A Gentle and Quiet Spirit

Little girls are the best. They're adorable and have dreams of one day becoming a princess.



But little girls turn in to preteen and teenage girls and that brings a whole new storm. One day they are following you around, wanting to be just like you, and it seems the next day they are closed up in their room texting and the only time you see them is if food or you buying them stuff is involved.



Oh. And they start worrying what everyone else is wearing, friends opinions will seem to matter more than yours and if they don't have that cute new shirt that so-and-so from YouTube designed they simply.will.die....

And you know that they won't because you start to remember those years and that you never believed your mom's advice and you call your mom to apologize with each new growing phase you face. {Again, sorry mom.}



But in all reality, I'm learning to take each new battle {or eye roll} as a learning experience for all of us. The biggest lesson I'm trying to teach them right now is that things are things. They're true beauty will always come from deep within and that they need to be able to look at themselves in the mirror at the end of the day and know that they were the absolute best person they could have been. And if they weren't, well, tomorrow is a new day.

I found a picture of this passage on Pinterest when I first signed up a few years ago. I never knew how important this passage would be for myself and my girls.



And the fact that it would start a bathroom remodel that should have happened a long time ago. I'm shocked I have ever been allowed to pick colors for our home after this pink. It's now painted in an eye pleasing sparrow gray and I will be keeping you up to date as it all comes together!



I whitewashed the sign to allow the wood to come through. Once I was done with the lettering, I distressed the front of the sign and painted some lattice boards the same black as the lettering and attached them to add a little dimension. I'm not sure exactly where in the bathroom it will hang yet, but I love that it will be there as a daily reminder to the girls before they head out in to the world for the day.



I do have this sign listed in my Etsy shop if you would like to take a peek and will be soon offering it in different sizes to fit every budget!

This post is also being shared here:
http://diyshowoff.com/category/other/that-diy-party/
Inspiration Monday at www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

I Could Rule the World...

That was my statement to my husband the end of December..."If I could work as hard as I do during Christmas I'm pretty sure I could rule the world!"

Let me clarify, the handmade sign shop/blog/being the best crafter this world has ever seen world.

Ha! It's now the middle of February and I am no where near world domination {as you can tell since October is the last time I posted}. I'm not even close to dominating the craft market on my street.

Here's the thing, the highly successful shops you see on Etsy and the popular bloggers you love to read all have one thing in common. At some point they had to get their "stuff" together and figure out what works for them. Like a crafty a-ha moment, sometimes you have to change they way you work if you want to grow.

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I recently sat down and thought about what bothered me most. The fact that I have a 3-4 week turnaround time on Etsy orders really started to eat at me. I know I have missed out on sales because some people don't want to have to wait that long for a purchase. I know that I have given myself permission way too many times to spend a couple days doing nothing because I was getting orders shipped way before my turnaround time.

Knowing that I have pages of pending orders waiting on me would be like a gloomy cloud over my head some days. A gloomy cloud that would start sucking the creativity out of me and I want my creativity back.

I'm know working like every day is like the last day of my Christmas rush. Well, Monday-Friday, 8-5 {and sometimes in the evening}. Not just painting. I'm finding my passion in photography again. I'm working on drafts for upcoming blog posts. I'm slowly getting my creativity back for new items in my Etsy shop.

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And slowly working on dominating the craft world...on my street.