Category Archives: Etsy Team Ellijay

Feeling Green Behind the Gills?

Posted in Etsy Team Ellijay, Green with Envy by

I pride myself on being self taught in many areas like cooking, cleaning, sewing, painting, building, gardening, writing, and I love the challenge of learning something new.  However, when I  try really hard to do something new that requires a skill I don’t possess, I get to feeling ‘green around the gills.’  I call it Green Envy because I want to learn how to do something so badly that I am jealous of anyone who can do it–mastering Windows 8 is my latest nemesis. Anybody else feel this way about it, or is it just me?

We (me and my husband) recently updated some of our electronic computing devices and one of those is a laptop operating Windows 8.  It’s clearly made for those with touch screen practice.  My husband has more experience with it than me, so he is better at it.  My main device operates Windows 7 and is very user friendly–not a whole lot different from my last operating system–Windows XP Pro.  The problem for me comes in switching between Windows 7 and 8. The two are so very different from each other.  If I used the 8 all the time, I suppose I would get more accomplished with it, but I use it just enough to be irritated by it.

I think the same is true about other areas of my technical expertise, but I don’t like to admit it.  For instance, I see Green Envy raise its ugly head now and then when I read over the blogs of some of my colleagues. I want my blog to be a success, a tool that others will turn to for help in their business. So-o-o-o, in order to push the Green Monster down for a bit, I have recently set some goals to help me achieve similar success with my blog site.  This is what I aspire to do with it: 1) offer advertising space to fellow Etsyians/Bloggers/Tweeters, etc., 2) feature guest shops from fellow team mates on Etsy Ellijay (on Facebook) or Etsy Norga (North Georgia Made team blog), 3) provide pictorial and video craft tutorials from my current line of products featured in my Etsy shop: Green Craft Studio, 4) host a Link party or start my own #GrowingCirclesHop at Becca’s Green Craft Studio on G+. I know its a lot to accomplish in a year, but I love to reach for the stars.  I know that my biggest obstacles will be myself and the calendar after all I already wear many hats in a day. I hope I haven’t bit off more than I can chew and that this new hat won’t swallow me whole before I get past the learning curve of Windows 8.

All you readers, please let me know what you suggest for mastering Windows 8. And, if you have any tips to share to make my list of goals easier to achieve, please do not hesitate to share a word or two in the comments below. Thanks for reading and sharing. 

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COMRADERY

Posted in Etsy Team Ellijay by

Who is a comrade? A close friend or someone who comes to mind when you say, “We’re in this together.” You don’t have to be best friends with everyone in the group to know you have their support.

"We're in this together!"

“We’re in this together!”

This is the feeling I had with our group of Etsy Ellijay team members during a recent team meeting at the Gilmer County Library. The Ellijay Etsy Team attempts to meet monthly to stay in touch face-to-face. This meeting included active Etsy shop owners, both veteran and virgin (long timers and newbies).

To quote the Captain, Melisa Searcy of Blessed Bee Melisa: “In a community like ours we are a part of something special when we come together. It’s more than what “I” can do, but rather, what “we” can do – it takes a village – and we become a village when we encourage each other and hold each other up.”

Prior to our meeting, Melisa, made sure everybody got a copy of the agenda in advance to encourage team discussion. Kitty of Mattie’s Hodge Podge on Etsy, kept us all on point during the informalities by highlighting the agenda when a point was discussed moving everything along at a good pace. Every single member of the team and those contemplating joining the team participated, and we want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all!

COMRADERY in action. A true feeling of TRUST, a bond created by a shared goal or experience came about during that meeting. Since the meeting was so successful, lets use it as the basis for all our meetings to come. Let’s here it: GO TEAM!!!

Quoting a newbie to Etsy: “This is great! I was feeling timid about coming to a group I didn’t know by myself, but really felt welcomed and know it was a big step in moving this along with greater confidence and understanding.”

Quoting one Etsy veteran: “It’s always so great to have actual human contacts, especially when you live in small-town USA! There are always so many questions that we have as Etsy shop owners, and we also have answers from what we have learned along the way, so it’s always good to share, ask and tell! We all have a lot that we can share, and I love that Etsy is not just about promoting yourself, but helping to promote others.”

MENTORING is a good way to describe the Etsy Community as a whole. So taking a cue from the Etsy Community, we–Melisa (team captain) and Becca (team leader)–are mentoring the newbies who want to be a part of the Ellijay Team as soon as their shops are up and running. Encouragement goes a long way and starting out alone can be scary. Etsy has helped us learn, and we are happy to ‘pay-it-forward.’ We hope that by our next team meeting we can add a couple more members to the team line up and maybe next time everybody on the team can be there. Would you like to meet the team?

Select a link below to meet our Ellijay Etsy COMRADS:

Those present for this meeting.

Melisa Searcy of Blessed Bee Melisa: https://www.etsy.com/people/BlessedBeeMelisa

Jim Harmon of Rustic Lodge décor: https://www.etsy.com/people/jimharmon

Candace Harmon of White FeatherJewelry: https://www.etsy.com/people/candaceharmon

Jolee of 12 Precious Stones: https://www.etsy.com/people/JoleeJoy

Kitty of Mattie’s Hodge Podge: https://www.etsy.com/people/mattieshodgepodge

Mary of Starry Nites Farm: https://www.etsy.com/people/starrynitesfarm

Becca Shuler of Green Craft Studio: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenCraftStudio/about?ref=shopinfo_about_leftnav

Other active members who did not make it to this meeting –

Deborah and Niki https://www.etsy.com/people/BirdSongStudio

Jan Blaskay – https://www.etsy.com/people/fairymuse

…and we have many more in our Team that are yet to come to the meetings but that have lovely shops on Etsy and are hoping to make it to future meetings. We encourage you to come join us sometime at our meetings and upcoming workshops. AND as always, if you have questions, we can come together over the www – through our team threads on our team page on Etsy and Facebook!

JOIN US and Etsy on!