Making time for it all

Perhaps you could tell by my last post, that I was a wee bit stressed out! 

No one has commented, but I see lots of visits ... sometimes it sure feels lonely out there in the blogging world!

Alas, I'm moving forward.  I did manage to get things in check .. Now I am working on making shorter to do lists.  I feel like I actually get more accomplished when the list is shorter ... when the list seems more doable, and less overwhelming.

It is Sunday, and part of me feels like it should be a day of rest.  The realistic part of me knows that I can't just veg on the couch under a blanket ... so I've battled the overgrown parsley (I had no idea how HUGE the roots get on parsley!) ... tidied up the flower bed, fixed lunch, cleaned the kitchen, caught up on laundry, and now I vacuum ... After that, I shall prepare for a week of work.

I am actually looking forward to a week of work.  Seems like I haven't had much of that since Christmas ... and here we are a month past Christmas! 

Hopefully my next entry will be about fabric, magnets, and all of those wonderful things!  Housework is pretty boring!

Loving What You Do

I was recently challenged to evaluate my business based on the tasks that make me happy, as well as the tasks that I am really good at.  It is one of those things that is based on the idea that you should spend the large majority of your time doing things that you love and things that you are good at ... and that really shouldn't always include the things that you are good at that you hate.

So, I started writing down each thing that I do ... and I was a little horrified that I really wasn't writing that I enjoyed doing a lot of the things that I was doing.  However, I love my job ... so something wasn't making sense!

I started to look at the things on my list ... like cutting metal, cutting boards, cutting fabric, ironing fabric ... you get the idea.  And really I don't love most of these things ... especially the ironing!  However, when I get finished making a magnet board, I can honestly say that I LOVE making magnet boards!  The finished product is beautiful!

I also don't really like wrapping things in plastic, securing them with bubble wrap, packing and taping boxes ... But the satisfaction that I get when I put that shipping label on packages is hard to explain.

By the end of this exercise I was really concerned ... wondering if this business that I have poured my heart and soul into was completely wrong for me!

After fretting over this for a couple weeks and then getting completely distracted by some fabulous new product ideas that I have come up with, it occurred to me that I love the process of what I do ... I love my work as a whole, not the individual parts.  It is the mix of the things that I do almost everyday that keeps me coming back to do more.  It is the fact that I never have to sit and do one mundane task over and over that makes work something I am passionate about.  It is the finished product, knowing that I did all of those steps and ended up with something fabulous. 

It is work ... and I LOVE it!

Because I am a hand maker and not a hand model

In response to recent happenings, I have decided to show you a picture of my hands.  I actually did pick up the nail file a couple days ago, but these are un-manicured hands.  Un-kept if you will.  These are the hands of a hand maker.  I am a hand-maker.  You may notice some scars, paint on fingers, saw dust under my nails making them appear yellow, the missing diamond in my wedding band that was a casulty of work, and the cuticles that are in need of attention.  However, these hands make beautiful creations.  Creations that I pride myself in making.  Hands that remind me of my mother, my grandmother, and my granny.  Hands that hurt sometimes from the early onset of arthritis.

I hope you will see the beauty in these un-manicured hands.

Toot the Horn Tuesday

So, I am sitting here trying to clear my head enough to figure out what I am going to toot the horn about. Life just seems to be moving at whirlwind speed right now - the house is kinda crazy, business is busy (yay!!), the kids are all ready to be outside now that spring is springing, hubby has found new inspiration to get projects started around here, and I am a little stressed and a lot dragging.

I know that I am dragging some because of seasonal allergies - ugh, the pollen is thick! But my brain has been so busy with ideas and todo's lately that I just can't seem to slow it down.

So, I am going to toot my own horn for once. Even though things have been in warp speed I have managed to stay on task with getting some of my newest creations underway. I started listing some of my office line, and I am finishing up more accessories that match them this week. I also was featured on this really cool online magazine Outblush.com - you can see my cool feature here.

I am in the process of finishing my new line and writing a press release for when it is ready to fully launch.

I have also been trying to update my main website.

Ahhh, I am hoping to sleep in sometime this weekend!!

Go ahead - toot your horn too!!

Thankful Thursday!!

This is my first ever Thankful Thursday, and I have to say how excited I am!!! There are so many things that I am thankful for, but to start off with, I must say that I am thankful for my husband.

I could thank him a million times for working so hard so that I can be at home taking care of the kids and house, and getting to make fun stuff all of the time. However, I also have to thank him for listening to me babble on about Etsy, and all of the boring promo stuff, and recently the CPSIA! But the list doesn’t stop there. I also should thank him for putting up with the messes in the house when I am too busy to get everything done, and helping me cut wood when I need his help even though it is his only night at home. I should thank him for taking care of the boys while I go to craft shows. I should thank him for helping me build an amazing workshop for me even though he would like to build one for himself first. I should thank him for eating leftovers, taking us out to eat, or a dinner of sandwiches when I have been too busy to make dinner.

But most of all I thank him for loving me in spite of all of my faults!