Getting Ahead Of Myself

First, a market update. In a word: pathetic. I sold two cards yesterday in 3 1/2 hours, and I sold two cards today in 5 hours. Okay, in 4 hours and 55 minutes. In the last 5 minutes today I sold enough cards to make my booth fee, so technically I was still in the hole for the day, if you consider the cost of the card materials. I was totally depressed and ready to throw in the towel. I'll give the Sunday market one more week, and if things do not pick up, I'll probably stop doing Sunday's and reclaim part of my weekends. We'll see.

I will say that I have found many new customers at this market, but I may have outgrown my ability to support that many customers! Sad, but with that Day Job, I need to be careful. This is that sensitive balance between doing this hobby for fun or making it into a business. I am still precariously balanced with this dilemma. I am not sure that getting one or two new workshop customers is worth the time and cost of sitting at a market every Sunday, making zero profit, and having to go to work on Monday. (whine, whine, whine)

On a more positive note, it is getting to be Holiday Show season, and I have two applications on my table waiting to be filled out and mailed. I'll do both of them since they are local; I have done them before; they are reasonably priced (I make enough over my fee to make it worth my time); and they are fun to do - they are "shows" instead of Farmers Markets, meaning people are there to buy stuff, and not just tomatoes. Once the Holiday Show season is over, I'll pack it up and hunker down for the Winter, with ... two-day weekends! ;-)

One of the things I enjoy about doing markets is the people-watching. There are all types out there, and while most people provide great conversation, some provide great photo ops. Like this one today:

Hand-knit leggings. Or at least that's what they looked like to me, since she was wearing hand-knit other things, too. Pretty colors, but I think you need the right legs to pull off wearing them, and I do not fit that bill. Not even close.

And now for the 'getting ahead of myself' part of this post. Normally I wait until the last minute to prepare projects for my workshops. My October workshops are the 12th and 13th, so imagine my surprise when I made two (not one, but two) cards this afternoon that are in the running for October workshop projects! Check 'em out:

I am in love with this Autumn Vine DS Paper from SU. It is in the Holiday mini catalog that is effective starting October 1st. What I like most about it (besides the wonderful color combo) is that it contains standard SU colors, not the In Color colors, and it made me grab some much-ignored colors like Creamy Caramel and Sage Shadow.

I think the tree (Season of Friendship, also in the new Holiday Mini) is fun because you can cheat and use a 3/4" circle punch to punch out the leaves and not have to cut anything! I think I will make major points with my customers if I do not make them cut anything out. ;-)

The only thing I do not like about this tree is its size; it hides too much of that pretty patterned paper. But other than that, I love it!

And something I need to share: the Sage Shadow card stock is one of the reasons I even looked at SU lo those many years ago. I had been in search of a real "sage" color card stock for a while, and when I saw a Stampin' Up! catalog, then placed my first order, I was hooked.

This next card is based totally on the paper colors. I saw this on a card somewhere and when I realized it contained Bravo Burgundy (which I totally missed by not reading the fine print in the catalog), I had to have it.

This paper features four coordinating colors, three of which are also standard (non-In Color) colors. I picked up on the Bravo Burgundy and Sahara Sand. Actually, I liked this paper so much I accidentally bought it twice, so amusingly I even have enough on hand to use this sized piece for the projects.

So there you have it. Two projects down, two to go, and there are three weeks left until the workshops. Amazing, but true. I even have ideas for two of the other cards. Crazy, I know!

Tomorrow after work I have my massaaaaage, so maybe it will relax me enough to get over the sorry state of my sales the past few weeks. I'll just play with some more of my new stuff this week, and I'll be fiiiiine. ;-)