Finding Balance

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in this new endeavor thus far. Those of you who were my first customers filled me with such glee and much needed morale that yes, I can do this. Those of you who have offered encouraging word have bolstered my confidence more than you know. After fulfilling some custom orders, I have been back to work on rounding out the stock in my shop. Through perusing forums and advice columns, I do realize it is important to make products that your target customer desires. That being said, I do this because it is a passion, I love to create, and it is an artistic outlet for me. So, to a certain extent, following my artistic whims of the moment is part of the process. I could make the same item day in and day out, but I feel my shop and my creative body of work would be much more reflective of who I am as an encompassing menagerie rather than one redundant "best seller."

A dear friend of mine and fellow business owner whom I trust, K, shared her wisdom and experience with me yesterday. "Find a balance." Starting a new business can be all consuming. Yes, I am a budding entrepreneur, but first I am a wife and mother (and I also have a 'real' job as a nurse!). I have small children who deserve to see more than the back of my head as I work on the computer. This season of life is precious and fleeting. I have years and years ahead of me without children pulling on my pants saying, "Mommy, watch this!" Putting too much focus on building my business has the potential of pulling my attention away from where it should be...relishing in the joy of my dear children who want nothing more than to spend every moment with me. I know they won't always feel that way. All that being said, my wise friend also empathized with the sentiment that, this is ME. Not mom, wife, but ME as a woman and who I am. Pouring myself into my work feels good because it is what I love to do. I have found in my relatively short three year tenure as a mother that finding a little "me time" makes me a MUCH better mom.

So, here are my take away thoughts for the day (some, courtesy of K):

• If I haven't spent time with the Lord yet that day, I have no business working on 'business'
• If my children, "Mommy, watch!", stop what I am doing...always...and turn my eyes to them because they deserve my undivided attention
• Save work for when it doesn't interfere with family. Sometimes I can do both (knitting in front of the TV while we all watch a movie), but if I can't, family ALWAYS comes first.
• Use nap-time to recharge with "me time" whether that is working on my business or just reading a book with a cup of tea

If you are struggling to find balance, I hope this helps a little. To be honest, this post is much more for me to get my thoughts out on the subject of balance. But if it helps anyone else find a little, what a blessing!

***Fall Giveaway!!!!***

(Women's Rosette Head Wrap)

So to start this fall season off right, I have decided to do a giveaway to all my lovely Rosewill Arts fans! This is your chance to win one of the hottest accessories for the season. The winner will get to choose a hat/head wrap of their choice, CUSTOM MADE in the colors and size of their choosing! This could be a boy or girl hat size newborn to adolescent/adult or one of my new Fall 2010 Women's Rosette Head Wraps!!!

(Girl's Rosette Hat)

(Boy's Hat)

Don't pass up this opportunity! Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry: Become a fan of Rosewill Arts and "Like" us on our Facebook Page

1 Additional Entry for EACH of the following:

• Publicly follow Rosewill Arts' blog and post a comment here telling me you're following
• Leave a comment on this blog post telling me which hat (Boys, Girls or Women's Head Wrap) you would choose if you won
• Tweet about this giveaway and post the link here as a comment
• "Heart" Rosewill Arts' shop on Etsy and post here to tell me that you did
• Post about this giveaway on YOUR blog and post the link here

5 Entries if you:

• Purchase an item from Rosewill Arts' Etsy shop and post the transaction here!

Remember, you must post your additional entries here for them to be considered. The winner will be drawn at random on October 15th at 12:00pm Mountain Time.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AND THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

A peak into my drawers...no really!

So after going on and on about my basement of craft mania, I thought I would give you a little peak into my space and what's been going on down there recently.

I have a wheeled cart that houses my current works in progress as well as recently completed items. I can just roll it around wherever I am and have it next to me with all my project elements at hand.

Honestly, I also find it reassuring to open my "Finished" drawer just as an occasional morale booster. I have to tell my self that whatever I am in the trenches with, it will someday be finished and someone will get the pleasure of seeing it on their baby or child. So here's my "Finished" drawer as it looks right now.

One of my other favorite places is my shelf of fabric bins, just begging to be created into something new and fabulous!

I always wash and press everything right after I return from the store so when I have time to go down and create, all I have to do is pick my fabric of choice and get crackin'! When you have two little kids, you have to take full advantage of every moment you have to work!

Ah yes, the lovely Singer, currently set up on my craft table as I have been using it so much. (love, love, love).

My spools and bobbins are like little rainbows in boxes - such a delight!

Here is my latest purchase from my favorite yarn store in Denver, Lamb Shoppe, which is a beautiful little place piled ceiling high with the most beautiful fibers from all over the world. They house their yarns on old wooden built-in bookshelves complete with rolling ladder and all! They always have a large stock of my favorite Debbie Bliss yarns on hand. Ohhhh, it's like a bag of pure softness and tactile goodness.

Here's the top of the knitting bakers rack loaded with baskets of beautiful fiber from projects past and also a good stash for projects yet to come.

Next to the long craft table are the towers of madness...yes, the scrapbooking towers. Recently neglected in favor of other crafting options (namely for the shop), I do still love to look through all the papers and notions knowing that someday I will have time to put all my little one's pictures in albums. I am okay with that fact that that isn't today.

Right before shipping out the door, all my sales take a stop at the wrapping station to get dressed up all pretty in tissue paper, a tag, and pretty ribbon before heading out the door to their new home.

I have almost finished three boys knit hats in three different sizes which I hope to have up in the next day or two! Buddy Boy is up from his nap, so Mom duty calls :)

Fabulous Fall

(Marquette, MI)

The coming of fall stirs in me the desire for sensory fulfillment. There is so much anticipation in my soul for what delights lay just around the corner. While days here have still been hot, the midwest girl in me longs for the smell of cold earth, fallen leaves and the spiciness of baked goods; the sound of crunching leaves under my feet as summer's flourish lies scattered across every sidewalk, street, and wood; children laughing and leaping into piles of leaves; the sight of every tree lit aflame by brilliant reds, oranges and yellows, and pumpkins adorning every doorstep; the brisk chill of eminent change in the air cajoling me into sweaters, scarves and hats, and the warmth from a first lit fire of the season warming my home and my heart; and lastly the tastes of harvest's bounty fused with the sweet spices of the season, savory squashes, sweet-tart apples and warming soups and stews that lure me into the kitchen begging me to create.

I love our home here in Colorado. We will soon begin to spend more evenings with friends as holiday parties commence and I've noticed the subtle way the light playing off the mountains changes with the passing seasons.

Yet, autumn makes me long for home in ways that I do not the rest of the year. My heart pines for family, outings to cider mills, sugar from donuts lingering on your lips long after being finished, picking apples right off the tree and savoring that first bite of the season as the sweet juice runs down your fingers, and the lush canopy of trees over the streets that cocoon you into a tunnel of flames.

Most of all, fall provokes in me the sense of family, community, sharing and love like no other time of the season. There is a sense of coming together to relish in the sensory sensation autumn offers. May you delight in your own traditions and natural beauty of your surroundings, whatever they be. Happy Fall!

Mogul Mom? Momtrepreneur? Moron?

I have always loved crafts (and for those of you who know me well, this is the understatement of the century). A self proclaimed hobby-a-holic, I have always needed something to put my creative energies toward and making things with my hands has always been an outlet for me.

My basement is a rather embarrassing shrine to this habit. Clear storage bins and sliding drawers are stacked to the ceiling in the scrapbooking corner packed full of a rainbow of papers, stickers, rub-ons, stamps, embelishments, tools, punches, and more. There’s the sewing station with spools and bobbins galore, with each shade reminding me of projects past. A side of the road find bakers rack is loaded with baskets of the softest, most touchable yarns, remnants of precious projects that have graced my babies heads, feet and wrapped them in warmth as they were brand new. A storage shelf holds fabrics, pattern books, cross stich projects and floss/thread, my kids’s art supplies (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, finger paints, water colors, contruction paper and more) and some of my favorites: bins of keepsakes from when I was younger: writings, clay figurines, old programs from plays and concerts, and more (scattered in with the occasional 10 lb nursing school text book!). Then there is the banquet length craft table, inevitably strewn with the paraphernalia of whatever creation is attempting to take form.

It is merely a flight of stairs down into this organized yet somehow haphazard space, yet I feel a world away when I am down in my haven of textures and mediums just begging to be combined into something new and fabulous.

Up until about a month ago, everything I have made has always been for myself, my children, or as a gift for someone close to me. After multiple “little birdies” chirped in my ear (you know who you are!) that I really should sell what I am making, I decided to jump in with both (well, one and a half) feet.

I first heard about Etsy from my sister-in-law. What a treasury of unique, handmade and vintage gems. The concept is rather wonderful. I have been able to open a “shop” selling my handmade articles that lets me market and sell my creations to the greater population, have control over how much I make and sell, yet still have relatively little commitment if things should not go well or I get burned out. Sounded good enough for me.

Thus Rosewill Arts was born inspired from my kids’ middle names as they inspire me to be a better woman, wife, and mother every day.

So here’s to becoming a momtrepreneur, for now. We’ll see where this takes me, and for the time being, I’m along for the ride!