Handmade Mania week 62

Hiya, good day, and welcome to a fresh week of Handmade Mania! What is this post you ask? This is a weekly link up for handmade products within your online shop. I love indie shops as much as I love handmade goods and wish to grow my crafty indie network. Last weeks link up had 39 links, 152 clicks, and 444 views! That is awesome! Thank you all so much for joining and sharing. You all make this link up work. ☺

Love Struck set of two bobby pins by Cherished

Unicorn and Cupcake Bag by Heart and Soles

Bear Cowl, Rainbow, Children's Medium by Ribbons & Robots

Hand Dyed Sock Yarn - Gorgey Porgey by Fairytale Knit

I am so excited to see new shops joining in and love featuring their amazing handmade products. Make sure to visit the featured shops, there are some amazing things within their shop walls! I hope to see more new indie shops join in the fun. Now onto a fresh week!

What can you link up? If you make it with your own hands, you may add it, including designed items. Please, do not link to your Facebook page or Blog posts. All other platforms excepted. 

Here are the RULES as nothing works right without a few good rules. 

You can link up to TWO individual products from your shop below for some networking/sharing fun! Select TWO products from the collection to SHARE via social media using #handmadelove.

Please share in a comment what two products you share and where. I will do my best to respond timely. Thank you! ☺

(Do not share to Pinterest without the express permission from the shop owner. Thank you.) 

By doing this, you'll be able to share EPIC handmade goodness and build your handmade network! Please share this link up with someone else this week. The more people we have join in, the more our items will be shared and seen! I am super excited to share some EPIC Handmade Goodness this week!! Make sure to use the #handmadelove so I can find and share what you share easily. Thank you.  ☺

How to link up:
Click "add your link"
Box 1: add the URL to your Individual product hit tab
Box 2: will add product details - edit those as you wish
Box 3: put in your email address
then select a thumbnail photo and hit DONE! ☺
Share it if you wish too! They make it very easy with buttons for the main sharing platforms. 

Your item has 4 chances of being featured this up coming week! Make sure to link up, share, and share the link up with someone else! The more we share this link up, the more people are viewing our shops, and the more potential of turning a browser into a buyer. I am so excited to see what #handmadelove links you post! ☺

An InLinkz Link-up

Februray goals

I recently met two new blogs, My So-Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World, that are inspiring me to blog more often. (Also found out The Nerdy Fox blog is doing this challenge too.) This year they are hosting a 'Goal setting Post' Link party each month. I am super bad at remembering what goals I set and figured if I blogged them...I'd remember better. And you all can check in with me to keep my accountable to them. ☺

 

 You can join in too...just click on the photo it will take you to the original link up for the month.

  

 Recap of January Goals:

• unpacking from month away IN Progress only my toiletries bag left
• choose a Word of the year and blog it Complete!
• Go through kids toys and organize their room Complete!
• make new logo graphic and put it to use Complete!
• Organize and Reopen shop Complete!!!

I really didn't make many goals for the start of they year as the month of January is my recovery month in the year. Did you meet your goals?

Goals for February:

•  Make and add 5 new products
• Blog 3 per week - minimum
• Start writing down and keeping a book
• go through my belongings and organize it
• donate clothes and shoes I no longer wear
• Clean up and organize my craft supplies
• Stay on top of networking, group, responsibilities

Well, it helps to see them written down. Now I can make a plan of action and do my best to complete this list. It seems short...but then it seems long. It is a good thing I have the month. ☺

Are you going to join in the Goal making Link up?

♥Kelly

Fickle Face? Me too plus a Giveaway!

I have been prone to a 'dirty, fickle' face since my teens. Seriously, 'crater face' was the most common used insult I had growing up. I have always been hyper-sensitive about it but learned to hold my head high and hope that as I grow older, my body chemicals would change and I'd be at last acne free. I mean there is always hope, right? Bah! My parents hoped that when I married and was pregnant, it would shift those glands from producing too much sebum. Two babies later, alas, I am a 30 something with a face filled like a teenager. I mean I love the idea of getting carded for my age(this girl will take any kind of flattery she can get after 30) but seriously, enough already.

These photos were taken this past week...no modifications, filters, or editing to the photos other then adding a frame and words. It looks almost the same but look at the pores on my nose and that huge red spot up at my hair line. Yep, it is a small scab and my nose is not so loaded with blackheads. Healing, smoothing out, pores calming down with help of my NEW 'tool'(Read on to find out what it is!). Trust me when I say, that small part of my face was the least amount of blemishes I currently have upon my 'fickle face'.

So like many, I searched for a topical treatment. I have used so many different products that I can't barely even remember them all. All of them had the same result. They work for a time then would stop preventing acne from arising. Now, I do know stress plays a huge role in acne(and I have no shortage of that with two toddlers) but there still had to be something that would work. And work effectively, efficiently.

Luck was on my side. I have been hosting the Nerdy Fox Blog as a sponsor for a time when she shared with me she was opening an ETSY soap shop and that she was running a giveaway on her blog to giveaway a soap package. So, headed right over to read about her darling shop and to do what PR I could to help her giveaway get shared and seen. I entered, and color me surprised! Was the very lucky winner!

I love #happymail ! This box arrived from @thenerdyfoxblog from her new shop @cheahasoaps - Epic handmade soaps - containing my prize from her giveaway! DUDE! There is so much more handmade awesomeness then I was expecting! Thank you Thank you Thank you! ★♥★♥★♥★♥♥♥♥

A photo posted by Kelly Kiser (@kiser_krafts) on Oct 8, 2014 at 7:43pm PDT

She was so giving in that giveaway and I FELL in love with the soaps and fizzy bathbombs. Because she gave me so much, way more then I felt I deserved, I decided I would give her my honest opinions of her work and write a blog post review on them. She did not ask me too but I still felt that way, like I got to be her first taste tester. I started out trying the Pumpkin Spice bar of soap(I LOVE it! Totally smells divine and makes your skin soft but that is a review for another day). And then I had a rare night where my two toddlers went to bed with no fight or fuss. I took the opportunity to soak in a bath to try out a fizzy ball. I chose the blue one as sage is a relaxing smell to me. Ahhh, it was 30 minutes of mommy alone time, enjoying the hot water turn my muscles to mush, pure bliss! But all things have to end, so I pulled the plug and started to dry off. While I was doing that I noticed a blue hue around the middle of my tub. "Oh no!" I thought. "Her recipe for coloring is slightly off. Must tell her ASAP!" Now, it did not stain the tub, came right off with a magic eraser but I still sent off an email to Heather letting her know of the problem so she could change her recipe before sending out any more blue fizzy bathbombs.

Gonna hit 'Pause' right here and tell you - I LOVE the blue fizzy ball. It was super relaxing and smelled amazing. The fizzy bathbombs really add moisture to your skin as you soak - love them.

Okay, back to the email sent. She replied same day, with an apology, the reassurance she would fix the problem with the recipe, and an offer to send me something different. I kindly refused not because I didn't like her products but because I had won her wonderful products. I did not want to take advantage of her generosity, but let her know if she so wished too she could send me something NEW to her shop for me to review for her. I did not expect anything, honestly, and truthfully. BUT man, was a so thankful she sent me my first bar of Activated Charcoal Soap!

Oh my goodness! @cheahasoaps I am super excited to try this activated charcoal soup on my face! See if it helps clear it up some! Thank you Thank you Thank you so much! #handmade #indie #soap

A photo posted by Kelly Kiser (@kiser_krafts) on Nov 1, 2014 at 6:13pm PDT

In the card she wrote a short note of why she sent this particular bar to me. "It helps heal blemishes. Activated charcoal is said to draw out toxins and impurities which makes this soap great for acne and it is gentle enough for all skin types. I hope it will be of some help to you. ~H" What a sweet heart! I instantly went to wash my face! FELL in LOVE! This soap washes my face so that the gunk just oozes out of my pores. I still have acne every once and awhile due to my hormone fluctuations but this Activated Charcoal Circle of Soap is my 'go to' tool to battle the red, white, and black pimples I war with all the time. I am a firm believer in the fact activated charcoal draws out toxins and it really cleans my face. Now, I have made a system of washing morning and night to help keep my pores clean. After the morning washing I do use a touch of Mary Kay Botanical combination skin lotion to help stop my skin from getting too dry during these winter months. You do not need too but I generally get dry winter skin even oily enough to get pimples. Silly fickle face skin, so glad I have the right tool now to keep it in line.

WOW! You made all the way down here?!?! Sweet! Thank you so much for letting me share MY story of how I came to be a Activate Charcoal Circle Soap lover! NOW is the very exciting news! The owner of Cheaha Soaps has given me permission to GIVEAWAY a Bar of Activated Charcoal Soaps to one lucky winner! ☺ And she has given me an exclusive discount code( KISERKRAFTS15 it's an EPIC 15% off discount!![exp 3/15/14]) so everyone of my awesome readers can head over to her Etsy SHOP and snag their own "acne war" fighting bar of soap! Enter and Good luck!

♥Kelly

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Goal better Book Keeping

A new year...tax time. I admit I am not completely on time of it this year. I lost track of time and my own movements last year. And, *raises hand*, I am guilty of forgetting to write things down as soon as they happen, like daily.

This is my goal this year to CHANGE this bad habit into a good one! WRITE it down, daily, weekly, and monthly. Now, I got inspired by a post in my newsfeed on Facebook, by Crafty Bookkeeping. She is hosting a series of 'tips' or 'helps' for one to gain knowledge of bookkeeping. Man, I am I thankful! I am so joining her challenge: 10 Day - #LoveYourbookkeeping Challenge .

She is encouraging first to WRITE it ALL down. As stated above, I am awful about this. Then I remembered something +Daft Crafts posted last year: FREE printable expense sheet. And in that post she encouraged WRITING down everything too. I love the resources that my crafty community provides for scattered brained me. I am so glad to print off this colorful and cheerful page...it is spurring me on to do better bookkeeping!

How are you at your bookkeeping? Feel free to comment any tips or tricks you have found that help your bookkeeping go smoothly! I love to learn MORE! ♥

Please, feel free to click the links to gain access to the 'help' I have found and join me in this New Goal. Tell them 'Hi', give them a 'like' follow, and tell them 'Thanks'! Here is to 'Better Book Keeping'!

Links:
Daft Crafts and Crafty Bookkeeping

♥Kelly

#Happyhandmade 98 shares

I am super excited to share this weeks picks for Daft Crafts #happyhandmade week 98. There is so much handmade LOVE linked up. Here are my top products that I fell in LOVE with! 

Made with Love Necklace by Pelhauz

Two Hearts Ribbon Ruffle French Barrette by Violet's Buds

Love Block by Rustic Romance Crafts

Lavender Sachets with Heart Appliques by WSDreams

♥Kelly