Right place, right time

I am not a religious person. At all. But I do believe in some kind of spirituality, and that's what this post may smell of.


Don't know how about you, but for me, everything I do requires right timing/conditions/enter whatever you want. And it applies to absolutely EVERYTHING, from craft to work to fun to intimacy. When regarding to crafting it means one particular thing - there are no shoulds.


I'm reading a lot of teach-yourself online sources on how to develop a successful home based business, and most of them advise creating some kind of routine and sticking to it. Do this or that everyday, blah blah blah. Sometimes I'm in this really self-perfecting frame of mind and I'm even trying to. Guess what - never works.


I much prefer my own way of doing things. There are no shoulds. You know all those voices that tell you that you absolutely have to do this or that or something terrible happens? I tell them all to shut up and I kick them out of the door. The reason being - they are a terrible bunch of liars.


Ultimately - what would happen if I don't list/stitch/write when I don't feel to? See, inner critic saying that my business will never get off the ground is pure bullshit, for one simple reason - I love what I do. I stitch because I enjoy it very very very much. I'm putting all this online because I kind of like it too. And if I'm in no mood to do any of this - the only thing that happens is that I avoid making/publishing something of inferior quality. I don't need to force myself to do any part of my work if I don't feel like doing it. I'm sure as hell that some time will pass and I will be able to do this with all the joy and satisfaction.


This 'rule' applies to everything. I don't care if you take it up or no, but I can tell you one thing - following it makes me one happy person. Listening to shoulds and ignoring what I really want to do makes me miserable. Which one would you prefer? I have no doubts.


And you know what's the best part? Some magic happens, that it all works out fine in the end :)

Handmade business cards

I wrote some time ago about my plan of hand-making my business cards.

I seemed to have been a little jinxed on that, because whatever only could go wrong, went wrong. I won't go into details, after all being deadly boring is not my ambition here. Today's announcement though is - I've made it!

I did not manage to do one single thing, which, as you can see, is - MAKE MY MIND UP :)

Then again - do I have to? I didn't very much like the idea of making x copies of exactly the same design, I would probably snore off halfway through. But what if I focus on colours/font (fancy way of saying 'my handwrite') as branding and leave a bit more space for imagination with the flower bit?

Truth 1: When put together, they look fairly consistent.

Truth 2: I enjoy diversity very much.

Conclusion: They pass.

Monday bloody Monday

I'm not the greatest friend of Mondays even if I'm my own boss.

But today's share of work is done, two pairs photographed and up on etsy.

Magic of being seems to escape me today, so I'll let images talk instead of moaning on.

Here's more pics.

Summer days

Summer has arrived in Ireland and for few days sunshine invites me to do all but work.

I was even brave enough to take a dip in the ocean (admittedly, with some help). Freezing so badly it hurt, but the body felt so fresh.

This IS an issue when doing a home-based business, how to overcome one's laziness and do the actual work.
My remedy - set your goals realistically and try to find a solution that allows you to both do your work and as in my case, enjoy the sunshine.

Anyway, it doesn't feel much like work, or, to be precise, it's work without the nasty bits usually attached to a job - like a boss, customer service sweetness when you actually don't give a damn about either the product or the customer, and many more.
The difference is - I am my own boss and don't need to follow any rules. If I want to get up in the middle of the night, cook myself a two course dinner and then do a serious session of online marketing - tah-dah - I CAN.
And I genuinely care about both my product and my customers. I sell things that I make myself, that are very precious to me, full of my energy and attention - this makes a whole lot of a difference.

But, the clock is ticking and my hours of sunshine are passing bit by bit.
Enough work for today, time to spoil myself with the summer.
Might even be brave enough for another swim, this time longer than five seconds?