Merry Week After Christmas!
Incredibly, it has been almost an entire YEAR since I last wrote in my blog! But I'm dusting it off at the beginning of 2025 in an effort to get back to what I truly enjoy... telling life stories and illustrating them with my silly art!
A very BIG change for me midway through 2024 was that I closed my Etsy shop. Much as I enjoyed feeling like I was part of a bigger handmade community as an Etsy seller, my art sales were low and the amount of work involved in running my shop was high. Designing, painting, photographing, scanning, listing... it all added up to a lot of mostly non-art time. I'm sure I could have been more successful sales-wise if I had been willing to post regularly on social media and if I'd pursued online community more diligently... but I honestly just didn't want to do that. I wanted to be spending my time making hands-on arts and crafts in real time rather than promoting what I made online. In some ways, closing my Etsy shop was a hard decision... I'd been an Etsy seller since Etsy's early days. But in other ways it was an easy decision to make. Being an Etsy seller just didn't feel life-giving to me anymore... and so it was time to move on.
2024 was also the year I turned 68 years old. This was a harder birthday for me than most. I started realizing anew that my time here is a lot shorter than it used to be... and I want to be making that time count for something meaningful and good. I want to be using my art skills to bless other people and bring them joy!
So, after taking some time to explore my options, I decided to pivot... and I'm happy to say that I'm now creating one of a kind mixed media cards that I donate to Creative Kindness' program called Cards For Kindness. This is one of several programs that Creative Kindness offers to"help people find happiness and healing through the creation and donation of handmade gifts." ...and it's just what I was looking for!
Over the next few months, I'm going to do a bit of housekeeping on my blog. There are things here that just don't apply anymore, and more things I'd like to include. So please bear with me as I do some dusting and reorganizing and tweeking (I just love that word!).
Wishing you a cozy week after Christmas! I hope your days are filled with creativity and happiness!
