseen. She lives about an hour and a half away. She drove over and picked up my baby. On one hand, I was so releived because I knew she would give him a good home. On the other hand, this baby had my heart and he had grown to trust me. It was very hard to do, but, I handed this little bundle over to my sister Darla. You will be happy to know that Mookie (that's his name now) is doing very well in his new home with his new Mommy and brother Toby and sister Elizabeth (both big red kitties). The wonderful thing is, I can go to my sister's house to visit. I think about him often, and, am so happy he finally has a permanent good home. He will always hold a piece of my heart in his little paws.

You can see Mookie's big brother Toby in the last photo above. They are good friends and everyone is happy together. Big thank you to my Sister Darla for opening her home and her heart to this sweet little kitten.

Kitty once lost, now found

Continued from yesterday....................................How did this happen to this precious little kitten? Why was he abandoned and left on his own to fend for himself in the cold of winter? How did it happen that he stumbled accross the street directly in front of our car that night? How could this little kitten survive weighing only 1/4 of what a kitten his age should weigh? It tormented me thinking about what he must have gone thru. How frightened and hungry he must have been. Even now, I can hardly stand thinking about it.
He just had to pull thru. I sat on the floor with him almost every waking minute that first week. Every day he got a little stronger. I remember the day I wiggled a little piece of yarn and he batted his little paw at it. I was on cloud nine! This little peanut had it in his heart to play! After all he had been thru. He was still very wabbily on his little feet. But, day by day, he gained weight and strength. The first time I heard him purr my heart melted. And when he finally made a poo-poo...talk about a happy dance... my heart was leaping for joy. (and it looked normal) Not one time did he make a litter box mistake. I couldn't believe it. What a good boy. Did you notice the little stuffed toy? He loved that little dog. It was so precious to see him cuddle it. He seemed to be thriving, but, there was a problem...............
To be continued............

Lost Gray Kitten

It was last December. We had just left a Christmas program with our freinds John & Krysti... It was late and very cold. All of a sudden, a little gray kitten walked across the street in front of us as we were waiting at a stop light. He walked very slowly, stumbling. John jumped out and scooped him up. He put him inside his jacket to get warm. The kitten didn't move. We were about half way home and John handed me the little angel. I held him close. He didn't struggle. He didn't meow. He didn't move. He was skin and bones. My heart was breaking. It took us appox. 40 minutes to get home.
I quickly made him a comfy bed of soft fleece fabric and tucked him in to get warm. Gave him some food and he did eat a little. Prayed he would make it thru the night.
In the morning, his little body was cold. He was so weak. Couldn't stand up. I heated a rice sock in the microwave and put it under him as I held him close. Finally, he warmed up. He ate more food and went to sleep.
I stayed in the bedroom with him watching him... petting him...praying for him. After a couple of hours, I was amazed to see him stagger up and go to the little kitty box I made for him. (It was inside the big box. His bed was on one end and the kitty box on the other. ) Bless his little heart...he made a pee pee. Even in his weakend condition, he got up and stumbled to the kitty box! I was amazed.
Called the vet and took him in. This baby weighed exactly 1.1 lbs. The vet said he should have weighed about 4 lbs! We didn't know if he would make it.....to be continued

HOW TO IMPROVE ONLINE SALES

This morning, as usual, I went online to check on my Artfire and cruise the forums for a while. Then, went over to Etsy where my other shop is and found this post from a very successful seller there. I contacted her and asked for permission to post it here and she graciously agreed. Her shop is called Bliss Candies.
It's a little long, so go get you cuppa and settle in for a few minutes. It's very good advice, and we need all the help we can get, right? Here it is:

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BlissCandies says:

I've been working from home and selling online for 7 years now, the last 5 of those years full-time; though I just opened my Etsy shop in mid-April. So I know exactly how tiring, merciless, and down-right discouraging it can get (yes, I've cried in the proverbial "corner" many times)...but I also know how rewarding, self-satisfying, enriching and flexible it can be for my family.

So I just wanted to take a few moments to share what has been working for ME and how I get an average of 1 sale a day (this does NOT include our icepack sales for hot Weather shipping). I am not guaranteeing anything, but if any of this info helps you to stay motivated then it was well worth my time to write it all down :)

1 - PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES! Selling online means you have only ONE sense to appeal to, their sight. So make sure your pictures are *top quality*, and if you don't know what you are doing there are tons of threads here on photo taking, as well as other great tutorial/informational sites.SERIOUSLY, I GET INTO A TREASURY OR HIGHLIGHTED IN A BLOG ABOUT ONCE A WEEK just due to my pictures alone. I don't advertise, my self-promotion is almost non-existent, and yet people find and include me because of my PICTURES.

2 - I have a really pretty journal (thanks to BookgirlsStudio) that I keep close at hand to write down EVERYTHING work related. Things to do, items to order, recipes to try out, project to tackle in the near future and 2 yrs from now, what inspires me, thoughts/ideas to ponder and come back to later, anything! Having a journal keeps everything in one place plus it is portable, so I take it everywhere I go, as you never know when a thought will strike!I then go through it at least once every other day, as it keeps things fresh in my mind it helps me to develop new concepts and ideas, light a "light bulb" going off in my head..

3- Think OUTSIDE of your box - look for inspiration in un-likely places. Step outside of your comfort zone. What is your style, what do you do or use....now think of something contrary or opposite of that and go explore! Inspiration comes from so many different places, why limit yourself to what you ALREADY know?? One of our MOST POPULAR items is something I created for fun by combining two products we were already selling...Fudge Brownies and Safe to Eat Cookie Dough. maybe that's why they sell so fast, a unique creation made out of 2 very common edibles.

4- Now think INSIDE of your box - GET ORGANIZED! Create a workspace that is just for you and your craft, or as best as you can do with the space you have. Keep everything close by including shipping supplies (within reaching distance if possible), and have a specific place for everything. This will greatly increase your efficiency and cut down on "wasted time" as you hunt for things, get up to go get something only to then get distracted by something else and so on. For the longest time I kept my flour and sugar jars over by the oven...because that's the logical spot for them. But my work space is actually off to the side of our kitchen and I was always walking back and forth...then I got smart and just moved them over to my work space!

5- Playing "Hide & Seek" - Work those titles and tags! Make sure you include descriptive words for-flavors, colors, shapes, main components and ingredients used, who it's meant for (grads, dads), genre, age or era (vintage, modern, 50's), etc...as this will help with search results and getting included in treasuries and blogs.

6-LOW VIEWS ARE NOT THE END OF THE WORLD! I know the mathematics on this, more views equals more sales, but I am telling you, it is NOT the only factor! Our shop is proof of that, as we have far LESS VIEWS now then we did 2 months ago, but far MORE SALES then before! What has worked for us it to fill our shop with QUALITY items, developing a cohesive theme and taking good pictures. It draws people in and keep them SHOPPING. Honestly, almost ALL of our customers buy 2 or more items from us, and no, I am not counting our icepacks (for hot weather shipping).We have had items with less then 10 views sell, while I know others with similar items have had over 500 views and it is still un-sold....so it can't just be the number of views that counts.

7- They Love Me, THEY LOVE ME NOT! Again, I know that mathematically the more people that "heart" you the more potential sales, BUT it is not the only factor! It's quality of your admirers, not the quantity, that matters. We have about 170 hearts for our shop and I'm not sure what that really means (all things considered), but I've seen shops with over 2000 hearts and I have to say...the difference in our sales is not *THAT* wide.

8- Need a JUMP START for your business and feedback rating? Being new is hard enough, but being new with no feedback can be one of your biggest hurdles. So if you can't bring the customers to you, you go to them! Place a few bids on alchemy requests, charge less then you normally would if you have to and just consider it an opportunity to hone your craft and get your name out there! This is how I got our first few comments, and after that the sales started coming in, in singles. Then after a month or so we had enough feedback where people felt comfortable in buying MULTIPLE items from us at a time and that's really all we get now....multiple item sales, woohoo!

9- If you can afford it, GO THE EXTRA MILE. Be that in your communication, packaging, free samples, but especially in making things RIGHT when they have gone wrong...or not-as-planned. I know it is not always the sellers fault, but sometimes it is not about fault or blame, the buyer just wants a good experience, period. NO, don't let them take advantage of you, but in certain situations you can make things better and it will speak directly about your level of integrity. For example, one time I shipped a gift to the person that paid rather then the gift recipient, so I decided to eat the fee for both the products and Express mail shipping...she is now a repeat customer. Another time the hot weather was a factor in some melting chocolate, and to make the customer happy I shipped out a free batch of goodies...and she is now a repeat customer.

10 - TAKE A DEEP BREATH. Every once in a while, take a day off. Step away from the computer. Don't do ANYTHING related to your Etsy shop and use that time to just re-charge and enjoy LIFE. Trust me, you need this valuable time away more then you need another item or 2 in the store while slowly driving yourself to the brink of insanity. Remind yourself that there is MORE to who you are then JUST your shop. What did you do/where did you go for fun BEFORE Etsy? Go there for a quick visit :)

Visit Bliss' awesome blog at:
http://choosingsimplicity.wordpress.com
and her Etsy shop at: http://www.BlissCandies.etsy.com

Here is a little portion of Bliss' bio:

Q: Who are you?
A: I am a stay at home/work from home mom, happily married with 3 bright & creative kids (sometimes too creative), 2 cats and 2 dogs…oh, and a gold fish. I’ve lived in Minnesota pretty much my whole life and though the winters do get cold here, I am blessed with being able to experience all 4 seasons, though there are days I long for the beach life. My husband and I own a few online business and we both work from home full time, so our pj’s have a lot of miles on them! I am just so thankful that God has provided us with this opportunity, and try not to take it for granted. Not only has working from home given us maximum flexibility for our family, but I also get to spend every day with my wonderful husband. Once in a while we have a little *too* much of each other, so I praise God for the 3 level home we have as well!

AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

A couple of months ago, I was walking with Tinkerbelle and we saw a squirrel on the ground.

As we walked toward it, he jumped up on the block wall fence beside us. It was covered with a hedge of some sort. As we continued to walk, I heard something like rustling leaves. Looked over to the wall, and the squirrel was following us along the top of the wall.

We stopped. He stopped and went up on his hid legs, as to say, "hello". Of course, I had to tell him how cute he was and talk to him a while. Then, we continued to walk.

I could hear him romping in the folliage on top of the wall and stopped again. There he was. When we stopped, so did he. Up on his hind legs he went again, and I'd talk to him some more.

This went on all along this fence. Every 20 feet or so, we'd stop and visit. At one point, I stopped in front of a tree. The fellow jumped into the tree and we were eyeball to eyeball. I thought he was going to jump on me! We walked on and he jumped back on the fence and followed along again.

After about 1/4 a mile or so, he jumped over to the other side. There are lots of fig trees for him to feast on, so I don't think he was hungry.

I think he was just a little blessing coming my way to make me smile. I will never forget it. The amazing thing is, Tinkerbelle wasn't bothered at all. She didn't bark, she didn't pull on her leash or fuss. I think she enjoyed the encounter just as much as I did.

Whenever I pass that way, I look for my little furry friend, but, haven't seen him since.

SPECIAL GIFTS AND SPECIAL FRIENDS

Michelle of Creative Critters has been a special blessing to me and my furry babies, Tink and Buddy.

With the help of her two adorable kitties, Ozzy and Cedric, she made Buddy and Tinkerbelle very special gifts. You should have seen Buddy with the handcrafted mouse filled with home grown catnip! The pictures just don't do it justice. He absolutely went crazy happy. That's some very good catnip, Michelle. And doesn't Tink look great in her handmade scarf? Michelle even embroidered her name on it!

What touched my heart the most, was that dear Michelle took the time, energy and expense to send these special gifts to my grieving pets. (you can read August's posts about our Banjo) We only know one another thru the Artfire forums. But, have alot in common. We both love our furry babies, and we both love polymer clay.

Please take the time to view her studio at http://www.creativecritters.artfire.com/ and her blog at http://www.creativecrittersblog.blogspot.com/ She is a terrific artist and a terrific person.

Thank you Michelle! :o) button