Way back in the day before I opened my shop, I was making my handmade crafts and selling them to gift stores across the country, I had a whole line of handmade gifts that I made and sold, to 300+ accounts... this was the 1980's long before there were blogs, Youtube, Facebook or Etsy. It was fun!... but after making hundreds of the the same thing, over and over,... not so much.
It was the creative process that I loved and craved, coming up with an idea and then perfecting it, seeing others respond, that was the thrill!
One of my accounts was a chain of 11 stores in Hawaii, I would get a big order from them, work like a banshee to fill it, and as soon as I would come home from the post office, my fax machine would screech out a new order from them. yay! combined with a heavy sigh....
I was super grateful to be making a living doing what I loved, but I struggled to find balance between mass production (I was a one man band) and my passion for designing new things. I kept my business open for 7 years and then opened my own shop, this months marks the 15th anniversary as a store owner.
Although I no longer make hundreds of the same thing at one time, it is still a challenge to carve out time to create new things, If I do get into my studio to create, it is usually between the hours of 10pm and 2am.
As many of you you may already know, I have always wanted to share my ideas in a big way, get them out there and inspire others to create! Our world has changed a lot since the 80's and there are so many ways to connect and share!
Last month I started my youtube channel, DebisDesignDiary.
I have posted six craft videos so far, the one above is a DIY on how to make Seashell Candles, these candles are one of the many things that I made thousands of,... to the point of tears.
My hope is you will watch my videos and they will inspire you to create, then all the tears will be worth it!
I will be posting a new video to youtube every week, so please subscribe if you like them, subscribing is free!
If you do, make one of my projects, please post a picture on my Facebook page!
Sincerely,
Debi
