Day 6 – Organizing a Craft Fair

Today marked Day 6 of my new life and I can’t say this loudly enough – I LOVE IT. I am relaxed, uber content and I feel more productive than ever. This afternoon I joined forces with Megan Lee Designs and Subversive Seamstress once again to continue planning the first art show and craft fair combo we’ve ever organized. 50/50 Pilsen will take place during the 40th anniversary of the Pilsen Art Walk this October. It is our attempt to examine the lines where art and craft intersect. More details will be coming soon, but I’m very happy with our work so far and Meg’s clean web design (which incorporates a certain someone’s embroidery talents…ahem).

Day 1

Today marks Day One of my self employment endeavor. So excited! On the agenda: begin massive craft room clean-up, blog, and continue building Google map of potential stores to sell in. Oh yeah and use new fabric that looks like notebook paper to create an embroidery piece inspired by this:

Sigh. That never gets old.

Taking the Leap

photo by msconnections

In a little over two weeks I will be embarking on a new, exciting adventure. On July 20th I will be transitioning from full time librarian/manager, part time crafter to crafting full time. A lot of factors went into this decision, but it is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Despite my love for librarianship, I have not really been happy at work for a while now. Being a librarian and being a manager are two totally different jobs and ultimately I have found that I do not like overseeing people. Overseeing projects? Love it. Being responsible for over a dozen very different human beings and their varying skill sets and personalities? Not my bag. And if there is one thing I’ve learned during my stint as manager, its this – you really need to like your job in order to be effective.

And so I decided to do both my staff and myself a favor by pursuing what really brings me true happiness right now – my arting and crafting. Over the last two years, while I have been growing more discontent at work, I have watched so many creative friends take this same leap and succeed. Now the definition of success is very subjective, I know. My lifestyle as I have known it for the last eight years will likely change. But I am willing to trade in the occasional dinner at a fancy restaurant for the freedom to spend my time managing me and my own projects. I have seen firsthand the heightened self satisfaction and overall quality of life that this has brought to many others and I believe it will happen to me too!

So stay tuned. One my of daily goals once I start my new life is to blog daily. Its a long held desire that I haven’t had time to pursue until now. And there are others too, but I’m sure I’ll be detailing all of them very soon…