and welcome to the new home of frecklewonder. we’ve been keeping this change under wraps for the past few weeks, while we worked on ironing out all the kinks. still doing some minor design changes, but i was getting antsy so here we are. you might notice that the blog’s address is the old shop address- and that the shop is over on etsy. and you are right! i haven’t made any concrete decisions on this being set in stone, but for now, i’m liking the way this works. one great thing about etsy is the ability to ship internationally- something that was always a sticky spot with how to handle international shipping costs in the shopping cart. in the few weeks that i’ve been selling on etsy, i’ve shipped packages to france, scotland, england, australia, and canada. and i’m so happy to be able to do so!

as far as the shop goes: when you visit the blog, you’ll be able to see when i’ve added new things to the etsy shop, thanks to that handy etsy plug-in right there on the top left. and if you want, you can even sign up to the RSS feed for the etsy shop. then you’d *really* be in the know!

i decided to move away from typepad because it just never really suited me. took me 3 years to get that figured out, but sometimes that’s just how i roll. i’m a little bit resistant to change when it comes to these sort of things- i’m known for plugging along even when something doesn’t make the best sense, or is sort of like sandpaper instead of silk- but i have a new motto this year: work smarter, not harder. and i feel like wordpress is the smart choice for me. so there you have it. silky smooth!

hopefully this big change for me isn’t really much of a big change for you, in that it won’t be throwing you for a loop or anything. but hopefully you’ll like some of the new things we’ve added to the blog, and you’ll find this sort of one-stop-situation kind of thing nice. i hope so.

you might also notice something brand new: ad buttons. i am really excited to offer some space to some of my favorite people on the web. it is my hope to share a brand new blog or shop with you readers and support some businesses and blogs that i really stand behind. i am still testing out these waters, and am not officially opening up space- but if you should be interested in this, please email me and we can chat it out. at some point, i will provide a more professional package with stats and all that stuff, but for now, i am still feeling out this new spot.

i really want to thank each and every one of you for coming back every day, or every other day, or whatever your reading schedule is. i do see the stats, and i’m amazed at how many of you make my little blog a destination in your day. i’m really appreciative of the friendships i’ve made, and i often wish we could organize some sort of lunch or cocktail party or something. cause that would be really fun.

and now for a picture. i thought i would share this little inside peek of what it’s like being super snowed in, and getting this new blog finished. that’s matt on the far side, tweaking all the code. and henry in the middle, eating piles of ice cream and watching scooby doo. and that empty spot is for me to edit photos, and write and snuggle up next to a tiny dog. and we are all in bed because our backs are so sore from shoveling 20+ inches of snow from our driveway this afternoon.