The jewelry section of our website is currently under construction. One too many people have come to me a little confused about where to go to buy things. So, that is a pretty good sign that the area could be a little easier to navigate. Soon, the shop will hopefully look more symmetrical and easier to browse and buy, and once we start to move on to posting our photography and artwork, the process should be a lot easier and faster for us. Look for updates over the next few days.

I must say this has been quite the learning experience for me. I have had to learn to meet people's needs with the website design even if it means straying from some of the original ideas, and that is not always easy, but it almost always gains better results. Listening to people's concerns or critiques is the key.

~Angie

March Mid-Ohio Food Bank Donations!!

At Gracefully Inspired we know times are tough, and we want to help! We are going to take 20% of all our profit earned online for the month of March and donate it to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank! So while you are buying affordable gifts for yourself or loved ones, you are also helping those who are less fortunate! For every $10 of merchandise bought on our website in March, that is $2.00 we will donate to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank! Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have!

~Annie

Monica asked her photographer friend what the difference is between a professional and an amateur. The photographer's answer was lots and lots of photos. I am going to keep this in mind as Gracefully Inspired moves forward with our photography section. Right now we do not currently have a lot of photographs displayed, and that is partly because it takes time to make the website page. But here shortly, the photography section will be up, and we are building our photo inventory. Any updates about the photography section will be added here.

~Angie

One of the positive things about working with your friends is that so called "business meetings" can actually be loads of fun. We are meeting on Sunday to discuss upcoming parties, craft/art shows and "business trips." Trying to decide whether or not to visit the same haunted hotel that we did last year or visit a new haunted town is not exactly hard work. :) These "business trips" are actually beneficial because we normally spend time doing photography, but I have a feeling they are a lot more fun that the typical business trip or meeting.

I think I am also going to discuss the idea of donating a percentage of the profit made at upcoming parties to sponser a few people that may participate in a marthon for breast cancer research that takes place in May. With the economy going down the toliet, people don't want to spend money. But, if they know that a portion of their money can be used for something good, then it may be an incentive. It also will more than likely inspire us to bust our butts with our work so that we can sponser more people. Heck, I may even try to do this marathon (walking of course!) My aunt is a breast cancer survivor so some family members will be walking for her.

~Angie

Finding Time

One of the most frustrating issues we seem to be dealing with at the moment is actually finding time to work. It is not so much that we don't have the time, it is our lack of ability to sucessfully manage our time as a group. Life just gets in the way.

We all have full-time jobs. Gracefully Inspired is a side job that we hope to see grow in the coming years. So, because we don't depend on the profit from Gracefully Inspired to pay our bills and buy our groceries, it is easy to put it at the end of the list of priorities. Obviously a business cannot be successful if time is not invested. Time at the moment is probably our biggest enemy.

Thankfully, I think we are all pretty determined to see this work, so our time management is simply a road block that we will need to learn to get past. For me personally, good time management has never been one of my strong characteristics. I realize that I need to set some strict timelines for my personal schedule in order to make time for my Gracefully Inspired work, which includes art/photography, jewelry making and dealing with the website. Of course realizing and doing are totally different things, and that is what my downfall will be if I don't find the discipline I need.

~Angie

Gracefully Inspired is born

I guess for our first post I should explain a little bit about Gracefully Inspired. It all started 28 years ago when I was born . . . okay okay, I guess I don't have to go back that far. About a year ago two of my friends and I all realized that we have something in common. We all like to create. We all use different mediums to reach our goals, some are writers, some are artists, some are jewelry designers, but we all have that desire to create and to share with other people. Naturally we just seemed to fit like peas in a pod whenever we came together with new ideas.

It finally occurred to us that we should try to form some type of group. Originally, we formed a group called TwiztedSisters Ink, and we focused on writing. But, that just didn't seem to be enough. There was so much more that we wanted to do. So, we decided to start a small business that sells artwork/photography, jewelry and bath and spa items. And that is the very quick and basic story of the birth of Gracefully Inspired.

It has been an interesting journey so far. This blog will be used to share our thoughts, ideas, frustrations, fun times etc, and we hope that you will share this journey with us.

~Angie