Starting on the Task at Hand

The last batch of dog ornaments I'll ever do with this pattern. I just started cutting on the order for GRREAT of 60 ornaments....so much felt.  I try not to think about the enormity of this task.  I have, in the past, done 122 ornaments before during my Holiday rush, and over a shorter amount of time.While I do have till August to complete them all I am still in the middle of completing a few other projects, namely The Feather Quilt.  That too is also due in August, but I need to have it entirely pieced and the backing sewn together so I can send it out to be quilted.  That just means that my quilt actually needs to be done by June 1st.

As long as I do a little bit each day I'll steadily chip away at both of these projects.

I've set a goal for this week to cut 10 full dog ornaments out each day.  If I can stick to that I'll have all 60 dogs cut out by Sunday night, that's 120 pieces of felt all cut by hand.  So far I have the first set of 20 done, 40 more to go!

p.s.

I am no longer selling these ornaments in my Etsy shop.  GRREAT is a Golden Retriever rescue organization who contacted me almost 6 months ago to do this final order for them.

1 + 2 = 3

These dogs are nearing completion.  

I can't begin to describe how much work creating these patterns were.  Both the Huskies (top) and the Kooiker (bottom) were full faced designs from scratch and doing brand new full faces means the amount of detail and time is tripled.  I do think I can iron out the time needed to make them, but when it comes down to it I need to keep in mind that my time is valuable. It's my skill that helps pay the bills.

All 3 of these ornaments are HUGE compared to my others and need to be scaled back imo. They measure in at 5 in wide/ 5.5 in tall for the Huskies and 6.75 in wide/ 5.5 in tall for the Kooiker.  There is room for downsizing a bit.

This over simplifies the creative process of how a picture is turned into an ornament.  I don't use computer software to help create a vector image, instead I take the basic shapes and markings of each dog and create the pattern.  It is time consuming and often times frustrating.  But doing it this way has lent a distinct style to my work which I think is satisfying.  I can look at my sewing and say that's mine, I did that, no one else can make that how I do.

What you don't see are the 11 other sketches crumpled up in the trash bin, the eraser dust, the messed up tracings of the markings and the scattering of felt bits that litter the workspace and floor.  If anyone ever said "art" was a clean process, they were never creating art to begin with.

Tumus Going on Holiday

If you have something favorited in my Tumus shop you'd better get there quick!

I'm closing up for the Holidays tonight December 12th at midnight EST.

All orders will ship out by Saturday December 17th at the latest.  After that I plan on vegging out, drinking hot chocolate, finishing my Holiday shopping and visiting with family.  I'm sure there will also be lots of sleeping in, video games and pajama lounging in there as well.

And I will finally be baking the cookies I've been craving since Thanksgiving.

A Smattering of Ornaments

There's a small comfort that this week is Thanksgiving here in the States.  While I'm looking forward to having an excuse to bake in the middle of my busiest November ever, I keep wondering how on earth I'm going to actually manage to even get the rolls started.  I'm guessing it'll be the last thing I do before I go to bed on T-Day Eve.  It wouldn't be the first time I went to bed covered in flour.

Still I half wonder if my Tumus dog ornament will make another unexpected appearance around Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  If it does I'll probably be done for the season earlier than expected, but right now it's all a matter of chance.  It's got so busy that I had to reorder more business cards. 

Somewhere in all this mess I have to figure out when I will be able to get out and dig around in what is now mud in my flower beds.  My bulbs have arrived, with the exception of my Day Lilies, and are in need of planting.  I really don't think I'd ask for more "hours in the day" because I'm sure whatever it would be filled with would be more urgent than planting flowers.

Seeing a Horizon....sorta

I've dug out from the pile of orders I received almost two weeks ago and I'm down to the last 4 from that batch.  I feel like I fell behind and I could not get caught up.  I really don't know what it was this time around because normally in November I'm right on schedule with everything.  I dunno I guess life just sorta head butted me into the prone position and I felt too old to get up that fast.

But I'm not really "old".  I think I just needed some nice words and some reassurance that what I was doing was appreciated.  It hasn't been easy.  There have been some strange ups and downs with custom orders lately.  People deciding that after they received their ornament that it wasn't what they wanted after all even though it was exactly what they ordered.  But Chris says, don't let it get to you.  He's right. I can think that all my hard work will be rewarded with kind words, but we all know what happens when we assume.  Still thank you to everyone whose enjoyed their ornaments, both happily and some half-heartedly.  Your feedback helps me grow and move on.

A Doodle with Tea

I received a second custom order request last week from a wonderful girl in NY.  She'd already purchase a custom Bulldog ornament the week before and asked if I could design an ornament for her Labradoodle, Lani.  I'd never done a 'Doodle before so I set to work researching the breed a bit, looking over Lani's picture and sketching out possible patterns.  New dog breeds are always a challenge to scale down properly.  The original drawing was extremely huge compared to my other ornaments, but it turned out really lovely once the size was adjusted.

The ornament could not have been timed better because the rain had just set in for the week.  It also allowed me to break in my new Totoro teacup I'd brought back from Japan, Epcot while on vacation.  I love how dainty it is.  If I'd had the money and wasn't afraid they'd break on the trip back I would've bought the other 3 designs they had in the display.

Sipping tea from this cup makes me feel very girlish and happy ^_^

Hushed

I know I've been very quiet this week and it's all because I've been working, working, working. Here's a new limited edition ornament that'll be popping into the shop tomorrow.  This little guy will be my FIRST ready to ship ornament and of course he's only here for this Holiday season!

I've been working on orders and prepping for the Holiday season, but the most exciting work is getting ready for an appointment with a local shop to discuss selling wholesale to them.  

This has me unbelievably psyched up mostly because I've been dragging my feet for two years about asking this shop in particular.  But I did it and I'm totally going to nail it, I know I am.  Even if I don't get the business I'm incredibly proud of myself that I actually asked, presented my work, set up the meeting and am following thru.

Some times it just takes bullying thru the doldrums to get where you need and want to be.

Still Stitching

It's raining and cloudy outside today which means two things.  It will cool off for a bit and I will get alot of sewing done!  Here's another preview of the new ornaments for 2011.

I'm really stoked about these and I hope you guys are too!  I'm working on getting the monkey put together today as well as the first Limited Edition one.  I am aiming to get the ones that I have ready photographed for the shop by at least Sunday evening so I can start updating by Monday.

On a side note, I hope that this stubborn high pressure will break soon.  I don't preach alot about my views on climate change and how I feel about the environment, but this year's weather pattern really is proof that the earth is definitely cycling thru some big changes. Will there be another Dust Bowl?  Seems like it.  I also wonder what it was like before so much pavement was in our towns and cities.  What was it like before heat indexes?

Back In The Saddle Again

While Tumus' been a bit slow even with the Christmas in July sale, I've been able to really get some work done.  It seems that my creative spurt cycles around summertime because it's usually when I start to really bust out ideas.  I mean remember these sketches? I made these up this past Winter. Yeah, it's been a while.

Well, they're finally coming alive in felt.

I have 5 new ornaments that are in their hardline pattern forms, cut out, stitched up and nearly ready to be photographed and listed.  But the lion and monkey are just the tip of the iceberg. I'm also whipping up 2 new limited edition ornaments on top of the 5 regular ones.  I might even manage to put out 3 additional dog breeds (Airedale, Beagle, and a Basset Hound)  and maybe even a Siberian Husky full face ornament. This year feels like another busy one for me. I'm super excited because I'll be at over 20 products and it's been such a rare thing for me to have that much UNIQUE and individual selection in my store. Of course with more selection can come more sales and being as these are all personalized ornaments I could be setting myself up for one heck of another season. Still, I can't wait to introduce these in the shop!

4 months is a heck of a long time

Alot has changed in 4 months.

I now work from home.
I had a really successful garage sale.
I threw my youngest sister a Baby Shower (I feel old).
I had an INCREDIBLE November on Tumus.
I planted 100 bulbs and still have leftovers :(
I baked 4 pies and 2 cobblers for Thanksgiving.
I was featured on HGTV the day after Thanksgiving for their Handmade Holiday special for my Doxie ornament.
I've grown in confidence about keeping my shop going and have faith that things will continue to happen when I need them too.

But some things will always stay the same.
I still make a heck of a lot of dogs and I'm okay with that.

Bulldoggery

I like it when I can take this:


And turn it into this:


Look for the Bulldog ornament listing to hit the shop around Thursday.

A day at the "9-5"

Dog sketching taken via cellphone


I've 4 official days left at the "9-5". Admittedly I'm nervous. Mostly because it'll be the first time I'll be without a real steady source of income. I'll be relying entirely on a few odd jobs and Chris to help pay the bills while I get Tumus advertising up and running/scheduled and new listings created.

In the meantime, I've been busy doodling. The ones in the picture are done in halves so I can take them home and copy them over to graph paper and make them symmetrical. At the request of a nice returning customer I've also sketched up a bulldog face pattern. I haven't snapped a shot of him yet, but you can use the picture above for clues on how it might look!

New Theme and a New Ornament

You might have noticed a new ornament in the shop last night ^_~ I've been holding myself accountable to get things done on my shop. I need to make myself live up to my word. And last night even though I was dead tired and the photographs taking too long to upload, I did it.

It's even listed in my shop right now. This took a bit of trial and error and was more challenging than I thought. A bit more tweaking and it'll be spot on.



I've two more guitar ornaments lined up for this month. I'm pretty stoked about these.
And to keep things fresh I've changed to a new more vibrant theme. Very fitting for a new colorful career! Now it just needs a new banner ^_^

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.

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.

Kickin It

Where have I been? I've been kickin' with my dogs yo!
I've been amazingly busy with custom orders for my dog ornaments lately in the Tumus shop. It seems just when I think no one is going to be taken by them someone rushes in and snatches one or two up and I meet another special dog and their owner.

It's fun :) It's interesting and the dog's are hilarious. I have a rather intimidating but challenging order on the table right now, 8 individual custom doggies. Meet some of the dogs who are about to become felted:





This will be one for the records for me ^_^ I'll be sure to post mid progress pictures if I remember to haul my camera to the craft room (really need a point and shoot). And if I don't do that you'll MOST certainly see the final results.

But for the time being we are dashing out of town for a quick festival in Dublin, Ohio....aka the Dublin Irish Festival. It's going to be our last HOO-RAH before we really crack down on wedding details. So it's my chance to relax and try not to worry about too many things other than the present.
Frankly, that's going to be incredibly nice.

Foto Friday has gone to the Dogs!

Tillie in New York
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

My wonderful customer Kellymac23 has given me some lovely photos of her all too cute Westie pup named Tillie. With her help we designed a brand new dog ornament especially for Westies!

You can see the ornament in my shop!
And here's the model!

Where My Dogs At?

Bianca Star
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

Here's a hearty THANK YOU!!!!!!!! To all my wonderful customers and their beloved dogs ^_^ These kind buyers have all recently received their personalized dog ornament in the mail (or are about to in Laura's case) and are leaving the most wonderful convos and feedback ^_^

Meet the doggies who made it possible!

Winston from Ontario
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt