For your information. . . .

For the past few  months I've been  contemplating giving up my  Kalico Kards  website and had even begun  diminishing my online catalog on paper and deleted some of the products and  pages.  While I was busy changing things around preparing for closing,  a friend asked if I had ever considered a shop on Etsy!  I gave it some thought and  decided  to give it a try! I had heard Etsy has a good reputation for their marketing and are well known for their handmade shops.  After six years of trying to promote my own website www.kalicokards.com,  placing links in every directory I could and on malls and websites that seemed to have like keywords,  I was eager to be associated with something that was successful - maybe it would rub off on me!

I  no sooner started switching products from my own website to  my new shop on Etsy  when I noticed a change in the winds - they seemed to be blowing my way!   Spending time regularly on my  website  going back and forth from Etsy to Kalico Kards created some kind of magic energy which was like a magnet pulling people to my website with requests for links, for wholesale accounts, to set up accounts, as well as for cards - even my email box was  full!
  
The change in the winds st\irred a change of heart in me and I cancelled my previous plans to close the website and  began  rearranging items, correcting errors, adding new products, tweeking  descriptions, resizing images,  adding different keywords and changing the info and the appearance of  my home page as well as promoting both www.kalicokards.com and www.kalicokards.etsy.com .  It's twice the work  but it's always worth the effort when the winds are blowing your way!

the kardlady

It's Groundhog Day!

According to Phil - there will be 6 more weeks of winter!  A friend of mine posted this picture on facebook with the remark "if winter is going to be anything like we've been experiencing the past 6 weeks, we should be so lucky!"

To refresh your memories - Yesterday was  groundhog day in PA - a special day for Phil's followers.  In Punxatawny, PA, it the  day a group of men in  black tails and top hats gather around a groundhog hole to  arouse their pet named "Phil" who's asleep for the winter.  They try to lure  him out,  (probably with food) and if he remains outside his den - supposedly  spring is just around the corner, but if he sees his shadow,  he'll return to his den for 6 more weeks of winter!  Now  I don't know about your neck of the woods, or Phil's neck of the woods,  but in Allentown, PA, the sun didn't come out from behind the clouds all day - but supposedly in Punxatawny, which isn't too far from here, Phil saw his shadow and returned to his den  for 6 more weeks of snoozing! 

Actually winter has been pretty mild in our area - I can remember last Groundhog day, we had a bad ice storm with temps way below freezing - this year it was in the upper 40's. The daffodils and crocus's are out of the ground more than an inch already! 

Spring will arrive when it's time has come without a groundhogs prediction.  Mother Nature knows better than anyone when that will be.

the kardlady

Livin' life on the flip side of 50 does have its perks!

Some of them are witty - but most of them are kind of true!



         01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

         02.. In a hostage situation you are likely to be
        released first.

         03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

         04. People call at 9 pm and ask,"did I wake you?"

         05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

         06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

         07. Things you buy now won't wear out.

         08. You can eat supper at   4 pm.

         09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

         10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

         11. You no longer think of speed limits as a
         challenge.

        12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter
         who walks into the room.

         13. You sing along with elevator music.

        14.  Your eyes won't get much worse.

         15. Your investment in health insurance is finally
         beginning to pay off.

         16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than
         the national weather service.

        17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because
        they can't remember them either.

         18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to
         manageable size!

         Never, however,  under any circumstances,  should you  take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night!
        

The best tips I've ever received:

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Rubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or
 computer screen with WD40.

Stop cut apples from browning in your child’s lunch box by securing cut pieces  with a rubber band.

Overhaul your linen cupboard- store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone & iPod in a bowl.  The concave shape amplifies the music.

Re-use a wet-wipes container for storing a roll of small plastic bags - they just pop up.

Add baby powder to your beach bag - it gets sand off your skin easily!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall in a nursery or bathroom  to store soft fuzzy  toys.

 Use wire or heavy twine tied to nails on each end of a side space on a  closet shelf to store gift wrap rolls upright along the wall, rather than cluttering up the floor.

 Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over your vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid leaving the bottom of the box  in place for sturdiness

Forever losing your bathroom essentials?  Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers    and clippers, behind a vanity door
 
Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes in the suitcase - and you can find  shower caps in just about every hotel.

 A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy.  Magnets hold  plastic cups down to make them
    tip-resistant.

 Bread tags make the perfect cord labels for a computer and such.

 Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

 Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag.  Much healthier and cheaper than the      packet  stuff.

 Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles by handles.

 Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

 Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.

 Create a window-box effect for a  veggie garden using lengths of rain gutters (hang them on the sunny side of your home or garage)>

  Use egg cartons to separate to store your  Christmas decorations.

Groundhog Day is a legitimate celebration on February 2 in  Pennsylvania.  Would you believe many Pennsylvanians believe  a groundhog can predict the weather?  The groundhog -  Punxatawny Phil as he is called - dwells in a hole in Punxatawny, PA   Each year on February 2, a bunch of  grown men put on their top hats and tails gather round the hole and try to coax Phil to come out - probably with a treat of some kind!  If Phil sees his shadow, he retreats back into the  hole and folklore has it - we are going to have 6 more weeks of winter weather,  otherwise Spring is the forecast!

When I found this printed groundhog fabric a few years ago, I knew that locally it would make a popular Kalico Kard.  Its message inside: "Any day above ground is a good day!"  I hurriedly  created about 30 -  the first 6 went to our senior pastor because I know him to be  a devout Pennsylvania Dutchman who would enjoy them.  The rest of the fabric however was lost - it fell to the bottom of a fabric  storage box and was only recently discovered -  and again it has become a popular card locally.  If you are interested in purchasing it you will find it on my website here:
http://www.kalicokards.com/catalog.php?item=345

In Punxatawny, the ground is covered with snow presently - and locally snow is predicted for tonight.  In 2 weeks, it will be colder still around here,  and even colder in Punxatawny!   I don't know about groundhogs, but I'm tired of this cold weather already,  so along with those grown men in their top hats and tails, I  will be waiting to hear Phils prediction - and if Spring is just around the corner I'll  want to believe a groundhog can predict the weather, but if the prediction is 6 more weeks of winter weather,  like many others I'll be saying "what does a groundhog know about the weather?"

the kardlady

         

A honey of a card!

I love shopping for fabric - it has to be my favorite thing to do aside from creating a new Kalico Kard!  I'm always looking for the "spectacular", the "unusual", the one that speaks to me telling me what it wants to become! 

Often I find  a fabric that lends itself to a particular message I've wanted to use, like the one on the left.  This fabric had beehive written all over it -  I could almost hear the bees buzzing round it.  That was only the beginning of a Kalico Kard idea however - when its message popped into my mind,  that was the clincher:  "Wishing you a honey of a birthday"!  I get excited when that  happens - I can't wait to start turning it into a Kalico Kard, and  get it into  the card rack at a craft show, soto hear a customer giggle or comment on it!  This confirms to me that  the spirit in others  is connected with the spirit in me!

I think that's what our creativity  is for - connecting!  I don't believe any of us paint, knit, quilt, crochet, craft jewelry, create greeting cards, write poetry or stories, etc.,  just for ourselves - it's about sharing a part of myself with another - connecting spirit to spirit.  Some of us are fortunate enough to be doing  what we love and making a few dollars doing it but that is only a small portion of the benefits experienced and received!

Life is about love, which means relationships and connecting.  Love is something we all need and desire,  and creativity is for sharing that love and connecting.  For it's  in sharing it with others that we experience it ourselves.  So when a piece of fabric jumps off the shelf into my arms at a fabric shop, it is the beginning of a another love connection!

Life before the computer.......

I may have posted the box on the left before - but it's worth posting  again!

 Recently I had decided  to give up my website at  www.kalicokards.com because it is not carrying itself and is requiring a lot time!  After much soul searching and seeking to find another way,  I went to go.daddy.com  who was my original host when I opened the Kalico Kards website.  I was greeted there  by a technician who  listened to my  complaints and reasons for wanting to close the website.   He took  time to ask questions about my sites stats and  was very thorough before  he  made a few suggestion on how to proceed - giving up the site was not one of them! My  website stats revealed that it was serving me well except in one area!   He suggested a few ways for me to deal with it and none of them had any strings attached to his making a sale!

And so I will still be doing business as Kalico Kards online and in addition will add an Etsy store to my task list!    It didn't take me long to change my direction and take on some new challenges.  Wish me luck!

the kardlady

PS Thanks Pam for your encouragement and support - you are a friend indeed!