Cards, Crafting, Yard Sale, Church Functions & SCHOOL!

I'm really considering myself blessed right now.  I just had another order for cards on My Etsy Site!  This is so exciting for me!  I mean, how many people (and I'm sure, in reality, there are quite a few) get to spend some time doing something they just love doing and then are able to sell those hand-made creations to someone else who will appreciate them nearly as much as you do?  Who will appreciate not only the finished product, but the time and effort that went into the finished product...?

 

I spend a lot of time (admittedly, probably more than I should) cutting pieces to fit (by hand, with an x-acto knife and a ruler, not a paper cutter), figuring out complimentary colors, shapes, designs, stamps - hand tinting some with colored pencils using colored ink stamp pads for others.  It's not just a simple matter of slapping some paper on top of card stock and calling it "art"...  That's not to say that slapping paper on card stock isn't art - it's just not my kind of art.

 

I'm realizing now that I'm good at this; better, in fact, than I am at making jewelry.  Though I don't think I'll quit making jewelry because I do love it, too - but I think I'll focus more on the cards.  For one thing, they seem to be more popular and for another, I get a lot of enjoyment out of it and almost always pleased with the outcome; especially when I've labored so over the right combination of things, placement, etc...

 

My most recent buyer (Thank you, btw!) got several of my most favorite ones so far and I am so hoping that she'll open the box (when she receives it in 2-3 days) and just gasp in awe at how wonderful they are!  LOL!  Ok...maybe I'm overstepping it a bit here, but I really do like them and I do hope she does, too.  If I know her like I think I do, she will definitely love them.

 

Of course, crafting these cards might be a little bit more productive if I had an actual craft table/space to do them in.  Gotta get on that storage building in the back yard!  I was going to have a yard sale on May 30th, but I've committed to helping with a church function that day and so the yard sale will have to wait.  The church function is a blessing in disguise for several reasons, one of which is the fact that I've done nearly NOTHING to organize the stuff for the yard sale.  I really would like an extra (and empty) storage building in my yard just for yard sale stuff!  Then, when the yard sale is over, and I've given all the leftovers away on FreeCycle, I can get rid of the extra storage building and return to the existing one with a new purpose - A CRAFT ROOM! 

 

Granted, the outdoor craft room with have its limitations, namely HOT in the Summer and FREEZING in the Winter - but I'm willing to put up with that for the sake of getting all my craft things in one, well-organized spot.

 

On a very different note, my crafting may need to be put on hold for a couple of years.  Yes...a couple of years.  (And no, I'm not pregnant!  Get your mind right!)  I've officially registered for the School of Drafting and Design at ITT Tech.  YAY ME!  Classes start this Fall and I'm excited, scared, terrified, anxious, anticipating...  This is a very good thing!  I've got another appointment with the folks at ITT Tech next Wednesday to take placement testing and discuss financial aid (the financial part of it is really what scares the you-know-what outta me) but my girl Marilyn over there - the lovely lady who has been so wonderful and helpful and supportive of my decision to go back to school - assures me that the financial side of things will be the LEAST of my worries.  I'm not sure I believe her because I'm ALWAYS worried about finances.

 

Is this a bad time to secretly wish I had a long, lost rich aunt or uncle somewhere who died and left me their fortune?  Because I know it is definitely in bad taste...  LOL!

 

TTFN
JMS