I have my whole back room cleaned up (almost). I am down to the nitty gritty of sorting all the bead piles in pans, boxes, bags, trays and whatever that I have been piling up waiting to price them, bead them or file them. I am so unbelievably proud of myself I have shown everyone that has set foot in my store in the last month who had ever seen my backroom! I am also so ashamed for letting it get so bad. One pile on the floor had been there for five years !! Five Years!!! It is such a relief to have it clean and put away. I am a very organized person and that mess has haunted me for a very long time. When I came back to work on July 6 after vacation, I set the timer for 1 hour each day and cleaned. Items were either thrown out or recycled, put in their proper place or they went into sale boxes or grab bags. Nothing was just moved to another spot. I had lots and lots of cute wood items to be painted that all went into grab bags. If I hadn't done something in five years out it went! I realize I have no time to do little time consuming projects that don't sell well anyway. I'll save my energy for jewelry making and other creative things that actually sell. I also have so many more special orders all the time that it is hard to do as many creative things just to play around.
I also have come up with a new Christmas item that is really fun. I finished 8 snowmen that were special orders two years ago that I finally created and finished. The lady who ordered them loved them and bought 5 of the 8. I know the other three will sell fast. They are very cute, but took a lot of time and materials. I don't think I could make 30 - 40 of them. It's hard to be thinking about making Christmas items when I'm still trying to enjoy summer, but I have to get going. And for right now I have made Progress!
