The game changes.

Well folks.
 I am the mom of a 5th grade girl.
 I know there are certain emotions that are packaged  with having a tween girl.  There are people reading this thinking, OH LINDSAY, sweet, sweet  Lindsay, this is nothing. It is only downhill from here. I know this "could" be true. I am working very hard on just rolling with what we have going and not worrying about what is coming next.
 My 10 year old is bold. The child wears the craziest outfits without a care in the world. She sings from the time she wakes up until she lays her sweet, freckled face back in bed again.  She is confident and sometimes a little cocky. There are little cracks in this attitude lately. I see her doubting herself. I see her questioning the actions of her friends.  She knows what is right and wrong, but not sure how to react to those doing the latter.  There are times she is crying and isn't sure why. Blasted hormones.

I love Ben Folds. He can tell a story with his songs and I have a lengthy list of them that make me teary. This was never one, until now.  I will give you the jest in case you don't listen/ watch the video. (please do).  We know from growing up ourselves, that there are parts that suck.  We now are in an odd/painful place in watching our kids jump thru the same wonderful and yet sometimes painful and crappy hoops that we did.  One day they will be great, and fine, but until then....I'm just sorry. I also heard him talk about this song and say that when we are kids, we think that this cycle ends when you are an adult. It doesn't. You are always the new employee, neighbor, mom, dad. whatever. (hence the title)
 Being who you are is still hard to do as an adult.  Mean girls/boys grow up and sometimes never change.  I will stop talking...just watch.  UGH. Its just so great!

 

A couple of weeks ago my 10 year old tried out for her intermediate school's talent show. She practiced singing her song ALL DAY AND NIGHT. It was beautiful, but endless. I picked her up after her audition and she was super excited. She thought she did pretty great!  She had to wait 4 days to find out if she made it or not. She was given an envelope at the end of the 4th day to take home. Inside was whether she made the cut to be in the show.  I walked to the bus stop. I was so nervous for her!  The pixie got off the bus and with a straight face said. I didn't make it.

UGH. WHAT?? OH NOOOOOOOOO!!! She looked so sad. She said quietly" its alright, I've been in other vocal shows, and it will be fine"

She was pretty quiet the rest of the evening.  My heart was just breaking.

I asked her if she would feel comfortable asking her music teacher (who was one of the judges) if there was anything you could do to improve for next years try outs.  She said a very definitive

(with eye roll)  NO.

 

Two days later I got an e-mail from her music teacher. She said that afternoon J had come up to her and asked what she could do to improve for next year. She then said that she was so confused because her records showed that she was in the talent show.  J HAD ACCIDENTLY BEEN GIVEN THE WRONG PAPER!!! :)  Her music teacher apologized over and over. I was not one bit worried about the mistake.  It showed J that if you are humble, and genuinely voice that you would like to improve....AMAZING things can happen! 

 

 I couldn't WAIT to see her get off the bus! SHE RAN out of the bus and was jumping up and down.  I am so so, so proud of her! Not only did she know what was right, but she did it! That is a big step for my tiny 5th grader.  It is painful to watch her struggle, but OH MAN the good parts are so great! So this is why the roller coaster analogy is always used!:)

On Friday we are going to pick out an outfit for her intermediate school ...stage debut.   If I cried at this Ben Folds song, you just wait until the talent show!  Spread your wings little J!

 

 

 

 

 

 

ReStyled Barn Sale and other craziness.

Hello friends.  I have coffee in hand and I am ready to tell you about my weekend. My art and I were at the ReStyled barn sale. The weather was PERFECT and the venue was BEAUTIFUL. Pictures will not do this justice. I will try, but WOW. It is the prettiest show I have been to, or participated in.  Applause from this girl. 

This is my booth.  It was in a horse stall. FOR REALS.

Here are some other displays  that were around me......

 

 

 

 Look close. you can see me taking a picture in the mirror!! :)

 

 

 

Want to see even BETTER pictures...Head on over to my friend Lori's blog. 

http://freshpickedwhimsy.typepad.com/

She is a fellow artist and I was moved to tears to see her beautiful face in my booth. She has been so kind to help me along the way with many questions I had. SHE ROCKS!

If you live in the INDY area you would be CRAZY to miss out on her open house!!

 

I met so many amazing creative women.  When things wrapped up, we got a chance to chat.

We discussed arts, crafts, our kids and how shows work out for us. 

One of the awesome gals  I met this weekend (Allison- of Time and again http://www.timeandagainshop.com/ )

 posted a quick snippet to facebook. I could not agree more....it is as follows.

 

"This weekend I am reminded of how many crafty customers there are in the world. And while I absolutely appreciate that you are all amazingly talented and probably have a Pinterest board dedicated to the crafts that others make that you can...

easily do yourself, please keep your thoughts to a whisper and perhaps away from my earshot.

Petty? Perhaps.

But when someone comes into my booth and looks at a pillowcase dress and says "oh, I can just make this - the sewing is practically already done for you!" I try very hard to let it go and smile but it does slowly chip away at my morale. 

Let me just send a reminder to those of you who read this (and hopefully are not offended by this post) that the holiday season is beginning and there are a lot of us crafty girls out there peddling our wares. Please be careful about what you say and do at the next show that you attend.

Yes, you probably COULD make it. But it's already made and ready for you to take home and enjoy.

Yes, it's probably not the hardest thing in the world. If it were, I would have to charge a heck of a lot more than I am.

Yes, if you take a picture of it, it might remind you later to check the Pinterest boards for it but we have spent years coming up with creative ways to set up our displays and even longer perfecting our products to present to the public.

Could you make it for less money? Maybe. But keep in mind that there is more than supply cost that goes into most artistan's pricing. It takes in to account the time to find the supplies, the time to make the item, the machinery costs (for example, in the case of my friend over at Jilly Jack Designs. She uses an actual letterpress to create her amazing creations), and, yes, supplies but much more.

I, personally, spend hours and hours traveling around the area hunting for linens then taking them home and photographing them to catalog.

Then I lovingly and carefully restore MANY of them because most have some sort of stain on them that I do not want to pass on to my customer.

After it's been cleaned, it's ironed. Yes, ironed.

Then each case "speaks" to me to tell me what size it should be made into and then I use a pattern that I created all by myself to size, cut, sew and finish the dress with a carefully selected ribbon which is then heat sealed so you don't have to deal with fraying or chemicals because who wants a baby to chew on a ribbon that has chemicals on it?

Each step is thoughtful.

I'm not saying that you are a perpetrator. I'm asking that you remind those of you that you're with that many of us make our livings doing this. Many pay for private daycare or school. Others pay their mortgages and bills. And others do it, like I do, because I love creating and sharing my creativity and products with others and the joy it brings so many.

This is me.....jumping off of my soap box.

 

With that said, and me agreeing. Of the comments I heard this weekend 99.9999999% were AMAZING and encouraging , wonderful and generous. It made my heart smile.  HOWEVER. the few negative I hear do hurt. I understand that there will NEVER be a job that negative feedback isn't heard. I do think that the people that give it do not realize how they hurt the artists by what they say.

 

On a more chipper note. My art is now hiding in the Bizzy Boutique! Look at this amazing store ON WHEELS!!!

COULD IT BE CUTER??? SQUEAL!!

 My art is now mobile, and traveling in very capable hands!  

 

All in all it was an amazing weekend, that I was so blessed to participate in!