I’m giving away a 2012 calendar to a lucky reader this week! The calendar features 12 watercolor paintings of wild edible plants, it measures 4-1/2″ x 11″, spiral bound and ready to hang. {They are available to purchase here, there’s as printable version, too!}

Entries are open through Monday January 9 at 12 noon EST (entries are closed). Just leave a comment on this post to be entered & tell me your favorite thing about 2011 and what you’re most looking forward to in 2012.

For me, my favorite favorite most amazing thing in 2011 was beginning to have conversations with my little one. For reals, she’s a PERSON with THOUGHTS and feelings and dreams and joys and hurts and questions questions questions. It’s so amazing to finally be able to hear all about them. She’s still working on her sentence structure (”does I have a sister?” was the best question yesterday. My answer? “no, you don’t have a sister” and her reply was “no, I don’t. She’s at work.” Hah! I guess “work” is where people are when you can’t see them? Pretty good).

And what are we looking forward to in 2012? All sorts of big things. Growing my business in ways I have only dreamed of. Making real plans, accountability, scheming and ACTING on these plans! Yes, so I suppose what I’m looking forward to in 2012 is action! Last year was a looking-inward hibernating sort of year, just reveling in our little family life and developing a rhythm to that. This year we’re adding to that rhythm and it already feels really good. Yay 2012!

**update: the winner is Samantha! Congrats and thanks to all of you for playing along!**

I was going to reopen my Etsy shop this weekend.

But instead, I’m going to cook, and clean, and sort baby clothes. Do yoga, share photos, send presents to new babies and friends. Buy wedding gifts and eat brownies. Pet the cat. Try to be nicer to my amazing husband. Plan a beach vacation. And maybe even watch some “Master Chef” on hulu. I am keeping busy and learning to live a little simpler and enjoy spending time with Nat and John and friends and our dog. I have been mending toys and clothes, but I haven’t made anything in over a moth. And I’m ok with that.

It’s some sort of transition and I’m embracing it.

If you had told me a few years ago, or even one year ago, that I’d be leaning away from owning a small artistic/creative business to be a “homemaker” with a part-time job in someone else’s business, I would have probably said you were crazy. But here we are. I’m trying to go on a low-stress diet, and I think it’s working. More-or-less, of course.

For now, it’s a wait-and-see, and that’s really ok. Isn’t it? I still have big things up my sleeves, and I’m not abandoning the creating or the business I’ve built, but I’m pushing it a little farther back on the shelf I put it on last month. I hope it doesn’t get too dusty up there, but I think I know how to clean it up if it does.

There’s something in the air these days.

and no, it’s not just pollen or humidity

I’m talking about the idea of stepping back, unplugging and slowing down.

I mentioned the idea of re-evaluating a few weeks ago, and the idea has been growing and growing in my mind. I need some time to think, to breathe, to make space. I need space in my house, both my physical/literal house, but also my metaphorical/sipritual house. Things are getting pretty jumbled up in there. It’s been over a year now since Natalie joined our family, and I need to take stock of how we’re living. What we’re spending our days on, how we move and grow in our home, how we take care of ourselves and each other, and seemingly less important these days (but really something I’d like to become more important again) how we make money and how we work, what we DO. Because really, how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, right? I think I read that on an inspirational magnet somewhere…. but it’s so true!

here are a few of the blog posts that resound with me lately:

Christine at Lavendar & Limes went on vacation
&
Maeg at Edison Rex went on walkabout (and won’t be back at her blog/business till September — inspiring!)

So… I’m thinking of following in their footsteps. I already closed my Etsy shop for my staycation, and I think it might have to stay closed until I either have new work to add to it, or have a new brand/business to reopen it with. I’m not making any promises or grand statements or creating any self-imposed time limits on this one. I think I’ve learned my lesson with that. But I think I will be back, and I imagine I will be looking for more accountability from y’all. This isn’t even another I’m-not-going-to-blog post, but it is something of a “get out of blogging free” card, if you catch my meaning. I’m unplugging, and we’ll see where it goes from there. I feel better already. Don’t you?

Does this idea make sense to you? Does it call to you? Then do it! Unplug! Make art! Make space! Play and create and lounge and read and do yoga and garden and cook and nap and go to bed early and stop comparing yourself with bloggers/facebook friends/famous people — just be you and enjoy your life, today. Have an average day!

I am so thrilled and flattered to be Maeg Yosef’s (aka Edison Rex) Art Crush of the week! Check out the interview I did with her here!

good morning afternoon. Do I look tired? I think I perpetually do these days, but I’m working today (yay!) and getting things done! (and drinking lots of this green superfood drink to rev up my energy!)

Today I did an interview on a friend’s blog that will post soon. Then I uploaded a bunch of old (and some new-ish) images to flickr so there’s a current collection of my work there. It was getting pretty stale. And worked on my lessons from the online course From the Fishbowl to the Sea — so great! This course has me taking stock of where I am, where I have come from and where I am going in this big ol’ fishbowl of being an artist online (and off!). Being in business for myself has been so fun, but I definitely don’t think I’m running a profitable business and I am certainly running on the hamster wheel of survival and making it work but not “really” working. :::sigh::::

But really… where have I been? Sometimes I don’t feel like I’ve come very far since starting this business, but when I really look at it, I have! If anything, I have gained confidence in talking about it — saying “I am an artist” and “I am a business owner”!

I also think despite not making much work this past year (been otherwise occupied, it seems!), my style has evolved and I feel much more professional. Is that weird that I’m not doing as much work but I feel more professional? Hah. I guess I’m just not approaching it in such a carefree and casual way, it’s more important to spend time efficiently when I do get to work. I get stuck in this, too, though — I don’t want to “waste” my time, so I just end up doing little bits of things here and there, not really getting anything done most days. So here is my recent commitment, saying it to you might make it real: I want to paint more, make more, sell more! I am going to turn this into a thriving, profitable business one way or another. It might have to change completely, but that’s ok! Change is good. And sometimes welcome.

Starting with…. changing my business name? Just toying with the idea of dropping the “Designs” part…from the website anyway…. what do you think? I don’t even know how to do it on Etsy… I don’t think I can change the name there, but I could just change the banner and make it say “Laurie Coyle” with some kind of catchy tagline? Thoughts?

I had a little time to head down to my studio this afternoon (John took babybear out on some errands with him — she reportedly wasn’t impressed with the hardware store, though). I was so happy to have some time to work on my “Right-Brain Business Plan“! Remember collage? Yeah, it’s super fun!

someday I’ll give you that long-ago promised tour of the studio, but for now these sneak-peeks will have to do. Hope you can carve out some creative time this weekend, too!

that I have been trying for weeks to capture. Natalie’s new smooshy angry-looking super-happy face! Too cute for words, really. Where did she get it? Do I make this face? Awesome.

In other (but totally related) news: if you want to see more (and more frequent) Natalie updates, go here: http://upwillowstreet.tumblr.com/

And in other totally unrelated news, I’ve been attending the Right-Brain Business Plan Video Summit, and it is knocking my socks off. It’s free, & there are still 3 days left. If you wish you’d caught it last week and want to catch up, you can pay a fee and get all the videos and such to watch at your convenience, and there’s even an option to get in on some group coaching sessions and to join an online community. It would totally be worth it if you are in the process of (or thinking about or been meaning to) writing a biz plan or organizing your creative biz. Full of wisdom and actionable advice/tips. Totally awesome. Did I mention that it’s great. GREAT!

And the winner is…. Jean!! {I am so excited to send this off to you, Jean!}

Here’s her favorite holiday crafting memory:

Jean has a wonderful craft business going, Woolart, but I really hope this book helps her out in her pursuits of more craftiness in her future. We had the pleasure of seeing Jean at the BerkshrieMade Holiday Craft Show a few weeks ago, and got some awesome fulled booties for Natalie, an ADORABLE owl hat and a cute cute diorama ornament from her! I trust she’ll have more goods for sale in her Etsy shop soon… as soon as she gets a little free time from running her new farm in Maine, that is!

As for me and my favorite holiday crafting memories? One of mine is quite similar to Jean’s, actually! Every year my brothers and cousins and I would gather at my Grandma’s house a week or two before Christmas to decorate gingerbread cookies, as described in this post from last year, including listening to “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” and the Chipmunk’s Christmas album.

that's me, gazing up on my brother's cookie decorating. Circa 1984?

I also loved making these little paper Easter baskets with my other Grandma every year. We would cut out little eggs from colored construction paper, to place inside our baskets made of paper stapled together to make a pouch, decorated with a drawn-on basket-weave pattern. I really thought those were the bees knees. I’m totally planning to make them every year with Natalie when she can, you know, wield a pair of scissors, or, um, talk.

So this one time, I became friends with a very lovely and inspiring girl named Kari. We used to go out to “business” lunches when we both worked in jobs we didn’t like very much; we’d dream about starting our own businesses and being crafty everyday, and we’d talk about crazy things like having babies or writing books. Then we got the chance to work together in jobs we liked very much, and we kept on dreaming and got crafty together, Kari inspired me to develop my Etsy shop and product line, and we were always reading design and craft blogs while on our breaks. Then the store we worked at closed, and we had to move on to other things.

So maybe you can imagine that this year was a very big year for both of us, having different kinds of babies! You know about mine, but do you know about Kari’s BOOK? She wrote “The Handmade Marketplace“, which was ranked #1 Craft Book of the year by Amazon! Yay Kari!

It is chock full of all kinds of useful information about starting and running a crafty business, and selling your crafts locally, globally and online. Oh did I mention that I’m in it? Yeah, well, that was a fun perk to being friends with the author; as I’ve just been getting my business going these last few years, I was so thrilled to be included alongside so many amazing artists, crafters and bloggers such as Mati Rose McDonough, Diane Gilleland, Emily Martin, Grace Bonney, and Holly Becker; I think I did an ok job offering the “beginner’s perspective”, though. hehe.

So that’s the background. That all leads up to the fact that I am going to give away a copy of the book! It would be a wonderful gift for the crafty girl or guy in your life, or to yourself if you have ever entertained the thought of starting up your very own little craft biz!

**TO ENTER**

Just leave a comment here about a favorite holiday craft memory. This could be anything: a special handmade birthday gift from a friend; something you and your mom made together every year when you were a kid (my mom was a stellar snow-sculpture-maker!); or maybe even a baking project you embarked on (collapsed gingerbread house, anyone?). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator.

Entries will close at 12 noon EST Friday December 17. Good luck!

******

Oh and as a side note, Kari is offering her second e-course starting in January! Fresh Start will be four weeks of exploring your crafty business goals and ways to achieve them, while giving you valuable tools that will help make your dreams come true along the way! {Also, she is writing a follow-up book! It’s true! We are such lucky little crafters!}

Not like you wouldn’t have guessed, but I’m taking a little break from all things web-related. I’m also going to be putting my Etsy shop in vacation mode in the next day or two (meaning it’s closed to new orders, but you can still see things that have been sold, contact me, etc., and you can sign up to be notified when it re-opens), and I’m not sure if I’ll re-activate it before the baby bean is born or not. We’re in the middle of project basement right now, and my entire studio is going to be moving down there in the next week. Since I probably won’t know where anything is or have access to everything for a while, I figured it’d be best to put the shop on hold for a while.

So, if you have any shopping you’ve been meaning to do in the Laurie Coyle Designs Etsy shop, now’s the time to do it! If you order something in the next few days I’ll be sure to include a super special free gift, too! yippee!

As for this blog, I’m just going to let myself off the hook, ok? I miss you, but I also feel bad when I don’t post, and that’s just no good for either of us. So I’m here to officially say that until I get into a routine with the little one, I’ll probalby not be here much. There may be no noticeable difference from the current infrequency, but who knows. I totally love you, though, and appreciate all of your encouragement and kind words and your interest in my work (and life!). It really means a lot to me, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on baby-progress, as well as any new work that comes out of the new studio. I’m also planning a big before-and-after reveal of the basement space, but the project is definitely not done. Not quite yet. So until then…

xoxox