Countdown to Christmas

The last two weeks have been a blur.  The Open House went great.  Lots of food, lots of fun customers and friends, lots of sales. The fairies were the biggest hit at the Open House.  I thought they were fun and so did everyone else!   I had more brownie and daisy groups this past Friday night and all day Saturday.  All nice girls who had lots of fun making jewelry.  This is the week I need to catch up on all my orders and try to finish some of the Christmas items I've been working on.  All those cute snowmen that were cut out months ago are still sitting in the back unfinished.  There are reindeer half painted, finished reindeer waiting for Santa to be painted, boxes to be painted, snowmen heads waiting to be painted and for their bodies, and lots of jewelry to be made.  I have been working on all these, but then have a class and have to throw them all in the back room at whatever stage they are in.  Hopefully I can get some of them completed before the next class next week.  My back room looks like a disaster area.  There is so much stuff piled up it is scary.  It looks like I should be on one of those Hoarder reality shows.  Even when it is messy I can usually put my hands on whatever I am looking for because it is usually fairly organized stacks. But right now it is total chaos and I can't find anything.  People have given me bags and boxes of "stuff" as they cleaned out for Christmas, and I really appreciate it - but haven't had time to go through it and it is piled everywhere!  That will be one of my projects for the new year - clean up the back room!

 

Welcome to My World

Nine Christmas trees and 60 brownies/daisies later, I'm still hanging in there.  The past Saturday was the marathon jewelry class with all the daisies and brownies.  It was like 101 Dalmations in the store with all the little girls running around.  The classes Saturday all went very well and the girls had a great time.  They made some great jewelry.  The class last night didn't go as well.  The classes set up through the girl scout council have evaluation forms of me that have to be turned in to the office.  Last night I was wishing I could turn in an evaluation form on the troop that was there.  Just a little wild when I'm already stressed.

This coming Saturday is my Holiday Open House.  I have nine decorated trees set up throughout the store.  The store has been dusted, rearranged and restocked.  All that is needed is the holiday music playing in the background.  We'll be making cards and ornaments in the back all day.  The other two sisters will actually be in the store all day.  I love once the day gets here and I have all the work done, because it is just like a big party all day and I get to see all my friends.  Hope those of you reading this are able to join the party.

Switching into High Gear

Well now is the time of year when I really have to get my act together to get everything done.  I always kid that I going on cookie crumbs and eggnog fumes.  My Holiday Open House is Saturday, November 13, and I aim to have the store totally redone for the Christmas season by that date.  That means taking down all the Halloween and putting up all the Christmas trees.  The Christmas room is always rearranged and freshened up.  All the new items we've made or purchased for Christmas come out at this time.  It's a great effort but is inspiring and really gets me in the mood for Christmas.  I always want to rush home and put up my trees.

For those of you that have not attended an Open House, it is a fun day with free Christmas crafts all day, refreshments, door prizes, and lots of other fun stuff.  It is the one day that you might meet the other two sisters as they come to help in the craft room.  It happens all day, 10am -5pm.

I'm off to work to begin the transformation.

 

The First Brownies

Today I had my first group of brownies come to do their jewelry class.  They were a wonderful group and I enjoyed my 90 minutes with them.  One little girl said it was the most fun she had ever had as a brownie.  They made some pretty cool necklaces and they all had a lot of pride in their work.  Everything went very smoothly.  Of course there were only nine of them and the two leaders were wonderful.  I'm hoping the rest of my brownie experiences go as well.  The next time there will be 21 girls, so that may be somewhat tougher.

It is so fun to see the creativity of such young girls.  They absolutely loved the beads.  They asked about the other two sisters and I told them they were both accountants and were not able to come into the store very often.  I said I had the best job because I get to come to work everyday and make jewelry or paint or do something else creative for someone.  And its true.... I do have the best job.  Sometimes I get so bogged down in the details I forget to just enjoy the ride.  I get to use my creativity every day that I come to work and I make other people happy by doing it. And I get to see beading or painting or crafts through the eyes of a young girl.  Now isn't that the best job in the world?

 

Girl Scouts and Brownies Galore

Many years ago my now good friend Cheryl saw an ad of mine and called to ask if I could do badge work for her girl scout troop.  I said yes and I started doing classes for her troop.  Soon other local troops started coming to work on badges at my shop.  I have worked with many troops and very many girls through the years.  The first girls are now in college or have started families.

This past spring my friend Cheryl asked if I would become a resource for the entire Girl Scout Council.  That way girls from other towns in the area would know about the store and could come to do badge work.  So the council called and we set up about ten classes for the council.  I tried to spread them out, but it is hard to pick out dates months in advance, but we did it.  As soon as the council guide was published, I started getting calls from leaders in O'Fallon to schedule their own classes.  Then the council office called and said the first class scheduled for Saturday, November 6 was already overbooked.  So instead of having a limit of 15 girls per class, I raised the limit to 20.  Twenty girls!!  Then she called and said there were still more girls that wanted to take the class, so I have scheduled a second Saturday to accomodate them.

I love seeing young people be creative and see the pride they have when they have made something that they really like and is all theirs.  But I may be in over my head.  Hopefully I won't become this really cranky lady that none of the girls want to come back to see.  I'll let you know how the first class goes....

 

Cockscombs, Cat's Heads and Conchos

Sounds like a witches spell.  Today I taught a fall wreath class.  One of the ladies brought her own dried flowers and had a large dry cockscomb to put on her wreath.  Then I came to work and painted cat's heads in hot pink, orange, and purple on a silk scarf (it was a special order).  At the end of the day someone came in looking for western conchos that I could not find for the life of me.  I still don't know where I stashed them.  In between I worked on pearl necklaces for a wedding and made earrings.  Quite a day!  Oh yes, the cute crows went to a new home leaving my shelf bare.

 

Hello to Fall

Well, I got behind again and had to skip the blog.  Almost got caught up, but then got a ton of new orders so am behind again.  I got the sign finished - I did it on heavy duty wood so it would last.  The only problem - the guy hasn't come and picked it up.  I do hate it when I work very hard on something and do it in a timely fashion and then the customer takes weeks or months to come pick it up. 

Fall has been selling really well.  Everyone but me is glad for the long hot summer to be over.  I love summer.  I love Christmas too, but hate the cold of winter.

Had lots of new customers in on Saturday.  It is nice to get the positive feedback on the store.  Even when it is looking its worst.  All the trees need to be redone and refreshed and things need to be dusted.  That will be this weeks project.  At least a start.

Classes will start soon.  I have some jewelry making classes and some holiday craft classes coming up.  I'll post the days and times on this blog.  Hope to have it later in the week.  Also, mark your calendars- Saturday, November 13 is my Holiday Open House this year.  For those who have not attended before, there is food, free crafts, door prizes, and lots of holiday ideas.  It's always a fun day and gets you started on the holidays.

One step forward, two steps back.....again....

I worked all day on one project.  Didn't quite get it finished.  But took in two more orders that have to be done ASAP.  Today's project was another quilled wedding invitation.  It took forever, but turned out really nice.   Sometimes things just come together, other times they take forever.  Hopefully the next couple of things won't take so long.  I have a dilemma with a sign I'm working on.  Do I do it on wood that is easy to work with and easy for me to cut or do I do it on the heavy wood that I'll have to take somewhere to be cut, but will hold up since the sign is going outside?  If you know me you know the answer, I do too, I just don't want to do it.

Love my Spiders

I got all the fall and Halloween items out in the store.  I'm not a fan of spiders but the ones I have in the window with their cheesy smiles are just too cute.   They go with the real cobwebs that are between my double windows. 

That is pretty much the theme of the Halloween stuff - cute.  I'm not real big on scary.  From now on until Christmas I spend so much time in the store it is fun to be surrounded by cute ghosts, witches and pumpkins.

I got the snowmen cut out and started.  They are going to be fun, too. If you can't have fun how can you get through life?   That pretty much is sums up my belief on the Meaning of Life - Have fun, but have a life that matters.

Return to the REAL World

Well, today is the last day of my laid back summer.  Tomorrow begins my big holiday rush.  Fall and Halloween  begin to show up in the store this week and I begin planning where all the Christmas trees will go.  From now on until after Christmas there's not much down time.  But it's also the most fun because there are so many fun Halloween and Christmas  items and it's fun to decorate the store with a theme. I'm still searching for the diamonds...

One step forward, Two steps back

It seems just as I get on top of things, more work comes in.  Right now I'm working on six different projects.  At least I don't get bored.  I'm doing another quilled wedding invitation, shadow boxes for a bottle cap collection, a necklace from sea glass that the person collected,  a large sign with a nautical theme and the family names for a beach house, earrings and bracelets to match  purchased  necklaces, and fall wreaths.  And I'm really dying to make snowmen.  Everyone keeps asking me what my big Christmas project is this year  - it may be keeping my sanity.

Too much stuff

Where do you put all the stuff when you have too much of it?  If  something happened to me and someone else had to come in and clean out the store they would think I was one of those horrible hoarders you hear about on TV. That's why crafters love the store - I have everything.  It's just that it has gotten out of control.  I have a finite amount of space and an infinite number of items.  I did find some really cute crows when I was cleaning.  I haven't found the diamonds yet......

The Best Laid Plans . . . . . . . . .

The best laid plans are usually interrupted by real life. I had every intention of writing on this every day or at the least every other day. But plans don't always work out. Although I've not had much traffic through the store the last couple of weeks, I've been incredibly busy working on orders. First was the church that forgot to call in their order for 60 corsages that were needed in four days, next was the order for 30 Hawaiian leis that I thought would take me just a couple of hours, but ended up taking a couple of hours per lei, and then there was the quilled wedding invitation that just always takes a while to get it right. None of them unpleasant tasks, just very time consuming.


Lots of new things coming in. I got to see my wonderful UPS man TWICE last week. I will get to see him tomorrow also. Lots of wonderful blue moon beads arrived and I ended up having to redo my whole bead wall. It looks great now and very FULL!

Classes start for me next week - one off-site on Tues morning. I am going to teach the ladies how to paint daisies on Christmas ornaments. And when I arrive at the store I will set up all the fall and Halloween displays.

I hope I am back on track and can keep up with this in a more timely manner. If not, you may just have to come into the store and see what I'm up to!
 

Goodbye to the Palm Tree

Today is the last day for my palm tree and the flamingos.  They will be retired as summer ends.  I set a record this year for number of people who came in and wanted to buy the flamingos in my window.  Too bad.  They are not for sale.  I love them and they no longer make the big ones like I have.   My flamingos spend the winter in the bathtub at the store.  Sometimes I have them peeking around the shower curtain, just saying "hi" and "is it summer yet?"  Most of the people who see them peeking get a laugh, but they scared the girl scouts that were in for a class.  But they all had to go in and see them.

New Stuff

I love getting freight.  Not only do I love my UPS guy, but I like seeing what I ordered.  Today I got new Scrappy Cat clear Xmas stamps that are really cute and some wonderful glittery embellishments for cards and scrapbooks.  Lots of fun things - I can't wait to use them, but will have to finish some of my projects first.  Too bad some of the things I really needed didn't come in.

April

Random notes from the diamond mine

Today is the first day of the Threesistersblog.  Spent the day taking in orders (some fun, some not) and cleaning out for several big clearance piles.  I'm trying to make room for all the new fall items so will be having a BIG clearance sale.  Lots of oddball items to get rid of.  Who knows what you might find.

April

Three Sisters Crafts Blog

Hi!

Can't wait to see what you do here!  How about a challenge?  View the blog called beadingbuddies23.blogspot.com and participate in the challenge put forth!  Then get to posting .. gather followers .. and let's have fun! 

Anonymous in O'Fallon