Unexpected Time Management Tool

A year ago, I had a baby. Hard to believe! And with that little bundle came a tremendous amount of responsibility, necessity, and unfortunately, no extra hours in a day. Still 24.

But the funniest thing has happened. Lately, I’ve had a million gazillion things on my mind, including some pretty intense planning, reorganizing, and repurposing. My brain buzzes constantly and sometimes, it’s all I can do to sit down and make a To Do list. Except when it’s naptime. Funny thing, as I’m rocking Grant to sleep (three times a day, sometimes 30mins at a stretch), my mind slows down and takes a breather. Dark room, rocking chair, classical music, warm little body snuggled in my lap. And my brain stops. I can think clearly, I can prioritize, I can plan. And it feels less like a frantic tornado and more like a conversation with an old friend. Sometimes, I hang out in there a bit past what’s necessary because the inner peace is nearly intoxicating.

I never saw that coming. 30mins?? Do you have any idea what I could accomplish in 30mins? How many patterns are running around in my brain, begging to be drawn? How many phone calls I need to return? How many gaping holes in QuickBooks need to be spackled? But the truth is, if I did sit down for just 30mins, I would probably spend the whole time frantically planning what to do with the 10mins I would have left after my brain slows down.

So give me my little boy, a rocking chair, a dark room, and some sweet music and in about 30mins I will have a solid plan of attack for the rest of my day.

And some snuggles. Everyone needs snuggles. It’s good for the brain.

Passion

Lots of people talk about passion: pursuing it, living it, finding it, nurturing it. I’ve never considered myself a “passionate” person, but lately, I’m rethinking that.

I’m watching Shark Tank and…a secret… it gets me choked up. I see the passion, I feel the tension, and it undoes me. I feel for these entrepreneurs and I understand their passion. I feel the same way about my art, and even more so about these stencils.

I’ve said for a long time that I love money. I do. Yes, there’s an explanation coming! Money is a lot of things, but it is nothing you don’t choose. If you don’t derive power from it, money is not power for you. If you’d rather do something non-lucrative for an hour, to you, money is not time. It is what you choose, and I choose connection.

If you hire me, if you buy my stuff, you’re saying to me, I like what you’re offering so much that I want it in my life/house. And more than anything, I, Libby, want to be part of what is beautiful in your life. That you would invite my art into your home means the world to me. That you would listen to my ideas on your project is such an honor. Yes, I’m paid for it. But every dollar, every cent is you welcoming me into what is important to you. That warms my heart.

So I understand the passion of these entrepreneurs. They have a vision and they want one of these Sharks to say, yes, YOU are onto something. You are doing something right and I want to be part of it. I totally teared up when I wrote that. I get it.

Passion. Connection. It’s why we’re here, isn’t it?

Tasty Tidbits

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I am totally sick of the Big Blank Wall in my kitchen/stairway. This thingy at Hobby Lobby (lots of thingies there) inspired me. I have plans now. Interesting how one solitary thingy can get the creative ball rolling, isn’t it? I’ll post pics when I’m done. Might be awhile. This idea is BIG.

The Fun Of Starting Something New. And Then Doing It Again.

I branched the stencils out on their own, seen here: http://www.justatracestencils.com (exciting!). Now, I’m rebranding them and looking into attracting retailers. The rebranding part is fun for my brain, and the attracting retailers part is nothing short of intimidating. I’ve done a little market research, and talked with a business consultant, and evidently, I’m on the right track (yay!). Something I’m having a little trouble with is finding a company to do the packaging. You’d think that would be a piece of cake, but it’s not! If you Google “packaging”, you will find hundreds of companies to pack and ship just about anything, but not anyone to design the part the consumer sees. Oh, I found the marvelously talented folks who do the packaging for groceries and other national brands, but a.) I don’t have the budget to hire them, and b.) I don’t need then design, just production of the physical packaging. So that’s baffled me a bit. Of course I’m completely new to this, so there’s very likely something obvious I’m missing. If you were a packaging printer, where would you be? How would you Google yourself?

And then, I’m learning Quickbooks when I’m not doing that. I’m not going to bore you with details (one of us in tears is quite enough), but I need a hug! This stuff is tricky. I just hope I don’t screw it up!

Coolness

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I went to the Denver Modernism Show the other day. Cool stuff. I don’t really consider myself to have mid-century taste, but I’ve been told by a few that my designs favor that era. And I am drawn to the textiles, at least artistically. So I thought I’d go check it out. I enjoyed perusing the different booths of stuff from the 50′s and 60′s, wondering if I could sell stencils there next year. I was taking mental notes about booths and how they’re set up, and I found this picture. It made me wonder if I could make that curly design into a stencil… I’ll bet I could!