Featured Friend: Tsurfer

Allow me to introduce my good friend Tsurfer! She is a fellow seller on both Etsy and Blujay. T is very impressive at the sewing machine, making and selling all kinds of great things for young and grown, alike.

From top to bottom, some of my favorite examples of her goods include a fabulous, bright and cheery purse, one of her famous Dammit Dolls (I have one of these at work, and it gets quite the workout!), and an absolutely adorable pillowcase dress for those absolutely adorable little girls in your life :)

Please stop by her shop. She is very talented and makes wonderful things. Tell her Betani sent you, and see if she rolls her eyes ;)

Silly Hypothetical Quandry

I was off-handedly thinking about copyright issues lately, and there's something I'm wondering. I'm going to give a silly example so you know it's hypothetical.

Let's pretend I'm a painter by trade. One day, I set up and paint a still life. In this still life, I included Mr. Potato Head™. I finish the painting and put it up for sale. Could Hasbro™ come along and sue me? And if they did, would I be in the wrong?

What do you think? Should one avoid painting a nostalgiac scene of beloved childhood memories because something they loved back then is still trademarked today?

Scattertude

Yes, the ADD is in full swing today. I shall commemorate it with a bulleted stream of consciousness:

• I'm finally reconnecting with some old friends I found on Facebook. I used to scoff at most social networking sites, but now I embrace them, as evidenced by the new links down there on the left.
• I think my podcast addiction has reached an unhealthy level. It's only been a couple weeks since I discovered the wonder, and yet I have 143 subscriptions on my PDA so far. And that's after I pared down the list.
• I'm out of coffee, and someone took the donut I wanted.
  
• I can't think of any new ideas for NaNoWriMo this year. I think I might cheat and work on the story I started last year, since I hardly did 2,000 words on it.
• I feel a blood sugar drop coming on.
• In an odd way, sometimes children's non fiction books are sometimes more helpful than their adult counterparts.
• I miss M*A*S*H. Why don't they make TV shows like that anymore?
• Is 12 tabs too many to have open regularly in a browser?
• Pound cake probably isn't the best option when dealing with hypoglycemia.
• I really want to go geocaching tonight. I hope The Hubby is up to it.
• Is it a bad thing that I'm 32 and still don't drive?
• I wonder if they still do the balloon race in Science Olympiad.
• Gramma's 92nd birthday party was really nice on Sunday.
• It's hard to find a place willing to wholesale to a home based craft business.
• The new "Tax Reform" is going to kill libraries, schools, and all public services in the state.
• I should buy stock in Goo Gone.
• I wonder what the hex values of the colors on my business card are.
• There are too many printers running right now. No cool rhythm anymore. And the folding machine throws the whole beat off.
  
• I wonder if anyone makes relief versions of famous paintings so blind people can touch them to find out what they look like.
• There aren't enough bullets in the world for my thought processes.

This has been a random collection of incoherent thoughts, brought to you by Betani's Bureau. Thanks for tuning in.

Claiming Technorati Page (Nothing to see here, move along)

Technorati Profile

Revamping the pics

Ok, so my last post was a bit of a downer. Sorry about that. *sheepish lopsided grin*

While business is still slow across the board, I'm still focusing on the housekeeping end of the business. Currently, photographs. I am realizing that the pictures of my products leave much to be desired, both in the technological settings of the camera, and the composition of the subject.

My camera is getting old, but I want to get the absolute most out of it before I have to upgrade, so I may have to lean heavily on the creativity end of things. Critiques and suggestions are greatly appreciated and enthusiastically encouraged.

Click here for the Etsy shop
Click here for the Blujay shop

Sometimes I wonder...

This post is going to be a bit "diary-like", so feel free to skip if you like.

Sometimes I wonder if I've taken on too much. A few months ago, I said I'd soon have my own storefront in addition to my Etsy and Blujay stores. Well, obviously that hasn't happened yet. I bought the domain name, but it still points to my Etsy store. I've also been having trouble keeping up with this blog, which I SWORE to myself that I wouldn't ever abandon.

In no particular order, here are some of the many worries vying for my attention:


* All of my prescriptions went on strike and stopped working at the same time, prompting many doctor visits to switch/re dose/reevaluate everything.

* My day job is in major financial trouble thanks to our governor, and we are scrambling to find ways to keep from being laid off.

* Family goings-on present us with the possibility of needing to move very soon, but affordable/appropriate housing seems to be nowhere to be found.

* I am constantly using system restore on my new laptop, because it inexplicably keeps forgetting I have any other drives besides C.

* Inventorying my supplies and products is insanely more involved than I ever thought it would be.

* I am feeling an urgent need to scour the web any chance I get for money-saving tips of any kind to help pull us out of the livid red.

* I'm having all kinds of trouble with a certain vendor at my day job, and the problems I need to contact them about keep mounting, making it very hard to keep my cool.

* ...



Ok, I'm gonna stop listing these things for now, as it's stressing me out to think of it all.

In reality, I'm sure things aren't as bad as I'm making them out to be, but there are certain feelings I just can't shake. I can't help but feel responsible when something is remotely not the way it's supposed to be, then I can't help but beat myself up for not doing enough to make things right. I beat myself up because, in my mind, someone has to. Someone needs to be reprimanded for things not being the way they are supposed to be.

Somewhere there is a sliver of sanity that knows these feelings are ridiculous and unnecessary. When I recognize that sliver of sanity, I desperately try to shut off my brain and call upon my alter ego, Betani, to take over and steer me toward reason.

Don't worry folks, I don't have Multiple Personality Disorder or anything. There is a small part of my brain that is able to disassociate from the baggage of my fears and reservations and actually get things done. This part of my personality is so different from my natural state that I decided to call it my alter ego and give it a name. That's why I named my store after her. Without Betani, I never would have started my crafting business. She is the one who picks up the receiver whenever I need to make a phone call. (Yes, I'm that shy.) She's also egging me on to write this post and expose my vulnerabilities. I am sure that she will be the one to click the publish button, too.

At any rate, I guess what I'm saying is, it's gonna be quite some time before I can finally think about my own website. I will do my utmost to keep up here, despite not really knowing if anyone really reads this. If you don't see me update for a while, go ahead and leave a comment asking where I am. I thrive on feedback, and if I know people are out there and visit this blog, I will be much more encouraged to keep up with things.

If you've gotten this far, thank you so much for letting me sound off. It means a great deal to me to know there are people out there who care.