What Have I Been Doing?

Not enough if you ask hubby hehe
And it does feel like that, seems I have done absolutely nothing...
Although that's only a half truth I have been doing some things like get dressed, the pots, ironing etc but art wise hmmmm....
Well I figured out how to print off 6x4s without getting a 3 sided border so should be adding some prints in a week or so to etsy, also half way through some more greetings cards...
Also started doing some alphabet colouring pages based on Harry Potter, coming along slowly but getting there...
I've also been honing my digital scrapbooking skills which is very difficult so super kudos to everyone out there that does it.
I've also started knitting my xmas jumpers for the kids, well I've done 6 rows on the back so far but its only February and its still a start.
Hubby had his first tooth out with little trouble but I'm going to have to be there next Thursday to hold his hand because he's having three out and he really doesn't like injections. So we've booked my mum to come over and look after the kids while we go...

First Sale

Well I've done it Yay!!! I've made my first sale on etsy, I'm very excited. Now all I have to do is get more greetings cards done so I will have more to sell. I'll be sleeping happily tonight, not necessarily well but that will have more to do with the kids hehe.

1st Day of Xmas

Well officially its now the 2nd of December now but hey, if I'd have realized how late it was I probably would be asleep by now...

Been so busy, trying to swap our bedroom with the kids so they have more room for their toys and we can put our son in the den safe to roll around out of our daughters way, its cute that she likes to hold his hand but he does need a little space once in a while. Plus I keep falling over her little trampoline in the living room, thanks go out to Granddad for buying that for her and it hasn't stopped her bouncing on everything else...

Have to have that finished by tomoro so hubby can move his pc upstairs...Think he's trying to tell us something, hehe. But then the Christmas treee can go in his corner and not in the window like we'd previously decided. We changed our mind because of

A) I'm afraid the radiator might melt the tree

and

B) We have blinds and don't really want everyone seeing in our house at night or pulling the tree out so we can have the blinds down and not being able to see the T.V.

I'll be glad when thats all done then I just have to concentrate on the kitchen and bathroom and then I'm done for a little while. It doesn't help that we're still a little unsure whether we'll be having extra visitors for Xmas and probably won't know until the last minute so the food shopping might be a little nightmare.

Work wise I've been finishing off a couple of new greetings cards sets and got a phone call last week and should get my check by the end of this week so I'll be able to buy the packaging and get them listed on Etsy.

So watch this space...

Hmmm....

Well the cheque I was hoping to recieve on Monday hasn't arrived yet so I'm still busy working on the greetings cards so as soon as the cheque arrives/clears I can pop them in my etsy shop. I have four almost five sets done now so that should be good.

We're also in the process of moving the kids into the bigger bedroom so they have more room to play and hubby and I get the small one in the back, so that's been keeping me pretty busy too, especially since both rooms need the wallpaper taking off and painting, why we didn't decorate as soon as we moved in over two years ago I have no idea, but at least its getting done now.

At least Christmas is sorted out family wise so that's one less thing to think about. Now we just have to put the decorations and tree up on Monday and then work on getting the kitchen sorted out if we're having two extra for Xmas, then its just work that I'll have to worry about until the cleaning needs doing hehe...

So tonight I'm going to be finishing up the cards I have done already and adding a few extra to the ones I messed up with paint on the inside of the card oops...But that's OK because I can use them for the postcard exhibition that I think its a bit late for entering this year but I can always get a heads up for next year...

http://www.surfacegallery.org/index.php/whats_on/forthcoming/postcard_show_2008/

For anyone who's interested in taking part.

Brain Wave

So my dilemma with the greetings cards packaging also means there's little point in doing the Christmas cards as I have no way of packaging them to sell as yet. So I had a brain wave, why not at least make them for friends, neighbours and family members and put the website address on the back, then at least someone might thing ooh these are pretty good I'll take a look and maybe pass on the address to friends etc. So that's what I'm going to do now trace out my images and pop them on some cards to at least keep working.

Apart from that little brain wave todays been interesting, mother in law came to visit which was nice, and daughter threw up all over the sofa and her bed, that was a scary few hours but she was ok by tea time and had some toast and then the usual messing around trying to get her to bed so I think she's going to be fine now hehe. Also got a phone call telling me that my 3 hour course on Wednesday has been postponed until Friday so that gives me a couple more days to get my bank account sorted out, yay...

Now back to work...

One Step Closer

Well what have I been doing with my time since Friday, well yesterday hubby took our daughter on a playdate in Sheffield so they were gone all day so it was just me and our 4 month old son so we spent most of the day with kerrang and scuzz on to see what new music is out there, son loves Paramore and he couldn't take his eyes off the Marilyn Manson "Tainted Love" video.

Got to see the new video from Paramore for the Twilight film was very good and the sneaky bits of film were also exciting, yep I'm so on the twilight bandwagon just like most of the planet seem to be but hey the books great, I've only read the first instalment, as I am saving the other three for Christmas, its hard but its something to look forward too. Also got to see a few songs that I really like but couldn't remember the artist/title so couldn't put them on my online playlist, but I've done that now so now I have some new stuff to listen to when I work.

Work, which is what I should be talking about, so easily distracted today. The work has been put on hold for a couple of days as mother in laws coming to visit tomorrow although she hasn't called to confirm but at least the living room will be tidy for her. Plus whilst hubby and daughter were out yesterday I moved all my art/craft stuff into the cupboard under the stairs so its a lot more easily accessible. But I will need to get a lock to keep daughter out.

I have finished one 5 pack of greetings cards, and almost finished another 2 packs but don't want to list them on etsy yet as I need to get my funding grant to buy the packaging because I want them to be done as professionally as possible or there's just no point really.

But I do have a few paintings that I will be listing before the end of the week I just need to make sure the cameras taken none blurry photos first.

Getting There Slowly

Well I've been busy busy busy, not necessarily all work but it doesn't feel like I've stopped for a while now.

What have I been up to...Well firstly I've been researching which banks it would be best to go with and I'm going to sort that out on Tuesday as I'm in town for an interview, I know another one, also Wednesday I've got a 3 hour course to attend to do with market research and the initial stages of starting my own business. Had my initial funding interview on Wednesday afternoon, it went well and didn't take the full hour like it was supposed to.They never do even the doctors I spend longer in the waiting room hehe.

But I digress, got a few forms to fill in from Wednesday and have to fill a couple of them in by Tuesday so I can get a market research grant, which will be a great boost, means I'd be able to get a lot of work done in one go and put it all in the shop to see if it sells. Very handy.

I've also started phase 3 of the cards, hopefully by the end of tomorrow I will have finished at least one set to put in the shop. I also thought of a few more things I could paint etc. so phase 1 of the new batch is also under way. So its quite good at the moment, with plenty to do and with doing a combination of phases 1,2 and 3 I can mix it up and not get fed up of just tracing images all day and night for a fortnight.

Also hubby's taking our 2 year old daughter on a play date tomorrow so they will be gone all day so as long as I can keep our son quiet or asleep I can get a lot more work done, although we are swapping the bedrooms over at the minute so think that will be the main job I do tomorrow.

Rain Stopped Play

It's been one of those days when it doesn't matter what you needed to do it just doesn't get done.

I decided yesterday that because today was grandparents taking our daughter to the park day that I could sneak into town while they were out and get some greetings cards and plain card to start the greetings cards idea I had...

Well I should have known that today was not going to be the day for it when our daughter got up about midnight and wouldn't go back to sleep til about 3.30 am. Which is fine I could've had plenty of sleep until you remember that we have a 3 month old son who seems to want to get up between 5am and 6am...

By this time I'm feeling a little tired to say the least and I'd almost given up on the idea, but once the grandparents arrived and took our daughter to the park, realised I had to get some bits from the shops so why not put son in the chest carrier and hop on the bus so I can buy my card equipment...We step out the front door and oh no its raining, and I don't like to take him in his pushchair because its Saturday and the buses will be busy...

So in the end I just nipped up to the local shops for the few bits we needed and will either have to go to town with both the kids and the pushchair or wait to get the stuff when I go for the interview on Wednesday...which defeats the object because I wanted to get a couple done for then.

But I've just had a minor brainwave...I know there's some card making products somewhere upstairs but now I'm hoping they're in the cupboard but I've got a nasty feeling they've managed to make their way into the loft...And the torch has no batteries.....

Well for now I still have plenty of images to be manipulating in preparation of making them into cards and painting so at least I'm still keeping busy, busy, busy.

I hope it gets better after a good nights sleep.....

The New Project

As I've decided to give myself a kick up the bum and get working again, I've come up with a new project, which involves digital imagery, paintings and also greetings cards.

They are going to be a series of images of certain people, I have started the digital work on Marilyn Monroe, Kurt Cobain, Elvis, Adam Ant and to jump on the film release bandwagon, James Bond. I have a few other people to work on also which have been suggested to me and once I've got some progress on them I'll post them on here too. If anyone wants to suggest anyone in the meantime be my guest as I see this as quite a progressive project.

The only problem is I'm in a bit of a catch 22 situation due to lack of funds. I need the funding to buy the gear to get everything up and running but I need the products to show within my portfolio to get the funding...

No worries, I have some spare canvas and I will be getting the basic card making equipment tomorrow, so I will be ready for the two important meetings on 28th October and 3rd November.

Plus the great thing about having an etsy shop is that when the mood takes me to make something crafty like a knitted bear I won't clutter up the kid's bedroom, i'll be able to sell it instead. But I'll have to make sure our daughter doesn't see it or it will be like a banshee let loose in the house.