149 Days and Counting

Wow! This break has FLOWN by!! We've been SO busy that now I'm looking back thinking...'did 7 months really just go by?'. Apparently they have. I can't believe were almost to the holiday season again. Whew! Not sure I'm ready for that!! 

Is Christmas really only 149 days away?? Eeeek!!!!

I'm certainly not one who counts down days to Christmas. I stopped doing that when i was in my late teens. But i do count nowadays since my shop does holiday business and i have to figure out when my last day to take orders are, and when the last day to ship out is...all that jazz. Wow! It's almost August!! I'm trying not to panic! My shop is still on vacation mode. Guess i need to fix that. 

But it's all good! I'm getting ready to start crafting again and I'm SO excited!! I've been doing a few things here and there and as the months have gone on, I've been doing more and more! 

About a month ago, i decided i wanted to try some new things for my shop this year. I'm starting to get a bit burnt out on felt, and quite honestly they've become too much for me. They are SO detailed and SO time consuming!! The prices i have to charge for time and supplies makes them very expensive and for the most part, while i think a lot of people understand the time it takes to make a lot of these little guys, i don't like charging so much for them. But since each one is hand sewn by me, one at a time, there's really no other way around it. 

So this year I'm focusing more on painted glass ornaments. I had made a bunch last year as personal gifts for family and friends and the response was so great, that i have really wanted to put them in the shop! So that's what I'll be doing! 

***

I don't know about you, and I'm hoping my crafting friends get this, but i LOVE going to craft stores!! For real! It's one of my happy places. All the potential in one building is amazing to me! I mean think about it. You walk through the doors, and all of a sudden you're inundated with MOUNTAINS of stuff!! And it's stuff to make other stuff! The possibilities are endless!! Granted, i do get to the point in the season, usually about 2 weeks before Christmas where i'm SO tired of going to the craft store everyday to get supplies so I can ship out the last orders that i could scream if i have to drive into the parking lot of my local craft store one more time. But then, the "On Vacation" gets put up on my Etsy shop and i'm good for another few months. 

I had wholeheartedly intended to open my shop back up near April, in time for Mother's Day, but the stress of the holiday season hadn't let up yet, and i honestly didn't have anything good for the spring season. Because my shop is primarily holiday ornaments, it can be really difficult to come up with new things that float over to the spring and summer. I see other craft shops do it, but i just haven't gotten there yet. I'm hoping that with this new found creativity for new items that use new supplies, I'll be doing something fun all year long! Or at least...some of the spring and summer. 

I've been doing more painting over the last few months. It's been a nice change of pace. I made a few banners for some friends' camp sites this year. I also painted a couple of mailboxes that turned out really fun!! I may add those to my shop as well. Customizable mailboxes, banners and flags. They were really a lot of fun to do and really got my creative juices flowing! Despite the blue carpet in my craft room. Oops. 


Well i just wanted to update y'all. It's been a while since i posted a blog for Ladybug Blvd. I hope everyone is doing well and has had an enjoyable year so far. 

~Craft on!

Fuzzy Sheets of Stuff

Ah felt. The material that i use for my work. While it can be a really wonderful material to work with, it can also be quite evil.

I've been working with felt pretty much all my life in some respect. I remember making this little pipe-cleaner doll named P.J. when i was very small. His body was made from one white pipe-cleaner and he had a white pom pom for a head and two googly eyes. No mouth. That was visible anyway. ;) He was small. I could fit him in my pocket. To this day i can remember sitting on the floor in my small bedroom, gluing his pom pom head to his bendy body. While he was drying, I made him a jacket so he wouldn't be cold. And i made that jacket out of felt. Brown felt if I'm not mistaken. I think i may have been about 4 or 5. I know i was pretty little because after he was made, i remember sitting in a shopping cart playing with him, while out with my grandma.

So to say felt has always been in my life is an understatement. I've always made things out of felt. It was just an easy material to work with. I could cut it into a gazillion little bits (and I'm sure my sister would attest that this is true), and none of them would fray. I could sew it to whatever i was making and be on my merry little way. No hemming, no fraying, no waiting. Perhaps this is why i never really took to real sewing. I just didn't have the patience for it. Nor do i now. I like fabrics that don't fray or unravel. Which is also why i really like working with fleece!

However...this is not to say that felt doesn't have it's down side. It can be a real....well not nice word. For those who don't work with felt much, I'll fill ya in. It's not all super nice little piece of fibers smooshed together. I mean yes, it is, but it's not always nice. For example, i have a piece of dark orange that i love. I love the color. But sewing it SUCKS!! Because it's a blend of something, besides wool like most felt, it doesn't sew well at all. I use it in my Fall Door Swag . I used it on some of the leaves. But sadly, i cut 10 different leaves out of it and only managed to be able to stitch 2. It's because it's a very firm felt. And the way it's made is a bit different. It feels different. Not that i realized this when i bought it, but i found out shortly there after. And it's almost...slippery in feel. It's weird.

So why don't i just make my own you ask? Ahh...young padawan, you know nothing. NOTHING! But seriously, let's be real here...i don't have the patience for that either. The process is ridonk! And I'm not sure i could make a flat piece of felt that i could then cut apart, and sew into cute little things. It's just not my bag baby. And if i just felted a bacon ornament instead, i think he'd loose a lot of his charm. He'd look funny. Plus...my prices would be super ridonk because it's a process. Ya follow what I'm puttin' down? Ok. Cool beans.

I'll just stick to buying my sheets of felt at the craft stores for now. Until i get frustrated because i can't remember where i found the bacon color because I've been to so many stores searching for the perfect color for my items. And sadly, not all craft stores carry the same colors. Depends on where they get them from. Then i won't be able to find the bacon fat color. Which apparently is called "BEIGE" by the stores. But it's not beige. Beige is boring. It's really an oatmeal color because it's got different wonderful flecks of "beiges" in it. But it's not at all difficult to work with (which is why the Bacon ornament even exists) like that pain in the butt dark orange. And the bacon color is called "cranberry" by the stores, but is really more of a bacon color due to the different reds and bits of brown in it. I think they should hire ME to name the felt colors. But i digress...

At some point i hope to buy in bulk online. But for now, I'll stick to this process instead. It's been working for the most part. Things either work or don't and if they don't, i won't put them up for sale. Simple as that. If I'm not 100% loving something, it won't make it to the shop. However, even as much as i loved and adored P.J. when i was 5, he won't be makin it to the shop either. ;)

Hear Yee, Hear Yee...

I decided i should have a blog page about my shop. Mainly because i like to tell stories, but doing so in my shop listings….well, it’s just too much. I also wanted to be able to share with the world some of the info and reasons behind why i do what i do.

Having said that, welcome!! This is the first post, so hopefully i can do it some justice and can entertain you with smiles and laughter as you read.

My little shop opened up on Etsy almost 2 years ago. When i decided to open it, i was really just trying to get through a rough creative block. I was in college again (for the second time) and in a fine arts program. I had struggled through the entire semester with creative ideas, just not flowing. I knew i needed to do something to help. I’ve been told that like everything else, if you don’t use it, you loose it. But i wasn’t about to give up easily. So I decided that i would make and sell Christmas ornaments made from felt. I always LOVED making things when i was little. I guess you could say, i’ve always been an artist. And it would be true. Though i haven’t always wanted to be one. That came much later in my life. Anyway, so i went to the craft store and bought some felt and embroidery floss. I had no idea really what exactly i would make. I was just going to try and see if i still could.
I made a few things and proceeded to get on my laptop and open up a shop on Etsy. I knew a lot of people who had done it before. But i had no idea how or if it was going to turn into anything. Or if i’d make any of the money back that i’d spent on supplies. But off i went.

I think in the first week i had made a dozen or so items. All ornaments for the tree. Stockings with little tiny bells on them, Santa, reindeer, snowmen…anything that was holiday-ish. At the time i also started a Facebook page for my shop.

A few days went by and since i really didn’t know what i was doing, it was more of a learn-as-i-go thing, my shop wasn’t doing so well. People were looking, but no one was buying. At the time i wasn’t worried about the money aspect of it, i was more hurt that people weren’t interested in what i had. So i revamped a few items. Made them cuter. Then…i made Holiday Bacon.

Now, i know what you’re thinking…Bacon? On a Christmas tree? YES!! Omg! Bacon is a BIG thing!! It’s everywhere!! People love their cured meat! On a plate, in a dish, in a beverage, on a boat, in a moat, with a goat (you know the book)…everyWHERE!!!! I took certain creative liberties with my stuffed felted guy. Like he has a face. Not like a pig face or anything…but a smile. And he’s adorable. And he was a HIT!! I had orders for bacon coming out of my ears!! I sent one to the Ukraine! I still talk about that, because somewhere, a sweet Russian girl has MY Holiday Bacon guy hanging on her tree!!

Over that holiday season 2 years ago, i managed to make back the money i had spent. Sadly, that was all i made. The following year, i decided to change the entire shop and do ceramic items instead of felt. Magnets and ornaments. I didn’t sell ONE ITEM!! I was frustrated, but then while in school, i went to an artist talk. His name was Kyle and he was from NC and worked from home. He had a degree from UNCG in graphic design, but had been doing a multitude of things instead. He had told us that graphics weren’t paying the bills (i can totally relate!! That’s what i got my first degree in too), and he wasn’t happy. So he moved on. He said that he would do drawings in the morning that HE liked as a warmup to his day. And over time, eventually, they started selling. By the end of his talk i was revved up to get back to creating. I had a long list of questions that i emailed him with the next day. I told him about my Etsy shop, and asked him things regarding how to make a living off of it at some point. He wrote me back the next day and gave me the most wonderful advice i’ve ever gotten. Something that i eagerly pass on to other creatives. He said, “Make what YOU love! Not what you think other people will love or will sell. Your love for what you are making will show in the work and others will see it, love it too and buy it!” or something to that effect. It was brilliant!! Why on earth didn’t i realize that on my own?! That’s why the ceramic stuff didn’t sell. I didn’t love it. I mean, ceramics was my major, but i was making those items to make money from. Not because i loved them.

All that to say, this year, my shop went through a massive revamp!! I’ve brought back the felt ornaments (which btw are stuffed. They aren’t flat) with gusto!! I have a set of Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of the Christmas Tree, The Breakfast Trio, and a number of other fun things! And i love each of them!! I will sew for HOURS!! Like the Red Queen took me over 8 hours to finish. I had a day where all i made were the pirates. That was a 12 hour day. Of course i took a few small breaks here and there, but it’s not like i’m laying on the couch all day watching the View and eating Häagen-Dazs®. I am actually working. Yes it’s fun and i looooove what i do, but it’s still work. No, i don’t get paid on an hourly basis, and the days are long, sometimes without having a day off for weeks, but i’m loving every second of it!! Plus…my coworkers are pretty darn cute!