Plateaus, Momentum, and Transparency

Hi! So it’s been a hot minute, huh? Actually, and a cold minute, too. And another hot one. IDK, weather is weird. ;)

Anyway! If you’ve been following on Facebook or YouTube, there’s been a bit more activity in each of those places than on this blog/journal/whatever but things have been at a bit of a standstill for a while. Not forgotten, not ignored, but paused, mostly because I realized that I am not designed to do things on my own and really need a business partner for this. I’ve talked about that some in a YouTube video (both in a regular video nearly a year ago, and in several BookCraft live sessions) but never managed to get a post up here about it.

I definitely wrote a post. Entirely wrote it in my brain. Mostly wrote it in a post. Saved the draft. Never got back to it. Ironically, it was a post about ADHD and “body doubling” by having someone else present to keep you motivated as well as on track. Guess I needed someone else making sure I got it posted.

But I digress.

(Again. Because that’s going to be the name of my memoirs one day, I’m quite certain.)

My point is, I’ve been actively talking to and looking for someone to partner with me, and I’ve finally found someone who we’re at least going to give it a shot! Now, with something I’m this passionate about and that’s been this many years in the building, and with which I have this many different factors in mind, it’s super important that anyone else getting onboard with it have time to acclimate to all the different factors before necessarily being 100% locked into anything, but I do at least have someone I’m working with for now and that I’m very optimistic about being able to continue working with, and actual stuff is in motion. I don’t want to be cagey or keep what that stuff is from you, because you know I’m all about transparency, but neither do I want to promise on things that I end up not being able to deliver so I’ll tell you where we currently are rather than where I hope we’ll be:

We’re in the wee stages of planning more of the administrative and behind-the-scenes stuff, meeting regularly and doing basically all the boring-but-necessary research and numbers-crunching and such like. The stuff I’m not as good at, which is why I needed to find someone to work with who is!

But something interesting is happening—I don’t want to say in my life, but let’s say, within my observational sphere. I’m watching two different companies that I have varying degrees of association with deal with some struggles. Now, you all know (if you’ve consumed any of my posts anywhere more than just this one blog post) that I’m all about keeping it real and being as honest with you all as I can about both my struggles and my successes, and as the company grows and there’s more to be honest and transparent with you about, I fully intend to keep that up to the best of my ability. I am not, however, about putting others on blast, so I’m not going to reveal all the details of the companies involved. I’ll say what I can, though, to explain what this has to do with Pixie Elegance and with my heart for this company.

One of the two companies is one that I believe in the idea of and I believe in what the founders have been aiming for, but for several years I’ve been wary of how some of it is being approached. With this company, within the past week, I have been aware of some specific incidents that are related to communication. The message disseminated from leadership to the employees as a result of this was, in essence, “There are things that do not need to be communicated because they only lead to problems, work things out in your heads instead of out loud.” And yet, from what things I could observe (and of course without being more directly involved I could only observe so much) it seems like a lot of the problems were because things that were communicated were misunderstandings and miscommunications and it is more communication, not less, that might benefit them.

This of course has had me thinking about how much I want to make sure my employees at Pixie Elegance feel free to discuss whatever issues they have with me, with each other. I don’t mean gossip, but in my experience, when people are free to ask questions and openly question things, the desire to whisper about it and accidentally spread assumptions that turn into gossip is significantly lower.

But then there’s this other company. I know fewer of the details involved in this one (and I don’t know all the details with the other one either) but it’s a media company with several smaller media factions under it, and there have been some accusations made against the leadership of the company about the lovingness and inclusivity involved, including accusations of racism. There was an initial response post made by leadership in their Facebook group but many people were questioning the legitimacy of the post because the details were kept so vague and there is a known factor of NDAs involved in something somewhere along the way.

And that’s why I’m typing this post at 4:30 in the morning instead of, like . . . sleeping. Because I woke up and was tossing and turning and just couldn’t sleep because this was heavy on my heart. My brain kept racing between different things that I know, things that I hope, and things that I fear.

• I know that the leadership of that company has the best intentions when it comes to inclusivity and non-discriminatory practices. I don’t know them personally, but there’s a degree of “you can act the part and say words in public but you never know what’s happening behind closed doors,” and then there’s a degree to which when you consumer media from someone in several different forms for several years, no it’s not the same as knowing them, but people simply have times that they’re more guarded than others and there are things that you can hear in their voices especially in the less guarded moments. Things can be edited, sure, but I fully trust that the leadership of this company has no such intentions, and I can only imagine how they’re hurting as they’re navigating this.

• I also know that things get messy with humans involved. We’re messy people. We misunderstand things. We have different sensibilities from one another, and what is a matter of letting something go to avoid it becoming a big messy thing for one person is tacit agreement to another. What love and inclusion look like would be define differently by almost every one of the most loving and humanitarian people I know. How much more so when you mix in people who, while not necessarily being intentionally unkind, are sometimes unthinking on one factor as their minds are focused on another? (That’s entirely leaving out people who are, in fact, unkind and even downright cruel. I’m operating on the assumption that this would be with people vetted to the best of the leadership’s abilities to have good and kind people in place, but nobody is going to think exactly the same or run things exactly the same way the original founder would do so.)

• I know that non-disclosure tends to lead people to imagine things worse than what there actual was, which is a big part of why I am so dedicated to transparency; but I also know that it is sometimes legally necessary. So is being vague in a way that apologizes without admitting culpability. It absolutely sucks, but it is how our legal system often keeps things locked down.

• I hope that these accusations are proven largely untrue, and that any that may be true are things that are dealt with appropriately. I hope that this company comes through this relatively unscathed, because frankly, I trust what the intentions of the founders’ hearts are and in that trust I don’t believe they deserve to have their company ripped out from under them or even just to have it take a major hit as a result of some things allegedly having happened within the company but not from them directly.

• I fear my own intentions. Not my intentions for a transparent company, but how much I’ll be able to be as transparent as I wish to be, and how much others might decide that any non-disclosures mean that I’m hiding something rather than that I’m obligated under legal necessity to keep something private for safety’s sake.

The biggest thing, though, is that I feel things very deeply, I care very deeply. I have ideas, I enjoy marketing, I’m passionate about the arts and artisan goods and regaining the origin of products and the true meaning of a honed craft, but let me tell you, I love people. Deeply. I cannot, do not wish harm on anyone. I can’t fathom what that’s like. I tend to assume the best intentions more often than not, partly because I really think that most people have good intentions but don’t necessarily have the whole picture of how their actions/words are affecting others. There are definitely exceptions to that, not only in people who quite obviously don’t have good intentions, but also in certain actions or words that if someone tries to claim it’s with good intentions their “good intentions” involve harming other people, and that I cannot abide—but I still don’t wish harm on those people, I just wish I knew the magic words to instill love and compassion for fellow humans into their hearts!

I want to build something here. I want to build something that reconnects people to how the products they use are made. I want to build something that connects artisans and consumers. I want to build something that matters. And I fear having accusations made one day because it’s impossible to keep everyone happy, because it’s impossible to closely watch every single member within an organization, especially as it grows, and because it’s impossible to (safely, legally, and with a stable company) stay completely transparent about everything no matter how much I might want to.

So I just wanted to take some times to talk about all of that now. I don’t have any conclusions here, I don’t have any great wise words or brilliant thoughts on moving forward, other than that I’m excited to finally be off the plateau and moving forward again! But the juxtaposition of those two situations in my mind, overlapping over getting moving once more with Pixie Elegance . . . it means something in my brain and in my heart, you know? I just felt that needed to be expressed somewhere, if only for the sake of getting a bit of the weight off my heart, and for putting it out there for my own accountability.

When my company gets big enough for it to matter, this post will still be there for me to look back to and say, “Yeah. That’s my heart. That’s what it’s all about. And that balance between transparency and legality is no easier to traverse than I thought it would be (probably even harder) but my heart for people is the thing I need to remember.”

Updates (and where to get them)

Hooboy. Know what is, like, Super Duper Helpful™? If I actually PUBLISH a post after I make it. So this has now become an edit of a post I started - I kid you not - in February.

oops

The beginning of February, even. Not the end that’s closer to now. Which, I mean, that's cool, it's only the end of April.

I started it on Groundhog’s Day and came back to it after Earth Day! Good grief.

Hopefully you all have already noticed that you get more updates on other Pixie Elegance social media pages rather than on the blog, but whether you noticed or not, now you know! Keep reading for more valuable tidbits . . . or, like, at least info on what’s been happening.

Alright, so right now I mostly want to update you all on my health, some of which updates you may have seen mentioned elsewhere if you follow my other media. And if you haven't, the original version of this post (which I’ll put down below) is all about where else to find Pixie Elegance on the internet, so feel free to scroll down for it if you just want to know that. For the rest of you, forge ahead, me loyal pixies!

[Me? Me pixies? Arrrrr! The captain o’ the Heart o’ Pixie be damandin’ yer loyalty! Or . . . something like that . . . .]

So, I’ve mentioned some health issues a few different times here and elsewhere on the internet (click here to see my YouTube video that I had to edit to 2/3rds its original length just to remove all the hacking and coughing!) but I haven’t gone into a lot of explanation because, frankly, I just don’t want to sound like I’m whining at you all or trying to make excuses. However, things have been moving much slower than I’d previously indicated was the plan, and I want to give you all an explanation of why, and some resultant potential shifting of plans as we move forward.

• So here’s a quick run-down of the sundry health issues of this past year:
  January/February - whole family had Covid; I got it the worst and was out of work for 5 weeks

• March - I had a tonsillectomy, which everyone warned me would be absolutely horrible as an adult, but while it was far from fun, both Covid and the tonsil pain with which I had lived for years were worse.

• June - older son broke his finger, younger son split his gums open, neighbor boy brought us a baby bird to rescue (not a thing we do, so we had to find someone who did!) and neighbor’s dog attacked older son. Of all of those, the last was the worst, but thankfully not nearly as bad as it could have been.

• July - due to my asthma and having had Covid earlier in the year my doctor recommended I get a pneumonia booster, and wouldn’t you know it? The injection site got infected.

• August - significant sinus infection that had me out of work for two weeks.

• September/October - concussion, mere weeks after returning from the sinus infection, caused by what seemed like a fairly innocuous bump against a metal rack on a machine at work . . . until I started showing signs of being concussed. This also took far longer to heal than expected and kept me out of work for another four weeks.

• January - almost to the day, one year after our previous bout, whole family got Covid again.

This time, having had it before and having had my shots since, it didn’t affect me nearly as bad and I was only out of work for the (at the time) new recommendation of 5 days out and 5 days back with a mask on. So great! . . . until a couple weeks later when I developed another sinus infection, most likely from returning to work sooner than my body was ready (I felt fine! It needs to tell me if it’s not ready!) and from there on out it’s been far more time out of work than in. Turns out, even though the first few weeks were fine, I’m now dealiing with Long Covid, which involved months of horrible coughing that has only recently subsided, and now is mostly involving vertigo and tinnitus, plus some shakiness.

Vertigo. Tinnitus. Shakiness. Know what’s not a good thing to have when you’re working with solder, lye, or even hot candle wax?

Dizziness.

Or severely ringing ears that occasionally increase to a nearly incapacitating level that feels like it’s boring through my eardrum.

Or shaky hands.

So yeah, I’ve been working on other things, mostly stuff I can do on the computer and, you know, not working with dangerous chemicals or flame. I have a couple appointments coming up with specialists that I’m cautiously hopeful will provide me with some sort of solution, but in the meantime I’m revamping what I’m going to list super soon (because I’m tired of not having listed stuff yet like I keep saying I will so I’ve got people holding me accountable to it) some mini soaps that are already ready, and some jewelry that I can work on without solder, saws, or tin snips—all things I probably shouldn’t use right now. They’re not the higher-end stuff I wanted to also have available, but they’re fun things and I look forward to being able to (finally!) bring some products to you.

As for the future, who knows? I’m planning for any of several possibilities because even my doctor doesn’t know how to predict what I’ll likely be capable of in the future. So I’m still planning my own designs and preparing to bring those to you all, but I’m also making plans to move up the work I intend to do with other artisans, building the business from that first and then my own designs instead of the inverse that I was originally planning.

So one way or another I plan to get you, my loyal pixies, connected with other present or future pixies, whether you’re an artisan connecting with customers or artisan-loving little imps looking for an artist to feed you artisanal cravings! In the meantime, I’ll leave you with the update this started out as back in February. But heads up—anything that needs amendment due to changes from then to now, I’ll put a bold April update to it in brackets after.

~*~

[THE ORIGINAL FEBRUARY UPDATE THAT NEVER GOT PUBLISHED STARTS HERE.]

Oh gosh, so much so much so much going on! Honestly, from here on out this blog probably won’t be the best place for updates, but will instead be a place for roundups of what you can find in other locations.

For now, I’m going to just point you to what those other locations are.

YouTube

Yup, I’ve got the channel actually up and running! There are two regular shows happening, plus I’ll put up random other videos as I feel like it.

The first regular show is BookCraft, a combination book club and crafting circle that I’m doing in conjunction with several other crafters/artists. Those artists are:
Erika Rae Heins (who you can also find on Facebook and Instagram)
ArtBecco (who you can also find on Instagram)
Lovely Lisa Crafts (who you can also find on Facebook and TikTok)
Pixxie Products (who you can also find on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok)

They are all fabulous ladies with a variety of products and styles, so don’t forget to check out their respective shops! [April update: we have several sessions under our belts now, and the next session is, if you happen to catch this the day it’s actually posted, TONIGHT! We’re reading The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories and this week we’re discussing "The Hound,” “The Rats in the Walls,” and “The Festival.” Or as we referred to them at the end of our last session based solely on titles: Sherlock Holmes, Bruno, and Into the Woods. Come join in the discussion in the chat during our livestream! And make sure you subscribe to the channel so you get notified of new videos and livestreams, and find the other social media I’m about to tell you about so that you see my reminders of what’s to come and links to what you might have missed!]

The other YouTube series in the works is a (prerecorded) Dungeons and Dragons game that I’m DMing, with my children and two of my niblings as the players. We’re using each session to have fun as well as reinforce things they’re learning in school. This will take longer to get out, though, because (due to the nature of making sure we protect the children involved, and because, uh, kids aren’t super-known for staying on topic well or making decisions quickly) every episode is going to require a fair amount of editing. Stay tuned for that release! [April update: due to the nature of my health issues we have been unable to record more than 2 episodes, and I’m not going to start releasing any until I know we’re able to return to a regular recording schedule.]

Next, and longest-running other than the original Pixie Elegance blog (before it was all transferred to this site) is Facebook. So far I’ve mostly used it for basic updates and links to other updates, which makes it a good central hub for finding other things. But don’t put it past me to randomly share memes there too.

Twitter is one I haven’t kept up with as much, only because nobody has been engaging there. I’m still going to keep sharing links to other posts, but unless people seem interested in engaging there probably won’t be much original content there.

Instagram is a great place to catch sneak previews of products, and process pictures. Since Facebook (or rather, Meta now) owns both, I can schedule posts to both platforms at once, so if you prefer one over the other, rest assured that they will mostly have overlapping content, with possibly a few more memes or jokes made on Facebook, and a few more work-in-progress pictures on Insta.

And finally, everyone’s* favorite relative newbie to the social media landscape: TikTok! Now, I enjoy watching TikToks and I’ve made a few, but I don’t do it very often. I am going to make some mini craft tutorials [April update: a material i’ve ben waiting for before making one of those is coming today, but I might have to revamp how I was going to do it because I don’t want to use solder for the one tiny little bit I was going to do that way] but so far they’re mostly just fun or goofy videos, and there aren't a lot of them. Stay tuned, I’m working to get you more!

So that’s where everything is! Looking forward to seeing you there!

*Disclaimer: TikTok is not literally everyone’s favorite platform. I like it, even though it seems to constantly fight me on how I’m actually trying to edit videos. But you know, not for everyone, and that’s why we’re in so many different places—to give you all choices! And yes, I have a Reddit account for Pixie Elegance, but I got annoyed with Reddit pretty quickly and I’m not sure I even know the login anymore.

Pixie-ing It Up

Hello, all! Oh gosh, yet again far longer between posts than I want. Some part of me wishes I could just think posts into existence, because I mentally write posts about a billion times* more often than I actually write them. But given the requisite connection between my brain and a computer in order for that to happen, I think I’ll stick to just trying to manage to get posts actually written instead.

*This number is 100% accurate. Probably. IDK, I didn’t calculate it out. I’m a non-math person doing an accounting class right now, how much more math do you want out of me?

Anyway! Okie, so, you may have noticed that I haven’t quite gotten things listed as I’d intended to have going on by now. This is basically for the following reasons:

1. 2021 has decided to be a series of ridiculousness battering my family from all sides, including, among other things, one member of my house dealing with a mystery long-term illness, and a good many other various medical emergencies on top of that.

   • In fact, given how 2020 went for the world as a whole, and how 2021 has gone, I have concluded that if 2022 doesn’t figure out how to shape up and make this decade start flying straight, I’m going to have to figure out how to punch out an entire decade.

   • Given that I probably wouldn’t be physically capable of punching out a pane of glass, punching out a decade may be difficult, so this decade better just straighten up and save us all the pain.

2. Also, even without the emergencies and such, I am a wife and mother and that takes up a lot of time.

3. Add to that time the fact that I am also working 40 hours per week. I’m working toward focusing on Pixie Elegance full-time but not quite there yet.

4. And I’m still finishing my MBA. Did I mention that? lol Just kidding. But seriously, I am finishing it. And by finishing I mean . . . DONE my capstone, and just finishing up my last class!

At least one of those things needs to go in order for me to properly commit time to crafting items to sell. As it cannot be my current full-time job, will not be my family, and apparently is not inclined to be the series of various things that keep happening, it seems it must be the MBA and therefore listings shall have to await my completion of the program. (In 6.5 weeks!)

In the meantime, though, I have still been creating, just not as listings. For one thing, I did a 48-piece soap order for a wedding. This was a lot of fun to figure out because they were in 3 batches, and each batch was scented differently and had a slightly different pattern on the top. It was also just really great to do because it was for a dear friend and I loved getting to be a part of her day that way.

I also (along with other things, this isn’t a comprehensive list of things I’ve made) made myself some pixie ears, courtesy of a tutorial from Yvonne Williams on YouTube.

And because I’m super awesome like this, I didn’t take a pic and only have a video that I can’t seem to figure how to convince this website to let me upload so you’ll have to check them out on my Instagram if you want to see the quick video of me showing them off.

I won’t be selling these, specifically, since they aren’t my own design, but I wanted to have the experience so I would know how to make ear wraps form to ears correctly. Now that I know the mechanics, I’m planning out several other ear cuffs, including dragon wings, my own pixie wing design, butterfly wings, and something space-oriented. I’m sure I’ll make others as well, but those are the designs running around my brain right now.

Even though I won’t be doing full listings until 2022, there are some limited purchasing opportunities available right now in 2021! As I’ve made several various soaps and embeds, I have made extra mini soaps with leftover soap. (I can size a batch to the exact loaf mold, but it’s much harder sizing it to the various embed molds, and I often end up making a bit too much.) So I have some packages of small or mini soap embeds available, in assorted shapes and scents. Because of how they’re packaged I can’t guarantee any specific shape or scent, they will just be random. Contact me for pricing! I also would love to practice some different designs on a limited amount of individual orders, so if you have something specific you’re looking for in the soap, candle, or jewelry departments (including silversmithing, which I’m having fun practicing with and will post some pictures of soon—I have works in progress but not completed pieces) please let me know and we can discuss if it’s something I’m able to do in my current available time, and what pricing would look like.

Thank you all for putting up with me as I continue to work toward figuring this all out! We’re getting there. And just a reminder, if you yourself are an artisan, and are interested in talking with me about partnering, let me know! Also, if you like to read and craft and are interested in joining with me in an online chat-while-we-craft book club, hit me up about that one too! As always, you can find me on the various social medias I’ve got linked in the top right, or email me through the page’s contact form.

Happy autumn, happy crafting, and happy happying!

(Yeah, I don’t know, it seemed like a good thing to say.)

On Structure, Intentions, and Plans Near and Far

Hello, my lovely pixies! Happy summer!

Full disclosure: I dislike summer. Actually, I was originally hoping to launch the shop portion of this whole endeavor on Friday the 16th, with the intent of having a week-long launch that crossed the summer solstice. Why? TBH, mostly to give summer a positive.

(Besides National Chocolate Eclair Day, which is the day after Summer Solstice, and one of my personal favorite days of the year—Christmas, Easter, National Chocolate Eclair Day, and Hobbit Day are the top 4 holidays.)

I mean, okay, I don’t HATE summer. I hate hot weather. And humidity. And the sun gives me a headache no matter how much I try to shade my eyes and how many electrolytes I consume. But, I mean, I like . . . swimming. And biking if the weather will allow me to do it without dying. I’m kind of a fan of not dying. I die a lot less in the winter. But autumn is my favorite. And you’re all totally allowed to have your own favorites, and if summer is yours, GOOD! It makes it better to know that other people are enjoying the weather even when I find it miserable. I hope that some of those who find winter miserable are comforted to know that there are people like me who thrive in it.

Anywho! To absolutely nobody’s surprise . . . I digress. Back to my point! Because of the aforementioned (in a previous post, not in this one, so if you’re looking for that, no, you didn’t just skip a sentence . . . probably . . . .) class that ended up being far more intensive than I was anticipating, I haven’t gotten enough products made to list them yet, so I’m aiming for sometime in July now. I’ll keep you all apprised! And be sure to keep a lookout because there’ll be a contest that starts a couple weeks before the launch, and then people will vote on entries during launch week.

(Oooooooh! What could it be? Hmmmmm . . . .)

For now, I wanted to give you a more comprehensive overview than I have previously done of what it might look like to partner with PE, should you ever be so inclined. First, here’s a super rough chart of the overall business structure that I have planned:

Alright, so what are you looking at here?

Well, the top tier is probably obvious so let’s focus on the branches below that. At Pixie Elegance, I want to employ artisans who will work with me in my shop, designing and creating things sold by Pixie Elegance, and demonstrating the work for others to see how the products are made. This will include products to be sold online and, hopefully eventually, in a brick-and-mortar shop in which I intend to have everything visible, either out in the open, or through windows if it’s something that would be dangerous to have other people around. (That includes soap-making, because lye can eat through anything organic; anything at all that includes high temperatures; and I’m not sure what else because I don’t yet know which artisans I’ll have working with me!)

As far as I’m concerned this can be divided up into something like a medieval village—a smithing section, a soap and candle section*, possibly a forge, hopefully a pottery section, maybe a woodworking section. What else? I don’t know! If you’re an artisan interested in working with me one day, you tell me what else you think there should be, and why you’d be a good fit with PE! Maybe we’ll even be able to include maple syrup production, gourmet/artisan candies and other snacks, and more! And if we can ever include basket weaving, then that will make the ULTIMATE gift spot, where you can select a handmade basket and a selection of handmade items to go into it! HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?

*Fun fact: candlemakers used to make soaps and candles because there are similarities in the processes and they used some of the same fats and chemical processes to make both soap and wax. Although I don’t know of any individuals making their own wax today, other than by collecting beeswax, many soap makers still end up turning an eye toward candles too, since they can sometimes use similar molds and scents and things.

Okay, okay, so what about the cottages? What does that mean?

Are you familiar with the term “cottage industry”? If you aren’t, it’s a small business run from someone’s home. (Right this moment, that’s what Pixie Elegance is, though I hope to expand it to a point where it will no longer fit in this little workshop room in my house. Of which I still owe you all a tour. I swear, now that this most recent class is done, the final organization to the point where you can actually discern what you’re looking at IS COMING.) So in addition to artisans working with me, the other factor of PE that I really want to do is to sell items from people who have their own cottage industries, but want to still maintain making and selling things for themselves.

For instance, that might include a soap maker who has a different style than mine or uses scents that I just can’t use. (I have a lot of allergies, so while I think that the scents I use are very NICE scents, they’re also restricted to being the ones I can use and not go into an asthma attack.) I could order a lot [whereby I do not necessarily mean a vast amount, but ordering by the lot] from them - say, a lot of 50 bars at a time, with option to buy a new lot of that design once the first lot sells. The artisan knows that the entire batch will, from their perspective, sell, because PE is buying it, the same way that a big box store or a grocer buys from their suppliers, thus giving much greater security than selling products individually or putting them on consignment somewhere. They also get access to an outlet portion of the shop where they can sell things that have a bit of a defect and PE doesn’t want, but that are technically still functional (say, a bar of soap that cut crooked or is much too small for the listed weight, or one that broke in half but the two halves can still be sold as a functional, if not quite as pretty, couple hunks of soap). AND each artisan, whether in-shop or cottage-based, will take turns being featured here and on our social media, including cross-promoting the entire cottage business, not just the line(s) that they sell through PE.

Meanwhile, PE gets access to more artistic designs without actually having to buy the supplies and train the employees ourselves (that is, we’ll have those in shop who might be people with experience or might be people we train; as well as those in their own cottage-based shops who we buy from rather than employ) and our customers get to connect with artisans outside our shop, those more free to take custom orders and such.

EEEEEEEE! Seriously, I get so excited about this prospect!

Slowly floats back to ground.

BUT that’s all a combination of goals, plans, and [admittedly] some dreams for years in the future. If you want to hear me talk more about that, you can listen to this episode of the Stitch and Witch podcast. Meanwhile. what about now?

Well, right now I’m still working toward building my initial product line, which is all done by me because I have to start small and work toward that big stuff down the road. As I said, I hope to have some items listed in July, and I’ll let you know for sure when that will be as soon as I know for sure. I finished my most recent class yesterday, and intend to spend the next several weeks fully immersed in metalwork, soap, and candles. (Not literally. That sounds painful.)

Also, did I mention how close to done my MBA I am? I mean, I won’t be done until the end of this year, but I have no more class until autumn, and then I have my capstone—which is entirely focused on building PE—and I have an accounting class the second half of the fall semester, and then I’m DONE.

As I mentioned up above, I’ll also have some contests coming up, so make sure you’re keeping an eye here and on the social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) for when that happens! It will come in two parts—entries for a couple weeks before the launch, and then people voting on entries during launch week, and there will be chances to win for initial entries OR for being among those who vote!

But as I said, more details on that soon. Meanwhile, if you love this summer weather, get outside and enjoy it while you wait for Pixie Elegance products coming up! If you prefer cooler weather like I do, drape yourself over an air conditioner or stick your head in a freezer, and dream of the upcoming Pixie Elegance product releases.

Have a great week!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Hello, my pixies!

I have a lot of exciting things happening, but regret that they are not happening quite as quickly as I would have liked.

I was originally hoping to launch the shop portion of the site around June 16, but the current class that I have started is very difficult. Actually, it was mostly just a crazy amount of work in the beginning of the course, and seems to be slowing down to a more manageable amount now, but I lost a couple of weeks of working on preparing items. Rather than launch the shop haphazardly or with fewer items, I’m going to wait and launch it in July so the items can have their full attention.

My goal is still to have 7 total lines to start with, 3 literary and 4 mythical-creature-based. Each line will include candles, soap, and jewelry. Some of the ideas I have for jewelry may not happen right away, so I’ll plan to keep expanding the lines as well as eventually add to them. Most of the jewelry will also probably have to be made to order and thus might take a little longer to fulfil orders, simply because of having to make sure I have the correct metals to work with.

I’ve been posting some updates here and there on Instagram as far as the soaps (and silicone molds I made for them - a rather expensive experiment that was about 50/50 in results) go, and I’ll continue to post there as well as on Facebook and Twitter, so please check Pixie Elegance out in all those locations!

And I’m still figuring out the best locations for posting or sharing the various kinds of content (I’ve done the research for what’s considered best, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily what works best for me or for my pixies) so if you’re not seeing some content in a place you prefer it and you want, say, more updates on Twitter because you’re not on Insta as much or something, just let me know! I’ll probably eventually add some more social media as well but for now this is what I’m capable of keeping up with.

I am going to try to get some video up too, but I haven’t decided yet where. I can post video in all locations, but if I do a live video it’ll probably have to be one place at a time. Would you prefer that on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube? (No, I don’t currently have a YouTube channel specifically for this. But I can!)

So that’s where things stand for now! Let me know your thoughts and keep an eye out on the social media and on this site, as I’ll be posting sneak peeks along the way as we get closer to actually launching the shop portion of things. Have a great weekend, my pixies!

Privacy vs. Secrecy, a brief sneak peek, and other thoughts from the depths of the place where my mind is

Note: originally posted here on April 20, 2021.

[Bonus points to anyone who understood the obscure reference from the latter portion of the title. Keeping in mind that unless otherwise stated, points here function rather similarly to those of a certain hit improv show....]

Hi! Oh my gosh, my pixies, I am crusing along with STUFF HAPPENING.

Unfortunately, I am currently at a Or at this point, even assembled on thestage in which almost everything happening is stuff that is actually pretty boring or, like, partial stages Continuing to move forward on plans, including stocking up on materials to make some products, designing products, avidly working on the new site, reorganizing [read: organizing] my workshop, and all that silly carbonated stuff that tickles your nose I mean, all the stuff that has to happen to get a business off the ground.

(Or at this point, even assembled on the ground to begin with.)

So all this has me thinking about my desire to always be as transparent as possible. That hasn't changed, don't worry! But what exactly does that mean? Because there's a difference between privacy and secrecy and sometimes that difference can be blurred.

For instance, businesses come, of course, with a financial aspect. I will happily tell you all that I'm opening an official Pixie Elegance bank account just as soon as I can get it open (which at this point is master of waiting on the bank to finish the paperwork and come sign it). I will NOT be sharing details of that account. That would just be foolish, because while I'm sure you are an absolutely honest and lovely person, that other reader over there might not be. But I will always be honest about how much PE makes over time and how those finances are used. As soon as I'm able to fully understand the responsible way to do that because really, business finances kind of make my head spin....

Similarly, I've mentioned before that I struggle with depression and anxiety. Thankfully, I'm in a really good place with that lately! I do always try to be open and honest about that, but there are some triggers I won't share because they stem from things involving other people and I don't want to invade their privacy. Similarly, I am not the only person in my close circle, as in those who could have affect on how PE moves along, who struggles with mental health in some capacity or another, but again, I won't be saying anything that violates the privacy of others.

Ultimately, if ever you feel that I'm not being forthcoming enough, please bring it to my attention, or just ask what you're wondering about. It might be something that I didn't even think about, but it also might be something there's a reason to keep private. But if I can't tell you the what, I can at least share why it's a private matter.

Meanwhile, lest you think I'm ONLY doing boring businessy stuff, here's a chain I'm working on! I'm doing a couple options of this variety, some with black and gold and some with silver and gold. My goal is to have 4 lines based on mythological figures and 3 lines based on literary references, at least to start. This will go with one of the mythological figures. Any guesses which one?

Alright, my lovelies, that's all for now! Keep watching this space because supplies will be arriving soon and I can hardly wait to show you my new workspace and my new toys! Eeee!

Steps Forward

Note: originally posted here on April 8, 2021. The official website mentioned in this post is, in fact, the site it is being reposted on now, so don’t worry about having to go re-find something. But it was relocated in its whole original state, along with the rest of the blog posts, for the purpose of ensuring that the blog retains a complete history of the efforts leading up to the actual launch of Pixie Elegance as more than just a blog.

Helloooooooooo, my pixies! Yes, I know, I keep saying I’m going to be here more, and I keep not being, but I needed to come tell you all: we’re taking steps FORWARD!

More particularly:
1. I have officially filed by Doing Business As form! I can officially, legally do business under the name of Pixie Elegance!
2. I have actual specific plans–not hopes, not intent for the future, genuine plans-in-motion–for the precise lines I will be starting with, what I need between now and then, and what to do when to get it all ready in time.
3. In time for what, you ask? In time for . . . .

You all ready for this?

Because this is . . . .

BIG.

Well, it is to me. I hope it is to you too.

Because I need to have things ready in time for . . . .

AN OFFICIAL WEBSITE LAUNCH

Yeah, I mean besides the blog. Actually, I’m planning to have the blog connected to that, so I’ll let you all know when the address is officially changing.

(Though I’m sure you can figure out what it’ll be changing to. ;) )

In fact, keep an eye on here, Facebook, and . . . Twitter? LinkedIn? Instagram? I don’t know, I’m in places but I’m still working on getting Pixie Elegance in all those places. But hey, keep watching here and Facebook and I’ll TELL you when I have PE in other places too! And I’ll also tell you when the official launch is, but I am aiming for June with a currently tentative date mid-month. More info when it’s more certain.

We’ve survived 2020. And the beginning of 2021. Which, for me, included a nasty month+ bout with Covid, a tonsillectomy, and the general chaos of life as a mother, MBA student, full-time employee, etc. etc. So I’m back, I’m feeling good, my brain is absolutely RACING with plans and ideas, things are in motion, and we are going to ROCK this from here on out!

Keep in touch, my pixies. Looking forward to sharing the next steps with you all.

So I guess a thing has been happening . . . .

Note: originally posted here on September 12, 2020.

Hey, everyone. It’s been a minute, huh?

So . . . 2020. What’s up? What’s going on with you all? I guess there’s been a thing happening in the world or something. Or, like, a billion things. Or, like . . . the whole world going up in smoke. Something like that.

None of which excuses my extended absence, of course! The, like, 55 hours of work plus MBA work last spring might have. Since then, though, no excuses at all. So I won’t even try.

Moving forward! I took the summer off from classes and have resumed my MBA work this fall. I attempted my first ever goat milk soap this summer and . . . am going to have to try that again. I thought for SURE that all the lye was dissolved but it turned out it wasn’t and the entire batch was ruined.

I made myself a Jane Austen necklace and earring set as part of my practice with more resin work.

That is a painting of Jane Austen that I doctored significantly in Photoshop to look like a cameo, it is not an actual old photograph of her. Those weren’t really a thing in the late 1700s and early 1800s. I mean, they kinda were but . . . oh, if you want the history of cameras you can go look it up yourself. ;)

And besides that I’ve generally been doing, like, a bajillion things. Mostly trying to figure out when and how I can get Pixie Elegance as an actual business out of brilliant-concept stage and into brilliant-reality stage. Every single direction I attempt, every single angle I look at it, I come back to one conclusion: I need a business partner. Someone who can take on the same passion I have for artistic and artisan pursuits, for lifting others up, and for merging online and real-life interactions into one giant community; but who can bring to that endeavor all the things I can’t. I have design skills; I need someone with financial skills. My business classes have taught me more than anything that I actually have a much better natural aptitude for good business and marketing strategies; I need someone who is good at implementing the details. I have huge dreams. I need someone who can help me prioritize those into individual steps.

Know anyone like that? For real, have them send me a message through any of the blog’s contact info or the Facebook page!

Meanwhile, if you’re an artisan who might be interested in being a supplier to an artisan retail store, contact me about that too! I can make my own things, but until I have other suppliers I won’t be anything other than an individual crafter.

This is going to happen, people. It’s going to be magical. Pixie-magical!

Candle Tails (see what I did there?)

Note: originally posted here on January 20, 2020.

I’ve been practicing more with candle making. Of all the things I’m doing, I think this one is going to take me the most practice to get good at it, but I’m determined to do so! I have some basic things that I’m going to do soon, but . . . I’m me, so I started out with more complicated things, because logic.

So, I finally got an induction burner and induction-capable pot, after discovering (last time I tried making sand candles) that my stove doesn’t get hot enough for it. So the first thing I did was make some mermaid tails, but the wax came out all white and pitted and stuff.

Also, I wanted to add some other color and didn’t have anything else to use, so I sprinkled little bits of the wax colorant flakes into the molds and . . . that definitely didn’t work.

So after consulting with my candle-making guru* I melted those back down and got them to a higher heat before pouring. I also got some silver pearl dust to sprinkle in. Now, I have to be careful to ONLY use this on the embeds and not in the candle itself, lest it clog the wick, but as a dusting for the mermaid tails it should (according to said guru) work fine.

*My father, who made gorgeous candles for many years, but is unable to now due to health restrictions.

I only sprinkled the silver pearl dust into half of the tail molds so that I could try them with and without. Unfortunately, for the same potential problem of clogging the wick, any that have pearl dust and don’t work out can’t be melted back down for further use. Well, they could, but I have to do some more research on filtering the wax and stuff.

While the wax was melting back down, and getting closer to 200 degrees (F) instead of just pouring as soon as it’s basically melted (which was my first and unsuccessful approach), I saved out two of the original ones to try to meld together to make one 3D tail. Since I’d only done a single pour, they were lower in the middle, but I didn’t want them as thick as 2 pours would result in, so I instead scraped down the sides to flatten it back out. (And also broke one in half. Hey, as long as I was working to put them together, I might as well try to melt that back together too, right?)

Unfortunately, as it turned out, a lighter isn’t hot enough for that, and I couldn’t figure out how to use my propane torch to that end on something so small. Also, both sides kept breaking at the tail. The result was . . . um, well, let’s just say it went back into the melting pot with the rest of them . . . .

The GOOD news is, the second attempt worked MUCH better, and the resulting tail is gorgeous! So even though I couldn’t meld two together and instead just tried to lay it somewhat flat-ish when putting it in the candle, I do love the results.

As for the candle itself, my first attempt at making a sand candle (which I legit just accidentally tried to type as “sandle” and now I want to make that a thing but everyone would think I was just misspelling “sandal”) didn’t work out because the wax has to be a minimum of 212 degrees (F) in order to properly adhere to the sand. I could only get the wax to 180* on my stove, and 200* on my induction burner. I have a couple other things I’m going to try to get the heat up higher, but it turns out even the induction burner might not be enough to get it there! I’m not ready to give up yet though. We’re getting closer! And I love how this candle came out, even if the sand isn’t as well adhered as I’d like it to be.

I also need some work on the 2nd pour – which is when you add a little extra wax to level the top out, because in the cooling process the wax sinks in the middle and stays higher on the edges. I poured a little too much (because I was trying to make sure it was thick enough for putting the embed in) and the result was the wax coming a little too high over the edge of the sand.

I also still need to seal the sand into the wax better by going over the outside with a propane torch. I have one, I’m just a little apprehensive about trying that yet. But since I won’t be selling this candle (since it’s still practice, and I want to see for myself how it burns) I’ll give it a shot sometime soon.

Meanwhile, here are the two candles (the one that only got to 180* and the one that got to 200* ) so you can see the difference of how the sand adhered based on different temperatures. (They both also have sand on the tops of them that I’ll need to remove before torching and then lighting, or, again, there’s the issue of a clogged wick.)

Hopefully my third attempt will work well, because I have SO many ideas of different designs I want to do with these, from waterfalls (my father made a huge one like that once, but I want to make small versions that can be priced lower and work in the home more easily) to mermaids sitting by pools to dragons lying atop their hoards to cars driving up mountains. So many ideas, so little time! But first I have to nail the process down really well so I can make them to quality standards.

Coming soon: adventures in jewelry making, including polymer clay, more resin practice, and some wire wrapping and solder practice. Until then, stay awesome, and happy pixie-ing!

Happy 2019!…I mean 2020…and stuff….

Note: originally posted here January 10, 2020.

Happy New Year!

And merry Christmas!

… and happy Thanksgiving.

And crap, it’s prob’ly been too long since I last posted . . . .

While I’d love to claim my hiatus was due mostly to being so busy learning business-y stuff and building Pixie Elegance, the reality is… it’s because there are only so many weeks in a row that I can say, “Hey, so, nothing new happening here yet.”

But now there IS new stuff happening!

First off, I got my own workspace! I kicked my kids out of their playroom* and turned it into my Pixie Elegance/Fiberhaven Mavens workshop!

*This isn’t as mean as it sounds. The only reason they had a separate playroom before is because our living room was too small for their toys and the little one was too young, when we moved in, for me to be comfortable with him playing upstairs while I was doing dishes or something downstairs. They’re older now and end up dragging half their toys upstairs to play anyway so we just officially moved them there.

I’ll do a full tour after I’m done organizing everything, but here’s a shot of what it looked like in the middle of the moving- everything process.

I also have several various projects in the works, so look for posts coming up about misadventures in candle making, mirrors and their frames, and more!

Meanwhile, the OTHER big thing is not about Pixie at all, but about my other shop, Kat ‘N Kay’s Krafts, which you may have noticed (or been wondering what I was taking about) I referred to above, not by that name, but as Fiberhaven Mavens. Along with the new name, there is a new logo, new partner in the business, and some new giveaways taking place, so go check it out on Facebook, Etsy, and our new blog! (Which, as I type this, currently has nothing on it. But it will!)

Looking forward to being back in touch with you all more as we head into this new year! Also starting my next class tomorrow so I’ll be sure to let you all know how that’s going too. Happy pixie-ing!

So . . . ‘Bout that Project . . . .

Note: originally posted here on November 4, 2019.

Alright! I keep talking about a project I’m working on that allows me to practice some things more without having to figure out what to do with the things after.

So, here’s what I’m doing: I have this kind of love of cheap costume jewelry. Not, like, the hokey plastic stuff. The stuff that looks kind of like it could be nice stuff, except the part where it isn’t. But that latter part is the reason that a lot of it isn’t wearable at this point. So I’m going through it and repairing what I can, replacing parts as needed, and generally trying to make things look nice.

Step one in this process, though, was to organize it all. Because, my little fae darlings, my jewelry box was a MESS.

Full disclosure: that’s not really what it looked like. That’s what it looked like AFTER I got all the spread-out bits of jewelry all over my bedstand gathered together into the drawers, plus a couple jewelry boxes, and got them all onto my kitchen table. The middle black section there is the row that all the drawers go in when they’re where they belong.

This is a bit more indicative of what it was actually like. That’s at least 3 necklaces, one of which is a 3-tier necklace, all tangled together.

It took most of one evening just sorting everything out, but I FINALLY ended up with:
*all functional necklaces hanging up
*a drawer of regular stud earrings
*a drawer of regular dangle earrings
*a drawer of seasonal earrings (studs and dangles)
*a drawer of bracelets
*a drawer of chains that will require repairs
*a small jewelry box of earrings that require repairs or are missing their match
*a small jewelry box of necklaces or charms that require repairs (and a chain)

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Which was probably worth this whole mess of sorting everything. Right? Pretty sure right.

So! Last night I decided to tackle the first necklace in need of major repair, my Evenstar (Lord of the Rings) necklace. It’s lost most of its gems as well as its chain, and a fair amount of its luster (having been merely covered in silver leaf). So I wanted to restore the silver leaf effect, and replace the chain, and try my hand at resin by pouring it into the wells where the gems had once resided.

The two lower “wings” have gems still but the top “wings” as well as the top and bottom center points do not.

I started by creating a new silver leaf with an oil-based silver pen. It won’t be any more “permanent” than the original silver leaf, but I can restore it on my own when needed.

Looking better already!

Then I mixed up this resin:

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Sorry, no pictures of mixing or pouring the resin because, frankly, it was really hard to take those pictures while also having gloves on my hands and trying to work fast enough with the resin and all.

…and poured it into the four empty wells of the necklace.

See the difference?

Yeah, that’s not just the camera. I could barely see the difference in person. AND while it set . . . it sort of ran everywhere as it “settled” (well the bottles DO say that it’s self-leveling) and ended up . . . not left in the wells at all. I guess they weren’t deep enough.

Still! My necklace looks better than it has in a long time, and I don’t think it suffers much for not having the gems. I added a new chain and clasp, and I’m rather pleased with it and eager to wear it again sometime soon.

Honestly, I made this chain rather short and the necklace still hits the desk when I put it on the display stand. I think I need a bigger display stand.

So I’m looking forward to working with resin again, making my own designs in molds and things rather than trying to just repair jewelry with it. I want to get some pigments for it first. Should be a good time!

And of course I’ll continue repairing my jewelry. Obviously you all don’t need to see every little earring hook replacement or chain replacement, but for any more significant repairs I’ll try to get pictures to show you. I don’t have a lot of other really huge repairs though – most of them really are just earring hook replacements or chain replacements. But I’m hoping to start practicing some soldering skills a bit more with some of the repairs (especially of stud earrings) too.

Meanwhile, yes, I’m continuing to work on my modules. And on that note: I hate statistics. I don’t think I would hate statistics if I were in a regular statistics class, but as a module that’s just reading and reading and reading, and then take a test on it . . . I hate statistics.

So anyway! Go out there and be the awesome pixie I know you are, okay? Have a great one or make a great one, whatever* you need to do!

*within legal and moral limits. Yes, I insist.

My Hair is Awake

Note: originally posted here October 28, 2019.

Yesterday, my 5-year-old put a winter hat on (of his own accord–it’s not actually cold enough for me to recommend hats yet, but it’s cold enough to not worry about him overheating from deciding to wear one). When he pulled it off, some of his hair stuck up, as is wont to happen.

“Mommy, my hair is awake! Well some of it is. I think the tall hair guy is the daddy hair and is telling the other hair it’s time to wake up.”

It occurs to me that this may seem like a really random story. I mean, it was funny. But what’s the point? How does this relate to business, or crafts, or whatever else?

At the time, I just thought of it as a funny thing my kid said. There are a lot of those. But I was thinking about it again today, and really reflecting on it.

What went on in his brain to draw that conclusion? What went on to allow that level of creativity, to decide his hair not only resembled people standing up, but also seemed like it had previously been sleeping and now was awake? I’ve heard a lot of poetic comparisons for hair (and for a lot of other things) but I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone compare hair to sleeping people who then “wake up” when the hair stands on end.

Personally, I often feel like I’m in a holding pattern. I keep saying on here that I’m going to work on this project and that, and I really am working on some of them. (The one I mentioned in the last post IS underway, but not quite far enough along to justify posting updates and photos of it yet.) But a lot of what I want to work on requires buying materials I currently don’t have the money to buy. (Working on a way to budget those in. But, you know, things come up.) Meanwhile, if I could get some of those going, I could then sell some of the items to make the money to buy more supplies, but first I have to get some of it going in the first place.

MEANWHILE (again) I’m in this somewhat unexpected (I mean, I knew a couple weeks ago, but up until then I wasn’t planning on it) break from school for the next couple months so I can finish those prerequisites. This has pushed my graduation back some, and I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to start my business. As much as I love my job, one of the big things about starting a business is that I can have my children there when I need to, and I can’t do that with my current job. I won’t be able to just leave my job to start a business, because I have to make sure my family is taken care of in the meantime.

So essentially, while progress is still happening, I feel (as I said) like I’m in a holding pattern. I know consciously that this won’t be my life forever. That is, I won’t spend the rest of my life working on my MBA and planning to start a business. Things change, things progress, time marches on, all that good stuff.

I just think that sometimes it’s good to remember why I want to do all this. One reason, as I said, is my children–not just to provide for them, but to be able to have them around while I’m working. Another reason is that I believe in what I’m trying to create–a community of people who care about the arts and quality handcrafted goods, connecting those who make them with those who want them.

But a third reason is quite simply: I love to be creative. Sometimes that creativity can get lost in the shuffle of business classes and statistics modules and trying to accomplish those around working 40 hours a week, raising 2 children, and wanting to occasionally, you know, actually see my husband for longer than the time it takes for him to drop me off at work in the morning and pick me up in the afternoon.

So sometimes I think I need to tap into the creative brains of my children. These unrestricted levels of creativity that aren’t trying to invent ideas within the confines of societal expectations, scientific possibilities, and such; but are free to be whatever they want them to be. If I can return to that creativity, learn a bit from my children that I’ve forgotten in the arduous process of growing up . . . .

If I can do that, then I know there’s still hope. There’s still reason to keep doing what I want so much to do.

Scholastic Update (whooooo)

Note: Originally posted here October 14, 2019.

That’s, like, the most thrilling title yet, right?

(Just admit it. It sent chills of excitement through you.)

BUT, I’m in the last week of my current class, and some changes are about to happen in my MBA education, so I wanted to let you all know about it.

So, my next class has a prerequisite: undergrad statistics. As it happens, I didn’t take statistics as an undergrad. I have some other classes that ALSO have prerequisites that I didn’t take as an undergrad. (That’s what I get for majoring in creatively-oriented things, then going and seeking a business-related advanced degree.) Thankfully, the college has some online modules that can be taken (relatively inexpensively) in place of that. Unfortunately, of the 4 modules I have to take, I have finished . . . one. And that one is one of TWO needed for the class (not this next class) that it counts toward.

So what all this translates to is: I’m going to be taking the next half a semester off, so that I can focus on getting all three of those modules done. I did consider making a serious push to get the module done in time to take the class, but that means I would still have 2 more modules to try to also finish while taking other classes. For my sanity, I’m just taking the time to focus on the modules instead.

This does, however, mean that my graduation will be pushed back by about 6 months, so instead of marching in May 2021 (and technically finishing in August) I’ll be graduating in . . . December 2021? I think? Honestly not even sure how it’ll work at this point.

One good point, from my perspective, is that a classmate (my only classmate who started the exact same program at the exact same time I did, due to rolling admissions and being able to start at any of 6 various points throughout the year) is doing the same thing, because she also has to complete modules. So not only will we still be in the same classes together throughout our degree, we’ll also be able to stay in touch as study buddies/encouragement/accountability throughout working on our modules.

So that’s where things stand right now with the MBA. Hopefully this will also mean a little more time to work on some actual craft stuff and post pictures for you all! I have an idea of something to work on sometime soon – something that will give me experience with some things I need to practice (and also some things I already know how to do well), and will help out in a portion of my own life.

Was that specifically vague enough for you? If all goes according to plan, I’ll work on it Sunday so I can let you all know about it next week. (Yikes. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Now I have to do it!)

(JK. I said it because that way I’m more likely to do it instead of putting it off more.)

In the meantime, have an awesome week! Give love, give grace, give compassion. Talk to you all later!

Ramblings of a Busy Student

This post was originally posted here, but it was a video post that never actually uploaded. I’m including it here while moving the blog posts from the old blog to the new website because this failed post that I left at the time because I’d thought it worked is part of the overall story of the beginnings of Pixie Elegance. I’ve never claimed to be perfect and I won’t be making such a claim.

Life is Hard, Man. Life is Hard.

Note: originally posted here on October 1, 2019.

I swear I did not forget about you all last week! I literally could not even get a second to actually type anything. Last week was crazy busy and, thinking back on it, I can’t even entirely tell you why!

Except the part where I’m working 40 hours a week. And doing my MBA. And, you know, trying to see my family once in a while. Oh, and there was an author’s panel at my mom’s library that I wanted to attend, especially since both my sister and my friend’s son were speaking in it.

Sometimes, it feels like I have little to no time for the creative side of my life anymore. Which totally sucks because that’s part of why I’m starting Pixie Elegance–to use my creative side.

But starting a business (which TECHNICALLY I haven’t done yet, except on paper) isn’t all creativity. It may be largely creativity for some people, depending both on the type of business and the person’s brain. But there are also numbers and spending a week trying to understand value chains and moving from that into the next week trying to understand how to create an effective strategy map. Sometimes, these things don’t leave a lot of time for the creative stuff I love so much.

Yet I often feel like I can’t mention this to anyone. Sometimes it feels like, “Hey, you chose to take this path so you have no right to complain.” And honestly, I don’t want to complain. I’m so excited for the plans I’m making! Every week, in my current class, the business plan for Pixie Elegance is coming together, and it’s really starting to take shape as an actual viable business path rather than just an (admittedly rather detailed) dream in my head. It’s thrilling! And while I can’t share all the details with you all yet (because, frankly, I don’t know that you want to read my papers about it, and it’s hard to explain some parts before more bits are in place) I can tell you some things.

I can tell you that it’ll more than likely start as just me making candles and jewelry, and me and my sister-in-law making soap. I don’t have a lot of it made right now, but I do have some soap, and a few pieces of jewelry, so if you’re interested in buying anything at all, please let me know! I’ll be happy to get back to you with what I have, and pricing, and what I can make on request. And at this point, pretty much all funds will go right back to more supplies so I can work toward making more and having actual stock! So you’d basically be funding the ACTUAL start of Pixie Elegance.

You’d be a hero. Just sayin’.

I can ALSO tell you that I hope to add more artisans with more artisan products as time goes by. So if you’re an artisan, please feel free to contact me and we can talk about what else can be part of the business, and how it’ll work!

I can tell you that I have very specific ideas of how I want pay for the artisans and charges for the customers to work, but it involves changing things a bit from more typical business models, and I am SO not an accountant. So, um, any accountants out there who also love crafting and want to talk to me about getting in on the ground floor as my business partner? Seriously, contact me!

Life is hard, you know? Life is hard, no matter which path you choose to take, and if you choose the path of least resistance, some things kind of end up harder. There are so many good reasons to take the hard path.

It’s okay to acknowledge that it’s hard even if it’s the path you chose.

But also, be excited for the awesome stuff. That’s what makes the hard so worth it.

What Are You?

Note: Originally posted here on August 26, 2019.

You. Not me. You. What are you?

What. Not who. I believe whole-heartedly that “who” anyone is is made up of a lot more than just a name, just an activity, just a job or career, just a relationship status, just any one thing. They all join together to create the more complete “who” we are and no simple description is enough to explain that.

So what I want to know–or, if you aren’t inclined to tell me, at least what I think we should each spend some time thinking about for ourselves–is what you are.

For instance, I’m a writer. That’s not who I am, or at least not all of who I am, but it’s one thing that I am.

But I’ve never made money by writing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I published two poems and a story story in a Christian teen Sunday school magazine in high school that I got paid a little for. But in my adult life, as someone who holds a writing degree, I do not make money on my writing. I’ve submitted only a small handful of stories or articles to potential publications, and never had my submissions accepted. One of these days, I’ll probably post one of my favorites on this blog, because while I may never have found the right publication home for it, I still know it’s a good story.

At any rate, my point is, I’m a writer. Not because I have a blog. Not because I have some best-seller. (Yet.) No, I’m a writer because . . . I write.

(Now I digress. But with purpose. I promise.)

In my current class that I just started, we had to watch a YouTube video (it’s longish but here’s the link if anyone is interested) about the role of business, and the goals beyond, and more important than, the bottom line. The speaker said that people are more interested in business if they have a greater motivating factor than just “to make money,” because that’s not really that important to us in and of itself. Extrinsic value is good but we need intrinsic value as well.

My children frequently ask me why I have to go to work. (Especially in the summer or other days when they don’t have to be at school.) I tell them it’s because I need to make money to keep a roof over our heads and food in the pantry and fridge, and gas in the car, and clothes on our bodies. And for a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old that’s about as philosophical a reason as they’re ready for yet, but there are other reasons. Of course there are.

I really enjoy my job. I enjoy stitching. I enjoy the fast-paced environment. I love my coworkers. It may not be what I see myself doing for the rest of my life, but it’s a job I enjoy. What’s more, though, I am proud of what the company I work for has accomplished, building a factory in a low-income area of a low-population part of one of the ten lowest-populated states.

(Note: I have no current statistic for this and a quick internet search for it yielded no useable results, but I’m basing this on research I did for fun (read: procrastinating on homework) during college. I went through an atlas finding where each state fell in order of population, then in order of land area, then in order of population per land area. My was somewhere around 40th or 41st no matter which way you looked at it. I’m assuming that hasn’t significantly changed in the past decade.)

I am proud to be part of a company that seeks to build a family out of the employees and foster a sense of pride in our own abilities. I am proud to be part of a company that doesn’t look at this little area and say, “Nothing big is sustainable here,” but rather, looks and says, “Here is where we need to be, how do we make it sustainable?”

At work, I am a stitcher, but I am so much more, even there. My coworkers and I are all called to be innovators. We are all called to be leaders, even those of us not in leadership positions. We are a new wave of pioneers, not forging an original path, but bushwhacking our way through to rediscover a path that our state kept well maintained, but that has since become severely overgrown.

Coming to my point now. No, really.

So what does all this about the greater purpose of business have to do with what you are? I used writing as an example of what I am. What else am I? I’m a musician: a clarinetist, a singer, a budding autoharpist. I occasionally play my clarinet or sing in church, but otherwise do not currently use those in any musical groups or performance settings. But I am those things, because I play the clarinet, because I sing, because (when I have time, which is rare right now) I practice and work on learning the autoharp.

I am an artist. I paint. I draw. I create. I rarely show these things to others because I know I’m not the best artist in the world, not even a particularly great one. Decent at best. But I do it. I do it because I love it. And these are important.

I have always had these thoughts, always debated this with others. It was a frequent topic of conversation in college, in fact. Are we truly writers if we don’t publish? What is required to be a writer? One thing I particularly liked (which unfortunately I no longer know the source of) basically said that, while you cannot be a good writer if you never take time to live life and gather life experiences, taking that time itself does not make you a writer, nor does planning stories, or any of the other trappings surrounding writing. In fact, you are not a writer unless you write.

So on strength of such thoughts, I’ve always associated this with the things typically called more “right-brained” or more “creative.” But…

(Are you ready? This is my actual point!)

The older I’ve gotten the more convinced I am that what you are has little or nothing to do with career or professionalism. It has everything to do with your heart and what you choose to do. A person is an engineer if they engineer something. A person is a mathematician if they solve mathematical equations. A person is an historian if they study history.

Now, PLEASE don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying I think anyone can declare themselves to be something and just BE that thing. If that were true, I’d declare myself a multimillionaire right now and be done with it. Notice that all these whats that someone might be require, not just declaring it, but doing it. Similarly, just doing it does not mean one will be professionally successful at it, or even personally successful at it. Unfortunately, being something doesn’t always mean being good at something. But if any of the whats that together make up the who that is you are things you can’t use to support yourself or your family, that’s okay. Your value does not have to be in how you make money to support yourself.

One of my writing teachers in college once said, “Sometimes you have to take another job to support your writing.” I think that’s true of many whats. Sometimes we have to use our work, not just to have money for the very baseline needs of life as I so often tell my children, but to support parts of who we are. Otherwise we become an empty shell of someone working to sustain survival, but not really living all of what we really are.

Go do your what, and have a great week.

What I Learned This Summer

Note: originally posted here on August 19, 2019.

An Essay by Karolyne Sloma

Jk. But I feel like that’s all I should be writing lately. I’m only two classes into my MBA and I’ve written 6 papers and 12 discussion question responses (which are essentially mini essays, complete with citing research) as well as 4 responses to classmates’ mini essays.

(Confession: I may not have actually done all 4 responses to EVERY one of the 12 discussion questions. Mostly because it takes a long time and only sacrifices a point or two if I don’t finish ALL of them, so sometimes I had to choose to prioritize finishing a full paper or test or, I don’t know, actually seeing my family, over doing one of those responses. Don’t tell my professor that’s why though. He probably thinks I lost count and forgot to reply to one here or there.)

So yeah, I’m kind of feeling like all I should be writing lately are essays. My novel has stalled. My serial short stories have all but atrophied. My fanfiction . . . um, may actually be happening still, in the wee hours of the morning and during breaks at work, because honestly, it uses less brain power and I find it relaxing. But since I publish fanfics under relative anonymity, most people don’t know that’s going on. (Well, now you all do. But you don’t know which sites I’m on or what my SNs are.)

So what’s my solution to all this lack of writing? Start a blog! To talk about . . . what I’m learning in school. Hmm.

Well, to talk about things I’m passionate about, which is really what Pixie Elegance is all about – creating a community (eventually, over time) to share passions and creative processes between the creators and the customers, so EVERYONE can enjoy the process, know where their purchases came from, and connect with each other in a more meaningful way than just making a sale/purchase!

That dream is still a long way away. And this MBA I keep mentioning is a big part of working toward making that a reality, so I do want to take a few minutes to tell you just a little more about what I’m doing with it.

So, technically, what I’m getting right now is a Master’s of Business Administration in digital marketing. I’ve just completed my second class. I haven’t gotten my final grade yet (including the last discussion questions and the final really long paper being graded) but unless I did way worse on the paper than I think I did, I should have an A in the class (even if I get a B on the paper). Also what I got in the first class. I’ve really enjoyed this summer (I started my first class in May) learning about digital marketing and social media strategy.

In this last class, I was able to choose any company I wanted and, throughout the various assignments of the class, work out an entire strategy for them to increase the efficacy of their social media accounts. I chose Silent Word Ministries, a Christian ministry to the d/Deaf, with whom I’ve previously gone on two different mission trips. Because I personally know people who work in the office, I was able to send some of my information to them (and will with the final paper as well, once I get comments back from my professor and, if necessary based on his comments, change some things before sending) to actually help them in the real world, not just in theory on paper. I love being able to do that.

I did something similar with my current job as well. Even though I actually work in production there, not in marketing, during the last class I used a few different discussion question topics, and one paper, to think through some of the things my work does and doesn’t do, and make some recommendations to the CEO or to the creative team. I know for certain that this resulted in editing some typos on the website. Beyond that, I have no idea what (if anything) has been or will be implemented, but still, I love being able to make suggestions for them to consider, whether they choose to take those suggestions or not. I love that my education can have real-world implications now, not just some theoretical time in the future.

But the thing is, these first two classes were all about the digital marketing side of this degree. Next week, I start my first actual business class.

[DUHN duhn DUHNNNNnnnnnnnn…..]

Did I mention that my undergrad degrees are in graphic design and writing? My graphic design degree had a built-in advertising minor. (Otherwise I wouldn’t have had to have a minor, since I was a double-major.) With that minor, I took precisely one business class. In preparation for this master’s program, I’ve now how to do some online modules in statistics and accounting to fulfill prerequisites that weren’t included in my undergrad. Those are as much business class experience as I have at this point. I have NO IDEA what to expect from the business classes. Marketing comes fairly naturally to me, for whatever reason. (To such an extent that sometimes I have a hard time with the marketing classes because I just sit there staring at a paper going, “How am I supposed to answer why this is a ‘best practice’? It just IS because it’s the thing that will work best!”) Business, not so much.

I know my brain. I know that if I’m determined to learn something, I can figure it out. But at the same time, I’m definitely stepping out of my comfort zone here, into something a bit unknown, and let’s be real: that’s nerve-wracking.

Still, stepping out of your comfort zone is good for you, right?

RIGHT?

Well. It is. But taking some time to relax inside your comfort zone is good for you too. Which is why I took some time, during this break between classes (during which I’m also on a week-long vacation from work) to repaint my nails.

My right hand. Not actually as messy as this close-up shot makes it look. The watering can didn’t come out so great, but the outline of the leaf looks much better than that in real life. Also, notice that the top coat smeared the ladybug a little? That was after I waited much longer than usual for it to dry. The polishes were conspiring against me, clearly.

My left hand. Better because my right hand is just a little steadier. Although, pro tip: if you struggle with painting nails on your dominant hand, use your non-dominant hand to just hold the brush as steady as possible, and move your dominant hand instead. That way, you’re moving the hand you have more control over instead of trying to control the hand that may be a little weaker and less controlled.
Also, the top coat totes smeared the leaf on this one, too. Utterly foolish of it.
ALSO also, that French tip look? That’s my natural nail. One of the few things about my body that I really like. That’s why I like keeping my fingernails mostly clear and just doing full/solid paint for my toes instead.

Fact: despite being right-handed, I’m actually pretty close to being ambidextrous.

Fact: people not only have a dominant hand, but also a dominant eye, ear, foot, etc. (Lung? IDK. I’m just guessing.) For many people the same side is dominant across the board. (Er, across the bod.) Not for everyone, though, and I’m one for whom it is not. I’m right-hand dominant, left-eye dominant, left-foot dominant, and I think left-ear dominant as well.

Testing Dominant Sides
Ear: close your eyes and have someone stand centered in front of you, but a little ways away. Have them stay quiet for a while, and then suddenly make a noise. Did you tilt your head slightly toward the noise? Sometimes other things, like alignment of your neck, can make a difference, but typically you’ll tip your dominant ear either slightly up or slightly toward the noise.
Eye: put the tips of your index fingers and thumbs together, to create a tiny diamond between them. Hold it out at arm’s length, and try to focus on something in the distance that you can see through the space. Slowly bring your hands up to your face, continuing to focus on that thing. Which eye did you bring your fingers to?
Foot: stand still with someone behind you. At the time of their choosing (without your knowing when that will be) have them push you, not hard enough to knock over, but hard enough so you have to catch yourself with a step. Which foot did you move forward to catch yourself?

Strangely, if I have headphones on and need to move one side to hear something going on around me, I move the right side to listen with my right ear, but this isn’t because I can hear what’s happening around me better, it’s because if I move the left side, the sound through the headphones comes through my right ear more “muted” and I start to feel like I’m losing my hearing. Also, most heads aren’t actually symmetrical, and when I move the headphones from my left ear I start to feel like they’re about to slide off my head completely. It’s weird.

Fact: for however long this polish lasts (which might be longer than usual since I’m not at work this week) it’s going to bother me that I made the ladybugs facing opposite directions, but the watering cans facing the same direction.

Gonna bother you too now, huh? You’re welcome. Have a great week!

See Some Stuff (ssssss)

Note: originally posted here on August 12, 2019. Some links have been updated to reflect current information but all post text is still the original text and reflects the writer’s thoughts and experiences to that date.

[Once again, I have some links to outside sites. Once again, with the exception of my own Etsy shop, I do not get anything for linking to any of those sites. And with my shop, I only get something if someone decides to actually buy something since, like, I'm not paying myself for mentions. I just want to make sure the people or companies I mention get proper recognition.]

So, I may have mentioned I do a lot of crafts. In the original sense (and the Minecraft sense, for that matter) a craft is anything being created by hand. But in the modern vernacular, "craft" tends to bring to mind (at least for me) cheap and easy DIY things that you can find in magazines and involve a lot of burlap and paint and never come out looking like the pictures; and the spicey smell of craft stores with tons of tempting supplies that you may or may not ever use; and little local craft fairs populated by any combination of incredibly gifted artisans who, depending on the fair, may or may not sell much depending on the mindset of the crowd; and little old ladies with tables overflowing with afghans in garish colors and entire equally-garish little girl's dresses and bonnets made entirely of worsted-weight acrylic yarn.

(Red Heart yarn. I'm taking about Red Heart Super Saver yarn, which is a wonderful yarn for many purposes, but doesn't tend to give a great sense of professional quality to clothes. Especially when the most garish color combinations are chosen.)

Believe it or not (after that description) I absolutely love craft fairs. I enjoy attending them, but I love running a table or booth at them. Especially if I have someone with me to watch the table so I can get a chance to check out the other crafts too, and if I make beyond my table fee so I feel justified spending some of that hard-earned money on someone else's crafts.

I grew up going to craft fairs. My father made an incredible array of various crafts, including myriad types of candles, jewelry, and ornaments of sundry and unique materials.

(A lot of the photos of his stuff have been destroyed, but if I can find some good ones I'll share some of his stuff in a later post sometimes, if you all are interested.)

My siblings and I loved to sit behind the table, making our own crafts as we tried to mimic his, wander the fair and drool over the favorite table du jour, and eat as much corn chowder (I don't know why almost every craft fair had corn chowder, but they did) as we could convince our parents to let us get.

But as an adult, as much as I love to run a table at a craft fair, it's just not enough for me anymore. For one thing, I have literally sat at a craft fair watching almost every attendee looking at my crochet critters and saying, "I wonder if I can figure out how to make that," or, "Grandma, do you think you can make that for me?" (Critters crocheted with worsted weight acrylic yarn. See? There IS a purpose for it.)

Critters like this guy. Pattern courtesy of Sharon Ojala of Amigurumi To Go. Side note: if you're interested in learning to crochet, I HIGHLY recommend her videos, as she shows you what to do very clearly, but also has the pattern written on the screen so you can learn how to read the pattern as well. If you already know how to crochet, her patterns are still amazing.
Also, whew, that lighting is bad! I just said this on my Pixie Elegance Facebook page yesterday, but wow, I really need to get my SLR camera fixed so I can have proper lighting in quality photos again!

My other issue with craft fairs is that people seem to get into this mindset of going to a yard sale (tag sale, garage sale, whatever you call it in your area) and think that everything is too expensive, entirely ignoring the amount of hours of work and the cost of materials that go into crafting the items.

There are so many other factors that go into my business endeavors. I swear it's NOT just "I'm disenchanted with craft fairs," because if that was all there was, well, I could just put more into maximizing my efforts on my Etsy shop and move on from there. And because I'm not disenchanted with craft fairs as they are, I just don't find them to be the best place to build a whole artisan business. But there are a lot of other things I want to do. I want to create a sense of community. I want to provide artisan items - artisan gifts, really - and provide a way for people to see how the things they're buying are being made, too. I really like natural ingredients in things whenever possible. I like people being able to customize things. There's a LOT I want to make happen!

The start, however, relies on being able to make the items. Right now my primary focuses (outside of crochet, which I actually don't intend to include in Pixie Elegance) are soaps, jewelry, and candles. Candles is one I'm still working on, and though my father knows a lot about candle making, I don't know enough. I tried one test candle based on some of his recommendations, and I already know why it didn't work out with the artisan effect I was aiming for, but I have to get a new tool before I can make it work right. (I'll explain all of that in more detail some day, when I get what I need to try again. Hopefully that will be sometime this autumn, but we'll see!)

So! Soap. My sister-in-law and I make soap together. At least, that's the theory. Between a huge variety of factors, we've had some difficulty getting together to make it very often, and practice soaps can get expensive without a ready market to sell them to, so we've so far only been able to make soap twice. When our latest batch sells to friends and family interested, we'll use the proceeds to buy more oils to make more soaps.

I kept telling her, "We're making it two by two with hands of blue." But she doesn't know that reference. 10 billion pixie points to anyone who does! (Pixie Points are worth nothing, unless they're a boost to your self-esteem. Then they're worth everything. Also, TOTALLY got photo-bombed by Batman. Which is just as well, since SIL wouldn't get in the picture. :P)

Our first soap was very simple. Our second soap included some tea leaves and a bit of blue mica to create a colorful swirl, so I'll show you that one since it's much prettier. I look forward to our next soaping endeavor, with plans to get into more swirling techniques as we work toward eventually making true artisan soaps, not just basic homemade soaps.

Green tea leaves in the soap, blue swirl because blue mica is what I had, and we textured the top with a spoon for fun. SIL keeps saying she wishes we could have done it in green, for the green tea, and I get that, but aesthetically, I just LOVE the way this soap came out! Also, check out her awesome photography skills, huh? Lovely! I love how she put a tea ball into the photo.

One more, just because I love how she was framing these shots. Also, we're kind of low-key selling these soaps right now, just to fund experimenting with more soap, but I do love how they've come out so far, so if you're interested in a bar, contact me here or through my Facebook page!

As for jewelry, I've made a good many, but I'll show you just a couple of my more recent ones.

This one is from this past winter, when I started learning to chainmaille. The bracelet is from a kit from Weave Got Maille, which is one of my all-time favorite company names ever. The necklace pendant and earrings were based on this tutorial that I found, though I slightly modified ring and bead sizes to adjust the size from necklace pendant to earrings.

(Fun fact: I like big earrings, as a style, but I can't stand to wear them. Anything that ends up tapping or tickling my neck when I move is a no-go. So when I design earrings for other people sometimes I create a bigger drop if I think it fits the style, but when it's for me, I literally will change an entire design just so it won't touch my neck. I've also been known to buy earrings that are border-line too big and change them to a smaller hook just so I can stand to wear them. I have one favorite necklace and earrings set that actually started just as earrings, with autumn leaves and acorns. I took them apart and kept just the tiny acorns on the earrings, and put one leaf on a necklace chain and another on an anklet. Unfortunately, the anklet broke and the pieces got lost before I could repair them.)

Anyway! Another, which is honestly bigger than most jewelry I do but was a lot of fun to make:

(And if you look really closely in the background, that's the desk of someone who's constantly creating and really bad at putting supplies away again because she always wants them right at hand. See that toothpick jutting into the right edge of the picture? That was used for applying E6000 glue to another project. By someone. Some random person whose desk is always messy. No telling who, really.)

I made this set for a dear friend who was indescribably helpful to my family this past school year, with transportation help every day when a cascade of reasons made getting my son to school each day difficult. I wanted to give her a thank you gift, so I designed this necklace for her. It's a 3-tier necklace with each chain removable to function as a single necklace too. She and I often joke about how much I love autumn and winter (and detest hot weather) and she loves summer (and detests cold weather) so when I saw the fish and shell charms I just had to get them to make something for her, even though at the time I hadn't decided what yet. I rummaged through my jewelry-making supplies and found the other stones and discs and such, all collected from various projects or various previously-broken jewelry over the years, and the colors worked so well together! I was very pleased with how it came out. (She seemed pretty pleased with it as well, thankfully!)

I really debated for quite a while about the earrings. I wanted to include one of each fish/shell type in the necklace tiers somewhere, but the card came with only two of each, which meant the earrings couldn't possibly be identical. Personally, I love matching-but-not-identical earrings, and do it on purpose even when I do have the option of making them actually match. But I wanted to design for what she would like, not what I prefer, so I kept questioning whether I should make the earrings identical but not technically match any given charm in the necklace, or make them matching-but-mismatched and each earring matches a necklace charm. I finally decided on the latter, and again, thankfully, she seemed pleased with it as well.

So! Those are just a few things I've made. As I continue forward and keep practicing and learning new techniques, I'll keep you updated on how those go. And this week is my final week of my second MBA class, so next week I'll try to let you know some things that I've learned in that, as well. Have a great week!

Okay, but . . . WHY?

[Note: originally published here on August 4, 2019.]

Wowza. Two weeks in and I'm already a day late on a post. Welp. Let's just assume that part of the process here is learning how to balance things well, and/or schedule ahead. Moving on!

Oh, also, I'll be mentioning a few different companies in this, and out of courtesy, will link to each of them. I'm not expressly endorsing OR recommending against any of them. I'm not paid by any of them. I'm not getting anything from the links. There will be precisely one of them that I technically could get something if I give you a different link, but I didn't include it because it's so not the point of this post. But if you want to know, just contact me and ask!

Pixie Elegance.

Well, it's a unique name, at least. But why Pixie Elegance?

It all started WAY back in the day . . . well, several years ago, at any rate. My oldest was just past a year old, my husband was out of work, we were technically homeless (we had a roof over our heads on a temporary basis while trying to find a new place, so we weren't out on the streets or anything, but only by the grace of God and kindness of friends), I was selling Pampered Chef at the time but wasn't getting nearly enough shows in my rural area, I couldn't find any other work either, and basically, I wanted a new endeavor that might actually help keep my little family going over time.

I enjoy making jewelry, and had actually made the necklace and earrings for my bridesmaids for my wedding two years earlier, and had just a few residual supplies from that. So I used Amazon gift cards that I earned from Swagbucks, and bought a few more supplies. Not a lot because, frankly, there are a LOT of options for jewelry components! So I just got a couple different sizes of beads, some chain, earring hooks, jump rings (a set of various sizes), flat-head jewelry pins, and a case with different kinds of jewelry pliers.

BUT I needed a name to go with this endeavor! So I started thinking through what my personal style of jewelry is. My first thought was that I love Celtic styles a lot. But then I remembered that a lot of Celtic styles include very chunky cross necklaces and such. I don't tend to like chunky styles, but rather, more dainty, simple-yet-elegant things. And yet anything simple, dainty, and elegant doesn't really fit my personality, because I tend to . . . well, I like to think of myself as having a lot of spunk, anyway. It might sometimes be more like "peppy over-exuberance," but whatevs.

At any rate, as I thought it through I basically came to the conclusion that my style can be summed up as "pixie elegance," in that I like fun and spunky things, but the things I actually choose tend to be more dainty and elegant. Although, whenever possible, I like to have hidden little fun details that almost nobody notices, like almost-but-not-quite-matching earrings or little geeky references.

(My other style is something I call "Geek Conglomerate," or, in other words, geeky references all over the place but that have nothing to do with each other - such as mismatched socks, one with Doctor Who logos and the other with a Disney princess, steampunky boots, a shirt with Captain Marvel's ensignia, long flowy brown cardigan that vaguely resembles a Jedi robe, necklace with Wonder Woman's tiara, earrings with Black Widow's ensignia, and an Egyptian hair chain in my hair. For instance. But that one's harder to fit into a business name.)

So, if that was so many years ago (a little over 6 years ago, actually) why haven't I actually made this business yet? Well, I made the logo back then and everything, and then . . . never actually started making the jewelry. I realized I didn't have enough different designs in mind.

Since then, I've started an Etsy shop with my sister (okay, yeah, technically, that link I could get something from you going to, since I'm part owner of the shop), stopped selling Pampered Chef (after several years, which I loved, but I just wasn't doing enough with it anymore), sold Norwex for a little while (I still love that company too, but what I've discovered is that even when I love the products and the companies, I don't love doing direct sales, and once I'm selling something I suddenly tend to shut up about it because I don't want people to feel like I'm trying to force things on them), and eventually started learning other things like soap-making and more jewelry techniques. (More on those and other things I like to make will definitely be in another post. With pictures! I promise I'll eventually get to posting pictures.)

Oh, and lest you be too worried about it, my husband did eventually get a job, we moved into an apartment for a few years, then we were eventually able to buy a house, and last year we switched so that I'm working and he's staying home with our children now.

Whew! Honestly, that's how it all went in my brain, but I'm not even sure I totally explained why I chose "Pixie Elegance" as the name, but I hope it answered some questions for you all. Hey, let me know in comments if you have other things you're wondering about! I'll try to post more about specific projects I've done next time.

Have a great week!

Who the Heck Are You? (Erm . . . I mean me . . . .)

Note: originally posted here on July 27, 2019.

Alright, so, a bit more about me.

I was born in a palace by the sea...a palace by the sea... could that be?

That's not right.

Waiiiiit, that was Anastasia. No, I was born in a hospital by . . . nothing in particular that I know of. But born and raised in fabulous Maine, where I've lived all my life except 10 semesters (that is, 5 years minus breaks between semesters) of college, which I spent in Florida. Now, if you're from Florida or like Florida, more power to you, but heat and I don't get along. I'm very happy to be back in Maine.

I got my bachelor's degrees (in writing and in graphic design, as mentioned in the previous post) at Pensacola Christian College, and worked as a summer camp counselor between school years. After a final post-college summer as counselor, I stayed to work in the office . . . and promptly got myself engaged to the camp director's son.

Long story short-ish, this led to leaving the camp and becoming a Pampered Chef consultant while living in the apartment that we intended to share after we married.

Eight years later, I still love him like crazy and we have two crazy-adorable kiddles too.

Awwwwww.

Anyway! What else about me? Let's see, I'm the middle of 5 kids (2 older sisters, a younger brother, a younger sister), and we grew up doing tons of crafts, as well as acting, singing, playing instruments . . . basically, we're an incredibly right-brained family.

So, if you recall, I'm currently seeking a master's of business administration. (Actually, if you don't recall it, I'm still doing it. My seeking an MBA is in no way contingent upon your recollection, or even prior knowledge, of it.) How does such a right-brained individual end up on such a seemingly left-brained endeavor? Ha! I find myself wondering that sometimes too.

Actually, after getting married, I stayed home with those aforementioned crazy-adorable kiddles for nearly 6 years, while selling Pampered Chef on the side, then starting an Etsy shop with my oldest sister, then selling Norwex briefly. Then, through a series of events, my husband and I completely reversed roles, and he stays home with the kiddles while I work in stitching at an awesome company. But seeing what I can do there, and, to some extent, what I can't (like have as much time for making crafts, or have control over my own schedule) has made me really want to pursue one of the bajillion business ideas I constantly have.

Since I know, or can teach myself, how to do the creative parts of that, what I really need to know is how to do the business stuff. So I'm seeking that education, because seriously, I have no desire to start a business and watch it flop.

So then, when I was 15 my long-lost grandmother came to tell me I was actually princess of a non-existent country called Genovia and . . . no, wait that was Mia Thermopolis.*

*But remind me to tell you about my grandmother sometime. She was quite the lady!

I keep forgetting, I'm a pixie, not a princess!

Why a pixie? (And an elegant one at that?) Well, I think that's a story for next time....