Bee's Buzzings

Fabulous Write Up from Products of the Day

I was thrilled to receive a head's up about a feature in "Products of the Day" that included my pendant shop: 

. . . The last Etsy store that I have found that sells tile pendants (now these aren't old Scrabble tiles but they are in that nice square shape) is Bee Dazzles Pendants shop. Bee Dazzles uses her own artwork (which you can buy the original artwork, prints or stationary at her other stores). I really enjoy browsing thru Bee's work, especially the nature/tree themes..the colors just pop out at you but are so tranquil in their combination. Bee's square tile pendants range from $11-$16 and you can get them in Mini (1 inch) or Large (1.25 inches).

This gorgeous Autumn Maple Leaves pendant is the one I just got last night. This one runs for $13 and I can't wait to get it.


This other one is called Tranquility and I must say out of all of Bee Dazzle's artwork, this one is my favorite. This is the one with the colors that just pop at you but, like it's name, it is just so tranquil.

Bee also has heart shaped, bird shaped, flower shaped and fish shaped pendants that are all handpainted. So, I just gave you an easy way to get some Xmas shopping done fast. The links are there, the rest is up to you :-)

It's always so thrilling . . . thanks, Jen for making my day :)

Happy Birthday!!

To one very special person!!

Love you, and hope you have a wonderful day :)

Still recovering :)

I'm still recovering from the five days out of town, and returning to shop orders, kid issues and two sleepover birthday parties.  All in a nine day time frame.  I'm not complaining, I've definitely had more fun in the past two weeks than I'd had in the previous three months, but I am a bit surprised at how much I need some 'down time' :)

In true 'feast or famine' style - two of my three daughters, my mother, two of my dearest friends, my sister-in-law and a niece all have birthdays within a 3 week time frame!

So I'll catch up soon, but in the meantime here is the sweetest picture of Bobby, our sweet, lovable, but also nutty and fun loving kitty!

It's "Bobby in a Box" . . . such a boy. . . so easily amused (but then, so am I!)

LOL

oh, and yayyy ME!  I lost 2 pounds this past week - WOOT!  Hope the rest of the Fitness Group did well, too :)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I'll admit, I haven't been the best about this lately.  Oh, we recycle bottles and cans, and sort almost 100% of our recyclable paper into the brown grocery sacks from the store - and they do indeed end up curb side on recycling day.  But since starting my Etsy business, it has bothered me to be adding to the plastic and paper overload.  And ultimately to the landfills.

Looking at it one way, people will still send note cards . . . so why not mine??  But . . . still.  I know there's an additional responsibility to actually do something in our personal lives to offset this negative contribution.  From time to time I'd peeked at items, and knew the act of transitioning over to reusable grocery sacks and stainless water bottles is a great idea.  But to actually do something about it is expensive. 

But today I stumbled across some products that seems perfect - Klean Kanteen makes stainless steel water bottles with BPA free materials.  And even better, they were ON SALE at ReusableBags.com.  And are you ready for this??  Upon further research I found a coupon code for an additional 20% off my purchase (coupon code: f70838 - good until April, 2009).  So I went more than a little crazy and got everyone their own color of lightweight, stainless steel, 18 oz water bottle, and a set of 4 reusable grocery sacks!  

Kristi and I like mixing our water with Propel packets, and these will work perfectly for that.  And Dani and Katie love ice in their water.  The wide mouths of the Kleen Kanteens accommodate ice cubes.  Perfect!  I also ordered some plain stainless bottles (for when their colored bottles are being washed) and additional sport tops, just in case.  As a mom, I know I need to make it super convenient for the kids in order for them to 'buy into' this program of eliminating plastic water bottles.

And these grocery sacks - well, I just love them.  The color is unobtrusive, they have a lifetime guarantee, and they're sized just like the ones you find in the grocery stores.  Yayyy!

More on my mom's party later.  Have to get the girls up from yet another sleepover (Kristi turns 15 on Monday) and we're running out the door to dentist appointments and then to Rochester to pick up Josh - all three have a long weekend (MEA weekend here in MN) :)

. . . and let's cheer on the members of the Fitness Group and their results - can't wait to hear how everyone fared this past week!

Okay . . . so I lied

My last post mentioned all the things I was supposedly 'doing' last weekend . . . because my Mom reads my blog!  In reality, I flew to the East Coast since we were throwing her a surprise birthday party.  The first ever, since she hates surprises.  And likely the last, because, well, she hates surprises :) 
 
When we attempted this 10 years ago, she foiled our plans by going on a trip to Branson, Missouri with Paul, our step-dad.  But last Friday night, a full two weeks before her actual birthday, we managed to pull it off, and she had a wonderful time.  Friends and family came in from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and obviously, Minnesota. 

The celebration began without her a little after 6pm, and I believe it was well after 11pm (maybe even closer to midnight) by the time we all finally rolled out of the Treaty of Paris, in historic Annapolis, Maryland.  An amazing night and one that will be laughed about for years to come.    

It was a very fun and eventful five days spent with friends and family.  More on the rest of the fun soon. 

and a p.s. to Dianne - the photo is of my mom and siblings.  Tom, Jim, Mom, Meri and me :)

 

All or nothing . . .

Have spent most of my waking hours this week getting art work, packaging and product ready.  The great news is the shop update went really well on Wednesday - the owners loved the new packaging - and today I dropped off a huge amount of merchandise to the show I'm in this upcoming weekend.  Even better, I don't have to work the show :)

The bad news is, the house is a disaster.  The laundry baskets are full of dirty clothes and the pantry and refrigerator shelves are woefully bare.  So you can probably guess what I'm doing all day tomorrow!  And Sunday we have a Vikings game (yes, I'm a football nerd) but Saturday looks wide open for some more new artwork done - so stay tuned!! 

Congrats to the Fitness Group members on their amazing results.  It was so wonderful hearing about your successes!

hugs, Bee :)

New Packaging

Love the way these turned out!  They'll be in the shops soon, and will be included with every pendant or pendant necklace purchase :)
One design (and periwinkle paper) for year round pendants, and another for the holiday designs (with berry colored paper).

Happy Early Holidays

Is anyone else a big procrastinator like I am??  Now, I'm not saying I sit around eating bon-bons, or anything.  Heck, I haven't had time to read a book in like forever.  Obviously, things are quite busy around here with Etsy business, new shops, existing shop re-stocks, media promotions etc., (and for those of you thinking the greenbacks are just rolling in, know that most of this work is consignment so I'm still watching my pennies, LOL). 

But somehow a lot of little day-to-day stuff seems to creep up and before I know it, the day is just about over.  So my 'plan' to get new paintings done continues to find its way onto the next day's To Do List. 

This past week, however, deadlines finally got the better of me and it forced me to get some new artwork done.  With a shop update AND a show this weekend, the house now looks like s*@#$%!   Or as my mom would say, "like a cyclone struck it" . . . but hey, I've finally done something that cannot be undone (unlike vacuuming, dishes, laundry). 

It feels good.  More to come.  Soon.  : )

p.s. the stress took a toll, up up a pound (but still down 1/2 a pound for the new phase) and I can't wait to see how everyone else did!!

September Free Pendant Winners Announced :)

Congratulations to Michele and MissKnits!      

The Random Number Generator selected Michele's September 9th and MissKnits' September 26th entries for the last contest period winners! 

Michele was one of the first three to post after the August 31 winner was announced - proof that the more you post - the greater your chance of winning.  For October, ANY forum post during the month (even comments on older posts) count as entries into the next contest.  And remember - the first 3 people to comment on THIS post get an additional 5 entries. 

Contests now end on the 30/31st of each month, with TWO winners selected randomly from all entries (aka post comments) during the month.  You may comment once on each blog post during that time and receive an entry for each comment.  And comments on ANY posts during the contest period count - even if they posted several days ago :)

* Note to Michele and MissKnits - it's time to go shopping!!  Receive an $18 merchandise credit (and free shipping) at BeeDazzlesGifts shop BeeDazzlesPendant shop or BeeDazzles art shop.  If the total amount of your merchandise is $18 or under, I will mark your order PAID and ship your selection to you.  If the item(s) you select is over $18, I will send you a revised PayPal invoice from which to pay ($18 merchandise credit and $3 shipping credit.)

My thanks to all of you for reading Bee's Buzzings and your wonderful post comments :)

hugs!
Bee

Congratulations to Michele and MissKnits!      

The Random Number Generator selected Michele's September 9th and MissKnits' September 26th entries for the last contest period winners! 

Michele was one of the first three to post after the August 31 winner was announced - proof that the more you post - the greater your chance of winning.  For October, ANY forum post during the month (even comments on older posts) count as entries into the next contest.  And remember - the first 3 people to comment on THIS post get an additional 5 entries. 

Contests now end on the 30/31st of each month, with TWO winners selected randomly from all entries (aka post comments) during the month.  You may comment once on each blog post during that time and receive an entry for each comment.  And comments on ANY posts during the contest period count - even if they posted several days ago :)

* Note to Michele and MissKnits - it's time to go shopping!!  Receive an $18 merchandise credit (and free shipping) at BeeDazzlesGifts shop BeeDazzlesPendant shop or BeeDazzles art shop.  If the total amount of your merchandise is $18 or under, I will mark your order PAID and ship your selection to you.  If the item(s) you select is over $18, I will send you a revised PayPal invoice from which to pay ($18 merchandise credit and $3 shipping credit.)

My thanks to all of you for reading Bee's Buzzings and your wonderful post comments :)

hugs!
Bee

Etsy Fun - Halloween Treasury

Thought you all would enjoy a few of these wonderful Etsy items . . .


And stay tuned ~ ~ ~ Tomorrow the TWO September Free Pendant winners will be announced!!  WOOT!