I have BIG ideas. Lots of them. They pop into my brain at the strangest times. Like right now - nothing. In ten minutes - who knows. I will share with you when it happens again.
It's been 3 years since my sweet sister, Becky Babee (BB) and I had the BIG idea to start a business making custom gift baskets. That idea came to us after I made welcome baskets for guests travelling to my daughter's destination wedding. Of course each basket had a handmade card attached to it so it was just logical (to me) that our business would include handmade cards. My Darling Daughter Amanda (MDD), designed all the printed items for her wedding: The save-the-date, invitation, program, map... Together, she and I did the basket card and I made thank-you cards, gift tags, blah, blah, blah... I'm sure you get it. The business was adding products faster than I could make a list, and I'm really good at making lists. BTW, the idea to refer to my family/support staff/co-conspirators with initial codes just popped into my brain while I was writing the last paragraph.
OK. Try to keep up. Take notes if necessary.
BB came up with the name, "Two Sisters" I added "Creations" because that was the only similar domain name that was available and we had to have a website. Right? Over the past three years I have made some baskets, cards, invitations, party favors. I paid a web designer and have had a first draft on line for over a year. Another BIG idea that hasn't happend yet. I opened a bank account, obtained the required licenses and tax numbers, designed and furnished an impressive studio in which to work and purchased way too many baskets, card stock and embellishments for all the products I have yet to produce. I have BIG ideas. Lots of them. Did I write that already?
That's enough background for now. I'll write more about Two Sisters Creations in a later post.
My latest BIG idea has been keeping me from restful sleep for a couple weeks (really months). It popped into my brain when a Facebook Friend (FBF) Ann Marie from San Antonio (AMSA) became a fan of FB page Alamo City Handmade - a group of crafters in the San Antonio, TX area that get together to share information, support one another, and put-together craft shows and events. I could envision the same type of organization here in Newnan, GA - although our small town is about one-hundreth the size of San Antonio. Even so, if we could get a group of artist and crafters together I knew we could achieve the same result albeit on a much smaller scale. The next BIG ideas would be logical extensions - an actual market place where our Newnan Handmade members could sell their products. I found a similar market place in Australia (Isn't it amazing where a Google search will lead?) and I will probably be losing more sleep planning the new Newnan Handmade Market. I'll let you know how Newnan Handmade and the market work out.
Finally, the reason for starting this blog. (I know MDD is going to "coach" me on the length of my posts.) I like to write; I have BIG ideas to share; and when I registered for the Australian Market's newsletter on their blog I some how ended up here, invited to make my own. So my most recent BIG idea begins tonight. I will feature handmade products from our area in a blog format. Maybe I will get enough crafters interested to start Newnan (or Georgia!) Handmade and work toward a handmade market of our own. Just in case, I registered the domain names for newnanhandmade.com and georgiahandmade.com because every organization needs a website. Right?
Sorry, I tried to add pictures here. I guess I need a tutorial. - djw
