I'm feeling very overwhelmed at the moment. My Studio is a disaster, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to clean, purge, reorganize and rearrange. The problem? - I don't know where to begin. There is so much stuff. I'm feeling pretty brave by putting this picture on the internet for the world to see. I usually don't like for the world to see my messes. I make a lot of messes in my house and in my life, but usually I get them cleaned up before anyone can see.


My work table is not too bad. It's been much worse. But, I have half full and empty containers, baskets and bins all over the place. I can't even walk around in this room.

My drawers don't look to bad from the outside, but they are so full, I can't get some of them open. And, I spent the last several months just throwing things into a drawer as I walked by, so they are very disorganized. I don't know what is in what drawer.

My wire cubes just look like they are holding junk. I bought some white boxes that fit perfectly in each cube. It is my intention to decorate and label the boxes and place them in the cubes to hold stuff instead of leaving it out to be seen.
More empty containers.

I was hoping this would only take a couple of days. I think I am looking at a week long project.

I am grateful to have the time to do it. I always feel renewed and inspired after I reorganize and ready to start on new projects. Really though, if you think this is bad, you should see the garage. I won't go out there alone. I'm afraid something will fall on me and no one will know it. Maybe it is time for a yard sale.

Today's quote: "The beginning is the most important part of the work" - Plato

Tuesday Night

I'm listing many new items in my Etsy Shop. I'm really trying to fill it up for the Holidays.





I'm listing Christmas charms in my Etsy Shop for the first time ever - 4 for $26.


Check each day to find new items.

Today's Quote: "I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Tuesday Morning

I know, I know! It has been a long time since my last post. Not only have I been neglecting my blog, but I've been neglecting my Etsy shop as well.

I have no excuse. I've been very busy, but so is everyone. And other people still manage to post on a regular basis. Let's just say that I was not inspired and leave it at that.

So what is new since I last posted? I went to the beauty shop and had 8" cut off of my hair. This is the best hair cut I've had in a long time. I'm really loving it. I got my ears pierced. I've had my ears pierced before, but I was having problems and I let them grow in. I thought I would give it another shot, because I love wearing earrings and there are so many pretty, hand-crafted earrings for sell on Etsy. Canton is over. November was the last month for me. Last Saturday was my last Art and Craft show for the year. Now I can play and experiment over the next couple of months. I have many ideas that I can't wait to get started on.

I do not have pictures of my show last weekend in Howe, TX., which is unfortunate, because my booth looked great. It was a really good show. I started selling before I got set up and was still selling as I was taking down. It was wonderful to be surrounded by other artist and crafters. I was surrounded by imported items, without much variety for the last several months at Canton and missed being in a room full of like-minded individuals committed to making unique, hand-crafted items. Gosh, I sound like an advertisement. I enjoyed shopping on Saturday as much as I enjoyed selling.

Below is a collage of some of my new items. A lot of them sold Saturday. Click on the picture to go to my Flickr page to see more of my new crosses and birds.


I had high hopes of taking it easy this week, but once again I have too much to do: I must clean my much neglected house. I have several custom orders to finish and ship by Friday. Book Club is Thursday night at my house and I only started reading the book last night. I promised my family to have real meals everynight this week instead of frozen food thrown into the oven at the last minute. I have to make dinner for the youth at church Wednesday night. I must take pictures and list more items in my Etsy Shop. .... and so on, and so on, and so on......

But no matter what, my husband and I are taking Friday off! We are getting out of town, eating somewhere nice and spending the day relaxing and not thinking about work!

Today's quote: "Dost thou love life? Then waste not time for time is the stuff that life is made of." ~ Benjamin Franklin

September?

What happened to September? It was August and now it is October.

Canton 1st Monday is this weekend. Come out The Canton Marketplace, Avenue C, Booth 122 to visit M and L Studios.

I will have lots of new Christmas charms available as well as other new charms and necklaces.

See you there!!!

Friday

I realized this morning that I have been so focused on getting ready for October's 1st Monday at Canton, that I have not posted anything in a long time.

So, I thought I would show you what I've been working on. Below are 110 Christmas Charms in different stages of production. I say "production", because I feel like I have been working on an assembly line.

The last step for these little charms will be a sprinkling of Glass Glitter - just to add a little sparkle.


This is a basket of charms waiting to get painted. I'm not sure if I will get to these before next weekend. There are about 250 charms in that basket. But, I will have them done for my November shows.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Today's quote: Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before. - Mae West

Canton Report

We had a busy weekend at Canton this month. It was our best weekend yet.

We changed a few things around in the booth. Just the few small changes made a huge improvement.

We moved the self unit to the back, behind our "counter" and added another table where the self was. I moved my frames with my roses down a little and changed some of my displays.

I also changed my packaging, but it is hard to see in this picture. I will have to get some closeups this week.

I'm not taking any time off. Today I will start getting ready for the October rush.

I'm also going to be working hard to get many more items listed in my Etsy shop. Christmas shopping season is right around the corner.



Today's quote: "While we have the gift of life, it seems to me the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our creativity or our glorious uniqueness." - Gilda Radner

A Drawer of Possibilities

I have many drawers in my studio full of all kinds of goodies.

I open most of these drawers and rummage through them on a regular basis. I have drawers that store extra paint, ribbon, decorative scissors, tools, polymer clay, clay cutters and so on.... all items that I need. But, I have two drawers that contain items that I do not have a clue what to do with.

I have a drawer full of old napkin rings that I thrifted. Now, at one time I was using these to make little keepsake jars, but they were not popular and did not sell. So, now I'm stuck with all these napkin rings, and my tendency to horde keeps me from getting rid of them.

But, what eludes my creative abilities the most is this drawer full of wooden stamping blocks. This is a really deep drawer - almost a foot deep.
I pull the rubber stamp off the block after buying it, because I use the stamp to texture polymer clay much more than I use it to stamp with ink. Taking it off the block makes it much easier to use for p. clay. I buy unmounted stamps whenever I can, but I'm always finding the mounted stamps on sale. I've never been one to pass up a sale. So the consequence is this whole drawer full of wooden blocks that I cannot bring myself to throw away. I just know that one day I will find a use for them or a really cool art project to use them in.

I'm thinking that I should box them up and put them in the top of my closet until I can find a use from them. The problem with this idea is: I'm afraid if I do not see these blocks and rings starring at me from the front of the plastic drawer every day, that I will not find a way to use for them. You know - out of site, out of mind.

Actually, I don't think I have a problem letting go of the napkin rings. I spent $2 for all of them and I don't have that many left. But, there has got to be something really cool to do with the stamp blocks.

........ I really hope this doesn't keep me up at night......

Today's quote: Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. - Lucille Ball