Let me set the stage. It's 5:00 a.m. Three days before Christmas. Several days prior we emptied the "teen cave" section of our basement, so it could be painted. You see, this is going to be our starting home for our shop and studio where we will be giving classes. Let me say this again… just 1 week before Christmas we embarked on a project of ginormous proportions. Why, you may ask? Answer… because, I am not always a rational person and because Tim is an excellent enabler. So, between getting everything ready for our big Christmas Eve Polish dinner and preparing for guests, Tim and I were working well into the night totally trashing our house. Ho, ho, ho.

Okay, back to 5:00 a.m. on December 22. I wake up, look at the clock, and briefly consider staying in bed. No… must get up quietly (don't want to disturb Tim who has been working harder than me) and silently coax our 3 dogs into leaving the comfort of their beds, and ours, to join me downstairs. Probably the worst thing about this whole scenario is I now need to make my own cup of coffee. I am momentarily tempted to make a terrible racket in the kitchen so Tim will join me and take over the morning ritual of making coffee, but I resist. 

After the dogs make an uncharacteristically quick surveillance of the perimeter of the yard, they come back in, each figuratively climbing back into bed, then pass out on the couch. With coffee in hand, I head down the stairs, inviting the canines to join me. Only George answers the call. Leonard lifts his head for the briefest of moments and considers my offer, only to tuck his head under a paw. Sheldon doesn't even stir.

"Hmmm. Fair weathered friends", I mumble.

So, for the next 2 1/2 hours I set to work. Let me point out, Tim and I did not paint the basement. We hired our extremely reasonable and delightfully chatty painters to spray the unfinished ceiling white, and our walls peach. (Given the fact that they were painting over dark blue, not an easy task.) 

So, here's where the work for us came in, we decided to do this properly, we needed to go through a collective 60 years of gathering and hoarding, pitching and donating, to make room for the shop. Hard work and emotionally challenging. But in order to make room for the shop's stock, which is now piling up, other things have to go.

Tim has surprisingly slept in. When I hear him up and about, I come upstairs for my second cup of coffee and to call Michelle. It's 7:30. She's still a little groggy (not a morning person 🙂

Michelle: Mornin'

Me: I can't do this. I don't know what we were thinking. I don't want to have a shop, as a matter of fact, let's close down Wee Folk Art completely.

Michelle: K

Me: That's a relief. We're done.

Michelle: K

Two hours later, I get a call from Michelle.

Michelle: Hey

Me: Hey

Michelle: I just emailed the new design for the shop. Check it out.

Silence.

Me: Awesome! This is going to be so much fun!

Some variation of that conversation usually happens several times a week… initiated by either Michelle or I. Fortunately, usually a good night's sleep puts us in a better mood… or a third cup of coffee… then we are excited again. But, the truth of the matter is, we've had a very hard time defining our next step. As we look at the accumulating stock on our shelves, it becomes apparent to both of us, that we don't want to work full time. We are excited about the shop (lots more soon about its content) but we don't want to be a slave to it. Then, somewhere in the last week, it hits us…

We are Farmer's Market people. We love gathering things together once a week, heading out to the Market, then chatting, laughing and selling. We want to do the same thing online. In other words, we only want our shop open 1 day a week, sell a limited quantity of items, package things up the next day, then through the week, get things ready for the next market day.

Bottom line… we don't want to be huge. We plan to sell crafting supplies and kits that will allow you to craft along with us. Another words… we plan to sell the things that are on our crafting shelves. We have decided that we will not be selling our patterns. We still want to offer those for FREE to everyone. (We plan to eventually offer many of our patterns in a cute, user friendly format for a nominal fee, but it won't be necessary to buy them to craft with us!) We are hopeful, that since you need to buy supplies in order to make our crafts, you will consider buying directly from us, BUT, if not, you can still make our projects 🙂

We will be selling general supplies we use, along with kits for specific projects. Also, I will be selling a VERY LIMITED amount of handcrafted items… basically the prototypes and completed projects used for photos. For the first few months, consider our shop to be in its BETA mode. We will see what works and will be looking for lots of feedback. We will also announce various classes we will be offering. If you are in the area, and wish to join us, YAY!

So, if it seems to you like there just aren't as many crafting things happening here at Wee Folk Art these days, you're right! No, we haven't lost our desire to craft, and no, we are not lacking for inspiration… our journals are overflowing with ideas, and no, we haven't lost interest. We simply have been knee deep (hmmm… neck deep) in getting our shop ready, which like EVERYTHING in life, takes longer than expected.

We are HOPING to open the shop the first Monday in February… we will keep you posted. We still have much to do both in the physical world and online, but despite the mess, we are getting closer. So, please bear with us a little longer. Before long, we hope to be crafting again at break neck speeds. In the meantime, we hope you are looking forward to the opening of our little shop 🙂 Having said that… I'm grabbing my third cup of coffee and heading to the shop. There's a chance Michelle will be receiving one of my desperate phone calls later in the day 😉

BTW… It still looks like this… ugh… but it's getting close! Imagine pics on the walls, draped silks, etc… Oh, yes… and imagine all the junk put away 🙂


  
We are slowly unpacking boxes, and starting to get stock on the shelves. Here's a close up peek at a few things…

Send good thoughts our way as we move forward… there are times when we REALLY need them 🙂