Mai Autumn

forming new habits

it may not be january 1st or anything, but i've felt that i was getting into some pretty awful habits in my entrepreneurial life, so i am changing some things.

most of the things i feel need to change are simple things (like making sure to eat breakfast and lunch, or actually getting out of my pjs to start my work day!) but they seem necessary before this new season gets here. surprisingly, it becomes really easy to get used to neglecting yourself once no one tells you what to do any more. there's no one to tell you to take a day off or reward you when you accomplish something big. it's just me. i'm my own HR and i need to reprimand myself for treating my employees so poorly (aka me). 

all this action started because i stumbled upon a site called miss persimmon. the site is on a little break, but all the great resources are still available to help any business lady become more productive and healthier. i hope all these new habits stick, because i'm feeling much more myself already.

i'll leave you on my favorite point from the resources - 'Remember - work clothes are for working, pajamas are for sleeping!' hehe i love that! :)

prints of this photo in the shop

 

zatista

i almost forgot to mention that i have been accepted as an artist on zatista.com - an amazingly beautiful curated collection of original art online! i am so excited to start getting some more original work over in my shop there. although i have sold some original paintings on etsy and my own shop site, i really feel like this site is a really great location to reach potential customers who are looking to buy originals. i am honored to be amongst the other artists on this site! so much gorgeous work to be found!

zatista.com

trying to be more 'social'

image via Storeyshop

 

so, today i'm trying to figure out how to handle all the extra "social" things i can do out there. there's so much! and i feel so weird inviting everyone to all these places! i'm generally not the most social person in real life, so i still can't wrap my brain around the idea that anyone really needs to know what i'm up to! 

well, in my attempt to get involved, i have found some things that are somewhat painless, at least in terms of how much i expose about my little self:

• i am really starting to love pinterest - here is my pin board - such a great way to organize all the loveliness on the internet!
• if you would also like to be in my etsy circle, i favorite some pretty awesome finds over there as well. (this one kind of has to be my favorite, since i already used to heart everything on etsy like it was my job any way - but now everyone can follow that without me doing anything! haha and i've found some equally awesome stuff via other etsy people!)
• i'm still warming up to the idea of facebook fan pages - i really haven't got a clue what you all would like to know about me and i'm kind of a wordy person, so to sum up my thoughts in a 'status update' just really isn't me. but.. you can find that here
• ok... twitter. twitter? how/why is this thing useful/important? i haven't figured this out yet, but for some reason i have over 3,000 followers, so things may start to get interesting over there, if i feel like it. (for instance, i kind of love emersonmade's extremely random twitterings.. hilarious!)

i think that should be enough for now? i sort of feel confused about who is even looking at any of this stuff and it seems like i'm blabbing into a big dark room when i'm on all these other websites! my blog feels like a safe place. and that is good.

i analyze everything way too much, so i'm hoping this philosophical questioning about social networking will work itself out soon! *sigh*

 

aye yi yi! (how do you spell that?)

(image via forbes)

well, i've been spending my time trying to put together things that didn't used to go together - at least in terms of my business. it's more complicated than i thought! i really hope i'm not confusing everyone else too much! between facebook fan pages, twitter, flickr, email forwarding and what have you, i had no idea how far my little world had spread! i would prefer if it was tinier, please, so if someone could assist me in corralling all my entities, that'd be great :)

any way, all i'm really doing, is changing my name and no longer doing the curated collection of designers thing (which was fey handmade). as i chatted about in a previous post, i really didn't feel like it was in line with my vision for what i had imagined. besides, i like making things way more than answering emails. and now i can really control the quality of the things i offer to my customers! so, to sum it up, fey handmade did not necessarily go out of business, it is just morphing into a new thing that will be way better! way. 

on top of all the designs i've got cookin, eventually there will be a whole assortment of fun vintage finds and maybe some other designers thrown in the mix, so i'm anticipating the shop is going to be populated with a bevy of loveliness in no time. don't fret! :)

i hope i haven't lost you in all this transition! if you have any questions or comments about all of this, feel free to email me at [email protected] or leave a comment here on the blog!

phew! back to work trying to figure all this out!

renegade handmade!

there is a whole lotta stuff going on today and i don't even know what made me wander on over to the renegade website to see if they have me on there yet, and they do! they emailed me last week to let me know that my newest shipment of goodies would be available online and i was super psyched :)

on top of that, i'm a busy bee packing lots of orders over here and sorting out a whole bunch of new projects that are in the works! for instance, i'm so excited about all the new framing options that will be coming soon to the shop site - handmade frames! how fantastic! along with all the tweaks i've been making to make shopping super lovely and easy over there. i really think it's starting to come together! i've learned so much about web design since i started up my site in 2008, but i still sometimes feel like i'm getting dressed in the dark when i'm trying to figure out certain solutions to coding that i don't understand :)

oh my goodness, this day has just flown by! hope your mondays are all going swimmingly out there! 

mini empire

as you know, i always talk about all my big plans and all the indecision i have on which plan to start first. well, today, i actually started on one of them! i'm venturing into the land of throw pillow design! i finally hunkered down and planned out all the teeny details and have come up with the makings of a wee line of throw pillows that i think are going to turn out to be pretty darn fabulous! 

the line is going to be a mix of (my version of) neutrals that will be available in multiples and different sizes, along with several one of a kind pillows made from vintage fabrics and trims! i'm so thrilled and i can't wait to get started actually making them and getting them up on the web! 

taking a page from the book of my new idol, jonathan adler, i'm blazing my own trail and turning what inspires me into more than just art. his thing is 'happy chic', and i'd say my thing has to be vintage inspired lux (maybe with a touch of bohemian flair). i have no idea what that means right now, but all i know is that from looking at the makings of my line, i would so have each and every one of these pillows on my couch!

check out this video interview with this awesome designer who is inspiring me to make great strides with my creativity ! :)

 

monday, as usual

busy busy day here in the studio! i finally got around to putting together a filing system for the location of all my works that are now in private collections. it's getting to be a lot! i've read and heard from so many sources that i should be keeping track of things like this. i don't like to think about the day i'll be old or not here at all, but it's necessary if this is going to be my life's work. no one else is going to keep track! 

besides all of that, lots of orders to pack. lots of organizing to do. mondays are always something! 

i hope tomorrow i can get down to rearranging my studio so it's got a better work flow. right now it seems like it's a little disjointed.

i can't even believe it's already february! i was expecting january to be much slower and somewhat different than december, but it feels like i still haven't really slowed down as much as i thought i would. although, the warm weather could get here a little faster, if i have any say in it. i'm definitely not opposed to skipping over the snowy mix we're supposed to get this week. is it march yet? :)

 

not alone

today i found this solemn post by lisa, from tree & kimball. it basically sums up the same thing i feel on my worst days. i really hope that lisa has found her way by now, because i wouldn't want to wish this feeling on even my worst enemy, but it felt like such a relief to know that i'm not alone. i worry. a lot. it's a bit difficult structuring your whole day so that you don't feel like you've wasted it, or taking a step back and seeing what you're capable of, or what you've accomplished, or what you will accomplish, all at the same time.

everyone tells me that by the time you hit your 30s that this existential questioning subsides, so, i'm just gonna let it happen for now and do what i can to balance and relax a little. here's hoping that works out :)

go check out lisa's amazing jewelry over in her shop

 

new blog, new day

 

since 2011 is approaching fast, and i feel like i can finally breathe after all those orders (!) i've been planning some plans for my miniature empire (as i'd like to think of it). i should be taking a break and decking the halls or whatever - but i'm just itchin' with ideas lately and need to get them outta me now! :)

first thing's first - i needed a blog that could do more for me. so... i decided to get my stuff together and start a blog over on typepad. now, i love my tumblr, don't get me wrong... but it just couldn't provide the meat and potatoes of blogging that i so desperately craved. i want comments that work correctly. i want to talk to you guys. i want to be able to post more than one photo at a time! i want... organization, date/time tracking, trackbacks, feedback, syndication, seo, and above all... the ability to be as pretty as i can be (via blog, at least!) 

if you are familiar with the fey handmade blog, i have been making some changes there, as well. i really want to turn it into what i imagined the fey handmade shop to turn out like. if you're also familiar with the shop, then you may have noticed there is hardly anything in it these days. well, i have some news.. and since i know you have to be a fan of my goings on, since you actually cared enough to read this post, i will share it with you. fey handmade will no longer be a shop for lovely, handmade finds... well, not necessarily at least. i would like to think it will soon become a place for lovely, handmade finds, and my designs/art and what-not will be a little side note there. are you confused yet? good. because i am definitely these days. really, what it comes down to, is the fact that i just couldn't get the whole structure of the shop to function properly - there were so SO many insanely ridiculous shipping problems and issues with designers keeping me in the know about their current prices/stock levels/availability/existence as a whole, that i just couldn't keep up any more. sure, i had some wonderful designers who were always on top of things and always able to keep me in the know about their products and where-abouts, but there were an equal number that just... well... i'll save it for my rambling angry diary entries. just know this - it was a pain in the behind and i'm done with it. there, i said it. yes, people thought it was amazing and beautiful.. but i know in my heart that it wasn't serving its purpose. the goal was not to just bring together a bunch of pretty things. i wanted to make shopping handmade easier! i discovered that is not such an easy feat. 

alright now, having said all that, onto the new! since i still think handmade is a wonderful thing, and i want to shout it from the rooftops! the fey handmade blog is going to help me do just that. i'm planning to post tons and tons more useful, pretty finds on there. i envision it to become a little gathering spot for... well... you guessed it! lovely, handmade finds! at the same time, i have to make sure i stay true to myself, and that's why i'm starting this blog. i love to read artists' and business owners' blogs. they inspire me. keep me going. and also make me realize - i'm not doing anything wrong. and i want to be as myself as i can be on here (well, at least without offending anyone or sounding like an alcoholic)(but i do love a good glass of wine). i hope to post a lot about my work, my life, my studio (which i will soon be moving into a whole room just for me! woohoo!) and hopefully get into some great conversations with all of you! 

i'm glad to be doing this and i'm glad you're here to share in this journey of my life as a creative business owner. here's to a fantastic new year!

onward!