Author Emily P. Freeman makes this list every quarter, along with lots of her readers. I'm not quite organized enough to do it regularly, but it is helpful and fun to look back occasionally on those little ah-ha moments big and (mostly) small. Like many people who sell their work for a living, winter is usually a recovery season for me after the whirlwind of Christmas. I usually read quite a bit, work on things with January deadlines (taxes!), and plan my year. Here's what I was up to December 2018-February 2019:
... so many other lessons when working with this new-to-me medium.
Earlier this year I painted an old dresser with chalk paint. I'd been wanting to try this, but had been put off by the high price of the paint. (It can cost $40 a quart for some brands!) When a local shop had theirs at 40% off, I jumped at the chance to try it. One of the first challenges turned out to be the season itself. I decided to do the painting in my garage with the door open for ventilation, which meant that I was painting on those days in between snowstorms when the temperature would get above 40 degrees and the wind wasn't too bad. So another lesson might be to actually wait until spring or summer for a project like this rather than trying to paint bundled up in winter layers. (No gloves, of course, since I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them clean, which meant for some chilly hands and very fast brush strokes!)
I also learned that it's important to use the right brush for the job. I bought a special brush to use for the wax coating which goes on top of the paint to protect the finish. I loved that you could load this big brush up with wax and how it made it easy to spread. However, I did go cheap(ish) buying the $17 brush (before coupon) at Hobby Lobby. Bristles kept falling out as I was painting which was super annoying and hard to remedy. I should have looked at the online reviews before buying on impulse. Another lesson learned!
2. It's so much more fun to organize someone else's mess than your own.
I started volunteering for a couple hours a month at our local craft recycling shop. Sometimes I'm organizing new donations (particularly the beads/jewelry) that come in, while other times I'm putting out them out on store shelves. It's fascinating to see the kinds of things that get donated and very satisfying to put them away into categories.
This lesson was reinforced by watching the Marie Kondo show on Netflix. I always love transformation shows and this one had enough before/after to feel satisfying. I'm doing some "tidying" this year in my own space, but at a much slower pace. (See the photo of my current craft table as Exhibit A.)
3. It's challenging to make colors stay true when you're making products from images.
I've enjoyed working with paints and alcohol inks over the last few months. I've been experimenting making some of the finished pieces into products like cards, postcards, and bookmarks. I've been scanning the original art and then uploading the files to various places to have them printed. I haven't done much adjusting to the colors after scanning since the digital image looks pretty true to color. It's always a surprise when I get the finished items in the mail and find them lighter, darker, or just different than the original piece. Not sure if there's a solution to this or if it's something that is just a given.
I'm always a bit skeptical about the low ingredient recipes that I see on Pinterest. Do they really work? I couldn't resist trying these Three Ingredient Cottage Cheese Pancakes. (Yes, if you count the salt and the topping, there are more than 3 ingredients!) I liked the idea of making a pancake with more protein. Plus, it's become really hard to buy a small container of buttermilk, which is what I usually use for pancakes. These were super easy. They seem more savory than sweet to me, but that's easy to remedy with a little bit of fruit or jam on top.
5. Marcasite isn't really marcasite.
Say what? I learned this fascinating fact in Answers to Questions About Old Jewelry, 1840-1950, 8th Edition by C. Jeanenne Bell, G.G. She writes, "The 'stone' known as marcasite is actually pyrite. There is a mineral named marcasite, and, although it is similar in appearance, it is not suitable for jewelry ... The iron sulfite, pyrite, is cut into small pointed or rounded facets to create marcasites."
We have another big snowstorm on the way this weekend in Colorado, so winter definitely is not over yet. Here's to spring!