Whimsical Wednesday: Girls in progress

As mentioned the other day, I took one night last week to sketch out some new girls while watching American Idol (I’m a dork) and came up with these 3 curly girls…as you can see, they are mostly in sketch mode still but the one in the foreground as least has a background and a dress…now for some arms…yeah, I forgot to include those!  (I told you it’s been a while since I sketched!)

A couple weeks ago I did some finishing touches on my latest sisterhood/friendship piece but still feel like it needs some work…words on the dress, something else in the background?  This is a 16×20 so it’s pretty apparent that there’s some empty space going on, so I still have yet to figure it out!

This is a piece I created a while ago, but never quite finished it, so here it is complete…now I have to scan it 6 different ways as it’s also a 16×20 and my scanner is much smaller.  Then piece it together, edit, then take more photos, then list…I tell you, so much more than just painting pieces in this business!

Remember that pile of paper pieces all over the couch and floor from the mayhem of last week?  Well I finally cleaned up…

But as usual, the dining room table took the brunt of all my projects in the process of being worked on, touched up or photographed.  A clear dining room table is reserved strictly for when company comes over and that’s a rare thing!

I haven’t been able to do any painting/creative work this week and not sure I will be able to.  I forgot how much extra work it is to hold down the “fort” and 3 ADD dogs without help, so days have been spent working to fill orders; nights are cleaning, laundry, dishes and more work.  I’m looking forward to when David gets back on Friday and think I just might put my shop on hold for a couple days just to reconnect with him and take a breather.

I have more pieces I’ve worked on, but I’m still sticking it out with licensing and need to keep most of my non-girl stuff under wraps for a bit.  But I’ll still try to provide glimpses of work each week.  Thanks for stopping by and take a peek!

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Winding down

I’ve been running non-stop since last weekend when I received all those wholesale orders.  It’s great making in a week what you typically make in a month, but it’s tough on the body!  Not complaining though, very grateful for the business!  I’ve calculated that in the past 10 days I’ve made:

• 785 cards
• 50+ postcards
• 100+ magnets
• a host of bookmarks, journals, gift tags and prints and
• cut out/punched out over 2,000 stickers

Lots of times people ask me if I can refer them to the place where I have my stickers made or my cards printed as they don’t know I make everything step by step in my shop.  From the printing, to the card folding/cutting, to the assembly of just about everything (save for journals which I outsource as it would require a whole new set of tools that aren’t in my best interest to invest in).  Sure I could outsource the rest of my goods, but I enjoy the handmade process and it allows me to offer my goods at a lower price than if I had to pay to have everything pre-assembled. Perhaps I may have to re-evaluate that down the road but for now, it works.

I worked day and night to finish these orders, left a heck of a literal (not figurative) paper trail around the house (as evidenced by some of the above photo) and my wrists are a bit worse for the wear (I suffer from pretty bad carpal tunnel syndrome) but it was exhilarating to have a steady flow of business.  I actually took Sunday off and hung out in bed (with computer on lap of course!) until 2pm and it was so refueling to have a day off!

David had to leave for an emergency trip last week to see family so while I miss him terribly and worry about the issues he’s having to deal with, having no distractions (save for the dogs) has helped me power through the last bit of my orders.  When he’s here, he really helps (requires?) me to stay balanced and close up shop around dinner (though truthfully he knew how extreme my schedule was this past week and let me work at night) but knowing that I could make myself a quick snack for dinner and head back into my studio to keep working and not feel guilty about not spending family time helped me finish up.

As you know, I like to cook meals from scratch, but this last week meant dinner was whatever was quick and easy…so cereal, chips, even wine and chocolate were common meals.  So not ideal, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

I did take one night last week to sketch out some girls, something I haven’t done in over a month and gosh it felt so good to do it again.  I’ll share some of those and other mixed media pieces I’m working on for this week’s Whimsical Wednesday, so check back if you’re interested.

I forgot to mention that prior to all this busy-ness, I made the decision to reopen my goodies shop and sell a limited line of vintage-inspired eco-friendly stickers and gift tags, so if you’re curious, come check it out!

Although it adds to my plate, I had missed paper-crafting so by limiting my offerings from 200+ assorted items to a few dozens stickers and tags (and eliminating anything I didn’t enjoy making), I feel this will be doable and help me keep crafting when I feel like I’ve turned into a card-making assembly line.

Finally, I’ve decided to cut back on the daily photos for the blog, but I’ll be sure to keep injecting them here and there and throughout my posts as I’m a very visual person and know many of you are too.  So with that, I’ll close with a nature photo (but know there will be many more to come, just not as frequently!)

Arches National Park

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Photos: A Poll

Alright, so I’ve been posting daily photos to my blog for a little over a month now and I’m curious to know:

• should I continue to do these daily?
• should I go back to just doing once a week (i.e. Photo Mondays)?

I was loving doing these in the beginning and appreciated having something new on my blog when my personal content was light, but now I’m feeling like this is turning into a photo blog and don’t want to annoy those of you who come here for the personal content.

Feedback.  Start.  Now.

Thanks!

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Daily Zen: Garden of the Gods

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Daily Zen: Happy Ladybug

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Daily Zen: Freezing fog

This is the view off our back deck taken a couple years ago after we woke up to freezing fog.  It’s a phenomenon I’ve never experienced prior to moving to Colorado but it’s when super chilled fog rolls in and clings to the tree on the side in which the direction the fog came in (you can see white on one side, green on the other).  It’s quite beautiful to see and doesn’t happen to often, but I always like seeing it; feels like I’m privy to a little weather secret!

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Daily Zen: Window view

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Triple threat

There are three things, in particular, that have thrown any “healthy eating” resolutions out the door:

1.  Carrabba’s cookbook – David and I both LOVE to eat out at Carrabba’s but it’s a bit pricey so I was thrilled to find their cookbook which features many recipes on their current menu!  I’ve been making 1 or 2 meals each week from this cookbook and it’s apparent now why we like their food so much; it’s pretty rich (lots of butter, heavy cream and cheeses), but sooo good!

2.  Girl Scout Cookies – ’tis the season, need I say more?  No, but really, we’ve had two neighbors hit us up and I just can’t say no to the cute girls at the grocery store looking for support for their troop.  As such, we have a sizeable stockpile of thin mints taunting us.  Dangerous I tell ya…dangerous!

3.  I’ve discovered a little national franchise called Gigi’s cupcakes.  What turned into a “let’s check it out” visit now becomes a weekly stop for us (and a half dozen going home with us…oy vay).  Their cupcakes are sooooooooooo good.

Ah well, ike I always say…life is short, revel in the small joys and eat more cake!

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Daily Zen: Mountain train

I have a fascination with trains and always love watching them go by.  My aunt and uncle had their yard backed up to train tracks and I loved staying over and watching the train make daily passes by.  Now that we live out West, I always relish the opportunity to take train rides through the big country and rocky mountains.  This particular steam locomative was the Durango & Silverton railroad which is an all day ride up and down the mountain from warm, sunny Durango to the cold mining town of Silverton high up in the mountains.  It’s a steep trek up but a beautiful ride and it was a great way to spend a day.

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Daily Zen: Windy Morn

It’s a really windy day today in Colorado so I thought to share this photo I took years ago near Mount Evans where it was windy at the peaks.  Stay warm!

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