What's in Store for 2013

We are less than a week into the new year. Have you broken any resolutions yet? Me? I don't make resolutions. But I have made plans, goals if you will, for me and my Etsy shop. Ready to hear about them?

First up......Macrame!  I love macrame!  I remember when I was a kid in the 70's my Mom made a couple of macrame plant hangers and a handbag. But I never learned the knots back then. It was when my daughter was a preteen wanting to learn how to make friendship bracelets that I taught myself some of the knots.  In order to teach her I had to learn it myself!  I've been knotting off and on ever since. There is still a market for macrame hemp jewelry and I have decided to start making a wider variety for the shop. I ordered 12 different colors of hemp and have made a number of bracelets. My goal is to learn a few more knots and try to offer something a little different than just the basic jewelry. And one of these days I'm going to make my own hammock chair too!

12 spools of hemp!

One of the bracelets I made. It's knotted on memory wire!

Next I'm thinking about offering my polymer clay canes for sale.  I love making canes but then I have trouble using them.  I get bored with them quickly and then I'm ready to make a new one. I ordered this set of discs to use with my clay gun a couple of months ago. I love the repeating patterns and the geometric shapes used in quilt blocks.  This should be fun and I have been itching to get started.

          And I finally did!

The first of many!

And just this week I rediscovered Shrinky Dinks! Remember those? Another throw back to my 70's childhood. And once again I have my daughter to thank for this! I was cleaning out some stuff that she left behind when she moved out and found this book. It still had some of the plastic sheets too!

Shrinky Dinks Book!

I sharpened my colored pencils and started drawing. I've made some mistakes, learning what works and what doesn't. I'm not sure where I'm headed with this but I have some ideas in my head. So only time will tell.

The 2 on the left are too dark. The other 3 aren't bad but could be improved.

So what do all of these things say about who I am? I have no idea! I hope to find a way to incorporate everything I enjoy into one cohesive shop. That's one goal that may take me a little longer to reach. But so far this year I've had a blast revisiting some things I haven't done in a while and stretching my imagination.  I am looking forward to what this year has in store for me!