Feedback, Please!

Good morning!

I’d love to have everyone’s feedback on something.

I created my online Etsy shop, Reprieve’s Corner, back in 2011. Personally, I love the name. Reprieve is my favorite word in the English language. As I explain in my shop’s “about” section, my logo is a frog taking shelter under a mushroom during a rain shower. I relate the image to the items in my shop since pretty much everything could be given as a gift. They’re like my “little moments of reprieve”– things to cheer someone up or make them smile. Eventually, like the frog, they’re going to have to step back out into life’s rain shower; but, hopefully,  the items that I sell will help bring them moments of happiness.

The problem is that I’m finding that most people don’t understand my concept and they find the name of my business both confusing and hard to remember.

So, I’ve been thinking about changing the name of my shop. I’d like something catchy and easy to remember. The hard part is finding something that “fits” since I sell a variety of different products. I’m a published author, so I sell my books– which, like my crafts, cover a variety of topics. And I sell handmade crafts including jewelry, greeting cards, plush toys, hand painted wooden signs, pictures, and magnets. I also recently started making items out of clay (figurines and jewelry components).

The following are some of possible shop names that I’m considering and my concerns about each one. Please feel free to leave a comment on your favorites or add a new suggestion. (I use the free version of WordPress, which doesn’t offer the option of creating an interactive poll).

Hannah’s Handmade (although this doesn’t completely fit my books)

Contino’s Creations (but, I worry that people will have trouble remembering my last name)

Hannah’s Creative Corner (too vague?)

Hannah’s Hodgepodge (covers the variety, but I worry that it implies that I’m unorganized)

Hannah’s Handmade Gifts

… ?

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

• Note: I’m posting this on both of my blogs (this one which covers crafting and other art projects and “H. S. Contino” which discusses my writing).

The books are here!

I’m exited to announce that my order of my new book, Shipwrecks of Curry County, has arrived. The book isn’t officially available for sale until Monday, but I’d be more than happy to accept pre-orders. Feel free to send me an email if you’re interested. 🤓

Long time no post

Hello all!

I’m sorry that it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve been keeping busy with my day job (I work at a local library) and continuing to work on both my writing and my crafting. Since the farmers market season began in April, I’ve also been setting up my booth at least once a week at different markets throughout the county. All together, I’ve been one busy woman!

When I created this blog, I hoped that it would become a great place for creative people to get together and hang out. In my experience, most creative types don’t stick to a single outlet. Most of us do variety of things. For instance, I write, make jewelry, and paint wooden signs.

Out of curiosity, what does everyone else do? What are your favorite creative outlets? Please leave a comment on this post. Let’s start a community conversation!

Best wishes!

~ H. S. Contino, blog author

Technology… grr!

I just spend 30 minutes typing up a blog update– just to have it disappear when I hit “publish.” Grr! I’ll try again later….

Books

Howdy!

Technically, I already have a blog (two in fact). But, after completing NaNoWriMo 2011 (and winning!) I found a forum where tons of other writers had shared their own blogs. As I worked my way down the list, visiting and subscribing to the blogs, many of them were on Word Press. Time after time the web page asked me to create my own account (read: blog), so I figured, “why not?”

So a little about myself. By day I have a boring, repetitive, less-than-satisfactory job. My ultimate dream is to eventually make enough money from my writing and small crafts (look for me on Etsy– “Reprieve26”) to quit my day job. I love creating stuff– whether it’s using words to build a story or fabric and string to  sew something or even pencils and/or paint. There’s something so  satisfying about creating something with my own two hands and my imagination…

In my free time, I’ve done some online writing under the pen name “Reprieve26.” These days you can usually find me on HubPages.

Oh! And the other two writing blogs that I mentioned:

http://hscontino.blogspot.com — This is my formal writing blog. I use it to advertise my published work, book signing events, author fairs, etc.

http://writersreprieve.blogspot.com — This is my informal writing/crafting/creating blog. Ideally, I’d like for it to become a place for creative types to hang out, make friends, and exchange ideas. It’s still fairly new though so I don’t have many subscribers… yet!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to visit my new blog!

~~ “Reprieve26” (formally know as “H. S. Contino)