A Reprive: Charleston Ironworks

I didn't really talk a whole lot about our Honeymoon to Charleston, SC, so I'd thought instead I'd share some of the best pictures (that I have) of our trip to the south.

Charleston has a real obsession with iron. Very ornamental iron. It's on every single house that lines the inner city. I think what amazed me the most was the symmetry of each piece. Perfect symmetry is one of the most catching things to anyone's eye.









But the most interesting find was this gothic goat head door knocker.

I love it. Maybe because it seems devilish. Charleston has over 100 active congregations in the "Holy City" so finding this piece of work makes me curious about the darker side of Charleston.

Rollin' Rollin Rollin, Keep Those Doggies Rollin'!

In the beginning. There were dogs. And dogs were good and loyal and it was good.
Then came the ornaments and alot of people thought that was REALLY



REALLY




REALLY good - wait that's a cat....cats aren't "good" are they?



In any case, this is what I've been up to. And really this herd of ornaments shipped out earlier this week and there's STILL more to be made. I can't help but feel a bit sad that this year I may not be able to join in the Christmas madness "retail-wise" simply because Christmas came undoubtedly early on Tumus. Trust me there's many other things I want to be making for this shop, but the sheer volume is quite staggering at the moment. Even over my Thanksgiving break I've been working nearly all day to complete orders early!

Do I dare list a few dog ornaments again? Do I dare swamp myself with more orders? For once I find myself damning my "9-5" job and it's 8 hour shifts. It takes away valuable time I need to help people. That makes me very sad too. Can I stand on my own? Is this just the pre-Christmas rush at it's finest?
*pout* I need to figure it out.
I have a small and modest waiting list of customers who still very much want their own pup ornament so they come first when I finish the last ornament from this rush. They have been loyal enough to stick it out with me so far and that deserves something really, really, really good.

FEAST!

Well kind of lol.

Remember these? The Great Mouse Rolls of Thanksgiving 2008?




Well they didn't make it into the batch this year, but I did get to break in my lovely new mixer. If ever there were a time to initiate an appliance, Thanksgiving would be the pinnacle of hazing for all new mixers.
Making overnight rolls requires that copious amount of flour be dusted on all manner of objects, including me. But Kitchen Aid thankfully foresaw this "doom" and provided me with a flour shield. Thus my kitchen was spared, er, mostly.



This mixer is seriously the love of my life right now.....but don't tell Chris that. I also love King Arthur Flour. I'm ashamed to admit that I originally fell in love with this flour because of the name :lol: I mean come on, KING ARTHUR FLOUR!? How epic.
But then I reasoned with myself. A girl can not love a flour for it's name alone, nay, I also love it for the quality and care with which this mill produces all it's varieties of flour from. It's high quality and makes for such awesome baked goods.




In any case, happy Nom Nom Day/Turkey Day/Stuff Yourself Full Day if you reside here in the States :)

Hard Work Reaps Fries

I finally bought this little print I'd been eyeballing for a while. It's kind of my reward for working my fingers raw (i have blisters to prove it!). I'm going to hang it on my craft wall where I can see it right in front of me. There's one more of her's I'd like to have as well, but this is just perfect.



You can find more over on Dazeychic's Etsy Shop

I Giggled Like a Maniac

I love this dog. He looks a bit like a Luchador lol. And I just got another batch of orders in thanks to a Storque article that ran today. I giggled at the madness of it because I just didn't know what to think!




I may have to start turning away the Dog ornament orders here by the first weekend of December simply due to volume. It's a challenge. I can only hope that the "9-5" does not make us work any more OT between now and the first of the year. While I want to accept the orders, I can't do so knowing that the quality of my work may suffer or my customer service not stay up to par. People expect great things and I have know when to say when to balance it out.

To Do List #3

I've been doing alot of reading. I realized earlier this week that I've fallen off my own Wagon o' Goals that I'd set out to accomplish late in the summer. I have the excuses of being overwhelmed with wedding details, exhausted, and generally in a doldrum of sorts.

But now I'm out of those excuses and frankly I need to kick my own butt for not pulling out my goals sooner.
As the Holiday season is practically here for us crafters and biz owners alike, I think my goals should be more or less broken down into smaller chunks and maybe one or two BIG goals to aim for at the end of the "season".

If you're curious here was To Do List #2.

Things I can check off:
Pinpinn
[x] Seek out seasonal advertising with Lu.

Tumus
[x] call the Vet office to ask about advertising the ornaments. I actually ended up buying advertising on another venue and getting free advertising at my sister's vet office.


Things that are staying on the list and new goals:

Pinpinn
- Get 25 items consistently listed in shop by end of November.
I got really close with this one, honest, but funny enough I sold so consistently that when I needed to focus entirely on the wedding I couldn't find the time to restock. So it's back on the list, even in the middle of the Holiday rush.

- create.photograph.list 5 new shaped pincushions by end of November

BIG GOAL:
- New Fruit pincushions and New Emery line by the New Year


Tumus
- Get 25 items listed in the shop by the beginning of December. I got to 21-23 item amount range. So back on the list it goes.

- create.photograph.list 6 new birdies by beginning of December

BIG GOAL:
- sketch out and attempt the proto-type for the new standing cat by the New Year


I might also add the overall goal of balancing the books during the end of December as that's as good of time as any to sort out the stuff while I'm off work.


In other news I've rediscovered my love of SpongeBob. It's odd I know, but something about that yellow sponge makes me laugh WAY too much.

The Pearfect Holiday

These have been lurking in a pile of "to-sew". I've got a few of them cut out and laying in a neat colorful pile just waiting.
But now I have motivation to get them re-listed on Pinpinn because there have been inquires as to where they've gone and if they will come back.

So Yes, Virginia there will be pears...and oranges.....and lemons.......and apples......


and if time permits maybe some tea, cookies and a few new pincushions that are just as fun and colorful.

The Holidays?

Birdie in Squash Yellow sold of the front page today. (Thank you Lisa from Lilfish for making sure I saw it.

You know how people always talk about being "ready" for the Holidays and all? Well this panda is already wondering how she's going to work this out for the next two months. I already feel THAT busy.

Pinpinn has been featured all over the place it seems and while I've got plenty of things cut out especially for the Orange and Lemon pincushions I still don't feel like it's enough! Eep!

Tumus has had lots of new dogs stop by and I've been sketching up more breeds to get out the door and shipped out. It seems busier here than Pinpinn mostly because the custom doggies do take a bit more time to sew up. Which leads me to another important thought, I must make sure I value my work in proportion to the time it takes me to create it.
This is very important to me (in the dark recesses of my mind) because I eventually want to find a part-time job and work on Etsy more.

My dream is definitely getting there. Not as fast as I was thinking it would but I've come a very long way from that first sale to now.