Tomorrow...Only a Day Away?

It looks like fall will finally arrive in South Jersey tomorrow! WOOHOO!! I love the weather, recipes, clothing, colors...pretty much all of it. It just shouldn't be 84 degrees on the last day of September, but according to the thermometer I drove by earlier, that's what is was.

So, to celebrate the change of weather I will rise early and haul my canopy, table, shelves, quilts, bags, change and large thermos of coffee about 15 minutes down the road to Wenonah Park and set up for the first craft show of the season (with the help of my hardworking husband who is getting up early on a much needed day off just to be my roadie). Chances are I won't be posting tomorrow, but stop by Sunday for some pictures from the show and the word on how it went.

And don't forget--BIG NEWS and the kick-off of my first give-away on Monday! Don't miss it!

Rainy Day in South Jersey

After putting the pedal to the metal all week and still not getting everything done in preparation for today's craft show, it was rained out. It is now scheduled for next Saturday, 10/1. I am thrilled to have an extra week to get ready but super-sad that my BFF won't be able to stay and do it with me. I'll be extra lonely, so COME SEE ME Jersey folk!

Harvest Craft Fair, Saturday, October 1, 2011, 9:00-4:00, Wenonah Park, Wenonah, NJ

Update

I thought the fact that I disappeared in the midst of a how to series deserved a quick explanation...As I mentioned in my Dear Blog post I have a craft show rapidly approaching--for those of you in my area, stop by Wenonah Park on Saturday before 4:00 to say hi! Couple the preparations for that with the happy fact that my BFF rolled into town Tuesday night (she's got the booth next to mine at the craft show)and we're playing working hard getting ready for the show. I had every intention of continuing to blog this week, but am facing reality and admitting that it's much more reality-based to tell myself (and you) that I will be back Monday. I'll finish up my how to series for those of you who are hanging on the edge of your seats, dedicate a post to the show with pics and all, and maybe throw another fun treasury at you.

So, until Monday...Cheers!

America's Next Top Model?

Yesterday turned out to be quite the full day once it got rolling. After spending the better part of the morning on the verge of losing my breakfast (and no, I am not pregnant) I really came to life. In the interest of not putting you into a deep sleep I will not list the many things I accomplished (and places I drove) but I will say that a biggy almost slipped through a crack in my mind.

By the time we arrived home from our son's 6th grade open house at 9:00 I had pretty much had it and headed straight upstairs to put on some comfy jammies and settle in to catch up on a little blog reading. About 9:20 I suddenly remembered that I have a craft show application to get in ASAP that required pictures not only of a few of my items (easy-peasy since I have an online shop) but also one of me making said items. This is supposed to be one of the best shows of the holiday season in my area and since it will be my first year applying I really need to get my app in yesterday to get on the list. Did I mention I was in my jammies? And not just any jammies...bright red clearance jammies with little hearts all over them (think comfy here, not sexy, gentle reader :). After an exclamation not quite fit to print here I shared this realization with my husband Kyle and immediately went back to reading blogs. A few moments later he appeared at my elbow and said, "Here, put this on and let's get it done." Slowly I turned (cue the creepy music) and in his hand was his trusty navy blue blazer. Someday, maybe if I had a few too many glasses of wine, I'll put the blazer on over my clearance jammies and take a few pictures just for giggles, but I can assure you that I will not be submitting those pictures to a jury who will be reviewing my application. Please don't misinterpret me here! I truly appreciate his gentle push to get me off the procrastination bench and into that show, but he's no fashonista, I can tell you that! (Do you know what the average engineer dresses like? Cause it ain't pretty.) But it was the push I needed. For the picture I grabbed my most glamorous zip up hoodie left over from the 1980s, because I AM a fashionista! What do you think?

Well, at least you can't see my clearance jammies...

The Cure for Blech...(who woulda thunk it?)

I was pretty sure today was going to blog-free for me. You see, on this the fifth day of back-to-school for my kids I woke up with nasty nausea and a pounding headache that not even my morning coffee could cure. It seems the invasion of the germs has begun and there was just no way I was going to be able to come up with something worth sharing with you. As the morning progressed, however, the symptoms started to ease a bit and I thought it might be worth getting a shower and taking a stab at a little lunch. What finally seems to have done the trick and delivered the cure: a combination of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and roasted red pepper!

My Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (a.k.a., the cure)

Not only am I feeling better, but I was able to finish a quilt top! I've got a craft show coming up next weekend and have a lot of projects on my list to wrap up before then. So check one off!

NEXT!

Taking Back Monday

I Love Mondays print by Judykaufmann

Let's face it, Monday gets a seriously bum wrap. There's something about letting go of the weekend that just puts us in a bad mood. I was thinking about that last night as I lay in bed waiting to drift off and I realized just how blessed I am to be in the apparent minority of people who actually LOVE Mondays. This sounds a little strange even to me, but it took me long enough to fall asleep that I think I've actually got it figured out.

Yesterday morning after my husband woke up and got enough coffee into his bloodstream to be able to focus he looked over at me thoroughly engrossed in taking notes on my latest read, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies by Susan Gunelius and said, "Wow! You're already working!" You see, I started this blog with the goal of promoting my shop and am blessed enough to be married to a man that acknowledges that even though ScrappyTudeStudios isn't bringing in a whole lot of money in these early days of operation, it is indeed a business. But a funny thing happened when I started blogging...After months of thinking it was something I should do but was totally resistant to because I had no experience with the technology and major fears about not knowing what to write, I discovered that I really enjoy and look forward to blogging regardless of the impact it has (or doesn't have) on my shop traffic. It seems my mother was right (GASP!). I'm a writer.

So what's all that got to do with Monday? Well, most Mondays this miraculous thing happens at my house (which is where I work): everybody but me leaves by 7:30. Does that sound horrible? Like I can't wait to get rid of my family? Please don't misinterpret what I mean here. I haven't been a stay-at-home mom for 17 years because I don't enjoy my family. I absolutely love being with them and wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything! But after all these years of major togetherness I have a deep appreciation for peace, quiet and uninterupted thought. For me, it is the perfect environment for creativity.

So here's to Monday! I know they're not for everybody, so if you're one of those many Monday-haters head on over to my playlist and check out The Boomtown Rats song I've added to my playlist just for you :).

Time Management for Creatives, Part 4

Today's post comes to you live from my driveway where I'm multi-tasking while participating in a neighborhood-wide yard sale . As I'm clearing out some of the precious items ;-) my family no longer has a use for I thought it would be the perfect time to wrap up my series on time management. After all, researching the series is what inspired me to clear out and destash my hoard of fabric and beads (and what doesn't sell today will be showing up in my shop this week, so stop by if you're interested).

This post, as promised, addresses what to do with all those tasks that you've "bucketed", because let's face it, just putting them in an appropriate bucket is only a small part of the battle. If you don't actually address these bucketed tasks you've won the battle but lost the war. So now it's time to Review Your Commitments (Time Mangagement for Creative People by Mark McGuinness, p. 25).

Before sticking your hand into a bucket and just tackling the first thing you pull out, it's a good idea to take te opportunity to look at the bigger picture of what needs to be done. If I have effectively uncluttered my mind (and freed myself up for being creative) by dumping all my tasks into the proper buckets, chances are I won't remember every little detail of each project that needs to be done, or which task is the most pressing. If I do a quick review every few days I can take an organized approach and potentially avoid a lot of backtracking (and apologizing) that can occur when working inefficiently. This isn't a raffle drawing in which you can stick your hand in and pull out the winning ticket!

Raffle Tickets from Helloprettypackage

In addition to this quick review it is also important to set aside a larger chunk of time once a week to really dig deep into those buckets and empty them out.  This may not be as challenging as it sounds, as you may find that items you bucketed earlier in the week are no longer important (this often happens for me with items I've set aside to read) and sometimes you may even find that issues have een resolved with little to no intervention on your part (I'm a parent of teens and am amazed at how often this happens). What a gift!

So what's the bottom line? What should we creative types take away from this series?

• Prioritze work that is important but not urgent
• Determine the time of day that you are at your best and use it exclusively as your creative time
• Cultivate an environment that gets your creative juices flowing
• Don't be a slave to your to-do lists and the demands of others, rather have a system for prioritizing tasks
• Find out what your organizational style is and put a system in place that suits it
• Use this system to categorize tasks and create "buckets" to put tasks into so that you can clear your mental clutter and free yourself up for creative flow
• Have a schedule for reviewing your "buckets" and acting on the items in them, cleaning the buckets out completely weekly.

I hope you've benefited from this series (as I have) and can use some of the suggestions to maximize your creative potential. I'd love to hear from you about successes, challenges and resources you have found to be helpful in your quest for organization and better time management. The last chapter of McGuinness's book is all about resources that he recommends, so if you're interested follow the link in each of the posts in these series.

Here's to a great fall!

Time Management for Creatives, Part 2

Today I continue my summary and critique of Mark McGuinness's ebook Time Management for Creatives with his third suggestion, which is to avoid the "Sisyphus effect" of endless to-do lists. For those of you who don't recall Sisyphus from your lessons in Greek mythology, he was the unlucky chap who was imprisoned in the underworld and forced to roll a gigantic rock uphill for eternity as punishment for earthly crimes. Sounds pretty grim and definitely something I personally would like to avoid!

McGuinness likens a typical day with its interruptions of email, phone calls, texts and the demands of bosses to Sisyphus's punishment--we are allowing ourselves to push the boulder of other's requests up the hill to keep us from engaging in our own creativity. By constantly reacting to the inflow of requests coming our way we are allowing our concentration to be broken repeatedly, and as the author illustrates nothing is more detrimental to the state of creative flow. On this point I wholeheartedly agree! But what McGuinness suggests next is that we follow the advice of Mark Forster in his book Do It Tomorrow by, you guessed it, doing it all tomorrow. A google search revealed that not only has Mr. Forster written a book by that title, but you can also purchase software or download free apps for your iPhone or Droid to help you live the Do It Tomorrow lifestyle. What's next? A line of "Procrastinators Unite" products?

I do agree that we need to "install a buffer between others demands and your response" (p. 16) but that's where my agreement ends. McGuinness's fifth point focuses on how to "get things done by putting them off till tomorrow" (p. 17), but having a system in place for prioritizing seems a much better way to approach this problem and here's how I intend to go about it.

• In regards to email, create two folders entitled Action and Read. Anything that simply CANNOT wait is addressed immediately and not moved to a folder. Anything that requires action, but not immediate action, is moved to the folder of that title and addressed within the week. Those items that are educational or entertaining in nature go into the Read folder and I set aside 30 minutes a day to go through the materials in it. Any item in the folder not read within a week is deleted. All spam is deleted, but only after I have gone through the process of unsubscribing from whatever source sent it to me. This entire email process will be given 1 hour/day or less.
• In regards to phone calls, I cannot simply let every call go to voicemail. I have 3 children at various schools and am often enough waiting to hear back about scheduling apts. for them, etc. These calls must be answered, as must any calls from clients who make my creative business possible. All other calls will be allowed to roll over to voicemail or answered briefly with a promise of a return call during non-work hours. Creative time IS work time!
• Utilize my ListPro app to capture and prioritize tasks to be completed. This is a great little app that I got for my iPad that allows me to keep all my lists in one place (I don't know about you, but I tended to lose those little slips of paper I used to write lists on). It allows me to rank action items according to priority and date to be accomplished by. There are many tools out there that help you do this, so find one that works for you!

I hope you've found something in this post that can be of use to you! Perhaps for some, Mr. McGuinness's approach of organized procrastination would work, and if so I encourage you to head over to his ebook and read more.

What have you found to be effective tools in managing your time and tasks?

Tying on the Feed Bag

I have a confession to make. I have an obsession with feedsack.

That may sound a bit strange, but I can assure you that I am not talking about the stuff the local farm gets their chicken feed in--well, not anymore at least. In the late 1800s through the early to mid 1900s however, that's exactly what it was. Cotton became cheap and plentiful and feed companies, as well as those selling flour, sugar, beans, etc. realized that it was more economical for them to ship their products in cotton sacks than the barrels they had been using. Initially, plain white cotton was imprinted with logos and the resourceful women of America began using this cloth to make quilts and clothing (try doing that with a barrel!). When manufacturers eventually caught on to how popular this "free" fabric was they started dying and eventually putting prints on the sacks. Trips to the feed & general store became almost competitive as women vied for their favorite prints. Feedsack frenzy reached it's zenith in the 1930s-40s during the Great Depression and tapered off as synthetic fabrics became more popular.

Now that you know what feedsack is, let me tell you a little about why I love it so much. Have you ever looked at something and felt transported--not just in space, but in time as well? That's what these fun, happy prints do for me. It's as if I'm suddenly in my grandmother's kitchen (the one who always had a bag of tootsie roll pops in the bottom drawer and ginger ale in the fridge). I get that feeling of being loved, treasured and spoiled right down to my toes. I also am filled with a sense of the peace that came with a simpler time in my life, which is how childhood usually seems in retrospect. But the time travel goes beyond that to a sense that I've been jettisoned into a whole other era and am suddenly planted firmly in the pre-WWII US. I know I'm idealizing an era, but these are the feelings that this practical textile evoke for me.

A sampling of my collection of reproduction feedsack...

One of my favorite pieces: vintage feedsack that my

grandmother used to make the kitchen curtains for the farmhouse

my mom lived in as a child. It now lines one of my favorite tote bags :)

Much to my delight I recently discovered that there are bunches of handpieced feedsack quilt tops out there just waiting for me to complete. Stop by later and see my first collaboration with a quilter I've never met who lived before I was born! I will be listing a reworked feedsack quilt top in my etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/ScrappyTudeStudios and blogging about my hand in it's completion.

Don't be a stranger!

nancy



You Have to Start Somewhere...

I have been toying with the idea of embarking on a journey into the blogosphere for a few years now, yet my insecurities about technology and attracting an audience kept me from venturing forth. I am a thinker and tend to spend a lot of time in my head now that my children are all in school and i can actually hear my own thoughts between the hours of 7:15 a.m. and 2:35 p.m. (pure luxury to anyone who's been home with their beauties for over 16 years!), and often wonder what others would think if they could follow the flotsam and jetsam of my stream of consciousness throughout the day. I've considered writing a book (hasn't everyone?), but that seems like a big commitment. I'm awfully good at starting big projects, but the finishing...not so much. A blog seemed like the perfect outlet, save the fears mentioned above. So I put it off. For years.

Enter the current season of my life...One year ago next month I completed my (drum roll, please!) masters degree in Counseling in Educational Settings. I was excited to be re-entering the workforce in a job I could sink my teeth into after so many years at home, but after major cuts to the education budget in my state (announced within weeks of graduation) I soon learned that there simply were no jobs. What now? I was ready to be engaged in a meaningful, rewarding professional activity and had no place to expend that energy! I knew that I needed to do something I loved, and turned to my crafting passions for a solution. My bff (who I am also blessed to call my sister-in-law) and I started making jewelry like two women possessed and began going to craft fairs. We decided that we simply had to open a bead shop together, which required one or both of us to relocate, and for a few months it looked like it would actually happen. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be and I again found myself searching for meaningful occupation.

Someday I will blog about what lead me back to my first craft-love of quilting, but in the interest of brevity (and not losing my audience when I've barely gotten started) I will simply say that I realized I wanted to turn my passion for quilting and bag-making into a business. Then I found etsy and was blown away by not only the business possibilities, but by the community of artisans and crafters sharing their stories, experiences and tips freely with newbies like myself. I had found a home and that home brought me full-circle back to blogging. It seems that blogging is a great way to promote such a business and help potential customers get to know you as a person. So here's the truth: I had the idea to start this blog primarily to promote my etsy shop, and hope that you will click on the link provided in my blog and fall in love with something I've made that you just have to buy. But honestly, this blog is about way more than that because I am about way more than that. This blog is about sharing life and interests like reading, music, family (including pets, cause they're family too), and humor (because what's life without it?).

So whether you visit my shop or not I hope you'll stop by regularly to see what's happening here in Eclectobohemia, and to share what's going on in your part of the world as well.