December 2023 - A Free Gift To You + Printable Recipe

After a lengthy couple of years of dealing with a lot of not so good stuff, I am finally back to feeling creative again. Resurrecting this newsletter was high on the to-do list as I began feeling better so you can imagine that I'm pretty excited about getting this newly redesigned issue out to you. Thank you for subscribing (which, for many of you, was probably years ago) and thank you in advance for not unsubscribing! I promise to keep my promise of this being a non-annoying newsletter!

Ultimately, the goal of me having a newsletter and sending it out to you is, in two words: 

community + connection.

The internet is a big place and so much gets lost or missed as we scroll quickly through infinite posts and just click the 'like' button or send an emoji instead of using words to connect before we're on to a million other posts. 

Maybe a newsletter can slow that pace down a little. 

I'd like to think that it's us connecting and catching up, friend to friend. ♥

One thing you might not have known is that I do many things other than the photo art that you are familiar with.

A few examples of my other stuff: 

I paint and sew and write and I make all kinds of things that I sell online and elsewhere. 
In order to be cohesive I had to put all of what I do under one main and official 'umbrella' name...

sort of like a home base for all my endeavors. 

That name is Poor Girl Mercantile (PGM) and you can connect with everything I do at my website PGMerc.com.

Aside from PGM, my other business names are:

• Land O' Make Believe: the photo art
• Wistful Gypsy: the writing & sometimes other stuff, the more personal side of things
• The Daydreamery: newsletter

I'm pretty busy with a whole bunch of stuff at any given time!

While I love to drive around and see all the neighborhood houses decorated, I'm not the biggest fan of the general chaos that seems to come along with this time of year. I like things slow and quiet and simple. Low-key is how I operate best nowadays so the decorations and preparations for Christmas are pretty minimal in our household and are most likely homemade. I delete all the buy!buy!buy! emails I get every day without even reading them. 

Before you think I'm related to Scrooge, I should mention that I used to be much more into the Christmas season, but that changed dramatically after I lost my sense of smell (anosmia) in 2009. If you are someone who can smell, can you imagine the holidays without all of the scents that come along with it? Pine trees and cinnamon and fresh baked cookies? The outside air just before a snowfall? Your loved ones? Turkey or ham in the oven? 

When I lost my ability to smell, I also lost my ability to connect with old and to create new scent-oriented memories. Alas, the "essence" - so to speak - of Christmastime went with it. You could say that my 3D world has become rather one dimensional.
Sometimes I think that it probably would have been better if I'd never been able to smell because then I wouldn't know what I'm missing, right? 😊

I make do, though, and do my best to be as festive as I can under the circumstances, but I will admit that I am one of those people who struggle with this season. 

Yet I still can find magic this time of year because I choose to look for it.

For example, Christmas lights, as I mentioned above. When I walk out my front door it seems like my whole neighborhood is illuminated and twinkling! I think the lights should be left up all winter instead of just in December. 

January & February need a happy boost, don't you think?

And, of course, there's cookies.
How great is it to have a season devoted to making cookies?!
I might not be able to smell them baking, and I might not be able to fully taste their flavors (anosmia also has taken away my sense of taste - I can only discern sweet, salty, sour, bitter), but I have not lost the ability to experience their melt-in-your-mouth texture and sweetness! Cookies definitely help make the season more magical, don't you agree?

When I tell my smell loss story to anyone, I always add that I hope it reminds you to never take your sense of smell for granted. You probably don't realize how connected to the quality of your life it is. 

As you enjoy all that this season offers, I offer the reminder to pause and take a moment to appreciate the gift of scent whenever it presents itself, if you're lucky enough to have it.  

Appreciate your nose!
How's that for a Christmas message? :-)

I am, by nature, an introvert, and I am terrible at social media so it should come as no surprise to know that ever since I've been in business I have always had a hard time selling and promoting my stuff. Talk about a contradiction. I always miss out on profiting from the holiday seasons because I'm not out there pushing my stuff. My husband JP will remind me that it's not enough to just put it out there without letting people know that it's out there! Business savvy I am not, but that's mostly because I fear being pushy or, heaven forbid, annoying (hence the "non-annoying newsletter" thing), 

or that my stuff isn't good enough. 

However, sales of my photo art continue to do well and my other stuff is moving, too, without me pushing them on anyone and so I have to put aside my imposter syndrome and accept that people want the things that I make.

Therefore, without further adieu, I invite you to check out my online stores to peruse at your leisure!

Poor Girl Mercantile Online Shop

Land O' Make Believe Online Shop

Oh! Did I mention the t-shirts?  

You can click here for those!

Now that I am up and running again, I have many, many plans for new photo art and all the other things I produce in the new year.

That will include a new product line based on my photo art, such as greeting cards, notebooks, mugs, etc.  I'm very excited about branching off into more than just art prints.

Stay tuned for the launch of the new stuff!

(See? Not too pushy!)

Nothing makes me happier than giving stuff away.
I definitely believe that giving is way more fun than receiving and so I offer

to you a little something I put together that might 

be useful at this time of year.

Set of 3 Gift Tags featuring my most recent art: She Seeks Sanctuary

CLICK HERE to download

::: Tags print on 8.5 x 11 paper :::

Please let me know if you have any problems with downloading and 

I will do my best to help you out.

Note: downloaded print will not have watermark

I will be giving away something with each newsletter I send out!

Speaking of cookies, I'm sharing my late Polish aunt's recipe with you in time for holiday baking (Cioci is Polish for aunt, Bae was her nickname even before it became popular slang). 

These cookies are melt-in-your-mouth, flaky bundles of deliciousness.

You can substitute any filling you like if pineapple isn't your thing. The Solo brand makes a bunch of different flavors. You can find them in your grocery store's baking aisle.  

(If you click on the image, you can save it and print it out)

If you missed the post on my Photo Art Facebook page, here is my newest video, made for the season.

So that you don't miss out on future videos, you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel which would really make me happy.

(While I really love the above video, my best holiday video is the one I made in 2018.)

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter and reading through it.
I'm really looking forward to putting out more newsletters that I can fill with good stuff and freebies for you.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with whatever you most enjoy this time of year.

And remember, if and when you're traveling anywhere, try to plan for extra time so you can take the back roads.