How I Saved Seven Hundred & Fifty Grand by Spending a Hundred Bucks

nospam@example.com (Charlene ) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:27:05 -0400

To move or not to move has been our question for a long time now. Boy, I could really use a separate room for all things eWillow.com related. We are minus one bird now that Adrienne is off to college; however, I just can't bring myself to turn her nest into a craft room. Where will she chill when she comes home?

I love where I work now because even though it is out-of-the-way, it is still part of where my family chills. I'm in a different room, but we have an open floor plan as far as the living and family rooms go, so we always feel like we are together. (I have this weird hang-up about being in a different room when my husband and kids are home with me. I like it when we are all together. It is some type of innate motherly feeling or something. Some people tell me I'm weird. Oh, well!)

I digress...

Back to the reason why we are here. My work room is very CLUTTERED. That is just how I roll when I'm making stuff. The clutter has caused me such anxiety that I am ashamed to have company! Funny thing is, you really don't see the clutter unless you are standing in a certain place in our house. A few years ago, I tried to hide the clutter by doing this:

It worked really well for awhile. However, this photo was taken back at the beginning of 2008, which was nearly a year before the idea for eWillow.com was even conceived. Oh, how the clutter has grown since then!

A few weeks ago, we made our first-ever trip to IKEA. I was totally inspired when I saw a set of curtains. My mind immediately conjured up the idea to hang curtains from the ceiling and make my office a separate room that can be hidden when needed, but open when I'm working. And that is how we saved $750,000 on a new house by spending $100 at IKEA and Home Depot.

Let's take a look:

Our first challenge was making the curtains long enough. We have ten-foot ceilings, and I wanted the curtains to dust the floor, but I didn't want them to hang directly from the high ceiling. Solution: long planter hooks from Home Depot. (I think they are 15" long.) By laying the curtain rod onto the planter hooks, the curtains now almost touch the floor and they hang far enough down from the ceiling that I don't feel claustrophobic. These picture makes me smile because this is the first big project that my husband was able to tackle after his cancer/chemo complications.

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Welcome to My Blog!

nospam@example.com (Charlene ) — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:00:00 -0400

I am so excited to welcome you to eWillow.com!

I created eWillow.com to fill a void that is long over-due in the paper-crafting industry. There are websites upon websites that sell all of the gadgets and supplies to make paper crafts, but no site that offers an exclusive place to sell the finished product.

I don’t know how many times someone has said to me, “I can’t do what you do, I’m not creative!” or “I don’t have the time!” or my all-time favorite... “Can’t I just pay you to make it for me?” These reactions tell me that yes indeed, people DO appreciate handmade paper-crafts.

Let’s face it! In this day and age of email, texting, and instant messaging, how often does someone actually even send a greeting card, let alone a handmade one? On the other hand, how extremely exciting is it to open the mailbox and see a piece of mail that is personally addressed to you!

How boring and impersonal is it to look at pictures on a computer! Who wouldn’t want a beautifully handmade scrapbook to place on their coffee table to show off their wedding photos, or the birth of their baby, or their trip to Europe? Who wouldn’t want to give a beautifully handmade scrapbook as a gift to a new couple, or new parents, or even to grandparents? Scrapbooks are timeless! Handmade ones are even better!

I wanted to provide a meeting place where people like me, who love to create paper crafts, can unite with people who appreciate paper crafts but do not have the time to make them…a place where paper crafters can create and sell their products to people who will buy the creations and then share the creations with others by sending a card or showing off their memories!

Check back for project ideas, tutorials, and video demonstrations!

And don’t forget to open your storefront so you too can create and sell to those who wish to buy and share!

eWillow.com's Paper Clips - Craft Room Organization

How I Saved Seven Hundred & Fifty Grand by Spending a Hundred Bucks

Welcome to My Blog!