Coming up for air—

It has been a really long time. It feels strange not to have blogged for almost three weeks. It is not that there have not been things to blog about. I never need an excuse to blab. In fact I think about this blog way too much, and always have something so say, but I have been on holiday and that always means playing catch up.

But today I had an excuse to get my act together — I had a deadline— Thanks G-d for stress and pressure!

My new team, etsy chai, is having a passover promotion starting March 15th. I am not really sure what that means, but I know that my advertising dollars are hard at work, so I had to get to work myself to take advantage of it.

The promotion is for passover, but passover is a tough one for paper goods, and I am way behind on my list of fabric based projects so I had to think fast. Luckily, I have been working very hard over the past couple of months developing a series of Bar and Bat Mitzvah customized art prints for the gift shop at Temple Shalom here in Vancouver — and they are almost done...

So I decided that the next best thing to specifically making passover items was to open a Judaica section for my shop! Today I fine tuned, printed and photographed 10 new items and I have quite a few more designs almost ready to promote. The best thing I have cooking is yet to hit the shop, but I will be ready in a day or two. Think Ketubah — Bar/Bat Mitzvah style. I won't keep you in suspense for too long. Needless to say I have been searching the internet for a reliable source for Torah portions and trying to get into the headspace of a 12 and 13 year old and their parents!

In other news, My son Aaron, the Attorney turned hipster has reached and exceeded his Kickstarter fund raising goal for the Brooklyn Night Bazaar and has hit the blogeshere with full force. Here is a great post about him and his project.

And completely off topic, I listened for the second time to an interview with Phyllis Diller on Q with Jian Ghomeshi on my way home from grocery shopping. I was completely blown away even the second time around. If you have the time go to this link. She is 92 and as funny and clever as ever. A real inspiration. If you have a chance to hear this interview, I highly recommend it.

And did I tell you I will soon have pillows other stuff for sale at a newish online shop called envelop as soon as I can get organized? More about that soon!

Is it Friday already?

Coffee Press by NaomiBroudo.etsy.com

I am sitting down with a cup of steaming coffee to reflect on the past 7 days. And what a week it has been.

••• On Saturday my talented sis Leslie opened her etsy shop called clayshapes.

Squash shaped bowl by Leslie Fruman

She has been in a gazillion treasuries already — and everyone is checking out her shop. I check everyday to see what new pieces she has added. It is so much fun to discover her work each day. Try it, you will see what I mean!

Organic shaped fruit/salad bowl by Leslie Fruman

 

••• On Monday our Son Aaron launched his kickstarter site to raise money for his new project the Brooklyn Night Bazaar. Check out the video! And pledge away. Or at least pass this on to everyone you know!

Aaron has been working non stop on this project and I have had the pleasure of working through branding and design ideas with him on a daily basis. It has been a great mother/son bonding experience. Very proud ema. Kol hakavod ben!

••• Last week after patiently waiting until after the holiday rush, I received news that I had been accepted into the coveted Etsy Chai team.

There are a lot of rules and I have been studying all of the emails I received from Linda who is the team "ema" (or — the Yahoo List Mom & Membership Maven) to be sure I am doing everything I need to be doing to remain a team member in good standing.

It was a busy week so I finally got around to making my first team treasury today. It gave me a chance to meet the team members and get to know them through their work. In honour of valentines day, I chose pink tones. Hope it puts you in the mood for love!

click to see the whole treasury

••• On the home front, I am working on a new series of Ketubah designs based on my pencil doodles. Here is a sneak preview of bits of artwork:

It has been a busy but fruitful week. Lots to think about and lots to be grateful for. Coffee cup is empty — but my wine glass is full!