Cave Song

a cloudy day at the beach

Sometimes, the best days in the tropics (or subtropics) are not those filled with glaring sunlight that washes out color. Cloudy days, still warm and relaxing, allow us to open our eyes a tiny bit wider to actually see those plants that unfurl around us.
Here's a little bit of an homage to that and a hope that the Florida summer (where two of our artists now live) will be a little more forgiving this year:

Giveaway Treasury: Comment to Enter

The Treasury Friends Team on Etsy has started a giveaway treasury in conjunction with receiving a 300 dollar Etsy Team Grant to donate to the Red Cross for Japan's earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. All you have to do to win every item in the treasury is comment on it.



We do also strongly encourage you to donate if you haven't yet. The news outlets have stopped covering the tragedy in many ways, but efforts are still underway to aid those without homes and to rebuild the devastated areas.

It has been quite some time.

It turns out that college and tutoring have taken up a huge chunk of my time, and now that I've had a few weeks to settle back in, I' trying to figure out a viable Etsy schedule. Most of that is difficult because my tutoring hours are variable, and I should be working on my honors project (which is about my hazy memories of immigration).
I listed some new photos today that had been sitting around on my computer. Marcin is extremely excited for his first photo sale. It has fired him up to take more.
And here's a treasury I just made for your viewing pleasure.

It felt nice to get back into the swing of treasury-making.
But now I'm off to be an official band photographer.

Treasury Philosophy

I make treasuries based on my moods much like probably most people who make treasuries on Etsy. A couple days ago, though, I was in an awful mood. I felt sluggish, it was cloudy, and I didn't want to have anything to do with anyone. And of course, I wanted to make a treasury to reflect that, but I started wondering whether or not sellers would want their items associated with this type of melancholy. As a curator, I suppose that I can sort of use items any way I wish, but I was imagining a pair of my earrings or one of Marcin's photos in a treasury titled "Everyone is an idiot...and I can tell because they buy this stuff." I think I'd be pretty upset. Are treasury curators responsible for the way an item is presented? What do you think?

I ended up toning down the anger in my gray/grey treasury, and I even ended up atoning for my bad mood the next day with a sunnier treasury as if being able to put together sixteen cheerful items could in fact convey that I was in a better mood to the 43 people that had clicked on it so far.

In short, I guess I think a treasury can convey a visual aesthetic goal, but it's difficult to do that without pinpointing the emotion of it, too.

Treasury Time

I made a treasury for NonTeam Challenge #11.
Sometimes, I have trouble with titles, and this was one of those times, but I love all of the items on this list. Hope you find something you're a fan of.

Summerisle

This morning, I was featured in this beautiful treasury:



I love the colors and the arrangement.

Down to [a] wire

Here's a new treasury I made. I don't really know what made me think of scissors, but now I can hardly concentrate on trying to figure it out because I set a goal of two and a half new pages by 11pm, and I, of course, haven't started in part because of this treasury and in part because it is difficult for me to write new immigration stories/anecdotes. I feel like I have exhausted my options.
Actually, this treasury might be related to a song my mom used to sing in Polish. The first lines are "I'll take the scissors and cut up the curtains." And that's all I know, and I think it's about an angry housewife...

'Sharp Edges' by fourelephants

The Collection Num... gildinglilies $20.00	M SNIP tshirt on Co... phippsart $21.50	Sewing Tag - Sewer ... SweetandSassyC... $5.00
Antique Vintage Ind... BehindTheScree... $140.00	SALE . . . amazing ... jetsetvintage $15.00	little scissors chainchainchai... $20.00
Free Shipping World... thekildarepook... $9.55	Silver Serving Piec... onecozynest $18.99	Hunting Arrowhead D... BrillianceFoun... $19.00
Knives - Adult Smal... mrosi582 $18.00	Knife and Fork - Ca... bridbird $5.00	Small Dish with Blu... zinniadesignst... $12.00
12oz cup scissors (... CircaCeramics $30.00	The Key with the Hi... GwenDelicious $46.00	DIY 23mm Wood Natur... pearldelta $1.50

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

I was asleep again.

I'm on here today for two reasons. One, my term is officially over. No more papers, no more tutoring, no more cafeteria food. Until January 2nd. And Two, I made it to the front page again! I checked out the screenshot on craftcult.com, and I made a widget, and here it is:

Ballin' #2

Another treasury on the front page! I'm really happy with this one, too.

Ballin'