In honor of all the mothers in the world I am offering free shipping for Mother's Day, including international shipping if your mother is out of the country! Just go to my website www.roseridgecreations.etsy.com and pick out the purse you think your mom might like to receive. I have already adjusted the shipping on Etsy so you will only pay the price of the purse. This is at least a five dollar savings! This unique purse ergonomically disperses the weight of the items in the purse and is very easy on the back. Mom can carry anything she likes and it won't hurt her back. She'll thank you everytime she puts her purse on her shoulder!

Lovely Flower, Lovely Life

I've learned so many things from my wonderful husband since meeting him, but one of the best things is just to simply slow down and observe the things around you. Whether I'm hiking in the woods or running errands around town, I now take the time to really live in the moment and absorb the universe around me. This past week while camping on Roan Mountain I looked down and saw this lovely pink trillium that is native to our East Tennessee region. Once I noticed this flower, I started seeing dozens all around the area. Some were white, some pink and some a magnificant deep purple. This was our third time camping in this park and the first time I had ever noticed these amazing flowers. They seemed to be bursting out of gravel and rocks, thriving in the most unlikely and barren looking setting. The analogy wasn't lost on me to my current jobless situation. Beautiful things can come out of the bleakest and barren of circumstances. The only variable is the amount of drive and persistence one makes up their mind to have.

Feeling very lucky today to have my second treasury on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=53999 It's not easy to get a treasury on Etsy to showcase listings, so I feel very blessed to have one two weeks in a row. I am blown away with all the local artistry in the East Tennessee area and wanted to show off some of that talent in this week's showcase. I don't know any of these talented individuals personally, I am just a great admirer of all their talents and even a customer of several of them. That's the hardest part about Etsy, not spending all the money you make there on all the beautiful things you find in other shops. When you're a creative person yourself, you recognize and appreciate how much must have gone into the creation of all the incredible items listed on Etsy. My favorites list of things I'd like to buy in the future is twice as big as my store! With my sewing being my only income now, I have to be very selective with how I spend the money I do have and some days it is very difficult to do. But when my store really takes off, watch out fellow Etsy artists!

First Week Success

The first week for my sling bags on Etsy has been a great success. It's been very satisfying to have people discover this unique bag online and embrace it. People are buying them and showing them to their friends and relatives who are also buying them and reordering. I was told in person today that it was only a matter of time before I'm on QVC. That would be fine with me, but I may need a little help keeping up with those orders.

April Promotion

I'm so excited about my new purse design, I am featuring it in my Etsy shop this month. For every sling purse sold this month I am giving a free gift of either a quilted business card case or small zippered bag. I have also designed a unique zipper pull that says "made for you." Every zippered purse or bag that I sell will now have this special zipper pull to let everyone know your purse or bag was made just for you. Just click on the purse to the right and check out my new design. I'd be glad to make one of these special purses just for you.

What happened to Spring?

I can't believe it was 78 here yesterday and the forecast includes snow today. What a roller coaster this spring has been here in East Tennessee this year. A little like my life this year. The analogy is hard to miss. Life can change in an East Tennessee moment, that's for sure. Good thing I like change because that's all life is at the moment. I start everyday with a list of all the positive things in my life that day. Today's positive is that bad weather encourages me to stay in and get a lot of sewing done. Since tomorrow's forecast is just as bad, I'm going to have lots of time to catch up on all my orders!

Sold my first sling purse last night. That's a great sequel to my previous post. It feels really nice to have someone appreciate the results of your creative process. I'm learning that the most difficult part of marketing yourself is getting your name out there and keeping it there. It's an ongoing process that I have to keep my finger on while simultaneously designing and creating. Not to mention learning the ins and outs of the Etsy world and having my laptop be a fifth appendage. Still, my worse day in my studio is better than my best day at my old job.

New Purse Completed

It's very satisfying to come up with an idea, let it roll around in your brain for a while, tweak and improve it and finally see it culminate to a completed project. That's why Monday was a great day for me. It was the day I finally finished that process and could sit back and look at my work. My new purse is the result of months of trying to come up with an easier and more practical sewing process to create a better product. I already knew that the style of purse would be popular, people had been asking me for months to make them a version of the purse I was carrying. I hummed and hawed and overpriced the purse, just so I wouldn't actually have to go through the excrutiating process that making the first purse had been. It was very difficult because I had made the entire purse on the serger. I have since learned that all the tight curves on this purse aren't condusive to the serger. One day recently in the bathtub (my think tank) it occurred to me that a combination of the serger and the sewing machine would actually make this purse possible and still have hair left when I was finished. Long story short, I'm making my sixth purse this morning and have two more cut out to finish later today. I have been able to lower the price of the purse and am actually enjoying making them. Who knew that the purse that had started out as a pain reliever would actually turn out to be my saving grace. The blue purse in the picture below is the first purse I've listed on Etsy in this style. Check it out and look for lots more in the future.