Crochet socks for dogs.....

I've just been checking Google Analytics for my Etsy shop. How on earth did someone find their way to my shop or anything in it using a search term like "crochet socks for dogs"?

"Bali jewellery charm bracelet" I can understand; similarly "blue sapphire bangle" but "cast iron owl hook"? I am stumped.

What on earth is an "ex boyfriend necklace"? And what, exactly, are jaterwunky beads?

It would appear that "cast iron owl hook" lead straight to this necklace:

Oxidized copper and Mother of Pearl Necklace

It would also appear that Google Analytics has it's own wormhole into an entire other universe. What I wouldn't give to see that!

Charity Auction!

This Saturday, 26th January, there is an online auction on Facebook in aid of Galgos Del Sol, an organization  set up to help abandoned dogs in Spain. Here is the link to their Facebook page.

Many people have donated items to be auctioned, myself among them. I have donated this necklace:

I hope it raises a few euros! If you want to see more of my jewellery, have a look at my Bluetina website.

Here are some examples of the sort of thing I make:

Oxidized Copper & MOP necklace

Blue Goldstone & Oxidized Copper Bracelet

Sterling Double Spiral Earrings

Posting whole Etsy Treasuries on Facebook

Some of my team mates and friends have been asking for the secret referred to in my last post, so I am obliging!

This is the method that my team mate, Maya, passed on to me the other day. It uses Photoshop. If you don't have that particular program, I'm sure the method will translate pretty easily to other applications used for editing photographs.

First, get the Treasury in question on your screen and reduce it in size until you an see all of it. On my computer, with the Chrome browser, that is about 75%.

Then you need to print the screen. On my keyboard, bottom left, is a key with "Fn" in a box. Hold that down and press the one up the top, right hand side, that says "prt sc" in a little box. It doesn't say it's done anything but it has saved it to your clipboard.

Minimize your browser and open Photoshop, choosing the editing bit. Click on File, New and Image from Clipboard. The treasury will appear in the editing window just as it looked on screen.

Up top on the tool bar, choose "Layer" and "Flatten Image". Mine is an old version of Photoshop so yours might say "Merge Down" or similar.

Next step - crop the treasury so you can still see the title but you cut out all the Etsy gubbins. Then go to Image, Resize Canvas and change the width to about 1 cm more than the height.

Save it where you can find it again with the appropriate name. You can then upload it to Facebook just like any photograph. Don't forget to add the link to the treasury as the image won't be clickable.

Here is one I prepared earlier. (I've always wanted to say that!)

This is a lovely Treasury made by my team mate Kellie. I am in it, of course! Nothing like a bit of shameless self promotion! It is called An Eclectic Collection of Beautiful Items. Go see it!

If I've missed anything or you need any help, just leave a comment and I'll come back to you.

Treasury tricks....

I have recently learned how to make a whole Etsy Treasury appear, as if by magic, on my Facebook page. I have been playing with it non-stop! My team mate from the Shiny Happy People, the lovely and generous Maya, showed me how to do it, for which I thank her heartily. And now, not content with bombarding my Facebook fans with Treasuries, I am doing the same on my blog.

If you are wondering why there aren't any closing comments at the bottom of this page, as there usually are, it's because I can't make the cursor go down there now. I am technologically challenged today. Hey ho!

This is one of mine, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

This is by Heyme, our dear Captain

Peggy's intriguing "It came in through the bathroom window

Front Page!! I've arrived...

This is an unscheduled blog post. I finally made it to the Front Page of Etsy! USA version, no less. I am dead chuffed! That's my gold chain necklace in there!

Happy New Year!

This is my Mum, Millie. She's 87 years old. Doesn't look it, does she? My sister Jacqui sent me this photo today via her mobile phone. Isn't modern technology wonderful?

My Mum is sitting on our bench at Leigh on Sea, looking out over the Thames Estuary. Amazingly, the sun is shining! The bench is a place my family visit often and dress up on special occasions. There are two plaques on the bench: one for my father, who died in 2006, and one for my nephew Jonathan, Jacqui's son, who died in 2009. He was only 28 and was taken from us very suddenly, in an accident.

I shall be visiting the bench myself next month. There will be flowers and pictures attached to it again on the anniversary of his death and a glass of JD and coke will be left on the seat for him! Well, somebody drinks it! Then we all go to lunch at the local pub and talk about him and Dad.

I hope this post isn't too depressing for you. I really do wish you all a really happy and successful New Year! We just like to remember the people who aren't here any more.