I just launched my new website last week. I had given myself a deadline (up to right before I got on a plane to Austin to see my new baby nephew) and I accomplished it, but not without a lot of lack of sleep, tons of coffee and just lots of unnecessary stress. Somehow this is how I do things. Set deadlines, throw in some major procrastination, get closer to said deadline, work harder, panic, panic, coffee, coffee, ignore husband for several days and then DONE! I know lots of people who do this, but it always seems like I'm the best at it. And when I say best, I mean the craziest. Not in a good way.
Regardless, my
site is up, I really love it and I'm excited to be able to upload my work myself in real time. I had been wanting a gallery-like site and I got it! So go
take a peek already. I'll wait here.
In other "things are a -changing" news, I finished working on my
fall 2012 line which is something I've never done before (having a seasonal line.) To be honest, I fought this since I started my business. I just thought I didn't need to, that I didn't want to be held down by a season so that I could create willy-nilly whenever I wanted. Well, this year I decided to make some changes. First off I met with
Rena Tom, strategist extraordinaire for creative businesses. It was an intense hour of back and forth and it helped me SO much - thanks Rena! She helped me formulate a plan for my business and it really rejuvenated me big time. I came home and got cracking that very day. I feel very grown-up in my little business - new website, new fall line, created my first linesheet to send to stores, edited my
current product line and I'm working on a small line for spring 2013. Holy smokes, who am I????
Before all of these changes came about, I had a couple of really rough months. Late last year I had made the decision to take some time off in my business and I think it was a culmination of going through some personal things and being in a rut with Papaver Vert. I didn't write about what was going on here (like I did when my husband and I lost our friend
Chris to suicide last year) mainly because I just didn't feel like sharing yet. A few weeks before Christmas, my mom came down with a mysterious illness and was hospitalized for 10 days. I was so freaked out to see my mom that ill that I lived in her hospital room the whole time, not wanting to leave her side. Thank the stars she is doing so much better now but being confronted with the idea of losing my mom was a real rude awakening.
Then, several months later, my husband and I lost his mom to breast cancer. She had been diagnosed several years before, so we knew what was coming, but it was still shocking none-the-less. We were able to be right next to Lynda, in her house, when she died. I feel so lucky to have been there right at that moment.....we didn't know that that would be the day. I mean, how often do you get a chance to witness such a personal moment and say goodbye? My mother-in-law was always so lovely to me and accepted me as her daughter from the moment I met her. It's not often you hear that about a mother-in-law, right? There was a time in my young life when my mom didn't speak to me. I felt like the world had ended but Lynda's house was my refuge and I spent so much time there. I will always be grateful for that and even though I never told her how much it meant to me, I'd like to think she knew. On a side note,
Lynda was an avid crafter. A few weeks after she died, I cleared out her craft room, donated a bunch of things while taking home lots and lots of books, yarns and antique notions for myself. She was always giving me bits and pieces from her room so I know she'd be happy that I took lots of good things. Thanks so much Lynda :)
Looking back, I'm pretty sure what got me out of my funk was my work. And by that I mean working with my hands, designing, creating. More so then thinking about my business. And then the business followed. And then the openness to changing. And now here!
Things are a-changing and it's good.
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