Insanity still reigns.

I don't think we've had a rest since August! Home improvement projects, storm cleanup, family stuff, life, putting the gardens to bed for the winter, etc. have occupied every spare moment of time. I'm loving it! It's so nice to feel well enough to be on top of projects and being able to cross of items that have been on the list for a long time.

I really need to get caught up on my etsy stuff, though. I've got a few things that I really need to list, but I haven't had the focus recently. I also need to get back on top of putting listings up here as I update etsy.

I should have some pictures to post soon...hopefully I'll remember! :)

posted from fluffnflowers.com.

Shopping cart advancement!

I've been playing with adding a shopping cart to my website, and it looks like I've figured out the paypal shopping cart stuff pretty well. I do need to adjust the shipping costs in paypal, but I'm afraid that'll mess up checkouts done through etsy. I'll save that experimentation for another day, when I'm braver and have more patience.

I've only got three things in the shop on this site, but I plan on adding things as I add them to my etsy shop or renew listings. It might take awhile, but I'm not in a hurry.

It's extremely nice to have this all coming together. I hope I'll be able to build up traffic to this site, rather than relying on etsy to provide all of my sales. Since the reseller invasion over there, it's been tough to compete and stand out. My hope is that directing traffic here will provide lots of focus on me, me, me! :)

Meet the new EOT!

The EtsyOrganicTeam, after a short break and revitalization, is back! Things are much tidier, and we now have an all-in-one website with forums, a team shop, the blog, directories, slideshows, and the whole nine yards. Applications and reapplications have started trickling in, the twitter feed is up and running, and we're off to a great start.

The reorganization has been a great thing and I think the team will be able to have a much more involved membership, move forward with marketing projects, and generally be able to grow as a team. It's been a project, but it was worth the effort.

Check out the website and see what you think! :)

Selling Elsewhere

The recent influx of seed and plant resellers to Etsy and complete dismissal of the issue by the Etsy CEO has encouraged me to find other outlets for my plant sales. While I won't be closing house entirely on Etsy, I feel that the situation has severely compromised the integrity of the Plants category and don't wish to be lumped in with blatant resellers and people lying about the origins of their seeds.

By the recommendation of greenthing, I will shortly be setting up shop on winkelf. I like the layout and general look and feel of the site, and I think it may end up being a good home.

I've had a couple of listings up on ArtFire, but I feel that the look and feel of the site is too cluttered, messy, and difficult to navigate. Supposedly, there are going to be changes made, but I'll be waiting for those before I decide whether to invest any more time in my shop there.

The second place that I will be opening up shop is Zibbet. It's still very small and developing, but the layout and listing process is very clean, tidy, and easy to navigate. They also have a strict 'no resellers' policy, which greatly, greatly appeals to me. I hope that means that, as the site grows, it will maintain its integrity in a way that Etsy seems unwilling or unable to do. My shop on Zibbet is located here.

We'll see how they do and what happens. I'll probably be checking into other selling outlets, but that's all the news that is news, for now.

What a great way to wake up!

I woke up to a bunch of different messages this morning letting me know that my Jewels of Opar seeds have been entered into Etsy's Spring Equinox poll! I'm very excited about this and many thanks to Etsy admin for considering my items.

You can vote by clicking the picture below:


Thanks for the screenshot, monkeysalwayslook!

GOLD Treasury

Thanks to sherilynne for adding my Teddy Bear sunflower seeds to this lovely treasury!

A treasury...

courtesy of monkeytreecreations in honor of the March participants of TheSpottedBox!

Thanks for including my Erlenmeyer Terrarium kit!

TheSpottedBox of February

This month's TheSpottedBox was a great box and there were so many delightful goodies! I'm never able to use everything in it, but everything always finds a good home. I've already started trying out some of the samples.

Not having a good health week and I don't have the attention span to list out everything that was included (I'm sorry!), but I'd be more than happy to look up anything that catches your eye and see who contributed it. I will, hopefully, be able to get some reviews of my favorites up in the coming weeks.

If you click the compound images, you'll be able to see them in greater detail.

It should be spring!

All around the garden, I'm seeing new things pop up. My daffodils are peeking up, my fig tree is starting to bud out, my forsythia is sneaking out a couple of blooms, I've got a crazy sedum, and my japanese maples are starting to look alive.

I also got my new toy in yesterday, and I hope to be introducing some new upcycled plastic creations to my fluffnfixings shop soon!

Achievements and goals.

I've finished my year end taxes, and I'm rather proud of how fluffnflowers has done. This year proves to be even better.

The acre piece of property that is owned by my guy's family is going to be demoed shortly. I hope to have it cleared and ready for planting this spring. I know that it'll take years to recondition the property into a fertile, perfect plot, but I think we'll be able to grow this year with minimal cultivation. I'm excited and can't wait to expand my tomato varieties and start growing larger quantities of some of my favorite heirloom 'other veggies'.

Sales have been extremely good this month, and I'm also excited for the rest of the year. As a go-get-'em-girl gift to myself, I bought a lovely sealer and hope to increased the value of the ecofriendly, recycled mailers in my fluffnfixings shop.

Not only that, but my friend monkeysalwayslook and I plan on opening up another endeavor that will be entertaining for us, if not profitable. Check out her shop, while you're at it. She's got the cutest little succulents in interesting containers. They're perfect if you're not up for an interesting plant that doesn't require the maintenance involved in outdoor gardening. She also has some pretty sexy vintage finds.

Here's to a new year!

Busy busy!

Despite the cooler weather and the rain we've been getting, I've managed to be pretty productive.

Yesterday and today I dug up a couple of plants and have evicted them from my gardens. Hurrah! I still have a bush I need to move, but it's not getting a one-way ticket out of here -- just a relocation.

The newest thing is that I've added a new product to my shop! It's called Moss Mousse Mix and it's something I've been using for a long time. I whipped up a batch and packaged it last night specifically for my shop, and I'm excited to have it available. It's ugly, but the results are great.

This is a just-add-water mix, which allows you to mix it as thin or as thick as you want. You can add extra water to dip baskets or rocks in, or you can mix it thick to slather on an upright surface.

And this is what you'll get:

I love moss!

Pinch Gardens

I started listing pinch gardens in my shop a few months ago and realized that I've never shown any of mine. During my last illness, a handful of established ones wasted away, but I've started over and now have a small collection growing at the windowsill in front of my crafting table.

These three are salvages. I was cleaning off my plant table outside and found a handful of dessicated bulbs. Three of them having started showing signs of life, and I'm still waiting on the other two.

As you can see, two of these are simple, amber bottles. In fact, I appear to have completely neglected to take the label off of one! The taller one is a wine bottle that I cut off and etched in an uneven, cloudy pattern.

See more of my pinch gardens and pinch garden collections here.

Bit of a blog break.

As you might be able to tell, I took a bit of a blog break. Life is going swimmingly, but a couple of things have popped up that are requiring a bit of work. One of them may lead to my own little farm for the spring! Excitement.

I've spent a lot of time inside because of rain, recently, so I thought I'd share my current project. I got a bunch of plastic from the lovely Katy of girlindustries and have spent a lot of time piecing things together, testing, and thinking. She sent some clear bags that I just couldn't wreck by fusing. I, instead, trimmed off some undesirable lettering and added drawstring 'tubes' to the top. Now, I have some pretty fancy drawsting giftbags. I need to run them with some black cord, and they'll be finished!

Ginkgo -- Pt. 2

I found so many amazing things while searching etsy for ginkgo, that I couldn't just do one post. Here are today's ginkgo finds.




westernartglass is now one of my new favorites. I love that this artist is recycling bottles and turning them into beautiful pieces of art. Check out these great ginkgo earrings.











This lovely drawing of a ginkgo leaf by AKJapan immediately caught my eye. The colors and simplicity really appeal to me.







And now for a YOWZA! This lovely pillow has great, bright colors and it really makes for a fascinating look. Even cooler is that cottageindustrialist designed all of the fabrics!

MMG Holiday Exchange!

Out in the mail today is an amaryllis growing kit to one of our MMG members. It consists of a handcut, hand etched container, my container mix, and an amaryllis bulb that should be white with red candy stripes, if my tags are correct.

A new MMG home! and trees.

I've mentioned the BNR thread that I participate in and the great group of people who are in it before, but this little BNR has become something big! The lovely Dorana arranged a ning site for this group here. Check it out, if you're interested in hangin' with a bunch of great, supportive etsians with a ton of community knowledge who are always willing to help!

This BNR thread is having a holiday swap, and I've been kinda freaking out about what to do. The original idea I isn't going to be possible in the short period we had to get things together, so I've been trying to find Plan B. My brilliance kicked in this evening and I have a plan; all I have to do is check my inventory tomorrow and see if THAT'S doable. I think it will be!

And a picture from one of my front beds I took yesterday:

Snow!

Alright, not really.

Monday night, we had some freezing mist, and the little fluffy balls of ice piled up on the ground. I didn't notice it sticking all that well, but Tuesday, around noon, I went to check the mail and saw this!
I love snow, and the South has totally cramped my winter style. Seeing this made my day...well, that and a handful of sales! I guess holiday shoppers are hitting etsy, finally, and the past couple of days have kept me busy. I've had to set up two custom listings and my Erlenmeyer Terrarium Kit sold. I was kinda sad to see it go, but I'll fix another up sometime this week, I think.

Of course, I've conveniently run out of bubble mailers and bubble wrap to make more mailers, so I'm waiting for both of those to come up. If I get any orders between now and when I get my supplies, I'll have to break down and see what I can find locally. Can't complain too much! :)

I'm back! -- and eggs

As you may be able to tell, I'm back from our quick, Thanksgiving jaunt. I packed up five orders today and they'll all be going out Monday to their new homes.

I spent some time shopping around Etsy today, and decided to go for two eggs from SwedishDesign. I got a Santa and a Snowman, and I can't wait to get them! They're wonderful illustrations and will make excellent gifts for my sets of parents.

I spent a lot of time going through some incredible work by several very talented egg-workers, for lack of a better term. I thought I'd share some of these amazing creations with you.



Here's a wonderful pysanka ornament by doreseggs. The colors and patterning are captivating.









This artist, PysankyPanky, has too many incredible pieces to pick a favorite from, but this one is at the top of my list!










Here's a little wonder by 1eggman. This artist has the most amazing carved eggs I've ever seen!




Check out my favorite items and favorite sellers for more incredible egg artists!

Mmmm...chocolate!

A big thank you to simplydoodles for including my chocolate mint plant in this lovely treasury:

New things!

I decided to change my avatar. I may change it back to the one I've had since I joined (over a year now!), but I figured I'd give this one a try for a little while and see if I adjust. Talk about living on the wild side, eh?

I've decided to do a fluffnflowers sale from 28 Nov.-1 Dec. in honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you haven't already checked out my shop, you might want to take advantage of this sale before the spring rush!

Buy 3 packs of seeds or $9 equivalent (not including S&H) and get a free pack of seeds! AND 15% off of any CUT GLASS growing kit.