It IS Worth It!

It is difficult at times to keep your spirits up when you sell your creations.  There are so many little things that can bring you down.  

I don’t know about everyone else but the actual creative process can get very frustrating.  There are many times where I just can’t get the materials to do what I envision in my mind.  Or maybe I daydream while I am making something and have to go back and correct boo-boos.  Then there are the times when I get “writers block”.   All the ideas just seem to leave my brain and I can’t put 3 beads on the same string.

Once a piece is finished it can’t be listed in the shop until I get good photographs.  Now there is a chore.  Jewelry is very difficult to photograph.  I have taken as many as 50 pictures of an item before I get a half-way presentable picture.

Now the item is listed and the wait is on.  Every day without a sale feels like a week.  You begin to question your creations, your photographs, your descriptions.  Sometimes it gets to the point that you question your ability.  I have even come close to closing my shop on two separate occasions..  

Both times, within a week of making the decision, I ended up having a great sales day.  The first time I sold a bracelet, realized I needed a bubble envelope and while I was at the store, I sold a pair of earrings.  Yeah!!! Happy Days!!

The second time I decided to close my shop was last Friday.  Today I sold a bracelet early in the day.  It is one of my favorite designs.  Then late this afternoon I sold 2 pair of earrings and a bracelet to one customer.  

You can’t buy this feeling. But I sure wish I could bottle it and save it for those frustrating times. 

Snowflakes are Addicting! Beware!

This past week I have promised myself every morning when I got up that I would catch up on my blog subscriptions and blog myself.  Then I get started on those ding-dang beaded snowflakes and the next thing I know it is 2 AM.   And I haven’t read any of my favorite blogs and I have not blogged.  There is something addicting about those snowflakes.  They are just too cool to make.  I am even thinking about a way to use them to make a bracelet and a necklace.  I try all sorts of color combinations and patterns.  And then I start with one pattern and change it half-way through.  I just get lost in doing them.  I need to start selling them so that I can afford to make more.   

All the snowflakes start out the same.  Usually six beads in a circle and run the thread through the circle again and tie it off.  Then you just add beads at each of the six intervals as you go around the ring.  I am even getting lost describing how to make them.  I want to make more!!

I don’t have time for anything except the snowflakes.  I try to play a computer game, but I stop between rounds to make a snowflake. 

Sorry, but I gotta go make me some more snowflakes!!!

I have some ideas about how to have extra time whenever you need it.  I’ll share them with you next time.  I have to try out my idea to see if it works.

Snowflakes and Christmas Things

I am reposting this to add a link to my discussion page and a photo with additional snowflakes. There are 6 different snowflakes. What do you think about the different colors? Which is your favorite? Do you have any suggestions for other colors? Or for other items?


Follow this link to the discussion page. And thanks for your opinion!

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=9026&uid=84445958484

I am working on some Christmas items and I need your opinion. These snowflakes are a little larger than a quarter and I am thinking of using them for earrings or a pendant. I made three different colors. One is silver with light blue, one is silver with dark blue and the last is light blue with dark blue. Which do you like the best? Would you like to see a different color used?

I have mentioned earlier that one thing I like about crafting is that you have to be ahead of the calendar. So summer is the time to start thinking about what to make for Christmas. And believe me when you live in Nevada that can be difficult. We have cleared 100 for the past 2 days (103 today) and the weekend promises to be at least 106. Merry Christmas? Somehow the mood just isn’t working yet!

I am getting kind of excited because this will be the first holiday season that my store has been open. Right before I broke my glasses I was on a roll making jewelry in red and green. And I had about 4 ideas that I was going to make. Then 1 week without eyes and I forgot what I intended to do. Oh well, I will make something better than the whatever. And I know that I will like it more.

Are any of my crafty friends working on the holidays yet?

Sweet Victory

I did it! I made my first sale today. All the waiting, wondering, cursing was worth it. Now I am energized to make even more jewelry.

The last week or so has been difficult. When I made the decision to open a store, I wasn’t sure that it would be worth it. And I have been having lots of doubts as to whether I made the right decision. I keep second guessing the logic behind listing the items that I listed, the prices that I put on those pieces, the idea of selling my creations. That is all still there, but

I made a sale! I made a sale! I made a sale!

I shouldnt get so excited, after all, it is just one sale. But it is my first sale. The first time someone has paid money, real money, for something that I made. And do you know what? It feels good. I like the way it feels. I want more!

I am too excited to sit here and pound away at the keyboard.

I am renewing my committment to making my store a success. And I am going to try my hardest to blog at least 3 times a week. I am thinking that I need to make a schedule (like work) and stick to it. What do you think? Do you think I can do it?

I DO!

Story Behind Cheryls Purple Cow

I have been crafting and making jewelry for about 5 years. Before that I always worked in highly stressful clerical type jobs. I worked mainly in banking and also in motor vehicle registration and titling. How did I get from there to beading and crafting? If you will listen I will tell you.

Do you remember the kid in art class that just could not make anything? That was me. Most people get A’s and B’s in art class. I failed art class. I found the whole process of creating something bothersome. I just could not, would not do it.

I used to live a fast-paced stressful life. I worked in high stress jobs and I loved it. My life started changing in November 2005 when I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I lost my job as I tried to get my epilepsy under control. As I started to control my epilepsy and my seizures decreased, I began envisioning things that I wanted to create. I felt a need to make things. And the more things I created the better I got and the better I got the stronger the need to create became. I attribute my newfound “gift” as an indirect result of my epilepsy. I started playing with different crafts and techniques to see what my potential was. I went through most of the crafts available and then I started beading and making jewelry. And that is what gives me the most pleasure.

I have been making jewelry for about 3 or 4 years. I really like making the Awareness Ribbon jewelry. I think it is important to raise awareness regarding medical conditions like Epilepsy and Cancer. I was giving most of my pieces to my family and friends. Everyone that saw my jewelry urged me to try to sell my creations. It took a while for me to get used to the idea that I could make something worth selling, but I came around.

I now had the motivation to open my own store, but the store needed a name. I wanted the name to be something that I could connect to. Earlier this year I learned that March 26 is “Purple Day”. Wearing purple on that day shows that you support Epilepsy Awareness. Purple has always been my favorite color so I decided that the name of my shop would include “purple”. I was getting there. I had one word, but I still couldn’t figure out the name. Then one day out of the blue, I remembered a gift I received in Junior High from my best friend Dee Dee. She gave me a purple cow with a poem attached:

“I never saw a purple cow;
and I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.”

I had completely forgotten about that purple cow. I surfed the web to find a purple cow. I found a book titled “Purple Cow” based upon this popular poem. The book helps you to succeed in business by being the purple cow among all the regular cows. The purple cow represents something extraordinary, different. It is something unusual that we all would like to have or even see just once.

My best friend Dee Dee was never ordinary and neither was I. We are both still purple cows. I never realized how wonderful it was to be different. I even located her through the Internet and found out that she has Lupus. The Awareness Ribbon for both Epilepsy and Lupus is purple. Strange coincidence?

Now you know a little bit more about me and how Cheryls Purple Cow was born

Another Day

May 29, 2009 – Friday

Well they say “another day, another dollar”. You would think that inflation would have that up to a $20 bill.

One thing that is cool and not-cool about crafting and making things is that you are always ahead of the holiday schedule. It is already time to start working on Christmas Crafts. Wow, it’s kinda hard to think about Christmas when it is late May in Nevada. I have 4 months of the most intense heat to look forward to. How do you make things with PENGUINS, Santa, snowmen, silver bells, Nativity scenes and all that other cold stuff when it is difficult to walk outside because the heat takes your breath away.

I may even try to get on the ball for some 4th of July stuff. Although it is a little late to think about making it. Most people have already completed most of theirs.

At least I have 2 great trips in the near future. I get to go to Reno and speak on July 1st to support Epilepsy Awareness. And I have a good friend in Reno that I haven’t seen in about 9 years. We met when she lived in Kingsville. Boy we had a lot of fun. She worked in the bar where I spent all my time. She even got me a job bartending there. That’s where Larry and I met.

Then in September I get to leave the heat of Vegas to spend 3 days in Atlanta GA at a summit meeting. I will get to see alot of friends there that I usually only see once a year. And it will be 18 months since we got together. The only problem is that there are sooooooo many meetings and focus groups and other stuff that you can’t relax, much less socialize. It ends up being alot of stress.

But I love it. Going to the summit each year enables me to speak publicly to spread the word and support Epilepsy Awareness. It is also kind of reassuring to hang out with people who really understand what I have been through. They have all been through it to. Some to a lesser extent and some greater. But it helps us form a bond of kinship.