Unique Women In Business #UWIB

You might have seen the occasional twit from me about UWIB, Unique Women In Business. I belong to quite a varied mixture of teams and groups and 'Unique Women In Business' is one of them. It is a great group of about +100 ladies. All the ladies are shop owners, many are on Etsy, but quite a few are not. It is a really nice mixture of shops. I first came across UWIB in the Etsy forum. I did a bit of research and was debating on and off for a while to join or not. One of the few group rules is, that to stay a member, you have to make a purchase from a group member each month. I'm not a huge shopper and didn't really like the thought of being tied down to having to buy something. But after a while I decided to 'take the plunge' and joined. When you join your initial purchase has to be with the one who referred you, after that you can choose any group member you like. To leave the group you just don't make your monthly purchase and you are out. Very simple :-)
But seriously, I'm so pleased that I joined. I have now been a member for about 6 months and I'm enjoying myself tremendiously. I have been building up a nice little collections of ACEOs made by fellow members. It is so much more than just 'spending money' group. Lots and lots of great info, links and support are being shared. If one has a question, you can be certain that somebody knows the answer or can give you a push in the right direction. Some group members are very active in making fantastic treasuries and spotlights, something I yet have to figure out how to do. Looking at my Google Analytic quite a bit of traffic to my shop comes from UWIB's blog and UWIB members blogs. It is such a lovely group of energetic ladies. Erin Keys who is the group moderator is doing a superb job keeping track of it all. You can find the link to UWIB blog and a selection of links to UWIB members shops in the right hand side column of my blog. On Etsy you can also do search on 'UWIB', as members will have tagged their listings. Feel free to contact me if you would like more info on the group. I'll be happy to answer your questions :-)

Recycled Bits

I think our computer chair has a special sticky coating on the seat. Somehow I've been stuck to that chair all morning and most of the afternoon. The chair just didn't want to release me. Strange.... :-)

At least I have gotten a lot done, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. I've been preparing new listings for SewDanish. Lately I have been experimenting with making ACEO's (artist, cards, editions, originals). I know, that I'm totally behind the powercurb and that people collecting ACEO's probably have move on to something new. Please tell me if thats the case, so I won't miss the boat again. Never the less I have had a blast making these ACEO's. When ever I trim something from a project, have left over surface decorated papers/fabrics or my layered backgrounds, then I save them in my big goody bag. I just love having a good rummage in that bag. It bring bags memories from all these projects, that I have made at one time or another. I very rarely toss any of these small scraps, because you never know when they will come in handy. And why start all over, when you already have all these interesting bits laying around, craving to be used in something. I like having my own little recycle center in my studio. A very dear non sewing friend of mine thought I had lost my marbels when she discovered that I was saving all my sewing machine thread ends in an empty tissue cardboard box. I'm not quite sure that she ever understood, when I tried to explain, why I was saving them. Ah well, her loss :-)