Cupcake Fever

And I'm JUST getting started! I've been busy making these absolutely adorable cupcake purses. I scaled back the size of my bath puffs to fit the purse, and at the same time more closely fit the size of smaller hands and bodies. I'm "hooked" on the super cuteness of these cupcakes. Since my girls are older, I enlisted the help of an eager young girl to help pick out colors, etc. And of course she was the recipient of the first one off the production line for all of her hard work and input.

Neon and Colorful Frosting on White Cupcake, Purple Frosting on Chocolate Cupcake, or Jazzy Blue, Pink & Purple on White Cupcake.

Brabec Bulletin Anyone?

Have you read the April 2008 Issue of The Brabec Bulletin? For a several years now I have admired Barbara Barbec's enthusiasm, humor and insight into small business. She is a "home-business pioneer, industry leader and professional speaker since 1971"(quote taken from her website). I look forward to Barbara's regular email updates. This month she has written about "Looking at Your Life in an Exciting New Way". If you are wondering how to take your business to the next level, you are sure to benefit from Barbara's insight and wisdom that is spoken from personal experience. It helped me to take a look at my business with a renewed perspective. On Barbara Brabec's World you will find home business advice, craft marketing ideas, Life Lessons, and more. Barbara lost her husband in February 2005 and has a series of uplifting articles for widows and anyone who has or will soon lose a loved one.

Long Week, but Thinking about Spring

I've had some rather long and exhausting days at work this week. I come home from work uninspired and not so much in the mood for crafting. All I want to do is collapse in the chair at the end of the day. I could, however, muster up the energy to take photos of and list the rest of the felted bags I've got ready for sale.

This week I received a call from a young lady at our local technical career (vocational) school that asked me to be her Tech Project Mentor. Each year, students attending the technical career school are asked to spend several hours working with a mentor on a specific project and then present their experience to their Program Studies Instructor and the English Teacher. Parents and family are invited to attend if their schedule so permits. It is an enriching experience for the students and some make career choices along that field after they have completed a project. Some chose to work on a specific craft type project while others chose to take on bigger tasks like restoring an engine, training a dog, or working on a dairy farm. It thrills me to be part of this great opportunity.

Inspired to Organize

I woke up this morning and decided to pull out all of the soap from the crates that serve as storage and transporting and then used for display at shows. The space I had to work within did not permit the entire display to be set up, but compact and organized enough for what I needed. Everything listed in my Etsy store is in the display. Now that I've got it all in place, I see there is room for more soap, and I haven't even started hauling down all of the soy candles and the rest of the felted bags that I've made and are waiting for homes.

The "table" that the display is set upon is an old free-standing cupboard & counter that I recycled from the kitchen when we went through a remodel last spring. I keep all of my bags, boxes, recycled packing, fragrance oils, and misc. supplies in the cupboard. I've hidden the fact that it is old and in need of serious painting by creatively covering the cupboard with a cloth in an attempt to camouflage the fact that it is hideously old!