Using It Up

Since the new year, there has been a lot of talk about not buying more crafting and art supplies until using up the huge mounds of things we already have. Then Mary at MaryRichmondDesigns asked for people to make things out of material they already had and blog about it today. Well, I have fabric. In fact I have three good sized bags of awesome fabric. It's leftover pieces from aprons and totes and pillows, and it's nice...really, really nice...and it was killing me to have it sitting on the shelf unused.

I had already started using some of it for my new fabric clocks. All three of these are made using leftover fabric. I did have to purchase other things to make the clocks, but at least the fabric is being used. Some of the pieces I had wouldn't work for the clocks, but I still wanted to use them up.

That's when I decided to start making the Itsy Bitsy Tote Bags. I showed you this one on Sunday. I don't know about you, but when I go to the store or to the mall, I do not take a big bag. I need my hands free so I can pick things up and look at them. You sure can't put your purse down anywhere or leave it in a shopping cart, so I prefer a small, lightweight bag that I can "wear".

Here is my second Itsy Bitsy. I had this fabric left from a regular sized tote bag I had made a while ago. I'm going to keep playing around and come up with some other styles, but I think it's a great way to use up fabric that is just sitting here.

Are you being run out of your workshop by bins and boxes and crates and drawers and closets that are overflowing with leftover supplies and materials that seem to multiply all on their own? What do you do when you have more leftover materials than you know what to do with?

Successful Sale

Last year I didn't run any type of holiday sale in my etsy shops, FourDogDay and MyOtherShop. I just really didn't feel it would make much difference for me since at that time, I didn't see my things as being "gifty".

This year I had some things that I thought would make nice gifts and decided to have a sale. I had some free shipping, some discounts and a couple of clearance sections. I have to say that I am pleased with the way things went. I certainly sold a lot more than I normally do, and I tend to think that the free shipping and discounts helped.

I ran the sale over Thanksgiving weekend and then left it in place. I will most likely end it this weekend.

I have so many things I will be changing in my shops over the winter that I am really raring to go. I know I will be offering aprons, tote bags and my clocks....but beyond that....I'm not really sure. It will be a surprise.....for you.....and ME!!

If you have an etsy shop...did you have a sale? If so, how did it go?

Make it an awesome day for yourselves and we will chat soon!

Back to Work

Wow....Sunday when I was nursing my two day headache, I decided I had to DO something. I am not the kind of person that can go lay down, or sit and watch T.V. I have to be doing something all the time.

I had fabric for two tote bags that I was going to make for FourDogDay about a month ago, along with three Christmas aprons...and none of it ever got done. So I pulled out the fabric for the totes and went through all of the new patterns I have bought and found a GREAT tote bag pattern...the kind that ties at the shoulder...and started cutting them out. I think they are going to be really cute, and I might actually allow myself to keep one of them!! I would love to take a picture and show you, but I left my bag with my camera in it at work!

Irv and I also worked on my secret project too. (It really isn't very secret....I got it from a magazine!) I am waiting for some parts that should arrive this week and then I will finish it and show it to you. It is so darn cool! This one is for my living room....if it looks good....I'll make some for FourDogDay.

Well, that is it for today. Short and sweet. Gotta get ready for work. Make it an awesome day!

Craft Show Calamity

Irv and I were on our way to the craft show and my main focus was on how I was going to set up my booth. We weren't taking my big set up. The show was only five hours long. We were going to use the bookshelf, a clothes rack, a coat rack and the two tables they were providing. I was trying to figure out how to arrange everything in my 10 by 10 space. Irv was in the truck in front of me as we made our way to Hoffman Estates.

We arrived, loaded up the cart and made our way in. A nice lady greeted us at the door, checked us in and lead us into the gym. As we entered the gym, I quickly looked around and thought, "Uh oh!" Really, the words I thought were more like WTF???

The booths, were not booths at all....they were spaces with 2 tables and 2 chairs. I looked at the lady and said, "These aren't 10 by 10 booths." "Oh, I know, we ended up with SO many people....we were here late last night trying to figure it out and this is the best we could do."

THE BEST THEY COULD DO?? How do you advertise a 10 by 10 spot and have people pay...thinking they are getting a 10 by 10 spot, and bring things that can only be accommodated by a 10 by 10 spot and then give them a 6 by 8 spot???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

Okay, calm down Kathy. There has to be a way to make this work. They did their best. It's a tough job. This is the school where Irv works. Be nice. Breathe, breathe, breathe.....all Irv could say was, "I told you there was no way they could fit over 40 crafters with 10 by 10 spaces in this gym."

He had said that, but I told him they couldn't sell you a 10 by 10 spot and then not give you a 10 by 10 spot....silly Irv! HAHA!

The best they could do was to move me to a corner near one of the back doors and the bleachers.

It allowed me to set up the rack with my aprons and the bookshelf with my cake stands in a little indentation by the door. We were all packed in like sardines and most people were not happy.

There was no where to go with the coat rack with my tote bags on it. It ended up in back of the tables with me and no one even noticed them....in fact, you couldn't even tell who they belonged to! Can you see how much space there is between my tables and the tables behind me? Our chairs almost touched. It was NOT very comfy.

The lady kept apologizing and I kept telling her that we would make it work, and make it work we did. Everyone was practically bumping into the person in the booth behind them, and for someone like me that isn't into small talk...it was a long day. The girl behind me was nice, but I know more about her life and her family than I ever wanted to. :)

The day was long and the customers were not in abundance. It was 72 degrees and gorgeous outside and that is where most people understandably wanted to be. After all this is November in Illinois and those kind of days are a rarity for sure.

I had a sale here and there and over the course of the five hours had sold enough coasters, aprons and light switch covers to pay my fee and make as much as I have at any of the big expensive two-day shows that I've done so far. I didn't make a ton, but it was a descent show.

As a craft show novice, I always try to learn something from each show I do. This weekend I learned to "expect the unexpected" for sure, and that the small shows may not have the crowds that the big shows have, but the fees are a fraction of the big shows. When you tally it all up at the end of the day....those 5 hours could end up being more profitable than the 15 hours you spent at the big show. Something to think about for next season.

I am done with shows for this year. With this being my first craft show season, I did two in the spring and three this fall. Next year I will choose carefully and do shows closer to the holidays. The ones I did this fall were way too early in the season. Maybe I'll do one early and a couple later. We'll see.

I have so much to do now. I have a ton of things to photograph and list in MyOtherShop on etsy. I didn't sell a single brooch or wine bag at the show! Go figure! I am off on Wednesday this week and have a HUGE photo shoot planned. Be watching for the brooches, wine bags and holiday coasters soon after! Have a great week everyone.

Off And Running

Today is the little craft show. We have to leave at 6:15 a.m. so we can be setting up at 7:00. The doors open at 9:00. I really don't know what to expect. This is the type of event where people stroll over to the "market" in the gym after church. Not sure how many will stroll over...it's suppose to be 70 again today. That isn't usually a good thing for craft shows, but we will see.

My 10 by 10 space will have two provided tables and then I am bringing my book shelf, a clothes rack and a coat rack. I am bringing a bunch of stuff from MyOtherShop like small cake stands, all of my coasters, light switch covers, pin cushions, ornaments, aprons, tote bags, my brooches and my new wine bags. Something for everyone and hopefully there will be lots of everyones!! :)

I will post tonight when we get home if I can and let you know how it went. Enjoy your Sunday and I will chat with you soon.

Creative Countdown

I am SOOOO ready to be done making things that I feel I NEED to make, so that I can start making things that I really WANT to make again. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE what I do, but I seem to be in this rut of making things that I think I should be making rather than the things I love to make. I am counting the days.....

Right now I am making some Christmas ornaments I really don't feel like making. It's just a silly little mouse in a walnut shell. It's darling, but it's tiny and it's hard to work with and I am really just don't feel like making them at all. Therefore, I'm not going to!

Wow! I feel better already. Liberation is awesome!

I bought some great fabric to make wine bags and that is what I really want to be making right now....but I can't because I need a wine bottle to make the pattern. Irv is picking some up for me from Michael and Bern tomorrow. Then I can start those. I would like to make about eight of them for the upcoming show.

The holiday coasters are drying, and the cork is cut. I'll put them together in a couple of days and they will be ready to go too. I have fabric to make a few holiday aprons.......that is on the list for this weekend.

I have totally neglected my shops since spring, and I have a ton of work to do this winter with both FourDogDay and MyOtherShop. I am so off track since deciding to do craft shows that I am actually looking forward to cleaning up and reworking my shops. Throwing around some ideas....just not sure what direction to go.

Do you have any special plans for your etsy shop if you have one? Any creative ideas you just can't wait to get started on? Please share.

Monday, Monday...So Good To Me.....

Happy Monday! Thanks to Christopher Columbus...I am off today! Bless his little exploring heart!

Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day. We went grocery shopping and on the way I got a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks and then stopped and picked up a Pumpkin Bagel from Einsteins. Mmmmmmm....good!!

After not shopping last weekend because of the craft show, I really expected to fork out about $230 at the checkout, especially since our cart was overflowing....but we got off easy at $176!! I never thought I would say $176 was good, but we didn't shop last week so that is really good!

We had to listen to a young female...I won't even call her a woman...because it would be insulting to the word...it's hard enough to call her a female....yell and scream across the store from our checkout to her husband or boyfriend that he got the wrong macaroni and that she told him to send back $2.00 with one of the little kids and not $1.00...when everyone in the friggin' store heard her yell $1.00.

She snapped at the kids for nothing. She was the rudest most obnoxious young "thing" I think I have ever seen, and the fact that she had three darling little kids made me physically ill.

I get very uncomfortable when people are rude to other people and degrade them, and she did one heck of a job. I came so close to telling her to zip it up. I wanted to ask the guy if he was married to her and if he said yes, I was going to tell him how sorry I was. It took me a while on the ride home to get the whole scene out of my head....but I finally did.

The rest of my day was awesome. I took another 180 photos of things for MyOtherShop. This time it was aprons and tote bags. What a job it is when you are so behind....

The pins and the coasters in the photos are already listed, the aprons and totes will get listed today....I hope! I will be SO happy when I am caught up!

Did I tell you Irv wants another dog? We'll talk about that another day......

Super, Super Saturday

What a great day I had yesterday. I went to Walmart to pick up poster board and foam board for the Halloween costumes for work. Next stop was Hobby Lobby for some pin clasps for my new pins and some holiday paper for coasters. From there it was over to Hancock Fabrics to take advantage of their big pattern sale. I got 12 patterns for a buck each! I love those sales!

Next I headed over to the two resale shops. I didn't find much there today...just a couple of plates for cake stands and some neat candlesticks.

Then I stopped at a garage sale in our neighborhood. I didn't find anything for my shops, but I found some awesome stuff for ME!!! I love old wood picture frames. I like to sand them and paint them and use them. I found a couple of those, a very old little standing mirror frame...missing the mirror, a very rusty old metal candle holder for outside on the deck, and couple of cute little candle holders that I will probably make soap dishes with AND I got 2 wicker chairs and a little table to go with them. The grand total....$17.75!!!


Irv is going to paint the wicker pieces next spring for the deck and I'm going to make some cute cushions for them. The picture frames and mirror stand I'll work on during the winter.

When I got home I took over 250 photographs of items I made during the summer and had not had time to list in MyOtherShop yet. I will be on a listing frenzy for a while. I still have to photograph the totes and aprons and I hope to do that today.

It was a super Saturday! Hope you all have an awesome Sunday!

Craft Show 101

I had Matt on my mind yesterday, but I did have a few things to tell you about the craft show this weekend.

My location was pretty good. It will be a while before I earn my way into the prime rows, but we were in the middle on an aisle and it worked out well, except for an hour or so each afternoon when the sun blasted in the skylights right on my check out table! We joked around about it just being my "heavenly glow", but it was seriously blinding at times.

Instead of the "teaser table" I had out front at the other show, Irv added awesome shelves to one side of the front of the booth and they worked beautifully. I had a couple of cake stands, some coasters and some light switch covers on them and people would stop, look at those things and come in. It was great!

I did learn a couple more very important things. One is that signs are a must. I kept thinking they would look like clutter, but when I was busy talking to someone and another person looked interested in something....even though I couldn't talk to the second person right then....a cute sign with the right words....spelled correctly would have worked. So, Saturday night I made some cute signs and put them around the booth with little bits of info about my totes, the aprons and the coasters. People actually read them! I did them on the computer on card stock and accented with scrapbook paper. Easy, inexpensive and useful!

The other BIG thing I learned is that even though I am not a seasonal decorating or dressing type person...hundreds of people are. I saw so many people walking around with Halloween and Thanksgiving stuff. It's not my thing, but that doesn't really matter. I must learn to please the masses. So, on that note, I will be making some holiday themed coasters and aprons for my shop and for the little tiny show we are doing at the church/school where Irv works. We'll see how it goes.

Here is a funny for you....this was my fourth show. At shows one through three, my cakestands were by far my best seller. I had decided that I probably wouldn't make any more light switch covers or coasters because they just don't sell. HAHA! Guess what sold the most at this show? Of course, coasters and light switch covers. So, what do I know?

Craft shows are a whole lot more than I ever thought they were. They are like a little business venture of their own. I am having fun, I'm learning, I'm meeting so many wonderful people...customers and other vendors and I can see where with time, this could become a nice way to supplement our income.

Oh, I have to say hi to my sister Karen in Tennessee who informed me yesterday that she reads my blog every day. I never knew that. So, hi Karen! Love you!

Now I need to go make some Christmas coasters! Chat with you soon!

I LOVE the Weekends!!!!!

I was SO looking forward to this three day weekend!! Today I will be locked away in my workshop, music blasting, window open....as I finish up a custom order for two vendor aprons, make a ton more ornaments and experiment with some different pins. I want to make some out of cotton for people that live in warmer climates that don't need or want a brooch made out of wool, and Angela from Pickles on Pizza sent me an awesome "how to" for a really neat one!

Included are some pictures of some of the new things from MyOtherShop.

Hobby Horse Ornament

I might throw in some laundry and do a little house cleaning if I feel like it.

On Sunday we are having dinner at Michael and Bernadette's house with Tresa and Chris. I haven't seen the house in a few weeks and since then they have done some landscaping, got their new appliances, painted the kitchen, refinished the cabinets and I'm not sure what else. They have been really busy working on their first house and I'm sure it looks awesome!

New Ivory Brooch

Monday is a holiday in my school district. It is Yom Kippur and even though I am not Jewish....many of our students, teachers and office staff are, so it is a holiday for us and I happily accept any and all holidays they want to give me!

Monday I will finish what I don't finish today....music blasting, window open etc. etc. etc.

New Brown Brooch

I am looking forward to this weekend of family and fun!! I hope your weekend plans include some fun too.

It's here! Chee Hoo!

Well today is Friday. Irv and I are both working a 1/2 day so we can set up our booth for the craft show this afternoon rather than on Saturday morning. I know this was a wise move for us. Michael was so sweet and took a 1/2 day off to come and help us set up, and then Bernadette is working the booth with us on Saturday and Tresa on Sunday. It's so nice to have the support of your family. :)

The truck will be piled high with the walls for the booth, all of the shelves and Irv's tools.

My little Prius will be jam packed with the little check out "table", three bins of cake stands, three huge bags of pillows, aprons, tote bags, coasters, light switch covers, bags, credit card payment stuff, my signs, my props, ruffles, skirting and me!!

We plan to arrive there around 3:30 this afternoon. If we aren't there all night setting things up, I will check in when we get home and let you know how it went and post a picture of my booth with all of my stuff in it. If you don't hear from me tonight, then you can assume set up didn't go according to plan.

Have an awesome day today and if I don't chat with you again tonight, I will pop in when we get home Saturday if I'm not too tired!

The Girls

Irv has been working so hard on the hangers to display my aprons at the craft show next weekend. It was a lot of work to cut them out, sand them, paint them and attach a piece of wood to the back to attach the rope to....but he got them done this week!

Once he finished his part, I grabbed a bunch of markers from the drawer, drew a template for the eyes and lips and went to work. It's not really easy trying to color with regular little markers on painted wood, but I am more than thrilled with the results.

Meet the girls!

I think I will start watching at garage sales this fall for some really big long dangling earrings for the girls. I think that would be a great touch! What do you think?

The Vision Takes Shape!

It's not quite done, but I just couldn't wait to show you. I'll show you again when I have the skirting for the lower shelves and the ruffles for the upper shelves done. This is just the most awesome craft show booth ever! I can't believe that Irv was able to take MY vision and MY sketches and create from scratch EXACTLY what I wanted!!

I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing because it is still taking up our entire one car garage. We will be taking it apart and setting it up in the driveway next weekend for a trial run, and I'll get some other pictures then. So, for now, you get it in sections.

The three big shelves on the right are for my pillows. I plan to skirt the bottom shelf for some color and so we can shove some of our bins under it. The four corner shelves are for cake stands. I am thinking I might make little ruffles for the fronts of all of the shelves. There is enough room between the pillows and cake stands for cute little hooks of some kind to hang part of my totes on.

The empty section on the back wall will be where the aprons will be hanging on these funky wood heads/bodies that we are going to make, but haven't made yet. Then we have four more corner shelves for more cake stands.

The big shelf on the left side will be for the coasters and I will skirt that one too, and then it's a little hard to see them, but there are three skinny shelves above the big shelf and that is where all of my light switch covers will go. I am really excited that they will be standing upright facing people rather than laying on a table. It also has two little front sections where I will be able to "showcase" an apron and a couple of tote bags so people can see them as they stroll by.

Remember that cute little sewing machine cabinet I "removed" from our neighbors garbage? That will be my check out table....there isn't much room for anything else. This show only gives you an 8 x 10 spot, and that isn't much in the grand scheme of things. The cabinet is being painted white right now. It will be skirted on three sides and I'll keep my bags and things under it.

So I am sending out a gigantic CHEE HOO to my wonderful husband Irv for all of his hard work on this project....and even if I don't sell one thing...I will have the best looking booth at the show...but that better not happen or I will be in BIG trouble!!

Oh, and just so you don't think that Irv is some kind of God or something...I was teasing him yesterday and he told me that if I kept it up, he wouldn't finish the booth and he would just hand me the keys to the truck on the day of the show and I would have to figure out how to set it up myself! The nerve of the guy!

Slow Down...You're Moving Too Fast

Irv came into my workshop last night and asked, "Are you okay? You don't seem to be very into all of this anymore."

"I'm fine. I just have a nasty headache," was my answer.

"All of this" meant my crafting and our upcoming craft shows, and my answer was an honest one. I did have a headache, but his question did make me realize that it's time to slow down a bit.

I have been working at warp speed since April when I was accepted into my first show. About that time I started working with fabric and my entire focus changed. That has meant working every evening and every weekend to get enough items to have a nice variety at my shows. It probably wasn't good timing on my part, but it is what it is.

I am excited about the two indoor shows and my new display...which Irv almost has done...and the prospect of seeing how my aprons and tote bags are received, BUT I have to admit that I am definitely looking forward to the shows being done....because I want my life back! HAHA!

I have a really hard time enjoying what I am doing when I have to work every minute of every day on it, and when I have a deadline. It will be so nice to be able to exhale.

I have also not touched my etsy shops in ages. I'm finding it difficult to prepare for the shows and keep up with listing new items. I am renewing as needed, but haven't listed anything new.

So, my plan is to make what I can without causing myself to have a mini meltdown, and just go with the flow until after the shows. My shops are doing okay, I have made some awesome aprons and totes and all will be well. The pictures are some of my new things.

What do you do when you have too much to do and not enough time to get it done....I'm thinking chocolate just might help!

The Business of Being In Business

Gee, I have had 3 sales in 9 days....that is very unusual for me. The funny thing is that once again I have been totally absorbed in preparing for the September craft show, and the only etsy thing I am doing is making sure that I renew things that are about to expire. That's it.

I sold a photo note card and a photo from FourDogDay and little planter from MyOtherShop. I would show you pictures of what I sold, but for some reason blogger won't let me upload any at this time......UGH!

When I think about my etsy sales, I certainly wouldn't mind more, but for someone that works a full time job and does this evenings and weekends, I think I am doing okay. I have sold things to family and friends and the transactions didn't take place through etsy, and I have had sales at the two craft shows I've done...so all things considered...I am pleased with where I am at.

I know I am a much happier person now than I was before I started my business. It has filled a tremendous void for me. I didn't realize how much I missed crafting until I started doing it again. Now, I don't know what I would do without it.

I said before that I have tried so many different things from the cards, and jewelry to decoupage and now to the aprons and totes....and it isn't that I am indecisive...it's that I haven't found my niche yet...although I think I am getting close. I am finding the most satisfaction with the aprons and tote bags and can't wait to make some place mats and napkins. It's the fabric thing....I really have a thing for fabric. :)

I don't worry any more about how much money I am or am not making....it's all about what it brings to me on a personal level....my goal is to have my crafting supplement social security when I retire...so I have plenty of time to grow my business as I find my way.

If you have your own business, how long have you had it? What expectations did you have when you started? Have they changed? What does owning your own business mean to you?

Super Shopping Day!

Happy Weekend!!! Chee Hoo to everyone!

I only have a few minutes this morning. It's almost 11:00 and I haven't even started sewing yet. I have been to Menards to pick wood for the shelves for the craft show booth....which is turning out AWESOME. Irv has the walls done and now we are trying to design the placement of the shelves. I'll post pictures when we get some of them in.

After Menards I went to Hancock Fabric. They are having a big sale so I thought I would see what I could find. Got some awesome denim and corduroy fabric for two new totes and a great looking fall print for another.

Here is the denim I bought. It has embroidered flowers all over it. I bought a tiny floral print to line the bag. I think this one is going to be darling!

I loved this striped fabric. It's hard to see the colors in the picture, but they are very autumn looking. I think the gold paisley will look great as a lining. This bag will have wood handles.

I thought this 60's look floral corduroy was so neat. I would love this one for myself....but like I said before...that is against the rules. Then....get this....they had all of their Simplicity patterns on sale for ONE DOLLAR EACH!!!! No, I am not kidding. I could have sat there all day! I bought 2 great apron patterns....one is a wraparound and the other is vintage look aprons! So darn cute. Then I got one for some new pillows, a really cute tote bag one, one for make up bags and then one for kitchen accessories like place mats, napkins and stuff. I will use the apron and tote bag ones now and the rest will be for when I have time....but what a HUGE SCORE!!! I would not have bought ANY right now at the regular price, but I couldn't pass this up. Normally the six I bought would have been $85.00!!! That's how good of a deal this was! I paid $6.00!!!


So, I am off to get this house picked up. Irv is over at Michael and Bern's house hooking up new appliances today so I'm on my own for the day. Hopefully I will get a lot done. Make it a super day for yourselves and I'll chat with you tomorrow!!

Introducing......

a few of my new tote bags!!! Tah Dah!!! Pardon the pictures. I just hung them wherever I could snap a picture of them and they need their final pressing. For the show, I will stuff some tissue in them so they display nicely.

I love fabric. I love the colors and the patterns. At times I struggle with certain aspects of sewing, but I am learning. I never took a sewing class, so I sometimes have to work really hard to perfect things that other people probably breeze right through. I had trouble with a couple of spots on two of the totes and I was ready to throw them in the garbage, but I stuck with it and finally got them to where I am comfortable taking them to the craft show.

I don't think I am going to put these in my etsy shop. I really want them for the show and I'm not sure how many I will be able to get done. I still have more aprons to make too!

The first one I made is a little zebra print with webbing straps. This one would be perfect for carrying my "junk" to work every day or for a trip to the grocery store. I'm working on another one like this one in an amazing green paisley print! I know I am going to want to keep that one, but that it against the rules.

This brown one is one of my favorite fabrics and this bag gave me such a hard time. It's huge and would be awesome for a trip to the beach or as an overnight bag. Although I do know people that carry around bags this size everyday.....I don't. I am a small bag or a no bag kind of girl.

The last one is so darn cute. I made a couple of pillows out of this fabric and loved it. It's a tan and maroon floral with wooden dowels for handles! I really like this bag a lot.

I was looking through a magazine last night and found some pillows that are just the most fabulous things. I am already gathering what I need to make some of those before the show.....maybe I should take a leave of absence from my full time job so I can get all of this stuff done for the show. Think they would go for that? HA!

Crossroads....continued

Thank you so much everyone for the great comments and suggestions yesterday. I really appreciate it. Just to clarify something though....I am very happy with where FourDogDay and MyOtherShop are as far as sales go, and my two shows have both made a small profit. My concern isn't about lack of sales...of course I would love more, but that isn't my issue. It takes a long time to grow a successful business and that will come eventually. Right now I am still finding my way, and THAT is my issue. I'm not sure which way "my way" is.

I don't intend to rip my shops apart. I love my shops. What I need to do is decide on a "theme" for each shop...then make things I enjoy making that people want to buy....and all will be well in the world.

Yesterday I took my daughter's marketing tip and I repriced every item in both of my shops. It was quite a task. She suggested I get away from the $5, $10, $15 prices and even the $6, $12, and $16 etc. She said to stay under that number that takes you into the next price "bracket" whenever possible. I will be interested to see if it makes any difference.

I thought about all of this a lot last night and I realized that the answers will all come in their own time if I just stop concerning myself with the past, and I stop questioning the future. I can't do anything about either one of them.

What I plan to do is to keep making aprons, start making totes, reusable lunch and snack bags and then continue to work on the other things I enjoy the most or that attract the most attention. That would be my cake stands, the light switch covers, and I have some ideas for some really cute pillows.

I can only control this very moment in time, so at this very moment, I am going to go finish a really cute apron I started!

Chat with you soon and thanks again...you are all so awesome!

Chee Hoo!

Crossroads......help!!

I have spent a great deal of time lately thinking about what direction I want to go with my etsy shops. I started with cards and photos, dabbled in upcycled jewelry, added journals, and gift tags, started making cake stands, then wood and paper decor, then coasters and light switch plates, now aprons and soon tote bags and reusable lunch bags......

So, now what?

The cards don't really sell and I don't find them very rewarding to make. I could lower the price on them and see what happens. I charge $5.00 for them, but then by the time you add the shipping, that' a pretty pricey card. It's a nice card, but I don't think people want to pay that much for a card.

I might discontinue my cards and only carry the photos in FourDogDay. Our photos are not "fine art" prints...they aren't signed...they are just neat every day snapshots taken by untrained people that like to take pictures. We don't sell a lot of them, but I do love them.

MyOtherShop is starting to look like FourDogDay use to look, and I'm not happy with it. Too many unrelated things packed into one shop, but I am not opening another shop. I could have FourDogDay be things for the house, and MyOtherShop be things for you....but that wouldn't be until after I run out of business cards...and that will be a while. :)

I'm thinking about not making any more wood and paper stuff. Not a big seller on etsy or at the two shows I've done. It's fun to do, but it isn't "the thing" for me.

That would leave cake stands which I really enjoy. I love looking for old plates and would like to start finding more unusual things to use besides candlesticks for the base. People seem to like them and I enjoy making them.

My coasters are so darn cute, but I have sold so few. They are heavy and expensive to ship, but even at the craft shows they get looked at a lot, but they don't get bought very often. I priced them lower at the shows than in my shop and only sold a couple sets on Saturday. Any idea why that might be? Not sure what to do about them. Could I live without them....yes...but they do attract attention at the shows.

The light switch covers are a pain to make, but they are cute and people seem to like them. I don't sell many on etsy, but at the shows they also attract a lot of attention. I am thinking about expanding on those and making some double ones and some other styles. A number of people said they wanted one but they needed a double one, or a push button one. I did give them cards and told them to contact me and I can make whatever they want. Not sure if they will, but that was an indication to me that I need to expand that line.

I am really enjoying sewing and I think that is the direction I am leaning, but if I am going to continue with the aprons and add the tote bags and things I will eventually need a new machine.

I am at a crossroad right now and haven't quite decided what direction I am going to go. I know for a fact that I will be crafting forever...now I just have to decide what to craft and what not to craft.

I know it's all a matter of what I love to do, but what if I love to do a lot or what if I don't know what I love the most? Then what?

Have you ever hit that place? What did you do? I am open to any and all suggestions.....