Featured!

Whichgoose is in "The Knot" Spring 2014 issue!!!

Pretty neat-o! 

Selfies

Have you seen the "selfie" documentary by Dove?

Makes me thankful I grew up in the age when pictures of yourself were limited to a single roll of film (half of which were blurry and useless) OR that awful school picture day.

Being able to instantly take and post pictures is definitely a lot of pressure for girls (and women!)

It made me think of something similar in an AP Psych class in high school where everyone was supposed to write "something nice" anonymously about everyone else in the room. I remember the majority of my nice things were "She's quiet," or, "She's nice."
I remember being so upset that no one said "She's pretty," or "I love her hair" --- something physical.
That sort of validation is so important to a teenager.

I suppose we're all seeking validation in our lives in one form or another.

DIY crackle paint!

I've heard about this technique to make a DIY crackle paint finish ... so here is the picture story of my first time testing it!

STEP ONE:

Get yourself some regular, good 'ole Elmer's Glue. Regular, cheap, easy.

STEP TWO:

Get yourself some acrylic paint! You will need a painted base coat finish to start with ... of a contrasting color. I decided on a pink background with a white overlay.

STEP THREE: 

Spread a generous amount of glue on top of your base coat. Let this coat dry until it is "tacky" -- not totally dry, but not super wet either. The idea is to be able to spread your final coat on top without the glue spreading around too much.

STEP FOUR: 

Gently spread your top coat on top of the glue.

STEP FIVE:

wait ..... oooo ... exciting!!

TA DA!!!!!

CRACKLE.

OOohh ... pretty :) 

Cold. Sick. Cloudy.

WOW! It has been cold ... like how cold? REALLY cold.

Also, I've been sick for the last week (sinus thing.) 

I guess I couldn't have picked a better week to get sick really, since I wouldn't want to leave the house anyway. But, not it's been just about long enough and I am so ready to go do something!!

It's hard to give yourself a "sick day" when you work from home. 

There's always little things I can do when I'm just around the house ... and even though it's SUPER cloudy outside today, I took some pictures for the shop of a new little comb.

Here's the before and after once I took it into Photoshop ...

Notice the overall blue color of the background in the original? That's the cloudy skies.

So, I've added some warming filters, some extra sharpening, and a bit of a vignette (darker edges)!

Downton Abbey -- season 4!

This day has been long-awaited in my household ... "Downton Abbey"returns with Season 4 here in the U.S.!!!

It's one of the few times when the U.K. viewers get to watch before the U.S., but I'm OK with that since it is a U.K. show :) 

**SPOILERS BELOW**

At the end of last season, Mary (left) gave birth to a baby boy, and her husband, Matthew  died in a car wreck whilst reveling in his post-birth joy.

WHAT!?

Turns out, the actor wanted to leave the show, so naturally, they killed him off.

As all the previews suggest, this season will center on Mary working through her grief and coming to terms with her new single-mum status.

*

I'm most interested in the Anna/Bates story.

Bates has returned from his false imprisonment an so far, things are happy and nice with he and Anna.

I have a sneaking suspicion something will churn things up for them this season ......

If you haven't watched the series yet, I encourage you to check it out!!! Just ask anyone with a uterus ... it's "UUUHH MAAYYY ZZIIINNGGGG."

My poor husband knows not to enter the room when Downton is on. 

(He knows he will get the "SHUSH!!!")

9:00 p.m. tonight --- PBS!!!!

Start-of-year panic

As the title suggests, this time of year is the worst for any anxious business owner (such as myself!)

There's all these messages of hope and looking ahead and "Wow! You have this amazing blank canvas of 2014!"

As grumpy cat would say ... "No."

For someone who lives and makes their money by a system of profit and loss, there is really no alternative than to begin the year in RED.

Like, really red.

There's estimated taxes that come due on the 15, Etsy bills, holiday bills ...

And your profit starts off (as it has to) with a big fat ZERO.

As my poor husband is aware, this panic happens for me every year.

No matter how well I did mere weeks ago in 2013, this new year is an untested, uncharted new territory.

.......

Side notes:

1.) I considered making it my resolution to start blogging regularly again, but I'm a realist about this and will most likely keep it pretty sporadic.

2.) I finally got AMAZING pink boots that I love. There's a new post right there!

3.) HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :)