Sweetheart Special at Phydeaux Designs

I'm having a little sale in my shop, to thank all of my special customers and friends!  14% off your entire order!

This is just for this week, ending midnight PST on Valentine's Day (Sunday 2/14)!

Hope you all have a special Valentine's week with your special someones.

Peter and the Wolf

I love finding wonderful gems on Netflix Watch Instantly, like Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.  Have you already watched this?  If not, I can't recommend it highly enough!  Fantastic and beautiful art and animation.

Count Down to Stitches West, cont'd

We're getting down to the wire here!  I need to be done and ready for Stitches West in just two weeks (giving me a day to sleep and a day to madly take care of details I've forgotten).  Expect to see at least one new pattern a day between now and my deadline!

You might remember this scarf, which I knit last year using Bobbi's wonderful merino wool/silk handspun.  The pattern is now available in my shop:  the Soft Acorns Scarf!  It's also available via Ravelry.

I am very very excited about the next pattern, which I hope will be ready tomorrow!!!!

Got your Daily Dose?

Have you seen Daily Dose yet, the new limited edition jewelry shop from Ngan of NV jewelry designs?  I've already treated myself to a gorgeous pair of earrings from Daily Dose!  I love this necklace too - Ngan's photography is really superb, and the necklace so beautiful!

Solidarity necklace, from Daily Dose, $38

Something new up my sleeve

So, I've been feverishly working on several new ideas, both in preparation for Stitches West (which is consuming my life right now) and just for me.

I've never been much of a three dimensional artist.  Growing up and well into adulthood, my art was about drawing, painting, calligraphy.  But working with clay?  No, no, so not my gift (though I do love seeing some of my "early work" in ceramics - lumps of glazed clay that vaguely remember the Mrs. Easter Bunny and Snow Man or Woman that they were meant to be ... back in 1st grade ...)!

I didn't buy into the whole Fimo thing when polymer clay was first the rage back in the early 90's.  Seemed messy and then there was that 3D thing.  I did play around with some, thinking I could pinch together a little cat or something.  My attempts were pretty paltry though, so another abandoned art form went to the wayside.

I often toss around a germ of a creative idea in the back of my noggin for weeks to months to even years, before my lightbulb goes off and I'm obsessed with making that bit of idea a reality.  About a year ago, I started playing with the idea of making my own buttons.

Well, what I really wanted to do was to make ceramic buttons, but the idea of a kiln terrifies me (what if I burn down the neighborhood?) and I have zero training or skills in ceramics.  Besides which, it increasingly sounded like an incredibly effective way to distract myself from my real business.

But the idea wouldn't go away.  I plotted and planned, decided I could try polymer clay buttons, but only if I could make them look as ceramic-like as possible.  Of course, I have no skills or training in using any kind of clay, let alone polymer (oh, I used to have great fun with play-do though!).

So for the last few weeks, I've immersed myself in working with polymer clay.  And I finally have the beginnings of buttons that don't completely stink (see above).  Which may or may not debut at Stitches West (but I hope will).  I've thoroughly enjoyed playing with acrylic paints again, along with experimenting with glazes and how to achieve the effect I was going after.  I'll post more later with more photos, but thought it would be fun to talk a little about how I get from that germ of an idea to a product, even if a prototype!

Quit your day job: the reality

I didn't leave my position in December with blind eyes at all.  It was an incredibly hard decision to make!  One of the reasons being that I was not at all deluded into thinking that I'd be making money hand over fist with my little business, which would require very difficult budget cuts:  eliminating a phone line (the land line went first), downsizing cable, giving up favorite treats (chocolate, sigh), etc.

When you're in an office away from home for eight to 12 hours a day, there are expenses you forget to anticipate when you make the shift to working from home.  Like bottled water (though I usually brought my own bottled water to the office - have you ever seen the results from a bacterial culture performed on the water spigot of the office water supply?).  Kleenex.  Or ... the other kind of tissue.  :)

I work longer and harder now, more than ever.  Often, the last person out of the office would stop by and let me know they were leaving (or vice versa - and I was often the last, or second to the last, person to leave), which reminded me to close up shop and go home!  I used to work hard/long because I believed I needed to earn my salary.  Now I work long/hard in order to generate income!  So, even though my kitties remind me every evening to wrap things up and feed them, after dinner is served all around, I have to remind them that I need to earn their kibbles, so back to work I go.  :)

Knitting was once my hobby - a way to relax after a very long day at work.  I still don't get to knit as much as I'd like, because creating and designing can actually be a small part of your handmade/indie business, with other necessary things to do, like finances, marketing, photography/listing, contracts and other legal stuff, order fulfillment, production, testing new ideas, sourcing supplies (and better deals on supplies), researching potential new accounts for wholesale/consignment (and contacting them), etc.  I'm hoping to actually KNIT tonight, thought it will be knitting in order to test a new pattern I'm nearly finished drafting.  I'm also focused this month on patterns and prepping for Stitches West (whee!)!

I don't know if there's ever a point where an entrepreuner, particularly of the tiny/indie biz ilk, gets to relax, sit back, and say, "there, I can now comfortably relax while the money rolls in."  I gladly volunteer to be a test subject for that!  But knowing me, I would just find something else to occupy that time.

All of that said, I am filling my gas tank less than once a month (WOW and YAY), saving HUGE amounts on things like cosmetics and hairspray, eating healthier (no snack machine to tempt me), and in charge of my own destiny.  Being the boss of me is more than kind of awesome.  THAT said ... I wonder how hard I'll be on myself with my annual evaluation.  :P

Hearts: hoot

Have you seen these adorable wee hoots, lovingly created by Wendy from buttercupbloom?  Upcycled fabric, a soft pink heart for a tummy (do owls have tummies?  these do!), and such a sweet expression.


Tiny Wee Hoot Owl - Sweetheart Pink - Eco Friendly Kids Plush Doll with Secret Pocket, by buttercupbloom, $24

Cracks me up ... in the best way!

Best expresssion EVER.

Felted blue infant hat, by the little black HAT, $36