Gettin' Down to Bizness!

Wondering how my craft business is going?  Well, it may not seem like it has been going much of anywhere... I've been really busy doing alterations and such here.  Underneath the craziness, though, I have been making some slow but sure progress.  What have I been doing? Well...

Let me show you.

I've made a new business card/ hairclip holder for my crocheted hair clips.

I made a fun new design for handmade business cards... which I love dearly.  I need to print or order some other ones once I find the business card paper i have... but for now I'm having a blast with these.

My friend came over tonight and we brainstormed ideas for jewelry.  I'd love to know what you think!!

Bracelet #1

 Earing #1

Heart Earring

Double heart earrings - do you think these would look better without the beads?  I'm thinking so...

 Earring #2

Earring #3 - My personal favorite!

 Earring #4

So what do you think?  Which one do you like the most?

One Week Away

I am one week away from my first craft fair.

I feel completely unprepared. I planned to try and have a few of each type of item made, so I could get some feedback from people. I have kids purses (quilted and crocheted), crocheted baby bibs, a few crocheted baby hats, a couple of crochted scarves... I have some potholders that might be ready soon (I'm praying so), a crapload of dishclothes... but nothing else. I had planned to sew girls shirts, skirts, and pants... but I haven't even cut out the patterns.

I have no vendor's licenses.

I have no idea how I'm going to display all of this.

I don't have a cash box.

Basically... I'm scared out of my mind.

But.... every new adventure starts out with some fear and terror, right? lol

2 Months and a Week

That's how long I have until I'm officially unemployed. Holy crap... that doesn't seem like much time!!!! I have a lot to do... I want to start selling my crafts as soon as my job ends! I'm crocheting and sewing up a storm here, and panicking that maybe I won't get enough done or be ready. PLUS I plan to start classes toward my social work degree at the same time... busy busy busy!!!!

So, I decided to take my goals here, and make them into a tidy to-do list of things I want to get done in the next two weeks. I'll mark them off as they are done, and life will be great.

Business:

1. Unpack and organize all craft things
2. Wash the already-made items
3. Price and pack the already-made items
4. Find list of events coming up
5. Post wanted items on Freecycle
6. Check Freecycle for responses - Mon, Wed, Friday, Sunday, Tues, Thurs, Sat
7. Look into selling at Latta's Vintage Market and other locations locally
8. Make price tags
9. Look into business cards (Moo cards?)
10. Organize crochet patterns into a binder
11. Make quilted bibs into cute purses
12. Finish making baby stacking toy
13. Make 5 beehive potholder
14. Finish sewing my shirt

Financial:

1. Make a budget
2. Do taxes (Find W-2s, Read Pub 527, Print forms, Do federal taxes, Do state taxes)
3. Contact Work One
4. Sign up for workshops offered to "displaced" workers at my job

Educational:

1. Apply as an actual student
2. Pay money owed to college #1
3. Request my husband's transcripts
4. Request my transcripts

Blah blah blah, these are my goals... this is probably the most boring blog post I've ever written, but putting goals on here gives me motivation lol

Dishclothing My Way

So, my last day of work is officially May 15th now. I have my letter from the university, materials about what happens next, and.... a plan.

I've decided that corporate America seriously bites and has drained large amounts of my soul. If there is ANY possible way to avoid another job working for The Man, I'm gonna give it a shot.

What does that mean for the future? Well, several ideas have come to mind, most of which are not yet ready to be aired on this blog. One, however, is ready for sharing:

I want to try and really make a business out of my art and crochet.

As phase 1 of this plan, I plan to try and stockpile items so that I can begin selling at local craft fairs. As I stockpile them, I'll put some in a local vintage market to see what sells there as well. I'll see what people like and don't like, and change what I make accordingly.

Right now, I'm focusing on dishclothes. I've been focusing on them for a while, and have made a ton of dishclothes. I've made them in many colors, many textures, using many patterns... I've made plain squares, attempted a circle, and created flower and butterfly shaped dishclothes. I've given a lot away though, which means that after all of this crocheting, I have a stockpile of only 17 dishclothes. My goal is to have a stock of at least 50 before I move onto making new items.

I really want to make a progress bar on my blog for this... does anyone know where I can find one? I've searched all over creation... no luck.

Okay, I'm going to go watch a stargate episode and make some dishcloths now. Have a lovely day everyone, and thanks for reading! :)

New Creations

So, for those of you who are wondering...

Yes, I have been crocheting again! I made a new baby set... hoping to get some things made to try and sell in December. We'll see how that works. For now... I made a baby sweater: (My first baby sweater! I'm so excited about that!)



And a reversable baby bib...

And even a hat!!!!

Fredbert was kind enough to model the hat, but it looked kinda wrong on him... he was being all rap star about it, which is just wrong in a girly hat, ya know? LOL

GOAL!

Today I've been looking over my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days, and checking out my progress. A few that I completed at least part of:

6. Crochet 2 garments for myself (a sweater, skirt, etc... something big) (0/2) - White shrug finished in September

32. Take one dance class or buy another dance video - Finished Cha-Cha classes 10/28 (By the way, these were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fun!!!!!! We've already signed up for another class next month, East Coast Swing!)

78. Make a budget - Done 10/3 (For all the good it did us... with the job changes, that did NOT go well!)

A few that I've made progress on:

1. Read the entire Bible - On Deuteronomy 22
2. Memorize one scripture from each book in the Bible (3/52) - Genesis 1:1, Exodus 14:14, Leviticus 26:13
30. Complete Spanish the Easy Way - On Chapter 21 (I was on 20 when I started back at it... slow progress, but better than nothing!)
42. Make and keep one e-mail penpal for at least 6 months - Started chatting on Oct 23 (And in Spanish, even!!!! Does this make up for my lack of progress on #30? lol)
45. Go to 10 community events (for fun, not business) (2/10) Farmers Market, Asian Cooking Class, (I haven't been to either of these in over a month, but they are both excellent things to do.)

So, yeah. I feel like a bit of a loser for not doing more, but I have had a lot of other things going on in the meantime.

In other news, my work is going better... James's schedule for work may be changing yet again (we'll see) now that one member of management there has been suspended w/o pay after being arrested with marijuana, and another was fired today for sexual harassment... I'm loving dance classes and life in general... looking forward to Halloween weekend at Kim's house, which is always an adventure lol.

Okay, I'm off to bed now... love to you all, and apologies for not bloghopping at the moment... sooner or later I'll get back in the swing of this!

It's an artsy life, for me...

All kinds of artistic things have been happening in the House of Jana lately. On an e-mail list I'm on, we're doing a Something-For-Me crochet challenge. What am I making? A purple crochet shrug! Here is a pic of it so far: It looks a little wierd, but only because it's at a funny angle on the chair.

I've also been decorating boxes... here is the lid for a pretty purple box!


And the bottom of another box. I used a package of random old Hymnal pages (bought at a yard sale!) and ripped them in pieces to make this look!

I also made an ornament from the pages, which looks much cuter than it does in this fuzzy-wuzzy pic.

I also made some green ornaments! Aren't they festive? I plan to embellish all of my ornaments later, with various pretties.

Aunt Clara came over Monday evening (James's Auntie) and decided to join the fun... isn't her red ornament awesome??

She also decorated an empty apple sauce jar!

She made some ornaments with wittle animals on them!

Isn't it funny how to people can work at the same task, with the same materials available, and have COMPLETELY different results?

Now that you've seen what I've been up to, today's Question of the Day is:

What have YOU been up to?

A Post in Pictures

So what have i been doing in the recent past that has kept me so quiet??? Well, first of all, it's been SO STINKIN' COLD IN THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!

What is my secret to enduring the cold??

My beloved POOH SLIPPERS!

I also knitted my second dishcloth! It is number 2 out of 12 that I set as goals for myself this year.

And last but not least, a list I'm on has declared January to be the month of creating baby things! So, here are the baby booties I have knitted/crocheted so far! (As you can see, three of the pair are massively oversized, but oh well. Someone will still need them I'm sure.)

I was also going to send a pic in of my FIRST HICKEY EVER!!!! I'm so proud of it. Unfortunately, it didn't photograph well, and it's cold in this room, so I'm giving up and going to go watch TV and finish reading my book in the NICE WARM BEDROOM!

Adios for now!