It is oh so nice to be in Treasuries. To this day I've never had the fortune of timing and luck that one needs to snag one, but ...someday. ...someday. Until that time, thank you to mehran for my first treasury spot since the shop reopened. It is a beautiful collection and really made my morning to see it. Yay!

mehran's unnamed treasury

You can see Butterfly Skies (last one!) nestled there in the lower right-hand corner. I really like this collection, the sandy-lacy goodness of it. Mehran has another shop, too, over here at aspasia where she sells lovely crochet hats. I admit- I fell for the owl messenger bag and this charming hat. Its true.

A Treasury, for those of you who are thinking "what is she talking about?", is a tool for Etsyians where you can place together items from several shops and create a 4X3 "poster" of handcrafted product images. They can involve unexpected and stirring combinations, often are created with a theme in mind. Some Etsy artists have really perfected the art of an eclectic and diverse Treasury. When I started on Etsy there were already over 200 treasury slots available, now there are over 300 (not to mention another 200 in the mysterious ghost ship of Treasury West) so it is really exciting to be featured in one of these growing numbers of collections.

Butterfly Skies Gocco silksreened Moleskine

Last week I was feeling a little lost at sea after opening my shop and then going back to work. None of the "prep" work I thought I would finish up before opening the shop had been done- things such as a business plan, or email list of contacts, or even a week of blogging to introduce the reopened shop. I really just dove right in. These other responsibilities are things that I'm still looking for time to really attend to around a somewhat more packed schedule than I had when last ouou appeared on Etsy. Or, maybe it was just funny to get used to not hovering around the shop while I was in my non-virtual job.

In order to begin to get my bearings and set my course, I spent some time reading the beginnings of my blog from last year. While there, I enjoyed retracing my steps through the unfolding Pennsylvania autumn, the vibrant deep colors and incredible healing energy of that time came flooding back in my memory. I was feeling somewhat wistful for nature walks along the Wissahickon trail back in PA when my sister Celeste and I went out on some chores yesterday. While out, both of my infant nephews fell asleep in the car... the perfect excuse for an impromptu diversion out to the Multnomah Falls area along the Columbia River Gorge route.

Multnomah Falls

Mostly we stayed in the car and made the outing a scenic drive (though I sprinted to the Multnomah snack bar for some lattes mid-way) along part of the Historic Columbia River Highway. The babies slept the whole way (!). It was a nice reminder of just how important and restful an hour can be.