It's Halloween!  I thought it might be nice to take a break from all the talk of the dire straits of the economy and my personal soul searching and just have a little fun!

I’ve been planning for awhile about what to write here on the Beeblog, and  so towards the end of the week I finally  asked my Mom and Dad to scan some old Halloween pictures of me as a kid so I could post them and talk about the joy of homemade costumes. When I opened my e-mail and found the pictures there, I laughed until I cried. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Homemade costumes?  What were these costumes? What was I?

OK, just so you know up front, when my Mom made our costumes, we had to be something that could be later converted into pajamas.  This was fairly limiting, but you can see from the first picture my brother fared fairly well as a tiger, but me, I’m not so sure.  What is that thing on my head? I don’t remember, but I can tell you with all certainty that I insisted that it be there. I’m sure in my mind; it was a very important part of the costume.

Yes, that is me in the princess dress.  I do remember sewing the bow on the front of the dress, probably a hand me down from my cousin because that dress doesn’t look like pajamas at all. And that is me in front of the fridge.  I can’t believe this picture!  What was I?  I think the top was part of my “flannel clown pajamas”, but the mask?  Did clowns wear Zorro masked too back then?  We lived in South Carolina at the time where it is fairly warm, so I’m not sure if the scarf was for warmth or one of my own costume additions.  (Can you tell I grew up in an artist’s household?  There are drawings everywhere in this picture!)  And there I am in the last picture going over my stash of candy.  I remember it seemed like a lot at the time, but it looks pretty paltry by today’s standards.  Oh, and that was back in the day when you could get an apple in your trick or treat bag without fear of poisoning. Oh, how I wish I had that sweater I was wearing now, it would make a great purse! Alas.

I have to say, after the initial requirement of pajamas being met, my Mom would let me touch up my costume however I wanted.  Some attempts were more successful than others.  The bow, OK, but the piece of fabric on the head?  Wow.  Thanks Mom for letting my creative side take flight.

I took over making my own costumes in 5th grade.  I was determined to be Chip and Dale with my best friend and my Mom announced she didn’t sew on fake fur.  Well, I had some allowance money saved so I went up to the 5 and Dime and bought it myself. I do remember it was a struggle, but we did go as Chip and Dale. At the Halloween Carnival all the teachers were impressed. At that moment, I was hooked on handmade forever.

Last week during a sewing class with my 10 year old group at Beehive I was talking with the girls about making Halloween costumes for my son and how this year he has decided he wants to be a disco dancer.  (I can do that! gold lame, here I come). The girls told me, “you should just go to party city and buy a costume and take the tags out and he’ll never know the difference!” I was shocked!

These girls are still a work in progress…..
 I’m getting there with them…….
Pretty soon I’ll have them making their own costumes and everything else in between…..but in the meantime I faked my outrage and we carried on and  I told them that he would definitely know the difference.  He has as many definite ideas about how to touch up his costume as I did.  And besides, could I really deprive him of the hilarious pictures that are sure to result?

Happy Halloween no matter if you have the time to make your costume or not!  But hey, if you don’t have a costume yet, just find an old flannel shirt.  The possibilities are endless; lumberjack, scarecrow and hobo to name a few. Go get creative!

When you are a small business owner, there is always so much to do.  There are a million distractions. E-mail is great, how I love e-mail and how I hate e-mail.  Every day I run up and down my stairs from my sewing room to the computer countless times to check in on the computer.  Have I sold anything on-line? Does someone need a shift covered at Beehive? And then there are the phone calls, and the paperwork and the shipping and the buying of supplies and the networking and all the other things to do (oh, like blogging) that sometimes I have to squeeze in time for the most important thing.  Making my product.

 I’m always looking forward to that uninterrupted time when I can get down in my sewing room and really be productive but many times when I finally get down there and attempt to get started, I struggle to stay focused.  My brain is so full of to do lists and ideas and unresolved problems that I just can’t switch gears.  Then before you know it I’m checking my e-mail again and the kids are home from school  so its homework time or  time to cook dinner.

  I’ve come up with a way to help me stay focused and to keep me in my sewing room when my brain is running wild.

 Books on CD.

 I have found that when I am listening to a really great book on CD, I stay put in my sewing room engrossed in what I am listening to, sewing away and just waiting to find out what will happen.  Of course there are times when I need just quiet or some music to let the creative juices flow, but the truth is, there are also many times when the making is just the rhythmic repetition of sewing the same thing over and over. Listening to the story stops my brain from obsessing over the many distractions that are present everyday.

 My favorites are travel journals.  Anything by Bill Bryson is great, but my favorite was “ In a Sunburned Country”.  I learned so much about Australia while my machine hummed away.  And his “The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America” made me laugh out loud and I listened to it twice back to back. The travel journals are good because if you miss a little bit, you are not missing out on plot and can just tune in and out and still enjoy a story being read to you. There was “A Year In Provence” by Peter Mayle that I also loved. I was thinking; sew faster, sew more, I want to go to Provence too.

 I have also caught up on a lot of Classics this way.  I LOVE listening to anything by Charles Dickens on CD.  I knew the story of “A Tale of Two Cities” from high school literature, but having someone read it to me with a British accent while I sew is just divine. I even let my phone go to voice mail (averting another distraction) when I have fabulous writing being read to me.  Try “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” for a really entertaining story.  I had never read this before and this one kept me sewing for a whole 12 CD’s. 

 By far the most moving and powerful book I listened to this year was “Native Son” by Richard Wright.  I can’t believe this book was written in the 40’s because it is so relevant. I couldn’t stop listening, I had to know what happened.  Dinner was definitely late during the week  I was listening to that book, but it was also a really productive week.

Would I take the time to read these classics now?  No.  I should, but the truth is that I won’t.  I can barely make it through a Newsweek article at the end of a busy day, much less a classic.

So that is my secret weapon, books. My librarian mother would be very proud. Check out your local library, most have a pretty good selection of books on CD in this day and age. It definitely helps me avert distraction and maybe it will you too.

Gotta check my e-mail now.

I am not a business person.  In my heart, I am an artist. I am an artist whose medium is fabric and buttons and thread. I have always been this kind of artist, well, at least since first grade when I have my first memories of sewing with my Mom’s scraps and making potholders and learning how to knit and all that fun stuff.

So good, I am an artist.  That’s very romantic and fulfills my heart’s desire and all that, but I am also an artist who has bills like the rest of the world.  After all, I did just send my son off to college this year, and my husband did just purchase that 40 foot sailboat that he wants to sail around the world on, and we do have to live somewhere in the meantime so I have a place to store my fabric stash, so yes I have bills to pay.  Which leads to the ultimate question:  How can this non-business person who considers herself an artist make a living with fabric and buttons and thread?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to this yet, just the journey I am on in the meantime. The journey consists of many years working for others, where I could leave the stress of the job behind each day and not have to do any marketing or worry about the bottom line. It continues with me transitioning out of working for others and starting my own business.  Of course the disadvantage to this is I have to do marketing and worry about the bottom line and carry the stress of trying to survive (much less grow) in small business.  Oh, and in the meantime I had to learn how to do marketing and figure out exactly what was on the bottom line. 

The journey got a whole lot easier and more fun when I joined Beehive Co-op last year. Yes, Beehive provides an outlet for emerging designers to sell their work in an upscale retail environment, but it also provides so much more.  The friendship and support is tremendous. Inspiration is everywhere. Just this blog alone is an amazing resource with fresh ideas and tips every week. I read them soak them up and add something new to my “to do” list (which started with “open a business checking account” and ambitiously ends with “write a book”).  And whenever I think that to do list is too long or too unwieldy, I find a Beehive friend who has felt the same way or has just crossed a similar item off her to do list and can provide some insight or solace.

So for my first Beeblog entry it was kind of inevitable that I had to gush a little about Beehive. I’m happy and proud to be a part of it.  Petra has created something unique and special. It’s a place for people like me to spread their wings and take off and learn how to turn a talent and passion into a business.  Because after all you have to make the choice, “do I want to make a living doing what I love, or do I want to keep my day job and have a hobby”.  For people like me, with no business experience, the Beehive is a great place to figure this out. It helps with the journey.

So, as I was driving my son to college last month I felt the need to take advantage of those last hours to give him as many little bits of advice as I could.  I told him not to spend all his money on art supplies or comic books and that I thought it was wonderful he was going to Art school, and no one supported him more than me, but to at least take a business class.  It would help him in the future.  Please, take just one business class. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.