Finding the Motivation

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Unfinished project.,
originally uploaded by deliasdelight.

This is a picture of a project that has been waiting to be finished for about 2 months.

My workshop is a mess. I have too many projects ready to be made that I don't know where to start! I just can't find the time to start one of the many projects that I don't know where to start. Hey, isn't the new season of Homeland starting this weekend?

How many of you find yourself trying to force the motivation to be creative? I don't always have this problem but sometimes as life gets busy, I find myself making excuses to not do the thing that I love to do. Make jewelry!

How do you motivate yourself? Let me know!

Unfinished Projects - A Summer Proposal

Some people like to have New Year's Resolutions. I don't, well, I don't anymore. If I can't commit to something right away, I'm just not going to follow through on it on the day after I just ate a whole prime rib or have a hangover.

I know I'm not the only one that has a treasure trove of unfinished projects hidden away. I say hidden away because it is really quite embarrassing how many I have. I have a plastic container that has roughly about 30 projects that I started or at least separated specific beads, fibers, and other materials that are neatly packed into little plastic baggies. Some of the concepts are quite recognizable and I'm pretty sure I can pickup where I left off on about half of them. Then there are a few that cause me to pause and say out loud, "What was I thinking?!" Let's not forget those two or three projects that just scream, "Please, please destroy any evidence of me!"

But I am going to start a new Summer Proposal. I propose that I will either finish all of those unfinished projects or rejoin the sundries back to their happy families only to spawn new projects. I propose that I will finish projects that I start in the hopes that I can be rid of any further embarrassment. Please come join me on this magical journey! You can do it too!

DISCLAIMER: Summer is only three months long so if you don't get to all of the unfinished projects you can always say "Well, I just ran out of time!"

Getting Ready for the Big Show!

Am I the only one that stays up until 3am the night(or morning) before an Art and Craft show that starts at 9am the next day?
Yeah, I'm one of those nervous nellies that waits until the last minute. That panic that sets in that makes you create more jewelry in fear you might run out (HAH, only in a perfect world). Or the organizing of your display materials so that you pack them in the order in which you will take them out and put your display together at the show. Or the making sure that every item is tagged properly, shined or in perfect display readiness. Then of course there is the bringing of extra pens, calculators, sales receipts, hand-stamped gift bags and boxes, tissue paper for wrapping, or office supplies for just in case emergencies. Yes, ladies and gents, the rabbit hole goes deep! And then when you get to the show you are amoung the first to arrive to make sure that you get every bit of that 6 foot table space you put your money down on weeks or months ahead of time. As you put out your display you watch as the disorganized crafters drag their rumpled cardboard boxes filled to the brim with tablecloths and hanging apparatus that use to be used for something entirely different. Oh those poor lost souls that probably got a good night's sleep the night before as you pondered and preened after every last detail. It's insanity I tell you! But after all is said and done, you sit back and sip your favorite house blend coffee that you brought from home in your togo cup that you bought in bulk at Costco, as you sit and watch the other vendors scramble to get their crafts perfectly displayed. Hee hahahaahaha, YEAH!

What a Mess!

Ok! So it's Saturday night and my husband and I just looked through the Harbor Freight Hardware Catalog together while the children watched Madagascar. Sounds romantic right?!

He has been traveling a lot lately because of work and we have had very little time alone together. We talk to each other at least once a day when he travels but it just seems like we have had no downtime. My schedule is just crazy busy with work, volunteering at the kids school, maintaining the household, fundraising, trying to get pictures and postings up for jewelry and hmm maybe even making some jewelry.

I have been avoiding my work studio like the plague cuz it's just a mess! I need one good day just to clear off my workbench so I can make some new jewelry. I have some ideas and sketches of ideas but no room to create them cuz there's crap all over the place! Scrapbooking stuff, stamping stuff, beads, wire, tools you name it, it's down there.

I'm actually a pretty organized person and have been accused of being anal retentive about how I like to keep things in a specific orderly fashion. It just makes my life a litttle easier if I know where every thing is. Problem is that when I start making jewelry, I get carried away and stuff goes everywhere! I have been so busy that I usually am making stuff as I go and not taking time to clean up after myself. So I am dedicating Monday to cleaning up my work studio.

I work at a Bead shop (Katherine's Bead Boutique)which is like heaven to me. So I have been working to help get the shop organized also. So I am in the right frame of mind. I just have to force myself to get down those stairs and start tiding!

Wouldn't it be great if we could just have one extra day a week to do the little things that get pushed off the schedule or that would make the rest of the week easier?! Yeah, dream on!