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Back Home Again
And just like that, I moved my office back home again. I know what you are thinking. You saw this coming a mile away…
It was an incredibly difficult decision that I went back and forth over for MONTHS. I hemmed and hawed every day. Some days I loved the separation of home and work and the blessed peace and quiet of the office, other days I missed my bright sunny room, the proximity to all my many boxes of craft supplies in Diagon Alley, all my happy sunny photoshoot spots, my plants, my animals…my family. I wish I could just keep both but then the expense. I can’t stand spending money on something I’m not using every day.
So I packed everything up in my car and two loads later everything was back at home.
It seems overwhelming, right? Not to me. Clutter like this is a joy to me. I LOVE organizing a new space. I see this as a challenge that I can conquer in a day. Bring it on! I sing. I know I should hire myself out to do this for others but nobody ever wants to really hire me. Plus there is a lot of psychology that has to go into sorting and when it comes to someone else it’s almost like doing hours and hours of therapy. I know this because I’ve spent my entire life doing this with my mom. My stuff: no sweat! Other people’s stuff… well, it depends on how attached you are. If you are ready to be ruthless then I am your girl. Call me.
It took some time but bit by bit I found a place for everything and everything found its place. Lots of envelopes got donated and my new toaster and printer found new homes.
I have to say I’m really happy with the new space. I’ve figured myself out: I just need change. Every six months I need to rearrange or up and move, get a new hobby or try a new work-out. I just crave change. It envigorates me and helps me feel like I’m making progress. I can’t stand feeling stuck. I’m sure there’s a lot more to unpack there mentally but for now I’m sticking with actual physical unpacking.
Besides the hot weather of this room (that is very sunny, bright, and unbearably hot in the summer) one of the things I was trying to escape when I moved to an outside office was how my homelife edged into my professional life. That is still going to be my biggest challenge. When I’m home I like to tinker. I like to clean, I like to garden and I like to make things. I love having a sewing room next to my office and a painting studio in between. I can slide my rolly chair from one project to the other with ease. It’s super fun but it’s also not so great for focusing on work projects. I can spend my whole day organizing the kitchen, baking bread, driving the kids around, and never touch a drop of work if I’m not careful.
My plants missed me. My garden has been terribly neglected, my kitchen too. The dogs are super happy to have a playmate back home again. I can get more walks in… it’s just going to be nice but also difficult.
We’ll just have to see. I did talk to the office manager and they will welcome me back anytime. We’ll see if I can make it till summer.
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Help me make a calendar!
Okay, die hard SAJ fans (all four of you), I need some opinions. I’m finally trying to make a real calendar out of my banner illustrations. Not the usual edges of illustration around boxes as a free printable (like I’ve done in the past) but full 8×10 illustrations imported into calendar program (like shutterfly but cheaper) so I don’t have to manually typeset number by number of each month. (It’s a lot of work and as you know I make a ton of mistakes!)
I’m not sure it’s a good idea because I want to have this printed and I’d love to recoup my costs by selling it BUT I’m not sure anybody is going to want a calendar that is so personalized. SAJ and her two teenagers and boyfriend aren’t exactly in demand as characters. But I have all these illustrations and I want to make something out of them. I need your thoughts. I am also working on a SueBea (based off my mom) calendar as well and I think that might be more marketable but what if I made a calendar out of these images… what do you think?
I do like this one (above) and I think it works.
I like this one (above) too.
I love this one (above).
And I like this one (above).
I don’t love this one (above). It looks like I phoned it in but it is funny. Maybe I need to make the dogs show up more.
I do like this one too (above).
I don’t like this one (above). I love flowers but the smile is too simplistic. I should draw a better face.
I like this one but it’s pretty personalized. I don’t know, I guess everyone needs to read books about how to be kind to themselves… it could work.
This one I dont’ like. I like the flowers but it’s too personal to us and our trip to New York. Will people wearing masks still be relevant next September? I hope not.
I made this one today (above) and I love it! I think it could work for anyone.
Eeck. Don’t love this one, though I remember loving it when I made it. I need to make a new December banner anyway so maybe I’ll come up with something new for this one.
What do you think? Should I keep working on this or maybe just print one for myself and go back to the old freebie formatting?
Thanks you guys