Update on October 7,2016:
With all the competing teams and the habit of some Etsy sellers for dropping promotional links and running the team didn't take off like I had hoped. The captain has decided to not put more effort into trying to get the team active again.
To quote a random stupid animal picture somewhere on the internet-
I haz sad.

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Attention all bloggers with Etsy shops!  I would love to see this group grow and enjoy the fun and friendships that would come with that.

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Got a blog? Love Etsy? Then come join the EtsyBloggers! The EtsyBloggers are the official and original Etsy team for those who love to blog about their craft, the creative process, and other Etsians. In other words, EtsyBloggers ROCK!! :D



In order to join the EtsyBloggers, there is a 5-step membership process. This ensures teammate participation, team promotion, and also results in finding some awesome bloggy peeps!



1. Write a blog post about any EtsyBloggers Member, Leader, or Captain. You can blog about the shop or one listing.
2. Send a convo to the Team Captain (joeyandaleethea.etsy.com) with a link to your blog post.
3. Now go ahead and apply to the EtsyBloggers team - we would be happy to have you join us!
4. Click Apply on our team page (www.etsy.com/teams/6362/etsybloggers) and you will be granted membership asap.
5. After a new member joins the EtsyBloggers team, here’s what happens next:
1. The Team Captain creates a “Welcome New Teammate!” thread.
2. In that thread is a link to your shop.
3. Also in that thread is a link to the blog post that you wrote about your teammate.
4. All teammates will then show you some love! Every member will favorite your shop and also one of your listings!
5. All teammates will go comment on the blog post where you featured an EtsyBlogger.
6. All teammates will post a link on their own blogs pointing to that blog post your wrote about a teammate before joining.
7. All teammates will also feature your shop (or one of your listings) in that same blog post.
8. All teammates will then come back to your Welcome thread to post a link to your feature on their blog.
9. You would then blog about all of your teammates who blogged about you.
10. You could write one blog post featuring many teammates, or you could write many blog posts, one for each teammate.
11. You would then create 2 lists:
1. A list of the blog addresses (URLs) of the EtsyBloggers who featured you. Post that EtsyBloggers blog list in the sidebar of your blog (widget). Then you will always know how to go visit your new teammates at their blogs.
2. A list of the blog posts which feature you.
12. Then you can go and post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Etsy Forums, or wherever else you’d like, and paste that list of features to show others where your shop has been featured, and also help share the EtsyBloggers team love!
13. All of the above is done during the first month of your membership.
14. Every month thereafter, all teammates will choose 1 teammate’s shop or listing to blog about (this is separate from welcoming a new teammate).
15. Then all teammates will go to our team page on Etsy (www.etsy.com/teams/6362/etsybloggers) and post a link to that bloggy feature in the “Monthly Features” thread.
16. Whoever featured you on their blog that month will also get a feature written by you, on your own blog.

It all may sound complicated as written above, but really it’s all quite simple. It boils down to this: You blog about the EtsyBloggers, and the EtsyBloggers blog about you!

As of September 13 2016, there are only 4 members of the EtsyBloggers team since we are once again growing our team organically from the ground up and so we are now implementing the above *NEW RULES* for our team, to encourage participation and to create a close-knit community of bloggers.

Here are the current members of EtsyBloggers team:
1. cozy.etsy.com who blogs at cozyatoz.blogspot.com
2. seasandvintage.etsy.com who blogs at seasandvintage.blogspot.com
3. backyardpatch.etsy.com who blogs at backyardpatch.blogspot.com
4. joeyandaleethea.etsy.com who blogs at joeyandaleethea.com/blog

We would love new members, and would love to add more wonderful bloggers to our lists!

Got a blog? Love Etsy? Then come join the EtsyBloggers! www.etsy.com/teams/6362/etsybloggers

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Todays Thoughts, Photos, Shop and End of Summer

What's On My Mind Today?

I must confess not a whole lot. I have been thinking about what summer was since we are now a week or so past Labor Day Weekend. The summer started in California going to Sea World and seeing family. This summer ended with a day on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. In between there were other family times here in Jackson and a cruise to Alaska. All of it good and I will share scenes in future posts.

I have come up with what I hope will be a new format that I can stick to. The headings tell it all. First "What's On My Mind Today?" which can be about nearly anything. Next is shop news and I hope to have new listings to share here soon. Last I decided to go through my pictures and choose a photo that catches my eye and share it. Any way we will see how this goes.

Shop News

 I choose a few items from my shop today to promote on twitter. These dishcloths we something I tweeted. I just love the cheerfulness of the colors in these. Just looking at the colors made me happy as I crocheted these.

I am also looking forward to seeing if we can get a nice group growing on the EtsyBloggers team. Got an Etsy shop? Got a blog? Join us!

Photo of the Day

Somewhere in Arizona

I will admit that after nearly 5 years in the Phoenix area I never really grew to love the harsh desert landscape. What helped was that in the central part of the state not far from Payson you could see views like this.

Til next time.

Fitbit?

Do you have a fitbit?

I was gifted one a couple months ago. Wearing that goal setting device on my wrist every day has changed so much about how my days go. I have become very serious about getting my steps each day. I even walked on the ship during our recent Alaskan cruise.

I love looking at the charts online on my fitbit profile to see how I am doing. I am so proud of myself when I end up at the top of my friends list sometimes. That doesn't happen often but I like to stay in the top three or four.

So, just wondering, has a fitbit changed you too?

Etsy Bloggers Revitalized

I am excited these days! Long ago I was a member of a very early Etsy team known as the EtsyBloggers and then, silly me, I left the team thinking that Artfire would be the next great thing, but we all know it wasn't. So back to Etsy I went but EtsyBloggers had changed and the team captain was busy with a growing family and I found another group to be a part of. You see I like to be in one group at a time. It makes my life less complicated.

With the big announcement of acceptable manufacturing on Etsy like many I tried out Zibbet. Actually I bought a lifetime membership there for a very good price and have a neglected shop still there. I poured my heart into that shop. I grew a twitter account from a few hundred into thousands spreading the word about that Zibbet shop. I was part of a group of sellers all supporting each other on Zibbet. I came to realize after a bit more than a year it was just ridiculous to continue. So once again back to Etsy.

I was also a part of Group2020. This was made up of a fantastic group of sellers. Some of them I will probably stay in touch with for a long time. As usual with life that group has fallen apart. I get it, life happens. I felt a bit at a loss without a group to share and enjoy and then......

......the team leader of my old EtsyBloggers group found me on instagram! She is at a place in her life where she wants to take charge of the group and bring it back to life. This is such a good thing for me. It will help me think about blogging more. It will give me a group to share with and enjoy.

If you are a seller on Etsy and have a blog and are willing to do some things for team support you could join too. Where? Start with applying to the team on Etsy by clicking right here.

Smells Good

I baked bread today. It seemed like a good thing to do to go with the soup I took out of the freezer to have for dinner tonight. Homemade bread sure makes the house smell good! I haven't cut into the loaf yet to taste and see how it turned out. I'll wait and do that with dinner.

I got the recipe from MyRecipes.com and only changed the flour to be one third whole wheat. It sure made a pretty loaf!

We watched to State of the Union address last night. It is something Jim and I tend to do no matter who the President is because we think it is important.

Knitting for Me

I got a lovely yarn while on our Alaskan cruise a while back. It is a very fine, pretty hand dyed yarn from Raven Frog Fibers of Sitka, Alaska. I am making a crescent shaped scarf with it. I tried and frogged a couple lace patterns with this yarn. I haven't ever knit at such a fine gauge and old eyes had trouble keeping track of the stitches and the pattern, so simple garter it is. The blue, white and gray will go nicely with so much of what I wear.

I would also like to note that I love the way blogger can use the pictures on my phone. This feature may have been around awhile if you have an Android phone but I just discovered it this week. Gotta love the Google!

My First Daybook

For years I meant to take part in this blogging idea and this is the time. A Simple Woman's Daybook has a series of prompts meant to guide you through a post exploring your life and thoughts. Here goes my first attempt.

For Today... 

I am being slow and thoughtful. Not much going on as I process what I want from this year.

Outside my window...

Snow is falling. I can look through the branches of the tree in the front yard and see up the mountain to the Snow King Resort.

I am thinking...
Lots of jumbled thoughts. What should I make? What's for dinner? What can I do to improve my Etsy shop to keep me comfortable in yarn money?

I am thankful...
....to have woken up in a small safe town in a house that is cozy and warm. Today it is just that simple.

I am wearing...
I am not wearing anything special, just my winter uniform of jeans and a sweater with cozy socks on my feet.

I am creating...
I have been exploring sock patterns. I have never knit a pair before and I want to make some for myself.

I am going...
I am going to have to get myself to the grocery store sometime this week. The freezer and the pantry are getting bare. I always put this chore off for as long as possible.

I am wondering...
I am wondering how the grandkids are doing at their first days back to school after Christmas break. I will call them soon to find out.

I am reading...
Twilight in the Desert by Matthew R. Simmons
I have a lot of books (8 in fact) on the shelf above my computer that I have read last year and want to blog about but didn't. I plan to fix that in the coming weeks. I do a lot of reading on planes and when we travel.

I am hoping...
A bit of very personal stuff here. As a mother who hurts when her kids struggle I am hoping to find serenity, acceptance, courage and wisdom as a son attempts to find sanity and sobriety. 

I am learning...
I am learning more and more every day about the making and construction of hand knit socks. I have settled on toe up construction since it makes the most sense to me. Thanks to all the folks on Ravelry who are such a great source of information and inspiration.

In my garden...
Is a layer of snow protecting the flowering plants I will share with you later this year. Inside for color I have some African Violets that cheer me up.

Pink

  White

Purple

In my kitchen... In my kitchen is a pan of brownies with a few missing that I baked yesterday for Jim's birthday.

A favorite quote for today...
If not now, when?

A peek into one of my days...
Not much to see here. A simple housewife's day. A few chores, dinner planned, some creative time, some online time, the pleasure of a hot cup of tea and Netflix in the background.

One of my favorite things...
...... is a group of friendly ladies I am part of who call ourselves Group2020. We share promotions of our shops and bits about ourselves on our bulletin board. I look forward to a bit of chatter with them everyday.

From the board room...



This board shows some of the great things handmade by the friends in Group2020 that I mentioned before.

 
Post Script* 
There you have it. My first attempt at a Simple Woman's Daybook post. There will be more. The link here will lead you to the page where you can find others doing the same as I did today. Go there to read or join in.

Back here again soon. Promise.