Oilcloth – I love you

I’ve been able to anticipate a lot of the messiness that goes with toddlers.  Markers on everything BUT paper, kid scissors cutting paper into pieces so small that you can only vacuum them up, emptying a drawer in less than 10 seconds, etc., etc.   What I didn’t anticipate though is how seriously dirty cloth chair pads would get – WOW!  I would show you a picture, but it’s actually really too embarrassing.  I can’t remember where exactly I saw the idea but the minute I read about it I knew we  must do it!  We are covering our chair pads with oilcloth – genius really.  We’ve finished one with five more to go.  It was honestly so easy – I just laid the cushion upside down on the oilcloth, cut around the cushion leaving about 2 1/2 – 3 inches more on each side and then wrapped the cushion like a present and staple gunned as I went.  I LOVE IT!!

Last Show of ‘09

This weekend is “merry, merry minglewood”!  We have not done the holiday show at Minglewood – but we did the Spring Sale and it was SO MUCH FUN!  Tons of talented artists with all their wares set up in Carmen’s home – just outside of town.   I LOVE going to things like this, so it feels like an honor to be part of it.  Check out Carmen’s website for details and directions! www.minglewoodstudios.com

One more exciting thing -we’ve officially been in business for a year!  Can you believe it?  I’m torn – at moments I feel like we’ve been doing this forever and other moments I feel like we just started.  Like I said a couple posts back, we’re at a little bit of a bump in the road but I don’t think it’s anything we can’t get through.  An example of our nudge to keep going – the local newspaper e-mailed today and asked us to be in a South Dakota made gifts flyer – crazy, it just always seems to happen like that.  The journey continues!!!

Our first 5 K

So – Bill and I decided to run the 5K this morning that benefits the Banquet.  I was super excited and I thought we would totally be able to at least jog the whole distance.  My first hint that we may not be able to jog the whole time was when the organizer of the run, who knew Bill, asked us if we were walking – um, no.  So we took off on a BEAUTIFUL morning!!!  We jogged for a mile and then walked and jogged on and off the rest of the way.  It was awesome, bring on the Turkey!!

Worth Blogging About

So – I decided since Bridget’s Birthday Princess Party (which was 2 Fridays ago ) only had 4 guests I would go all out on the invites.  I bought little wands at Target and some fancy paper supplies at Hobby Lobby.  All of a sudden I realized the party was about 10 days away and I had to get the invites out ASAP.  So during nap time, the day we were delivering the invites, I cut, glued, pasted and glittered the 4 adorable invites and attached them to wands.  We went to the first drop off house and I showed the princess’s mom the invite.  While handing it to her I had to warn her of the not yet dry glue – a very classy move when delivering invites by the way.  After she glanced at the invite – the party was scheduled from 10:30 - 1 on Veteran’s Day – she informed me that we actually had school that day – damn.  So I borrowed her daughter’s purple marker and changed the day – again, very classy while delivering invites.  So I had to change the other invites in the car on the way to the other guests’ houses while not getting wet glue and glitter all over me – I’m so Martha.

Staying Fluid

Oh bridget&lucy the business you keep us guessing!!!  We’re in one of those “what way should we go, how should we do this, what’s the next move” stages.  The last 3 shows we have had really minimal sales – I mean like 2 sales over 2 days, 2 sales over 2 hours, etc. etc.   We are pursuing our patterns – along with the issues that come with pattern sales, i.e. seeing our designs for sale other places (interesting).  But the online sales and show sales are REALLY awful.  I need to pursue marketing options – but that takes time – something I have limited amounts of like everyone else in the world .  So – there you have it, the state of our small business decisions at the moment.  Like always – never a dull moment!!!  And of course, if you have any ideas – please comment!!!!

Biz

So – there are an amazing amount of women in Sioux Falls and the surrounding area (as I’m typing this I’m thinking I need to start adding all their website links) doing handmade, upcyclyed, unique items and one of the cool parts about that is the amount of people to talk to about business.  This weekend bridget&lucy are guest artists at The South Porch.  I have had such a great time talking to Heather and Jocie about business, ideas, marketing, potential, decisions, etc. etc.  If there were only enough hours in the day to implement all our fab ideas!  Being a woman in a creative business is so exciting to me.  I love the interaction and support of other women business owners.  Happy, happy, joy, joy – you can vomit from all the optimism now .

On a very different not – I went to the funeral of a high school friends’ dad this afternoon.  I was so taken back by the fact that I am entering that stage of life.  There was Doug and Matt, Wally and Natalie – and we were at Kirby’s dad’s funeral.  I’m not ready for this stage.  I couldn’t stop crying.  And you probably need to take into account that I’ve been known to be extremely overemotional – but still – it was really hard.   Spend as much time with your parents as possible!  Man it goes fast!

So Surreal

I’m having one of those moments.  I just signed a birthday card for my oldest daughter – “Mom and Dad” (there are still many moments where I can’t believe I’m actually a mom).   I’m looking through the Halloween pictures to post and there are my two children walking up the steps to my parents’ house in their costumes – really SO SURREAL!!!!  I can visualize the pictures of my sister and I in our Halloween costumes on those same steps.  My sister was over today and asked if we’d moved the highchair out of the kitchen – I said yes – she said, “for good?”  Time moves fast, each moment is so precious, thank God for family and friends who see many of those moments with you and can say, ” Yep – it did happen that long ago, it really went that fast, I remember that too – and can you even wait for the next adventure?!”

Beautiful park day!

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Just trying out a new app – if this all works I should be blogging much more often!