Following Directions

Over the last few years, I have learned several things about my crafting "style" and accepted a few others. Once I started working within these personal parameters, my little world of crafting became slightly more organized and a lot more fun.

I do not follow directions well. Sometimes I think I'm smarter than the person who started the process, sometimes I'm just lazy, sometimes I think it looks pretty simple and "how hard can it be?", and sometimes I think I have done something similar and should be able to figure it out. More often than not, I'm wrong and I wind up at least referring to the directions at some point along the way.

When I accepted this basic and innate fact about myself, a few things made sense:

• I can bake, but I prefer to cook. Why? Baking is very precise and it is necessary to measure things whereas cooking, I can toss a little of this and a little of that and tweak and twist someone's idea to make it my own. This is largely what I do in my crafting projects as well, so it makes sense, right?
• My daughter wanted a dress, I had never made a dress because I did not think I would enjoy sewing clothes, but I'm always up to a good challenge, so I bought a pattern, sewed a dress, and guess what? I didn't enjoy it. I did it, it was cute, but there were way too many rules and directions and if I didn't follow them, it did not work right (yes...I tried to fidget with the pattern...).
• I do my very best work when a project can be completed in a single day. If absolutely necessary I can stretch it into a second day, but beyond that, forget it! Some of this is probably a mediocre attention span, but much of it has to do with "out of sight, out of mind". If I have to put everything away until the next time I am able to work on a project, when it's time to dig everything back out, I'll start on another project, leaving that project half done. In answer to the question you are asking yourself, yes, I do have a box of half completed projects.
• There are a lot of really cool things that can be done in a day!

• When I'm on a crafting roll of any type, it is easier for me to multi-task and make one big old mess that I have to clean up once.
• I have a workshop in the basement, but I feel awfully isolated when I work down there, so I tend to craft in the middle of everything - at the kitchen table. I am working on turning my unused dining room into a craft room, but I have to get it organized enough to make space for my super nifty sewing table my mommy indirectly bought for me last Christmas.
• I'm kind of a chaotic mess, but I have learned to be ok with that - it's who I am and how I work. The end results usually turn out pretty well, except when they fail miserably...and some of them do!

So...there you have it. Slowly but surely I am going to begin walking through many of my various crafting projects on this blog. I guess my reason for this particular post is to give you a heads-up about what you can expect from me. I will never post about my wonderful decorating ideas and I highly doubt I will have any great organizing tips that will change your life, but I love creating things, I take pride in what I make and, most importantly, I have a lot of fun doing it.

CRAFT SHOW SEASON!!!

It is that time of year again...in addition to falling leaves, apple-picking adventures and football games galore, it is Craft Show Season. For the uninitiated, it may just seem like they notice more announcements in the local Penny Saver or Community Courier paper than normal...but the reality is, if you are a handcrafter or a direct sales representative, pull out your checkbook, calendar and pen...it is a race for the first spots, the best spots, the only spots in some shows...Ready, Set...OH!

What to take? What to make?

My first craft show was nearly eleven years ago...and it was a complete fluke. A dear friend introduced me to the wonders of handcrafted bath and body products and, as a person with little to no self-control, ordered enough stuff to stuff family stockings for at least a decade. As a side note, it was this little adventure that was the inspiration for Harmony Bath and Body...but that is a story for another day.

In the process of experimenting with this and that, our friends and family were guinea pigs in the first degree. The difference between these products and other attempts at arts and crafts (remember...I'm crafty, not artistic), was that these very same people came back asking to buy more! One of these nearest and dearest mentioned that a fellow teacher was organizing a craft show at a local elementary school and suggested we attempt to peddle our wares. What the heck, right? What the heck was right! We actually sold stuff and made money!!! People actually liked what we made and wanted to pay us for it!

I have come a long way since those early days in knowledge, experience and product selection. It is this very variety that presents me with such challenges around the time school starts: what the heck am I going to focus on this year? What will people be looking for? What can I do that sets me apart from the masses? Decisions, decisions.

It is this very chaos that has my craft room and family room torn apart right now - in a rather ADD-esque fashion, I am jumping from one brainstorm to another. This weekend it was solid sugar scrub cubes, yesterday it was wine charms. I am anxiously awaiting a shipment of new fragrance oils to tease out my soap and sugar scrub inspiration of the season...then there is the blanket I just finished for a certain family member who is expecting a tiny baby boy any day (I think I should wait until she opens the box before I post a pic, don't you?)....

As you browse your local craft shows this season, please take an extra moment to stop by the tables that do not scream, "100,000 other people around the country sell this product too...". We pour our hearts and souls into our creations and are thrilled to share them with you. If you aren't careful, we may actually be willing to tell you all about them and the inspiration behind them.

Happy Crafting...