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“To Live is Christ”: Philippians Study at the Boston Library

I wanted to let any of you in the Boston area know about the Bible study series that I am very excited about coming up on October 20th at the Boston Public Library on Copley Square … below is the PDF with all the details. The theme is “To Live is Christ”, and we’re going to be studying the book of Philippians, which is such an encouraging book of the Bible. There are going to be a couple different speakers, and I am very much looking forward to it. All are invited! We would love to see you there – let me know if you have any questions. :)

Where is special to you? Custom map art…

I love maps. And I love when customers give me great ideas for new prints to offer. :) I had someone request a custom map art print to give as a gift to a young couple to commemorate the location where they got engaged! It was such a sweet project, that I thought it would be nice to offer custom map prints for others as well.

I made this as an example if you wanted a print to show your home state, or it could also show the place where you got married, or where your child was born, or a favorite destination from your travels .. any special location you would like turned in to a print! Or, of course, like the project that got me started on this in the first place – you could create a custom print for someone else, which could make a truly unique gift, as the holidays will start approaching before you know it. You get to choose the colors, the text, the location, etc. The details are here.

Where is a place that is special to you? Now that we have moved, I think I might just have to make one of these for our family, with a heart over Boston. :)

The Question No One Asked – Creative Biz Series

It’s time to kick-off the creative biz challenge! WooT! Thank you to all of you who volunteered to have your shop critiqued and posted your questions – it was great to have so many options. And of course while I won’t be able to do everyone’s shop, I hope that the critiques and the information in this series will be valuable across the board. And really, I think that won’t be too hard – everyone asked pretty much the same things! It broke down easily into just a handful of categories. But there was one HUGE topic no one really asked about at all … and that did surprise me. And it is the topic we are going to be taking about today. I’m curious if it jumps out at you…

All great topics, of course! But does anyone else find it interesting what is NOT there? What is the big whole section that no one asked about?

Products.

Our creative business products – the core of running our own small business. Now, of course I didn’t expect anyone to ask “what should I be selling?”. No one knows better than you what you are capable of making. And perhaps it is because of the more personal nature of choosing what products to sell that caused it to not be among the questions, and I understand that. There are a wide variety of product questions that are good to investigate, even just on your own. For instance, “Is this product marketable?” or “Should I consider adding a new line of products?” or “Should I discontinue this type of item?” … I know these are questions I had to consider seriously.

I don’t know if you know this, but I actually had two Etsy shops before my current one – both of which did only so-so. The first, at the end of a year, had only about 40 sales. The second shop, at the end of its first year, had about 75 sales. But once I decided to focus on this third shop, and close down the previous two, I had over 300 sales in about 3 months. What changed? Primarily, product.

And I’ll say this – I really did like the products I had in my previous shops: jewelry which I made from books pages, maps and clock parts, as well as vintage clothes and various other items. Here is kind of a sampling:

I liked it a lot! But even with promotion, marketing, tweaking descriptions, etc., while the products were selling, it was at a very slow pace. I started to let some products (like my sewing) go fairly early, while others (like handmade jewelry) I kept longer. But it was only because I was experimenting with different types of products that I finally stumbled on what started to really blossom and sell quickly (my art prints)- and that is what I now sell in my shop, FlourishCafe.

At this point you may be thinking, “Well, but I don’t have the time or know how to make a bunch of completely different products!” They don’t necessarily have to be in such a wide variety of categories. My friend Danielle, for instance, owner of the fabulously successful shop The Merriweather Council, has had a HUGE number of sales in her embroidered initial necklaces. Her shop did well, even from early on, with great photography, beautiful workmanship and everything else. But she didn’t start out selling the necklaces. I remember she sold her sewn buntings and there was more emphasis on her wishbone embroidered hoops at that time. And she has stayed within her field of sewing and fiber art and embroidery and added this new product of the embroidered necklaces … and her sales took off even more! Those necklaces even made an appearance on the Today Show. So you can stay within your field, but still come up with new products until you find what really sells well.

I’d say the majority of you who posted question have had somewhere in the range of 10-50 sales so far. We’re going to be talking a lot in future posts about aspects of how to approach marketing, getting traffic, target market, pricing, etc. … but the very first thing I want you to think about is your product. It might be a good product, like I had in my first two shops. The thing is, there are lots of good products out there that don’t sell very well – and that is what happened to me initially. But sometimes you have to let go of something good to move on to something great. You want to have a GREAT product, something unique and that has a direct target market. Because, after all, you will have a much easier time marketing if you have a highly marketable product. And, again, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to leave the type of category of workmanship you are in – but you might consider launching a related, but new, line of products.

It may take some experimenting to hit on what works, but once you find that niche, the rest of it is much easier. I’d suggest, if you’re considering a new product, start out in small amounts at first. Don’t list hundreds of a new product, only to find out people aren’t really interested in it. Perhaps try a few different types of things (especially if they are related somehow) and list them, at least enough to fill one or two pages – and see what sells. If you find that the handmade dishcloths are selling well – then make and list more. If the crochet key rings aren’t getting many views or any sales, realize it might be time to let that go and try something else. Especially in the early stages of running a shop, I think it is good to do a lot of tweaking and experimenting to find out the market’s reaction to your products.

I’ve made a printable to help you think about your product….

And many of these questions tie into the topics you asked about in your questions – but I want you to look at them a little differently, and think of them in terms of examining your product first. These six questions will also serve as a loose guideline of the types of topics we will be looking at in future weeks of this series (for instance, this week was the first question – next week will be about your target market, as mentioned in the second question). I hope this will give you some good opportunities to brainstorm about your products, and consider whether you want to tweak them – or if you are happy with the product you have.

It is my plan, as I mentioned earlier, to offer a critique each week on the particular subject for that week. This time, though, since no one asked any questions about products, I feel it would not be my place to critique that subject in particular. I hope the printable and the points mentioned in this post can help you do a self critique this week — and I’ll plan to make up for the fact that I didn’t do one this week by doing two critiques in at least one of the future weeks. All of the rest of the topics are ones that various people asked about specifically, so there should be no shortage from now on. :)

I hope this has been helpful to you, though! What is your product? Do you ever think about branching out? Or letting a certain product go? Feel free to share some answers from your brainstorm sheet – or just your thoughts in general! I love to hear your reflections on these things. :)

Which do you prefer – crumbs or feasting?

Crumbs or feasting? Well, it depends on the setting.

It is so easy in our society to get caught up in the material things. More money, more things, bigger houses, newer stuff. And yet, when we get all that, are we happy? If we put more effort into our house than into our home, our family – will it be a happy place?

That is what I love about this verse. It reminds us that it is not what we own that gives us joy and peace and happiness: “Better is a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of feasting with strife.” (Proverbs 17:1) With Thanksgiving approaching, I am always sad when I hear people say they are dreading the holiday due to all the family tension they know they will encounter when everyone gets together. It’s a house full of feasting – but if there is strife, there is little joy in it. On the other hand, when the family relationships are truly happy, loving and peaceful, it is joyful to be together, even if the food is meager and simple.

It’s not that owning nice things, or having large homes, or delicious food is wrong at all – it’s just that if we make the decision to trade off peace and love in our relationships in favor of more things, we’ve made a very short sighted decision that will not be fulfilling in the end. And it’s not like any of us get up in the morning and say, “Hm, I think I’ll skip out on joy today and just try to get stuff.” No, it’s much more subtle – it comes down much more to how we spend the bulk of our time. And I’m saying this to myself as much as anyone!

So here is another 8×10 printable to use as a reminder of what is truly important. I made it to coordinate with last week’s printable, which was also a “Better is…” verse. There are so many encouraging “better is” verses in Proverbs. You can take a look at them here.

Is this topic something that resonated with you? I know it is something I need to think about everyday.
Leave your thoughts and comments below, I love to hear from you. :)

The real reason it is nice to have a smart phone..

I’ve never had a smart phone before – and I really wasn’t trying to get one. I kind of figured it would be a long time until I had a smart phone, and that was fine with me. But when we needed to get new Massachusetts phone numbers, we shopped around and it was actually cheaper to get a data plan for the number of lines we needed – and the smart phones were free! Sweet.

And now I get to enjoy the real reason I wanted a smart phone:

Instagram.

I went on a quick trip up to Maine this weekend, and I just loved having Instagram to take pictures along the way. My only camera is my nice DSLR, but honestly, I don’t need every photo I snap to be an 18 megapixel photo. I didn’t have a point and shoot, so I’m definitely enjoying using Instagram for that. Here are some shots from this weekend…

Are you on Instagram? If so, leave your username below so that I can follow you! (My username is: FlourishCafe)

And the winning topic for the next challenge is…

Drumroll, please…

So, the winner of the poll I put up for you to be able to vote for the next challenge is finished – and the Handmade Biz challenge is the winner! I think the timing of this is reeeeally good, because if you have a crafty or creative business, right now is is when you should really be putting work into your shop to be ready for the holidays. I’m planning for it to be a 6 week series, which will take us right into the beginning of November. In the last challenge (the blog redesign challenge) I used Lori’s blog throughout the whole thing to demonstrate how to make some changes. I won’t be making direct changes to anyone’s shop in this series … BUT I think it would be a lot of fun to offer this to any of you who have an online handmade business:

I will be giving individual shop/site critiques each week in the series!

Each Friday, I’ll be addressing one particular aspect of running a your own biz – and also offering a critique of one shop/site, addressing that topic specifically. And I’ll pick a different shop/site each week. The tips, just like in the last series, will be directed at that site in particular, but I’ll also be writing it for others’ benefit as well.

Soooo – if you have your own creative biz (such as an online handmade goods shop, or vintage clothing shop, or website where you offer services, etc.), fill out this simple form and I may pick your shop for the critique one week! And, of course, I’ll give a shout out to your site to send you some traffic, as well. Just copy + paste this into your comment:

My name is:
My business’ name is:
My business is about:
My Website is:
One or two particular areas I would like to learn how to improve in my biz are:

Leave your comments below, I can’t wait to check out your sites! :)

Openness Printable & Family Improvement Game

I just love the following verse. It’s been awhile since I’ve made any more verse printables, and the principle of this verse is something that we, as a family, have been talking about lately, so I decided to make it into a printable. Plus, I’ve been wanting to tell you about the “Family Improvement Game”, and it just ties in so well …

Openness in family communication is just soooo important. And by openness, I don’t mean just-say-the-first-thing-that-comes-into-your-head-who-cares-if-it-is-kind-or-right … I don’t think that is what this verse is talking about, and is directly opposite of being “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). No, by openness I mean that any topic is open to be kindly and lovingly talked about in the family.

Especially when it comes to our individual flaws.

Imperfections. We all have them! Me, you, everyone. (Except God, of course.) Admitting that we make mistakes and that we are, in fact, *gasp!* not perfect .. well, it’s no big surprise is it? We already know that – both about ourselves and others. And the thing is, not talking about and trying to mutually improve our flaws isn’t fooling anyone into thinking we are flawless. It’s kind of like someone who refuses to ever say, “I’m sorry”. Why would we do that? Are we afraid of appearing to be “in the wrong”? Let me let you in on a secret – people can already see that we make mistakes. Refusing to apologize or talk about our mistakes, especially within a family, isn’t hiding anything, it is just adding on to it.

I get kind of tickled, I admit, by how blunt Proverbs is about how we should feel about being corrected and reproved. Proverbs 15:5 says, “whoever heeds reproof is prudent.” But Proverbs 12:1 is even more blunt: “he who hates reproof is stupid.” Hard to get around that one!

My dad has often said that the people who know us best are our families, so how foolish are we if we are not seeking their help and correction on things we need to improve in ourselves! It is interesting that we naturally want this in other areas – for instance, as an Etsy shop owner, I and many others seek out “shop critiques”. Basically, this means that you get a fellow seller to come look at your shop, give you advice, and offer pointers on what you could improve – basically, point out what you are doing wrong. And we want that – we value that! Why? Because we want our shop to become even better, and the first step is to look at what we need to fix. How much more so with our character? And who can see what we need to improve better than our family?

This is how the “Family Improvement Game” got invented. It is something that my family (my parents and siblings) do quite often … and while “game” may be a little bit of a stretch, that is just what we always called it, and it actually is something we enjoyed. We have more recently adopted it in our own family (Tim, Leila, and me), and it has already proven beneficial. Basically, everyone comes to the table knowing they are going to get praise and advice on improvement – and by everyone, I mean everyone! From the littlest kid all the way up to the mom and dad.

First make sure everyone understands that nature of this discussion. It is not a time for attacking, insulting, getting defensive, or getting angry. It is a time where we, as a family, can all lovingly try to help one another. Reading some of Proverbs together first might be a good idea (like Proverbs 25:11, Proverbs 15:1, Proverbs 13:18, Proverbs 15:31, or Proverbs 15:12 … there are many proverbs on this!) No one person is being singled out more than any other. Each person will receive both praise and advice. Here is how it works…

You start with the youngest person in the family – in ours, that would be Leila. Then, going around the room from youngest to oldest, all the other members of the family answer this question in a sentence or two: “What has Leila been doing well at lately?” Things like, “I’ve noticed she has really been good about helping out in the kitchen” or “She has done a great job of sharing her toys when friends come to play”. Then, after everyone has given praise, you go back around the room and each person kindly answers this question in a sentence or two, “What is an area Leila could work on improving?”. For instance, “I think you could do a better job about taking care of your things” or “It would be good to work on having a happier heart when something doesn’t go your way”.

Then, move onto the next youngest. And again, all the other members of the family from youngest to oldest first answer, “What has this person been doing well at lately?” and then “What is an area this person could work on improving?” Then move on to the next person – all the way up to the oldest. Yes, even the youngest child gets to offer what they think the oldest person could improve. It is all to be done in love and respect.

There is one major rule: you are not allowed to defend, get angry or argue with the critiques that are offered to you. You simply take them in and consider what your family has to say. And, if you are wise, you will find plenty to improve in yourself.

A couple little side notes – yes, it can be very humbling when it becomes apparent that everyone, even the smallest child, has noticed your flaw of, for instance, losing your temper. BUT it is very rewarding experience when as you are working on improving, if you play the game a couple weeks later, that same area is mentioned, but this time as an area people are noticed that you are better about. Seeing progress like that is very encouraging. The whole goal of the game is to help each other and improve ourselves. It is about love.

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” Proverbs 27:5.
(You can get the printable by clicking the image at the top or by just clicking here.)

How do you encourage openness in your family?

Un-Recipe Apple Pie + the Best Crust EVER

I don’t know who came up with the phrase “simple as pie”. Does that mean as simple as it is to make pie .. or as simple as it is to eat pie? Because the former is definitely not always easy … largely because of the fact that pie involves pie crust.

However, my friend Lindsey recently made some *amazing* pie crust that has absolutely changed my view on crusts. For one thing, pastry is usually finicky and you have to be really careful on how you handle it. But this was SO low maintenance, easy to roll out and work with – it simply amazed me. It was 3 oz. of cream cheese, a stick of butter, and 1 cup of flour. Let the cream cheese and the butter come to room temperature, then blend it all together. And it is ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. Best tasting and easiest crust ever, at least in my book. Talk about win/win. Although, I don’t think I can really claim it is healthy. ;)

Once you have a good crust, I’m sure you can think of a ton of types of pie fillings, but this time of year apple pie is just so fitting. I tend to not measure things (so when I share recipes on my blog, I have to go and cook it first and measure as I go so that I know how what info to give you!). This one, though, I’m calling an “un-recipe” because I’m not giving you any very detailed info, just a general idea. I made this at home and we loved it. The goal is pretty much to make the apple pie as apple-y as possible. I grated up apples, and put them in a skillet. Maybe a little butter and brown sugar, but largely for the gooey part, add apple juice or apple cider to the skillet of grated apples and let that simmer down and reduce. For spice and, of course, more apple, add generous dollops of apple butter. Of course you can add more spices if you wish, too. But the combination of apples, apple juice or apple cider, and apple butter made a delicious and very apple-y filling for the pie.

It’s especially good when made from apples you gathered yourself from going apple picking with your family, of course. ;)

What is your favorite kind of pie?

Vote for what the next weekly challenge will be!!

Ok! So it’s time to start a new weekly challenge. I’m excited! This has become a feature here on my blog, that Fridays are the day I post my “weekly challenge” post. Basically, I set a goal of something I have to do every week for about 10 weeks, and then post about it here on Fridays. I’ve done three challenges so far…

The first challenge was the Adventure-a-Week challenge, where each week I had to come up with a new family-friendly out-of-the-house under-$10 activity each week. Next was the “Hack Challenge”, where each week I had to take some random object and upcycle it into something new. And the most recent, which we just finished last week, was the “DIY Blog Redesign” challenge, where I took one reader’s blog and did a complete makeover in 10 weeks, each week offering tips and tricks on how you can do you own redesign as well.

But now it’s time for a new challenge! And I’m going to let you choose which challenge I’ll take. Maybe this one I’ll make into a link-up challenge too, so that if you want to take on the same weekly challenge on your blog, you can post your links here each week. We’ll see – let me know in the comments if that is something you would like. :) But firstly, here are the challenge options on the table:

What should be the next weekly challenge on The Flourishing Abode?
  
pollcode.com free polls 

Alright, start voting! If you like the idea for the last one, you don’t have to leave your individual ideas today, I’ll do a separate post for that if it wins. I can’t wait to see what you decide! I’ll leave this post up for a week, and announce the official new challenge next Friday. So vote for which one you’d like to see!

Join us in Boston for Bible Study!

Usually on Wednesdays, I’ve been writing a series on Truth & Evidences, but I’m going to have to postpone that until the beginning of October. Until then, on Wednesdays I’ll probably offer some new Bible verse printables. But first I wanted to be sure and invite any of you who may be in the Boston area to come to Bible study – there is a small group meeting in the Union Gym and anyone is welcome to come! We are not part of any denomination, we are just a group of local Christians trying to follow the Bible, and to not add or take away from it. If you’re in Boston we would absolutely love for you to come visit us!

We meet on Sunday afternoons at 1:30 pm for Bible study and worship and also on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm at the Union Gym, which is right near the Boston Commons. The address is:
48 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116

If you’re driving, there is a parking garage right across the street (you can see the blue “P” sign in the above photo), and you can get your ticket verified at the gym so you won’t have to pay the full parking amount. Or, if you’re coming in on public transit (which is what we do), the gym is less than a block away from the Boylston stop on the green line of the T, or from the Chinatown stop on the orange line, or just a few blocks away from the Park Street stop on the red line. Here is what the gym looks like:

We meet in the “Aerobics Room”. Yeah, kinda funny, I know, but it works well. You don’t really need anything fancy to study the Bible anyway! So don’t expect anything showy, but you can expect to find God’s Word being taught and studied together. We would simply love to have any of you come by and join us for Bible study. Let me know if you have any questions or if you need any more information. If you’re in Boston, we’ll hope to see you there!