Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Twitter Manners, Etsy Shop News and a Photo of the Day

What's on My Mind?

Today once again I ran up against one of my very few pet peeves on Twitter. Mind you I don't have many complaints. Most days I enjoy my time spent tweeting, retweeting and seeing some amusing or amazing or thought provoking things. I share sellers on Etsy, Artfire, Ebay, Amazon, Bonanza, and the occasional Ecrater seller. I post things from my Feedly sources about news, science, tech, art and more. I sometimes share tweets from National Parks and the area I live in. I share a lot!

Back to that pet peeve and I hope I can explain this well. If not ask in the comments and I will try and clarify if anyone cares. Here goes. When I retweet someone's item most times I will get a mention thank you or a retweet. I don't care if they retweet one of my own items or one of the other amusing, amazing or thought provoking things they can find on my timeline. What I don't like is if they retweet their own item from my timeline. Why? Well to me it is selfish. Retweeting is about spreading the love. By retweeting their own item they have missed a chance to make a new connection, share something new, enjoy the good karma that doing something nice brings. There you have it.

Etsy Shop News

I did get the rest of my potholders listed. The first round of them were a generously sized 8 by 6. I have started working on more of them. The next sets will be a bit smaller and about 6 by 6.
My current coupon code expires in a few days on the 31st. No one has taken advantage of it yet. That saddens me a bit. If this is the way it goes, I may not bother doing a coupon code again. Most of my sales just seem to come out of the blue. I don't really have any idea how I get found but am extremely thankful every time it happens.

Photo of the Day


Jim actually took this one so I want to give him credit. The first spring we lived in the Jackson Hole area a group of these guys strolled through the neighborhood. It seemed to happen each year in May. The day of this picture there were about a dozen in the group. What I remember being surprised about was that they strolled around making no noise. I was expecting the ground to shake or something. 

Til next time.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Enjoying Fall, Cozy on Etsy Shop News, Photo of the Day

What's on My Mind?

Fall and all the changes it brings is definitely here in Jackson WY. The lovely red and gold leaves are off most of the trees, removed by wind and rain and the first snows of the year. The weather changes each day and even each hour. Something in me doesn't really enjoy the cold cloudy wetness that autumn brings. I have never minded the cold dry winter days here when the air sparkles like diamonds though. Strange, I know, that is just the way I am. What is new in your part of the world?

Cozy on Etsy Shop News

My coupon code SHOPEARLY20 is still active until the 31st of October. I would love to see folks taking advantage of that code for early gift shopping. 

I have put one of the potholders I made in the shop. I have some other colors to get listed. (on my to do list for this afternoon among other things) These are from an old pattern. I used a smaller than normal crochet hook for the cotton yarn. This makes a potholder that is very thick and that will do a good job of protecting your hands. I have seen other shops use acrylic yarn for these but I don't. Cotton will handle the heat without melting like acrylic can. Who wants melted plastic in your kitchen? Just sayin'. These are nice and large at about 8 x 6 to give good coverage if you want to use them for a trivet under a hot pan to protect tables or countertops too.

Photo of the Day

When I walked along the National Elk Refuge Road recently some of the male big horn sheep were grazing and stopping a lot of traffic. I did not get a picture that day but am sharing one I took from a couple years ago. I love watching these animals!


Til next time, take care and stay cozy!


Monday, October 10, 2016

Walking, Etsy Shop News and Photo of the Day

What's on my mind today?


Walking, walking and more walking. I find it settles me down and clears my mind. Over the past few days I have been trying different routes around town. I have taken in the site of Canadian geese at the Visitors Center on the north side of town. I have seen the first snow on Sleeping Indian and big horn sheep from the National Elk Refuge Road. I walked along Snow King and to downtown in a big loop. I haven't been carrying a camera with me. Maybe I should start doing that.

Shop News


Hats! I have wanted to get some hats into the shop for awhile and now I have started to do just that. I have started with a basic slouchy beanie because I love that way these look when you are wearing them.


I am also letting you know that for the first time ever I am running a coupon code for blog readers and twitter followers. From now through the 31st of October the code SHOPEARLY20 will save you 20% off your order at cozy.etsy.com. I will probably be closed most of November so I wanted to encourage any one who needs to get cozy to shop ahead of the holiday madness of December.

Photo of the Day


This one was taken a couple years ago. The place I took the photo at was the boat ramp at the Signal Mountain Marina on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. The view looks across the lake to Mt Moran. The day was a bit hazy but I love all the blue.

Til next time.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

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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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

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.

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

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?


Monday, August 15, 2016

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.