Flan

Since I haven't been able to make glass beads yet; I have been cooking. Also my recipes got somewhat organized since the move which has prompted me to do something I have been wanting to so for a long time..... make the perfect flan.

This obession got started when my husband and I had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant in Old Town San Diego (El Agave) - oh at least 10 years ago. I had their flan for dessert. It was not the classic creme caramel that I had been making.. it was darker and firmer and had a lovely caramel flavor. So I started searching the internet for recipes and found out that there are a lot of variations for flan. So my goal is to make a flan a week until I find one close to the one at El Agave.

I started this week with my classic flan. It's white and creamy and delicious - but not the one. but it got me into the mode. Also I think I need a smaller pan to make the caramel.

So if any of you out there reading this has a recipe for me... please send it to me.

New Bracelet on Etsy

Added this great wrap bracelet to my Etsy Shop

Marketing Plan

I just took an online class to learn how to design websites using Dreamweaver. The class was fast paced, but by the end of it I really understood how to design pages using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)… which was my goal. Of course I was given all of the graphics and banners and logos to use and everything just went together so nicely as I plowed through all of the exercises! Pages didn’t blow up because the wrong sized photo was used. Everything was nice and tidy.

Ok, so now to apply all that knowledge to my own site…

It immediately became obvious that I knew how to build the pages, but I needed graphics for the site. What should I use as my banner? What colors? What about a logo? The light bulb went off that I really needed to back up a little and develop my “brand”.

What is a brand? Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competition’s offering.

Defining your brand is like a journey of self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, answers to the questions below:
• What is your mission?
• What are the benefits and features of your products?
• What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?
• What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?

So I have a good idea of my target market. And my product is defined. What I desire now is a consistent image so that my clients recognize me. My starting point was choosing the colors for the website.

My good friend Mickey gave me this link several months ago:
http://www.colorschemedesigner.com/
So I played for hours and my color scheme is done. It's based on those wonderful sunsets here in Tucson.

Have a go at it. It’s fun!

It Rained Yesterday Evening

Technically the monsoon season is over here in Tucson. But yesterday afternoon we got a heavy rain burst. Then the sun came out and we saw the rainbow. Had to share.

Organizing My Books

Ok, so 80% of the boxes in the studio are unpacked and everything is out waiting to be organized. I decided to start with the books first. I love books and sometimes I love a book so much I buy it twice. I guess that can count as a senior moment. But to avoid doing that in the future I just downloaded a great app for my iphone called

ibookshelf

I just finished loading a shelf of books into the app in about 30 minutes so I can highly recommend it. You just put in the isbn number and click download information and the program goes out and finds it. I then categorize it to my preference, put in it's location (so i can find it again), and save it to the database. It even downloads a picture of the front cover. And of course there are several ways to search for the books; so when I am out and about I will know if I own the book or not. Loverly!!! But I think I need another bookcase.

My Studio

I have been reading with great interest Vickie Hallmark's blog regarding moving her studio back upstairs. Thank you Vickie... it has inspired me.

So you all know, we just got to Tucson. Of course settling the house was first on the agenda. It's about 60% there... but I had to get out to the studio. I haven't made a glass bead since November 2009. Yikes!

So yesterday I tiptoed out back. Haven't even peeked since the movers delivered the "stuff". So I wanted to share with you the vision as I entered the door!

Of course amidst this mountain of boxes is the chance to get really organized. In my home in Dayton my work space was spread out throughout the house. There was the glass bead studio in the workout room; and the seed beeds and jewelry components in the downstairs bedroom. The PMC was downstairs but off the family room - along with soldering. I took photos in my office. The upstairs bathroom was for PPP and etching. And the laundry room was for cold working glass. But now everything is one place - at least my husband is hopeful that beads will not creep back into the main house; but I have given no promises. What's a night of TV without a beading project.

So I have to unpack all of those boxes and organize the stuff. but it will be FUN! I keep telling myself that.

So Where Have I Been?

I seem to have been missing since May... but that is not the case.

Hubby has retired!!

We moved from Dayton, OH... via a 2 month road trip!! And...

We now live in Tucson!!!

So in June I said goodbye to many friends that I made in Dayton over the seven years that we lived there. But of course with the internet and travel it's never really a firm good-bye... more like an au revoir. Dayton was a great place to live and I will miss it (but not the snow!).

So I'm unpacking boxes... and life is slowly returning to normal.