CHANGES...and Look What I've Been Up To!

I must say, it has NOT been easy getting back into the swing of things.  And with this being the busiest time of the year for selling my handmades, I still can't seem to get into the sewing spirit.  It's all I can do to get the few special orders finished up and out the door...orders that I've had since last spring!  They all knew I had a wedding to plan, and were all good with waiting.  But there's something to "knowing" I have to get an order out that really has me pushing against a brick wall!

Over the last few months I have pondered long and hard whether I want to continue my online business.  I have had a wonderful summer...enjoying my yard, whether weeding my flower beds, picking vegetables out of the garden, or just sitting on the deck listening and watching the birds.  I've enjoyed waking each morning and quickly doing my chores to keep my house nice and tidy.  What a wonderful feeling coming downstairs each morning to a clean house, rather than a table cluttered with fabrics, a kitchen counter littered with paints, stains and tucks in various stages of completion.  Yes, it's such a good feeling!

I realized early in the spring when I started my various home and yard projects that I had been neglecting both for far too long.  And the primary reason was my online business!  I DO love creating, and I love that wonderful feeling I get whenever something sells.  But for the last six years it has consumed my every day!  I found myself no longer going outside and enjoying my yard.  I found myself only "getting by" when it came to cleaning my house.  We practically lived out of the clothes dryer and laundry baskets when it came to clean clothes!  Our family was spending way too much money on eating out or getting take out for dinner.  I had to weigh my options and think hard about what I wanted to do.

So I did!  And I've made some hard decisions.  As much as I hate to disappoint my long-time faithful customers who have ordered from me over the years, I've decided that I will no longer do any special orders.  I love to create!  And making things over and over was no longer fun for me.  I have so many ideas swirling around in my head and I want to do something with them!

Second, I have decided to simplify!  I will be closing my website the end of this year and selling all my finished goods on Etsy and possibly on Ebay.  My patterns will still be available in my Pattern Shop, as well as at The Pattern Mart and in my Etsy shop.  Etsy has been very good for me, and since I will only be selling my one of a kinds, there is no need for my website any longer.

So, with that said, I would like to show you what I've been working on.  I call this my shabby side.  Oh, I still plan to do my primitives, and have a lot of new ideas to work on.  But this has been something I've been playing around with the last couple of weeks.  I hope to incorporate some of my old style with some of my new style.  Hope you like it!

I've been playing around with the chalk paints and decided to paint up a few of my metal pieces.  These are still in the works and hope to have them done up and listed pretty soon.

I painted up some of my plastic pears in three different pastel colors and aged them with a dark stain.  I've added a little cinnamon at the stem and a burlap leaf.

These pears I did in a dark turquoise and aged with a dark stain.  I've left them at that.  They look really nice in this old chippy colander.

I love how this piece turned out!  I'm really not sure what it originally was, but I'm guessing it's an overly fat wood potato masher.  I painted it with a dark turquoise and aged it with a dark stain.  I tied a burlap bow around the handle and added this neat bee tag to it.

I should have all these listed on Etsy soon, including the white colander.  Oh...and that piece at the very top!  I'll also be listing several other vintage kitchen pieces, as well.  Got to clear out some of my stash!

And I just wanted to show you this wonderful find!  I bought it at Goodwill, completely painted white, looking very poorly, I must say.  I figured it was just an old metal pot that someone butchered with a godawful paint job, and I could paint it up in pretty shabby colors.  Well, I went to wash it and the paint started peeling off.  I couldn't believe what was underneath, but this beautiful dark blue enamelware coffee pot!  I still have a little paint to get off, but I'm SO excited to have found this piece...and at a steal!  Can't believe someone painted over it to begin with!

 
Well, that's it for now.  I hope to be back soon with all new fall and Halloween creations.  But I'm not promising anything these days.  I'll make as I make and I'll list as I list.  Que sera sera!  ~~Annie