What's Happening in MY World!

Good Morning! I guess I should say Good Morning... It is before 10 a.m. and so far my morning is going good. I AM a little groggy though, so it there are a few snippets here and there, I must have dozed off on my keyboard.

I did not, however, doze off while I was making these bad boys... Aren't they fabulous? You can check out this pair and  many more at my Make Up and Mud FACEBOOK Shop.


 I LOVE the little wings in the center behind the purple and silver bead... So far, I've kind of stuck to my comfort zone when I created jewelry, and I haven't really made any "out there" pieces. Well, that's about to end, because I keep getting requests for BIGGER pieces with more "Sparkle!" So, they're coming!

I think I may do a little painting today. I painted 6 wine glasses for a Bride and her Bridesmaids a few weeks ago, and I found that I really quite enjoyed watching a regular glass come to life.  I have a HUGE oversized wine glass that I purchased as a centerpiece for our wedding, and it has just been sitting all alone since March. So, I've started painting a Christmas piece, and so far so good! I guess I'll break all of the "Creativity Rules" and give you a sneak peak... (Remember, It is NOT finished!!)

TA-DA... What do you think?

Ok, If anyone can tell me how to turn the photos after I have uploaded them, PLEASE let me know! Even if I edit the picture and turn it upright in my program, it refuses to stay that way when I upload it to my blog! Grrr....

For now, just cock your head to the right, and you can see what is slowly becoming Old St. Nick. I'm still working on his mouth, so right now he seems to resemble a cat with his whispy whiskers... That will hopefully change a little later today. After I have completed all of the painting, I will then add one more entire layer of paint to finish him off, and then I will bake him in the oven for a while to make sure all of the paint is sealed forever!

(I have to add a funny little comment... As with just about anything, he looks so much better in person. When Evan saw him the other day, he exclaimed, "Wow! He really actually looks like the REAL Santa!") I can't help but crack up, because the way he said it is as if he was expecting him to look like a fake Santa... He was so excited! haha...

I only have one more oversized glass, and it is a martini glass. I'm not quite sure what I want to paint on that one yet. I'm thinking about painting a few Christmas glasses with some Holly or Mistletoe on them, but I haven't decided yet. I'd like to have some Christmas glasses, and it would be even better to create and paint some beautiful pieces to sell.

In the Spring, I painted two canvas's for our bedroom with one of our initials on each one. The "S" hangs over Scott's side of the bed, and the "C" hangs over mine (obviously). The problem is, I made them in Spring colors to match our Spring Comforter... Now, Fall Season is here, and I have to make two more pieces to match our Winter Comforter... Any ideas? 

Here is a picture of the current Initial Canvas's. I keep saying that I am going to hang curtains over that window...but so far, I'll I'm doing is "saying" it. I haven't bought curtains, and I'm probably going to wait a bit on that one. The canvas's look pretty cool in person, when the bed is actually made and the pillows are in place (which obviously isn't happening in this picture, and tends to not happen quite often...) Anyway, the Winter comforter I am going to switch this quilt out with is dark brown and light bluish/green... That's what is in the bathroom as well...

PLEASE give me some ideas for what to make next! I know this time I'm going to make the new pictures bigger than these are. I basically had painted two abstract canvas's, and I didn't like how they looked when I finished. Then I got the idea for "Initial" pictures above His/Her side of the bed, and I realized that the colors were similar to the bed quilt. I gave Scott the slightly darker canvas, because it looked more manly... :)

(FYI: I did not edit these pics, so please ignore the glare!)

And of course, I had to add a picture of our little princess, JoJo. She obviously loves the bright colors in our "Summer" bed quilt. It goes with her "tan" well... haha.

Ah... Yes. The Scrabble game Scott and I recently played. I beat him. Again. We actually played Scrabble three times on the very last night of our Honeymoon.While Most honeymooners spend their last night of Bliss trying to savor each moment together and take advantage of every piece of new lingerie received at the Bachelorette Party... NOT the New Beltons. No, we savored every last moment of our last night together trying to see who could come up with the best Triple Word Score... Romantic Huh?

The bottom line is: I won. All three games. And every game since then. And every Scrabble game I've ever played him in. Scott says his brain "just doesn't 'think' like that." My FAVORITE game is Scrabble, and I love it so much, that I play with myself when he's not home. I guess my left side and right side of my brain are playing each other... Seriously. I have to say, I am a word fanatic. And if Scott was trying to get me to play a "Numbers" game, I probably would have gone and put on Lingerie on our last Honeymoon night instead of playing the game. But, I do complete book after book of Crossword puzzles, and there's nothing like the feeling of being in a situation where a complex word is used and I'm the only one who knows what it means, because I had it in one of my previous Crossword Puzzles... Doing Crossword puzzles will make you a Scrabble whiz.

I can sit for hours and do crossword puzzles. Who knew? I started doing them after High School and I got addicted. I have tons and tons of those little Crossword puzzle books, because when I finish every puzzle in the entire book, I'm so proud of myself that I can't seem to throw it out. For me, it's like throwing out my High School Diploma. So needless to say, I take up wonderful space by saving all of the Crossword Puzzle books I have finished just so I can remind myself that I am smart... especially after I have one of my "Blonde" moments... Just call me the Queen Cruciverbalist!

I also love anything with Trivia. And luckily, Scott loves playing Trivial Pursuit. Now I'm going to let you in on an embarrassing secret... When the kids come to our house for the weekend, we all play Trivial Pursuit together. I'm fully convinced that kids today are being taught far more than we ever thought about being taught at ages 11 and 8. Now here's the sad part: When we play Trivial Pursuit with the kiddo's, we have to use two decks of the cards from two different Trivial Pursuit games. Why? Guess....

Yes, Scott uses the "REGULAR" Trivial Pursuit cards and Izzy, Evan, and I use the "JUNIOR" trivial pursuit cards. haha... That's what happens when your husband is 16 years older than you. He laughs constantly, because there's no way I'm going to be able to answer questions about something that happened in the 1980's, because I wasn't born until 1987. Laugh all you want buddy, but the youngins whip your booty quite a lot, don't we? (Love you sweets!)

(Also, with everything that has gone on with my MS and brain lesions, I have a lot of moments where I second quess things. I do little games, like I'll time myself to see if I can finish a puzzle in under three minutes, or I"ll get someone to call the clues out from across the room to do the puzzle without looking at it... as long as I can still do it, my brain is still working great!... even though that's questionable by many..haha. It keeps my brain fresh!)

More Photos from our Honeymoon can be found in my Facebook Honeymoon Albums.

If you decide to click on the Honeymoon Link above, don't forget to check out the other two Honeymoon albums as well. I'll provide the links to them below.

Honeymoon Album #2
Honeymoon Album #3

And we STILL have more to add so check back often!!


Moving on: here are the baby birds that used to live on our porch. They were there until mid-August, and it was so amazing to watch them grow. Then one day, they were hopping around the yard, and I got to watch them as they tried and finally succeeded in learning how to fly. They are baby miracles if you ask me...

And this beautiful Sunset was from our ONE beach trip this summer. I still can't believe we only got to go on one beach trip. Each Summer, I usually lose count of how many times I go to the beach... At least we got to take the Kiddos to the beach, and they had a great time!! This was one beautiful sunset we were able to experience together! Notice the shadow of the man sitting on the bridge in the distance on the far right of the picture... I'm thankful that I got to capture this! You can check out more photos in my Facebook Vacation Album.

Well, I'm about to get back to business. I have more photos to edit today, and I'm going to work on organizing more of my jewelry inventory. After I feel like I can take a break, I'm going to paint a little for fun. I've started setting the alarm on the stove, so I don't lose track of time. TIME MANAGEMENT is not one of my strong suits, and I'm having to force myself to exhibit some control, because if I don't I will never make it selling my work! Discipline is the key, and I haven't quite mastered it, but I'm working on it every day.

I would really appreciate your comments and ideas for any new pieces. I love seeing how many people are reading my blog, and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the numbers rise and rise throughout the past few months. It makes me feel connected to the world, even if I don't get out much anymore.  I would ask you for your feedback though. I can't give you what you want, make you what you like, or tell you anything interesting if you don't let me know what you would like to see or hear.

I'm going to try to fill you in more often on what's going on around our house. It's quite a bit more interesting than you would think, but then again, I'm so random and sporatic that it almost has to be interesting. Just as I included the baby birds above and the bedroom canvas pictures, I want to continue to show you those parts of our lives. I took the pictures of the canvas paintings in July and the baby birds in August, but I haven't taken the time to upload them until now. Why I chose now, I have no idea. Maybe I'm tired of being in the shadows, and I'm ready to mingle back in to the "REAL WORLD." It's easy to forget that the world is out there when you're home all the time... which I am... obviously.

I almost forgot... What do you think about Video Logging, otherwise known as Vlogging? I'm thinking of posting a video once a week to my blog or profile, just to keep you updated with the "REAL" me, LIVE in person... sort of. It makes me nervous, because I don't want to be one of those babbling You Tube videos, but I'm tryint to find a way to better connect to you. Should I post a few videos? Hmm.. Let me know what you think!

Well, HERE I COME!



 Again, THANK YOU so much for reading my blog... I love you all!

Stay Here or Go There? Can't Decide...

Hey Everyone... This post doesn't really have much of a point to it. Maybe you could file this post under "Random Therapy Blogging." Therapy for me, that is. Obviously.

Lately, I've honestly just been in a cranky mood. I think I'm in a funk with selling my items and making them, and it's hard to snap out of it. I'm almost positive that most of my "blah-ness" is due to the fact that I make everything at home, sell everything from home, and ship everything from home. So where does that leave me? Always at home, constantly. A LOT.

Don't get me wrong: I LOVE being at my house more than anything. But occasionally a Sunday night will roll around where I wish time would stop for just a little while so my normal weekly routine could wait just a tiny bit longer to come again.

Well on a different note:

I'm kind of stuck in a rut with my shop. I've struggled over the past few months, mainly from March until now, trying to find my style, my niche, and myself all at the same time. I LOVE making new things and hearing compliments and comments about my work! So, I'm trying to decide exactly where to go from here.

Right now, I'm about to start focusing on the upcoming Christmas Holidays, and making gifts and items during the busy season! I need to have a MAJOR plan to put into place after Christmas when everyone is sick of shopping and broke as a joke from buying gifts. I'm looking into several different options, and I'm trying to see which ones fit nicely into my tiny budget area. Here are a few of my options.

I can continue to sell solely online and to friends. Besides my Etsy Shop sales, this is mainly that I'm doing right now. As I've said in earlier posts, Etsy and Facebook are two completely different selling atmospheres, and do better in different areas in both shops. Jewelry is better on Facebook and paintings and housewares sell better on Etsy.

I can start traveling and selling wholesale items to different shops and boutiques. I have had three offers to purchase and then sell my jewelry from three local shops, but I still haven't traveled down that road as of right now. The offers are still available, and I have a little time to decide.

I know that I'm still struggling to make an organized inventory system, and I still have a few kinks to work out. When I first started making jewelry, I would make a few items here and there, but nothing major. Now, I have a HUGE collection of supplies, tooks, and teeny tiny pieces, which I have neatly organized in plastic containers and a HUGE Tiered Tackle Box with a million slots full of beads. That's not where the problem was/is.

The hard part is filing and organizing the finished pieces. I had to develop a system to keep track of each piece, the date, where it is listed, etc. I've finally started consistently naming each completed piece of jewelry, and I'm currently working to create a manageable paper trail with all of my information and create "Collections."  Before I can even think about selling to actual shops, I have to finish my inventory count, organize and name all of my pieces, know how many pieces I have the capabilities to make, etc.

I have to say, though, it would be nice to have like... say ten shops that purchased wholesale from my collections. Ten consistent shops to start out with. And I would have all of their contact info ORGANIZED neatly in my business files. When they place an order, I make the pieces and deliver the finished inventory to them, which they then purchase from me. Then I have a set date that I make contact, preferably in person, with the owner again to see if they are interested in making any more purchases, and to let them see any new pieces and accessories. Ten Shops doesn't seem too outrageous, if I already have three interested. I just don't want to jump into something before I think it out, or before I'm completely organized.

Kind of like how I first started out with no inventory system in mind? Now any of the pieces I made in the beginning that did not sell yet are not inventoried or saved in my computer according to the system I created. Once those pieces are sold, I will be able to have everything finalized.

Item #    0911E0001 is one example:

09= September
11= Year (2011)
E= Earrings
0001= 1st pair created that month

This still doesn't sort each piece according to color, so I'm working on that area as well. Every single finished piece or pair has (or will have) an index card. On the top of the index card is the Item # just like the above number. Also on the card, in the lined space, is a list of every material or piece used to create the piece/pair, my cost, the time it took to make each piece/pair, IF it is a piece to a set and if so I'll list the other Item #'s for those pieces as well, the selling price, the date of creation, the date listed online, and the date sold (IF Sold already), and anything else I want to list. Each index card is filed in numerical order with like pieces.

It may sounds tedious and confusing, but remember what I have to remind myself of all the time when I Start to feel overwhelmed: I created the system. I decide what goes on the card and where. I can manipulate the card to meet my needs, because I'm the only person who will read the card!

So all in all, I'm trying to decide if I want to broaden my business a bit or if I want to stay solely online. I think selling wholesale will give me an even bigger reason to explore metal stamping more and learn creative techniques for creating items no one else has made around the area. I would also have an opportunity to travel more and get out of the house.

I think this one is a decision for me to speak with God about... Let's just see what He has to say about this... :)

Adding Items, Updating Prices and :WE NEED YOU!

Today I've been one busy girl! I've taken pictures of the items I made this weekend, uploaded them to albums on Facebook, answered messages, created new Facebook albums and the list goes on.. To too much further, but I could add a couple of more tasks to the list!

I'm dealing with a little problem. A fairly popular problem, but a problem to me nonetheless.
The issue at hand is:

*How to Price My Boutique Items*

Owning a store or opening a boutique, especially a boutique with HANDMADE Inventory, is incredibly difficult due to low department store prices and the fact that most people in today's generation do not place a high value on Handmade Items. Society is mainly a "cheaper is better" and "the fastest way is best," and often handmade items cost more than and average department store items.

Why do Handmade Items cost more?
                      Mainly because there are a few more factors that must be included in the financial calculations. The supplies for any handmade market are not usually bought or sold by the thousands.  As you already know, the more you buy, the less you pay. When you are a "handmaker," you usually aren't buying gobs and gobs of materials to use. No, you usually have to start small. Then, IF you even survive the start up costs, you gradually build your tool supplies and stock your necessary odds and ends.

                      Another reason is that you are paying for the work of an INDIVIDUAL, not a machine. I'm still learning new time-saving tricks everyday. If I were to actually figure in the cost of the supplies, the initial purchase of the item (IF I caught it on sale on my end), the cost of the embellishments and accessories, AND the cost of my own labor (say... minimum wage), I would have to charge $50 an earring. Now that is also due partly to my procrastination and mainly to my indecisiveness, but facts are facts.

People who design items are truly designers. People who create unique pieces are true artists as well. And everyone has heard about "struggling artists" before. That title isn't narrowed to only include shaggy haired guys with guitars playing on Bourbon Street. It also includes every struggling artist and designer in other areas too!

When we learn to design something special and decide to market your ideas and creations, we as humans, tend to undervalue our work. And often, friends and family undervalue our work as well. Take a photographer for example: Many photographers struggle to make ends meet, because friends and family, the people who help you get your business off the ground, are often the same people who expect a discount of some sort. And there are only so many discounts you can give before you realize that you're majorly in the HOLE... the place where artist fear being the most! By undervaluing our work, we also undervalue ourselves.

As a trend, most people who are just starting out tend to dwell on the opinions of others to guide their path.  And sometimes, that is not the healthy choice, especially when you have to eat and live off of your salary. I am fortunate to be able to also have a husband that provides a steady income, because the fluctuation between each sale is painful. Many others are no so blessed.

I sell my items in a Facebook Boutique and on Etsy. I have made fewer sales on Etsy than I have on facebook, but my items are priced much higher on Etsy than in my Facebook Boutique: The SAME items. I listed one item on Facebook and listed the same item on Etsy for the same price. Nothing happened on both ends. So I decided to experiment, and I relisted the same item on Etsy and TRIPLED the price. Amazingly, I've had more than twenty inquiries about it so far, and although I haven't sold that particular item, I've been included in numerous treasuries and had that item "FAVORITED" by more than 45 people. It had also led to a few personalized orders as well.

I don't know my Etsy buyers, and they don't know me. To them, I'm not Chelsea from high school. I am an artist from Alabama who creates various personalized items and jewelry. I'm legit. And I have skill to them and they take me seriously! It's really "cool"... (I know that was a HIGH SCHOOL word I just used, but... it works!) It's really strange to get compliments from people I've never met, but it keeps my spirits up and keeps me going! I would like to thank EVERYONE, friends, family, random people included... THANK YOU for helping me get this far! I really appreciate it and I depend on you!

I'm working, slowly for sure, but really working to design my web page. I'm having to add each individual item, and create a place and description for it. In the future, I plan on using my website for all of my sales. I figure I'll find a happy price medium somewhere in between Etsy and Facebook. My customers will mingle between old friends and random gyspies from India (yes... I had conversations with one!) I can't wait to launch it!

I will always enjoy the feedback I get from friends and family, and I really hope to start to get more. Even in my current contest on facebook, the wonderful person in the lead, the ONLY person who participated, is from Missouri. I'm thankful for her, because it would have been hard to launch a contest and receive no feedback and not one single referral from any friends. That's the art of the business, I guess.

One of the biggest things I think would guide me to be able to offer items YOU would like to purchase would be to receive FEEDBACK: Good AND Bad. How else will I know what you like? If you see an item you kind of like, but you think you would like a different color, TELL ME. That doesn't obligate you to buy anything! It just lets me know another point of view and opens me up to another perspective!

 Just in case you haven't liked my page yet, below is the link... I'd love to have you visit!

Make Up and Mud Facebook Boutique

Here is the link to another new Boutique! Please give them some support too!

Seek Unique

And one more link to an AMAZING photographer making her name around town! Please "LIKE" her page as well!

A Vintage Love Photography

Make sure you "LIKE" all three of these pages, because you don't want to miss getting the newest details for our upcoming sales, specials and contests! Sometimes we run contests alone, and sometimes we will pair up to run a few AWESOME Holiday Specials! Details to come!! We ALL need your support and word of mouth spreading the news!


Goodnight and God Bless!

Tardy Thank You Note Tuesday

Hello to all of my readers... (like all 6 of you...:)

What is today? Well, at MY house, today is... (drumroll please)... "Tardy Thank You Note Tuesday".  (How lucky am I that the "T" in Tuesday just goes with the flow?") Yes, I have the "T" pattern going on, and I'm OCD like that, so there.)

You see, I got married in March (ahem.. LATE March, if that helps my cause). Nonetheless, I got married in March of this year, and I still have not sent out my "Thank You" notes. Have I written any of them? Yes. Are they still "sendable"? No. Why? Because, like a procrastinating goober, I wrote the date on them. So now, I can't send you a late "Thank You Note" with May 6, 2011 on it. Why did I include the date on the ones I wrote? Because my "Thank You Etiquette Book" said that was necessary. Polite? Yes. Necessarily REQUIRED? No.  I realize that now. I would like to give a BIG "Thank You" to Books a Million.

I'm from Alabama, born and raised, so I know that, as in most cases, there are two ways of doing things. There is the "Overall United States" thank you note etiquette, and there is the "Southern" thank you note etiquette. According to the etiquette that I should be abiding by, I should have sent out the notes before the wrapping paper ever made it's way into my cheap Dollar General trash bags. I'm admitting that I didn't, meaning obviously that I still haven't, sent out our Thank You notes, so let's get that out in the open right away.

I am a little obsessive when it comes to anything "stationery oriented," and I have indeed mailed out cards, meaning "Regular Themed Cards." Over the past few months, I just couldn't seem to get it right when it came to our wedding thank you cards. I did indeed write quite a few of the"thank you's" but then I made the ultimate mistake... AFTER I was married, I visited the "Wedding/Bridal" section of Books A Million. Why I would even set foot in that section of ANY store is beyond me. So, are you wondering what I found there? Unfortunately, I found the book titled "The Bride's Thank-You Note Handbook: The Classic Guide for Today's Bride" by Marilyn Werner.  Why didn't I just leave it on the shelf? (*Sigh*)

See? Don't the cute little "swirly" letters and creative drawings make you want to go ahead and say "Thank You so much" to everyone you pass on your way out of the store? No? Well, it did that for me! So, I bought it. Of course I did.

I realized before I even made it to my car that the "Thank You" notes I had already written were clearly on a second grade style level... This particular new book was going to teach me how to write "Thank You" notes that would make Nicholas Sparks drool... right? No. Not even close.

Let me add that I wasn't going to "copy" the examples from the book word for word, even though each example seemed to have a really great "Thank You Themed Description" for every single thing we received, every bride in town received, and probably every item William and Kate received. It definitely covered all of the bases.  For example, the thank you cards I had already written seemed to go a little something like this (and I'm going to add an item in this mock "virtual thank you note example" that we did NOT receive and address it to a fake person, just to make sure that I don't use an item  as an example that someone actually gave us and then the giving person thinks we don't care or that we are being rude or whatever.) You get the picture.

 Anyway, BEFORE I read the book, my thank you notes seemed to sound like this.:

Aunt Oprah, (she's really not my aunt, just in case you were wondering...)

Thank you so much for the beautiful Weenie Roaster that you gave us as a wedding gift.

(I have to admit that even though none of the cards included the words weenie or roaster, the first line always sounded so "awkward." I mean, Duh she already knows what she gave to us as a wedding gift, but I would get stumped here every time. I continued to write the item in there anyway, over and over..... Moving on... Thank You note continued:)

"A Weenie Roaster was such a creative wedding gift! We will definitely be using it a lot when we roast our weenies (?) on camping trips this summer. The size you bought is perfect, and I can't wait to roast several weenies at one time, which is important on camping trips. Every time we decide to roast our weenies, we will definitely think of you.

Thank you,

Scott and Chelsea Belton

P.S. Please tell Uncle Stedman that I need to borrow the lawnmower next week, but I'll give him a call before I come over. Thanks!"

(End of "Thank You" note)


Holy Cow. Second Grade Level "Thank You" note? I think that's definitely a "Yes" on that one. And I should add that it would take me about thirty minutes to decide what to write and exactly how to say it. Then you can tack on at least another twenty minutes, because I repeatedly was unsatisfied with my handwriting, so I would RE-write like every third card. Three cards could take me a whole day! 

So, as I said before, I bought "Every Bride's Guide." Standing in the store, my new book looked refreshing, and I fully expected it to save me. And it absolutely DID NOT! Then, instead of trying to decide what to write, I spent that thirty minutes leafing through the book attempting to find an item similar to the one I was writing the note for, only to read the provided example and THEN have to spend twenty more minutes trying to come up with different wording so that I wouldn't be plagarizing Thank You notes for our wedding gifts!

After I finally wrote the million dollar thank you note (three + times for absolutely perfect handwriting, or I would forget to include the title "Dear"), I would put the REQUIRED date in the upper right hand corner. After a few attempts that always seemed to go like this, the Thank You note mission started to haunt me. Each day I would tell myself that I would write a few and mail them out. And I did, write a few, but the "Mailing Them Out" part stumped me. The days passed, the written dated expired, and the months whizzed by. I am horrible at this!

In my defense, the first four months after the wedding are still a BLUR to me, because of the different medications I was experimenting with for MS, and the loss of my dear friend... I'm thankful I did write in my blog, though. If I wasn't able to read back on here, I would have no recollection of what happened except for bits and pieces for the ENTIRE months or April, May, and half of June and July. I'm not even kidding. I can't tell you one single thing that I did during that time span, and that is the wierdest feeling. A combination of the different medications I was trying and the depression that gripped me was SO strong. The ironic thing is, I do remember reading my Bible, praying a LOT, and writing in here about God. It's a miracle in itself now, because He sat with me the ENTIRE time. At the time, I knew He was here with me, but I can't remember anything else.

When you go through something like that, AT THE TIME, everything seems normal. I never realized what a haze I was in, but I really was. I am SO thankful that I was able to turn to God when I didn't even truly know how much He ws carrying me! So for all of you that have been praying for me, DON'T STOP NOW, please... It works in ways we can't control!

Back to my notes...

So, what have you learned from my mistake?

1.  DON'T procrastinate on your Thank You notes, because you will look like an idiot when you run into someone at the grocery store and they ask you if you received their gift, and you start to stammer around, mumbling something about "meaning to mail the cards out" while you turn three shades of red. (And, NO it's just not ok to get your husband to write them... I don't know why, but it's just a secret rule.)

2. It's OK if you do not include every detail that your mother did when she wrote hers 30 years ago. I think most people would just be happy to receive your card (or my card, in this case). I seriously doubt that your neighbor is going to snatch the card out of the envelope and run to her husband and say, "Ugh, just LOOK at this pitiful Thank You card!! Do you see anything missing? Something that RHYMES with LATE?... DATE! She didn't even include the DATE in her cards..."   I think the chances of that conversation ever happening are highly unlikely.

3. PERSONAL REQUEST: If you are reading this and you gave us a wedding gift, please FORGIVE my tardy Thank You notes!! I am trying to finish them now (well, technically not right NOW, because I'm writing this, but you know what I mean.) Even though they are already late as it is, I refuse to just jot down a few notes and send them out. I actually want to put thought into them, because WE really appreciated every single thing we received. SO much!

4.  And LAST BUT NOT LEAST, you're more than welcome to have my Thank You Note GUIDELINE book... I will not be using it!

A Brand NEW Approach to Cleaning

Good Morning Everyone! (By the way, I'm totally faking this *CHEERY* attitude, because this chilly weather makes me want to go crawl right back in the bed... just to let you know.)  Now that we have that out in the open, I'll continue.

This post is about my path to a new MUCH more organized life.  Thinking about having an "Organized Life" really reminds me about how we think about our senses. While we often remember to give Sight and Smell a slot in our senses category area, a good majority of people forget that people actually have and use FIVE senses: Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, Smell.

Similarly, when the term "organized" comes into play, what is the first thing you think of? Do you only think of how un-clean and "dis-organized" your house is right now? What I'm learning is that I can "pick up" the clutter in my home all I want, but I also have to remember that there is Mental Clutter, Financial Clutter, Guilty Clutter, Mourning Clutter, Sentimental Clutter,  Sad Clutter, Potentially Useful Clutter, Memory Clutter, "I Might Need It One Day" Clutter, Relationship Clutter, Time Clutter... and the list goes on and on and on. I'm just a clutterbug I guess!

Have you ever really thought deep down about what kind clutter you may be carrying around? I know I hadn't until recently.  I found myself beginning to feel overwhelmed, but I couldn't quite put my finger on the cause of this sudden stress.  Sound familiar?  For more information on types of clutter and how to take control of your clutter, click on the links below. (Don't forget to come back to the good stuff!)

{FYI: I'm about to tell you why these approaches do NOT work for me, but they may work for you.}

6 Types of Clutter
Oprah's Clutter Control Remedies
How Clutter Control Affects You

I have never really thought of myself as an organized person. In the past, I was never stressed out enough to feel the need seek out a cause to blame it on. That sure has changed! In the past 6 months, I've struggled with so many new changes in my life, and I've looked near and far for the main cause of the changes. The only answer I can come up with is that my changes were just in God's plan for me. That's fine with me, because I would rather be a part of God's plan and not understand why he dealt me these cards than be in a rough situation that I was responsible for on my own. I think that's why the clutter in my life is so frustrating: I did it to myself.

BACK to the point: (See, the same thing happens when I try to clean: I get DISTRACTED!)

If you open any "Lady" magazine, you can almost bet that somewhere inside there will be at least one article about household organization. I'm waiting for the day when all of the "Women's" magazines realize that they just rotate advice around from one article to the next... and it doesn't work half of the time.

Common advice doesn't always work for everyone, and it amazes me that magazine editors still haven't created a few more reasonable or unique approaches to housework. Below, I have listed a few "Common Clutter-Clearing Tips" that I see ALL the time. So, underneath each useless tip is a little tidbit of what I think about it and why it doesn't work for me.

The Common Advice 

• Walk into a room and pick up everything you see that doesn't belong there.

                            - I don't like this tip, because I feel like the writer is trying to make me feel like an idiot. Obviously, IF I could go into a room and pick up everything out of place and it was really that easy, there's a pretty good chance that I wouldn't need to read the article in the first place. I would have already picked everything up and put it away. Strike One... NEXT.

• Everything in your house needs to have a "place" where it belongs.

                             -  REALLY? Everything needs to have a place? Uh yea, obviously. And if I KNEW how to make a place for everything, again, I wouldn't be reading the article. I want to know HOW to find a place for everything. A "REASONABLE" how-to... Not one of those, "Save 20 cereal boxes and cover them with wall paper and have your husband use his circular saw to cut eleven of the thirteen 2x4's you had to buy from 'Herald's Home Place' specifically for this project" and hotglue them together and so forth.  That is NOT the norm...

                             - First of all, I said "Herald's Home Place," because there is a 50/50 chance that you will have never heard of the hardware store recommended in the magazine, the one with "the lowest price around." Around what? Sometimes I think writers google all over to find the store with the cheapest lumber prices, even if the only one in the entire United States is in Idaho. Second of all, I can almost promise you that IF you indeed routinely volunteer your husband and his circular saw for every cereal box DIY craft that you run just happen to across, there's a good chance you will need to read to the "Why Does My Husband Avoid ME" printed a few pages over. Long point short: Give us some eco-friendly, easy, CHEAP ways to organize. Strike Two... NEXT.

• Only save the "Really Special Artwork" that your child has made, and take digital pictures of the rest. You can print the pictures and look at them forever without the clutter of all of the coloring pages.

                            -  Ok, let me be clear for those who do not know me personally: I am not a mother to a biological child.  I do, however, have two creative little stepchildren who constantly draw and design oodles of pictures and items for their Daddy and me. I even have a box in the top of our closet with special little keepsakes they have created. While they are only at our house every other weekend, they still draw like 10 pictures at a time... each. I wish I knew how many "books" with silly little stories they have created and stapled together for us, but I lost count a while ago. And I've kept every single one.

                            - My point is: I don't want to take a picture of their artwork. And it's probably not for the reason that you may think. I don't want to take a picture and toss out the art work, because I just don't agree with the reasoning. You're swapping out an original for a duplicate. Printed pictures are also going to take up space, right? So, you might say, "I'll burn the pictures of their artwork on a c.d. to save space."  Really? You're going to take the time to round up the artwork, take an individual photo of each page (usually double sided as well), so around two pictures of EACH page, and upload or scan them into your computer, name each picture describing what it is, who drew it, and what year it was made. Then, you're going to either upload the files to Rite Aid and drive there to pick up your child's artwork pictures? Or if you opt for the Image C.D. route, are you going to put the images in a folder and burn a million C.D.s and then label each C.D. and create a way to organize them?

                          -Either way, you're going to be in a bad mood, because you just threw our your kid's precious artwork! Just take twenty minutes and stack each paper individually, neatly, with one on top of the other and put it in a clear $4 bin from Wal-Mart and slide it under the bed or put it up in the top of the closet. Do you really think you're going to have that day where you say, "You know what? I don't have anything to do today. I think I'm going to go find the disc with Tommy's artwork from 2nd grade and look at all of those pretty scribbles on the computer this afternoon?" Please just stop kidding yourself.

                        -In reality, you are going to want to pull out that old dusty box of "Scribbles" after your "baby boy" moves off to college and cry as you have your midlife crisis, wishing that he was five years old again. You actually DESERVE to keep the originals as proof that you actually kept another tiny teacup human alive AND they were somewhat creative. SCORE! (ha... that makes me crack up to hear someone say that, and I've been looking for a place to throw that in!)

Back to the point: You'll be in even more distress if you regret throwing the originals away. Most of our world is digital and made up of replicas, so I think there's something special about original items to bring you back in time. So if someome tells you to take a picture of your kids artwork and "bid it farewell," then I suggest that you tell them to go take a picture of their grandmother's 100 year old china cabinet and sell it for $10 at a yard sale... Strike three... THE MAGAZINE ADVICE COLUMNS LOSE.

                       -(I HAVE to add this last tidbit just because it annoys me to read it over and over... so here's one more piece of useless advice.)

• Ask yourself, "Do I REALLY need this?" If the answer is "No," then toss it out.

                       - What kind of dilusional world do these overpaid organizers live in? Don't they think that IF indeed you are reading an article on how to get organized, then you have probably already asked yourself IF you need a specific item like a million times already, and the answer is, "Yes. Yes I do need to keep the busted float from the beach trip in 1999, because it CAN be fixed. And what if there's a time in life where we don't have the money to buy another $2 float? When everyone else needs a float and they can't afford to buy one, I won't have to worry about anything, because I kept AND fixed mine!"

                       - Now we're just going to ignore the fact that IF you did happen to keep a ripped $2 float for 12 years, waiting to need to fix it during a economical depression, then you are probably not JUST a "tad bit unorganized." You're probably well on your way to arriving at your next "Hoarders Anonymous" meeting. The main point I'm trying to make is, people who keep pure crap and wierd junk are horrible at organizing, but they have a freakishly awesome ability to rationalize anything. They will indeed ask theirselves IF they actually need something, and the ALWAYS "yes". I ask myself all the time if I REALLY need something, and I'm so distracted and unorganized that sometimes I even forget to answer! :)

The REAL Bottom Line:  Don't these Martha Stewart clones think that if everyone could/would "spend twenty minutes a day" putting away items that we wouldn't have an issue with clutter?

BACK TO MY OWN MESSY HOUSE:

I think I may have FINALLY found the solution to my clutter... FLYLADY!!!

You have GOT to check out this site! FLYLADY takes a whole new approach to cleaning, and I believe she specifically works well for people with "Attention Issues," much like myself. She teaches you how to use new approaches to my three main demons: PROCRASTINATION, GETTING SIDETRACKED and BOREDOM! I LOVE this site!

One of the HUGE things I find motivating about this new sight is that the FLYLADY herself, Marla Cilley, is not one of those "Organizing Fanatics" that was practically born obsessively color coordinating and organizing her crayons when she was like 3. She didn't spend her childhood making her parents beam with pride at how clean she kept her room. No, Ms. Cilley was once a dysfunctional personal herself, so she really knows what she's talking about. Regular methods didn't work for her, either. LOVE IT!

I have found that I work much better if I set my own goals rather than follow another person's schedule. All of our lives are going in different directions, right? All I know is, when I found this site, I just about peed in my pants with excitement, because I finally found someone who just seemed to "get" me and my organizational issues. I now have a new title to add to my chaos: I am a... "FLY Baby."

Here are a few links to get you on the right track!

Getting Started with FLYLADY
Start with BABYSTEPS
What to Expect from FLYLADY

So, if you want to try to make an attempt at become more organized and efficient and the regular methods just aren't helping you become successful, I recommend that you check out FLYLADY.  I really don't see how it could hurt!

Here are a few of the motivational pictures and quotes that I use to "BOOST" my cleaning genes...

Now, in the words of the FLYLADY herself.... "Go Shine Your Sink!"

Starting TODAY! Who Referred You Facebook CONTEST- FREE JEWELRY!

First of all, please let me add this: I worked like 7 hours the other day to create the prettiest little page to tell you about this contest. And, I must have been in some sort of fog, because I didn't save it right or something, and now my computer will not let me upload it right. So, all you get is what is below, and the spacing is off, but it will not let me change it without doing the whole thing over again. And I think you will be able to graso the main point: REFER A FRIEND, TRY TO WIN FREE JEWELRY AND A DISCOUNTED PHOTO SHOOT. Win Win?  I'm thinking YES!

Make Up and Mud Boutique Presents…

Who Referred You?”

Contest

Enter NOW for your chance to WIN!!!

*FREE JEWELRY*

 

Here’s How to Participate :

• First, you must “LIKE” the Facebook page for Make Up and Mud Boutique (if you haven’t already) by going to:      

www.facebook.com/makeupandmudboutique
• Next, you must invite and “SUGGEST YOUR FRIENDS” “LIKE” our boutique page as well.

Last but not least, after they have “LIKED” our page, have them write the following statement on our wall:

• “(YOUR NAME) referred me to your page.”

(Please excuse the spacing issue: As you see, it is really messed up!

The fan with the MOST REFERRALS WINS the following prizes:
$50 in FREE JEWELRY from Make Up and Mud Boutique (*YOU choose the jewelry!*)
20% off your ENTIRE next purchase of any item(s) in our shop
20% discount on any photo session with A Vintage Love Photography
20% discount on the purchase of a disk with ALL edited images from your photo session.

Rules and Contest Info

Contest Begins

: September 1^st at NOON (CST)

Contest Ends

: September 18^th at MIDNIGHT  (CST)

-As the number of our Facebook Fans grows, we will be hold random “MINI CONTESTS.” -Remember to check back often to take advantage of every opportunity to win FREE JEWELRY and other items!
-The contest winner will be announced on our page wall and contacted via Facebook on September 19.

- For one more fabulous reason to participate in this contest, go check out the *AMAZING* Photography skills of Mrs. Bethany Loftin, owner/photographer of A Vintage Love Photography by clicking on the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/avintagelovephotography#!/pages/A-Vintage-Love-Photography/107826449303620

Ready, Set, REFER!