New Business Venture

Hi everyone, how are you? I miss reading all of your blogs! I promise I'm going to catch up soon. I have an hour lunch break, so I've been trying to catch up on little projects during that time. Usually that means getting in a few rows of knitting. Look what I finished!

It's the Little Red by Erika Flory (or in this case Little Blue!) And Carly absolutely loves it. The first time she wore it to the park, she ran around trying to force all the other kids to admire what her mommy made. Aww!

Anyway, I'm still trying to find a balance between being at work all day, coming home and taking care of Carly when Douglas leaves for work, and keeping up with my shop. The past few weeks I've only been able to make custom orders, which I guess is a good thing, but still. My brain is overflowing with ideas but there's nothing I can do about that!

I woke up this morning from a dream about having a second etsy shop.* It had cutesy hair pin sets and jewelry, in all different styles. I even dreamed up a name- Eclectic Taxi. I woke up Douglas and asked him what he thought of the name. He said it was really awful. But I want it to describe what the inside of a decorated taxi feels like. Ok, I've never even been inside a taxi. But I've heard of ones that could describe the inside of my mind- Pompom trim around the top, kitschy stuff glued everywhere, and several pounds of crap hanging from the rearview mirror. I want it to encompass all my favorite styles: Vintage farmhouse, fun and kitschy, sweet and girly, glamorous and sparkly, and retro bohemian.

I think I've narrowed it down. Now for just a moment, let's put aside the reality of how insane it is to think I could run two shops when I can't even keep up with one. Let's look at this like a long-term goal, mmkay?

Which name do you like best?

You should know that I've already sort-of started this little venture. My new company has a little craft fair every year for the three office buildings in this complex, and of course I entered. I've always wanted to do a craft show, so hopefully this will be a great way to try it out. The problem is that in the past few weeks, my shop stock has been seriously depleted. I haven't had time to make anything new or replace the sold things, so I don't know what I'm going to put in this little fair. Then I saw these:

They're vintage appliques, and of course I bought them. I also bought two coordinating sets of bead and sequin appliques, some vintage cabs, and some flat-back gems. The first of my new hair pin line! 

Now I know there are lots of hair pin sets on etsy, but I haven't seen any like I'm thinking of. I want to branch out into other styles too, but keep it unique by using vintage and one-of-a-kind embellishments. I'm already going nuts with all the packaging ideas too! I'm hoping this new line will solve my problem of not having enough time to keep my shop stocked. I can use my lunch hour to assemble them. The designing will be the longer process, which I'm already doing all day long and even while I dream! So the actual assembling should go quickly, and then I can use one afternoon on the weekend in photography hell. Oh boy...

I have way too many ideas to tell you all of them now, but I can't wait to show you! If you have any suggestions for a good name, please help me out! Thank you all so much!

*I should tell you that I also had a dream that I was having dinner in a restaurant and a very pregnant woman walked in. She was looking around for her date/husband/whatever, when suddenly she exploded. Like, not in a rage exploded, like literally exploded. More like her stomach exploded. There were baby parts everywhere. Her significant other comes running, and you know he's a doctor of course. He tries to save her, but she dies in his arms. In my dream-like state, it was very romantic. Then I woke up and it was just disturbing. The end.


UPDATE! An awesome friend just came up with a third name that I think I might like best: FlashCab ...Whatd'ya think? I like it because it is a play on words- Cab like kitschy decorated taxi, and cab like cabochon?