A Door of My Own

I have a door in the office where we're staying in Minnesota. A real door. A door without glass, that closes and everything. I had no idea what a big difference that would make.

See, back in Portland I have a nice home office....with two huge divided light French doors. It's a bit like a fish bowl, surrounded by glass and right in the middle of everything, which makes it relatively impossible to work when a certain 3-year-old puts his little nose up to the glass and says "Mommmmmmy, play soccer with me." Or a certain 30-something-year-old says "can you do this little thing real quick." It means I work in fits and starts. Never quite getting an undivided chunk of time. In some ways it is wonderful. I definitely don't miss anything going on in the house. But it is definitely not an ideal situation for actually getting work done.

In Minnesota (where we're staying for a month) I've set up my temporary office on the second floor in an area that is small, bright, and best of all...has a door that closes. In Portland it is a huge struggle to balance home/home life and business/home life. I feel like I'm always working but also never working efficiently. That's part of the trick with having a home office, right? And I know it can be frustrating for Brian, too, since I'm always so anxious to shoo them out of the house so I can get things done.

I'm pretty thrilled that something as small as a door that closes might be representative of the door between work and home. Creating that division more strongly may allow me to not only work more efficiently, but also to leave work at the "office" at the end of the day. Who knows, maybe I'll even get my evenings back again? What a wonderful next goal to work toward.

Spending a Month in Minnesota

For some reason I have grown up with the idea that money (or lack thereof) shouldn't be a barrier when making decisions. First you come up with your dreams, then you figure out how to make them happen. Back in November I started thinking about how fun it would be to spend a month in Minnesota in the winter. Yes, sounds a bit nuts I know. But Declan loves snow, I love all of the archives and antique stores out here, and we all love being close to Brian's family. The trick was that all of the expenses really add up: a place to stay for a month, car rental, airplane tickets, dog sitter back home.

So I came up with the slightly crazy idea to swap houses and sent out a tweet to find interest. And believe it or not it actually worked. Through a friend-of-a-friend we're staying at a lovely house near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, borrowing their car, and taking care of their cats while the other family and their two young daughters stay at our house in Portland and take great care of our dog. We even had two free airplane tickets from miles, so the expenses have been minimal. And we're having a blast.
Apparently I'm not the only one who's ever had this idea. The Oregonian recently ran a couple of stories about house swapping (with slightly more exotic locales like Denmark and the Caribbean). Of course I'm already planning the next getaway. I'm sure someone in Hawaii will want to swap houses, right?

So Many Finds at the Craft & Hobby Trade Show

I spent most of last week at the Craft & Hobby Association's 2010 Winter trade show. It was the first trade show I ever attended for piddix, and it was huge, exhausting, amazing, overwhelming, and totally fun. One of my favorite parts was learning about new products that can be used by piddix customers.
I'll be writing more in-depth about the new glazes and pendants especially, but here's a sneak peek of some of my favorites:

• Premo Sculpey premiered a new, brighter white. Looks like it should work even better for clay image transfers.
• Collage Pauge. Kind of like an updated Modge Podge, designed by Traci Bautista.
• A variety of water-based glazes to try out for scrabble tiles including 3D Crystal Laquer and Aleen's Paper Glaze.
• Amate Studio pendants. I can't say enough good things about their pendants. And there's even a new, scrabble tile size pendant tray they just came out with.
• Vintaj jewelry. Their brand new technique book (and really their whole line of products) is beautiful. I love the look of aged brass.
  
• Simply Swank. I've always recommended their soldering book, but I didn't realize they also offer all kinds soldering supplies including glass for pendants. The trapezoid is my favorite.
• Grafix Rub-Onz Transfer Film. Print out an image and transfer it to tiles, stone, glass. And no further sealing necessary.

Look for more reports about CHA in the next couple of weeks including several hands-on product reviews and a ton of new tutorials I discovered, too.

Piddix Subscriptions are Back

After a three month hiatus and many requests, I've finally brought back the piddix monthly subscription. Starting February 1st, I will list a limited number of each of the following:

1. One entire month subscription of every single new collage sheet
3. An entire month subscription of every single new collage sheet PLUS full sized jpgs
2. TWO entire months subscription of every single new collage sheet PLUS full sized jpgs

Basically, I send you lots and lots and lots of fun images and collage sheets for a month or two. See all of the different options here.

And in case you're wondering whether to try out a subscription, see some of the feedback from the last time I had a subscription available.

2009 Feedback:

“You are AMAZING! And I love the subscription. I'm always so excited to open my email and find a new collage sheet from you! It was better than expected ... a lot cheaper than the value of the stuff we got (you could charge a little more ... hint hint) ... I like the variety of sizes and themes ... and I am signing up for next month. Thanks for the great collage sheets! Keep up the good work!”

“Thank you so much. It's an absolute bargain and the images are of an excellent quality.”

“Girl, you hit the JACKPOT, you filled in the BINGO card, and you've won the LOTTERY with this one -- it's fabulous. Thank you, Thank you. The money I spent on a one-month membership is going to be some of the best I've ever spent. :-) LOVE THIS ONE.”

I am truly delighted with the subscription -- I could continue every week all year if it was offered.”

“Each email was like opening a Christmas present. Thanks!”

“Thanks so much for the wonderful images. I love not knowing what images are coming next. It's turned out to be very inspiring. You have sent me images that I would never have bought, but as soon as I've seen them I've thought of something I could make with them. I've liked it so much that I've signed up for the next month.”

“I always love your collage sheets and these were no exception, nice to have something a little different that I might not have bought. Thanks for the wonderful service.”

“Enjoyed every sheet! Highest quality images, wonderful customer service!”

“This has been absolutely wonderful! Your images have been top-notch and load fairly quickly for my DSL. I wasn't sure what I would be getting, so this has been a very happy surprise. I am very interested in continuing! I will be signing up for a continued subscription ... Thank you for all your hard work, it has been MUCH appreciated!”

“I love my subscription and all of the images! I think it is a wonderful value ... I would definitely like to continue my subscription through the end of the month. Just tell me where to pay!!”

“IT'S BEEN SO FUN, downloading all the cool sheets you've put out for us. I AM ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST FANS, and I think you should continue the 'subscription' offering whenever you can.”

“The mix of collages was perfect for me. Some of the collages are probably not ones I would initially look at and say, oh, I have to have this one. But then when I received it as part of the subscription, I immediately saw a use for it. I've loved every single thing you've sent this week -- I know I will use them all. As I mentioned, I think your price is too low -- you put a lot of work into these collages and the results are very evident.”