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I've been going through creative spurts lately. They're these "I want to do all the things" kind of spurts. This is not a recent happening, but rather a cycle I go through every couple of months. I love my business and the creative energy that it produces. I'm constantly trying new things that are related to my cards-- printing methods, design and illustration concepts, color palettes, and so on. But sometimes, my creative energy goes elsewhere and is not focused on my business, and that's ok.

My current conundrum comes down to this-- what if that creative energy feels like its overflowing, if you're filled to the brim, if you don't have enough of an outlet for it all?

Sometimes I think about opening a second Etsy shop for all of that other stuff that I like to do. A shop that I don't need to be fully committed to, but can be a side project or a hobby. Suddenly the possibilities seem endless. A shop filled with small DIY projects that I've taken on over the past few years. A shop that has been beautifully curated with vintage items I've found here and there at various flea markets and thrift stores. Another with photographs from my travels and from my walks through the streets of Baltimore. Maybe one with illustrated posters and prints. Another with all sorts of items made from wood. And next thing I know, I'm dreaming of getting my hands back to working with clay and throwing on a wheel, and I'm reading information about the clay guild in Baltimore.

And here I am, writing. Because writing is on that long list of creative endeavors that often helps me burn up creative energy. But right now, if feels like I'm bursting. And just writing isn't burning up the fuel quickly enough.

I identify as an artist, specifically a maker. And makers need to make. My hands need to create. When that spark ignites, I start looking for ways to share what I'm excited about and ways to let that energy escape. However, I know that I truly can't do all of the things. There's just not enough time in the day. When I come to this realization, I start to feel like a child that is keeping some sort of secret, but so badly wants to burst. Today's post is a ramble, and I knew that it probably would become just that going into it all, but maybe some of you can relate.

Do you ever have too much creative energy? What do you do when you feel as though you're overflowing? Have you ever considered opening another Etsy shop on a whim?

 

Last week, while brainstorming how to spruce up our coffee and tea bar, the idea to do some DIY with thrifted tea cups popped into my head. I set out to scour a few thrift shops to see what I could find and picked up some gold spray paint, determined to make some pretty things. Monday rolled around, and a woman who lives around the corner from us announced on our neighborhood facebook page that she had some offshoots of mini aloe plants that were up for grabs.

I love aloe, so I jumped at the opportunity for free plants and walked over to her house to pick a few of them up. When I got home, I realized that I had already filled all of my indoor planters with various flora, and thus, the tea cups became planters. While this wasn't the original idea that I had envisioned, I'm actually happier with the outcome-- funny how things work out that way sometimes!

What you'll need:

• tea cups (I purchased mine for a whopping 50 cents each at Goodwill)
• gold spray paint
• clear coat glaze or sealer
• newspaper
• painter's tape
• potting soil
• small plants of your choice (check out the sale section of your local home improvement store-- I've found some inexpensive options many times there!)

Use the painter's tape to seal off the areas of your tea cups that you don't want to be painted. I opted for two triangles on one of my cups and a painted top and bottom portion on the others. Seal them well, so the gold paint won't leak!

Set up the taped cups on a layer of newspaper in a well ventilated area. Spraying evenly, about 10-12 inches away, coat the cups with the gold paint. Wait for about 15-30 minutes, and paint a second coat. Once the second coat is dry to the touch, peel off the painter's tape.

Let the gold paint dry for a few more hours, and then evenly coat the cups with the clear glaze to seal the paint. I used several coats of the glaze in healthy doses, to make a nice smooth finish. Let the cups dry overnight, and then fill with potting soil and plant.

Are you as obsessed with that gold spray paint as I am? I think I want to spray everything with it now! These were super fun to make, and have added a little life to the dreariness of January.

Have you taken on any DIY projects lately?

Before I jump into today's post, I would like to send out a big thank you to my handmade community in response to Friday's post about turning down a big opportunity. I received many encouraging words through all sorts of outlets on Friday, and I'm thankful for that!

And here we are, Monday morning, and I'm attempting something completely new-- getting up early. The first day was a success, but I'll have to work extra hard at this because if you know me, you know I am simply not a morning person. And while we're on the topic of new routines, I decided to share a quick before and after of something I've been working on recently-- updating product photos.

Some of these photos have been floating around in my Etsy shop for much too long. And by much too long, I mean a couple of years. And while the photos were good enough to still allow me to sell the product, I can honestly say that after I updated several of the photos, I sold that product within minutes. That was a big enough sign that I was doing something right, so even though it's a bit of an arduous task, I decided that it was a must for me to slowly take it on. In addition, I've been playing a bit with product styling. Here's a look at some before and afters.

While the task of reshooting product photos does take time, I think the payoff is a good one. I love that my photos look more professional, crisp, and bright. It's a task that I've put on my list of things to do when I have a few spare minutes. If I'm waiting on a batch of cards to print or have a few minutes to spare while my pencil press warms up, I've been snapping a few photos instead of taking a break.

Have you been doing any fine tuning in your shop lately? What tasks could you take on to make your shop more appealing?

This past fall, I was presented with an incredible opportunity for my business. The opportunity, a nationally recognized trade show, could potentially mean expanding my business as a national brand, becoming something even bigger than my own website and what I represent on Etsy. It seemed like the natural progression for what I have been doing, for what paper people are supposed to do, for what was expected of me, for me to grow my business.

I spent several days having phone conversations with various people to think about preparing for such an opportunity. Andrew began working out the booth logistics with me, determined to design something fantastic, as any architect would want to. I started thinking about the implications in terms of how I produced my cards, and started looking at ways to outsource my printing, pouring over paper samples upon paper samples, and even ordering a large batch of my most popular cards from a printer.

I thought about how to better my wholesale process. How to make my products seem more professional. How to streamline my inventory and shipping processes. How to hire additional help I might need when the preparation of it was was too overwhelming. How I would continue to do all of this in a 130 square foot bedroom that I call my studio.

And then it hit me, mid-sentence while brainstorming, the night before I was to officially commit to this opportunity. "Why am I doing this?" Andrew looked up from his computer screen, from which he'd been diligently sketching a trade show booth model for me in some architectural software of his, eyebrow raised. I asked the question again, "You know? WHY am I doing this?"

Was I doing it because I was "supposed" to or because it was the right thing for my business, the right thing for me? Here I had spent the last four years desperately trying to build a base in Baltimore, connecting with local artists, building my identity as a maker, as a new printmaking artist, delving into ideas of how I wanted to connect locally with a possible storefront in my own neighborhood. And I was contemplating being something completely opposite-- a national brand.

When I finally made the decision not to move forward with this opportunity, I knew I had made the right one. I felt as though I had learned something about myself and how I identity as an artist as well. I grew up as the daughter of two artists in their own right. Art was always about community, about connecting with others. Sure, my art has turned into a business, but it is also my identity as a maker that I connect to most, not as a brand.

We are bombarded on a daily basis about becoming successful within your own passions, and that success always seems to somehow be connected to bigger and better happenings for small businesses. How to turn your art into a business. How we must stop thinking like artists and start thinking like entrepreneurs.

In the coming days, more signs that I made the right choice began streaming in. The cards that I had ordered from the printer were terrible. The print quality was something I just couldn't feel good about offering to my customers. I made huge headway in making some local connections in one short weekend, and those connections led to other goals I've had on my list for years. And as I discussed the scenario with a family member over the holidays, he posed a question that still sticks with me weeks later-- "I guess the big question is, how motivated are you by monetary gain?" My answer, without hesitation? "Not very."

Sometimes doing what you're "supposed" to do isn't the right thing. Sometimes it needs to be put on the back burner while you evaluate what is truly important to you. And sometimes that means passing up an opportunity for potential overnight success because their definition of success is not the same as yours.

How do you define your success? Have you ever gone against the grain because it felt like the right thing to do?

 

While I realize that I'm getting around to this somewhat obligatory post quite a bit later than most of you, I still needed to write it. You see, it's been quite an interesting start to 2015 already in my world, and that's led to a whole lot of that "holy shit I'm getting old and need to get it together" type of thinking. So for me, even though I may be late to the game, I still find value in writing about a new start for the year. And for what it's worth, in my book, it's never too late to start something, so it's quite alright by me if I'm straggling behind in writing down my yearly hopes and goals.

After visiting a whole lot of family both in Cleveland and in Indiana over the holidays, I felt a tad bit overwhelmed by some things that occurred. Two situations arose both three days before I arrived and three days after I left Indiana in which family members essentially escaped death. In addition, nothing was how I remembered it to be from my previous visits. As I told my mom on the phone shortly after our visit, "I spent an afternoon with my 90 year old grandmother, another afternoon with my 83 year old grandparents, one who is dealing with dementia. My 13 year old childhood cat is so old that he's like a boney curmudgeon, yet he refused to leave my lap, and my other cat died a month before I got to see her one last time. And the town is NOTHING like it used to be, and feels like a foreign place. It's as if EVERYTHING is dying!"

While my "everything is dying" freak out moment is probably not the most optimistic way of starting the year, I can say that it left me thinking about what is important to me and how I want to continue building my life. Some things are new items of my list, and others are things that I want to continue working toward. All of them sort of revolve around the idea of being more intentional about how I do things and how my time is being spent throughout the day.

1 // Continue learning new things. Over the past two years, I've taught myself two new printing techniques-- both with my foil press and starting to print at the letterpress studio. I've learned new information, new recipes, new techniques for doing things, new things about my city. Lifelong learning is so important to me, and I want to continue that learning this year. I'm starting to brush up and practice my French, and I hope to be back to a conversational level. I'm learning to play the piano, very slowly, but surely. I put new strings on my guitars and hope to play regularly again. I want to learn something new as part of my paper business as well-- maybe try screenprinting. Most of these things also have to do with turning the tv off, disconnecting, and focusing on something a lot more fulfilling.

2 // Get out of the house a least once a week. Andrew and I have a plan for this. We're getting back to a weekly habit we'd developed after returning from Australia over a year ago. Wednesday night will be our night out. It's nothing fancy. The plan consists of us trying a new bar or restaurant for one drink, and nothing more. We get out of the house for an hour or so, expose ourselves to a new place we've never been, and enjoy doing nothing but having conversation during that time, and all at a reasonable cost that doesn't break the bank. Week one was already a success.

3 // Make more local art connections. In Baltimore, there is a fantastic arts and handmade community. The only problem is that if you're not already part of that community, it's hard to be accepted by it. I've struggled with this for several years now and it really started to bring me down. Being denied by that existing community made me feel as though what I create wasn't good enough. I'm done feeling that way, and I'd rather seek out my own art community instead. I'm already part of the way there. I have a small group of other artists that I'll soon hopefully be meeting with on a monthly basis. And I'm hoping to also connect with another printer to do a local event this summer. Baby steps, but I'll get there.

4 // Find community within my personal life. Along the same lines, we tend to feel a bit out of the loop in most situations. We've lived in Baltimore for eight years, but we don't have a lot of friends. We aren't religious, so we don't go to a church thus there are no instant connections with other people in that regard. We're not always into the events that are put on in our neighborhood as a lot of them revolve around large parties and drinking. Let's face it, we're not trying to act like we're in college anymore or party our faces off. We'd rather have meaningful conversation and community. It was finally decided that if we can't find the kinds of community events we'd like to be a part of, then we can create our own, and if people come, they come. And if they don't come, then they don't, and neither is a bad thing. We're having a successful start with this as well.

5 // Be more organized and follow through. This is a continuation from last year. I'm making small progress here and there. I purchased what I would call the most intense planner I've ever seen in my life. I've continued planning out my days the night before, so that I'm able to unwind from work, and focus on new tasks ahead. We got rid of quite a lot of stuff in our house, and the idea is to continue on that trend. I still need to work on following through on things that I set my mind to, but I'm getting better with that as well, which is why I've already made progress on some of the above goals.

6 // Find affordable studio space of my own. This is more of a hope than a goal, but at the same time I feel very driven to get to this point. While I'm really enjoying sharing a small production studio at the moment, I ultimately would love to have my own space in which I can do all aspects of my work-- the designing, production, and shipping. My home studio is simply too small. It's a daily struggle. I cut card stock while sitting on the floor because it's the only space I have available to do that task. It's extremely cramped quarters and just not practical. It's the kind of space that is so small that as soon as you clean it, you begin a new task and it's instantly cluttered again. When I receive my card stock and envelope orders from my suppliers, my studio becomes nothing but boxes stacked on boxes. So yes, this is a huge hope for me this year.

7 // Send more snail mail. I started doing this last year when I got my my PO box, and I'd like to do even more letter writing this year. It gives me a chance to stop for a few minutes and think about what's happening in my daily life and how I relate to others in this world. I didn't take time out of my busy holiday schedule to write my own Christmas cards, and that really bothered me. If you have a similar goal, or would like to try getting back to letter writing, I'd be happy for another snail mail friend. You can write to:

Heidi Shenk
PO Box 12396
Baltimore, MD 21281

While these goals are big ticket items, I feel good about them this year. They leave room for growth on both a personal and business level, and make me hopeful of new experiences and creative energy.

Did you make goals for the new year? I'd love to hear about your hopes and dreams so that we can encourage each other throughout the year!