status quo

Look at this blog post, it is nice to see something I made in action.

Lately a lot of people have asked me about the status of my company and my things and it is hard to find a good answer. My Open House in November was a success and at the same time it was not. I had a lot of very nice people showing up and everybody loved my products and I did well selling. The difficulty was that from the almost 150 people invited, only about a 5th showed up. It was not for lack of interest and want, just mere timing issues, since every person is so over-scheduled. So in regards to the people that came it was a success, in regards to the number of people it was not good enough to keep going.

Having a booth at the Spirit of Shrewsbury was very different from last years and did not even come near to the success of last years, people came to the craft show, but nobody was in the mood of buying - completely understandable with the economy where it is. I paid a big fee for a show in December, but unfortunately got very sick and was left with a studio full of product and no sales.

Now I am left with making a decision regarding the future of Raventree-Studio. This is hard. I kind of feel like I have been there and done that, at the same time, there are so many customers writing me how well my products were received or come back for more (especially the cherry pit packs). In December I thought I should just forget shows and just go completely digital. I have been meaning to sell on etsy since it started many years ago, but never got above opening my account and the same goes for cafepress. Partially this is due to me being either sick or not being sick and playing catch-up until I am sick again.

And then there is the other point, I'd rather be writing, but I have basement full of materials and I love doing my paper crafts. I am rarely as happy as when I design stationary or actually do any kind of design. A few weeks ago I spent a whole Sunday designing a T-shirt for the Shrewsbury Destination Imagination teams and I had so much fun doing it ... and yes, it is also nice to get compliments on it.

I like it when people like my creations, I assume that this is because as one of those stay/work at-home-moms, I have no source of validation. I am a good cook, but it would never occur to my husband to say something nice, nobody notices when the floor is clean or the laundry done, the fridge stocked with healthy foods. Only when something is NOT done, does it get noticed. Even if we do a good job with our children, we might have to wait a few decades for some kind of validation and honestly, I anticipate that even then criticism will be more forthcoming. I think we all like and need validation, I admit I feel better if somebody tells me they saw me on TV and think I do a great job.

I wish there would be some smart person that knows it all and could tell me what the right path is...