ETC Has Secrets!

Here is the entry from the ETC blog with all of the great information about the fun activity today. Check it out!!

ETC Has Secrets!

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Celebrate this rare 5th Monday of the month with the Etsy Texas Crafters, finding our Secrets!Our team mascot, Armadillo Tex, is hiding in several of our members’ shops…. Find him and purchase the item in which he is hiding, and you will receive a FREE gift as your reward!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26516432@N03/2616800663/in/pool-teametsytx

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ETC Secrets are only available from 12:01 am to 12:00 Monday, June 30th, Central Time (that’s 1:01am Monday to 1:00am Tuesday, Etsy Time).Each Secret in which Armadillo Tex’s picture appears will specify the free gift to be received with the purchase of that item. This will vary from shop to shop, and possibly between items in the same shop.There will be no more than 2 Secrets in each of the participating shops.
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ETC Members with Secrets this month include:

artbyjc.etsy.com Original paintings , painted on leaves , wood , paper , metal ,etc.
awphotography.etsy.com - Note cards and fine art prints.
bellalunacoffin.etsy.com - mixed media jewelry & accessories
cindyjoy.etsy.com - unique, handmade baby gear etsytexascrafters.etsy.com - ETC Team Shop, loaded with Texas goodies!

fabfrills.etsy.com — Unique handbags, sassy art dolls & other fab things!

friendlybanter.etsy.com – crocheted items

handmadewhimzy.etsy.com - unique jewelry, beaded bookmarks and decorative painting
kcknits.etsy.com -Handspun yarn, spinning batts and handknit items

killerbeedesigns.etsy.com - Killer Bee Designs: Purses, Business Card Holders, Artwork and More!

lavenderlizard.etsy.com - Crocheted Accesories, Scrubbies, Supplies & More!

mayzbeadz.etsy.com - Handmade Lampwork Beads miasophia.etsy.com – Handmade Glass Jewelry With a Little Fun Added
preciouslinks.etsy.com – “A memory in every link” custom jewelry
raevyn77.etsy.com – Simply Raevyn Beautiful Handmade Beaded Jewelry
serendipityrose.etsy.com - Handcrafted Jewelry and Beaded Gifts
simplycynful.etsy.com - Custom Bows, Headbands, Socks, Flip Flops, & Tutus
simplyraevyn.etsy.com – hand beaded jewelry

sococreative.etsy.com - Stylish, decorative prints of original digital artwork

sophiecls.etsy.com - SubEarthan Cottage-Soaps, jewelry, and other unique gifts.

SweetWolf.etsy.com - Funky Handmade goodies for you and your home thepaperelephant.etsy.com - Greeting cards, paper favors, promo items, and supplies

thistlecraft.etsy.com - Handpainted glass & window clings, CD collage cards, crochet scarves, & other fun stuff

UltraTrixie.etsy.com - random whatnots and other interesting stuff.

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http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title_all&search_query=etcsecrets

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♥ Please join our mailing list & receive our monthly newsletter to hear about that month’s sales & other events, plus get a special “newsletter-only” coupon valid on purchases from our team shop. Join via our team blog at http://www.etsytx.org/wordpress

♥ To find more items by ETC members, search for our team tag of TeamEtsyTxhttp://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title_all&search_query=teametsytx

♥ Interested in joining ETC? Submit your information via our website at http://www.etsytx.org/contact.html (membership requests are processed once a week)

Vernazza, Italy

Italy1WM, originally uploaded by Annette98.

This is by far my most popular picture on Etsy and on Flickr. I am doing a test post from Flickr for blogging my images directly...I thought I would use this one because I really like it.

Informative Blogging Topics

I have been thinking about what I could possibly post up here that would not make me feel like I am just talking about myself all of the time. The ideas that came into my mind are similar to the how-tos that I have listed below. I wrote those because I hoped they would be helpful to people. Now, I am trying to figure out what other topics might be helpful.

Here is what I have thought of so far:

* Gimp Tutorials
- Basics of resizing images
- Changing the background color
- Basic image enhancements
* Blogging
- How to add widgets
- How to use Google Analytics or other statistical information to track blog hits
- Suggestions for promoting your blog

Do you have any other suggestions? Leave me a comment and let me know what you would like to learn about!

Texas Sunflowers

Our trip to the Hill Country of Texas for the family reunion last weekend was a lot of fun. While were were driving on Hwy 90 west of San Antonio, we came across a beautiful field of sunflowers. Of course, I had to stop for a quick little photo shoot. I think the pictures came out great. I put them together as a notecard set in my shop. Here are my favorite pictures that I got:

ETC Design Challenge - All Things Texas

Here is the post from the ETC blog on today's activity:

As part of our team’s Spend Your Mondays with ETC program, we would like to take today to show off interpretations of our monthly Design Challenge. This month’s theme was All Things Texas!

Team members who accepted this Design Challenge and listed items pertaining to this month’s theme include the following:

EtsyTexasCrafters - ETC Team Shop, loaded with Texas Goodies

AmberCripe - Baby Wipes Cases and More
AngelsAndOutlaws - A Place for the Romantic Cowgirl in Us All
ApacheMoon - Unique & Custom Silver Jewelry for a Joyous Spirit
AWPhotography - Cards & Prints from Original Photography
CindyJoy - Unique, High Quality, Stylish Baby Gear
ElephantDreams - Eclectic Artful Photos: Color, Black-White, Unique
FindersKeepersThings - Inspired Charms, Repurposed Jewelry & Original Art
GreerDesign - Whimsical Pet & Wildlife Art
HandmadeWhimzy - Unique Jewelry, Beaded Bookmarks, Painted Items
LavenderLizard - Crocheted accessories, scrubbies, and more
LindaGJ - Whimsical Sculptures & Prints
PreciousLinks - One-Of-A-Kind Custom Jewelry, & Doggie Jewelry Too
SimplyCynful - Custom Bows, Headbands, Socks, Flip Flops, & Tutus
SweetWolf - Funky Handmade Accessories for You and Your Home
Thistlecraft - Handpainted glass & window clings, CD collage cards, crochet scarves, & other fun stuff
TiddlyInks - Original Watercolors of Whimsical Animals & Kids

Here are just a few of our Design Challenge Creations

Note Card Set

I finally decided to list some of my note cards as a set. I had them listed individually for $2 each and decided to go for a set of 6 for $10. I chose 6 of my favorite flower pictures - they are very bright and happy. Anyone who buys it is free to choose whatever images they prefer or multiples of the same image. Here are the ones that I chose:

* Floating Flowers

* Coral Tree in the Sky


* Orange Flowers

* Daisies

* Lotus Flower


* Hyde Park Tulips

Experimenting with Gimp

Inspired by a question on the Etsy forums, I decided to do a quick experiment to see what kind of pop art-ish images I could create in Gimp. It is fun to be inspired to play around a bit in the middle of the night when I really should be in bed.

My favorite result was with my Celtic cross picture from Ireland, because it is a very simple subject:



Here are the results (using my current favorite flower photo):

And here of Wes and me in Scotland last year:

To do this, I just upped the contrast and played with the Hue-Saturation.