by Phyllis Ducey

by Phyllis Ducey
pfdoriginalartworks


"God did not give us a spirit of fear

If you missed my last post on March 15th, you may feel like you are being dropped into the middle of a thought. Here is the link in case you would like to read "Spirit of Fear". In that post I stated this verse has meant a lot to me throughout my Christian walk. The beginning and the end of the verse were the sections that carried me through the times when I believed lies that told me I was not capable or worthy of being a true follower of Christ.

The words "but of power" came alive to me about 7 or 8 years ago as I studied Ephesians. Did you ever read a section of the Bible over and over and all of a sudden one day a word or phrase popped out at you like you had never read it before? The word "power" kept popping out at me.

I'd ask myself how we as Christians had power? I know we do because this verse in 2Tim 1:7 states that God did not give us a spirit of fear... but of power.

Not to sound overly geeky but I am really into definitions. I love to understand the meaning behind a word and often even its roots. So bear with me as I go into definitions of how a word is being used in the Bible. As with so many words, there are different root languages and nuances that they possess. Power in many verses may refer to (this is not all inclusive) strength, might, force, valor, or authority. But in the verses that I am using all of them are from a word meaning ability.

"...and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength..." Ephesians 1:19

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8

"When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?" Acts 3:12

In the verse from Ephesians above it states that power is like the working of God's mighty strength. In Acts 1:8 we see that we are empowered from the Holy Spirit and in Acts 3:12 it is not by our own abilities.

"Of power" brought me to realize that yet in another way I have the ability to conquer my fears, not only that but I have the strength through God's mighty hand! In my last post Spirit of Fear, Sammysgrammy stated in her comments: "I heard it said that the bible contains 365 "fear nots", one for each day of the year. That would make a good study." She is right, it would make a great study and if you did the same thing with a study on power, you would be amazed at how many times in the new testament that it refers to us having power to do something beyond our own abilities.

When I began ruminating on this concept of being empowered by the Holy Spirit it helped me understand that I can do nothing by myself and that it is only through God who works within that anything can be accomplished.

"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt 19:26

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power..."




Victorian circles by SpectacularPrintable

Wristlet by cathystotes


Felt flowers by TwoAngelsSupplies



Flower hat by Avictoria


Gift tin by amycornwell

What is a Treasury?

Etsy defines a treasury as "an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery of handpicked items." Basically a treasury is an opportunity for you to pick out items that display your own taste. You can arrange your items according to a color, theme, or a style. You can use a treasury to promote your favorite sellers or team. Etsy Admins (the staff of Etsy) often promote whole or partial selections from a Treasury list to the front/home page.

What is a Treasury West and where do I find it?

Treasury West is just as important as the main Treasury, it's just a little bit harder to find. You can't reach the main Treasury from the front page. There are two ways to find Treasury West. The URL (web address) is http://www.etsy.com/treasury_west.php . The other way is from the craftopolis treasury clock which I will explain later but you can click on the clock and it will take you to Treasury West http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=tc . In theory the Main Treasury is better for sales because it's easier for shopping customers to find. Also, percent wise, more front pages are chosen from Treasury West, but Etsy Admin does search through both Treasuries so they're both just as important. I will also go over what they look for as far as "front page material" a little bit later.

How do I know if I'm in a Treasury?

Hopefully the person who created the treasury (the curator) will convo you, but this is not always the case. The way you can search for yourself is by going to craftopolis and using their "treasure hunt" feature http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=th When you plug in your etsy id it will let you know if you are in any treasuries, including if you're an alternate. If you click on the treasury name from craftopolis it will take you directly to the treasury in Etsy. You know how exciting it is to find out you're in a treasury, so why not convo each person you've included in your treasury including the link to the treasury you've created so they can share in the excitement too! :)

How do I know if a Treasury I'm in made it to the Front Page of Etsy?

Etsy does not contact you if your Treasury makes it to the front page or if an item of yours in a treasury makes it to the front page. There is a website that can find that information for you! It's Craftcult, http://www.craftcult.com/vault.php?userid= The vault shows you all of the front pages, but if you click on "search for member" you are able to search for yourself two ways. "Lists featuring items by" will tell you if you were included on the front page at any time. "Lists made by" will tell you if any of the front pages were made from your treasuries.

What is a BNR Treasury?

BNR stands for "Buy and Replace." These are treasuries created to help generate sales for each other. One person creates a treasury and when you buy an item from one of the sellers featured, you're replaced in that treasury. You don't have to buy the item being featured in the treasury, just an item in their store. Once you purchase the item, you come back and list the store you bought from and the transaction # in the comment section of the treasury. The curator (the one who made the treasury) will replace that item with an item from your store. Sometimes if your item doesn't sell before the treasury ends they'll include you in the next BNR treasury. Others have special rules like if you purchase from the top row you'll be guaranteed the next 4 treasuries. You need to read the first comment by the curator in each individual BNR Treasury to see their rules.

How do you "snag" a Treasury?

Timing is everything! In order to "snag" a treasury, Treasury Main needs to drop below 333 treasuries and Treasury West needs to drop below 222 treasuries. There is a tool to help you gauge approximate timing of when enough of the treasuries will expires so that other spots open up and that's Craftopolis http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=tc .




An important thing to remember when using Craftopolis is that is just a gauge. It runs approximately 15-20 minutes behind the actual Etsy expiration time, so when it says there is about 35 minutes until the treasury opens up, it's a great idea to go straight to Etsy's treasury. You can sort treasuries by hotness, title, curator, or expiration. You want to sort it by expiration and go to the last page so you can see which page is expiring first. If you are in Treasury Main and there are 340 treasuries, just count up 8 from the bottom and you'll see when the last one will expire in order to open up for new treasuries. This can change though, because curators can delete treasuries at anytime and sometimes do when the lists get close to 333 (or 222 in Treasury West) so it's important to stay close to the computer. There is no need to refresh the screen, it will automatically update. Once the list drops below 333 or 222 a box will open up and allow you to enter your title. Have this prepared, if you wait too long and the treasury fills up that box will go away. Also once you save your title it can not be changed. Now you can add your items and create your treasury!!! You can also add a subtitle and location. The subtitle defaults to "a few of my favorites." The location defaults to from "somewhere special." You can change your location to your actual location, a random place, or even a URL (web address) like your blog or Facebook fan page. You can only have one treasury at a time in Treasury Main and Treasury West. Do not use multiple accounts to make more than one treasury.

What is a poster sketch?

A poster sketch is your own personal workspace and can be found here http://www.etsy.com/poster_sketch.php .



You can create your treasury on your poster sketch by adding, deleting, and editing until a treasury spot opens up. When looking at a listing you can find the item number in one of two places. It's at the very end of the URL (web address) and also on the right side bar under "additional item info."


You also don't need to worry if you close your poster sketch window because it will automatically save and you will be able to see it again if you are using the same computer as long you don't delete your flash cookies (different than your internet cookies). Once a treasury opens up all you need to do is copy the item numbers from your poster sketch to your treasury! :)

How long will my Treasury be there?

Treasuries expire two days after their creation. Sometimes they are given bonus time (up to 24 hours). This happens randomly in order to balance out the number of treasuries and their expiration dates.

What does Etsy look for to choose a Treasury for the Front Page?

Here are some tips for making "Front Page Treasuries"

1. Admins look for treasuries who's top three listings are eye catching. Remember that this will be the first page that people will see when coming to the Etsy website and they want this to represent them well.
2. Good photography throughout the whole treasury is essential. Clear and well-lit photos as well as good composition are important. (As a seller who wants to be featured in treasuries, remember that clear, eye catching photos are what they're looking for).
3. Even though the alternates aren't visible on the treasuries page, the Admin can see them. If your treasury makes it to the front page the alternates will be used if the other items sell. Make sure all your alternates are used and that they're just as good as the ones in the treasury.
4. Use a creative title. There are a lot of treasuries to look through. This is what will "pull" your audience in to open up your treasury.
5. Use a wide range of price points.
6. Use a varied collection of items (clothes, jewelry, soaps, shoes, paintings, cards, food, hats, make-up, etc). It is okay to make a treasury with one type of item. You can do a whole treasury on hats if that's your thing. It probably won't make the front page, but it will be fun to look at and that's okay! :)
7. Make sure the items you are putting in your treasury are from sellers with good feedback (100%).
8. Make sure you don't repeat any sellers.
9. Etsy doesn't normally choose treasuries that include items with prominant watermarks on the first photo.

How do I know if my Treasury made the "Hot List?"

Another way to sort the Treasuries is by Popularity or "Hotness." Hotness is calculated by a special formula of clicks, views, comments and other factors. There is a little box to the left of your Treasury title that starts out gray and will change in color the hotter or more popular it becomes. It changes from gray, to blue, to green and so forth until it turns red hot!

How do I make a "screen shot" of my Treasury to use on my blog or Facebook?

To make a screen shot of your Treasury you want to look at your Treasury on your computer screen. While holding the "Ctrl" key down, press "Print Screen" (while still holding the Ctrl key). Usually you can find the "Print Screen" button on the top row of buttons on your computer. Now, go to the bottom left Start Up menu --> All programs --> Accessories --> Paint. Once you open up your Paint program you can go under edit and then paste. There is your screen shot of your Treasury! You can crop it there if you'd like and save it to your pictures from paint also! (You can save any screen shot from your computer using this method). If you prefer not to use Paint, you can use the photo editing program of your choice.

What does C&C mean?

It stands for "Click and Comment." Clicking refers to clicking each individual item, yes all 12, in the treasury. Have you ever noticed the little gray numbers up in the top right corner above each item? That's how many clicks each item has. When you add the total clicks for all items in the treasury together that is their total clicks. Commenting is physically writing a comment about the treasury. Each treasury is allowed 44 comments, so often you'll see curators delete comments to allow more. This goes back to the "hot list." Adding up the clicks and comments increases the popularity of the treasury and in theory gets noticed by Etsy Admin.

Treasury by cksilver

What is a Team Treasury?

A team treasury is a treasury made up of only items from your team members. If I were to create a 100% CAST team treasury then when searching through Etsy I would search castteam . Also remember to search under the category "All Items" not just handmade, because we have vintage and supply sellers as well.

Should I add an item of my own to my Treasury?

You are allowed to put one item of yours in a treasury, but if your treasury was to be chosen for the front page one of your alternates would probably be chosen instead of your item because the treasuries are not intended for self promotion. If your treasury was chosen you do get credit, so people can click on your name from the front page.

The thought of getting your treasury on the front page is very exciting, but that shouldn't be the goal of making treasuries because it doesn't happen all the time. In fact it is very rare. Instead, we should enjoy making treasuries, have fun promoting each other, and if we do make it to the front page, enjoy the surprise!

Further Reading:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-treasury-the-nuts-and-bolts-688/

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-to-make-a-great-treasury-list-671/

by Phyllis Ducey
pfdoriginalartworks


"God did not give us a spirit of fear


I love this verse... it has spoken to me deep within and has aided me in controlling my thought processes. I have often felt as though my mind contained myriads of caverns, each leading down unknown tributaries. There are times I would get lost in those caverns... some were dark and tortuous while others lead towards the light. And at those times it would seem that I would never find a way out. But as I grew in knowledge of God's Word and learned to apply it with trust, light began filtering in and the caverns turned into paths of discovery.

There is so much content in these mere 18 words that I thought I would break it up to several sections. In the next two weeks I plan to write about how God has brought this verse alive to me. Today I would like to focus on the word fear. It is used in various ways in the Bible.

There is the word as used in "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov 1:7). Fear in that verse is like awe or deep reverence. Possibly you could compare it to the first time you may have seen the ocean. It is incredibly vast, it is gorgeous, its depth (not only physically but also in its colors) is amazing, it is inviting and at the same time so powerful it can overwhelm you. It fills you with awe. And that is the type of fear this verse refers to. Once you begin to grasp how awesome God is -- how incredibly loving, how gracious, compassionate, powerful and just -- you can start to understand why fear of Him is the beginning of wisdom.

Sometimes fear is used in the sense of cowardice such as when the storm came up when the disciples were in the boat. (Matt 8:26) "Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then He got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm." Cowardice is probably the most common way we think of fear.

And there is a "slavish" fear. This is the fear the apostle Paul speaks of in 2 Tim 1:7. Slavish fear is not unlike the cowardice kind. It prevents us from doing something or keeps us under its control such as a slave is to his master. I think each of us have our own inner fears that prevent us from doing things that could possibly enhance our lives. Some more obvious than others such as if you had a fear of flying that prevents you from traveling to new and interesting places.

This part of the verse "God did not give us a spirit of fear" has been important to me because many of the caverns of my mind were carved out by fear prior to Christ in my life. One cavern that I got lost in was low self-esteem which was filled with all sorts of tributaries. Fear of not being as good as others; fear of when I did something well, someone would figure out that it was a fluke and I was a sham. Fear that I really was not a good person inside. Fear of being exposed.

God has taught me to move forward in spite of my fears. When that fear rises in me that makes me feel as if I am immobilized or I can't find my way out, I recite this verse. I dwell on it. I trust it. I trust God at His Word. Light creeps in as I realize that the fear is not from God and I remember that if He is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:28) That He created me to be me with all my foibles, talents, weaknesses and strengths. He allows me to make my choices and when they are wrong, He invites me to His side for forgiveness. He has taught me how to rebuke the wind and waves and allow Him to calm the restless seas within. And as I choose to allow Him to shed His light, I have no doubt that "God did not give us a spirit of fear".

Below are some wonderful Etsy shops that I hope you will take a few minutes to discover all their great items, heart their shops and maybe find things to use as gifts (Christmas is only 9 months away!). Some of the items relate to my verse and some I just chose because I so admired their work.

by Phyllis Ducey
pfdoriginalartworks






The dictionary definition for an ambassador is "an authorized messenger or representative". Per this verse above we are Christ's ambassador, His authorized representatives. There are various ways that we can represent Christ. Many do by preaching, teaching, writing, broadcasting, or simply by having a conversation with another.

The verse continues to say that "God makes His appeal through us". Wow...what an honor! But during our daily life, how are we appealing to others? When we are at work with more to get done in a day than our 8 hours will allow or when we are in a grocery store with little ones who are crying because they didn't get that toy they wanted, are we very appealing? In our daily interactions with neighbors, people in parking lots, at the mall... the places where we are a nondescript person and don't think anyone is noticing, are we representing Christ? I believe those are the times we can subtlety and powerfully influence others. A kind word, a door held, a smile or a compliment to a total stranger to make their day a little brighter makes a difference. And though they may never know you were doing as an Ambassador for Christ... Christ will and He can use it.

One dreary rainy night I ran into a little store and when I came out there was a woman at a pay phone. I greeted her and she asked me if I knew where a street address was. She was quite distressed and had been trying to get there but couldn't find it. I said I was pretty sure I did and told her the easiest way to find it is if she followed my car and I would drive there (by this time it was pounding rain and I knew street signs would be hard to read). I got her there and she looked at me and said as sincerely as could be "you must be an angel sent by God".

I certainly did not think so and if you knew me you would not think I was an angel but she did. And without even realizing it I was being an ambassador for the God that I love. That was such a privilege.

This poem below expresses my thoughts on how each encounter we make becomes a part of us. Just the same as each person we encounter we become a part of them. Makes me wonder just what am I adding to other peoples lives? Hopefully it is Christ's love.

Recently four of our CAST team members got the opportunity to meet face to face in Florida. Hank of UdaMan, who is married to Catherine (aka Daffy) of abbasgirl and SweetHeartStudio, made plans to visit Anastasia of mattscrafywife and BreathofDawnStudio while they were vacationing in Florida. What they didn't tell Anastasia (aka Matts) was that they were meeting up with Leah of MaticStudio and sugarfoots and bringing her along as a surprise.

By Anastasia of mattscraftywife


“But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.”
Matthew 6:6

We are all very busy these days, but it is still important to get alone with God. This verse in Matthew tells us to go into a private room, alone with God and pray. It is more important to the Lord that we are alone with him, praying, seeking, knocking and listening, than to pray in front of thousands. What we do in secret, when no one is watching us, is what He is interested in. When we get alone with God, we can listen to Him, hear His voice and talk to Him of our innermost feelings and ask Him our deepest questions. After we talk to Him, we should stop and listen. One good thing to do is listen to Him for as long as we talked to Him. He will answer us, tell us things, give us wisdom, in those quiet moments alone with Him. If you don't already, consider finding even fifteen minutes a day to talk to the Lord and listen to Him. It will make a huge difference in your life. As the verse says, he will reward you in the OPEN for what you do in SECRET! God is so good to us, let Him bless you in this way today and every day.

Dear God, help us to find the time to be alone with You every day. Open our ears to hear what You have to say to us. Show us Your plans for our lives in those quiet moments. Let us feel Your presence in our quiet place. We want to hear You, see You, know You. In Jesus name, AMEN.

For a wonderful real-life example of what I'm talking about, read this beautiful post by our CAST team member buttonwilloe on her blog:


http://buttonwilloe.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-child.html


By Anastasia Watson