It's Green!

Once again I've fallen off the blogging wagon, as I am prone to do.  I wandered back on here just now and realized that my background was of a winter scene.  :-O  While our weather is not exactly summer-like yet, everything is GREEN around here, not white. 

I love the color green. 

My favorite color is blue and has been for as long as I can remember, but green has a special place in my heart.  The reason for that is the 7 years that I spent living in the deserts of Arizona and California.  I missed the color green so desperately during that time.  Now, especially this time of year, I am surrounded by green!  Even after 4 years back in the land of four seasons and greenery, I still take time to stop and admire all of the plant growth around me.  I love to watch the transition of the fields and trees from brown to green as winter fades away, spring and summer move in. 

In Studio news, I've been in the middle of an overhaul of my Studio room.  I pulled everything out and toyed around with rearranging the furniture in there, only to put it back where it was.  I did add a shelf and another smaller desk, for more storage and work space.  I'm now in the process of getting all of my supplies put back in the room and reorganized. 

I've made several new cards and bookmarks over the last few months or so.  (darn those paper goods - they don't seem to sell, but I can't stop making them!)  I bought some new stamps, including one that I'd had my eye on for quite a while.

One of my horses foaled (had a baby) a few weeks ago and so I made a bunch of my foal announcement cards to send to friends and family.  I've been making these cards for several years, for each of the three foals that my mare has had. 

For years now I've been thinking of putting together some sets of the foal cards and trying to sell them.  Of course the time when I usually think about it is when the babies are actually being born - and by then it's pretty much too late to make up and market the cards.  If I were smart, I'd run with the idea NOW - while it's fresh - and start making a stockpile to advertise next spring.  We'll see...

Oh!  On the card-making front, I'm thrilled to report on a tip that my Granny gave me.  She mentioned that she uses double-sided tape to put her cards together.  I had always used glue - and it was a headache!  So, I decided to try her method and..  I LOVE it!  No more waiting for the layers of paper to dry in place...  No more having to press each card while drying to prevent the cards from warping...  No more having them warp anyway and ruin an entire series of cards...  Double-sided tape rocks!  :-D

Ok, that's more than enough for now.  There is more that I was going to add, but if I wait, maybe I'll actually get back to blogging daily!  I know the creative bug has been chomping on my rear all this week while I've been reorganizing the Studio room.  It really lights a fire when you see all of your materials and start getting a flood of brainstorming on what to do with them! 

Everything is green and growing here - including my ideas!

Coming Out of the Dark

Last week I made a tough decision.  I decided to quit the job that I had started a few months ago.  The job was hard to get used to, but I was still optimistic...  until things started to fall apart.  What I had agreed to during the interview was a part-time job, 30 hours at most in a week.  The job was supposed to be easy, the people were supposed to be nice.  The bosses assured me that if I needed to miss work or leave early somedays that it was no problem.  I was happy, I thought I'd finally found a perfect, flexible, part-time job to fit into my busy life.  Two weeks in, half of the crew quit.  That should have been my first warning. 

The job spiraled down until I was working 8-9 hours a day, everyday, alongside people who were getting more and more frustrated and gossipy and for bosses that became more and more unreasonable.  I realize there are many, many people who work full-time or more every week, but with my college classes, my horses, and various other committments, I needed to stay at the part-time hours I'd agreed to. 

Right before New Years, one of my horses used my right foot as a launch pad, badly crushing it.  The foot ended up being not broken, but has been so bruised and swollen over the past month that I could barely walk on it much of the time.  Still I soldiered on, hobbling to work every day.  I finally missed two days to go have it x-rayed and to see why I was getting sicker every day for a week.  It turned out that I had bronchitis on the edge of pnemonia(sp) and the doctor wanted me to rest and stay off my foot for a few days.

Remember how they told me that if I had to miss work for something it would be ok?  No, I had to bring in a doctor's note, as if we were all in elementary school, and I caught crap for taking those days off.  Had anyone realized that I had been at work everyday since being injured, though I could barely walk?  Of course not.

Finally tensions came to a head and ended one day with members of the crew yelling at each other and one of the bosses lecturing us and playing referee.  I stayed out of the shouting match, but was singled out by the boss and scolded in front of everyone for something that was not my doing. 

The camel's back had broken.

I lasted a few more days and finally decided that for my health, my sanity, and my future, I needed to leave.

In addition to my previous Studio plans, I now have another bright and shining star on my horizon.  I'll post more about that in the future... 

More to come, I feel this post is too long already.  My Etsy and Artfire sites have been faithfully selling items over the last few months while the lights have been "off" in the Studio.  Short of mailing out sold items, I haven't touched anything to do with the Studio in a little while now.  I'm hoping I can more or less pick up where I left off before in building up the Studio's online presence - and get back to enjoying my days, instead of dreading them. 

Catchy Title Here

I'm tired.  It's been a week or so since I've blogged.  A lot has gone on in that time.  I started a new job, and I am... still trying to cope with that.  My creativity has suffered, as I was pretty sure that it would.  It's always seemed that working a J-O-B really puts a damper on the creative juices for me.  I was on a roll, creating new work and getting items posted all over the internet.  I was going full speed ahead with getting serious about getting the Studio off the ground as a real business attempt.  Since I started working, I haven't accomplished much of anything else and that's depressing. 

I've also had quite a bit of difficulty with my schoolwork over the past week and that's been a downer. 

Yeah, things are kinda rough right now.  It's just been bad timing I guess for a job to start, school to suck, and all the momentum I had to come to a grinding halt at the same time. 

On an up note, before I did start the job, I was in a flurry of creativity.  I created several new bookmarks and I'm very, very happy with how they turned out.  I've been questioning the intelligence of continuing to create paper goods.  Quite frankly, I haven't sold any of them since I started getting into making them a couple of years ago.  This is the first time I've really advertised them, so things will pick up eventually.  I sure do like making my cards and bookmarks, but if they don't start selling I guess maybe I should hold off on making any more.  My necklaces, dreamcatchers, and horses have sold well over the years, but not the paper goods - I'm not sure why.  I've read how people sometimes question if they should make what they want or make what sells.  For me, my cards and bookmarks are the things that I classify as wanting to make - even though they aren't selling.

Tomorrow is Monday and many people don't like that day.  I guess I'm strange because I generally like Mondays.  For me it's a fresh start to a new week.  I really hope next week will be better, because this one was pretty crummy.

Playing Around

Well I really liked the looks of the Facebook "Like Box" that I had up here, but it doesn't seem to be working anymore, so I've removed it.  Maybe I'll try it again later and see if they've fixed whatever the problem is...  In the meantime, while exploring ArtFire, I found that they offer a Mini thing like Etsy - only it comes complete with its own shopping cart!  So, if I'm understanding it correctly, someone could buy an item from me right here in the sidebar.  That's an interesting idea. 

The wind is STILL blowing, so I'm still holed up inside, listing items and doing more and more research on the whole online marketing game.  I've got some supplies laid out to make a few bookmarks.  I've decided I want to make multiples of some of my favorite designs.  That way I can have more than just the one in stock.  When I make bookmarks, I tend to make every single one of them different.  I've never made the same one over and over.  Although now I'm thinking it might be worth it to build a small inventory of certain designs.

That's about it for today.  Not too much going on, except in my head, where creative ideas still flow at a mile a minute!

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Today is our third straight day of high winds.  I'm waiting for the house to be swept away at any moment and go swirling off to Oz.  I haven't been able to get much of anything done outside of the house, so I've been busy listing items for sale.  I'm slowly working on a plan for the three craft sites that I belong to, as far as what to list where.  I think I've got a plan figured out.

I took more pictures yesterday of a batch of bookmarks I'd missed.  I also took pictures of my new original Nail Necklace designs and used the pictures to design a large avatar picture for my Nail Necklace Facebook fan page.

Here is the avatar pic I put together (complete with sneak peak of the new necklaces!) :

This is the link to the Nail Necklace FB page if you'd like to check it out:

Nail Necklace on Facebook

I was contacted tonight through my Nail Necklace online store about designing a cross for a special cause.  I hate to be so secretive (like I kinda was about the Spanish Mustang resin horse a couple days ago!) but I'm not even sure myself what the details are on this yet either.  I've been invitied to call the gal tomorrow to discuss it.  I'm looking forward to talking with her.  From what I've learned so far, this is a very worthy cause and I'd love to work on a piece for it.  As before, I'll reveal more details as I know them myself.

For now I'm going to get back to listing some things as I listen to the wind roar outside.  I wonder when it's going to let up??

Inside Day

Today looks like it's going to be a good inside day.  Right now it's in the upper 40's outside and it's raining, with high winds.  I think winter is trying to get started.  A bit colder and we'd be having our first blizzard.  I've heard that we may have our first snow this week.  I don't really mind, I like snow and I had missed it terribly when I lived in the deserts of Arizona and California for 7 years.  I only saw snow once in all that time and that was rough for a girl who grew up in the Colorado Rockies and had fond memories of snowy winters.  Christmas with palm trees and sand just didn't quite work for me.

Yesterday we had a good trip up into the hills.  I picked a couple handfuls of wild rosehips and some wild rose leaves in pretty fall colors.  They are being pressed now, along with some Birch leaves in brillian red colors that I've picked from our Birch tree out back.  I already have some neat ideas for the rose leaves.

I think today is a good day to buckle down and get to listing things.  I'm still chomping at the bit to start on some new work, particularly to work on some horses, but I really do need to get everything that is finished listed up for sale first.  I have my Etsy shop, as well as a store at Artfire and a store at a new craft and vintage saes site called Efreeme.  My Etsy shop has about 30 items in it now, but Artfire and Efreeme only have a couple of things.  Today will be a good day to stay in and get those shops populated.

I guess I'd better get to it! 

Horse Archery and Exciting News!

Yesterday my husband and I went to a Horse Archery Clinic. 

Here's a picture of me taking a shot.  Photo taken by Lucia Roda, the hostess for the event:

I wasn't able to take my horses as I'd originally planned, but we still had a fantastic time.  This was my third Horse Archery clinic.  I was extremely excited when the teacher of the clinics, announced that he would like to have a bow building clinic in the near future.  He was asking if anyone would be interested and I was almost jumping up and down.  I want my own bow and arrows so badly and I have always, ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make a Plains tribe bow.  

Other exciting news from yesterday...  In the past I have mentioned my desire to create an original resin horse to benefit the preservation of Spanish Mustangs.  This cause is very near to my heart as I own one of these rare, incredible horses.  Well, yesterday I was told by someone involved in the preservation of these horses that they would like me to make a resin horse for their project!  I will reveal more details as I know them, but I know right now that it will be modeled after a gorgeous dun Spanish Mustang stallion.  It will be the size of a Traditional Breyer - approximately 9 inches tall.  Once a pose has been decided on and I have some reference pictures, I'll get busy sculpting! 

I'm very excited! 

Today my husband and I are going up into the Black Hills to do some exploring via Jeep and our hiking shoes.  It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day for it.