By Stacey on 16/05/2012
maple leaves... in my etsy shop soon!
I’m doing a small – three or four pieces, max – line of pieces to celebrate Canada Day. The leaves in the photo above are going to be put into 3″ hoops, so you can hang them as ornaments or stick them up on your office wall. They’re going to be quite cute, I think :)
also appearing in my Etsy shop soon
And then there’s this piece. This piece turned out quite awesome(ly?). This isn’t going to be the piece I list – this was the prototype. There’s a bit of chalk on it where I tried to handwrite ‘Oh Canada’ right on to the flannel (red check!) and I can’t get it off. I did wash the fabric before I stitched it, but I’m worried there’s still going to be a bit of dye left that will leech onto the embroidery thread. And that would be bad.
I’m going to try to find a white transfer pen/pencil in Brandon – or Winnipeg, probably – to do the next version. It’s much thinner and easier-to-use than chalk, and it cleans up a hell of a lot better, too.
Expect these, and a few other new pieces, to be in my shop over the next week or so. I’m also working on finishing up some designs for a new line that I’ll be launching in early June. And in amongst all of that, there’s marketing and website tweaks and all kinds of fun and frivolity, too. Yee. Haw. :)
Posted in WIP Wednesday |
By Stacey on 14/05/2012
pale green scrollwork - embroidered wall art, available in my etsy shop
I was doing some brainstorming this weekend, trying to put into real words what I do and why I do it. I needed something deeper than ‘I make stuff because I like to’, because not only does every creative person say that, it’s kind of bunk. We don’t just make stuff because we like to – we create because we can. Because we need to. Because we have to.
Our audiences – the customers – aren’t necessarily going to be in tune with the ‘I have to’ reasoning creatives give for doing what they do. Some will get it… but a lot more are going to hear that, think about it for half a second and come back with ‘Why do you have to?’. And then ten minutes later, you’ve made no impression on a potential customer because you can’t answer a simple question with a straight answer.
So. My answers to what I do and why I do it? Here goes…
I embroider because I love creating with my hands. And I like seeing ideas and designs come to life through my stitches. I like trying new colour combinations – sometimes they work, sometimes they certainly do not. I like taking a simple piece of cotton and a skein of embroidery floss and a needle and just making something that will brighten someone’s day or become a treasured heirloom.
That’s the what I do and why I do it. What about the emotional side of it? This is what I came up with to hook people, to get them to realize that my work will help them (aside from filling in blank spaces on their walls and gift-giving ideas, which are pretty important, too)…
Life isn’t about living the life everyone else has – be yourself, express yourself, break the mould and throw away the cookie-cutters.
Make your life your own and no one else’s.
Is it perfect? Not quite. I need to tighten up the words a bit, but for the most part it’s what I’ve been trying to say for months now… my work will make a difference in your life.
I’ve never been comfortable talking about my own work – shocking, I know ;) – but the point of just hanging out in the background, hoping someone will see my work and maybe take a look at it has come and gone. If I’m going to make this business fly, I’m going to have to kick it – and myself – in the proverbial ass and get it going. This summer is shaping up to be busy and hectic and it’ll be so totally worth it if I can stick with the plan that’s coming together. And it’ll be awesome :)
Posted in business, embroidery, handmade, nisseworks |
By Stacey on 11/05/2012
crabapple blossoms in my backyard :)
Things I need to do this weekend (and today, if the sunny weather doesn’t lure me outside for the entire afternoon):
- Organize the list of website tweaks I’ve been adding to almost hourly for the last month into something readable. Too many arrows and question marks and chicken scratches to make any sense.
- Start working on said tweaks. First up, figure out if I want to stay with a front page that’s blog entries or a static page featuring items from my shops.
- Figure out if I’m going to make anything special for Canada Day. I’ve tossed around the idea of a series of embroidered maple leaves or a map of Canada, but I might just go with the leaves for simplicity’s sake. And sanity’s, too.
- Start planning for Christmas in July sales. Woo!
- Sleep, eat, celebrate Mother’s Day.
And I’m determined to get though all of this and fit in some stitching time, too. I’ve got a couple of pieces on the go and I still have to design – and make – something for my mother-in-law’s new sunroom. Of course, the weather is going to be pretty decent this weekend, so it’s going to be hard to stay inside and actually work. A bit of sacrifice now for a long-term goal, I guess :)
Posted in business |
By Stacey on 08/05/2012
photo by Penny Matthews, via sxc.hu
‘What problem does your product solve in the life of your ideal customer?’
Um.
This is the one question that constantly trips me up, in ebooks, courses, worksheets… it’s not that I don’t know how my product will be used (hang on a wall, slip on a pillow), it’s that I don’t want to presume why people are buying my work.
Over the last week or so, I’ve been digging really deep into what I do and why I do it. What the purpose of my business is – and avoiding the problem-solving aspect of it at the same time. I’ve drawn flow charts and written lists and filled out worksheets, all without answering that one question.
So maybe I should start looking at the question from another angle – rather than approach it directly, go in from the why I do what I do side and see what crops up there. But – and this is quite funny – there’s the problem of answering the question of ‘What do you do?’. Nine times out of ten, I fall back on ‘I make stuff‘, which really isn’t selling anyone on my business, nevermind what I actually make. It’s all so very connected and frustrating and thrilling at the same time.
Needless to say, I’ve got quite the puzzle to solve and I’m missing a few more pieces than I thought, but it’s coming together. And it’s a relief, in a way, to finally be tackling all of this… the more philosophical reasons behind why I do what I do and the purpose of it all. It gives me a bit more hope that this business will be a success and that I’ll be able to make it into what I want it to be.
Posted in business, nisseworks |
