Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Cold...Cold...Cold



I truly hate winter.  I will never understand how I ended up living my life in Upstate New York where if your lucky summer last's 3 months and the rest is just cold!  I guess fall is okay but each winter, which seems to last forever, bothers me more and more.  It is 13 degree's outside and I don't even want to get out of my pajamas because it is the only way I feel warm enough.  Oh well, we know I am not going anywhere, at least not for a very long time!
I did a lot of thoughtless stitching over the holiday time.  When I say thoughtless, I mean I did not set out to make a particular item.  Did not create with the thought in mind of Can I sell it?.  Thoughtless beading means I just grabbed a handful of supplies and started stitching.  Some times when I get back into a business frame of mind I rip my project apart because I just need those beads for a saleable item, or sometimes it is something I just keep for myself, usually just as a decoration.  My holiday beading created this amulet.  It is bigger than the impression you get from the picture.  I am so very pleased at what turned out of my playtime!  I have named it Ariels Treasure.  I am not one of those people who ordinarily name my pieces but this one just called out for a name!  I used one of my polymer clay cabs as a focal point on the front of the peyote stitched bag.  The seedbeads were a handful of different shades of blue left over from other projects that I was sort of at a loss for what to do with.  Strangely enough, adding them all together in random order just seemed to work for this bag.  I wanted really full fringing so went with branch fringing and used tons of fake pearls and blue glass chips to make it sparkle.  I just love it when mindless playtime produces something I love.  So now I must decide whether to hang it in my room or put it up for sale in my shop.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Happy New Year



How is the New Year starting out for everyone?  I am feeling okay because I made it through Christmas and New Years without completely falling apart.  No doubt this was a very emotional time for my dad and I.  Our first Christmas and our first New Year arrival without mom.  But it is now behind us and I think we have covered all the major "first" holiday's since we lost her.  I look forward to the next year coming up being just a little bit easier.  I doubt this pain will ever go away, my mom was truly my best friend, I am so totally lost without her.  But I do hope for more acceptance, I do pray it gets a little easier.  I hope to get to the point that when I think of her each day my thought brings a smile to my lips quicker than it brings the tears.  One day at a time.  I have not accomplished a whole lot over the last few weeks.  I get tired easy and the fact that everyday is the same makes for a bit of boredom which adds to the tiredness.  That said, I watch my dad decline just a little bit everyday.  Just little tiny things, things no one other than me would notice simply because I am here with him day in and day out. 
Now I have to settle in and start working again, and thinking.  I seriously need some new ideas, I need to get to the point where I am doing something that will begin bringing me in a regular income, even if it is small, it needs to have regularity.  I feel like I have spent hour after hour after hour on my Etsy shop this last year with no good results.  I tried Ebay once again, that really has changed so much it is never going to be a working venue for me.  So I have to continue thinking until some brilliant idea strikes!  If my crafty friends out here have come up with anything new that is working for you, I sure would like to hear about it.  I have looked at other selling sites and they just don't seem to be any different.  Time for innovation.  I have not given up hope of the brick and morter teaching shop but it seems I get just so close and something new gets thrown in my path so there is just no knowing when we will ever get there.  Well in the meantime I am making key rings this week and listing them in Etsy as I get them done.  Also working on a very elaborate Amulet bag that I am really having a good time with but have a lot more hours to invest in it until I can call it done!  Happy New Year, Happy Sunday, everyone have a great week!