Working on the Shop – For several months, I’d been thinking about an artistic goal to work on my etsy shop and the photos of my floral hair clips. Last night I finally got back to the camera and the computer. Here’s a bit of a sneak peek of the flowers I will be posting to my shop.

cayswann.etsy.com– Sneak Peek: New Flowers for the Shop

I still need to finish editing the descriptive text and make certain all the little details are in place, but these should be online this evening.

I’ve been really impressed with several friends who’ve been working on updating their etsy shops, which was just the push I needed to get my edits done. I’d forgotten how involved these catalog listings can be, which must be why I’d set them aside for a while. And although I’ve been doing well selling the hair clips at haflas (dance parties) and workshops, I’d been slightly embarassed at my empty shop.

Community Support – Additional motivators have been coming via Google+ discussions and Twitter posts. It might be just that everyone is still in “New Year’s Resolutions” mode, but I love having friends who have their own crafts and sales efforts. They inspire me to do my best, too. Some of my favorite crafters include Rain (etsy and twitter), Lynn (etsy and twitter), and Blume (etsy and twitter). It is important to me that I keep my own voice, my own designs, my own style. But it’s hard not to be inspired by the creativity of my friends, and hear a voice in my head that says, “Oh! I should do that! That’s awesome!” I’m not really in danger of copying (read: stealing) creative ideas from any of my friends, but wow, these are some talented ladies. I want to grow up and “be just like them.” Only, just like me. *beaming grin*

So, by way of this post, allow me to just thank these artists (among many), for inspiring me to be my best again. Thanks for being excellent.