When I get really stressed, I tend to withdraw – as you may have noticed from my lengthy silence on this blog! The holiday markets are sneaking up so fast this year & I’m feeling more than a little bit worried that I won’t be ready. This will be the 4th Christmas since my very first show & despite the fact that I know my display keeps getting better as I learn through trial & error, I still feel like I’m playing a losing battle of “beat the clock”. There is always something I wish I’d had time to restyle!
Aside from wanting to completely redesign my display (while still keeping it easy to load, unload & store away, of course!), I’m also freaking out about not making enough actual things to sell. How many lockets should I make? And which styles?
The short answer is: a lot!
Unfortunately, my brain seems to work best in a linear fashion. Get all of the print work done, then seal, then pour resin, then finish the lockets by adding the chain & charms & beads. I have several new paintings that I’ve been working on & would really love to see them as tiny wearable art pieces, so my brain is still wanting to be in the studio painting, not making lockets. Not yet. And this, my dear friend, is where the panic sets in!
The last few days have been a flurry of locket-making activity as I finally forced myself to put down my paintbrushes. I have a few new faces already making their debut, so if the rest of the gang has to wait until January, I guess they’ll just have to be patient. Not ideal, and certainly not what I was hoping for this season, but this morning I already feel HEAPS better than I have for the last couple of weeks. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Usually when I get really stressed out, I go into hermit mode & isolate myself. No blog posts, very little Twitter action & as my friends & family can report, good luck trying to get me to answer the phone! This time has been different though. I’m fortunate to have several crafter friends in exactly the same boat, so I’ve had lots of support from people who totally get it. I thank my lucky stars that I have fabulous girlfriends to drag through thrift stores searching for the perfect antique picture frame or old wooden box to hold my cards.
There’s also been a whole lot of this:
Fall in Vancouver is such a beautiful time of year. The leaves along my street are shades of yellow, vibrant red, burgundy & a few hanging onto their greeness. And they’re so BIG! The puppies are endlessly fascinated with the piles of leaves that my neighbors rake up. And I am endlessly grateful that I’m now living in an apartment & no longer have the job of raking up leaves! They’re a lot prettier this year when they’re not also a task on my TO DO list. 😉
Speaking of TO DO, time for me to get back to work! I’ll be in Whistler for the Bizarre Bazaar in less than 2 weeks. Excited & terrified? That’d be me right now!
I just bought two of your lovely lockets for gifts, and I’d like to fill them with photos. However, My locket knowledge is woefully inadequate. Do I put pictures in both sides, or just one? How do I get them in there? I notice the right side has recessed edges… does the face open up to get a photo in there? Whereas the left side seems to take a 2.5×3.5cm oval, the right side would need to be bigger but then would get squished in the process of inserting it beneath the edges… Ack! Help? Many thanks… Laura