I Took a Month Off-- Here's What I've Been Up To
Hi all!
After taking the month of July off, I'm back for the month of August, and I wanted to let you know what I've been up to in the meantime.
I've been making stuff, as I always do, even though I took a break from the website and the papercrafting and the pen palling (which also aligned with the cleaning out of my office for installing new windows in our house.)
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Resin Keychains
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As a traveler, I am always looking for perfect souvenirs to bring back to my friends, no matter where I'm going or coming from. And since I am preparing for a 3 month journey back to the U.S. where I won't have steady, regular income, I also had a push to make some souvenirs, hoping to sell them while I am in town and earn a bit of extra cash.
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As an art store owner, I also try to add nice tokens that can be bought for a pen pal! I like to have not only stationery, but gifts.
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But the biggest challenge for me, since I have a global customer base, is keeping all my items small and easy to ship. If you have to pay package tariffs and customs declarations, it becomes too expensive to ship and too much of a pain in the booty to make it worth it.
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The perfect souvenir is small (so it doesn't take up a lot of space in your suitcase or in an envelope), relatively affordable (so you can buy lots of them and give them to everyone you care about), and holds the spirit of where it came from -- maybe even incorporating a small treasure from the country, like a shell or an acorn or a rock. Or, a piece of currency! Foreign currency is always cool to look at.
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All of this compounded into an idea to create keychains.
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Everyone has keys, and if they didn't need something to hang on their keys, they might have a zipper that needs a tag attached to it. School kids also like hanging things from their backpacks! And all of that was the inspiration behind my new creations.
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It was also perfect that I found these silicone keychain holders in a local store. They are marketed as Apple Airtag Holders, but they are the perfect size for coins or small shells!
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But that's not the only thing I stuck into these handy holders!
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I also took a couple wax seals I've gotten on recipe swap cards and tried to cast them in resin, too!
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If you have a wax seal you'd like to have made into a keychain, send me an email, or send me a letter.
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Punch Needle Patches
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The other thing I've been getting into lately is punch needle!
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I love fiber arts. I have been crocheting for 7 years, and I am also an amateur sewer. During the pandemic, I also picked up embroidery, and even tried cross stitch again. I was inspired by some Facebook crafting groups I am a part of, but embroidery and cross stitching take quite a long time compared to punch needle.
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I've made quite a few patches; more than I would have been able to make with embroidery. The only down side is that you can't get as much detail in.... Experimenting with where that line sits is what I'm working on right now, as you might be able to tell with the text patches below.
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This all happened during a particularly defining political moment in my home country, where women's rights in some states are being taken away and abortion is becoming illegal.
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I am quite political, so I used my creativity to express my views on this issue, and I'm happy to say that I have already pre-sold a few of these patches, and received a couple commissions!
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Leaving Instagram
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The last thing I've been working on / thinking about in the last month is leaving Instagram.
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Fellow business owners will understand the amazing tool and, on the other hand, the pain in the ass that Instagram is. It's difficult to keep up with the constant changes and the algorithm, which wants to put paid ads ahead of your content.
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On my personal page, I love the scrapbooking / photo book quality of my own Instagram feed. I love scrolling back and remembering all the fun I've had, where I've been, and the art I've made. But as Saskia de Feijter mentions in her podcast A Smaller Life, one way to remedy that is by ordering a printed photo book of your entire feed. (Find the ten-minute podcast episode here).
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If I left Instagram for good, I would definitely miss scrolling back through photos I've taken and seeing my art progress to what it is today. I have come a long way, and I know that I have a long run ahead of me.
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My possible solutions to this loss are to replace my Instagram feed with actual printed photos using a small photo printer that connects to my phone, and then scrapbooking them old-school style and / or using Pinterest to share my progress photos and creations.
I've already started experimenting with sharing via Pinterest!
You can follow me there if you like :)
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And that's about all!!
Now that I'm back, I'm going to finish up the last few stragglers of recipe cards that I have to send out.
If you are in the recipe swap and you're also a bit late with sending all yours out, don't worry. Many of us took longer making ours than we thought we would. I think that the summer is so busy, it leaves little time for much else! I'll keep this in mind when doing pen pal events in the future.
If you have any questions you can always email me at info@amstationery.com :)
Thank you, reader, for getting this far and for supporting my art
*big virtual hug*
Until next time...
Stay curious and keep writing!
Xx, Alison
p.s. sorry about the strange formatting on this post. My blog editor doesn't like me today! xxxxxx