How I Gift Wrap in 28 Steps

Merry Christmas everyone! Thought I would share my experience with you. (true story, by the way - living with 3 cats things are often this way!) 



Notice where she is looking
(at the gold ornament), and see
where her paw is? (On the quilted ornament)



Sheer bliss!



How I Gift Wrap in 28 Steps (sorry if you find cat hair in your presents)

1. Find gift.
2. Find wrapping paper.
3. Lay gift on floor.
4. Push cats away.
5. Wrap gift.
6. Find wrapping paper too short.
7. Put scissors down.
8. Find more wrapping paper.
9. Push cats away.
10. Find tape.
11. Find that tape has run out.
12. Find new tape.
13. Find glasses to see beginning of new roll of tape.
14. Push cats away.
15. Can't find glasses.
16. Found glasses.
17. Find scissors.
18. Found scissors.
19. Push cats off gift.
20. Lay gift on new wrapping paper.
21. Push cats away from wrapping paper.
22. Wrap gift.
23. Can't find tape.
24. Found tape.
25. Take tape away from cat.
26. Push cats off gift.
27. Push cats off wrapping paper.
28. Unwrap cats.

Sometimes the best intentions ...

It's a dull, dreary, rainy day here on the West Coast of Canada.  (Surprised?) I am inside trying to take new product photographs of my new stitch marker sets and some other items that I want to list on Etsy.  I'm also helping out a friend and listing a few of her handsewn pillow covers and a lovely quilted bag she has made.  Easy, right?  I take photographs all the time, and so taking photos of these items ought to be simple, right? Wrong ...
I don't know why they are so hard to photograph, but they are! The lighting in my house is either too dark for the photos, or too glary, or too uneven, or a myriad of other things ... and it is too dark, rainy and gloomy to go outside to try taking them out there in the natural light.
I am waiting for the camera to upload the pics to the computer so I can see if I can at least adjust the lighting there.  My friend has some lovely cushion covers, but of course I don't have any pillows of the proper size to fit them. I don't feel my pictures have done her items justice. *sigh*  At any rate, I have taken the photos and we'll see how they turn out with perhaps some post-processing magic.  I can always list them and then replace the photos later. Or, if the photos are really bad, I can wait for a brighter day.  Stay tuned!

Oh - and by the way, please feel free to share my blog with your friends, and comments are welcome!

Christmas Gift Suggestion

These dark, dreary, wintry days leave me longing for sunshine and warmth. This photograph was taken during our Mexican cruise of nearly two years ago. Just looking at this photo makes me want to go back there! Maybe you would like to be there too? You can, in your imagination, if you purchase this stretched canvas print offered on my Limited Time Promotion.  It is offered in the 16 x 20 size for only $70.00.  The special is good until 12/14/2012.
Details found by clicking the link below:

http://fineartamerica.com/weeklypromotion.html?promotionid=101122

Please feel free to share this news and my blog. 

Guilty!

I am guilty of something that has been niggling at me for awhile now.  I am guilty of neglecting my blog.  I began with such good intentions. Instead, my blog has been languishing at the bottom of my 'to-do list', as more and more activities and 'must-do's' take precedence. 
I have been busy adding to my ever-growing website on Fine Art America, and have over 500 photographs listed now.  I have sold a few.  :) 

My Etsy shop has suffered, however, as I have been concentrating on adding more photographs to my Fine Art America website.  As a result, I haven't been updating Etsy as often as I should.  I am feeling a little bit pulled in all directions these days and I keep telling myself to 'focus'.
So ... Focus I will.  (As Yoda might say).
First things first.  The following special is still running, until Dec. 31, 2012, on the photographs on my Fine Art America shop.  As I have stated earlier, I have added many more since this blog began, and add several new photos per week, as time allows.

Special discount on all prints on my Fine Art America website until 10/31/2012. Use code AGVZEX at checkout! http://marilyn-wilson.artistwebsites.com/  (Cost of materials excluded)

 

This discount applies to everything in my Fine Art America website - cards, prints, framed prints, canvas prints, etc.  Keep in mind that cards are 5 x 7 prints, and they come singly, or in sets of 10 or 25.  The price per card decreases substantially with the number ordered.  Why not wander on over and take a look?  I welcome comments and questions. 

 

Also, my Etsy shop, at http://www.etsy.com/shop/CalicoSkyCreations has a special running until the end of the year.

 

10% off of anything in my shop, using the coupon code CSC10 applied at check-out. 

 

One more exciting thing has been happening.  I have signed on with Krista May, who runs an online agency called 'Painturdreams'. This agency acts as agents for numerous artists on a global scale.  Krista has designed, with my input, the following site for me, which also joins together my online pursuits, with FAA and with Etsy.  Krista will be helping me to publicize my sites, and I am quite excited to see what happens!  Check out the site here:

http://painturdreams.weebly.com/marilyn-wilson-photography.html

 

So, as you can see, all of this plus my day job is keeping me out of trouble. Oh - and we (as a family) did go to see Paul McCartney live in concert in Vancouver on Nov. 25, 2012.  It was so exciting! He was fabulous and everything I'd hoped for.  (I am a long-time Beatle fan).  I saw George Harrison in 1975, on his Dark Horse tour, and now I've seen Paul!  Couldn't have asked for a better concert! 

During the finale to the song Live and Let Die, the fireworks set off at the back of the stage were hitting the dome of the stadium!



During one of the final encores (there were several), Paul sang the song, Mull of Kintyre. The Delta Police Pipe Band joined him on stage. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place! The audience went wild. Here is the link to the newspaper article, and, hopefully the video will play.  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/McCartney+gets+Help+from+Delta+Police+pipe+band/7611867/story.html



It was definitely a night to remember!

 

'Til next time,

 

Marilyn