Snow, Thoughts on one Year and a sneak peak!

Snowy Woods in the back yard

 The Best Loved Household is snowbound.  So is the entire state of Arkansas.  The whole state put out notice last night that it would be closed because a "significant snow event" was coming. It came. The neighboring states are closed, too, so you couldn't get here if you tried.  We've slept in late and haven't started burning the furniture yet but soon we'll run out of firewood. (We have power and heat, no big harm, but if it's snowing you need a fire.) We've passed the 2 -4  inches predicted and it's still snowing.

Tomorrow marks the first birthday for my Etsy shop which launched me into the world of independent artist/craftswoman.  What did I do before then?  I used to fire people. Yup, I appeared with Security and a tissue box, took your badge and escorted you to the gate.  I was an on site HR rep for an international staffing company.  I did more than fire people - but mostly, I fired people.  I lost count of how many.  The client company I was assigned to first moved their plant to another state so I got to hire folks for another client.  That's usually happier, but, everyone in the staffing industry has stories about the bizarre things that happen.  For me the most surreal times were when a candidates mother called to fuss at me for not hiring her child.  (Yes, this happened multiple times.) With the economic decline, that client company quit hiring and I was assigned to the "Client From Hell".  Then I got fired.  I know there are people who would find this poetic justice.  I was relieved.  I had been miserable for a while and unable to satisfy this client (no agency in town before or since could make them happy) but I thought if I just worked harder it would get better.  Getting fired answered my prayers.

I then tried to figure out what to do. I knew that what  I did the best was make things, really great things. I had thought about an Etsy shop that focused on the very under-served area of toys, clothes and decor for boys.   I love tutu's and frilly stuff but I remember being a mom of a darling boy and being frustrated that fancy children's stores had twice the space devoted to girls that they had for boys.  A friend of mine had recently expressed her frustration on finding little cute stuff for her darling boy.  I had started to design and make some special toys that the little ones that visited my house could play with and that I hoped would outlast me.  I wanted my descendants to fight like wild weasels over them (nicely of course).   Thus, the first thing made for the shop was the Noah's Arks.  The little BLGrands got early versions for Christmas.   BL Hubby worked with me on the construction of the Ark.  He's good about putting my ideas into place even though I have different ideas about how thing should look than he does. Now, he usually builds the arks I can build one if I have to but I love it that he will bang out some when I need them.  I then take over with all finishing.  I do all the cutting and construction for the animals.

The wooden toys have taken over the shop, at least for now, but after a year I'm way happy.  That someone would pay me to make stuff that I love to design and make seems like the heaven.  Next post I'll list what I've learned after a year. 

I did get some sun yesterday and got photos of two new Noah's Arks so they got listed today as well as a sale on the oldest Ark in the shop.  I've got a sneak preview below of something new that is coming.  BLHubby spent his snow day cutting and trying to make the wood fit my imagination. Take a look.