Tutorials ... Step-By-Step YourSelf To Exposure ...

...and have FUN at the same time.

Many of us are struggling to draw attention to our etsy shops. This challenge is only going to grow, not lessen. There are so many suggestions and ideas coming at us from dozens of sources. And, frankly, most are a waste of your time and energy. Why? Because they are unfounded grasps at solutions. The single most important truth you are not going to find in any list of tips is this: There's only so much you can control. And that's not much. Which explains why this topic is discussed endlessly.

Possibility is everywhere, but it's just that, a possibility. Find something you enjoy, something that challenges you, that makes you happy and share it. Think about what you like to find when you are searching through shops and blogs. Incorporate that into your life. You can't predict success, but you can have fun and inspire yourself. That's not a bad start.

I have been thinking about my etsy experience a lot these past 6 months. And I've discovered that most of the fun, for me, has disappeared. And I don't like that. And I don't want to give up my creative outlet. So I am focusing on doing what I enjoy. If no one else joins in, I'll still have learned and had fun. If others stop by, I'll feel even better because I followed my heart and have the added satisfaction that it was a good decision.

I enjoy blogging and reading blogs, especially blog tutorials and have posted a few semi-tutorials on my blog. I know tutorials are popular. So, for me, this is a good match. I can be challenged, learn a lot and spend my time and energy in a positive way. And have something interesting and useful to others. Maybe this appeals to you, too. Here is my first, detailed step-by-step tutorial. This is the exact post from my blog. Everyone has a different style, but the basic elements are here. My previous tutorials {not as detailed} are on recycled art projects. I am looking forward to writing a mix of recipe and eco friendly upcycled creation tutorials.

There is a tutorial blog called Totally Tutorials that accepts tutorials, which then link its readers back to your blog. But they must be step-by-step. The details on submission are on the blog. I submitted one and am told it is in the wings to be posted. It is also a great way to see samples of tutorials. So, if this sounds fun to you, try it and let us all know what happens. I hope you enjoy my tutorial and find this helpful.

Joon Appetit ~ Lemon Sour Cream Muffins ~ A Tutorial

* So easy & delicious you'll make them often *

* the usual suspects *
* round up these simple ingredients *

* In a medium bowl MIX thoroughly *

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

{and yes, in fact, these muffins do defy gravity}

* MELT: 1/2 cup unsalted butter *

PREHEAT OVEN: 350*

{I turn it on warm first. This is how I melt the butter.}

* In a bowl that makes you smile BEAT with a fork: 2 eggs *

* Nicely done *

* You can light up a room with a dollop *

ADD:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP. fresh lemon juice
lemon zest {to your taste}

* Lovely, isn't it? *

* MAKE A WELL in the center of your dry ingredients *

* ADD: The lemony mix & your melted butter *

* GENTLY STIR: Your butter & lemony mix about a little *
It's fun.
Really.

Alternatively
You can mix them together in your
bowl that makes you smile
prior to pouring into your floury well.

But I can't guarantee the fun level.

* LIGHTLY MIX: Your wet & dry ingredients together *
{Don't over mix now. Look at that fluffy batter.}

*LINE: 12-16 muffin cups with
your Wall*E paper liners *

OK. Use your plain pastels.
But it's not going to be the same
and I know you know that.

* How pretty are these muffins? *

* BAKE: about 18-20 minutes *

* You can add a lemon glaze if you like. *
{I did not here. But Evan did later.}

*** These freeze beautifully ***

Please come back and let me know how you liked these.
{and the tutorial}

until next time...

ox
joon

The BBEST Stimulus Package

I couldn't resist this guest item. (No BBEST ones to be found.) CUTE SHOP!

I had such fun with this and I hope you will too. I asked some of our friends to respond to four requests. Here we go...

1. One of your favorite thrifty tips. {Story: optional}

* Breakfast for dinner.

* I walk every place I can. But, in a small town that is pretty easy to do. Everything I could possibly need is within 5 blocks. I rarely drive unless I am buying more than I can carry. I asked Danny if I had any thrifty tips and he said that I didn't have any that weren't thrifty. hehe... I'm very tight and stretch everything as far as I can get it.

* Clip coupons!! I love to save $$ on my groceries. I clip all coupons and swap those I cannot use with friends and family. Try to take the coupons to a store that is offering to double the amount of the coupon on certain days which is really a nice savings. My Mom taught me the importance of saving when I was growing up at home and I continued to be "thrifty" after I was married and had my own home.

* One of my favorite thrifty tips is that I don't throw anything out. I re-use shipping boxes from my glass suppliers to send out gifts to my family at birthdays and Christmas, etc., and to send out my orders. I reuse brown packing paper for shipping. I send peanuts to AJ for the shipping costs on my end, since they are very expensive to buy and pay shipping for, and bad for the environment to throw away. I use all my small pieces of stained glass to make ACEOs and business card holders. I cannot bear to throw any of that stuff out!

* I can't seem to throw any little stray piece away so it just keeps piling up. You never know when you're going to need that certain color strand. Now that I'm back to knitting I'm reusing mostly all of it. In every day life I save all my boxes and envelopes and reuse them all.....I didn't come from a thrifty family altho my father saved everything but I never knew he did. I found this out later in life when they were moving and giving us all their items, he had original boxes and still had the original manuals to everything going back 50 years. I thought that was very cute.

* Well I have two. One is a shopping list. I find I waste less food when I have a list of things I need, written on a piece of paper. The second is combining errands. I didn't really learn these things. They are too simple to learn. They just sort of evolved by time and thought.

* My grandparents brought up a family during the depression of the 1930's. Her tip for making meat go further was to mince it, then add a sprinkling of sago* (like tapioca). When cooked in sauce this creates tiny clear 'bubbles' which are almost imperceptible. My memory of sago is as a milk pudding served at school and this too is how DH remembers it. His memories are really bad, so it was a product that was banned in our house.

However.....

Not long after we married we had a monetary crisis and I had very little housekeeping. I decided to try Grandma's little 'trick' and bought a pack, managing to keep it out of sight. DH thoroughly enjoyed his meal - saying it was the best serving of mince he had ever eaten. We had it several times during that time, and every now and then he still remembers it and asks if we can have it again! Now that he is home full time I know I wouldn't get away with it, so I just say that I have forgotten the recipe.


* This is hard as I learned so many thrifty tips from both my Mother and Grandmother that picking one is problematical. I think that I will go with one that my Grandmother espoused: “It is better to purchase one piece of a well made and designed item for your wardrobe or house hold than to purchase several cheaper, trendy/fad items.”

* Well, for those who truly know me, “thrifty” is not exactly my middle name, but I will try. Being the costume designer for our local theater group – they give me a budget which never quite meets the needs to costume all the actors. So I have learned to refashion something from other shows; but mainly I love going to the various thrift shops and Salvation Army looking for some unique pieces I can use as a costume. Right now we are doing a 1934 Radio Show so my son and I went to the Antique & Vintage Clothing Show a few weeks ago in NYC. It was tough working within a budget, so I have learned to bargain (something I learned very quickly in India – where they barter for everything!). We came back with some great finds. I think my son brought more Vintage clothing for himself!

* Cleaning the windows with newspaper seems to be a favourite thrify tip from my mother's generation - but I don't do it!

* Buying what's on sale and using a coupon for an extra discount. Buying green or red peppers when at a good price then chopping them & freezing them. I learned that from my friend Lona , and not only does it help pinch the pennies but it's a real time saver when cooking to just take a handful from the freezer as needed.

* NEVER pay full price for anything - it has to be marked down at least once before I'll buy it. I like that you call it "thrifty", I always just thought I was 'cheap', lol.

* I save aluminum foil. Yep - I reuse, & reuse it until it either becomes to soiled to recycle or I do recycle. Both my parents were raised during the Depression ... so we always had foil, bags, & baggies drying around the house.

Oh yum! A guilty pleasure from inalather

2. You have a $5 budget for a guilty pleasure ~ what would it be?

* Dagoba Organic chocolate.... LAVENDER & BLUEBERRIES
* Hersey's Pot of Gold or a box of Turtles. CHOCOLATE!!!
* A large bag of Hershey's Kisses.... :)
* I would buy $5 worth of dark chocolate -- Ghirardelli with raspberry filling, and Lindor dark chocolate truffles!
* ahhh, my guilty pleasures rarely involve money. They are staying in my pink very fluffy robe and watching a Project Runway marathon or a favorite movie. If I had to find something with a dollar value... it would be a cupcake from LeBus. Yummy!
* $5 guilty pleasure, EASY.....Ice cream cone. $5 perfect size cone.
* a pretty notebook or more beads, even though I don't need anymore!
* This would be a Starbuck’s Caramel Frappacino with extra caramel and whipped cream.
* Starbucks
* Answering this question is like giving me a bonus question! $5 – I would be sitting in Haagen Das Ice Cream (the best) eating my “HoneyBee Vanilla” with hot fudge, walnuts, of course a cherry to top it off!
* $5 would go quite a long way in my local thrift shop, so I'd buy old buttons and haberdashery there.
* Go to a garage/yard sale. There have been so many times, I'll pick up a whole box of stuff and ask the price and yep, you guessed it, $5.00 - what fun!!
* A bottle of nail varnish! And why not......?

The TV Dinner Housewife is here to ask:
3. Name your favorite TV show from your childhood/youth.

* This is kind of embarrassing but I never missed an episode of Gilligan's Island growing up, I can recite and remember almost every episode. Quite embarrassing I admit. I'm sure if it was on today I'd be still watching, I thought it was hysterical.
* Oh my goodness, there are soooooo many......the very first one that came to mind is "Lost in Space" so I'll say that's my favorite (yeah, it's hokie, I know).
* Thats a tough one. After much thought I'm going with Leave It To Beaver, followed by I Love Lucy & Get Smart.
* the old Warner Bros cartoons but the absolute favorite were the Little Rascals / Spanky & Our Gang!!
* The Loretta Young Show. You can read about it here:
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/lorettayoung/lorettayoung.htm
* Favorite TV show from my childhood was Mickey Mouse Club. I imagined I was a Mouseketeer and that Darlene and Annette were my good buddies.
* Lassie from childhood and Ozzie and Harriet from my teen years
* Noggin the Nog http://www.nogginthenog.co.uk/
* Well it depends on how far back I go, but I have always loved Saturday mornings when I could sit and watch cartoons all morning (when cartoons were cartoons). My favorite were always the old black & white cartoons particularly the cat and mouse who never talked. I also loved Winky Dink – you would have a magic screen that you would put on your TV and then, during the cartoon, they would ask you to draw a line or something to help save Winky – my first artistic ability put to work!
* 'Watch with Mother' in black-and-white from the 1950's. They had little stories with puppet characters: The Wooden Tops; Rag,Tag & Bobtail; Muffin the Mule. http://www.whirligigtv.co.uk/tv/children/watchwm/watchwm.htm#rtb
* Brady Bunch or Partridge Family - it is a tie.
* Brady Bunch
* My favorite TV show when I was a child was Captain Kangaroo. I made my girls watch him when they were little. Although the show had changed it still had the Captain, Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit and Sheri Lewis with Lamb Chop. :)

yankeegirl depicts a lovely spring favorite!

4. Favorite spring flower.

* Tulips
* Tulips
* No contest. I LOVE tulips. Every color and every kind.
* You know I love spring and I have to say the Daffodil is my favorite because as soon as I see them I realize spring is here and gives me that warm feeling inside.
* daffodils
* Daffadil or Jonquil. I have lived a lifetime without knowing the difference. Your question prompted me to “goggle” it and now I know. You can find the answer here:
http://www.plantanswers.com/arcadia_pages/Narcissus%20jonquilla.htm
* Almond blossom. Suddenly you don't have to look down to know that spring has arrived - it's there between you and the sky! Summer won't be long...
* Favorite spring flower is probably crocus.
* Blue Muscari
* Impatiens or pansies, sooooooo many colors, so little time!!!
* I would have to say Pansies. Usually in late March we go to the farm where they have rows and rows of the most beautiful combinations and colors of Pansies. It is somewhat of a tradition, even now with my kids grown. Each one gets to pick a few of their favorite color, then we come home and transplant into pots on our terrace. Believe it or not, the pansies actually last through the whole summer.
* Lilac
* This one is easy!!! I LOVE all spring flowers...but I think my favorite is the lilac. They smell so beautiful and the tiny little flowers all bunched together trying to make a statement are so adorable and lovely.

Thank you all for your wonderful contributions. Your answers are delightful, informative, inspiring, nostalgic, charming and SMART! Plus, I feel so successful ~ I received a 100% response rate. Dear Readers, please leave your answers in the comment section. We'd love to hear from you, too! I will add mine there as well.
Until next time....

Variations on Pandora

One of BBEST Team's greatest membership perks, to me, is the sharing that happens every day. I love to learn. The weekly chat thread is an encyclopedic cache unmatched by any other. Not even we know what subject will spring forth at any moment and lead to yet another and another. And speaking of one thing leading to another...

We talk about music a lot on the thread. This week, I shared a website called Pandora. You can read more about it on Wikipedia but, in short: it is an automated music recommendation and internet radio service created by the music genome project. Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar. Users provide feedback on the individual song choices — approval or disapproval — which Pandora takes into account for future selections. For example, I have John Denver, Josh Groban and Hans Zimmer stations. It's very cool and exposes you to many new artists. {And searching Wikipedia for Pandora also led to the Pandora as a myth entry ~ another fascinating read.}

So, one thing leading to another, yet again, I did an etsy BBEST search for Pandora and found the beautiful lampwork bead seen above by our own Susan Lambert. It seems there are bracelets called Pandora? Live and Learn.

Then I decided to try a Pandora only search. Wow! Too much information! So I narrowed it down to the vintage category and found this groovy old box and both the shop, dahlilafound , and the owner's profile are delightful, so I share them with you.




Lastly, as my Pandora is a music based find, I did a 'BBEST music' search and found this that I adore in BethPeardonProds along with many more lovely items.




Etsy is sometimes too much fun. Is that possible? I think not. And so, my sharing friends, I thank you and please feel free to leave a comment with a nifty find of your own. I learned on WIKI that the pandora site is currently no longer available outside of the US so perhaps one of you knows of a similar site to share with our international members. I hope so.