vanished?

peek-a-boo Grizzy surveys the homegrown this year

No, I haven't disappeared.

Yes, it is a while since I blogged.

Yes, I've been busy - Etsy is visiting Vancouver July 14th (the team has been looking for a meet-and-greet venue), I've done one craft fair and have two more to prep for and I'll be attending the Got Craft Vancouver premier of Handmade Nation plus there's been a stint of solo parenting thrown in for good measure. I've successfully juried for my first Christmas fair and attended my first local artist's co-op meeting.

Did I mention it's the end of term too and I've a week of summer camp teaching to get ready?

And I've managed to make some stuff too!!

I'll blog my way thru it! Stay tuned.

scribing

Grizzy studies her reading homework

It's a beautiful sunny day outside ...... and I've got a newsletter to write! All my files, scanner, etc. are on the desktop so no goofing off in the sun for me until I get it all done.

The newsletter is for a non-profit I volunteer with. It's a great way of getting writing, editing, and web experience. I'll be putting my recent SFU continuing studies courses into practice. Yesterday was my last copyediting class - I'll miss my Saturday morning escapes into the real world (both courses were excellent BTW, I can highly recommend Barbara Tomlin's courses). It has been a stimulating experience going back into the classroom. Hopefully I'll be able to build on what I've learned and continue working from home.

This stay-at-home parenting thing is a huge dilemma for me. While I don't want the Wee Guy to become a latch key kid I'm also feeling the inner turmoil over not contributing to the family budget. I realise that by staying at home I am saving by not having fulltime childcare and we can eat more cheaply as there is time to prepare meals from scratch. I aso don't have commuter expenses, my wardrobe needs are very simple and I do all the housework. By my conservative estimates, I'm 'earning' approximately $1300 CAD per month at the least but that's way off the mark according to a recent survey. I haven't even begun to estimate what my hunting around for bargains, cost savers and best deals nets.

But I'm still feeling the pull toward doing something more than just kitchen and kid. My former fully employed outside the home life is calling. I volunteer a lot, I run my jewelry design business, I'm at home before and after school ...... I'd just like more please.

streamlining life ...

As with most mums or stay-at-home parents who aren't quite in the same "league" as the alleged Etsy QYDJ featured sellers (tho' am not sure how most of us manage to miss that set of criteria since none of the SAHMs featured have actually quit their day jobs)(oh yes - don't get muted for a start I guess!) running an at-home craft business involves a lot of time-juggling and parental balancing acts.
It is truly a work of art in itself.
For example, I'm clicking away on the old keyboard at my local Starbucks with my mega-mug of coffee and their wi-fi hotspot while my son attends a Spring Break clay class at the nearby Art Centre. He needs entertainment - I need to get on with marketing (which is what I'm doing right now - go buy my stuff!), photoshopping new business cards and making new inventory for an upcoming craft fair. Unless I fit all this necessary admin in and around my daily life I either end up with nothing or it all happens in the wee small hours of racoonmumhood.
I feel pretty smug about my portable crafting abilities now after a few years of practice but the marketing, admin, etc stuff is still lagging. I'm kidding myself somewhat into thinking that it will all take off once full time school (ah that holy grail!) happens in September. In reality I need to get a grip pretty darn soon.
So far I blog and do a bit of social networking. My Google Analytics and other tracking shows that my Twitter hits are effective in getting peeps to my shops. The Got Craft and Portobello West craft fair websites are also vg at sending visitors so hopefully adding the ArtFire Rapid Cart to my homepage will eventually result in some direct sales.
Otherwise, I'm not that fond of Ning, I'm getting used toFacebook (had a lovely chat yesterday afternoon with a couple of old high school friends I haven't seen in over 20 years) but I am falling totally in love with ByHand. I use the blog feature for a bit of shameless promotion. It drove a lot of lookers to a flickr photo I used and certainly seems to have potential for marketing at least the crafty supplies side of business.
But now I'm even more in love with the site. This morning when I filled in my sporadic blog post and hit "send (or whatever)" I was then asked if I wanted to post it to my blogger??
Wwwwwwwhaaaaaaat? Oh yes! No more blogging on three different blogs? I posted a piece on yarn bombing then sent it over to my portable crafting blog for good measure.
ByHand - you've made my life easier. I think I love you.