The Weekness

With columns like SINday and satARTday, two of my Montreal friends, Angie and Christophe, have teamed up to create a brand spankin’ new blog called The Weekness.

Check it out for everything from high end fashion to DIY and yes, a SHOEday column as well!!

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Weekend of Numbers

Lovin’ my Spratter & Jayne neckwarmer!!

What a wonderful weekend I just had!! I went skating with my boyfriend at Mount-Royal, and thanks to his steady arm and his 2-3 nights a week of hockey playing experience, I didn’t even fall once (had not skated in something like 15 years before that!). I always prefered Winter to Summer (used to be my favorite season, when I snowboarded), even tho now I like Fall and Spring the most. But this was a really nice Winter moment :)

Anyway, this weekend was also great because: my virtual life hit 2 milestones, too!

First, this blog hit the 200,000 visits mark!! YAY!! The 100,000 mark was in March 08, so let’s just say I’m really proud of that second half in less than a year! Thank you so much everyone!! It’s means a lot that you are all sticking around!

And second, my Neawear Etsy Shop passed the 5000 shop hearts mark! That’s like at the very least 5000 people who taught my whole shop (and not just an item or two) deserved to be bookmarked! How hot is that right?? So, look out for more great handmade stuff I’m working on for 2009, ’cause I’m not stoping anytime soon! :)

Vote on Paper n Stitch!

LAST CRY FOR HELP!
LAST DAY!

Pleaseeeeee help me!!
I know you are all there 600+ readers a day! I would be so thankful if you all took 2mins of your super busy day to go and vote for me!!
Please please please!!! *gets down on knees and begs* lol :)

Thank you :D

Remember my post on Paper n Stitch a few months back? Did I tell you that you can vote for your favorite exhibitors, and then they can win things, like a free month as an exhibitor on Paper n Stitch… and yes… cash!? No, I didn’t yet, but now I am!

Well yes, you guessed it! I really need your help, dear readers! :)

It’s simple, just hop on to Paper n Stitch, then easily create a free account, and then you can click on the profiles of all your favorite sellers (I *know* I’m not the only one, lol!) and vote (and comment on your favorite items for fun as well)! You’ll see a rectangle with a heart+, just click there, and voila!

You can vote for as many of your favorites as you’d like, of course!
With people understandingly being careful with their purchases and money this year, all of us handmade creatives could really use the help! :)

Here’s my shop section: Nea at Paper n Stitch (You will be able to see some of my newly listed Wall Wear work there too!)

Thanks so much in advance, this would really help me out!! :)

Souk@Sat & Decor8

What a week! I’ve been busing gathering up some stuff and preparing documents for my Wall Wear submission to the Souk@Sat craft show here in Montreal! I finally finished everything last night and will be emailing everything today! Wish me luck! (It’s quite hard to get accepted there!!)

On another note, I want to thank Holly from Decor8 for adding my blog to her wonderful blogroll! The blog has been pouring with new visitors for 2 days now and I want to welcome everyone over too!!

Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the place!! :)

Creativadoration on Facebook

You’re a fan of my blog? (Thank you soooo much!!!!!!!!)

Then, now you can show it to the World! :)

Become an official fan of Creativadoration on Facebook!

Paper n Stitch

The Paper n Stitch website has launched, and I’m in it! YAY!

It’s sorta like a virtual craft fair, or a marketplace if you prefer, with wonderful handmade items from everywhere and in every style possible!

Plus, the design of the site is just perfect to me: it totally has it’s personality, but at the same time, it leaves all the focus to the artists! And the most fun feature I think: everyone can create an account and write comment on items! YAY! Love it :)

Check it out: Paper n Stitch

My section @ Paper n Stitch: Nea

And check out the Paper n Stitch blog!

Days with my Father

A friend let me know about this wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous website. It is about Phillip Toledano‘s ongoing observations and souvenirs facing his 98yo father, who has no short-term memory (which is not the same as alzheimers), thru words and photography.

It is the most touching website I’ve seen in a while and I wanted to share it with you all. Don’t miss it, it’s really worth it!

Days with my Father.

ReadyMade goes virtual

ReadyMade‘s new “Green Design Issue” goes virtual, perhaps to be logical with the “green” part? LOVE IT!

Right here, and free!

44timestwo

Meet 44timestwo, a photoblog from team Alison and Charlotte started on Feb 18th.

“Over the next 44 weeks, twice a week we will pair two photographs together of random images we have sent each other. There will be no consultation – the randomness of the pairings will be total. This is a visual site, a way of connecting two people with a desire to see where haphazard art can lead, across two countries, two backgrounds, two styles, two personalities. One will photograph in colour, the other in monochrome. One will photograph in macro, the other in wide angle. There will be no thematic investigations, but we are keen to see how the inherent themes of our lives interact with the photos we take and choose to submit.”

Addictive!!

We Heart It

Perhaps you have heard before of ffffound, a place where people post images that inspire them. But “saving” them easily in one and only space is a invite-only thing. Yes, you can view the images for free and anytime, but someone you know must invite you to join and bookmark the goodness so you can easily access your favorites. Not very visitor friendly!

Well, an alternative is available named We Heart It! It’s free and easy to join (took me exactly 10 seconds!).

So go ahead, browse the awesomeness, heart it (or add your own easily with the “bookmark bar tool“), and go back anytime to your account when you need a little boost of inspiration in your day! GO! :)

(Why not even bookmarking your ffffound finds in You Heart It? At least everything will be gathered! lol)

The Free Web Syndrome

So creepy.

Please read the following! (see the actual post here)

” Mar 19, 2008
interrobang

Goodbye and Good Luck

It is with a heavy heart that I announce today that Etsytools will be closing in two weeks time. It’s something we’ve been talking about for a little while now, but today the camel’s back was finally broken.

I will never understand why so many people think the world owes them. I get dozens of emails every day from people who think I could do better, and I should do better because they say so. I should be more professional, I should respond quicker, I should offer more features, less features, better features. I should pay hundreds of dollars for a server that is lightening fast so you don’t have to wait 10 seconds for the charts to load. I’ve been called every name under the sun, I’ve been threatened with legal action, and today I received a death threat. A fucking death threat!

I recognise that for every jealous idiot there are a dozen wonderful etsians out there, but I just don’t care anymore. I used to love the community but it has changed so much lately I don’t even recognize it. I don’t have any faith in Etsy anymore, and I’m tired of hacking away at this website just to be humiliated and mocked on the forums. There are people who will be jumping for joy to see this website close, and I’m glad to finally have satisfied the fuckwits. Leave me alone now.

Anyone who purchased advertising in the past week or so will be refunded. Everyone who purchased before that should use their impressions before we close the site on March 31st, or contact me and we’ll sort something out.

Thankyou to everyone who has offered their support and encouragement over the past 8 months. I’m sorry to those who are disappointed, but there’s just so much more to life than Etsy. If anyone wants me, I’ll be at St Kilda Beach.”

The lovely Interrobang offered for FREE many tools and services on EtsyTools, made for Etsy sellers. She gave her time and efforts and knowledge to the handmade community without counting, trying to help Etsy sellers on their quest to live from their skills, or at the very least, to know more about the business of handmade.

———–

This fact (that EtsyTools will be no more because of egocentric PEOPLE) has made me furious and got me thinking, a lot.

It got me thinking about how the Web is full of info, full of FREE info. How everything is all so accessible, all so easy to get to and all so FREE!

And although all this can absolutely be a wonderful thing, it also has it’s bad sides. Like people who DEMAND more and more and more, because of course it would just appear in a poof, magically. Like no one is actually BEHIND the info. Like no one actually gave of his/her time graciously, put their “real” life on hold for a moment to offer something to some people they DON’T KNOW. It’s FREE, people!

That’s what I will now call “The Free Web Syndrome”: people getting used to having free stuff on the Web so much, that they think Web people owe them more and more stuff.

Who do these people think they are? Really. I mean, WTH is wrong with these people! (I won’t even talk about the death threat Interrobang received, it’s so disgusting, it’s not worth another sentence.)

Remember the saying “nothing in life is free”? Well it’s true. The Web is not actually free. You pay for the Web access with a monthly fee, right?

You pay for ACCESS to the Web. Only access.
You do not OWN the Web nor it’s people.
Nor it’s people’s work.
Nobody on the Web OWES you nothing.
You pay for ACCESS to the Web. Only access. Only access. Only access.

You want something that’s not there? Do it yourself!
Don’t know how? Learn it!
How do you think info gets there? Each individual LEARNED their skills.

———–

Now, more specific to the Handmade Community.

Remember what handmade is all about. The Web IS handmade. Millions of people in the World physically MAKE it: programming, writing, designing, photographing…

The Web is the most known expression of Handmade there is! Support it, help it! Don’t kill it with your personal greediness and egocentric self.

Whether it be for EtsyTools, for Etsy Team leaders, for bloggers, for forums moderators or for any other free service, think about them all behind the words, images and software. Giving. To you.

You are not the center of the world, nobody owes you nothing. Accept what is given to you on a golden platter, appreciate it, respect it and the people behind it.

———–

And for services that you do pay for, know what you ARE paying for!

For example, if listing an item on Etsy costs 20 cents, you are paying 20 cents to have your item exist. You pay that amount so that your item is available for purchase. You pay for 5 picture spots, a description, 14 tags and an “add to cart” button. That’s all, people! If the items sells, you pay 3.5% of that sale to have the sale actually exist, to have feedback from it (which will help get more sales) and for helping Etsy continue to exist because you DID make money on Etsy. (Do you know how much employees, servers and bandwidth on a site like Etsy can cost? Guess a number, and it’s probably twice more than that, even if you were generous.)

Sure, we all love treasuries and forums and chat and all, but those are extra FREE services Etsy is offering you. They, too, are putting in their time graciously, FOR YOU. Actually, they are not giving anything for free, quite the opposite. They have to pay their employees. So basically, they are paying to give YOU some FREE stuff. Realize it.

———–

So please, take a moment to think about all this (and it goes for all your life as well), and how you can help it instead of destroying it.

“Ask not what the Handmade Web Community can do for you,
but what you can do for the Handmade Web Community.” – I say.

lol :)

I’m a Fly Girl

Hello y’all!

Just a little short post to let you know I’m today’s Fly Girl of the Week on the awesome FlyGirls blog!
Go check out the interview! :)

Thanks so much Andrea!!

{ Blogue franco de la semaine }

Je suis tombée sur ce blogue francophone par hasard, et j’ai tout de suite adoré! En fait, TrendsNow ressemble un peu à mon blogue côté sujets abordés (design, tendances, mode et objets, mais avec plus de billets techno).

Directement de France, TrendsNow est en fait le blogue de l’agence Decys.

Si vous avez du temps à tuer, participer au continuel concours de bannière. Si votre soumission est acceptée, votre visuel sera la bannière officielle du site pendant quelques jours, accompagné d’un petit article sur vous et un lien url.

3191 and evenings!

One of my favorite blogs, 3191, will be reborn!

This photoblog, as I had talked about it before in French, is about two women living 3191 miles from each other taking a year of pictures of their mornings. The year is now up!

I thought it was going to be over after a year and that the blog would die… But it won’t, YAY! Beginning January 15th, it will transform into “A year of evenings”! Bye bye breakfasts, hello cocktails! lol

So stay tuned for some more wonderful & inspirational photographs, people! :)

Living Creatively

Hop on over at Australia’s Living Creatively to find some cute DIY projects, inspiration and a great article on Lotta Anderson! Beautiful layout and pictures, I DID found it inspiring! :)

Via } TownMouse