You're probably thinking this is a picture of my booth during the set up process.

Nope.

This is what it looked like when I was done setting everything up.

The wind was incredibly crazy. I didn't want to risk having my stuff getting blown away, which is why I kept them in boxes. And even the security of the boxes wasn't enough! There were a few times when I had to run out to save my prints! And someone else's table display got knocked down and a tent almost blew away!! Yeah, it was crazy fun.

I will admit that I left early because of the weather and people just weren't interested in buying anything. The festival crew only promoted their stuff, all of the free activities, not any of the artisans. (So, yeah, that was nice of them.) So families were only coming for the free Quidditch, puppies and ropes course, which, I don't blame them! They looked super fun! But it left all of us vendors out in the dust.

Although it stinks that I lost a bunch of money, at least I learned something: I can never ever do outside events. The weather is just too risky. My signage and products in general are just too fragile (I sell paper for pete's sake!). My first event I did, it was really hot. The prints inside my vellum bags were making condensation from the ink! So, my products were almost ruined. Then at this event, because of the extreme wind, I couldn't set up my displays. And I worked hard to make as much use of this space I had. Big plans. Sales. But I won't get into that. It just stunk.

So that's what I learned. I'll keep to indoor events, where the temperature and weather don't matter! What matters is if the event team does their job to advertise and promote the event, which is also something I learned from this event. They did not do their job in helping get the word out. I need to stay leery of event teams such as this. It's incredibly rude to take vendor's money and not do anything in their power to help!

Anyways, just getting the steam off my chest.

If you came, thank you for coming! If you came to see me and I was already gone, I'm incredibly sorry! It was just not worth it for me to sit there for 4 hours with no buyers. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't doing it for the money. Instead, my husband came to bail me out, take my tent down, got pizza, and we spent the evening watching The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. So a much happier ending than getting frozed to death with all of my product being blown away.
I was really proud of the chalkboard sign I made. The wording took a good half hour to master and keep straight.
My stuff all huddled together so it wouldn't blow away.

The making money part still hasn't happened, so I pretty much just forgot about it and just kept my nice little raspberry bowl to myself. It turned out ok with printing it onto the canvas, but it really looks more blue/grey than a white like how I want it to look.

It'll do.
So I don't know how long it's been since I made peace with myself that this idea will probably never happen, maybe 3 years, out of nowhere I finally came up with a solution to bring this print line back to life:

"Draw it. Yourself."

When this idea came to me, it scared me so bad! I am in no way that great of an illustrator! So I pushed it aside, but then it came again, and I was like, "You know what? It doesn't hurt to try. And I could either try and succeed or try and just be where I'm at. I have nothing to lose or all to gain."
I'm debating about making options to buy all 4 in 5x7 sizes (with only one having the "Eat Happy" on it), but I figure if there's a demand, I'll do it. But for now, all are available in my usual 8x10 size, ready for framing. I haven't posted them onto the shop yet because I want them to be exclusively available at the Provo Spring Festival this weekend. But later I'll add them on so they can be purchased at ease online.
And there you have it.

Eat Happy.

Who is excited about the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie release next week?? We are all over that movie and seriously can't wait! #nerds

To share my excitement, the "I Love You. I Know." print and digital download are 20% off now until April 14th to celebrate. Use code: FORCEAWAKENS20 at check out to get the discount. Print can be found here at my Etsy shop and comes in the colors red, blue, green and yellow watercolor backgrounds.

May the force be with you.

Isn't she cute? She is 3 months now. It's crazy to look back and see how fast time has gone by and at the same time, it seems as if the days are crawling away.

I was so scared to do the baby process all over again because my first was incredibly difficult for me. But it was what I knew I needed to do and it was the choice I chose to make; to continue on with having a family.

The first month was actually really good. Almost too good. The first 2 weeks were really rough, but I expect that's how it usually is for most people anyways. A woman's body goes through so much! Anyways, I was hoping the first month was bound to set the tone for the rest of this child's first year and I would be able to breeze by and actually enjoy my baby.

I guess God knew I needed to learn a lesson, so expectations kicked me in the face and surviving the day-to-day quickly became my struggle.

As I fed my baby, I would surf Instagram and Facebook. I kept comparing myself to other stay-at-home-self-employed-working-moms because even though they just had a baby or one within the last year, it seemed as though they never missed a beat!

"How do they do it??" I would say over and over again. "It's been 2 months and I still don't have my life back together! Let alone be able to work!" This led me to a little dark hole that maybe I should just quit my designing because obviously I can't seem to find the time while raising a family. But every time those thought arose, positive thoughts of staying true to myself miraculously floated my mind.

I need this. This is what I love to do.

Even if I feel like a failure, my family still believes in me. My sister-in-law is always sending me stuff I should try to make. My sisters give me opportunities to design for them which always helps me to get out of my mom-funk. And I can't help but feel like I have good ideas. Ideas that I can share with the world and might bring about future possibilities.

When I started this blog and my designing and Etsy shop, the goal was to never "make it big" or be the bread-winner. I just thought I could use my talents to bring in some extra cash. But of course the thought of actually possibly making a living off my Etsy shop has crossed my mind, and when that happens, that's when I tend to bring myself down.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, although my path through life isn't what I expected it to be, with a baby who sleeps through the night and takes 3 hour naps throughout the day, family comes first. And even though I'm making family my priority, one day I will be able to bounce back to designing and be able to focus more on my Etsy shop and DIY's.

So thanks, guys, for sticking by me even though I'm not a regular blogger. I really appreciate it.