PopulationOne!

So, I'm browsing through Flickr pictures for EtsyRAIN and I come across a few photos from PopulationOne. These are some fantastic purses, wristlets, etc... I feel like I need to own one. But more than that... her photo has a card from my old employer. See, in the photo, Verity Credit Union. Weird! They aren't exactly huge... but for the record, they are pretty great if you are looking for a Credit Union to belong to... open to all Washington residents!

Anyhow, aside from the Verity card, her purses are awesome and they look super well made! I also like her photos.

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Unconventional Seamstress

Okay, I really don't think myself to be a seamstress at all, but I type sewer and all I think of is waste. This is one word that should be spoken, not typed. Anyhow, I digress...

These past two days have been a bit stressful for me. My mom and I often joke about my unconventional way of sewing. See, I was never really taught the correct way of sewing. I was given a sewing machine, I got some fabric and some thread and I just started to sew the way I thought you should. I still follow this method. It's worked for me in the past. It isn't my mom's fault either. I'm sure at one time, she tried to help me out... but I hate following directions and would prefer to learn something on my own, in my own time and in my own way. This often leads me to doing things the unconventional way.

I figure, if it looks good, it holds together and it ends up looking like what I want... then there's nothing wrong with my method.

These past two days, my method has had to change a little. For the first time ever, I pulled out the instructions to my sewing machine. My machine was skipping stitches and it was driving me crazy! I mean, I have 12 mermaid tails and 12 crowns to complete, I don't have time to restitch them a dozen times. I also made a call to my mom and left, what was probably a pathetic sounding message. I felt like I had been defeated. That's what instruction books are to me. It means I've failed and I just can't figure it out.

I still find instruction books useless for troubleshooting. I did learn about needles. I learned that I need to use a different needle for different fabrics. I know, it seems like I should have known that! I guess I've just lucked out, until now, that I've had the right needle in my machine.

I learned the most from my mom though (of course, isn't that how it always goes?). I learned that each needle has a different number. And that these numbers mean something! So she instructed me to change my needle to a larger number for the thicker fabric I was trying to sew. And presto! My machine and I are back in business.

I also learned that the needle packs don't have all the same needles. Since the numbers are different and I was just changing my needles to whatever needle was next, I figure I was lucky that it corresponded to the fabrics I was sewing.

I'm sure I should be a little embarrassed admitting this. But I really have no pride and I'm a little amused at the things that I don't know. Little by little, I pick it up and little by little, I improve. I'm good with that. It keeps things interesting.

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I'm hungry!

But it's late... and I'm trying really hard not to eat to late (never mind the chocolate milk spiked with shnapps that I just had - I deserved it).

So, of course, I found my answer at Etsy. Look at all this yummy food! Here's a perfect meal (or two depending on your appetite)...

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Going in Circles

I'm tired. The kids have me emotionally exhausted. It's amazing how kids can do that without even trying. So look at the photo I am attaching and here's how it all went down;

I come upstairs for a few minutes - five to ten minutes while the kids were both playing happily at the table. I needed to send an email about one of the special orders I'm working on.

The kids are fairly quiet, so I go downstairs. As I get to the bottom step, I see my five year old shoving something into one of his boots. Upon closer examination... it's my knitting project (no sign of the actual knitting needles) and one other ball of yarn all tangled together. Before I can say anything, he says (the five year old) says "she did it" looking at his sister - his hands are still shoving the yarn into the boot.

I look at my daughter (the 2 year old) and she's sitting by her brother, taking it all in. She has a small smirk on her face. I'm not certain, but I think the all knowing smirk might be permanent.

In my controlled, mom-on-the-edge, even toned but obviously upset voice... I ask the obvious question "what's going on?"

My son backs away from the yarn and my daughter, the manipulator stands up, stomps into the corner, pulls the little yellow cowboy hat she's wearing down over her face so I can't see her and folds her arms around her body with a "hmmph".

I gather the lump of yarn and ask the rhetorical question "now what am I supposed to do?" as I see my project (part of the wholesale order I'm working on) in the middle of knots of purple, turquoise and green furry yarn.

My son in his genuinely concerned and helpful voice says "you can figure it out, I know you can." I know he's trying to be encouraging because he can see I'm frustrated... after all, that's what we do. Although circumstances are a bit different... I'm fairly certain, my son's brain fell out. I hear it's going around in five year olds these days.

Two hours later, I now have three balls of yarn again... and no knitting project. I get to start over. This week has been a tough week for wholesale. I've had a few set backs. I can't seem to find the fabric I used for the scales on one of my mermaid samples... so I'm probably going to have to change it... I need to cut, interface and sew an additional six green crowns, and now I have to start the fur band over that I almost had complete. Granted... none of this is the end of the world and it really isn't much but an added few hours of work (I estimate about three to four).

I just don't know where I'm going to fit those extra hours in. I'm tired! I type this with my two year old on my lap. I think looking into that precious little face of hers is the only thing that is keeping me together right now. Funny how you can draw strength from the very thing that zaps it.

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Where are we now?

So, I thought I'd check in again on my New Year, Attempt to Try List. If I don't check in often, I'll certainly forget. What type of progress have I made? Let's recount the past month since making this list...

1 - Blog more. Check! I've definitely been blogging more. Personally and professionally. Not only have I been blogging on this site, but I've also added Esty Addicts to the list. I hope I can keep up the blogging as it's a nice way to release and focus.

2 - Be organized. Okay, I've fallen on this one a little. My work area is a disaster and my paperwork is stuffed in a drawer. My idea of organized wasn't just having it all in one place, it involved a beautiful filing system as well. But I do need to give myself a little credit... having it all in one place is much better than the previous all-house-scatter. I also need to get organized so I can do out taxes. Okay, I'm mentally bumping this up to the top of my list. Get organized!

3 - Be everywhere. This one isn't going so well either. I really need to get my application together for the Fremont Fair. I'm hoping to do this one with LASDesigns... but I need photos and I don't have them yet. If I get into a pinch, I'll send photos from my first craft show and hope for the best.

Aside from really wanting to do that show, I also have the EtsyRAIN in Edmonds show in May and I'm still waiting to hear about a Renton show in April. Oh, and the Mill Creek show in July (I think it's in July). So, I'm getting there... this is just a slow process.

4 - Wholesale. I jumped in with both feet and I'm still tredding water. I completed the first part of the order and I'm now working on the second part. I think I'll be happy the first year with one wholesale account. Again, small steps are good.

5 - Balance my time. I'm not sure if I'm balancing very well. I have been making more of an effort to be with the kids during the day and working at night... but I'm really not sure how successful I am. Here's my normal day;

7:00-8:00ish ~Wake up and spend half an hour checking email, boards, etsyshop and sewing a little if I have time. I do this first thing in the morning while my husband is still home, so I feel less guilty.

9:00-10:30ish (they are marathon eaters) ~Feed the kids, feed myself (I sometimes will not feed myself and opt to take the time to sew a little), and play until lunch time.

Noonish ~ Feed the kids, if it's a school day, I drive my son and his friend to school and the next two to three hours are either spent running errands or entertaining my daughter. Occasionally I get the rare instance where she falls asleep for more than half an hour and I will knit or crochet during this time.

3:30 - 5:00ish ~ Early evening, is our tv time because I'm tired and the kids are crazy with energy. It's my only sanity. So, we are normally upstairs, I'm on the computer working - listing in the store, editing photos, etc. My son is playing on my laptop next to me and my daughter is reading in her reading corner or watching Curious George or Clifford.

6:30 - 7:30ish ~ Most often, I wait for my husband to come home before starting dinner. While he works on dinner, I get sewing time in. Normally I sew up until dinner is ready... half hour to an hour.

8:00ish ~ After dinner, everyone retreats upstairs for bedtime. My wonderful husband takes over and does the kid's bedtime (he's a saint). I often lay in bed and work on the laptop or crochet and knit. It isn't often that I'm able to sew at this time of night. On the rare occassion that I'm still able to move at this time, I'll try to cut things out for the next days sewing. This is rare though.

That's my balance. It's working for me right now and I'm getting what I need to get done, done. So I shouldn't complain. But talk to my kids, and they might complain.

But, all in all, after a month... I am happy with my progress. I figure I have a whole year to make these changes. Rome wasn't built in a day, right!

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A Sea of Tails

Friday I finally mailed out the six mermaid tails I had been working on this past week/week and a half. They came out great! This morning, I have also been working on sewing up a few in some other colors as I have another order of 6 to get out the door. I am swimming in mermaid tails! I'm still working on getting some decent photos for the store. My daughter is getting better at cooperating... but the larger tails just don't fit her!

I'm excited about some of the new fabrics though. They are turning out fantastic! I am anxious to finish up the wholesale order and get a few of them posted in the store again. These things are so much fun. Even My daughter is finally starting to appreciate my work :) Although, she has been enjoying the tiaras a lot lately as they are actually her size.

So, back to the sewing machine! But first, I'll post a few of the fun pictures my daughter took today.

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A little fishy

Following Rokali's (Etsy founder) article about his vision for the First Five Years, many Etsy artists have embraced his vision behind Swimmy and sent in their own mock ups of the little fish. They will be making a diorama of all the fishies...

So of course, EtsyRAIN has banned together to submit our own versions of swimmy and the many red fish. I have included a picture of my own, I'll aslo include some links to others in our group as I think they are definitely worth checking out.

I hope Marlo gets a photo of all the swimmies before submiting them to Etsy.

Dawn's swimmy (scarywhitegirl)

Heidi's swimmy (Norm)

Laura's swimmy (lasdesigns)

Emma's swimmy (emmakat)

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Happy Birthday to Me!

On the 4th, I celebrated my 35th birthday. Yes, I'm embracing my age and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm nearly to 40. I'm in a good place right now and loving my life.

I'm doing what I love (staying home with the kids, creating fun things), I have a super great husband and I love my friends and family. Everyone made this birthday extra great for me. I think it might be one of the first birthdays where I didn't really receive material items... but I don't care. It was the best because my closest friends all remembered it and called me or emailed me, my family members called me or sent me cards (on time even!), and I got to go to dinner at Sushi Zen. Yum!

Anyhow, the beautiful little felted pouch pictured was one of my favorite gifts. Made by my good friend, Cindy of Original Cyn Studios, I think she needs to offer it in her store. Check out her store some time! She does some fabulous crochet items!

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Check it out!

Just a quick note... my postcards are now up on the toy site. Check it out!

Valentine Postcard Set

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First Thursday in Seattle

This Thursday, World of Whimm will be at Stir for the First Thursday Gallery Walk. It will be only my second showing, so I am very excited! Because it's a smaller show, I've decided to take only my costumes for the head - indian headdresses, royal crowns and my new tiaras. I'll also be bringing the I-Spy Valentines.

If you are local, stop in! Also showing will be Kimberly At Stir, Ugly Baby, Woven Chains and I Make Cute Stuff. Great company and a sure bet this will be a great time!

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Flowers, Flowers, Flowers!

My daughter turns two next week. This weekend we will be having her birthday party. She will be having a garden tea party (set indoors since we live in Washington and it's cold and rainy). So, I've had flowers on my mind lately.

And whatever is on my mind, seems to turn up in my work. Lately I've been having a great time making tiaras with these crocheted flowers that I ordered a while back. I love them! And better yet... they were made by an Etsy seller! CraneCrochet is awesome! I love her flowers so much that I've ordered more. A lot more! She's making some just for my needs. Check her out! These flowers (she also does hearts, butterflies, and more) would be very cute on a little dress or on a hair clip. I think the possibilities are endless.

For my needs right now, I'm using them on tiaras. I've used them on crowns in the past and they are so charming!

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Getting things in order...

So, I'm attempting to try to work on my list of New Years Resolutions. The first - was blog more. I think I'm slowly getting back into blogging. My goal is to blog here at least three times a week. Since I have other blogs, this seems like a realistic number.

My second resolution was to get organized! Today I took a big step in getting organized. I opened a small business account. Yippee! I was also finally able to deposit the check I earned from my one and only craft fair back in December. Yep, it was made out to World of Whimm so I dragged my feet getting it cashed. So not only do I now have a small business account... but it has money in it too! Now I just need to put my new account information into Paypal and I'll be good to go! Next on the list of getting organized is to look into merchant services.

We have also been working on getting the office (spare bedroom) organized. This is half way done and I have a deadline of Friday since my mom will be in town visiting. I work much better with a deadline.

I completed the first part of my first wholesale order as well. And... I discovered that she included my products in her blog! Check her out and the store. I love her store and I think my items are a perfect fit (if I do say so myself).

Living Playing Blog
Living Playing Store

Stay tuned... I'm working on more items for her!

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