My hope for 2013

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Bonne année, mes amies! I hope 2013 brings you all sparkling health, peace of mind and abundant prosperity. I'll have a serving of that as well, I think! So I've had a day or so to let 2013 start settling into my bones. I've bought our calendar. Now I have my iPhone, I'm vacillating over whether I'll buy a diary. That's hard for stationery-lover me to accept! It also means it's time for me to review how last year's goal panned out.

Simplifying my life in 2012

For 2012, I chose simplifying my life. Gee, I started the year with high hopes of gaining clarity of thought and making positive life changes. Whilst ambitious, I thought it was achievable as I would be following clever Deb at Home Life Simplified's nifty 52 weeks to simplify your life challenge. Breaking the year down into manageable blocks of time seemed a fantastic way to go.

And it would have been.

That is, if Mr PB hadn't lost his job on 9 January 2012.

It fair knocked the wind out of my sails and took me months to right Planet Baby's ship. Overnight, life became so much more complicated. The best I could do with Deb's project was print out all her posts and file them away. 

I felt incredibly guilty at not being able to carry through with it and apologised to Deb several times as I felt I was letting her down. Crazy, I know. Every time, she reassured me it was okay and that I could pick it up at any time. So true. It's not going anywhere! I'll revisit it another time.

My hope for 2013: grow

                                             Source: vivaterra.com via Jane on Pinterest

I have this Pinterest image stuck on my moodboard, directly in front of my computer. Apart from wanting to make something similar for Planet Baby, it really resonates with me right now.

Given recent events, Mr PB and I are in a real state of flux. We're trying to work out what really matters to us both and whether those values and interests can be parlayed into profitable income sources. A bit of 'Loving what you do and doing what you love'.

It's unfamiliar terrain for him as he's been the sole breadwinner for us for so many years. Stepping off the hamster wheel is discomforting.

But I'm trying to view it as not something to be scared of. Rather, I'm looking at it as a huge opportunity for growth. For us both but especially for me.

Maybe now my health's on the improve, it's time for me to step up to the plate after years of child rearing and commit to earning more income for our family, beyond what my Etsy shop, Planet Joy, is bringing in.

So, to focus my mind for what lies ahead this year, I'd like to grow in my:

Business - I really want to realise Planet Joy's full potential. It brings me such happiness to create beauty for others. And the sweet satisfaction of earning money again can't be dismissed.

Relationships - Over the past few years of survival in our family, I haven't been able to invest as much time in my close relationships as I'd like. And I miss that easy intimacy and companionship. I know it's all there, just waiting for me to plug back into it again. I'm blessed to have such fantastic friends like that.

Health - I want to continue on my path of reducing my medication. I've made a huge breakthrough in the last few months and want to keep up the momentum, all guided by my doctors.

With the medication changes, a few extra kilos have crept back on which is disheartening after I'd managed to lose 24 kg recently. I want to lose that weight as it felt fantastic when I was near my ideal weight.

I loathe running and can't afford a gym membership. I don't mind walking and Hobart has many hills so that's a possibility!

The other thing I really want to do is try yoga with my friend, Romy. She's a sworn devotee of Bikram Yoga at Studio New Town and bought me a gift pass for 10 lessons for my birthday. I've done Ashtanga Yoga in Sydney before and loved it. I hope I don't pass out in this 40°C version! She is fabulously fit and toned and tells me it's all the exercise she does. That's enough to sell it to me!

Profession

And the last one is something I touched on here - I want to study intellectual property law and get my professional brain cells firing again. I need to give this a shot to see if I want to stay practising law. It should be exhilarating to feel some growth in an area of my life which has lain dormant since India was born 5 years ago.

So, there you have it - my one word for 2013. Your thoughts? And do you have your own for 2013? Do share - you  might inspire someone else!

Welcome to Planet Joy: my Etsy shop is open!

Ta da! Yes, sweet Planetarians, the moment has finally arrived. After some very late nights, I can now present to you my newest project - my Etsy shop called 'Planet Joy'. Yippee!

Let me play Tour Guide and show you around so you can get your bearings on this new planet. Being Planetarians, you know that makes you citizens there, right?!

The logo

First up, this little flutterer above is Planet Joy's new logo. Brilliant blue + butterfly = what-more-could-I-ask-for! It's a fabulous image I purchased through Piddix. Seeing it makes me happy. 

The banner

Here's my shop banner:

I chose this handwriting font as it's so similar to my own. I love its clean and classic look. 

It shows three of the products I'm starting with:

• Hand-bent wire wrapped with silky Liberty of London fabric;

• Canvases adorned with buttons in the shape of hearts or initials; and

• Wooden symbols wrapped with ribbon. 

The name

It came to me in a flash some months ago. I wanted to have a connection with Planet Baby and you wonderful supporters whilst also linking to my creative side.

Initially I toyed with 'Beribboned' or somesuch (it was already taken). Then I realised that would limit the shop's appeal to search engines. So I took a different tack. Rather than focus on the materials I'd be using, I decided to base the name on an emotion crafting evokes for me.

Which all led me to choosing 'joy'.

Something I made for last Christmas

It's really the whole ethos behind this venture for me. Crafting is so pleasurable, both for me to make it and (hopefully!) for you to receive it.

I love pretty things. Making and sharing them with others brings me a contentedness I never knew I could feel.

The business card

And here's my business card. A bit more than the snippet I teased you with the other day!

The products

I've uploaded a range of my wire words and hearts wrapped in Liberty fabric and wooden words wrapped in ribbon. Here are some of them:

Something for my fellow Francophiles, naturellement! 

And because it's good manners to welcome you to Planet Joy...

I thought maybe my fellow bloggers might be interested in this @ symbol.

Maybe my goodies might bring you some of this.

I just hope you love them as much as I do!

The first sale

I've truly made the kindest friends through blogging. Like wonderful A-M who encouraged me to start my Etsy shop back here - thanks! It was just the nudge I needed. Then there's sweet Ness who's provided me with invaluable feedback and encouragement in recent days. My fellow legal eagle, Iris, kindly vetted my shop policies, making some helpful suggestions.

And then there's my lovely friend, Sarah, who surprised me out of the blue by purchasing my first sale early this morning! I hadn't even told anyone I'd launched the shop late last night. That's how huge her heart is - she'd been checking on Etsy to see whether I'd pulled it off yet and wanted to be the first customer. A true friend indeed.

Which all meant that after I'd hung the washing out and logged into my email, I found this delightful surprise! Sarah had bought one of my Liberty wire hearts. Never has earning $10 felt so good!

  

The wrapping

And so now all this is winging its way to Sarah in the next suburb. I was going to show it all wrapped, Sarah, but didn't want to play spoiler ☺.

What next?

Ooh, I still have a few things to do. Over the next day or so, I'm going to:

• list more items including wooden letters and symbols wrapped in Liberty fabric; and

• launch my Planet Joy Facebook page (I hope you'll come over and 'like' it).

But for now, I must get my 40 winks. Talk about dog-tired!

I can't wait to hear what you think about my newest caper. I've just added the Etsy widget to my sidebar to make it easy for you to find it. A penny for your thoughts!
 

My Etsy shop preparations to date

Er, no 'Ta da!' tonight, sweet Planetarians. I really wanted to announce The Big Reveal of my Etsy shop to you but alas, it hasn't transpired. The Affairs of State on Planet Baby have diverted my attention elsewhere. But I've been working like a navvy all the same. At the moment, I'm uploading the photos of my goodies to Flickr so I can edit and upload them to my Etsy shop. Then comes the hard part - writing descriptions, choosing the prices and finding out the postage. Eek! As so many of you have shown such interest in my planning, I thought I'd give you a brief heads-up on the preparations I've undertaken to date.

Choosing my shop name

This came to me in a flash, just like this blog's name did. Ooh, I'm *bursting* to tell you but I'll bite my lip. Patience is a virtue, after all.

I've chosen a name which is broad enough to cover anything I want to make whilst also hopefully conveying the 'feel-good' factor. 

I'd love to create a little community around it like we have here. Fingers crossed. Or thumbs pressed, as the Germans say.

Designing my logo

Another snippet of it

Being on a shoestring budget, I've done all the legwork myself. I'm sure it won't surprise you to see some blue included. Oh, and another friend which frequents this space.

I've also used a handwriting font very similar to my own. That's perfect as using my handwriting to create the wire words is my biggest selling point, I think.

Ultimately, when I have the time and the money, I plan to get Moo to make business cards, mini cards and stickers for me. For now, I've settled on the cheaper option of making my own cards using Microsoft PowerPoint. I copied the design multiple times onto an A4 sheet, printed it in colour and cut it using my guillotine. I'm pleased with my design and they contain all my info. They're a bit thinner than I'd like at 200 gsm but will suffice for now.

Deciding on my products

I'm fond of this one

As sweet Sarah can attest, my initial list of things I wanted to stock was a whopper! My brain was just overflowing with ideas I wanted to bring to life. I guess that's what happens when 30 odd years of pent-up creativity are unleashed ☺. Sarah listened to my ideas most patiently before gently suggesting that maybe I should concentrate on 5 of my 12 products to begin with. "Start small and then build up" was her wise advice.

I've followed her counsel.

Well mostly, that is. I stuck with the 5 products but then a couple of days of furious crafting this week saw the number of items to complete blow out to about 50! I'm crazy, I know.

I saw sense this afternoon and stashed most of the wire words away as works-in-progress. Trying to cover them all in my Liberty fabric for launch time would delay it for days.

I spent a few hours trimming all the frayed edges - a necessary but tiresome task. My new rotary cutter cuts the Liberty fabric crisply but as it's so fine, it frays easily. I need to find a fixative to stop the fraying so I can eliminate this step.  

Now I have about 40 pretties ready to list. Here's a sneak peek!

Writing my Etsy 'About' profile

This proved tremendously time consuming. I'm sure I have more tweaking to do but I'm content with it now. Explaining what inspires me to create really got my mental cogs turning. Putting words to feelings isn't always easy to do, I discovered.

Writing my policies

This was tedious but necessary. Lovely Ness has been very helpful in reviewing my draft versions. And my kind fellow legal eagle Iris is also running her eyes over them. I'm so lucky to have these two supporters.

Other steps

I've also:

• set up a gmail account;

• set up a PayPal business account; 

• set up a Facebook fan page (I'll launch it when my Etsy shop goes live); and

• registered for an Australian Business Number (ABN).

And now to bed! My photos are still uploading to Flickr, some 3 hours later. very slow. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to edit and upload them to my shop. Provided, of course, that India and Sam are able to entertain themselves sufficiently to permit me to do so. Hmm, that might be a *slightly large* proviso!

Tell me, does anything surprise you here? Any tips for me? I'd love to hear. And thanks for your abiding patience ☺.

My Etsy shop is nearly ready!

Well hello campers! I've been a bit MIA in Blogland this week as I've been absorbed in pulling together the final details for my little Etsy venture. My stars! There is so much involved. At least when you do things *my way* ☺. I know many others would leap in with much less preparation in the spirit of 'just do it', Nike-like. And there's the rub. I am torn between just starting and fixing things up as I go, learning on the job and starting off in the manner in which I'd like to continue. It's a dilemma, I'm finding. And I'm also battling my Voice of Doubt and his blandishments. Not to mention running the usual Affairs of State on Planet Baby. But I'm doing my best to ignore him and pressing on regardless. Here are a few peeks at what I've been up to.

I've been taking this.

And using these.

To make these.

Today I made these.

This is one of them, finished.

I'm relishing making this packaging.

And to finish, here's a part of the business card I've made. Quelle surprise!

Righto, back to work I go, ho-ho. Now my next post *should* begin with 'Ta da!'...

Farewelling my Dark Blue Angel

Good evening, gorgeous ones. I know - two posts in a day is unusual for me. But I wanted to share something with you. This desire has been triggered in me by gorgeous Deb publishing my guest post on her blog today about my post-natal depression story. You can read it by clicking here - it'll open up in another window if you want to return here easily to read what else I have to say! 

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I wrote it weeks ago. I wrote it with an unfamiliar fervour. I was absorbed by the process. Every word was pulled from deep within my heart.

I've posted before about my post-natal depression. The most recent one is here.

But writing that post for Deb evoked different feelings in me. As one who's walked the same road as me, Deb knew exactly what questions to ask. They were laser-like in their precision.

I appreciated that. Deb *gets* me. And, like me, she's motivated to share her story to help others who are treading the path as well.

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She has an enormous heart. I encourage you to read the rest of the guest posts to come in her fabulous 'A story to tell' PND survival series. She's performing an immense community service by running it.

So, what was so different about writing that post for Deb? Well, for the first time in years, I felt like I could *almost* write it in the past tense.

As in "I had PND". As opposed to "I have it".

And that, my friends, is when I had my epiphany. 

I'm almost out the other side of it.

That pinprick of light at the end of that interminable tunnel is growing brighter, sweet Planetarians.

The joy. The sweet relief.

And you know what? I can almost-I'm-that-imperceptibly-close *feel* it.

As a sufferer of anhedonia (the lack of pleasure or the ability to experience it), that is a seismic shift within me.

I'm not quite there yet. But it's not much further now.

I've recently reduced my medication substantially. This week has been the big test for my little body. It's been painful. After 3 years of receiving that particular medication every day, my body's grown used to it. So it will take a while to readjust. 

My clarity of thought is gradually re-emerging. 

Today I tackled a mountain of tasks I'd been avoiding. 'Can-do' Jane is returning.

So this week I've been listening to the sublime Sally Seltmann wistfully singing her moving 'Dark Blue Angel' song. On repeat.

Here are the lyrics, if you're unfamiliar with it.

Dark Blue Angel by Sally Seltmann

Today I saw a Dark Blue Angel
Sitting high upon a swing.
She looked at me and said I want you
But I will never let her in.

A boy is on a Ferris wheel
His hands are held up in the air.
Screaming 'cause he's happy
And the Dark Blue Angel is not there.

Goodbye, Dark Blue Angel,
I will never let you in. 

Kissing on a rainy day,
There's raindrops on the roses.
And inside her heart she knows it,
Yes, the Dark Blue Angel's flying away.

Goodbye, Dark Blue Angel,
I will never let you in. 

Goodbye Dark Blue Angel
I will never let you in,
Goodbye Dark Blue Angel,
I will never,
No, I will never,
I will never let you in.
No I will never
Let you in again.

Goodbye, Dark Blue Angel,
I will never let you in.

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So there you go! I just wanted to share it with you as so many of you have shown me such care and compassion over the past couple of years. I hope you can join with me in exhaling, ever so slowly.

Crafting up a storm

My new motto

Ooh, if only I could bottle your wonderful enthusiasm to my last post about my Etsy shop! You Planetarians are such heart-lifters. Just what a girl needs at a time like this ☺. Thankyou. My new iPhone should arrive tomorrow - yippee! While I've been waiting for it, I've been beavering away with my preparations. This little affirmation card which sweet Catherine gave to me really inspires me. George was a wise woman! Here are some snaps of what I've been up to. 

Packaging

I've been playing around with some old favourites to create my signature wrapping style. I don't mean that pretentiously. How a present is wrapped is almost as important as what's inside for me. I really want my customers to feel like I've made a special effort, just for them. That feeling is so often absent in this age of mass production, don't you think?

Sorting

I've relished peeking inside my favourite little crocheted basket to find my stash of Liberty swatches.

Miss India had such fun sorting them out with me.

Here are some of the blues. *Sigh*.

Making

I relished using my new ribbon to whip this little number up. I'm quite smitten with it. It *may* just stay with me, just quietly.

I found making this one, well, peaceful ☺.

Cutting

Before my new Liberty fabric arrived from the UK, I was using up small pieces like this.

Now I have this beauty in all its glory.

So I can do this instead! It's infinitely more satisfying.

Researching

Of course the lawyer in me thought I should do some *light reading*! Not that I have - yet.

Organising

I've had fun stocking up my new shelves. Those photos are still coming...

Designing

And to finish, today I created the banner for my Etsy shop. Here's a tiny snippet of it. Sorry to be a tease. I'm nearly there. Thanks for your patience ☺.

So tell me, do any of you have any tips for a rookie crafter about to open her first little venture? So many of you Planetarians are such crafty mavens and extremely knowledgeable. Do share - I know some of you are also eager to learn more as you consider opening your own Etsy shops. How about we make Planet Baby into Etsy 101 Central?!

Leaping out of my skin with excitement!

Oh my stars! Thanks so much for your encouragement on my last post about opening my Etsy shop. You Planetarians are such heart-lifters. It's all starting to come together now. I can't believe the timing of events in recent days. I think someone's had a chat with The Big Man Upstairs and suggested I need some help in getting started. Truly. 

The sticker I received. Look at their motto - sound familiar?!

My Etsy meeting

It started last Friday night when I attended the first ever Hobart Etsy meeting organised by two of the Etsy Australia women, Kirsteene and Angela. About 20 Hobartian crafters spent the next two hours over delicious food and wine having Kirsteene look at our Etsy shops on her iPad and make suggestions as to how to improve things. We picked her brain endlessly with a gazillion questions. She was brilliant. She noticed things in a flash and made pithy, useful suggestions. I started to get a *little* excited.

I was relieved to see I wasn't the only one who hadn't actually opened their Etsy shop yet. There were a few others who were also tentative, waiting for a nudge in the right direction to get started. We shared tips and contacts.

We even posed for this corny photo for their Facebook page. That's me in the front, next to my great friend Sarah. Behind her is our fellow Planetarian, the gorgeous Natasha who is the incredible talent behind The Snow Queen's Garden. And next to her in the blue top is another lovely Planetarian, Amy.

Then Kirsteene and Angela gave talks, giving some fabulous tips I'll cover in another post. I left feeling soooo inspired. As we were leaving, Natasha had a quiet word of encouragement (or two!) in my ear. Before I knew it, I was shaking hands with her and agreeing on a date to open my Etsy shop. Eek!

Then on Sunday, Angela had a table set up at the market, waiting to give Etsians (that is the proper noun for Etsy sellers, I gather!) critiques on their Etsy shops. I had popped some examples of my work in my bag to show my girlfriend, not knowing Angela would be there - bonus! I pulled them out and showed them to her. She was wonderfully encouraging and complimentary, saying she hasn't seen anything like them. That put a smile on my dial!

My Liberty fabric arrived

Then yesterday, my long-awaited parcel of precious Liberty of London Tana lawn I'd bought off eBay UK arrived. Ooh! I was 5 years old again, ripping open the parcel. 

This delicious sight is what greeted me. Fifteen metres of the finest, silkiest, prettiest cotton you could lay your hands on. I stroked it softly. The pixies dressed up as princes and princesses in it, trailing their long trains behind them. We were all captivated by it. Ah, the sweet promise lying in it!

My surprise phonecall

Then I received a pinch-myself phonecall. Right out of the blue. Remember how I attended a PayPal seminar a few weeks ago? Well, I entered a competition there and I won it! The prize? An iPhone. I kid you not! It's not the latest iPhone 5 but the 4S model. Considering I only have my old Nokia which is currently held together by sticky tape, the 4S will be a stunning improvement! Ooh, to have a smartphone will be fantastic. Just think - I'll be able to join all you creative Instagrammers ☺. It's meant to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait.

And the niftiest thing is the new little blue PayPal Here cardreader which you can slip onto the iPhone to convert it into a bank. Seriously. Have you heard about it? Click here to read more about it.

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Doesn't it look fantastic? I've spoken to some crafters who've used it and swear by it. It effectively means that once my Etsy shop is up and running, I can conduct a transaction on the spot with a customer instead of having to access PayPal on my desktop computer. The mind boggles at how this little scanner is going to revolutionise the way we conduct business. I've put myself on the waiting list for one!

My new shelves

Our trusty carpenter has installed my new shelves in my craft cupboard. Yippee! Now they look like this.

I'm delighting in organising all my supplies in them. More photos to follow soon.

My ribbon purchase

Then today, I stocked up on a colourful array of ribbons in checks, stripes and my beloved grosgrain. Here are some of them.

*Sigh*. I adore such ribbony goodness.

I could stare at it all day. Truly. Don't you just want to reach through the screen and touch it?!

The inspiration it evoked in me led to my creating this.

And this.

Then I moved onto this. 

There's a teaser in it for you...All to be revealed very soon ☺.

My Brave Girls Club email

And then today, I also received this. I tell you, even The Brave Girls Club has been talking to me!

So my friends, it is time. Time to realise my little dream. And time to get to bed! I just wanted to share my enthusiasm with you. Is it catching?! Good night...