Past, present, future…

2012 - the year to sparkle & shine

I like what I do. No, really, I do. I like making and creating and designing pieces that will be in people’s homes and making a bit of a difference in their day.

I want to take that a bit further in 2012. I want to be taking my work, an expression of myself, and use it to encourage others to express themselves. I want to start a movement – small or big, it doesn’t matter – to start moving us away from relying on cookie-cutter products and move us towards seeing the inherent awesomeness (yes, awesomeness) in including unique, one-of-a-kind works in our lives.

When I’m working on a new product – be it a pillow cover, a wedding ring pillow, a small change purse or a eco felt goodie – I’m always imaging the person that will want it. Usually, they’re faceless, but they live next door, down the street, across town… and that’s the thing. The people who should have my work in their lives – in their homes – are everywhere.

branching out. and focusing. it's kinda working...

I started nisseworks in late 2009 as a rather clumsy attempt at a boutique graphic design business-type thing. All I knew was I had the skills; what I needed to know, and didn’t until the business ‘collapsed’, was that there was no need in the market for my skills. Just because I could do the work didn’t mean anyone wanted to hire me.

So I moved on from that little hiccup to taking a look at what other skills I had that I could use to help bring in some income into our now one-income household. I had my daughter in January 2009 and was lucky enough to have a year of maternity leave to spend with her; I decided early on in my leave that I was not going to be returning to my less-than-stellar government job. I was also dealing with post-partum depression, a recent diagnosis of hypothyroidism and as well as continuing to live with Lupus. Needless to say, things weren’t all sunshine and lollipops.

Sometime in the middle of January 2010, I had an epiphany.

I could sew.

I had inherited my mom’s 30+ year old Singer 247 about 10 years previous and it had been collecting dust, just sitting under the kitchen table. I had some sewing skills, thanks to my mom and cousin and aunts and grandmother, but they weren’t anything to write home about. And as with everything else I’ve ever tried or been interested in, I decided to learn how to sew better, on the fly.

The first couple of dozen pieces I listed in my Etsy shop were, to say the least, forgettable. And after a few months of no sales, so was my business, apparently. As with my first attempt at running a business, I didn’t do any research into the market, had no plans and thought I knew all the answers.

growing...

Thankfully, that’s all changed. A year later and my business is growing… slowly. But steadily. This year was full of lessons – both good and bad, but all were valuable. I took a few online courses that helped me progress… maybe not far, but it was progress nonetheless. I read a lot of ebooks and filled out a lot of worksheets and watched a lot of videos and studied tons of blog posts… and yeah, some of it didn’t stick in my head longer than a few minutes. But there were some big takeaways that are still with me today… and they’ll stick with me in the future, too.

This year was about focus, finding my place in the world. Have I found it yet? Not quite, but there’s a notebook that’s starting to fill up with ideas and plans that should get me there. Like I said before, I want to start a revolution. A handmade revolution. I want people to be proud to buy handmade, original, one-of-a-kind pieces (and hopefully, they’ll be mine). Do I want to bring down the giants of the retail world? No… because we all know the only people that’ll be hurt by that is the folks at the bottom. And they’re our neighbours, friends and family.

next up, a line of little Valentine's Day gifts...

I want to make people aware that there are options out there. I want them to know that they don’t have to follow the leader – that they can become their own leader. I want my brand to be synonymous with making a statement, in your own way.

I’ve got most of the pieces to the puzzle I’m creating, I just need a bit of help fitting them all together. And, with a little luck, I’ll have that opportunity with one of the prizes in the oh my! handmade goodness givewaway. If luck chooses not to smile on me this time, so be it… it may take a little longer to get to the point I want to be at, but I’ll still get there.

So, there it is. My submission for the absolutely astounding giveaway from oh my! handmade goodness. If you haven’t entered yet, there’s only a week left… and if you have, good luck!

Like a lot of other people, I’m going to be busy with traveling and family and opening gifts and eating a lot of delicious treats for the next few days, so posting will continue to be fairly light. I’m aiming to have a year-in-review/year-in-preview up next week sometime… if I don’t end up in a sugar coma from all the chocolate and Icelandic goodies we’ll be surrounded by this weekend.

And to all my readers, have a happy holiday weekend :)