Procrastination

Ok so I have signed up to do this tutorial.  My pictures for the entiere assembly is due tomorrow.  I have 5 pictures out of 100 or more. 
So instead of working on that last night and the night before like I was supposed to, I put up ornament balls on Etsy.  12 of them, precisely.  A bunch of new ones, a couple of remakes, and some holiday ones.  This will be the last batch I do this year, as I have this tutorial project I have been avoiding.

And why avoid it? For no other reason than fear.  I am afraid of this taking longer than it should and not finishing in time to be included.  I am afraid of failure so I'm barely even trying. I swear I am going to work on it tonight, and hopefully I will just turn half my work in late for the rough draft deadline.  But I am having terrible anxiety, since I really only have ONE CHANCE to get this right.  I only have so much of the coral pink color I am using, and that means only ONE FLOWER.  But I have to include photos for each and every step, which means taking a shot, transferring it immediatly to my computer, and checking it before moving on or repeating the process.  Not to mention the time frame I have to work in falls between 8pm and midnight if I'm lucky. Its become a painstaking, tedious process.  Not sure how many of these I am looking to do.  I'm not enjoying the photography part.

But the tutorial will finish in december, and I will do a couple of christmas gifts and probably start making plans for next year. I have promised a supply of hairsticks and bobby pins for the kickstarter campaign for the book, 30 of each.  It's going to be another big project.  But dedicaiton will have to come through, since they are all goign to be the same, and thats a pain when I like to be creative.
I have also offered a $100 custom order, which is substantial for me.  Gotta be top tier to get that reward, lol.

 January is usualy restock time with colors going on clearance for satin and brocade.  I also need a new order of foam bases, since i am down to my last 4 from 30.  Thats a lot of balls, lol.  Ribbons could use a restock as well, and maybe some new bells on christmas clearance. 

And this isn't even everything!

Here i have my supply shot, and unfortunately I am probably goign to have to do it agian, since there are a few things I left out.  But as you can see, kanzashi is a very involved process with a wide vareity of tools and supplies.  My piece is going to be mainly pumpkin orange with a coral pink highligh and a goldenrod yellow throat, accented with tea green leaves.  Not picutred is the cardboard needed for the leaves, a glue board, and I am not sure if I am going to wrap my bira bira tutorial into this or not.  If I do this supply list is going to get WAY more involved. I have been asked to do both, but doing it all as once piece is possible.  I may have to ask the publisher on that one. 

Anyway, new ornaments look great, and I am getting better at the routine of photographing them. I have a lighting system worked out if I can just keep my autistic kid away from the lamps. but with 3 led daylight bulbs I seem to be getting some good results.  Not too hot on the shadows, though I imagine some brightness adjustments would fix that in photoshop.  But they have requested unedited photos, so they are just going to have to work it out themselves.  They have requested a particular format, not sure how long it's going to take for me to do that for every photo. 

So in the end its just a great big pile of wait and see.

Secret project

So I have been working on a to secret project. And I just got the colors of my project laid out and will begin the slow process of documenting it's creation. I have about a week to complete it.

I'm building a tutorial.  And it will be in a book. That will be published.

I am having health problems,  AGAIN. Hopefully since I had 6 vials of blood drawn at my my dr appointment Tuesdays morning, I will soon have a handle on the latest problem. I hope.  Honestly I just have my fingers crossed for no surprises. 

Meanwhile I have been sleeping like crazy and just too low on energy to get any work done after family.  I still have 8-9 ornaments sitting on my desk, and I have not started the tutorial, or anything else for that matter, in the past several days I have intended to work.  

I have made some sales, which is nice.  The EComer Fund is up to $785.  Out of 5k, that's not so great.  Considering I wasn't expecting more than $500, I'm pretty excited. 

And I can't wait till January when I get to restock my ornament fabrics and supplies.  I have worked through all but 4 or 5 of my last shipment of foam balls, which are generally ordered 30-40 at a time!  And not to mention I am completely out of red, green, purple, gold stretch, and several other stock fabrics.  I am also halfway through my latest 1/2 lb box of pins.  And ribbons.  SO far behind on my ribbon stock at the rate I keep making ornaments.  

I finally got those business cards drawn up, and boy do they look awesome!  Only problem is, my printer sucks.  Its a cheap inkjet, and didn't come up with near the quality I had hoped for. So I kinda settled on what I have. Maybe for my next event I can have some real ones printed up instead of the make-it-yourself kind.

I found a Trish Burr book at the library! It just was acquired, needle painting miniature embroidery scenes.  Probably too advanced for me, but I would love to just read it and pick up a few tricks.  When the tutorial is over.  

The tutorial project wraps up for me in December, but I also have Christmas and a sister moving back to the US from Australia to deal with.  Which is why I am not planning anything huge until January.  Like restock on after Christmas sales and such.  

Word of warning, I will be moving this summer.   I am not sure where, I might stay in the Dallas metroplex and I might not.  It will depend on my husband's job and a few other things.  Moving is a big ordeal for us, with my health problems and the autistic nature of my son.  School systems, doctors, commute time, plus proper housing in our price range all have to be considered.  I will probably be shutting down the shop during the transition, for more at least a month or more while I do some business changes.  I will have to change government forms as well.

Don't forget to donate to Elizabeth's Medical Fund and assist her in covering her medical costs!