When I started this light version of the main blog, I was going to use it to highlight information about new products and contests and such but have decided to do something different with it.

This will be my gallery, of sorts, which will include my artwork for the Illustration Friday Challenges and I will also post photos from the online video series that I plan on making for the Cranberry Crafts store and photos featuring products in the store will also be posted here.

I may also post quotes from Twitter and other short (in other words, “light”) things of interest.

One exception to this change will be the Valentine’s Day FWB Survey Poll results that I still plan to post here. Since the Valentine’s Day Survey started here, there’s no need to move it, right?!!

This is the Nicki Minaj Cupcakes drawing that I did for Illustration Friday’s “Stir” topic. Her fashion sense was the inspiration for this drawing, which was done with Crayola crayons instead of the colored pencils that I usually work with. More about this drawing can be found at the main Cranberry Crafts Blog.

Should Friends with Benefits get Valentine’s Day gifts? This was the central question that inspired the Cranberry Crafts Valentine’s Day FWB Survey and the results are in. Share the link above on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and leave a comment here with your take on the matter, whether you took the survey or not!

After starting this Tumblr blog for the Cranberry Crafts store, I quickly realized that this website appears to be more appropriate for bite-sized posts or something of that nature to keep in tune with the whole microblogging aspect that Tumblr promotes.

Therefore, this Tumblr blog here will be used for quick announcements about the online store, its products and other little fun things while the main blog (which is currently being setup, so stay tuned for updates on that) will be used for longer posts, interviews, contests and stuff.

Also, the results of my Valentine’s Day FWB Poll will be posted soon. Some urgent issues that needed to be worked out delayed this, as I didn’t have much time to do a lot of blogging and compiling of poll data.

Have a great weekend everyone and remember to always strive to purchase items that were Made in the USA!

As Valentine’s Day soon approaches this year, its a wonder that the topic of gifting etiquette and gift-giving expectations where side action is concerned has not been discussed very often, if at all. By “side action,” I’m not talking about benched player tantrums or fan brawls at professional sporting events but rather referring to the extra relationships or romantic arrangements (or whatever you want to call them) that men and women are participating in these days.

Shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts can seem like a complicated task when several types of extra relationships that may warrant a Valentine’s gift or greeting are taken into consideration. These relationships include friends with benefits (FWB), mistresses, lovers, fuck buddies and maybe everything else in between……..which brings up an awkward question:

Should You Give Valentine’s Day Gifts to Friends with Benefits?

If you’re reading this and wondering why this issue is even being brought up, well, it’s because no matter how much people may want to sweep this under the rug or make attempts to act like cheating, betrayal and other matters of the heart do not exist, these behaviors are live and well (Just check the STD statistics, but I won’t digress) around the nation and throughout the world. Those that are hush-hush about it are probably the ones engaging in a little side action and those that are in denial are probably the ones who are in a threesome (or a full on orgy) and don’t even know it.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I welcome men and women who are single, dating or married to provide some insight into the subject of shopping for Valentine’s Day gifts for friends with benefits (and other types of side action but to keep things simple, I’m going to place everyone….mistresses, fuck buddies, lovers and whatever else tickles your fancy, all under the FWB title for the sake of this blog post).

One could argue that it may be cheaper to just go out with an FWB but that defeats the purpose of side action in the first place. Valentine’s Day is usually spent with the one that you love or at least the one that you are with (for those that are miserable) in an official, committed relationship or marriage. If you’re single, then Valentine’s Day is still usually spent with those who mean the most to you….people that you love (friends, family, etc.) and/or the most important Valentine….YOU!

Just thinking about Valentine’s Day gift giving for an FWB arrangement takes me into a state of mere confusion because even if there is a solution to the question above, how do you determine what is appropriate? R&B music singer The Dream made it obvious who plays what role when he oh-so casually declared “Half to my main girl, quarter to my side chick” in his song, “Love King” but where is the memo how much expectations FWB lovers should have, where they begin and where they end?

Since lovers (I don’t know a man that a wife cheats on her husband with is called so he’ll be put in the “lover” category of extramarital affairs) and mistresses often get top billing because these are sometimes long-term arrangements, maybe the buck (Valentine’s Day Gifts) stops there but friends with benefits and fuck buddies need love too, right? Or DO they?

To move things along, Cranberry Crafts is running a quick poll that is accompanied by the Cranberry Crafts Valentine’s Day FWB Survey Contest**!

Take the Poll Here

Enter for a Chance to Win an Amazon MP3 Song*!

*valued at $1.29 or less

**The Cranberry Crafts Valentine’s Day FWB Contest Ends on Friday, February 18, 2011 at 11:59 pm. One (1) winner will be randomly selected from all entries.

Stay tuned for supplemental posts in the next few days on the subject of Valentine’s Day gift giving amongst FWB arrangements!

The photo in this post features the Chocolate Bleeding Heart Soap made by The Soap Seduction. It retails for $5