Connecting the Gaps

I joined an online program called Connecting the Gaps which has life and business advice and inspiration. It has free spreadsheets on things like working out and monthly goals:

It's free to join. You just have to enter your email. Have you found any interesting websites lately?

New Updated Photos

I updated photos for some items in my shop:

Iridescent Pink Collage Birthday Greeting Card



Mini Math Journal



Orange and Red Flowers Greeting Card

You can also see updated photos on my Flickr and Facebook.

10 Things I'm Loving

These are ten things I'm currently loving:

1.) Online workouts from Pinterest - I always see workouts on Pinterest, but I never tried them until recently. I've been doing a full body workout I found almost every day. It's pretty hard, but it doesn't take that long to do. You can search "workout" on Pinterest or Tumblr to find at home workouts to do.

2.) Slice the Pie - Slice the Pie is a music website where you can make some extra money by reviewing music. You listen to a clip of a song, write a paragraph about what you think and then you get paid about $0.15-0.30 for each review you do. Sofar, I've made over $50 doing it.

3.) eBooks - I've been in to eBooks lately, both reading and writing them. I like finding free eBooks on the web to download. I'm working on eBooks on a few different topics like running an Etsy, art journaling and veganism. They are a good way to use old blog entries and expand on them.

4.) Evernote - I've been using Evernote to organize my projects and ideas. I didn't understand Evernote at first, but now I really like. For example, if I find an article about Etsy I like, I will save it to Evernote in my Etsy folder and then I can look through all the articles and other things I saved later.

5.) Pasta - I have been cooking a lot of pasta lately with different types of sauces. I made vegan alfredo the other day and also made fresh raw tomato sauce. What are your favorite pasta sauces?

6.) Google Play - I've been using a lot of cloud services lately. I'm not using my main computer right now so it's nice to use sites like Google Play where I have all my music saved. I usually listen on iTunes and Google Play is sort of similar, but it's all online. I also use Google Drive to backup and work on documents when I'm not on my main computer.

7.) Glasses of Water - I found this new site called Glasses of Water where you can track how many glasses of water you drink per day. It's an interesting site because you an follow other pople and see how youa re doing long term.

8.) Craigslist - I like looking on Craigslist to find gigs, events and items to buy. They have a "free stuff" section where people give away things for free if you are the first one to pick it up. You can also find Etsy or craft related events there. I also do a post where I promote my Etsy every once in a while.

9.) Freelance - I've been trying out freelancing recently. I use oDesk and eLance. I'm trying to find simple jobs I can do online like helping someone with their blog or social media or doing data entry. I'm also going to outsource some jobs I need done for my Etsy like hiring someone to help find me places I can advertise on.

10.) Gardening - I like gardening during the summer and growing fresh herbs and food to use while I cook.

What have you been loving lately?

Alex Beadon Business Tips and Photography

I found this photographer's website, Alex Beadon, which has videos on business and photography tips.
You can see her website here and Flickr here.



Here are some of her videos:





What videos do you like to watch on the internet?

New Mini Journals

I recently updated my shop with 3 new mini journals:

 Turquoise and Black Paisley Mini Journal



This horizontal mini journal uses a pretty turquoise decorative paper with black and gold details.

Songwriter's White Ship Mini Moleskine



This mini journal is an altered pocket sized Moleskine. The inside has blank music note paper.

Pink Flower Collage Coptic Stitch Mini Journal



This journal uses pink decorative paper of flowers used in a collage technique and is stitched together using the coptic stitch method.

Which is your favorite?

Christmas in July Treasuries I've Made

Here is a treasury I made to help promote the annual Christmas in July sale on Etsy. All shops featured in this treasury currently have discounts and sales in their shop:

You can comment and favorite my treasury here.

Christmas in July Featured Treasuries

The Christmas in July sale has promoted my shop by putting some of my items in treasuries. Here are some treasures my products have been featured in:

Christmas Dreaming - Christmas in July



Christmas In July Team Treasures - Red White and Blue Summer Fun



Party???? Party!!!!!!



 Have you seen any Christmas in July treasuries?

Christmas in July 2013

Christmas in July is an annual Etsy community driven sale where you can find great discounts in Etsy stores. Christmas in July is from July 11th - 21st this year.

To get involved, either search for items with the tags “christmasinjuly” or “CIJ" on Etsy to see shops participating or tag your own items. You can help the event by buying items from shops participating in the sale, making treasuries with tagged items or tagging your own items.

You can get free shipping on any purchase you make in my shop during the Christmas in July sale. The sale is for all items, but to see Christmas themed items in my shop, see the Christmas in July section I made. These are some Christmas items in my shop:

Holiday Reindeer Greeting Card



Silver Snowflakes and Leaves Holiday Greeting Card



Wavy Iridescent Green Christmas Greeting Card

Check back all this week for Christmas in July entries.

Healthy Foods

I've been interested in eating healthier lately. Here are some interesting graphics and information I found on Pinterest.

Blueberries are rich in antioxidants, prevent cancer and reduces heart problems.

Pomegranates give you healthy skin, lower blood pressure and prevents cell damage.

Cayenne pepper is a spice that helps in hair growth, helps your heart and prevents blood pressure.  -

Watercress soup can cleanse your lungs of toxins.

Rose hips have a high content of vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium and iron. Rose hips can be used to make teas, syrups and jellies.

How do you like to stay healthy?

Pet Sitting on DogVacay

I recently pet sat for a dog, Pepper, through the dog sitting website DogVacay. Here are some photos I took of him in my backyard:







Have you ever pet sat before?

Summer Trends 2013

I saw this post on Etsy's blog about summer trends. Here are the trends, where I use them in my Etsy shop and how to use them in fashion and other places.

Yellow and Marigold

The yellow/marigold trend remind me of my Sunflower Greeting Card, Orange Flower Anniversary Card and Rounded Iridescent Yellow Greeting Card.

I think yellow/marigold is a great color. I love seeing it in fashion because it makes an outfit stand out.

1. These Jewelry Marigold Flower Earrings in Golden are perfect to add a little glamour to your outfit.

2. These marigold shoes add a pop to any outfit.

3. This Norman Norell Marigold Day Suit is a perfect way to use the marigold trend.

4. This cute dress is perfect for a more formal event.

Polka Dots

I love polka dots. I have a couple items that use polka dots in my shop, like this Circus Dots Photo Album pictured that uses fun, colorful polka dots and my Yellow Polka Dot Birthday Wavy Greeting Card.

Polka dots are fun in fashion. If you don't want to go overboard on polka dots in fashion, just choose one piece or accessory that has polka dots.

1. These black and white polka dot shoes can go with any outfit.

2. This bangle has large polka white polka dots.

3. Add some color like with this dark blue polka dot dress.

4. This cute polka dot blouse  has buttons and pockets.

Stripes

My Purple Doughnut Ribbon Journal uses striped decorative paper on the inside in different colors.

Stripes are easy to incorporate in fashion. To make stripes more fun, look for horizontal stripes, stripes going in different directions and colorful stripes.

1. This striped blouse is perfect to wear with any outfit.

2. This School Style Striped bag incorporate dark blue color.

3. You can use trends in toys and other objects like this cute striped elephant from Cow & Co.

4 and 5.  Shoes are a great way to wear stripes. Here are two different ways to wear them.

Perforations and Cut Outs 

This Ogura Lace Dark Blue Greeting Card I just listed uses decorative paper that has cut outs in it. Paper items are a good place to look for cut outs and play around with cutting and layering paper in different ways.

1. I love these green ballet flats from ModCloth that use cut outs.

2. This leather tote from Alaia uses a classic shape and pattern with the perforation trend.

3. This cute peplum dress is from Addison Thompson peplum dress.

Tile Inspired Patterns

This Blue Flower Thank You card reminds me of a tile inspired pattern.

1. Accessories are a great way to wear tile inspired patterns. This iPhone case uses a fun title inspired pattern. (Bonus: It also uses another summer trend - emerald green)

2. This Mexicana Tile Print Skater Dress uses a fun bright color that is great for summer.

3 and 4. These pillows, Moorish Tile cushion in Cobalt by John Lewis and Trina Turk Pillow Embroidered Linen Geometri Tile Blue/Green, use geometric patterns.

String and Rope

The twine I used in my Extra Book Big of Abstract Patterns reminds me of rope.

1. Bracelets are a perfect way to wear the rope trend.

2. This rope bracelet from American Eagle Outfitters is for men.

3. This eco friendly rope handbag is perfect for shopping or a day at the beach.

4. Use the rope trend in your outfit with this Beige Appliqué Rope Dress from Carven.

Emerald Green

Since Emerald Green is Pantone's color of the year, it is a trend right now. I don't have any Emerald green items in my shop right now, I do use green in a lot of my items such as this Green Bird Journal.

Use Emerald green in your makeup, accessories or clothing to use the trend . Emerald reminds me of St. Patrick's Day so if you have St. Patrick's Day inspired Etsy items or fashion pieces, now would be a good time to promote or wear them.

1. Most makeup brands, like Makeup Forever, have an emerald green eye shadow. 

2. For jewelry, look for emerald stones like in these tear drop earrings. 

3. This emerald green top is a perfect way to wear the trend.

4. This cute dress uses two shades of green. 

Do you follow trends?

My Thread of Thought Blog Anniversary

Happy Fourth of July! If you missed the Fourth of July special, click here. It's also My Thread of Thought's anniversary today. These are some of my favorite and most popular posts since My Thread of Thought's anniversary last year:

Tutorials

I did a lot of tutorials this year which are probably my favorite posts. These are some of them. Feel free to pin them on Pinterest or try them out if you like them. Also, let me know in the comments what other tutorials you'd like to see on my blog.

Bookbinding Tutorial



Editing Photos Tutorial



Glitter Sandals Tutorial


Product Reviews

I did a product review on a purchase I made on Etsy. I bought some nail polish from Madison Street Beauty. You can get a 20% discount from their store if you enter the code "MOVETHENEEDLE" at checkout. What else would you like to see me review?

Product Review: Madison Nail Polish



Advertising

I started accepting ads on my blog using Passionfruit which gave me a lot more ads on my blog. It also allowed me to swap ads so ads for my blog and Etsy shop are also on other blogs.

New April Sponsors

Art Books
I listed some art books for the first time on Move the Needle and made some posts about them here. Since you only have a limited number of photos when listing items on Etsy, I used my blog to showcase the items more and let people see the inside of the books.

Extra Big Book of Abstract Patterns

Moon and Stars Illustrated Mini Book



Inspiration

I do an inspiration post every week where I post photos related to a particular topic. These are some of my favorite inspiration entries from the past year.

Inspiring Concert Posters




Color Inspiration


Holiday Specials

I do holiday specials for every major holiday and these are some of my favorite entries for them.

Valentine's Day Desserts

Hanukkah Crafts

New Year's Giveaway



Personal
These were some entries that were more personal this year. I like sharing entries for my art journal and posting photos I've taken.

Personal Sketchbook



Morning Glory Flower Photos



Birthday Wishlist (Handmade)



I think this year was a really good year of blogging for me because I tried a lot of new things in my blog. I also updated my layout this year which I didn't really do a lot of before.

Get 10% off any order if you enter the coupon code "THREAD" at checkout. This code works any time of year and is just for my blog readers.