Pink Flowers

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See? Not everything I make is in the blue/green/purple family! This is one of 5 of the original 13 Notepad Sets left that I'm calling my "Father/Daughter Limited Edition". Dad lathe-turned the wood pen inside and I made the cover to hold the pen and 4" x 6" notepad inside. I'm only charging $14 and you know the pen is worth way more than that but Dad is being a stubborn ol' coot about the price.

I had two pieces of very good news this week, within 24 hours actually. The owner of Artizanns wants to purchase some of my Sticky Notes for her beautiful store in Naples. I haven't received the actual order yet so I'm only semi-celebrating until it's official.

Yesterday I met with the owner of The Enchanted Rose Garden in Penfield (no website yet) and she asked me to join their store. This is a co-op where I'll rent space and have to work 1 day/month, which is a situation I've been in before and decided not to do again due to time constraints. But my mentor and friend, MJ Cramer, the glass painter, is in the store and highly recommends it. It's very near my house and is on a very busy road. (Attention locals: it's on 441 near the 4 corners of Penfield.) The rent is a little higher than I would have liked but I trust MJ completely. It's just a 4-month lease to begin, which takes us almost through the big holiday season, so that will be a good trial period for them and me.

I was thinking yesterday as I drove to the store on my lunch hour, what a difference a couple of years makes. When I visited my first store a couple of years ago, I was soooo nervous, wondering if my work was good enough, fearing being rejected. Yesterday, I found myself just eager to meet Eileen and learn the particulars of the store. I've had such an overwhelming good reaction to my work at shows that I know my work is acceptable - just needed to see if I would be a good fit for that store and if it would fit me.

The store is in an old house so it has lots of rooms. I started channeling Mom the moment I walked in, "Wow, there is a LOT of stuff in here." The first floor is 90% the owner's space, all buy-and-resell stuff. Honestly, I didn't look at it very closely. The second floor is where the majority of vendors rent space. I immediately found MJ's area and saw a corner next to it that appeared to be vacant, though a few things had been moved into to make it look less vacant. I was so hoping that was the available space - it was!

Walking past MJ's painted glassware area is whimsical painted stuff (glassware, clocks, furniture) by Stephanie Teitsworth. I knew her work from a couple of shows we did together - in fact I bought a set of salt & pepper shakers from her at the Powers Farm Market show. We both worked the same shift at Powers so I got to know her a tiny bit. So I think my stuff will be prefect in that corner - the whole section will be colorful and happy.

I emailed Eileen last night my intention - yes, I'm interested. So presumably that will be effective August 1. I'll post more about that here and on Pine Tree Designs as the time gets closer. I'll do an email and postcard mailing too, once the 2 stores are finalized. (If you know you're not already on either list and want to be, email me to be added to the list.)

Driving back to the office after meeting with Eileen, I found myself quoting MJ, "Now I'm over-extended, just how I like it." She cracks me up. I might not like being over-extended as much as she does - I just need to figure out how to make Pine Tree Designs profitable enough that I can retire from the day job.

And do not get me started on that. Last week, you may recall, was spent entirely with an outside auditor. This week has been spent entirely with 2 New York State sales tax auditors. I honestly don't mind working with these guys, it's not as scary as it sounds. They are just people doing their jobs and I'm doing my job. But this means I haven't touched my "regular" work in 2 weeks. If this kind of pressure kept up, I'd be going back to a weekly massage, let me tell you.

I'm hoping for a "normal" week, next week. And of course I'll be stitching my little fingers to the bone every other minute, in order to keep up with this new found demand. Good news, like I said.

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