52 Muses

There is a t-shirt I see on crafter friends that says "Queen of Unfinished Projects". I prided myself on NOT having a claim on that throne. I started and completed most craft projects in a timely manner and sent out hand made birthday cards at the beginning of each month on a fairly regular basis.


Then I started a craft business.

A major portion of this business was handcrafted cards and gifts, something family and friends had encouraged me to do. Online, at fairs and in local shops I displayed cards and mixed media artwork. Friends' expectations got higher and they started telling me, "I better get some amazing cards now! (Wink, wink but no, really, I mean it!)" Instead nobody got any cards! Between orders, inventory and life, and not being able to bring myself to buy a store bought card, I opted out of giving them any. I started designing custom artwork for birthdays and other events and they still sit on the drawing board or halfway begun. Paid orders? Completed and shipped on deadline. Birthday gift for my husband? Not so much.

Last year I challenged myself to doing charitable acts and surpassed my goal. While I did the acts of charity for others, I got more out of it than I put in it as far as learning, accomplishing and feeling good about what I was doing. I also had the added honor of inspiring others to do a little more in their community.

And this personal challenge has some parallels. On the surface, it looks like I am just cleaning up my to-do pile. But I am hoping I can make my family, friends and myself happy by finishing these projects and bringing them to life and into their lives. And in the process bring myself some happiness, peace and learn some life balance in the craft studio.

Why 52 Muses? Mythology tells us there were nine Muses, sister Greek goddesses who were the deities of song, poetry, arts and sciences. Muse can also be a guiding genius or to turn something over in the mind.

This truly describes my design process in it's first stage. I can be watching TV, eating dinner with my family, driving, doing housework. Each step, materials, deletions and additions, how something will work, rip it apart and start over - it is all forming in my mind's eye. Eventually, in theory, that project becomes a physical stack of paper, fabric or other materials on my craft table and then gets formed into something close to what I envisioned. Or it takes a different tangent altogether but retains an essence of the original thought. 

And there's where I have been getting stuck, getting from the mental drawing board to the actual drawing board. This challenge is to help me get unstuck. Time, organization, whatever the stumbling block, I will have to pinpoint it and resolve it on a deadline.

And I hope you would cheer me along, join me or watch to see if I have any Pinterest Fails. Please follow the blog. I look forward to seeing you!