Summer of Organization

Hello, Hello,

My beads have been organized. I used some the other day and I found things. I also put thing back when I was finished, well for the most part. :) I wanted to show you what I have done. I am so happy right now with the state of my studio and business. There have been a lot of changes in the past few years, for the most part good changes. But with growth comes figuring out new ways of doing things and finding the time to figure out those new ways are almost impossible. I named this summer the "summer of organization". I like to name things, one year we had the "vacation of independence" I taught the boys over Christmas break how to get their own drinks and snacks, and other ways of taking care of themselves. I think they liked that I named it. They were also involved in this summers organization. We tackled their rooms first. Cleaned them out, donated a lot, and got them keeping them clean. Next we moved to the garage, it was a disaster but we got it back into shape as well. I also showed you my pantry and my bathroom. The linen closet is the only place left in the house on my list. Meanwhile at the studio......


Oh boy, I don't even know where to begin. I needed to make better use of my space. I expanded the store, we are having classes in the fall, and the studio needed more storage in general. Lucky for me when I cleaned out the garage I ended up getting four sets of shelves for the studio. I put them to use. We now have shelves for bisque, shelves for glaze, shelves for finished work. I have my beading area together, I am learning how to run my cash register(it's been a mystery sop far), I have made forms for everything. Pay sheets, special requests, class sign ups, you name it I probably have a form for it now. I ordered bags, tissue, and labels for the store and online orders. More to show you later on those. :)

I also ordered stock for the store. There are loads of cool things coming in, lots of super cool supplies that you don't find just anywhere. I can't wait to show you those as well. The orders are still trickling in.

There is still a list of things I want completed before labor day, that's my deadline, but I am getting there. Katie took the summer off, I miss you Katie! But she comes back next week and I can't wait for here to see all of the changes, it will be like the big reveal on one of those make over shows. She's organized and I am pretty sure I drive her crazy sometimes with the way I do things. I think she will be impressed.

Boy am I rambling on today! Even though my deadline is labor day, summer is about over hear. Today is the last day of summer camp. My boys and I are going to "hang" next week and then it's "meet the teacher day". Back to school.....

The "summer of organization" will be over, and I am looking forward to enjoying the rewards of being organized.

So if I have been slacking off on the Etsy shop and new designs lately on the blog...sorry...I was getting organized. But hold on tight because this fall is going to be a good one!


Have a great day!


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Bathroom Redo

Hey, Hey,

Remember waaaay back when, March 22nd to be exact. I started my bathroom redo. We painted it red. It's a really pretty red but it's a pretty small bathroom. It turns out there is a bit of a red glow to the place. We were puzzled with what to do. Did we re paint? Add a second color? How do we conquer the glow? Well after a few months of living with it, we all decided we liked it.

I went ahead with the decorating. I made a shower curtain with my Happy fabric and some "do-dads" to hang from the hooks. (Pardon my fuzzy pictures, these were the best I could get.)

I embellished some hand towels with my ribbon.

That mirror was ten bucks at the habitat store. It took some cleaning up and a little paint and I love it. It makes the whole room. The cabinets are eventually going to have ceramic knobs, I just haven't gotten to that yet. Maybe next week.

Have a great day,

Hello

Hey, Hey,

Just checking in to say hello.... look at my pretty flowers. Don't you just love the pattern on the center of that sunflower? I don't ever want it to wilt, it's so cool. I think I will paint those dots today and they will probably show up somewhere down the road in a bead or fabric design. Who knows.

I am making great progress on my studio, I will get some pictures later to show you. I even had a new customer in yesterday and she said, "wow, your studio is so organized". I didn't even have to prompt her to say that. It really is looking organized.

I have one more week to get things wrapped up, that's another one of my self-imposed goals. I will be out of the studio and off of the computer the first week of August. Take note, if you were planning on ordering. I need a break with the boys and it's the last week of summer for us. Can you believe it? It went by so fast.

Keep on enjoying your summer....

Coming Along...

Hi everyone....

How was the weekend for you? Mine was alright. I spent Friday and Saturday at the Atlanta gift mart. If you have ever been there you will know it's humongous! Three big ol buildings full of products for stores to buy. It's loads of fun to see what's new but it's a bit overwhelming when you are actually buying. I have never done this before so I am hoping it gets easier next time. What was I buying you ask? Well if you look real closely in the photo above you can see I have expanded the store. I am moving my beading area out so the gallery can be larger. Wahoo!



I am gearing up for the fall so I needed bags, boxes, tissue, holiday decorations, supplies, and gifts. Loads of new stuff will be coming in shortly, plus I am working to get my own artwork stocked up as well. There are big changes coming to the studio and shop soon. I will let you know all of the details in the next few weeks. You local shoppers will be so happy to hear I am going to have regular store hours! Can you believe it?

This is where my beading area will now be. It's going to be smaller so organization is going to be very important. That's what I will be working on today.


Tables are getting moved around in the organization process as well. I also have been working on lots of behind the scenes organization like store procedures, special order forms, etc. Paperwork that is going to hopefully make my life easier. :)

I've have set a goal of two weeks for all of this organization to be complete. I will be out the first week of August to spend time with the fam and then the boys go back to school. Yikes!

Happy Monday!

Home Organization

As I said yesterday, I am on a organizing spree. I wish I had taken a picture of my pantry before I did this snazzy redo, but seriously it was the ugliest, messiest place ever. It never crossed my mind. I didn't think it was going to turn out so great either. Wahoo!

We painted and put up pine shelves to hold food. Food didn't even make it into the pantry before, there was no room. We just had those clunky wire shelves to hold appliances, etc. Now we have a spot for everything. And it's green, it matches the rest of the kitchen, it was previously, "builder beige". Man I wish I had a picture!

As if that wasn't enough, we pickled Okra that night. You know, you got to have something to stock your pantry with.


Studio organizing is coming along. I keep moving things around and around and around. I will take some pictures soon.

Have a great day,

Problem Areas

Hey, Hey,

As promised my problem areas....

I told you, I am on a mission to get organized and I am loving it. We had a three day weekend at home and I got started there. I have some pictures and I will show you tomorrow. But first, I wanted to show you what is driving me crazy at the studio.

I have been so busy this year that I moved into the studio and set it up the best I could. I then had to get to work and haven't really had time for much else. That is why I looove summer, things slow down a bit and my boys go to camp which is way longer than a school day. That gives me time to re-group and boy do I need that this year.

So the above picture is of the boxes that were shipped back to me from Quilt Market in May.... yep still sitting there.... I need better storage.

This is a really nice set of wire shelves. I love these and they hold a lot and right now they are holding a lot of everything. They are kind of a catch all for clay and glaze stuff. I need more shelves.

There's my bisque... all just unloaded from the kiln and put in trays with no rhyme or reason. I need some order here.

Yikes! I think this is my worst. Katie will tell you, every time I go to make jewelry I have to ask her, "Have you seen my...", "Do you know where...." I loose everything, all the time on this desk. But remember, if it goes in a little drawer, I will never put it back. I have to be able to see it. I will get order soon.
Whew, there's more but I will save you from all the photos. I have some big plans (as usual) for the fall and the only way I will pull it all off and maintain my sanity is if I am organized. I am starting today, I would love to tackle it all at once but I still have to do my normal tasks of making, glazing, etc. A little bit everyday is how I will get this done.

Stay tuned....