Black and White – It’s Right!

I would not normally make a pure black tote, but a friend really wanted one so I made it.  Of course, now I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  Think I’ll make another to sell.  The black canvas with the soft cotton inside is so nice and sturdy but with a softness to it.  The burst of pink really made the inside look fun, and I’m generally not a pink person.

What have I learned from this… be open to new possibilities.  It could just turn out to be one of your favorite creations. 

Take a look and let me know what you think!

I Love New Fabric!

I got my new fabric yesterday, and am about half way through laundering all of it.  I bought this round of fabric from jcaroline creative.  It is the first time I have shopped with them, and they were great.  They even called to let me know that something was on back order, and to ask if I was okay with two sheets of 1.5 yards of my interfacing.

Anyway, onto the reason were all here, and the reason I’m so excited for the weekend to get here (I want to cut into this fabric something fierce!)… the fabric:

Brown Sunflower – Jessica Jones for jcaroline

Brown Agapantha – This one is no longer available (sale fabric went fast!)

Ivory Shadow – This one appears to be out of stock as well (I got a lot of fabric on sale! 

Moss Blackeyed Susan – Also gone

Red Eliza Stripe – Red stripe is out, but there are more colors in the sale section

Sunshine Floral – Sophia – Also out of stock

Mango Floral – Sophia – Yep, out of stock

Birds on Blue

Orange Army Dot Stripe

I hope you enjoy looking at the fabrics I’ve collected.  I have more that are in the dryer and will be posting them in the next day or so!  Is the weekend here yet?  I love fabric and notions and designing the next bag!

So, where do you get your great fabric?

Getting the Creative Spirit While Running A Business

I love creating, always have, and have recently embraced it enough to make a go at bringing in revenue.  It is fun to do my craft and see a side revenue come in becuase others appreciate what I have done, but I must admit that the creative spirit can be hard to find sometimes when I’m trying to figure out what the next ‘it’ thing will be.  So, to help myself remember my creative spirit I have told myself to always have something that is new and fuly creative and not based on any market factors.  That way while I’m doing ‘business creative’ I’m also being fulfilled by working on items that I’m not doing solely for business.

I also notice that while times are tough, the creative side of me is helping keep things in check.  When I get engaged in a project, my mind is able to let go of everything else and just enjoy the moment.  It’s yoga for my brain, and I find that when I’m stressed out, I turn to my craft.

My hope is that I continue to build my creative based business so that when things do start to turn around, I’m ready for the upturn.  That by the time people are ready to purchase, I’ve worked through a lot of the hurdles and have learned how to balance running a business with my creative spirit, so that when I’m very busy, I’m already grounded.

Ways I keep my creative spirit right now:

1. View everything around me with a creative eye… figure out how I can draw creativity from an object, experience or person
2. Take a walk outside and soak in the natural creativity around me
3. Surround myself with other creative people so we can each support each other during good and bad times
4. Keep the non-creative items of running a business in order so I don’t have this on my brain when I should be dreaming up new fun things
5. Read lots of newspapers, magazines, online blogs, etc. to gather new ideas
6. Go to my favorite fabric store and allow myself to browse for hours… look at fabrics and notions I wouldn’t normally consider
7. Doodle… while on the phone, watching TV, or just listening to music… I find this really relaxes me and becomes a great exercise in letting my brain just wonder
8. Look into classes to learn something new around my craft

These are some main things that help me keep my creative spirit going.  Would love to hear about some of the things you do to keep your creative spirit alive and kicking!