Crafting, working, crafting!

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get noticed by someone who runs the Facebook page for Plants vs. Zombies.  They posted a link to my shop, with pictures of some of my plants!  However, they didn't give me any warning so I was baffled as to how I could have gotten 6 orders in a day, when I barely get 1 a month!  

Well, after the initial rush, some other orders trickled in, and I quickly found myself overwhelmed.  I am SO pleased that other people have enjoyed my idea, and can appreciate hand made items.  I feel like its so much more worthwhile than a plastic toy made in China.  But they do take a good chunk of my time and I definitely want to be consistent about what I produce!  It just would have been nice if the people that promoted my shop could have given me a warning! Lol

Thankfully I'm caught up, just in time to catch up with all the work related paperwork I put off to finish my orders!  I hate paperwork anyway, and it was a convenient excuse to procrastinate on my least favorite work duty.  I just need to spend a few days buckling down to remove this looming cloud of guilt and dread.  

In the meantime, I've been working in re-branding my shop.  Formerly hornsofdestruction, because my old user name was forced as the official shop name, I had titled my shop "Crafty Gamer Girl" thinking I would focus on game items.  My crafting has been much more eclectic, and hornsofdestruction was never intentional.  So I recently chose the name Blue Milk Crafts, due to my love of Star Wars.  Luke Skywalker drinks bantha milk in Episode IV, which is naturally blue...the more you know...I hope that tidbit helps someone win at Trivial Pursuit one day!  

Thus far, I've made a craft email (bluemilkcrafts@gmail.com), ordered new business cards, and made a new, simple shop banner.  It's a good start!  I might try twitter again, but we shall see!  All of the shop progress may need to go on hold in January if I get accepted into the post-masters program I've applied to.

When I think about the future a few months ahead, I get hesitant and unsure.  I don't know where I'm going, following a few breadcrumb trails at the same time.  It's easy to become overwhelmed.  I'm trying to keep an open mind, stay grounded, and maintain my mental and physical wellness...and I think that's all any of us can do when things start to overwhelm us!  

“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost."

~Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Gardening and Crafting

Over the last few days, I haven't been doing much else other than gardening and working with my clay.  We have had a LOT of rain, so the storms have impeded the garden progress at times, but I can't help being thankful for the rain.  I only wish we had installed rain barrels already!  

Here is the newest bed:

I know, I'm a little late putting them in the ground.  I had issues getting the seeds started.  Plus, the plants are still a little small, and I was hesitant to put them out too soon.  My smaller, tender, tomatoes were shredded by some unknown force of critter origin...and I didn't want the same to happen to these guys!  I'm hoping now that they are out in the sun and well fertilized dirt, that they will start growing better.

We have our first heirloom Amish Pie Pumpkin!  I'm so excited to make a pumpkin pie with a pumpkin that came out of my yard!  This plant is a little cramped for the beds I have, but I learned my lesson for next year.  A large portion of the front end of the vine snapped when I tried to move it away from the bunny fencing, even with my efforts to be exceptionally gentle.  It eventually rotted apart, and I had to toss it.  I was sad at the loss of two potential baby pumpkins...but that's gardening I guess.  At least it has more room in the bed for the few pumpkins that have started already!

Here's one of the bunnies we have in the neighborhood.  There are a few, and I've seen two at a time roaming through the yard while gorging themselves on our dandelion field (aka the back yard).    I enjoy watching them, so I haven't wanted to repel them.  But I was super paranoid about them getting into the beds, hence the bunny fence.  However, I was reading that bunnies tend to stay out of raised beds anyway, due to fear of putting themselves in a vulnerable position.  Even so, I'd rather be safe than sorry...and the fence still serves a good purpose:  it keeps some of the roaming neighborhood cats from pooping in my beds!  Cleaning someone else's pet's poop piles out of my garden beds, was not something I was expecting...

Most recent crafty endeavors have involved working on some video game themed items.  I just finished up some Plants vs. Zombies based desk buddies.  I've gotten some really good feedback on these, so I'll be making more soon.  This is one of my all time favorite games, which I keep on my iPad and my PC.  I sucked my husband into playing as well, and he's taking to playing on the iPad while we're settling in bed for the night.

These pics are while they are still in progress.  I'll be posting some "formal" pics when I finish up the touch ups and sealing.  I've got a big pile of baked clay items to paint and seal, which I can hopefully get done this weekend.