The Persistence of Memory (1931), Salvador Dali.

Well, going back to a 40+ hour work week last week really had a major impact on my art and crafts. I thought I was prepared for it, I really did, but I wasn’t prepared for it at all. Despite my best efforts, I have done very little painting, no sewing, and even went a day without any new original blog posts! As Pink Floyd sings, time is slipping into the future….

As being productive is very important to me, especially in light of the additional plans I’ve been working on, I really needed to whip my prioritization and time management up a notch. To begin with, I needed to determine what my priorities really are. Putting aside family (my children in particular), the priority of project-focused effort goes: Read More

Choosing this week’s subject of review turned out to be more difficult than I had expected. Both shops have lots of appeal to me and I see areas for improvement in both. In the end, I decided to review Sweet Tea Company, but will also be reviewing Waterrose later this week! Having said that, let’s just jump in, shall we?

The first thing I noticed about Sweet Tea Company is the vibrancy of the shop. The banner is bright and engaging and the design elements are very pleasing and suit the shop theme. The slogan, ‘refreshing designs for cool people’ is catchy and memorable. So memorable that I could have sworn I had heard it before but some intense Googling didn’t turn anything up so it’s just THAT memorable!

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Have you ever been looking at craft sites and come across a shop that was just filled with such potentially cute stuff but in the end you just couldn’t bring yourself to make a purchase? Sadly, there are a lot of sites out there that could do so much better in sales if only they took the same time that they use to make their creations so well and put it into their shops. I suffer from this as well and so in looking to write this review, a lot of what I am going to discuss applies to my shops as well. So let’s move on to the subject of today’s review: Bugs in Rugs on Etsy.com.

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NOTE: This is a very text-heavy post but I think it’s important that it be posted for everyone to see who may want a review!

Yesterday I launched my new regular feature: seller / shop reviews. I am very happy with the response and so wanted to use today’s post to discuss what my plans are for these posts, and what I am looking to add moving forward. Ultimately, my goal is not only to use this blog as a means of promoting myself and my thoughts, but also to help other creative individuals think differently about their work, their self-promotion and how to support positive interaction in an ever-growing field of creative peers! Let’s look at how I am proposing to do that, starting with the reviews.

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Quick Note: I apologize to those who have tried to comment but have not wanted to register. I had not realised that the need to register had been re-enabled after my last upgrade. I have corrected it and you no longer need to register to post a comment. My apologies for the inconvenience and hope you’ll try again!

Today begins a new and hopefully regular feature for my blog: reviewing other craft and art shops and products that are not mass-produced. To start with, I am going to review an easy target: Freshline Illustration and Design. Why do I say easy? Because for my first review, I’m choosing a seller and artisan that I really enjoy. Thus, it’s a pleasant review for me to write and I’ll admit up front that it is positive. I can’t promise that all reviews in the future will be positive but hopefully they will all be constructive, and artisans will need to request a review before they are featured. But for now, let’s discuss Freshline!

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The longer I operate online and obtain feedback, the more I am thinking that I need to open a second shop that is separate from Mindless Pursuits. That way I can have one shop dedicated to my paintings and other artworks and Mindless Pursuits could be dedicated to the other crafting that I do. The thinking is that one detracts from the other and leaves people not certain what my focus is.

So if you wouldn’t mind taking my poll on the right, what do you think? Should I have two separate shops?