wow oh wow oh wow. seriously friends, you are amazing! it was another great day of sales and i'm so thankful for you supporting my crafty business.
it's been so awesome to see so many of my maker friendors [friend-vendors] doing so well because of all the people choosing to shop small this holiday season. i've seen ig stories of makers packing orders and facebook posts of labels printing and happy dances galore. i've joined in on some of the happy dances myself!
but if i'm being real - [and i always try to be honest and brave and completely transparent here] it's also very easy to fall down the rabbit hole of comparison. it's easy to take that turn from 'wow i'm killing it today' to 'i totally suck and could have done so much more' or 'i'm never going to have the sales that they do' or something along those lines.
i've pulled myself back a few times today. i'm so, so happy with the way this weekend went. i'm incredibly grateful for everyone who hit that 'add to cart' button here in my corner of the internet. and i'm happy for my friends. but i'm going to channel my inner rachel hollis, or oprah or whoever to keep that happy way up high where i can see it and feel it and then use those feelings of inadequacy to fuel the fire to make the things i want to happen, happen.
those feelings sparked some positive ideas and inspiration for today's card. the wheel landed on 'one layer' and i have a new stamp set that i've been itching to get out of the packaging. [side note on new products - there are going to be a plethora of new ideas and products because i went *slightly* overboard supporting small crafty businesses this weekend!]
i always tell jon that my brain has about 174,129,937.3 windows open at any one time. i'm extremely a-d-d and sometimes it works to my advantage. when i'm having trouble sorting out ideas, i'll often tell him my head is full of colors because that's the way that i try and sort it out. it's mostly messy. but it can also be organized, colorful, slightly beautiful chaos.
the quote on this card spoke to me today. "turn your can'ts into cans and your dreams into plans" - maybe that's my fuel to make all the things i want to happen, happen. instead of comparing my middle[?] to someone else's slightly-past-middle, maybe i'll just embrace how far i've come from where i started, where i'm currently at and focus on where i want to end up. maybe it's a lot of jibber jabber. it is late and my brain is full of the colors for sure.
in terms of my creative process, i was super jazzed to break out some new envelopes - i ordered from a new [to me] company and am thrilled with the color selection. this blue is awesome and unlike anything i've had before. while it's a little bigger than this card - [which i purposely made square with the idea in mind i'd hang one on my rainbow wall] - it'll hold it nice and safe. the card is 4" x 4" unlike the typical a2 style i usually gravitate towards.
lines, swashes, dots and splatters fill the card front around the sentiment in an abundance of color. some elements overlap and blend in ways you might not expect. there's even a random organic leaf of greenery in there because sometimes the unexpected elements are perfectly placed. it's messy. it's a little kick-butt ugly. but i also love the way it turned out.
i kept adding to it and then taking a step back like i was taught in painting-200 in college. you never want to be so close to something that you can't see the whole image. some details are a little too symmetrical for me, but you'll have that when you use a square format.
i'm going to display one of these cards on my rainbow wall as a gentle reminder for awhile. i think it might be just the motivation that i need - especially going into a new week and a new month!
if you've made it this far, goodness - thank you! i apologize for all the ramblings and nonsense. today's card is so much more than just some stamps on paper - i felt this one every step of the way. and i can never say thank you enough for continuing to support me - but thank you, thank you, thank you.