Monday, April 4, 2016

My Journey As A Scroll Saw Pattern Designer #1714: Back to the Routine

I’m Baaaaaack!  



While I felt the break was much-needed, I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back to a routine again. I don’t think I had a time in the six years that I have been writing when I had so much time off. I certainly haven’t been as sick as I was these past few weeks.  It seems as if the entire month of March was a blur of cold remedies, doctors and naps. It is so out of character for me! But I am glad to say that I feel pretty safe in saying “I am on the other side of this” and pretty much back to normal. 



I could have probably posted a bit more last week, but I promised everyone as well as myself that I would take it slow and not push too hard. Blogging here takes probably about an hour or more each day and I thought that the time was better spent catching up to things and resting. Besides – I try to remain positive and focus on being creative here and I am sure that you all didn’t want to read about my ailments. I thought it best to wait until I have some new things to share with you. (And boy! Do I ever!) 



Leave it to me to find something positive in being sick for three weeks! But I certainly think I did. The time off allowed me to rest my head as well as my body and while I was doing so, I came up with some ideas for several different kinds of projects that I am designing. I also am working with some other designers on their own projects and providing some new painting surfaces for them to work on. Oh – and I have a project that I am doing for Interactive Artist Magazine that I will be finishing up later this week or early next week. It is all wonderful and offers so many great new opportunities for me to work in different medias and expand the business.



For today’s post, I will give you a sneak peek at some of the things I am doing. I’ll elaborate on each of them more in upcoming posts as this one will be the length of a book otherwise. I also have a day full of cutting orders and I need to get going on that as early as I can, so I want to keep this post as short as possible. So let’s get to the previews:



First off, I though of an entire new line of patterns for my scrolling followers. While this one may take a few more weeks to really get ready to launch, I promise if you are all patient with me I don’t think you will get disappointed. I am starting with a robin and a crocus, but I have many more elements left to add. I think it will be just the thing to welcome in the spring and summer months and beyond:



Next up, I FINALLY got a chance to break out my new Mission Gold Watercolor paints and play around with them. Those of you who paint know how “different” it is to paint with watercolors, and while I attended one class over 15 years ago, I haven’t really experimented with them since. I used some of the time I was off to do some research and watch some YouTube videos and teach myself the basics of this amazing medium. Last week, after I was feeling better, I was brave enough to actually give them a try and I am not unhappy with the results. I just painted some samples from pictures I found on the computer, but in the process I did lots of mixing and worked on shading and values and I feel that I am kind of getting the hang of them. I am just about ready to start my own design with them, too and that will be coming the the following days. I hope you like what I did so far:



Next up was needlework. While for the most part when I was off, I wasn’t up to doing much, I did have a couple of days when I was able to sit and embroider for a bit. I had shown you my seahorse design previously, and I decided to re-do it on the piece of fabric that I hand-dyed for the kits I am going to be making. I took more photos while doing this and I really was able to do a better job the second time around. There will be several more elements to this first kit that I will be creating, and it will take a little more time, but it will come eventually and hopefully it will be something that you will all like. I have so many ideas to share using this medium and I can’t wait to see them come to reality. 



And finally – I have been working on my “12 Days” ornaments. I am still on my goal of getting them out the door the first week of each month and I will hopefully have my “Day 4” ornaments completed by tomorrow. They are so much fun to do and everyone on my list seems to really enjoy getting them each month!



Add to the above that I have been collaborating with several friend who design and working on wood pieces, graphics and other creative ventures as well as doing my taxes (for TWO countries – both the USA and Canada) and when I look back I see that I got pretty much accomplished. I suppose the month wasn’t wasted after all! 



One final thing that being out of commission reminded me of was of how fortunate I am to have the life I do. As I recovered from my flu/cold and felt better each day, I once again remembered how much I appreciate not only my work that I do, but also my health. So many of you who are both customers and friends sent so many nice notes and good thoughts. It really made me feel good to know that what I do here has a positive impact on others. I couldn’t ask for more. 



With that said, I need to sign off for today and get to my work today. I have lots of things to cut and I want to get an early start so I can do some painting later on this afternoon. 



Thank you all who are such a wonderful support to me in all of my endeavors. Your friendships and encouragement imakes my life full of love and joy! I appreciate you all so much! I hope to bring that right back to you by inspiring your creativity. 



Have a wonderful Monday!  



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