Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off...

Well, this has been quite a little vacation away from blogging, hasn't it?

So many things have been going on since my last post back in... *checks* November, I see.  Aside from the holidays, a bad knee injury and a bit of a crisis of confidence in my direction have kept me from blogging.  Well, not "kept," per se; more like all of these things left me with almost no desire to blog.  But, things have changed, and it's time to get back to this thing.

Where do I see this going?  Well, I think this blog is going to become more about finding my creative direction more than anything else.  I've felt like I've been hitting a wall creatively recently, and I'm hoping by blogging about the things I like (and why I like them) as well as finding my "artistic style," I may be able to come out a better artist/artisan/whatever on the other side.  We'll see how this goes.

What does this mean for you, whoever you are out there?  I don't know, exactly.  I'm mainly doing this as a personal exercise, which you are more than welcome to read and comment on.  Could be interesting, could just end up being me talking to myself.  Who knows?  But, you're more than welcome to come along if you'd like :)

Banner from Poppytalk

Jan from Poppytalk is compiling a list of 101 Reasons to Buy Handmade this holiday season. If you needed any reason to take the take the Handmade Pledge this holiday season, you now have several.

I'm buying completely handmade this holiday season; are you?

Black Friday through Cyber Monday Sales

Buy handmade and save money this weekend!

My store is stocked up and ready to go. I won't be listing anything more until after Christmas (unless I get hella productive during the holidays...). Are you all ready for the onslaught?

There are lots of sales this weekend (including free U.S./Canadian shipping, and reduced international rates at Paperwire), but here are a couple to get you started.

• Artisans for the Holidays Sale: search Etsy for the tag "etsyfest". Each participating store will have their own sale terms clearly outlined in their shop announcement.
• Etsy Bloggers Street Team Sale: Check out the team store for a list of participating stores, or search Etsy for the tag "etsybloggers team" (though not all team members are participating). Again, each seller will have their own sales terms.

Have a lead on a great Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale? Let me know and I'll add it to the list!

Wrapping Up

(Click through for better image.)

As part of this week's theme, "Gifts," I thought I'd share with you my gift wrapping for this holiday season. At Paperwire, gift wrapping is free with purchase, but I'm also planning on using these lovely little pillow boxes for the gifts I plan on giving this year (they're just so much fun!).

I found the template I used at A Work in Progress, and these pillow boxes are super simple to make. It's as easy as cut, score, fold (well, OK, it's a little more complicated than that, but not by much). I'm actually contemplating sending all of my sales from here on out in pillow boxes. After all, who wouldn't love receiving their purchase as a little gift?

Like the deserts miss the rain...

Sorry about my (at this point) somewhat lengthy absence. I was out of town this past weekend, and I have been lacking some serious motivation this week. I hope to post my gift guide and a picture of the gift wrapping I'll be using this holiday season before the end of the week.

Hopefully those of you out there have had more success blogging this week, and if you haven't, why not check out this week's 52 Weeks theme, "gifts"?

Cheers, all.