How to start a creative business

This week, Fig&Me published a blog post about starting your own doll making business.  The same principles apply to any craft business.  The article is in complete agreement with what I always tell people, and it's written in Fabiola's typical gentle and encouraging style.

If you are thinking about starting a creative business, do yourself a favour, go read!

http://www.figandme.com/blog/the-5-steps-to-pursue-doll-making-as-a-business

The dog's breakfast

Sometimes the things I make look like a dog's breakfast.

 Um, it is a dog's breakfast.  Several of them.

Attila is not impressed.

I cater for cats too.

Making miniature Whiskas has been a challenge.  The scale is not quite right, but I'm at my limit of patience with very tiny things.

It's that time of year again.  We are preparing for the annual Miniature Festival.  This is the 25th annual show and I've been to every one.  Where has the last quarter century gone??? Note the new venue.

Lena's Wicker Furniture

If there's one thing that gets me excited, it's discovering an unusual craft.

I was recently introduced to Lena, a Lithuanian dollhouse furniture and accessory maker who does wickerwork.

What makes her work exeptional, is that she recycles paper into the straws that are used to weave her beautiful pieces.

Like me, she has animal helpers in her studio.

Lena's work is available in scales suitable for various sizes of doll and dollhouse.  Visit her Etsy Shop and her Facebook Page if you would like to find out more about her work.

Winter is winter

We always say that there's no real winter in Pretoria.  Night temperatures might fall a few degrees below zero, but usually the days are sunny and warm enough to be in shirtsleeves.  Our gardens have a lot of evergreen plants so we don't really notice winter too much.  I grump about the dry and dusty conditions, and August is especially bad because of wind.  But spring is only a few weeks away now!

Today I tidied up files on  my computer, and found summer pictures of the garden.  Comparing it to the dreary view through my window, winter is winter!

Winter is winter, even if it doesn't snow.

  Picking grapes in February. 

 And of course, the dogs will tell you that it's much too cold to sleep outside!

Commitment

It's the last week of Goal Setting with Julia.  I have learned a tremendous amount, and my business is benefitting beyond my expectations.
Today's lesson feels as though it is meant for me personally. 
I'm struggling with a commitment I made a number of months ago.  Physically, circumstances have changed.  I can live with that.  But emotionally there's been a shift that leaves me wishing I could just walk away.
I've been swinging like a pendulum between chuck it in or see it through.
After today, the choice is clear.
Only one carries the possibility of success.
Commitment.

Note to self:  Never make a decision when you are angry, and never make a promise when you are happy.