Since the children will be home for about two months after tomorrow, I have changed my focus on what type of work I will be doing from home. I have decided that this summer will be the perfect time to try to get my home crafting business off the ground once again. So I really need to rearrange the home office once again. I need to get out my sewing machine, my craft table and my cash drawer. Since it will be easier to create crafts than work on the computer with two little people underfoot, I have decided to switch tasks for a little while. Now all I have to do is get my room rearranged and I can start creating crafts once again.

I have been so busy lately with computer work, that I haven’t had a chance to make any jewelry and I really do miss it. Thankfully it’s just a hobby or I would be really missing it worse than I do now. When I first started making jewelry it was to help replace some of the income I lost after quitting my job. Over the past couple of years I have sold quite a few pieces. But lately I haven’t had the time to make anything let alone have the time it takes to try to sell it. I’m hoping things will eventually settle down in my life so I can get back to crafting. It’s a good thing all my supplies don’t expire or I would be in serious trouble.

Earlier this morning I decided that I would clean out one of my craft closets. I have been trying clean the clutter around our home with moderate success. While cleaning out the closet I came across some Holiday-Invitations that we were given years ago. Now compared to today’s Christmas Holiday Party Invitations, or Halloween Invitations cards, these cards were quite simple. They certainly don’t have the look and feel that cards you can purchase from sites like www.holiday-invitations.com offer consumers. But they are still really pretty to look at, so I put them away once again to add to my scrapbooks later on down the road.

Yes. I know I’ve said this before, but honest this is the last time that I will be making any more purchases of jewelry supplies until I start selling the jewelry I have made up. A couple of weeks ago, one of the stores that I purchase a lot of supplies from had a huge sale on and I just couldn’t resist making a “few” purchases. I spent over $100 on my purchases. But this will be the absolute last purchase of this kind for a while. Over the next couple of months I plan on creating a lot of jewelry pieces and then will put a major push on selling all this. Then and only then will I purchase more supplies. Promise!

So as you all know, I finally finished my home office/craft room. Well, since I now have the room to do my crafts I got right back into it yesterday. I spent most of the afternoon making jewelry and I was able to create quite a few pieces. And the best part….I didn’t have to put anything away once I was finished with it for the day. So later on when I decide that it’s time to create some more I can just get right down to it. After the leisurely day that I spent yesterday, I really have to wonder why it took me so long to get this room done. And of course, as always, when I get a few more pieces made I’ll pop back in and post some pictures of the finished products.

Because we are in the middle of one of the worst snow storms of the season, we are all pretty much stuck in the house for the day. So I decided that today would be a great day to go through all my craft supplies. It’s quite amazing the stuff (junk) that I have stored away for a rainy (snowy?) day. I have found a lot of supplies that I forgot I had. I found my custom rubber stamp that I forgot that I even purchased. I’m going to set this aside in a place where I know I will be able to find it again when I need it. The kids are also having fun while I work on this project. All the stuff I don’t want, I give to them, so they are thinking that it’s almost like Christmas.

What better way than to spend this day sorting through crafts.

Well now that it’s officially a new year I did make a new year’s resolution this year. I have decided that I’m going to get extremely serious as far as my crafting business goes. Last year wasn’t a really good year for my craft sales and I do intend on changing that this year. I’m going to set aside more time for crafting and then I’m going to advertise my crafts a whole lot more than I have done in the past. I’m hoping that I can make enough money to purchase a couple of Hamilton watches for my husband and my oldest son for their birthdays. Hopefully this little bit of motivation will get me off my butt and get me working more on my crafts. Wish me luck!!

Well I finally made up my mind. Aren’t you happy?! I decided that I would in fact make a wedding scrapbook for my father in law and his wife. So the other night I dug out my supplies and got to work. I also seemed to have had a couple of little helpers with me as well. But so not to drive me crazy, I would only let one come in at a time to help me. I did a couple of pages and hope to do a couple of more today. Although making a scrapbook does take quite a while, I’m pretty confident that I will have it completed for Christmas. I just hope they appreciate it and all the work that goes in to creating one.

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of October. For the past couple of months I have been extremely busy creating jewelry as I get ready for the upcoming Christmas craft fair season. I pretty much have all the jewelry made that I wanted to so I’m quite happy about that. Now if I would only get the promotional products that I ordered in the mail before the first craft fair comes I’ll be really happy. I do realize that my work speaks for itself, but I would like to have these items to pass out to customers. The more I can get my name out there in the jewelry making industry, the better my chances are to have a successful craft fair season. So fingers crossed that these products come in my mailbox in the next couple of weeks.

Last weekend because it was pouring all weekend we were not able to go on our final camping trip. So to make up for this disappointment my husband took the family out to a craft fair and then out to supper. I just love going to craft fairs. Not only do I get to see other people’s works of art, but I am usually always able to walk away with some new ideas about things I would like to make as well. I also get to discover what new types of promotional items are out on the market now to get the word out about my small home crafting business. Although I don’t normally purchase a whole lot at these fairs I normally do have a pretty good time and walk away from them with tons of ideas. Well I’m happy to report that I was able to do just that this time around. There were a couple of different projects which I had the opportunity to look at that I’m going to try to make to sell through my business.