Happy New Year to All

Wow, another year has gone by already. I can remember when I was younger it seemed like it took forever for a whole year to go by -- I only cared around my birthday or Christmas, of course. Now, I feel as if I blink and a year goes by. I have to say though, 2008 was a year of many drastic changes for me professionally. I quit a job that I'd had for nearly 11 years at an integrated security company and started my own paint your own pottery business. Call me crazy -- you wouldn't be alone. Lucky for me I've had so many personal cheerleaders who told me I could do it. Specifically, I'll start with Mark -- when I doubted myself he told me a little story about a blind frog.

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tadpoles who grew into frogs inside a well. Once all the frogs were grown they needed to get out of the well to survive and live long happy lives. Well, the frogs jumped and jumped and jumped and one by one they stopped jumping. They had resolved themselves to die in the well -- except for one frog. This frog was deaf and while all the other frogs had given up this frog couldn't hear what they were saying, he didn't hear anyone saying how impossible it was to make it over the wall. He didn't have the capacity to listen to the naysayers, so he kept jumping. Eventually he made it out of the well and led a long, happy, healthy life.

The moral of the story is don't listen to the ones telling you it can't be done. If you have done your research and you have the skills needed (in his case jumping) go for it and don't stop until you succeed. I wish this for all of my customers in 2009 -- follow your dreams, even if it's one step closer each week, each month or each year. Our lives are way too short and demanding to give up on our dreams.

Now, what have I been up to this last month --

Employees! Well, first let me say it was a very busy and successful month. I had my highest sales day this month and it was well over the $1,000 mark -- thankfully it also occurred on the very same day that my newest employee started. If anyone has been in here on Sundays they have met Liz (my first employee) and then Sarah started on December 13 (and 13 is my lucky number!). I'm very happy to have both of these ladies on board over the holiday season. Sarah is in college and will only be working until her next semester starts and Liz is going to be my back up for emergencies and times when I need to be away from the studio.

Christmas Gifts for Iraq. I received a phone call from a very good friend who is in the Air Force doing his second six month tour in Iraq. What did I do when he called from Iraq? I told him to never call me again and to take my number off his phone list...I thought he was a merchant services sales rep -- ooops. It wasn't until the next day that I found an email from him saying how sorry he was and that he didn't know what he had done to upset me...talk about feeling like a heel! So, of course, he called using a phone card and I couldn't return the call...so many apologetic emails later I found out why he called. He didn't want to send his kids the typical Toys R Us order for his Christmas away but wanted something special and could I make something personal for them. Of course!
Using the Creative Images papers I created a plate with a picture of Dad and the kiddies with his son's favorite thing, a train! Its' an adorable family and I was lucky enough to get a picture of Daddy's Buddy with the cup after Christmas. Now he gets to see Daddy after every meal. By the way, Daddy is pretty adorable too.

Okay -- be on the lookout for my new window display (Stupid Cupid) in the next week or so and I rearranged the studio this week too. It looks a lot roomier and I have plenty of space behind the cash counter now. I also have a display case I'll be filling up with finished items for sale. In less than one week the party room will be completed and I'll have room for up to 48 downstairs. That means I can have much larger parties or split the room in two to have two parties at a time. I won't stop looking for ways to make FireWorks Art Cafe the socializing center of Damascus, Clarksburg and Germantown. I love my customers and only wish the best to all in 2009.

Creative Customers

So, it was a fairly slow day...which isn't the norm on the second day of no school. HOWEVER, about mid-afternoon I had three teenagers and two moms arrive at the studio -- all were first time visitors. Well they asked about the process and prices and fairly quickly picked out their projects. All was good until the painters each picked one color for their pieces (tall coffee mugs).

Well, by the time I got done with this group they had done a lace technique, painted stars with writer bottles, painted with speckled paint outside, different colors inside, painted with rubber stamps and more and spent about three hours at the studio relaxing, laughing and just plain having a good time. Not only that, I had a great time too.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just at the studio to pass out the paint and clean up...then there are days like today where I feel like I helped someone open up a little bit of that creative side they say they don't have. I can't wait to see their faces when they come back to get their pieces -- they're going to be addicted!

Oh, and I hope everyone voted today -- no matter who you vote for, remember to exercise this right. Besides, you can't complain about who's in office if you didn't vote, right?

Life with Boys...

It's hard enough to be an entrepeneur these days, but to be a woman in a house full of testosterone -- that's where the real bravery is. I always swore that my boys would do the dishes, cook, clean up after themselves, when they were young (and I was obviously stupid). I think all these years they've just heard "blah, blah, blah" -- because that's what it amounts to, a bunch of blah. My boys just won't clean without me becoming the scariest, screeching mom in Damascus (I just know my neighbors hear the screaming with their phones in one hand, fingers poised to hit 9-1-1 with the other).

Since I started the studio some six months ago (nearly 7 now), I haven't had but a day to spend at home for anything other than sleeping. And on those days I've cleaned like my life depended on it only to come home hours later to the same exact, foul, disgusting house that I spent my precious free time cleaning. What's up with that??? Now, granted, my kids (separately) have been known to see a sorrowful mom who, under the guise of "oh, you cleaned the house" fever, generously parts with a few dollars in her moment of weakness, but lately those occasions have been few and far between. Now I don't know if that's because I was finally hit with the reality that I've been paying my kids to clean up their own messes and stopped paying them or if they have just ceased to care. Bottom line is - I could seriously use a home makeover, one that uses minimalism and color (oh, and we'd have to become dieting nudists because the dirty dishes, pots and pans and all the laundry would have to go too).

My studio is quite the opposite of my home. Other than at the end of a very busy day, my studio is clean and inviting. I'm actually thinking about putting a sleep sofa back in my office so I never have to go home and face the mess, but can stay here in my own controllable, clean world. So, if I happen to open up the store one morning in my fuzzy robe and slippers you'll know why.