Toe Dipping Time ....

Well my daughter is causing me to put my money where my mouth is ... she is Marketing Director at a chiropractic office nearby, and they are hosting a "Ladies Night" in May for all their clients (and any new names the vendors provide).  They will have 20-25 vendors set up in the office that evening.  So my daughter has convinced me that this is an EASY NON THREATENING way to dip into the craft show scene and see what happens.

The Ladies Night is 5 May (Cinco de Mayo -- I'm sure I'll need a margarita after the show too!).  Entry fee is $70, and if I make that up in sales I would be happy!  (yeah I'm not feeling confident just yet)

So i have begun creating art like a crazy person down in the studio.   I have started w/ 3x3 blocks of wood, and painting them various colors.  From there I have done a couple different things on them so far:

1.  Drawing whimsical flowers / birds (think DishyArt style)
2.  Cutting out hearts from my gelli plate prints stash and adding "all you need is love"

I think they look good (espec since I am NOT a free form artist) but I'm not completely in love w/ them.  I'm just not convinced, I guess, that anyone would buy them.  They will be inexpensive at $4 each so hopefully that will spark interest.

I am probably making 20-25 of those.  When I'm finished with that assembly line, I will move to creating mixed media art on a 6x6 or 6x10 piece of wood (think HeartFelt and Blue Lily Design style)

Also want to make some vintage worn signs from clip art on Graphics Fairy.  Those will be made from my stash of pallet wood, painted white and sanded to death.  Then I'll do image transfer onto the wood.  Easy easy project ... so I should be able to crank out alot of those. 

Also have a few wood pieces I would like to repurpose .... cigar boxes, wood mail organizers, frames, etc.

And the good thing is if NOTHING sells I can send it w/ LW to the fleamarket.  She's going the Longest Garage Sale (or whatever that thing is called), and has already warned me to be stocked and ready to go! (sometime this summer)

I'll post some pics in a few.

Art Journal Page!

FUN FUN FUN!!!  :-)

Camp Update!!

So I was on the BGC website just looking around at camp stuff and I see a blog entry that there are still June 2015 slots available.  It was showing sold out previously .... so I immediately sent an e-mail asking if my registration could be moved from May 2016 to this June ... and it happened!!!

I'm so excited to be going this year instead of waiting till NEXT year!!!

Ohhh NOW I've Done It!

Ever since I started looking at mixed media blogs, etc., I have been wanting to find an art retreat that I could attend.  They were all so expensive that I would just close the website window and pout.

I had looked at Brave Girls Club Camp many times and loved what I saw, but just couldn't pull the trigger on $1799 for 4 days of art and girl time.

Something clicked yesterday when I was looking for the 100th time and I decided to discuss with my husband and see what he thought.  I printed off all the information including the cost, and the additional cost of airfare to Boise, handed it to him last nite and said, "Here you go ... read this over while I'm in the shower and we'll discuss."  LOL  I knew I could NOT effectively explain what it was, so I left that to the BGC website!

I came back into the great room and asked what he thought, and he said "it sounds great!"

Then I asked him "does it sound like me?"  And he said "well no".  I said I KNOW!  I'm not all touchy feely, search my soul, my feelings, find the meaning of life kinda person.  I'm not a girls girl.  I hate to share feelings, hate to cry, hate emotions .... which is all that TERRIFIES me about this retreat.

But lately (probably a year or more) I have been struck with how much I don't like myself.  I need to be all the things that the women of this retreat are, and what they talk about the entire time of the retreat.  They will be my examples of how I should be living and interacting w/ the human race.  Kinder.  Gentler.

Anyway -- I'm signed up .... not going until May 2016 .... this year is sold out and I couldn't go anyway this year.   I'm excited and scared.   I know I'll feel inferior to everyone there and will possibly be the OLDEST there .... but I feel compelled to go.  It will be so far outside my box that I'll be in another zip code.

The November Flea Market

LW was in Nashville last weekend ... and called me 3 times on Saturday ... seems my stuff was selling like crazy!  Yahoo!!!

She sold the spice rack I had redone for her (back a couple posts) for $22 to a girl who bought it for her best friend who was getting married ... wedding gift ... LW said she was so excited about it.

I had sent alot of Christmas stuff ... but these ornaments evidently went like HOTCAKES!


Ones on the left are paintstick ornaments that I glued images I printed onto scrapbook paper, added a wire hanger and some glitter ... ones on the left are just a wooden ornament w/ printed image glued on and wire hanger.  Completely sold out of all! 


Couple other things I sent that sold:  (to the same person)

(bottom one is a winebox repurposed)

LW said my total was $99 ... none of my things are over $15, so I did pretty good!  YIPPEE!

Grandkid ornaments

For the past 6 years I have been making our 7 grandkids a Christmas ornament w/ their name on them.  They've been a big hit ... with their mothers!  LOL ... I believe the grandkids could care less! (at least at this point in their lives)  LOL

Anyway here's this year's ornament ....

As you can see -- they are scrabble tiles.  I glued them onto pieces of paint sticks that I had painted in various colors then glittered the whole thing.  Quite fun to make ... and pretty darn cute!

Back to Square One

<sigh>

I infuriate myself.

So Saturday I went to another craft show in a school gym .... it was in one of the more affluent school districts ... and what a disappointment.  Maybe 30 booths.  There was ONE that I liked their set up and could use the ideas in my booth.

BUT ... I am back to NOT wanting to do this.  No craft show ... no antique booth ... no Etsy.  I guess I just don't want it bad enough.

I can't justify any of it .... making 275 pieces of art for one show, making a booth display for one show, buying business cards for one show, a banner for one show.

The truth is I will not make any money (which granted has never been my goal).

I think my biggest issue is feeling like I HAVE to use my studio ... I have built it, filled it, spent ALOT of money on it.  Have nothing to show for it.  I think that's my problem.  I feel like I SHOULD be making making making and selling selling selling. 

Maybe that's not what it has to be about.  Maybe I need to take a deep breath and say "I go down there to create with NO goal in mind."

And so the war w/ myself continues ............