Monday, July 18, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1747: Slowly Returning to "Normal"

If this move has taught me anything, it is taught me that things don’t happen overnight. Even if things appear to fall into place when looking in from the outside, there is usually a huge amount of work to make that happen. I am beginning to think that the more seamless that change appears to be, the more work it required to get there. “Effortless” takes more effort than we can imagine. 



It has been over three weeks since we made the big move to our new place. (I actually had to check the calendar after I wrote that, as it seems impossible that it would be so long yet time passed so quickly!) These weeks have gone by in a flurry because every single day we were busy doing something from the time we awoke until the time we went to sleep. Later on this week I will show photos of Keith’s progress in his workplace downstairs. It is nearly completed to his liking (at least for the time being) and he recently brought all of his RC’s (remote cars) and accessories over and they all found a place. Just barely. Apparently he had no trouble at all filling up his workshop here. We are both amazed at how we have grown into this house. 



As for myself, I spent the weekend working on finishing up a wood order that I wanted to go out the door this week as well as making the curtains for my new studio room. I will show photos of the studio later on, as I am still awaiting the two large cabinets to store my supplies which will go in there. Right now I have two large piles of smaller boxes of supplies there and while I know that the furniture will arrive any day now, it is getting rather troublesome to not only look at the stuff, but to have to fish through it whenever I need something. I can’t wait for closure on this part of the move where I can have everything at hand and accessible without moving ten other boxes. I suppose I am getting a bit impatient. 



But time marches on and here we are in the latter part of July already. Summer is half way through and before we know it, fall and the holiday season will arrive. There should be a law regarding how quickly these days are allowed to pass. How is one suppose to get everything done when time passes so quickly? I wish I knew the answer to that. 



The shop upstairs is the closest room to being completed, which makes it a great sanctuary when trying to return to ‘normal’.  Below is a photo of the result of our day trip last Thursday in quest of storage containers:



The shelf was from Kieth’s mom’s house and the small containers will be great for storing the pieces to the many wood kits I have and will be offering. It will help keep me organized and I will know at a glance what I have stock in and what needs to be cut. It was the last piece in the puzzle of our new shop and makes that room complete. 



By the way – this photo was taken AFTER I finished up a large order of cutting yesterday. I have heard from several that “a clean shop is an unproductive shop” and I beg to differ. I find it very easy to clean up after each session and I like walking into a nice, organized place every time I go there to work. Perhaps it is because I worked in the corner of my kitchen for so many years that I developed the habit of cleaning up my mess each time, but I find no reason to have a mess left when all it usually takes is a quick pass with the shop vac and putting things back where they go. It saves lots of time hunting for things that are misplaced and also offers a much safer environment for working, which is very important. 



Yesterday I was able to cut, rout and sand 100 ornaments for an order I was doing. 





It feels great to see everything ready to pack up to ship this morning! 



Of course, I had the help of my two 'shop assistants’. Here is Richard overseeing things:



And (of course!) there is Pancakes making sure I vacuumed properly:



No wonder I get so much done! :)  



It will take some getting used to, but I really did enjoy working in such a wonderful environment. I feel like a queen! :) 



Today we are working on doing a newsletter for our customers and updating the site. Keith has three new pattern designs that he posted.  



His first one is SLDK678 - Good Coffee - Good Friends:



His second new pattern designs is SLDK679 - The Lord Will Fight for You:



And the third and final new pattern this time is SLDK680 - Grapevine Welcome Plaque:



I love all three designs! 



I don’t have any new patterns now, but I do have a new pattern set that I created with my Birds of Prey that is available at a special discount. 



You can access the set here: SLDBOPSET1 - Set of 4 Birds of Prey Patterns.



I promise that I will be back at designing soon. I have many ideas and as we settle, I am hoping to have more time to draw, paint and create patterns. 



Little by little things will fall into place. While there are days when it seems that we are not moving forward, when I look back I see that we accomplished a great deal over these past weeks. I need to remember that and be positive about the strides we have made. Things like this just take some time. 



With that said, I am off to get moving this morning. If you are on our mailing list, expect a newsletter later on today. I also have some new embellishment charms that I am going to be posting up on the site. These are fun pieces to add to your scrolling or painting projects, or any projects that you may be making. I think they are fun and will be something that everyone will enjoy. 



It is rainy today and quite cool. It seems that the warm, summer weather of Saturday has come and gone again. What a strange year we have had here weather-wise. But as with anything, we just need to take it as it comes. 



I wish you all a wonderful day and a great week ahead. Happy Monday to you! 



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