Let's evaluate

I've totally fallen off the balance wagon lately.

I'm making some flannel graph (I know!) animals for our Sunday school; I threw together two tiny Halloween costumes (see my little chicken and egg below); I stocked my shop with turtle kits for the holidays; I'm still trying to finish my new handbag pattern; and, in clear violation of the rules, I started a new alligator pattern (with which I'm currently in love).

So I thought now would be a good time to review the rules, grade myself, and hopefully get back on the balanced mommy/making track:

1. The original no new projects rule became: do one thing at a time - no starting a new project until the first one is completed. F (currently working on 3 projects)

2. Crafting shouldn't take time away from the kids - the time has to come from somewhere else (for me this means turning off the computer during the day). C (currently distracted by spoonflower)

3. Schedule time for my crafting - which means not crafting time is mommy time. B (thanks, John)

4. Make art for pleasure - not just for selling. A+ (okay, this is the easy one)


5. Learn to delegate, you don't have to do it all yourself - Let someone else do it. B (making kits instead of turtles was inspired, but I should have finished my other projects first)

So, I think I'm pulling a C.

How, to get back on track? Return to the first project I started, put everything else aside until I finish it (see you later, alligator). Be prepared to play with the little people all afternoon, and fold the laundry, already (seriously).

Are you on the balance wagon?

universal wish list

Have you heard about Amazon's Universal Wish List? It's super cool. Instead of sending your family to your amazon list, etsy favorites, plus scribbling down your Old Navy, art supplies store, and kitchenware wants - you can easily put it all in one place with the wish list button. Anything online can be added to the list, and amazon puts it all together nice and neat. I love tidy things, and this is so tidy.

Here's my wish list.

I'm a little eager for Christmas.

Spoonflower Doll Panels

I designed this doll panel a few weeks ago for Spoonflower's Design Challenge. The voting is up now. You don't have to have a spoonflower account to vote, so go vote! (please, please vote for me!)

These are hand drawn, and then digitally colored. The dolls measure about 12" tall and are intended to be cut out (with a generous seam allowance) and sewn to a backing fabric. One yard makes 12 dolls. I'm thinking I might get some in Spoonflower's organic knit - which would just be oh so huggable.

I'm trying to stick to my do-one-thing-at-a-time-rule, but I've got Halloween costumes, John's birthday tomorrow, and some bible school stuff I volunteered to make. These things sort of happened all at once. So my purse pattern is ALMOST finished, but I probably won't get it up here until next week. Trying to cross off some other things first.

Color

What follows is a totally self indulgent post reveling in color and my fiestaware.

I love color. So when we registered for our dishes, John and I each picked three colors. I thought I would love to have a wide range of colors. At the time, somehow, I didn't realize we had basically made a rainbow (okay, we don't have a violet, but the periwinkle is a warm blue, so it's almost the same.) Everytime I put my dishes away, I try to stack them so that they are asymmetrically balanced. Kindergarten classroom isn't really the look I'm going for.


Recently we added three new colors to the mix: Peacock, Chocolate, and this orange whose name I don't know. It's still a nice color spectrum, but now with more diversity, allowing lots of new color combinations:

ooh.

aah.

Oh!

*Really - a new purse pattern and give away coming soon.

IF: Flying

I don't plan to participate every week in Illustration Friday, but the topic this week was "flying" so I couldn't resist doing another little piggie illustration. I have some other ideas for this little guy who is fascinated with things that fly, so maybe I'll do some more.

Any thoughts on this? I like the nice bright colors I got with the watercolors this time. I should probably use a ruler and make my borders straight, and maybe more variation in the line thickness?

Coming Soon

I couldn't use my computer last week because my cord frayed and my battery was dead. I used the extra time to make two new patterns I'd been thinking about - and I'm really excited to share them. I just have to do all the computer stuff now: photo editing, typing, making a pdf. I keep putting it off because that parts not as fun as designing.

But I hope to have them both ready by next weekend. We'll see. But keep an eye out for a halloween toy and a new fat quarter bag design (oh, it's a good one!). I'll do a give away before I put them in the shop as per usual.

Craft for Craft's Sake

This year I've been gaining success in my etsy shop - it's been loads of fun, and always inciting new ideas. But sometimes its too many ideas. I don't just make for me very often.

I've been following Illustration Fridays for a few months, and I've decided to participate at my leisure to encourage art making that doesn't lead to sales. I think I need to remind myself why I like to make things, not just how cool it is to make money.

So, here's my first Illustration Friday. I've had this idea in my head awhile, and finally put it together. I like the idea of flying pig as a metaphor for transformation/transcendence This is my first time to use ink with watercolors together, so I'm still working out some of the technical stuff - but I really enjoyed it, and will continue to do this. It's a nice easy medium that I can work with quickly and walk away without much hassle.

Make It Work

Just a note: I've decided to change the name of my project since I've changed all the rules. Is it weird to change the name a month in? Nah, it's all about what works, right? Exactly.

I now dub you (and change all the old posts to match because that's just tidy) the Make It Work Project

There are a large number of women talking about balancing motherhood with art/craft/work pursuits, women also called momtrepeneurs or WAHMs. I suppose it is a pretty hot topic now. I love the way OffbeatMama puts it: "We support mothers integrating their pre-kid identities and lifestyles into their post-kid realities."

Make time

In the past, I just worked whenever I could find a spare moment. I think this is a mistake, but not only for the obvious reason. It's true that it's hard to find time to work if you don't make time. But what I also found true, is the time that should have been devoted to being a mommy, or cleaning house, or whatever was always diminished because I was looking for that spare moment.

I think this may be the single most detrimental thing that my crafting does to my mothering. It steals my attention.

So last week, we decided to schedule a specific time for my crafting. Not very much time, but it is time that I'm guaranteed to have. I also have nap time (and I'm a lucky mommy of two good nappers), but if nap time doesn't work out, I don't get so frustrated because I know later I will have one guilt-free, uninterrupted hour.

It's much better to live in the moment instead of in the spare moment. It leads to days like today, when I feel like a good mommy, a neat housekeeper, and a pretty clever designer - all in the same day.

Flying Pigs

My friend Starla took some photos of our girls recently - a word to the wise: two year olds do not sit still. Starla caught a few really nice moments though - like this one with the flying pigs!