Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Craft Business’ Category

Out Of Touch

Posted in Craft Business, tagged , on June 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

Pardon me please, while I slip away and do something that isn’t computer-related.  If I had my way I’d be on the computer all day long.  And I could be, if my darn day job computer browser were updated once in a while.  Slowly the capabilities of that computer wane, preventing me from doing things like listing items in my Etsy shop and tinkering around with my blog.  What?  Does my employer expect me to actually work for it all day without a moment of online bliss or craft biz necessity? 

Source

Forgive my sin of not keeping up with Facebook status updates, my own and yours too.  Facebook is blocked from my day job computer and sucks battery power from my Droid.

Twitter?  Never was much for that.  Pinterest?  Same thing.

Lately, during my time away from the day job, I’ve been keeping pretty busy with things non-technical.  My time is spent shrink wrapping candles, writing price tags, and gluing magnets to the backs of bottle caps.  I’m focusing on going live this weekend, and remaining live for a lot of the summer.  It takes much time and energy ~ different from the time and energy needed to excel in cyberspace.

I’ve been made to feel guilty about my priorities too, believe it or not, and I’m getting a bit resentful about that.  There will be more on that subject in a later post.  For now I’m doing things the old-fashioned way ~ by hand and in person.  Imagine that.

Read Full Post »

The Vines Are Blooming

Posted in Craft Business, Etsy, tagged , , , , , on May 17, 2012| 8 Comments »

After an especially aggravating day I sat on my little corner of the couch, wishing for a vacation.  I don’t think I’ll be taking a true vacation any time soon, as craft show season is sneaking up faster that I imagined it would.  With that thought a small smile came to my face.  Craft show season ~ it’s like lots of mini vacations for Husby and me.

I usually get antsy around March and April having been away from the circuit for several months.  This year March and April were occupied with the care and vigil of Husby’s dad so the ants in my pants were kept at bay, my mind on more pressing matters.  Now that the dust has settled and things are returning to normal the eagerness to get out to these en plein air shows and festivals is overwhelming me.  I’m totally ready to get on the road again.

The first show I do is the Chateau St. Croix Winery and Vineyard Fete Des Fleurs ~ a festival celebrating the blooming of the grape vines.  Husby and I have returned to this event for several years as it has become one of our favorite venues.

The winery inspired my grape-themed bottle cap magnets.  They’re available at the show and in my Etsy shop.  Each is charming in its own way and depict delicious wine at its infancy.

Bottle Cap Magnet ~ Grapes

Bottle Cap Magnet ~ Artsy Grapes

Bottle Cap Magnet ~ Juicy Grapes

Bottle Cap Magnet ~ Vintage Grapes

No, I don’t see a typical vacation in my near future, but I sure am looking forward to spending some time meeting festival goers and revisiting old friends.  A working vacation, as it were.  But  like they say, it isn’t work if you love it.  Bring on the shows…I’m ready.

If you’d like to visit some of the great events and festivals on my summer route you can find information on the 2012 Events tab at the top of this page.  The page will be updated as shows are added to my schedule. 

Read Full Post »

Happy Day To All The Moms

Posted in Craft Business, Nostalgia, tagged , , , , on May 11, 2012| 4 Comments »

This Sunday many of us will be honoring mothers or being honored by children…or both!  Hooray for mothers, for without them we would never have the quirky malfunctions of character that make us so loveable!

Oh you know I’m just kidding.  And I know that the 1915 song M-O-T-H-E-R was written about moms exactly like mine.

“M” is for the million things she gave me

“O” means only that she’s growing old

“T” is for the tears she shed to save me

“H” is for her heart of purest gold

“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining

“R” means right, and right she’ll always be

Put them all together and they spell MOTHER, a word that means the world to me.

~Howard Johnson

M-O-T-H-E-R Sheet Music Magnet can be purchased in my Etsy shop by clicking on the picture. You can also buy it (and many others) right here! Click on the Sheet Magnets tab at the top of the page and go from there.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who have given it everything you’ve got!

Read Full Post »

Hello, I Must Be Going

Posted in Blogging, Craft Business, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 24, 2012| 2 Comments »

More and more I am embracing the sentiment “you can’t have it all.”  Because it’s true, you can’t.  You can’t have it all and you can’t be it all.  And when I say you I mean me.

I’ve been spoiled with time and freedom in my life.  I don’t have a multitude of obligations, I don’t have kids, I have a day job that requires no more than forty hours a week, and I have a husband who is fine with my doing pretty much whatever I want, provided I afford him that same luxury.  When I started Auntie B’s Wax I was free to spend as much or as little time with it as I wanted.

Then came my fascination with blogs.  I was reading The Pioneer Woman before she was famous.  I’m so thrilled with Jenny and her newly published book I want to take her out for a celebratory drink even though I’ve never met the woman.  Donna and her funky junk makes me want to live a completely different lifestyle, as does Corey in France.  The more I grew my business and the more I read blogs the more I realized I must be doing something wrong.

How do they do it?  Those bloggy women are running their businesses, they’re raising families, they present a blog post every day and they all appear to be clean and well-groomed individuals.  (It’s no accident I don’t post my picture on this blog.)

Here’s the thing.  If I hit the homekeeping chores in a way that satisfies me the business suffers.  If I concentrate on the business (which includes keeping my Etsy shop up to date, getting inventory ready for live shows, keeping consignment stores stocked, doing the paperwork, and actually making things to sell), as well as putting out a blog post every day, my house turns into a nasty abode unfit for any creature, human or not.

I don’t have a point with all of this, really.  I’ve just stopped by to say, hello, but I must be going now.  Off to dust off the credenza.  Off to unmold the candles.  Off to make a meal of comfort food.  Off to bead some drink charms.  Even though I know it will never happen, I want to be one of those women who can do it all.  Or at least appear so from your computer screen.

Read Full Post »

Silence Is Golden

Posted in Craft Business, Nostalgia, tagged , , , , , , on April 5, 2012| 3 Comments »

I remember years ago when I was in high school how my dad would be so disgusted at my homework practices.  I usually had the stereo blaring (before the days of iPods) with records or radio.  He was certain I wasn’t giving my school work the concentration it needed.  I would laugh, of course, assuring him I could concentrate much better with my tunes.

Now that I’m older, older than my dad was when he lectured the importance of concentration and focus, I get it.  It seems I’ve developed a sensitivity to noise with my increasing age, especially artifical noise (natural noises like birds chirping or babbling brooks don’t count).  I don’t want to have music constantly streaming through my head.  I don’t want to have the TV on as background noise.  I go completely out of my mind with noises the building makes at my day job, and seriously, what’s with white noise?  It’s incessant and annoying.  I don’t mind hearing people talk to each other in person, but to have to hear someone talking on their cell phone makes me positively insane.  Sometimes I think I’m as bad as The Grinch when he complains about Christmas in Whoville with all the “noise noise noise noise!”

I wonder what it would be like to live with Harpo Marx.  He didn’t speak.  Nice and quiet, with a few exceptions of course.

When I’m home alone I usually don’t turn on music or TV for company.  I don’t sing or hum to myself.  I just enjoy the quiet ~ the quiet I can’t find anywhere else unless I’m completely alone.  The stillness is like a soft pillow, the silence like a downy quilt.  It’s cozy.  It’s quiet.

Of course this isn’t to say I don’t want anyone speaking to me, or amongst themselves.  I wouldn’t enjoy a world completely void of noise.  But every once in a while I’ll turn it all off, think of Harpo, and remember how silence is indeed golden.

Silence is Golden magnet ~ available in my shop. Just click on the picture.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »