Thursday, January 1, 2009

A New Year of Craftiness

I've been thinking lately about the things I make, and the things I want to make. In 2008 I was a supply-buying fool, so I have a ton of clothing from thrift stores, sewing notions, bits of ephemera, and other odds and ends that I have found here and there... but it doesn't seem like I have used as much as I've purchased.

I have bits of this and that that I thought I would use to make art cards and collage shadow boxes, but that idea, in particular, did not come to fruition. I like to think I'd make some cool things with all of the wonderful things I found... I even bought frames as I found them in thrift stores to put them in. I failed at the collage-making. I think I'll post a lot of stuff in my Girlchild shop as supplies. (Be ready, Denise!)

I also have fabric that I thought I HAD to have, that I had big ideas for, but for the life of me, I don't know what those ideas consisted of...Mostly, I went back over and over to the sweaters and vintage linens. They speak to me somehow. Don't pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about!!

Worse yet, I started projects that I thought would be awesome, but then they didn't turn out as planned and I abandoned them. Poor little Ghostfolk... At least I haven't thrown them out!! And I did find out that stamping my name on the fabric works great...

My Punkinhead shop has been a little bit random... but I want to get more focused on "lines" of items. I also want to create seasonally. I typically end up coming up with great Halloween item ideas on October 25th... Christmas items on December 20th. Not a great plan for selling anything right? In 2009 I am going to have a schedule, and spend more time working on ideas for projects that can be created on that schedule.

Right now, I'm liquidating holiday items in my Punkinhead shop (go see!) and I'm going to start working on some things to sell for Valentine's day. My plans are for more Hearts-on-a-Stick, but that's all that's coming so far.

How are the rest of you re-working your shop or craft room for the new year?

5 comments:

Sunny said...

I have the hardest time creating for the season too! Your hearts on a stick look adorable. I'm also going to try and streamline my clutter and focus more on a few items. It's hard, I crafting ADD :)

idyll hands said...

I blogged about my plans and have already started to put them into place. Higher end items to bring in more profit for not more work. I also think finally "moving" into my house will help my business. I've finally got the boxes in my bedroom unpacked and out of my life - now to hang pictures (it's only been 5 months since moving in!).

Junque Rethunque said...

I was just talking about this yesterday - we've been in our house for 2 YEARS!! and painting isn't finished, boxes are still stored in the garage... need to finish some projects.

Denise Felton said...

I redid the studio recently. November, maybe? Anyway, I thought I'd make a new start and get rid of lots of stuff. But....nooooooo. I ended up just moving the old studio shelving to the garage, so now I have room for MORE old, yellowed medical gauze and reams of stickers that have lost their sticky. I can't wait to see what YOU liquidate! *standing by with my plastic in hand*

Anne said...

I hear ya about the randomness of the Etsy shop. Mine was all over the place. I finally just quit listing items a month or two ago. I've got plans to re-open/re-stock it with notepad holders, but so far I haven't actually photo'd my items yet.

As for the hoarding of craft supplies, I realize that I live in the world of the potential. I don't look at things as they are right now, but in the wonderfulness of what they'll become. I'm realizing that kind of thinking is crippling, because if you think long enough you can come up with a way to turn anything into something fabulous. Focus, focus... That's my mantra for 2009.