Well late last week I was able to finally complete my home office/craft room. I sorted through all my stash and have decided to get back into my crafting once again. One of the reasons why I haven’t been doing a lot of crafting is because I never had anywhere to put my supplies. It would take me a while to dig out everything and then I would craft for a while and then have to put everything away again. But I don’t have to do that anymore. Now that I have my room I can take out my supplies and leave them out until I’m done working with them. So I really think this will give me more motivation to get things done. If I don’t have to spend all my time taking out supplies and putting them away, I may possibly work on them more often.

About a year ago I started a quilt for my daughter. And can you believe this??? I have not finished it! Yesterday I started cleaning out my craft room and my eyes fell on the quilt. So I have got it in my head once again that I really have to finish this thing for her. I hope to have it all completed for her by Christmas and then get cracking on making one for my son by next Christmas. Hopefully these thoughts aren’t just good ideas and I end up finishing it. My children would be so happy with me if I did. So this does give me the motivation I need to complete at least one before this Christmas.

Yesterday I was going through all my jewelry making supplies and decided to get back into it. I haven’t really created any jewelry since before Christmas and this is one craft that I really do miss doing on. So last night after the children went to bed and my husband was sound asleep on the couch, I got out all my supplies and started to make another jewelry set. I did manage to finish a bracelet, but wasn’t able to start the necklace or earrings. I plan on doing this today. So when I do finally get this set made, I’ll be sure to pop in and let you all see what kind of magic I created. It was nice just sitting back and making jewelry last night and because of this, I plan on doing it a lot more in the future.

A couple of years I attempted to set up a small home crafting business. Well this didn’t quite work out the way I wanted it to and I kind of let it go by the wayside. But, I have once again decided to get this thing up and running. I plan to devote a lot more time on the business aspect of it as opposed to the crafting aspect of it. I have learned a very important lesson over the past couple of years. It really doesn’t matter how great your product is, if people aren’t aware of you or your business you will fail right from the start. So, I have decided to do this thing right. I have been looking into business insurance and different types of advertising. I realize this doesn’t sound like much, but I feel that if I concentrate on this two areas first, I may in fact get this business back on it’s feet.

Wish me luck!

This morning was the official opening for the newest bead and jewelry store to come to town. I was highly impressed with what they have done in the store and was quite excited to see a wide variety and assortment of beads, and jewelry supplies. Now this this store has opened I’ll never have to go into the city and pay the high prices that they are asking. While I was in their store, I grabbed a few of their promotional pens to pass on to some of my friends. I figured that they more people that become aware of this store’s existence, the better chance they will have to stay in business. I really hope they make a go out of this and I look forward to purchasing many many supplies from them in the upcoming months.

I post a lot about all my jewelry making activities, but have come to the realization that I haven’t posted any current pictures in a while. So I thought I would give you all a treat and post some of the pieces that I currently have for sale on my site over at simply crafting.

So if you like any of the pieces that are displayed here or would like to place a custom order, you can leave me a comment here on this post and I will definitely get back to you. The bracelets go from $7.50 and $15.00 and the prices for the necklaces are $12.00 and $25.00. I really hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and when I get more items made I’ll be sure to be back and show you all my work.

I just got a phone call from my father in law telling me that the community wide yard sale will take place in his home town tomorrow.  This means that he is finally having his huge yard sale which also means that I will have a chance to sell some of my homemade jewelry.  Although he didn’t give me a whole lot of notice, I will still be able to get most of my stuff together to try to sell a few pieces.  I’ll be sure to pop back in here tomorrow to let you all know how I make out selling my creations.  Wish me luck!

Now that my small home crafting business is up and running, I have decided to invest a little bit of money into budget software. I really feel that this software will help me keep track of sales and expenses so I can keep better track of my profits. Running this business by myself has been a real eye opener. There are so many things that I never thought of before I started this venture. But with the purchase of this software, I will be that much closer to realizing all my dreams for my home business.

For a little while now I had lost the motivation to create jewelry. You would think that the money that I could possibly make from selling my handcrafted jewelry would be motivation enough, but for some reason it wasn’t. But my motivation has returned. Last week I sold two items that I had made up and now I can’t wait to start making more so I can start selling more. A friend of mine will be going to a couple of craft fairs during the summer and she has offered to take everything I can make with her to try to sell it for me. So to make sure that I (possibly) make some money this summer I need to have a lot made up. I have six weeks in which to create all of these pieces, but I ready and raring to go. So my motivation has returned. At least for now.

Now that summer is almost here and I will have two small kids underfoot most of the time I don’t think I will be doing a whole lot of crafting. I realize that if I don’t produce any crafts, I can’t possibly make any money from selling them, but the summer months around here are just to crazy to be able to concentrate. I hope to be able to get some handcrafted jewelry made, but if I don’t get very much made I’m not going to beat myself up over it. In my household summer is a time for fun and visiting with different family members. So if I don’t do a whole lot of crafting I know that I will be back at it in full force come September.

How about you guys? Does your focus on your daily activities change during the summer months?