Still recovering

whew....I can't believe I survived that!!

First I go through major crying freak out over resin.
Then I have a marathon jewelry making day on Saturday.
Then Sunday...the big day. Ok it really wasn't THAT big of a deal. It was to me. It was my first ART show. Not craft, not yoga or business show. But a REAL honest to goodness ART show. So yea, it was a big deal for me.
So it starts with me and my sister/helper running late. I briefly thought to myself "this isn't starting well".
We start setting up, things are going well, the canopy is up. Our neighbors are so sweet and nice. Marilyn lives in central Iowa and makes beautiful baskets. 
We look to the west....its dark...really really dark.
The wind picks up, the lightening flashes and thunder booms. Down comes the rain.
OK, no big deal. The events director comes around and says the "shower" should last about an hour.  We continue to set up. The rain lets up and a few people start to straggle in.
So far, it's been 1 hour into the show.
I look to the west....it's dark...really really dark.
This time the rain pours down, the wind is threatening to blow the canopy. The canopy is actually leaking. I have to throw my stuff on the table and cover it with the table cloth.
Jodi and I have to hold on to the tent poles because I was an idiot and forgot weights. We're soaked.
Hilarious start to the day.
The rain finally stops and we start re-setting up. People start coming through again.
It's pretty uneventful and fun for a few hours. People are interested in my jewelry and I get quite a few sales.
Then the heat and humidity set in. It seriously got 7 degrees hotter in 5 minutes. It slowly became oppressively hot. Soon there were only a few brave souls around and sales slowed to none.

All in all, it was an ok show.  I can't really complain about the sales. I know that if the weather was better, the sales would have been better.
I loved meeting and talking to everyone. Everyone was so nice. The volunteers working there were amazing. Someone came around about every 5 minutes to make sure we had cold water!

Sunday I learned that people do like my work. That maybe I should concentrate on the handpainted stuff cuz people really loved that stuff. and most importantly, don't sign up for shows in Iowa in the summer unless its in an air conditioned building!!

I would like some cheese with my whine

Thank you very very much Chris, Pam and Scott for soothing my freak out last night.

I cried for a while as I'm known to do. Watched too much TV and then dreamt about resin all night long.
I woke up realizing (with Pam, Chris and Scott's help) that I'm ok. 
I re-resined the poo pieces today.  I don't want to jinx myself but .....THEY ARE FIXED and drying perfectly!!! 
So I freaked out for nothing (another thing I'm known for).

Thank you again!!
Thank you Chris for always being the voice of reason and for being one of my biggest supporters.
Thank you Scott for also being a fan and for making your wife wear my jewelry :) 
And thank you Pam for talking to me as one artist to another and helping me realize we all go through this crap.  And also the very awesome compliment ...warm fuzzy was definately welcomed.

I'll let you all know how the show goes.  Feeling optimistic again :)

Time for the cheddar....

Frustrated

My beautiful brussels sprouts...you never fail me.  But tonight I had roasted cauliflower instead. It was the bomb diggity.

ok...
on to venting....

I've been trying to get ready for a HUGE (huge for me) art show this weekend. I've been pretty proud of myself for not leaving things to the last minute.  Of course I've been agonizing about if I have enough or if it's good enough and second guessing myself and overthinking things. It's what I do.  But in the meantime, I've been plugging away.  In fact, I was so excited to sell a "new" design.  I just knew it was going to get a lot of looks this weekend and especially on Etsy. 
So Monday night I BUSTED ass getting things ready to resin. This is on top of busting ass to prepare the wood which is annoying and time consuming.  Adding the designs is the fun part but after about 50 pieces, even I was getting sick of it.

So today I rush home, prepare the room for the resining.  Got the dehumidifier going, cleaned a perfect space, got my tools and supplies together.  Of course I agonize over the resin because measurements have to be precise. So I worried about that. Then about halfway through, I'm sweating my tush off and the resin is getting thicker and thicker.  Duh!! I'm trying to resin too many pieces at one time.  So I just do the ones that must be done and figure I'll make a new batch tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the absolute deadline to resin.
I finish and realize I have nothing big enough to cover the pieces. They must be covered or every stupid hair and dust bunny magically appears and lands on the wet resin.  Already a few pieces have a little dust on them.  So I improvise with a huge tupperware bin lid.
I walk away feeling really apprehensive about the batch.  But figure, a couple dust particles is not life or death so chillax.
About an hour ago, I walk in to check on them and to make sure my make shift cover didn't fall on them.  I pick one up. The resin isn't level.
I pick up another one...not level.
I pick up a third....not level.
The freakin' butcher paper is so crinkled that it created little hills and valleys and the freaking resin is drying crooked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
of course it was every single one of the new pieces I was so excited about.

I could...could possibly...apply another coat of resin tomorrow.  The resin from tonight should be dry enough to do that. But I think I'm supposed to wait till it's fully cured.  Or I could go and bust my ass trying to prepare more wood and do everything over again in one night.

Or I could take this as another sign that prehaps I should just give up.  I hardly sell online anyway.  I'm so invested in this and I really want to be successful but it seems that no matter what I do or try or whatever, some challenge always comes up.  And I'm already exhausted from working at my day job, and being a wife and mother. 

I don't know. This is a long post eh? Just so frustrated.  I've been thinking a lot lately about quiting...and I guess this is making me think more

Boring Stuff

So I'm sitting at my kitchen table surrounded by what seems to be about a million pieces of jewelry.
It's time for me to get organized. I hate this part. So boring and confusing.
Yet I guess it's hard for me to sell if I don't know exactly what I have huh?

My Etsy store may look a bit bare for a while but I promise to add more stuff.

I like how I act like anyone is reading this! HA! But if you are, look at the previous post. There's a contest going on!!

Facebook Contest

I'm extremely lucky to know some very talented and friendly follow Etsians from the Des Moines area. One of which is Designs by the Wire in Newton, Iowa

The other day, as I'm perusing her facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Designs-by-the-Wire/151203648239232), I notice a post about a contest she's having. Basically, if she gets to 200 fans, whoever refered those people to her, gets a prize...a kick ass necklace! I fell in love with the idea and of course immediately suggested her page to all my friends.

I couldn't get the idea out of my head. So today I asked her if I could "steal" the contest idea from her. She said yes she said yes!! This is a great way to promote our Etsy shops and get our names out in the community. So without further ado....I give you....the Fennibird Facebook Contest!!

Here's how it works:

1. If you're not already a Fennibird fan, here's the link:  http://www.facebook.com/Fennibird

2. Recommend my page to your friends. Have them "like" my page and post who sent them.

3. I will keep track of who your friends are (a bit of cyber stalking? Yes..but in a good way!)

4. The person who brings the most people to my Fennibird page wins my "Growing Hearts" Necklace shown here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.207101509334267.57616.165589550152130

5. The contest ends at 200 fans (only 135 more to go!)

Thanks to everyone who participates and especially to Designs by the Wire for coming up with such a great idea and for letting me use it! 
Check her out!! http://www.etsy.com/shop/Designsbythewire?ref=ss_profile

Spring means headaches

yea so I didn't make it into to craft show. I cried. a lot.
But I talked to some very talented local crafters who also didn't make it.  I think it was all about "who you know". Still a bit bitter but moving on. And sadly feel better to know I wasn't the only one.

I got accepted into the Reiman Garden's Art in the Garden in July.  My first "real"art show. I'm scared shitless.  I have a lot of work to do to prepare.  I'm waivering  about what to show.
Just the silver stuff....or the wood stuff. I think the wood stuff is different enough so I'll go with that.

I was a vendor at the First Annual Central Iowa Yoga Retreat last weekend. There were about 50 people there. I was really concerned about making any sales since no one was there to buy jewelry, only to get their down dogs on.  Surprisingly, I did pretty well!! I got a lot of feedback on my jewelry and sold 6 of 8 pairs of earrings.  I'm very happy. 

Oh....and I've had about 2 months worth of tension headaches.  Don't ever buy a new house and move while also trying to start a new business while working at a full time job you don't really enjoy while raising a 4 year old son. Just saying....

the unknown

I sure do suck at this blogging crap.  Oh well....

So yesterday I was supposed to hear if I was accepted into a craft show that occurs once a month until November. So yes, I really want to be accepted.  I think I checked my email about once every 30 minutes, but it was probably more like once every 10 minutes. Then at about 10 pm, as I'm certain the fact I hadn't seen an email meant I wasn't accepted, a post comes out on facebook that we would know by today!! So today, I've checked my email once every 30 minutes.  2 more hours until I'm supposed to know.

I think if I'm not accepted I might cry... a lot.