Plushroom Soup

Cuteable

My Elyria unicorn was featured on Cuteable today!

Tiny Shop Update

The two lovely unicorns above are now available in my Etsy shop. I will be adding a few more over the next few days. In the meantime, check out the rest of the bunch on Flickr! 

Thoughtful Thursday - Community

Sorry for the lack of words and pictures lately. (I promise this post is not a downer, but if you don't want to hear my brief grumbling, go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. :) I've been feeling a little burnt out and a little lost. I spend all day at work thinking about sewing and about all the cool crafty things I want to do. Then I get home and, by the time I've taken care of the dogs and dinner, the only thing I can think of doing is curling up on the couch with a good book or some trashy TV. Please tell me you guys all go through this stuff too?

But yesterday I forced myself to sit down at my sewing table and just push through it. Fake it til' you make it, right? Well, it worked. I started to feel energized again and I was disappointed when bedtime rolled around. The other thing that helped was the support and encouragement of other crafters.

As much as I bemoan the Internet sometimes for the way it often replaces face-to-face interactions, it is a great tool for instant support and feedback. I love being able to reach out instantly, via e-mail, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, to so many awesome like-minded people. I've made many wonderful connections, and I appreciate beyond measure their kind words, encouragement, stories, problem-solving skills, openness, and laughs shared.

Through the connections I've made online, I've actually met a lot of great people since in the real world, like Laura, who is so, so awesome. And, it turns out we have mutual friends. Weird, right? But in a good way.

Without this community of awesome crafters, I couldn't do what I do. So a big, huge, corny but heartfelt thank you to all of you. Know that even if I don't always say so, your words and ideas are endlessly inspiring and encouraging. An extra big thanks to Laura, Kate, and Lisa for your help this week! Props to Isara too—I love our lunchtime crafty sessions, even though I'm bad at scheduling them!

August Goals

(image: Modish Biz Tips)

I want to keep up the great creating momentum I had in July, so most of my goals this month will center around just being creative and actually DOING.

1. Work out pattern design for one new plushie. This might be ambitious because I'll be starting from scratch, unlike the two I made in July, which were based on previous designs of mine. But if I can at least get a good start, I'll be happy.
2. Sew, sew, sew. More concretely, make at least 6 new plushies.
3. Make a list of what needs to be done to gear up for the show/holiday season. It seems like almost cheating to have a goal to make a list of goals, but there's so much to be done before my big selling season of the year. I don't want to get caught off-guard when the rush finally hits again, so making a list of everything that needs doing will be crucial to my success. And sanity!
4. Spruce up the ol' shop. This week I caught the tail end of Etsy's Virtual Lab about turning browsers into buyers (if you missed it, read the notes). Daniellexo presented lots of great, easy-to-do tips that I can implement with little effort. First up: retake photos to replace some lackluster ones.

And I think I'll leave it at that. It may well be a tad more than I can actually accomplish, but again, I'm counting on some momentum to carry me through.

Here's to a happy, productive August, everyone!