Scrappy Travels

It's easy to pick on Maryland for its crime stats or sometimes dreary conditions.  But spending the official first day of summer and having that day be sunny and gorgeous in Annapolis, makes living here worthwhile.  It's easy to see how great this state is when you're surrounded by boats, water and sun.  Happy Summer, Naptown!

When I started my shop on Etsy, I wanted to do something for charity.  I wanted to make some money for some fantastic organizations that do great work each and every day.  Starting in June, the first Caring Cards will go up on the Scrap Happy Traveler.  There will be 25 of these cards sold for $5 each, and when they're gone, they're gone.  The caveat and the reasoning behind the randomly hefty price tag is that 50% of that money will go to one of these abnosome (abnormal + awesome) organizations each month.  12 months - 12 designs - 12 worthy causes.  I'm not releasing June's charity just yet (you'll get all the goods come June 1 - I guarantee it's a super cool cause!), but there are a few clues above and you may be able to guess based on the color scheme.    Until then, be kind and be caring!

On a dreary May Wednesday while I'm stuck in an unexplained funk, I go to my happy place.  The place I live when I day dream about the future.   It's perfect in almost every way.  I love London and it will always have my heart.  

As it turns out the Color Run's motto of "The Happiest 5K on Earth" is so not a lie.  My first 5K was messy, and crazy and an absolute blast!  I had a ball and couldn't help but use all that colorful inspiration to create some new cards.  Gotta love some good, crazy fun and some crafting all rolled into one day!

The Scrap Happy Traveler is open for business! Just typing that sentence allows me to breathe a bit easier.  The crafting part has never been difficult and I've loved the creativity of mapping out my cards and masterpieces.  But the opening of the shop, figuring out all the details and intricacies has been a bit over-whelming.  I know that Etsy is considered the best possible way to jump into business for yourself and they try quite hard to make it easy for you to open up the shop. But there are lots of things to worry about and figure out even with an easy-peasy site like Etsy. I can't even imagine opening up a brick and mortar shop - it has to be excruciating! That's not to say it hasn't been pretty awesome as well.  Listing my very first item, while tedious (how exactly do you describe a thank you card other than saying, it's a thank you card?) was quite the highlight of my week.  I use Etsy to buy lots of gifts so I'm quite familiar with what listings