If I Were King Of The Forest

Things are starting to look up in Craftland.  As exciting as it is for me to get my work space tidy and functional again, I can't help but wonder if this project was a means for procrastination from what I really have to do ~ jumpstart my business.

I'll admit the new and improved Craftland is necessary to a productive work area which will, in turn, allow me to create better products and more of them.  But the closer I get to the completion of the Craftland project, the more I dread what comes next ~ the work.  I'm not talking about the work involved in making my little crafties, I'm talking about the work it takes to get out and sell this stuff.  The goal is to be able to retire on schedule (much sooner than the average retiree) and to have a booming business to supplement my pension.  While I love to make the things I do, getting out there to sell it in spades is another thing.

One of my favorite blogs had a post not too long ago to which I could really relate.  It's all about the hang-ups of entrepreneurs.  Actually, there is only one hang-up, and that is fear.  Oh sure, you've heard it all before, and so have I.  We make excuses about why we can't get our businesses off the ground (too busy working on Craftland, can't take perfect photos, have to spend forty hours a week at the day job, etc.), but the bottom line is we're afraid.

There is fear of failure and fear of success.  There is fear of looking foolish, fear of what others might think of your entrepreneurial lifestyle, fear of being left behind.  Lots and lots of fears.  The article on this blog addressed the fear we've been hearing about for years, but the author took a whole new angle on it.  He spoke in terms of The Wizard of Oz. 

Now that's a theory I can get behind!  I totally get it, and will print off the blog post and pin it up on my new Craftland bulletin board for easy reference.  The fear we as entrepreneurs have is exactly the same fear experienced by The Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic film.

Jonathan Morrow walks you though what your fears may be to recognizing those fears as being unrealistic to forging ahead courageously despite the fear.  Not only does it all make sense, it's written in a way that is thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.

So please, if you're having trouble becoming the entrepreneur you've always dreamed of being, or if you're looking for a way to unstick yourself from any undesired situation check out this post  on my new favorite and often times inspiring website Copyblogger.

There's nothing like a great motivational article to push me into a fabulous weekend.  I hope yours is fab too!

Wordless Wednesday

Many Years Ago

A slightly premature birthday greeting to my dad, whose official age is "damn near eighty."

New Year's Resolution #2 ~ Organize

I know it's a little late to be making announcing New Year's Eve resolutions.  Lots of people don't even believe in them as most resolutions are forgotten once January is past.  I figured stating resolutions on a blog will be stating something to a power mightier than myself (the blogosphere) and therefore I must be held accountable.  When one is accountable, one is more likely to succeed at a task. 

So Resolution #1 is still underway and in most ways can be completed only when I accomplish Resolution #2.  Afterall, how can I work in Craftland if I'm not organized?  I have supplies galore and need lots of room to spin around when things go awry.

Bright and early Saturday morning Husby went down to Menards to pick up a couple of shelving units.  Nothing fancy.  You know the kind.

Very plain, but very versatile.  He put the first shelf together just like the picture.  Then he took a second shelving unit that was a little bigger, and made two short shelves rather than a big tall one.  This resulted in the creation of my new candle pouring station.  Not only did he put all of the shelves together, he even adhered ceramic tiles to the top of the candle pouring station to make it heat resistent.  What a hero!

But this isn't about Husby and his astonishing ability to assemble shelves.  It's about the fact that I can finally put all of my necessities neatly on shelves.  It's about the fact that all of my wax, all of my pouring pots, all of my additives, dyes, scents, molds and wicks are in the wax pouring station instead of scattered about the room.  It's also about the fact that I can now put all of my items for sale on shelves separate from the things used to make the items for sale.  Shelving is great, and much needed in the attempts to organize a Craftland.

Also contributing to my resolution to organize was spending a day cleaning out two computers.  I had to copy files, delete files, compare and contrast files and update files.  I was sort of forced to do this as tax season is coming up and I want to be sure I'm all organized for the tax man, aka Husby.  So basically I was pretty tired of looking at a computer screen by the end of the day.

The organization resolution will not end  with the computer and Craftland, but dang those short twenty-four-hour days, I couldn't get to any other rooms of the house during the weekend.  I shutter to think of that closet... 

Happy Monday!

New Year's Resolution #1 ~ Create And Maintain A Beautiful Craftland

Today is the day I announce my finally getting antsy about recharging Auntie B's Wax.  The business, that is.  After taking the month of December off (and most of January), I'm ready to jump into it again, to find new venues, to improve my Etsy shop, to be more organized with my consignment shops.  Enough of this lollygagging around.  I'm ready to get back into the studio and start pouring molten wax.  I'm ready to make ideas into actual things I can touch.

Did I say I'm ready to get back into the studio?  Ah, there's the rub.  You see, Craftland is in the midst of being rehabed and looks like it blew up.

That picture you just looked at?  Those are all candles that need to be remelted and made into new candles.  And then there are the supplies to deal with...

...and more supplies on the same shelving unit as candles to be sold.  Oh wait, there are some candles needing remelting on this shelving too.  See how disorganized?

The place is so disorganized I've taken to storing ready-to-sell candles on my desk table.  That's never good, because when things are on the desk table, that means I have absolutely no room to work. 

These pictures were taken after a productive year of being artsy and craftsy and before I started the project of creating a new space for myself.  I'm still in the midst of it, but progress is being made.  I'm excited about what this space will become, but I'm getting tired of the work I need to put into it to get there.  Delayed gratification has never been something I've embraced.  I want my dream space now.

Why am I showing you all of this?  Maybe so you don't have to feel like you're the only one who has let things get out of hand in your studio or home.  Maybe so you can feel really good about how you keep up your studio or home.  Maybe because if I show people my project it'll light a fire under my behind to get the dang project done already.

This weekend I plan to make some serious headway.  Yep, I'm ready.

Canals

You know how sometimes you hear a word and an image comes into your head?  I've been hearing the word "canal" lately.  Hearing that word instantly takes me to the canals of Venice.  Even though I've never been to Italy I've seen enough pictures and heard many stories of those little waterways winding throughout Venice that I can almost hear the gondola oars dipping in and out of the water. 

Unfortunately, when I've heard the word canal lately it's been paired with the word root.  As in root canal.  That certainly brings to mind a much different mental image.  Disgusting, actually.

So while I was in the dentist chair undergoing a root canal on my very sad, dead tooth I tried to visualize the canals of Venice rather than focusing on what was actually going on inside my mouth.  I decided at that time fantasy was much better than reality. 

In the days to come think of me, pity me, pray for me, for I will be enduring a bit of swollenness and some nasty pain.  Luckily I have some leftover Vicodin from a previous procedure.  Perhaps that little pill will again take me to my fantasy of floating through the canals of Venice.

Photos compliments of Mogio Close Up, James L Menius, DDS and Chiaroscuro.

Wordless Wednesday

Today's photo is the stunning art of Anastassia Elias.