courage to live

If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
- John Irving

growing your own seeds

I received this email from TUT a few weeks ago. It struck me and have been meaning to write about it since forever. :P

It's like everyone's given seeds that are capable of growing into the garden of their dreams, but no one's been told they even have them. Then, when they see their neighbor's garden growing, whether it's because their neighbor actually found their seeds or accidentally spilled them, there's a rush to see what's happening. In fact, whole industries are built around the buying, selling, and trading of other people's gardens. Agents are hired, sales teams assembled, and sometimes stocks and bonds are issued. Vendors compete, lawyers are hired, and accountants are sued. There are mergers and acquisitions, buyouts and takeovers, and of course 401k's, company picnics, and vacation days.

There are seeds that grow into private gardens. Seeds that grow into best sellers. And seeds that grow into happy families.

It's quite a riot, and often good fun, but would you believe that one of the biggest impediments one has to discovering their own seeds, these days, is their fascination with the gardens of others?

I'm a huge believer that 'success' should be a personal thing. It should differ from one person to another because we inherently have different seeds inside each of us. We will be happy if we can grow our own seeds. But most of the time, instead of looking inwards and searching for their own seeds, people will make goals of growing some popular seeds and define their success based on that growth.

I'm still on that journey of digging and finding my seeds then nurturing them to grow. It has been a rewarding journey. :)

{ the trees are from Love Birds Combo set }

happy easter!

A basket of Easter eggs

Happy Easter everyone! Wish you have a meaningful one. :)


[ shop makeover update ]

So the shop makeover is ongoing. I did not keep count on how many I've changed, just slowly changing one by one if I have time. I hope the new tags and the new listing description style are better (and more SEO friendly).

[ facebook page ]
I just found this, via Etsy forum, yesterday. The article is giving a detailed instruction on building a Facebook page. Super useful. :)

[ blog post ]
I have thought of featuring my customers and their business in this blog. Will start to contact them as soon as I have finalized the plan. I'm open for interview/how-to-feature-with-a-bang ideas. :)

So I'm wishing you readers a wonderful week ahead! :D

{Easter Eggs}

my etsy shop makeover: titles, descriptions, and tags

I read a thread in the forum a few days ago and I just realized that I made quite a mistake in tagging! I've been tagging my items with potential uses for them... and this is frustrating for people who is using 'search' to shop for items. If I have ever frustrated you in this way, I am so sorry.

So I am launching a shop makeover, especially for my tags. If you want to know more about the tagging system, you can find more information here. I have slightly over than a hundred items in the shop. It could take a little while, but I will get them right! :P

I think I'll be referring to The Etsy Shop Makeover series often to make shopping a better experience for all of you.

custom orders pictures uploaded

Little Red Riding Hood set

I just uploaded some of my custom orders pictures in my Facebook page. Check them out here. I planned to upload them in the blog too with accompanying stories. But let's do this slowly. :)

vivera design facebook page

I just created a Facebook Page here:

Vivera Design Facebook Page

The first 25 people who 'like' the page can pick ANY one product from my Etsy shop for FREE. I will send you a message in your Facebook inbox for notification. :)

Thank you so much! :D

Update: The page is now located here: https://www.facebook.com/viveradesign (after 25 likers, we can choose an account name for shorter addres).