Funnel Cake, Eclipses, and Squidoo

*smiles* Yup, all that is on the agenda today. I will separate this blog posting with sections so that it will be easier to digest *smiles*

Last night I was going to blog about the eclipse, but I was super busy making a pros and cons list about my ebay store. As many of you know I always had a fully stocked store on ebay with mostly patterns, fabric and trims but I slowly was letting it fall to the wayside. It wasn't that I am not interested in selling my stock, but that ebay was giving me ulcers *smiles* It is so hard to get by on there and their prices kept going up, up, up. They also implemented all sorts of crazy changes that I didn't agree with:

1. A 21 day paypal hold for some "at risk" auctions. Sellers are still expected to ship out the item and the funds are not released until the buyer gives positive feedback or 21 days go by without a dispute being filed.
2. PowerSellers will have their results shown higher up in the search strings based on certain criteria pre-established by ebay (determined by the DSRs). Since I am not a powerseller, that meant I would be buried quickly.
3. Sellers are only allowed to leave buyers positive feedback. I'm sorry, ebay, but the only negative feedback I have ever left for a buyer is if they don't pay. I know where you are going with this feedback thing, but it makes me uncomfortable. In general, ebay is a market where people want something for nothing. My biggest concern is that the general buying public does not understand that shipping really does cost. I left ebay with a 4.8/5.0 score for shipping/handling in the DSR even though I have ALWAYS refunded any overpayment more than a $1 in shipping and I have never charged a fee for packing supplies (which aren't free). I fear that buyers will feel free to leave a negative thinking shipping was out of line.

In general, I was always a good seller on ebay so I know their changes will not impact me. It was mostly for me that the general vibe of the place did not do me well. I felt that it was really making my soul heavy *smiles*

SOOO, In the end, I did open a shop where I will be downsizing by destashing and this shop will only focus on crafting supplies. I have literally thousands of brand new patterns and way too much fabric to even think of keeping so there will be all sorts of stuff there.

I will be spending all my time on 2/23 - 2/25 stocking my new shop, but feel free to visit, slap a heart on me and possibly buy something while you are there *smiles*

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VISIT MY NEW SHOP: DESTASHING DIVA.

I'M NOT SCREAMING, I JUST WANT YOU TO NOTICE THIS *SMILES* I AM EDITING THIS BLOG POSTING BECAUSE A QUESTION WAS POSED TO ME.




The question is are you shutting down Kreated by Kelly?


My answer to this is an emphatic NO NO NO NO!!!!! I cannot foresee a time when I will ever want to shut down Kreated by Kelly. Being an artist is in my blood even if I go back to working for "the man."



I pulled out of the ebay marketplace because I didn't feel that venue was good for MY personality, MY image and my sense of how I would like to brand myself. I am not giving up my website, my Kreated by Kelly etsy shop or anything else associated with Kreated by Kelly.


In a nutshell, my new shop Downsizing Diva is a way for me to keep my fabric stock revolving as well as downsize. For example, I had a pattern addiction for a long time and bought patterns by the hundreds. I rarely, if ever, use patterns because I prefer drafting my own (even if it ends up looking just like something in the store, I still get the satisfaction of designing the piece all on my own.). So, since I do not use patterns and I have thousands that are new, it makes sense to downsize and sell them off.

By the way feel free to visit the shop where I sell all my handcrafted, hand made, one-of-a-kind, creations: Kreated by Kelly on Etsy

The stock is significantly low due to my recent illness; however, i will remedy that in short order. I have many premade items at different price points to add to the shop.
Just a little more self-promotion while I am at it, please visit my website to join my mailing list. My mailing list subscribers always get exclusive discounts and I only send a message twice a month (at most). You just pop your email into the little google box and you'll be added when I confirm your request (the google box is on my navigation bar on the left):

Kreated by Kelly's Website
You can also send me a message and I will be happy to add you manually.
Ok I have jabbered enough *smiles* So the short answer: not going anywhere, just leaving ebay.



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My son and I really enjoyed watching the lunar eclipse the other day. I took a ton of pictures, but none of them came out too well. I think one of my biggest problems is that I was too lazy to go look for my tripod and the type of exposure needed in the dark required me to hold really still (I'm not good at that *smiles*)

Here is the only good picture that we got (good being relevant *smiles*):



This is a good picture if I say I did it on purpose. *giggles* Look what I did on purpose:



So, here are what many of my pictures looked like. I thought it looked like a shiny caterpiller coming to get me so I wanted to share *smiles*





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I promised funnel cake. I don't know why I feel the need to share this, but we love funnel cake here in the Anderson household. We had this last night:



I actually bought that flossies mix (wherever I bought it I have no idea) to make some of those deep fried snickers bars. I got the idea from King's Island cause they sell those at the Funnel Cake stands. They also sell deep fried twinkies. I was going to do those chocolate cupcakes that hostess makes (ding dongs?) I don't know I thought that would be good smothered in sweet bread, fried, and then covered in powdered sugar.

These funnel cakes are really good with ice cream and chocolate sauce too. They are really easy to make -- I like things that only require heating up a pan. OH, I forgot to mention, I always use my cast iron skillet for this sort of thing cause it works the best.

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Finally, I am going to talk about squidoo...specifically a lense that an awesome friend put together. Go check it out:

HIPPIE PATCHWORK LENSE

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I wish I had energy to do some real blogging. I have been just having the darnedest time shaking this cold/flu that I have had. I did make a gift for a client yesterday:



I only showed the back so that the surprise wouldn't be ruined. I'm not going to say who she is until after a certain day passes cause I don't want to spoil the surprise gift.

I also applied for Trunkt the other day and received my declination email this morning. That hurt my feelings for a minute and then I checked out their site. My creations are too unique to be mass produced and by looking at the items in the category I applied for -- their items are very simple compared to mine so I don't think I am right for them. I feel good, though, I joined a group called "Trunkt thinks I Suckt" and that made me happy.

Whew, that wasn't so bad, was it?! I'm such a chatty chatterson *smiles* One of my friends told me that her dad said that if you are feeling tired a lot to rub some vicks on your feet before you go to bed and you'll wake up a new person. Next time I go to the store I am going to buy some to see if I can reinvent myself. I'll let you know how it goes. Worth a try!!