The Dark Side of a Crafty Business

I love to sew. I love to create. I love to make something and show it to everyone in sight, children included, and say 'Look what I made!!!' And when they gush and tell me how fabulous it is, that just makes me feel all warm and toasty inside.

So that's where my passion is...in the creating part. And selling? That's fun, too. Seeing that someone purchased something from my Etsy store, or from eBay or a 'For Sale or Trade' bulletin board or even from real life friend...all good stuff. But the part that I don't like is taking photos and actually getting my items in a place where people can actually see them...so that they can buy. I struggle with background choices and lighting. I can tell you that you will never, ever see my items photographed on a dirty carpet or with a cluttered room in the background. (Hey, not that there's not plenty of cluttered here...you just won't see it!) Every once in a while, I take a picture and I think, 'That's it! Perfect.' But mostly I just say...'Oh hell, I'll never get these listed if I retake the photos yet again. So my main goal is to get stuff listed...and quickly.

So last night, I spent in excess of 5 hours taking photos, inventory-ing my lunch napkin stock after I sold a bunch outside of my store and listing my latest round of products from my sew-a-thon. More then 5 hours! And that was kid-free time because they were in bed. If I had tried to do it during the day, it would have been a 10+ hour job. And somewhere in the back of my mind is this nagging suspicion that if I were a serious businesswoman, then my prices would be high enough to cover all the non-creating time which they definitely don't. I think I'm OK with it at this point because I am mainly motivated to move the fabric that has been taking up space in my studio. And I get the pleasure of changing pace and creating something totally different depending on which piece of fabric I am touching and what it says to me. I like that. It's what being creative means to me.

So today I have 53 items in my store. I thought I was all done until I found my box of knitting project bags. Oops! I gotta get those up today.

I'm a woman on a mission...I want to buy something completely frivolous and unnecessary...and I want it NOW. ;)