headlines: portable crafting makes a come back

guess who's more ipod literate?


Unless you've been living under a woodshed for the past week or so, or have not been paying attention to All That I Writ recently, you will have gathered that I am under some pressure to create carp (NB: not a typo) to sell at the five craft fairs and two gift boutiques (not to mention two plus gallery exhibits) that I've signed up for pre-christmas.


I am now admonishing myself for Being Too Cocky and not listening to the little voice. But now I've committed I will Damn Well Deliver.


To whit, one new bracelet design and a batch of cuffs which need finishing off. I'm also very smug with my Plan of Attack and my neatly labeled inventory for the two gift boutiques. I have two weeks (full weeks despite one pesky Pro D Day) to make things and then create. (BTW they are two different processes; I love making something new but I loathe making it again and again even if it sells well .... so I mix it up a little and don't repeat repeat repeat. You will not find the same old, same old at my craft table).

Enter portable crafting.
Portable crafting was the term I coined appropriated to describe my efforts to feed my "making things" addiction while coping with 24/7 parenting. In fact my second blog was started in order to document all my projects and share some tips. It's now morphed into my main business website (amazing what you can do with blogger these days) but I haven't given up the need to craft portably. With such a crazy inventory-prep workload right now in addition to volunteer projects, gift shop duties, and being the SAH-parent, portable crafting still allows to maximise my crafting time without missing out on family time with my son. I craft beside him on the sofa, while he's at piano lessons or Tae Kwon Do, and have even managed to peel my eyes off the lifeguard during swimming lessons to get some work done!

Portable crafting has also been good marketing (people ask about your work when they spot you working on something in public) and I even plucked up the courage to take part in Port Moody's summer "Artist in the Park" program (though I didn't get out as much as I would have liked). Portable crafting gets me away from my desk, out into the fresh air and with other people so I'm not working in isolation. Portable crafting at the gift shop bestows a kind of "artist in residence" vibe and has lead to some great converations. It's a great ice breaker.

In theory, portable crafting means that I don't have work late into the evening in a blinding panic though I think I need to remind myself of this one more frequently.