I make stuff. I do.

I love making stuff. I love the feel of making something and knowing that it came from my heart and my brain and my hands. Truthfully I have often been a little possessive of the things I've made because of all of the me that I've put into them, but I am learning some things about making things.

If I can make it once I can make it twice. The thing with making something once is that it's so easy to fall in love with it the first time and then get scared to make another for fear of it not living up to the first. At least it is for me. But part of the beauty of making things is that they are not all 100% the same and sometimes I don't love the exact same bits about the second one as I did the first, but I still love it to bits, because it has it's own beauty, very like the first, but just a little bit it's own thing.

Sharing is caring. I had a roommate in college that used to say this and it's true. I love handmade things. They hold memories for me of the making, or of what inspired them, or sometimes how I've been surprised at how I ended up using them. I love handmade things that other people made because I imagine the making, and the inspirations, and I wonder what they had in mind for them as they made them. So, the thing is, if I love handmade things that other people made then maybe I should let other people love some of the things that I make. You know. If you want to.

The more things I make, the more things I want to make. My mom once told me that when she used to schedule time to paint every week she had more ideas for things to paint. I can hoard all my handmade-ness to myself if I want to, but I will reach a point when my home is full and my head is empty if I do that. The more I make and the more I let it find homes elsewhere, the more my head and my heart and my hands itch to make things, and when I make things I'm happy.

SO...

I am going to start selling some things. I am starting small because it's taken me a long time to jump over the looming hurdle of technology and the thing that got me over that was an impulse to post a crumby cell phone picture of something I made to facebook and see if anyone was interested. So the technology business followed in short order and the rest is coming together. What I do have together though, is a charming piece of Christmas decor that I made and it's there in my shop. There's a tab up there at the top of the page here or here is the direct link too.
http://dandykate.blogspot.com/p/my-shop.html

 Go check it out!