Balance

2014 is my year of Balance.

Last bear I made

My life these past years have been out of balance. I haven't been doing anything creative. I haven't been reading as much. My hobby, sweeping, I haven't kept up with as much as I'd like to. I've been ignoring a healthy lifestyle as well.

This year I plan on making more dolls, bears, bookmarks and art journals. I've opened up an Etsy shop since many of my things are quite nice. I thought this would be a way to inspire me to create and share. Regardless if anyone buys my items, they will at least be on display. Filling up my shop will be a way for me to keep track of how much I'm doing.

I have a journal just for writing the books I'm reading. Having it written down will keep me on track to read more. I like to have a Balance of fiction, non-fiction, memoirs and do-it yourself (crafty) books. I also put them on Goodreads. If anyone wants to join me, this is where I am: Goodreads.

I'm watching what I eat and trying to eat a balance of things. I'm cutting back on fats and excessive calories. I'm not 'dieting'. I don't feel that would help with the Balance I'm seeking. I haven't been exercising like crazy, again I'm trying to achieve Balance. I've been playing more on the Wii and watching my calories on SparkPeople. If anyone wants to join me there: My SparkPage.

My biggest hobby is entering giveaways, otherwise known as "sweeping". I love to enter sweepstakes and win things. Last week I won a Walking with Dinosaurs gift pack. It includes a $25 Visa Card, a dinosaur book and stickers. I also won a signed by the author book called Layers. It is fiction and I'm looking forward to reading it. What I really like about winning books is that it opens me up for books I might not otherwise have picked.

I hope I will gain some friends/followers on this blog to go on this journey of Balance with me.

Thanks for reading!

Saturday

Spending time learning more about Google Plus this morning. I'm not sure I like it. I'm sure it didn't catch on like Google hoped it would. I think their biggest problem was when it launched it was by invitation only. Perhaps they thought it would make it more attractive it being exclusive and all. What it did, at least for me, was to make it very uninteresting and I completely forgot about it until they started begging me (through g-mail) to join.

Personally, I think it is visually more attractive than Facebook, but doesn't have the following. It's useless to me. If my friends and family are on a social network it is Facebook. I play Candy Crush and having Facebook friends helps.

I'm in the process of finding ways to market my Etsy shop Deep Scatter and am hoping that G+ is a good format.

Deep Scatter at Etsy

I've just put some items in my shop at Etsy. Deep Scatter was meant to be a place to sell the supplies I was no longer using.

For a while I quit with crafting and making art. I avoided my craft room. Mostly because it was a terrible mess, a really deep scattering of stuff all over. This past December I've cleaned up the craft room and sorted things out. I either sold, gave away or organized my stuff.

I'm getting back into the passion of making things again. There are some things I truly enjoy making. Bookmarks would be on the top of my list. I save all my Page-a-Day Calendars and used these as pictures for my bookmarks. I find fun yarn, ribbons and fibers as the string at the top. I feel each bookmark needs a tassel. I mostly love the tassels because all my cats love playing with string and ribbons.

Lord of the Rings Boromir Bookmark

I love really strong magnets. The good kind, the rare earth type, is hard to find. These magnets can hold up a small child. I like a magnet to hold whatever I need. I found some glass domes and am going to try my hand at making a decorative magnet line. I love color, glitter and paper. I'm sure to come up with something.

Up-cycling is another interest of mine. I like to take an item headed for the garbage and make it into something totally new and different. I look at some condiment jars and just love the shape of them. We've started buying bottles of Coke at Costco since it has cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. I'd love to change these into something useful, saving it from the landfill.

We grow our own catnip and I really need to make my cats some toys using it. Then I thought since we grow so much of the catnip, why not make toys for other cats as well. This is another avenue I'm exploring.

My Etsy shop is here: DeepScatter on Etsy