Stepping back

I've had a sketch for this wallet in my notebook for a while now. In my head, it seemed really simple - a classy exterior panel, and three interior pocketed panels - two for cards, one for change/receipts/cash. I actually made a pattern for this project and measured everything really, really, REALLY carefully, taking seam allowances into consideration - for a change. I cut my chosen material, pinned it all, and ironed it to the specifications I needed. I put different weights of interfacing inside for stability (but not weight) and sat down to put it together.

If you look really closely at the centre panel - the gorgeous floral print on the cream field - you can see where I've had to rip out stitches. Twice. You'll also notice the botton is larger than the top - they're 2 different pieces because I apparently measured incorrectly, not taking a seam allowance into consideration for that piece. Don't get me started on how badly I cut the exterior panel...

I've put this project aside for now, for fears of destroying it completely. I like the concept and I know I can finish it, but just not now. Instead, I'm going to go back to what I know - small pouches and card wallets, with a few shoulder bags thrown in.

I'd love to expand my repertoire but time isn't allowing it. I'm working on retooling my banners/avatars/backgrounds for everything, again... no one has told me that they need to be, but I'm a graphic designer. I need to design something besides wallets. I've got a couple of ideas I want to get working on, but there's a pile of material that's constantly calling my name to get sewn up, too.

*sigh*

For the time being, I'll stick with what I've been doing. As I mentioned before, I'm planning on incorporating embroidery into more of my work - something that should make what I do more unique and put it into it's own niche, because according to some, that's what you need to sell anything on Etsy. Mostly, I like to do it and think it looks cute. If people like it, great; I know some people won't, but they probably weren't going to buy anything in the first place.

But that's a post for another day.

Unbalanced

I made that list on Monday.

It's Friday.

I've done exactly one thing on that list - a new Etsy banner. And even that I haven't actually finished completely.

It hasn't been a busy week, it's been a badly organized week. Every day I've tried to get things done, but it's been really nice out (23-28C) and Maddy looooves being in the yard, so we've been spending a lot of time outside. When we're not outside, we're playing inside. I could spend less time playing with her, but she's developing some bad sleep habits so we've been trying to wear her out before bed.

Most of that list is marketing-related, something I need to get working on much more. But I also need to make more product to market, so that's what I'm spending today doing.

Hopefully...

A stitch in time...

I've been trying to figure out ways to incorporate embroidery into my work, and beyond this piece, I haven't had much solid success. In my pile of work that I've messed up (aka 'stuff that I'll eventually give to Maddy to play with'), I've got a few pieces that I tried to include some embroidered elements. It took a while for me to realize that although I knew I had the skills (self-taught, too... which surprises me more than you'd expect), I had no idea how to use them... PROPERLY.

I tend to rush my work. This isn't a shock to anyone who knows me - I'm that type of worker who will charge ahead, full speed, to get my work done as fast as possible so I can spend more time slacking off. Years of being a designer/editor and having to make small, stupid change after small, stupid change should have taught me that slowing down and checking things over before I think I'm done would be beneficial, but no.

So my need to slack - apparently, still - has firmly embedded itself into my new work life. Only in the last couple of weeks have I started to consciously take my time and make sure each step is complete before I move onto the next. Slowing down and being patient with my work has had one massive positive result: ZIPPERS. I like working with zippers so much (so far) that everything I've made in the last 2 weeks has a zipper. Now that I've conquered the zipper challenge, I'm totally ready to start working embroidery back into my pieces.

Such as the piece in the photo at the top of this post. Eventually - possibly Thursday - this will become the outer shell of a wallet I'm going to sell. I don't have any other embroidered pieces ready to go, but I'm purposely waiting until I've finished this wallet to see how using something like this works.

I like embroidery. I find it soothing. Maddy does not and makes it really difficult to do any work during the day, but I'm determined to get her to accept that this is what I'm going to do while she's playing. And because I do all my work freehand, there's no pressure of having to follow lines or a pattern... I do 'draw' an outline in chalk, but more often than not, I'll use it only as a general guide so I don't end up losing track of the space I can use.

I'm also working on a butterfly for Maddy's room. It's not perfectly symmetrical, but I think it'll be cute. I've been trying to work with Maddy in choosing the colours that will be worked into the piece, and when it's done, I'll frame it and hang it up. If all goes well, maybe it's another potentially sell-able product. Or maybe it'll just be one of those things I do for friends and family only.

Things are starting to pick up with my shop and my work... I'm trying new things, searching for new ways to promote what I do, and it looks like I'm getting more first-time viewers into my shop. No sales yet (!!!!!!), but they'll come. I figure if I keep working on what I'm doing and improving the product, it's only a matter of time until I get my first sale, and then my second and then it's an avalanche I can't keep up with. Yep, that's exactly how it's going to be... when it finally happens :)

Finding the path

See that pouch there? The one with the super-soft faux suede exterior and cute tartan interior? The one that should be appearing in my shop later this week?

It's part of the creative epiphany I had yesterday. It's also the first thing I've ever put a zipper into, but that's not important right now (well, it is, but it isn't).

Yesterday was Star Wars Day, and as a fairly big Star Wars fan (eps. 4-6 more than 1-3), I decided to make Yoda's 'Do or do not. There is no try.' line from Empire Strikes Back my personal mantra. (If someone feels really generous *ahem, Denise*, I'd love this shirt for my birthday :).) No more piles of things I'm going to try or waste time thinking about trying; I waste enough time as it is, I need to spend what useful time I do have being productive.

And then Etsy sent out their latest Success email - making mistakes is okay, learning from them is even better - something I've needed to hear from someone besides Keith (who's encouragement I always appreciate, no matter what) and my family. I have a massive pile of mistakes I've made, but I can probably look at every piece and find something that I can take from each one and use it in the future. Kind of ties into the whole Yoda, thing, too... in a slightly indirect way.

And I finally found some patterns and designs that are just for me. I think the biggest problem I've had up until now with most of my work is that I've been trying to outdo myself at every turn. My skill level isn't much above intermediate beginner, but I was setting myself up for a guaranteed fail on almost everything I was working on by choosing designs that were geared towards experienced seamstress/seamsters. So now I've finally found things that don't frighten me by point two of the instructions and I think I can actually produce some pretty damn decent pieces at a quicker rate than I was before.

I was working on a new purse design for almost a week before I had my epiphany... I had spent four or five hours trying to figure out how to put a decorative band around the top of the bag. FOUR OR FIVE HOURS... that's just ridiculous by anyone's standards. So I've set it aside and I will return to it, just not any time soon. And that's perfectly fine with me.

Now that I've turned that corner, I can start looking at other parts of my business and figure out how to straighten them out. Like the complete lack of organization that just seems to run rampant throughout my life... I keep meaning to do something about it, but haven't found the time (or desire) to do so. With what I'm hoping will be more useful time available to me, there should be no excuse. Or, one hopes.

A week ago, I was ready to throw in the towel, I'm feeling good about where this is headed now. The only thing that can hold me back is me. Funny that it took this long to figure that out, but at least I realized it before I did just stop and turn my back on it completely.

Getting there

Check out my Photoblog for more picks like this one.

It's been a week. That's the best way to describe it - gathering with family to celebrate my uncle's life, finding out that student loans really do haunt you years after you're finished with school, trying to keep up with Maddy, figuring out what we're doing with the yard this year... and it's only Thursday.

I've gained a lot of energy this week, though, likely due to the amount of time we're spending outside with the weather being so nice. Even a half hour or so a day seems to be doing wonders, not only for me, but for Keith and Maddy, too. Maddy looooooves our backyard, especially the slight hill we've got coming up to the house. I can hardly wait until we get the fence in next month and she can run freely rather than us chasing her to the edges of the property.

And even though we've been snow-free for a month now, I'm not even going to attempt to plant anything for a few more weeks. The forecast for early next week is calling for snow and a high of only 4C (39F) on day, so there's no point in gearing up the garden only to have it freeze and die. But that doesn't mean I can't plan what I'm putting in (and taking out this year - 3 annuals and a rose bush... hopefully to other gardens) before we get it rototilled and prepped for the actual planting.

But today I've got work to do. Lots of work. Tonnes of work. Will I get it all done? Heck, no, but I figure it's better to have a list to work with than try to do it without any sort of organization at all.

What I need to do:

• finish the new bag design I started on Tuesday. To do this, I need to get to the store to pick up a pack of fasteners. Once I've got them, though, it shouldn't take me long to complete it... if I don't screw it up. I've learned to take my time and that the iron is really a good tool, so if I can keep from going at this all willy-nilly, it should turn out well. *fingers crossed* 
• finish the embroidery work on a couple of pieces. It's not really embroidery work, per se, but it's work with an embroidery needle and floss. I'm trying to add a bit of uniqueness to some of my pieces by finishing them by hand. Not sewing machine, but hand, as the lovely calouses on my thumbs and right middle finger can confirm.
• keep tweaking my branding. I'm still working at getting everything I have my name on (like cards, Etsy and Twitter, so far) to have a similar look. For the most part, almost everything uses the same fonts, but doesn't necessarily look the same. I've got an idea of what I want to do with the banner here, but can't actually do anything until the battery for my camera is charged. Then there's the question of redesigning this particular blog, especially when I own nisseworks.com. Decisions, decisions.
• marketing, promoting and networking. I feel like I've plastered my business everywhere, but I know there's still a lot of work to do and that it's never ending. Yay.

And I've got my month-end to do tomorrow, as well as catch up on all the rest of the paperwork I've been slacking off on for the last month, too... necessary evil and all that. Once that's all done, I imagine there'll be some changes I have to make to my shop and decisions that will be made about opening a second shop somewhere else for the other crafts/arts that I've been thinking about doing. But for now, I'll stick to doing the creative stuff... it's what I'm relatively decent at... I think.

And it's only Wednesday

Oh, what a week.

I'm battling a chest cold that came on very suddenly on Sunday, but it seems to be getting worse, yet better at the same time - it hasn't moved into my head yet, but it feels like my throat is lined with tiny little needles, so I try to avoid swallowing as much as possible. It's been a blast.

And then there's the computer issues. My iMac died a slow, painful death earlier this week... I tried to fix it or at least get it to the point where I could at least pretend I knew what I was doing.

When it spit out the installation disk Tuesday morning and started flashing the folder with a question mark, I knew there was only one solution to my problem.

A new iMac. So Keith, Maddy and I made a in-and-out trip to Winnipeg yesterday afternoon to pick up a new computer so I could keep trying to sell my products online and not lose touch with the outside world without an internet-accessable computer. I do have an iPod touch, but the easiest way to charge it is with a computer and well, ours was dead.

So, yes... a new computer. And a new determination to get the marketing of my products into a higher gear. I've done some easy stuff - Twitter, comments on blogs and in the Etsy forums - but nothing really adventurous. I'm not saying that I plan on hiring a skywriter or anything, but I need to start drumming up business outside of the crafting community.

Part of that plan is coming up with some unique and in-demand pieces, like iPad cases and more summer-friendly bags. I know that a lot of people use the slow time of the spring and summer to start compiling their Christmas stock, so there's that to figure out and hope that what I think I could sell actually sells. And the craft sales this fall...

It's going to be a busy, busy, busy couple of months coming up. Besides the Etsy store (which is probably only going to be one of 3-4 stores), I'm going to be making all of Maddy's summer clothes and doing some custom work for a friend of my mom's. And gardening and doing all the usual family summer stuff, which this year includes putting up a fence with Keith's dad (and Keith).

It's been a learning experience, this first month of having an online store. I can't say whether or not it's been a failure or success yet, obviously, but there are definitely things I can do (or not do) to improve my standing so that the next month is the first step on the way to feeling like a contributing member of society again.

Tomorrow's a new day and I've got yet another to-do list to tackle. One day, the only thing on my to-do list will be 'sleep all day'... one can dream, right?

Relief... but not relaxation

Crazy, insane, busy day today. I'm tackling a nasty to-do list that will hopefully be cleared off by the end of the day. Amongst the wonderfully fun things I am attempting today are:

• a marketing strategy and plan. Aren't they the same thing? Heck, no. It's like I'm re-living grade 11 Accounting all over again.
• spreadsheets. Two of them - a 'cost per produced item' one and my business ledger. Again, grade 11 accounting is finally paying off.
• banners, avatars and redesigns. I'm not happy with the banner here or on my Etsy store (same with the avatar there), so I've been tinkering with them all for about a week now. I should have specs done in about a week.
• making a light box. Oh, yes, I will... from scratch. Or I'll try to make one, give up and continue to use the floor of my war-time house as the background for my product photos.
• product descriptions. Now that I've had my store up and running for a few weeks and haven't had a sale yet, I'm starting to look at why people like to look at my stuff but not purchase it. Part of what I've come up with is going to be the marketing strategy and plan; the other part - and probably the most important part - is how I present what I am selling. Re-photographing all of my pieces is one step, but the descriptions I have written for the pieces themselves needs work. It's going to be a very 'yay for thesauri' project. 

Keith has agreed to watch Maddy today and I'm eternally grateful for that. I should have the entire afternoon to get through the majority of this... and I have to get it done. I set April 1 as the 'launch date' for my marketing to start and I refuse to let another deadline pass me by. Time management is a big issue for me (and us as a family, really) right now and if I can't start arranging my own work time properly, then what's the point of trying to get this business off the ground?

I should probably get to work on that list now. *sigh*