Scroll Saw Blog

I spent the day painting yesterday and working on my new pattern. I have come to the realization that it may be several days before I am finished. I just am not a fast painter. I don’t know if it is me or if it is my style or what the reason is, but that is the case.

I accomplished a great deal yesterday, and I am pleased I came so far. It was an incredibly busy day and I had lots of interaction with customers and friends and I got a lot of work done. For the next several days I will be working on a painting pattern. While I showed the pieces being painted on one surface, a company that I sell through (the Artist’s Club) requested that I use one of their surfaces for the design.

 am happy to say that yesterday we completed another site update. Even though I have done many projects that needed to be shipped off the the magazine lately, which meant that I couldn’t sell them just yet to my own customers, I am getting new projects released all the time that I am able to put up on the site and have new items for everyone to make.

Yesterday didn’t quite go as I planned it. Sometimes that happens, and I have learned that we just have to roll with things sometimes.

I had planned to spend the day painting, and in reality, I only had an hour or so before I was tired out and decided to call it a day.

While writing the instructions is a very important part of the creating process, it isn’t very interesting to blog about.

I spent the day yesterday working on the instructions for the four new projects that were sent out to the magazines yesterday.

What a busy, busy weekend I had! I can honestly say that I did very little fooling around, but I was still unable to get my projects finished to the point where I can pack them up and ship them out today.

Yesterday evening, I was directed to a forum topic here on Lumberjocks. The title of the post is “Scroll saws vs Lasers – Is Scroll sawing Doomed?” and you can read it here.

Today’s post will be short, as I am in the drawing stage of things and I must admit that I didn’t get a lot done in that department yesterday.

My car has just turned ten years old, and as it gets older, I realize that it will require more maintenance.

After a somewhat bumpy road of construction and design, I have finished my Christmas box.

I say the road was ‘bumpy’ because there were a few issues that I had in both the design and the execution of creating this box.

I had a good day cutting yesterday. My Christmas box is once again well on its way and I should be able to finish at least the cutting part by today. I am very happy with that and it will mean that I can button up these magazine project submissions for this issue.

I learned something yesterday. Something that I probably should have already known (and may have) but with everything that has been going on in my life, it may have been pushed down somewhere so deep inside that it was nearly forgotten. I am glad to have been reminded of it though, because it is something that is important to my every day well-being and happiness.

All in all I think I had a pretty good weekend. Lately it seems that I have been scrambled in so many directions that it is sometimes hard to feel like I am accomplishing as much as I should. I have been working on several projects simultaneously, Because of that, it has once again felt as if I was progressing at a snails’ pace.

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I wound up pretty much finishing the design that I was working on for the holiday issue of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine, and I began to map out the companion piece that I will be making with it. Usually, once I get things rolling like this, I am well on my way.

Yesterday morning, just after posting my blog on Lumberjocks and my site, the unthinkable happened – we lost the internet.

Nothing really makes you appreciate something as much as being without it, and this was no exception.

Good morning! I just want to write a quick correction to the contest sponsored by Rhinestone Canada that I mentioned yesterday. In yesterday’s post, I stated that all entries needed to be in by June 1st. But the cut off date for the contest was actually July 1, 2013.

The past couple of days have been truly busy. All of a sudden I went from being practically caught up with my designs to having several important deadlines looming over the next couple of weeks. I did not miss writing because I was slacking or taking time off, but rather I took the extra hour or so it requires for me to post to catch up on correspondence and emails and other things like that.

Today’s post is going to be rather short. I did accomplish a great deal yesterday and finished up my drawing for the next project. Today I am going to cut the pieces out and begin the painting process. That is always fun for me.

I am happy to report that I was able to pretty much button up the design that I have been working on. For some reason, it took me a great deal of drawing to reach a design that I finally liked. I can’t for the life of me figure out why this happened.

I made a great deal of progress on one of my designs yesterday, and so far I am happy with how it was turning out. It is still in the drawing stages right now, and even though it is half drawn, I still don’t have a clear vision of what I want the final piece to be.

As I am getting ready to work this Tuesday morning, I find myself trying to stay out of ‘muddle.’ I spent most of the day yesterday thinking about and considering the next designs that I would be creating, and I found myself in a place of disarray and disorganization.

I am writing today just to let you know that I am going to take a couple of days off from blogging here. I am pretty much caught up with things for the moment, and I want to take a breath, regroup and map some things out for the next several months of projects. Believe it or not, we are looking at out holiday deadlines coming up and there are many new directions that I see Keith and I taking the company.

Well, it seems that my feeling of catching up with things was a bit short-lived. Here we are getting ready to wind down the month of April already and once again I am wondering where the time is going. By the end of next week, one third of 2013 will be done. It seems almost unfathomable that we can already be this far into the new year.

 am going to keep things short today. I just wanted to make the announcement that we did get the site updated yesterday and all my new patterns are now there. I had quite a few inquiries as to when they would be available and I wanted to let you know that now they are.

This will be the final set of pictures of the new trays. When I showed this tray before, it was only oiled and had its natural maple color. While it was very pretty then, I wanted to add some color to it to brighten it up:

I finally feel that I am getting caught up with things. My little crow and cart is all packed up and soon will be on its way to the offices of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine in New Jersey for the final photographs for the project article. I really hate to see him go, but I know that he will be back one day and I will feel just as excited about him as I did the other day when he was completed.

No job should be this much fun.

I know I have said it before, and that some of you may think that I am exaggerating, but I find if anything, I tone it down.

Today I have more pictures than I will post. Little by little everything is coming together and I keep going from one project to the next to the next as things are drying. But things are beginning to come together now and I am seeing the finish line on most of the new things that I am creating.

Even though the majority of fretwork projects are pretty complex and elegant, I have always liked the charm of a more primitive style. There is something about the simplicity of primitive and country decorating that never fails to put a smile on my face. When I lived in the Chicago area, much of my house was decorated in a country style, and I thought that it had a warm and welcoming feeling to it.

Is it Monday already? This past weekend just seemed to fly by even more quickly than usual. I didn’t post yesterday because there was really nothing interesting or out of the ordinary that I had to talk about. The pile of pieces that I showed the other day was doubled and Keith and I finished cutting the 160 dozen ornaments.

This is such a busy time for me, as I have project going in many directions. The days just fly by and neither Keith or I can believe how quickly time is passing. It is Friday already and another week is coming to a close. While I did accomplish a great deal, I still have a bit more to do to button up these projects.

So how does one begin their 1000th blog post in a series?

Most of you who know me and read regularly know that I am not a ‘numbers’ girl.

What an extremely productive weekend I had! It isn’t always that I can claim that so I am pretty darn proud of all that I accomplished over the last couple of days. It feels good to work hard and actually see some physical results of that work right in front of you.

Yesterday was another great and productive day. I don’t know why things happen this way sometimes, but I wish I could bottle up the formula so that on my unfocused and unproductive days I could take a dose of whatever it is that is driving me right now.

The one thing that feels good about doing so many different aspects of a job is that you never really feel tired of doing one particular task. There always seems to be such a large variety of things that need to get done and before you have time to feel get sick of doing something, you are finished with it and on to something else.

I had a somewhat unusual weekend. Nothing really outstanding happened, but I found myself feeling quite a bit “blah.” That is unusual for me. Usually I am rather driven and focused and I spend the days pushing ahead or catching up on the rest of the world while they have their weekend.

I spent the day yesterday sorting through bunnies and taking photographs for the MUD bunny pattern packet. In all, I had made 6 sets of 10 bunnies. I made a couple of extra sets because I wanted to add them to my “All Season Tree” for the spring months.

Are you tired of seeing my little bunnies yet?

I hope not.

As promised, I gave my little bunnies a new look with a dash of some pretty pastel colors. I had mentioned that when I cut these little guys out the other day that I stacked them, so I got double the mileage out of my cutting time.

Alright everyone – get your minds out of the gutter. It gets to be rather hard thinking up over 900 unique blog titles that would peak your interest. If you are reading this far than I have done my job. And all of my bunnies are definitely ‘naked’.

I had told myself that I was going to spend the day yesterday doing pretty much what I felt like doing. There usually aren’t many days like that, but since it was one of those rare occasions when I felt like I was getting caught up with things, I wanted to take advantage of the day.

Hopefully this will be my last day of writing for a while. It seems that I spent the entire week at the computer, and while I enjoy writing a great deal, I am really anxious to make something new. I am looking forward to a weekend of doing something for the scroll saw, and also begin on working on some new painting projects.

Yesterday I finished two of the three packets that I am writing instructions for. While I would have liked to finish all three of them, it just didn’t happen. But if all goes well, I will be finishing them up today, along with completing the site update.

What a great weekend I had! I have been rather muddled because I have so many loose ends that I need to tie up and while I don’t mind working on more than one thing at a time, I think things were just getting to me a bit.

Right now I am multi-tasking. I suppose that I am always muti-tasking, but this time I am working on several different smaller projects at the same time. I have a lot of new ideas, and it seems that I just don’t have the time to finish one before I need to start on another. For a designer that is a good thing.

I should have been a banker.

Well – not really, but it truly amazes me how much money they charge to do what most would consider self-service.

Why is it that every day I get up early and I am busy all day, and still don’t get nearly what I plan to get done finished?

I am not trying to complain here, but I just noticed that and sometimes it kind of gets to me.

Well, it finally happened. My trusty little Canon IP4600 printer died.

This came to no surprise to us, as we saw signs of its failure.

I had a lot of fun yesterday. While everyone was shoveling out and dealing with the snow, I was able to work on the scroll saw cutting out my new design. I was happy because I was having fun and doing something that I loved to do. What could be better?

I have been quite busy this past week, doing many things to organize and also tying up some loose ends. I finally had some time to ‘play’ with some of the rhinestones that I received and try them out on one of the sets of painted masks. I had talked to my editor, and she was happy to allow me to write an article on embellishing projects.

I did a lot of odds and ends yesterday. You know – all those little things that we have been putting off for a while. I think I made great progress in getting things organized, and that made me feel good.

Yesterday I had a good day. I spent the majority of the day catching up with emails and communicating with customers, as well as working on the site update. I had hopes of finishing my newsletter and sending it out, but I just ran out of time and plan to get that done today.

So far, we are making it through the snowstorm without incident. I suppose that being prepared is one of the reasons why. It always seems that if you spend the time to get ready for things like this, more often than not you sail through the event unscathed. If you are lucky that is.

We had a wonderful day yesterday!

After doing some work in the morning and going to the gym, we met up with our dear friends Bernie and Ellen and their daughter Cindy at a new restaurant that just opened near us to celebrate both Bernie’s and Cindy’s birthday.

Since I am doing mostly writing and pattern work, I thought that this morning I would update you all on how our other avenues of sales and advertising have been working out for us. Even though it has only been a little over a month since we started looking into these ways to get our name out and sell our products, we are already seeing some trends and getting a clearer ideas as to which venues will bring us the best results.

Seeing that we are moving into February, it is time to do one of the most “un-fun” parts of the job – the book work. Although I must say that I am much better prepared than I have been in previous years, as I have pretty much been keeping track of things all along.

What a crazy night!

In the eight years that I lived here in Nova Scotia, I don’t remember ever experiencing winds like we had last night.

Yesterday I got a little bit side tracked. Not really too far off the path I was heading, but just enough to change gears for a day and try something new. So it was for a good cause.

I often receive many comments from people that I call ‘regulars’ here on the Lumberjock site.

First of all I want to start by thanking everyone for the kind words of support we received yesterday. After a trying day on Thursday, it felt good to hear from so many of you and know that we have so many followers and friends that do care and appreciate all that we do.

I need to make this entry short and sweet because I am already behind for the day. I was having an issue with my USB hub this morning that meant that not only did my tablet mouse not work, but I was also unable to transfer images to the computer from my camera.

I had a good day yesterday. I took things slowly and the good news is that I am feeling a bit better each day. Even better is that I finished drawing up the six mask patterns for scrolling on the scroll saw and will hopefully be able to begin doing some cutting today.

Yesterday I had some unexpected things thrown my way. For some reason, my body decided to show its age in a somewhat nasty way. While getting up, it seems that something went awry with one side of my lower back, causing me a great deal of discomfort. There was no warning with this and I was just standing up when it happened.

We have all heard the saying “Good things take time.” As I work on these new ornaments, I am finding that statement to be true. While in my mind I start out thinking that they could all be done in a day, in reality, they cannot. I still have too many ideas jumbled up in my head and I have to do all I can not to be overwhelmed by them.

Several days ago when I was working on cutting out one of my candle trays, I had an idea. I am not really sure where it came from, as it was completely unrelated to anything that I was working on at the time. But as I was cutting away and listening to some music, it just appeared out of nowhere, and I got somewhat excited.

Another weekend has quickly passed us by. Most of the snow has melted here, and there are only remnants of the piles that were left from plowing only last week. The weather has settled into that dull and dreary pattern of not really cold, but definitely not warm either.

After my recent posts on our different types of marketing we are doing on Ebay, Etsy and Amazon, I have had several people ask me to keep you all posted as to how things were going.

As most of you realize, these avenues (like any other advertising campaign) all take some time to develop and bring returns.

Today will be a rather run-of-the-mill day, if there is such a thing for a designer. We finished the site update yesterday and everything new is posted and the newsletter is out and all is well. That always feels like a good accomplishment.

I had a good day yesterday finishing up my new snowflake candle tray and getting some instructions written. I know the tray looked finished yesterday, but I wanted to see how it would look with a little tint and – yes – some sparkles added to it. I was certainly not disappointed.

As usual, I am the queen of underestimation when it comes to time. Thank goodness my job and life are fairly flexible and the things that I do aren’t completely reliant on my own estimations as to how much time a particular project would take. If that were the case, I would be lost.

I spent much of the day yesterday drawing the new design. It was one of those that I drew one way, than after spending several hours trying to get things to work one way, I decided it would be better to approach things from an entirely different direction.

And so we begin another year.

With all this talk of resolutions and promises that people make to themselves, it got me to wondering.

I had a wonderfully productive day of finishing up phase 1 of my new tray yesterday. As the day before, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the saw and seeing the tray come to life was a fun experience.

I was also pleased with the good response that I received from everyone regarding the design.

It’s hard to believe that it is the end to another week. I suppose holidays do that to us all. I suppose that any time our routines are changed so much that it is difficult to get our bearings. And next week will be somewhat the same.

I must admit, I had never heard of “Boxing Day” before moving to Canada. I still don’t know if I really understand what it is all about, but I do know that it is always on the day following Christmas and just about everything here in Atlantic Canada is closed.

Well everyone, the holiday is finally here! I am going to make this brief today (YES, Really!) because this little elf is still wrapping and cooking and knee deep in a mess! (Isn’t is FUN though!) The cats are wild because of all the additional activity and the frige and pantry is full of yummy goodies and I got my wish – there is SNOW on the ground and trees which make our little place look simply magical!!!

It’s funny how we have ourselves conditioned to do certain things. As we do the same tasks day after day, we tend to fall into certain routines and lifestyles. This doesn’t happen over night. For most of us it creeps into our life and then before we realize it, things become a habit.

It’s still raining here as it is around most of north America it seems. It rained all day yesterday and through the night and I am beginning to wonder if we are going to have a white Christmas after all. I suppose that makes most people happy, but I would much prefer the white stuff to cold, wet rain.

Another weekend is behind us and those of us who celebrate Christmas are more likely than not scuttling around trying to get things ready in time for the day. I have memories of those days when the children were small and the family was large and I sometimes find myself looking back and wishing that I had slowed down a bit and taken the time to enjoy it a bit more.

This is quite a busy time of year for all of us. I find myself pulled in several directions at once, even more so than usual. Yesterday I spent a great deal of my day answering emails and questions and hunting down information.

In my recent posts, I have been discussing different ways to apply patterns to wood for scroll sawing. Since last year, I have noticed that the quality of the spray adhesive that I was accustomed to using had been on the decline. The brand I have used for the past several years has been Elmer's, and while I first thought it just may have been an isolated incident (perhaps a bad batch) I have since purchased it from several different locations with the same results,  and heard similar stories from others who have used it that live a great distance from me, so my only logical conclusion is that they have changed the formula.

It felt rather odd not writing yesterday, but this was quite an unusual weekend for me. Those of you who read regularly know how uncharacteristic it is of me to miss a day of writing, as I usually am doing things that pertain to my work here and I like to share the many ways I find to be creative.

It began with a shelf.

On that shelf, I discovered a small box that contained some ornaments that I had cut and finished several months ago.

After several weeks of what feels like being under the gun to meet deadlines, it is time for me to take a breath. Not a long one mind you, but there are things to do and see and experience and if I don’t take some time for myself, I think that I will go crazy – or at least feel a bit burned out.

After quite a busy day yesterday, I am happy to say that I almost accomplished everything that I set out to do. For me, that is as good as anything. While I didn’t get my little tree changed over to Christmas yet, I did finish painting the new ornaments and charms for the pattern packet.

Part of what I love most about my job is that I get to ‘play’ and make cool things. While there are certainly many other requirements of running a business and keeping things in order, I still feel very fortunate for being able to call what I do a ‘job.

I have written about this before, and I probably will again. I once again participated in an ornament exchange that was set up by the scrollers on Steve Good’s forum. It is an event that I look forward to every year, as it gives me a chance to experience not only the work of other scrollers, but also enjoy the friendship and sharing that it entails.

Today was one of those mornings that I couldn’t wait to get going. I got up a little earlier than usual, and went back to bed, thinking that I would get ‘one more sleep.’ But lying there and thinking about what I was going to do today was too much for me and I just had to get up and get started.

I woke up this morning and it was already light out. That alone told me that I had overslept. But there was a reason for doing so, as it was quite a ‘busy’ night.

It seems that Keith’s cold has quite a hold on him.

The day couldn’t have gone any better. It was a busy one, but everything turned out so nice and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

These days I don’t do much entertaining.

I love to tell a good story. Especially one with a happy ending. Today I get to do just that.

A couple of weeks ago, I had written a blog about my keyboard dying.

I am finally getting caught up with everything here. It is amazing how a couple of days away can create such a backlog of things to do! (Perhaps I am not such a slug after all! LOL)

Yesterday was a busy end to what turned out to be a wonderful weekend.

Keith and I decided to take our final trip of the year to Halifax yesterday. With the cold weather inevitably approaching, we made a quick decision to take off yesterday and spend the night at our favorite hotel and enjoy some shopping. I’ll keep this short because we have limited computer access, but I will be back tomorrow. I just want you all to know!

Have a wonderful day! :)

Yesterday was one of those days where I did a lot of busy little things and worked toward getting everything in order. While I kept busy all day, if I were to have to talk about what I accomplished, it probably wouldn’t seem like it was very much. But sometimes those days are very important, as they help lay the foundation so that everything runs smoothly.

Yesterday was a good day. I did accomplish many of the things that I set out to do. One of the most important things was that I finished editing the video on how to drill the depressions for the embellished ornaments and also demonstrates a couple of cutting techniques for those ornaments.

It’s one of those ‘perfect’ Sunday mornings today. Fresh coffee laced with cinnamon. My little ‘all season’ tree glowing a soft orange light (yes – I have orange lights on it for the autumn season!), Pancakes curled up on my lap as I type with the sound of Vivaldi cello concertos playing softly.

I am extra anxious to get started working today. After the little hiccup that I had mid-week with the keyboard drama, I felt I was getting behind in my own schedule. But yesterday was a good day, and I stayed focused and I was able to finish drawing the next 12 ornaments for a new pattern that I want to have done by the weekend.

In a world of high technology, things are bound to get messed up sometimes. Such is my little world here.

A couple of days ago, Kieth got a new mouse.

There is something about working together with wonderfully talented people that really elevates my own level of designing. Even though the company name is “Sheila Landry Designs”, there is far more to the company than just me and my own creations.

As I said yesterday, I was away for most of the day and didn’t return until late evening. It was however, a productive day and Keith and Bernie got a great deal of wood prepared for cutting on the scroll saw. We were running rather short of thin ornament wood and now we will have a decent supply that should last us for a while.

I’ll first start off with saying that I had a great drawing day yesterday. I finished drawing up the project I showed you yesterday, and even went over everything and ‘fine tuned’ the lines. I am very anxious to begin the cutting process and see how they look when they come to life.

We made it through the day and night with little incident. It appears that the storm took a turn inland earlier than anticipated and we are out of harms’ way. Besides some rain and a couple of gusts of wind, we did fine.

It seemed to me like I spent the past week rather stuck in the mud. Between fighting this silly cold (which can’t decide if it is going to be a full cold or not!) and working on some of the older patterns, I didn’t seem to make much forward progress.

It’s already a beautiful day today. The sun has fully risen and there isn’t a cloud in the sky. It is cool out and calm, and the leaves are turning their final shades of amber before falling. How nice.

Yesterday, while I was drawing some new designs for the magazine, the postwoman came to our door with a package. I can’t say that it doesn’t excite me whenever I receive something through the mail. Whether I ordered it or not, it is always fun to have a package delivered and see what is inside.

I was going to take Sundays off from posting, but there were a couple of things that I wanted to talk about today. I think that I will revise my plan to make posting on a Sunday as optional thing for me to do. After all, I am the one who makes the rules here when it comes to how often I post.

I am going to keep things short today, not because there is nothing happening, but because I have been busy working on the new patterns and everything is rather going according to plan.

While that is good news for me, it doesn’t seem to make very interesting reading.

It seems that these past few weeks I have lived a rather ordinary life. (That’s not a complaint!) It has just been a bit more of a challenge for me to think of some interesting things to write about. But recently, a friend of mine shared an idea with me that got me thinking.

Even though I planned on taking the day off yesterday to do some painting for myself, I never touched a paint brush. I suppose there was just too much else that was going on and I wound up working on that all day.

House cleaning.

It isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do (in fact – there are few people that I know of that enjoy doing it) but it is something that is necessary to keep our lives in order and make things run smoothly.

It seems like the last few days have been a blur. Like when any holiday weekend occurs, things sometimes tend to be kind of messed up. Here in Canada, we had Thanksgiving on Monday, and many things were closed. But because of circumstances, we celebrated on Keith’s side of the family on Sunday and we went to Bernie and Ellen’s (my ‘Canadian Family’) yesterday.

I received a couple of emails yesterday regarding my post of Saturday. They expressed concern that I may be giving up designing scroll saw patterns and looking into something else. I just want to come out and say for certain that it is not my intention at all to do so, and if I led some of you to think that I was heading in that direction, rest assured I am not.

Yesterday was one of those days where I accomplished a great deal, yet by outer appearances you wouldn’t think I accomplished much at all. It was one of those days I spent tying up loose ends and answering correspondence and filling orders and getting my computer ready for a backup.

I am feeling a bit more like myself these last couple of days. And that is good. I must be honest and say that these past couple of weeks have been trying on us. After the issues of a couple of weeks ago came to light, it really has shaken me to my foundation. Things are still up in the air there, but I have really and truly refocused on other positive things and avenues to follow.

I’ts funny how time off can mean different things to different people. While some people live for the weekend to totally switch gears and not think about their jobs until Monday, there are others who really don’t mind their work, and take each day as it comes and enjoy it.

Adding something to things doesn’t always result in improving them. Sometimes the best way to make something better is to take away from it. That is certainly true when you scroll saw.

There are so many reasons that I love scroll sawing.

It seems that no matter how old I get, I never get tired of exploring new things and learning. While I do consider myself somewhat nostalgic, I also love technology and learning things on the computer.

Recently, we have been looking into some new things for the business in order to help it expand into other areas and grow. While these things are quite exciting, the newness of everything was beginning to somewhat overwhelm me, and I was feeling rather anxious the other day.

Many times when we hear of two people having ‘differences’ we think it is a bad thing. The mere term brings to mind visions of conflict and discontent.

But when looking at things from another perspective, perhaps as an artist or creative person, differences are not viewed as something negative, but rather sought after in order to provide value through uniqueness and individuality.

When I woke up this morning, something occurred to me.

Isn’t it nice how each day brings with it the chance for a fresh start?

I know we have all heard that saying – “When one door closes, another opens.

I forgot to mention that I had some good news the other day. I had talked about the new ghost and pumpkins stand up figure vignette and how I was thinking of offering the wood pieces as a kit for the painters that don’t have access to a woodworker or cutting.

I had a decent day yesterday. I did accomplish a lot, both physically and also I got a lot of thoughts in order regarding the ongoing issues that I am dealing with. Again, both Keith and I truly appreciate the support over the last couple of days, and many of you have asked how you could help.

I don’t know where to begin today. I am truly feeling ill because of some things that are happening with my business. Those of you who read on a daily basis, know that I typically don’t gripe and moan about things, as I usually try to look at the bright side of things and focus on that.

This one is going to have to be quick. I had some things I needed to get done this morning and I am running a bit behind. Plus, with the handicap of Pancakes on my lap, it makes it hard to type fast.

Well, I know I said that I was going to have more pictures of the finished ghosts, but I kind of changed my mind on things and it is going to take me another day.

Yesterday was a really good and productive day.

I had a good and productive day yesterday. While I had hoped to finish drawing and begin cutting, I didn’t really get that far. But that is OK. Sometimes things happen for good reasons and I believe that was one of those times.

I must admit it isn’t one of my strong points. For as long as I remember, I really don’t like doing numbers. I suppose that I get by well enough. After all, I have made it through over half a century and done OK.

So far it is the perfect morning. It is quiet and cool and I even had to throw a blanket over my lap (besides my cat Pancakes) to keep warm. I love it when the nights and mornings are cool. I sleep well and feel better in the long run. I am sure that later in the day it will warm up, as it does every day.

After over a week of feeling a bit overwhelmed and anxious, I am finally feeling like I am getting caught up and back on top of things. Although struggling with attending to several things in many different directions, I think that I made a good dent in things yesterday and hopefully by today I will be caught up.

I want to get back on track today and have a productive day. It seems to me that yesterday was the type of day when I got some things done, but didn’t feel that I accomplished anything. Perhaps it is because I didn’t really finish anything, but rather just pushed several piles forward a bit.

It will be a flurry of activity here in a bit. There is much we need to accomplish today. Besides filling the order at hand, we have to be in Halifax for Keith’s brother’s wedding this weekend and won’t be here. I mention this because I don’t think that I will be able to write tomorrow or Saturday morning and I know there are lots of regulars who will wonder what happened.

I did not have the best of sleeps. There was a lot on my mind that is unsettling and kept me awake much of the night thinking. It wasn’t all bad (in fact, one part was very positive) but the potential for things going either way was present and overshadowed the good possibilities.

It’s another early morning today. I suppose I am excited about all that is ahead of me today. It is a new day and a new week is beginning and I can’t wait to see what is in store. There are good things happening all around and allowing them to unfold before me fills me with anticipation.

It seems like a long time in coming, but I will finally be heading to the saw today to do some cutting. I was on such a productive roll last week and it seems that this week things just got away from me a little bit.

Yesterday was a busy day, but from the outside looking in, it may have seemed that I accomplished little.

There were many things going on and errands to run and I spent the bulk of the afternoon and evening doing things away from the house and planning on the next projects.

These past couple of weeks have been by far the warmest of the year. While I understand that most people have it worse, I can’t help but think if it is this warm in Nova Scotia, it really has to feel hot everywhere else.

I started off early today and now after a couple of hours of ‘doing things’ I don’t seem that far ahead of the day. But that is OK, because I was in the process of planning out my next design and I got distracted.

I am happy to say that the new patterns are up on the site and completely ‘completed.’ While they were finished yesterday, I wound up spending some more time re-taking photos and working on fine tuning things of that nature. While everything looked pretty good yesterday morning, I knew that I could do better on the presentation photos and we had a beautifully bright day so the lighting was optimal for re-shooting the pictures.

No matter how many years I work with the magazine, I never get over the feeling I get when I have one of my projects featured on the cover of the magazine. There is a wonderful feeling of pride and accomplishment that comes with being on the cover, as it means that the publishers believe that my project is nice enough to entice readers passing by the news stand to stop and take notice, and perhaps purchase the issue.

After showing the snowmen ornaments in which I had used the crackle finish, I had many people write and ask me questions about the product. I thought it would be a good time to try out the new camera and make a video showing how to apply the product.

My goodness it has been a hot summer! While it is slightly warmer than normal here in Nova Scotia, in reading posts from my friends all over the USA, it has been brutal. Summer, as many of you know is not my favorite season. I still maintain that I would rather ‘bundle up’ to get comfortable than to be nearly naked and still hot.

I awoke early this morning (even early for me!) I suppose that I was anxious to begin the day. It was still dark out, which is unusual these days, as most of the time by the time I get up the sun is already beginning to illuminate the morning sky. I can feel the days getting shorter though, and I know that it won’t be long before I will be writing here in the dark in the mornings.

Like any other Monday, it was our day to go to the gym. After getting all of my usual stuff done here around the house, we headed out. The day was already beautiful by then, with the sun warm and the usual morning haziness nearly gone. We decided to put the top down on the car, and enjoy the morning air.

Yesterday I spent pretty much of the day getting the pattern ready for the site update, as well as doing the update itself and writing the newsletter. It still takes me a bit longer than it probably should to do the website things, but it did get done and I believe that it what is important.

I can tell that it is getting lighter just a bit later every morning. Its just that time of year, I suppose. Already, even though it is still quite warm, you can feel autumn coming. I don’t know how, but it is just a feeling I get. It has nothing to do with calendars and logic and things like that, and it is quite undefined.

Sorry for being so late everyone. I am still trying to catch up on things. My email box is still full of things I have to attend to and I hope to accomplish catching up with that today.

I spent the evening uploading pictures to my Picasa account and I mapped everything from the trip out so that took some time.

Boy, am I excited today! There is so much that I have to cram into the day, I don’t know where to start. I have one adventure ahead of me and I am finishing up on the adventure of the video series here and I am wrapping up the submissions to the fall catalogs today and closing out my next magazine article.

Yesterday was a different kind of day. I had some time alone here at home because Keith had some family things to do and was gone for the entire day and night. It is rare that he is not here, as with both of us working from home here we are usually both here together.

Just when I thought I had enough to do . . .

I was cutting out my recent project the other day and I was thinking (THAT is always dangerous!) I have been getting a lot of questions lately and I have talked to many newcomers to scroll sawing and for some odd reason I had the urge to teach again, so I thought I would do some more videos.

I suppose that there will always be deadlines that I have to think about. But that is a good thing – the more deadlines, the harder I push myself. I think that is one of the reasons that I am here everyday writing. By writing about what I plan to do, it puts it out here for all to see and that somehow keeps me pushing to get what I say I am going to do done.

Yes – I am timing it. It was either that or nothing and I know if I opted for ‘nothing’ that I would hear from some of you. It is nice to be loved! :)

Today is going to be a busy one.

It feels odd this morning writing and not being able to show the work that I did over the weekend for the magazine. I am not always good at keeping surprises, especially on such a large scale. I tend to be more like a child and share my own excitement about something new that I am doing.

It doesn’t take long after finishing one project to figure out that there is still a lot more to do. One thing that is for certain is that I will never be bored.

After finishing up the new ornaments and patterns yesterday and getting them posted on the site, there was little time to rest on my laurels and sit idle.

Yesterday turned out to be a good and productive day. I not only finished up my ornament set, but I also finished the drawings for the next project that I will be offering.

I really liked working on these.

I started my day today learning something. I suppose that is a good way to start things off, even if it wasn’t your intention. Some days I am sure we can get through the entire day without learning a thing. Here it is before 8am and I already learned something important.

I was really happy with the response that we had from the newsletter. We posted several new projects which were mostly Keith’s because of my time being taken by the two painting projects, and we had a lot of people come and get the new patterns.

It had been a while since our last newsletter – I thin the last one was sent out the end of May – and I like to touch base with our customers and update the sales even if we don’t have a lot of new things to add.

While a good rest was very much welcome and needed, it is always good to get back to being productive. It had been quite a while since I so shamelessly took the day on with such unfocused abandon. While I don’t see it becoming a habit with me, it was fun for the moment and did wonders for not only my physical being, but also my mental attitude.

It’s all done and ready to go out the door. At approximately 9:30 last night I packed the last kit up and I have six 25 lb. boxes ready to be picked up by Purolator to begin their travel to the distribution center. I think every part of my body ached as I zipped the last zip lock bag closed, but I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment and relief.

Two steps back. Well, you all probably have heard the saying.

While we were forging ahead yesterday, I was finishing the last of my printing when I came across an error.

We had a really good day cutting yesterday. One thing that I learned early on when doing a project was to do the most difficult parts of it first and save the easiest part for the end. That way, you tackle the most difficult parts when you are fresh and excited.

It wasn’t as if cutting any of the pieces were difficult, but some of the shapes were certainly easier and quicker than others.

There are some days when I just wake up happy. Now I am not delirious or (too) goofy or anything like that. I am just content and pleased with the way things are heading and look forward to the day that is ahead of me.

Is that a bad thing?

I don’t think so.

Things are moving right along today and we are well on our way to getting our large order filled. It is amazing how much work can be accomplished when two people work together as a team.

I look back to a couple of short months ago when I was taking on this project by myself.

Many of those who read work with power tools on a regular basis, myself included. Those of you who know me know that I do everything possible to keep my workplace clean and safe. One big part of that is organization. Removing the clutter that you have around you when working with power tools allows you to focus completely on what you are doing, not what is next to your work table and possible vibrating and falling onto the floor.

With all the new storage boxes that we acquired the other day shopping, it was inevitable that what would follow would be an organizational session. Many people comment on how we are able to keep so organized running a business from our small place. Even Ellen (who is notorious for being neat) said something to me when we stopped there on our way home.

Today will be my day off. Really it will. Even though I am sitting here writing this morning, when I am finished I am going to get ready to head out for the day. Already the sun is shining and it promises to be a warm and mostly sunny day today. It is the perfect time to get in the car, let the top down and take a ride along the coast and relax.

While I would like to start of the week here doing a victory dance because I reached all the goals that I had set for myself yesterday, I am afraid that isn’t the case. While I gave it a valiant effort, I didn’t quite finish what I wanted to do and the ornaments that I am working on will have to ship out tomorrow instead of today.

As I reread my post of yesterday this morning when responding to comments, I decided that perhaps I should try to take some of my own advice.

It is funny to me how it can be easier to advise others sometimes while not adhering to that same advice for yourself.

I got a late start writing this morning. Even though I have been up a couple of hours, I have been busy doing some more research on printers and also working on some Photoshop things. Before I knew it the time got away from me.

The more I look into things, the more I think I will go with the Canon Pixma IP4920 computer.

I can’t remember the last time that I had so many good opportunities at one time and had such a strong purpose in my life. Each day when I wake up, there are several directions to head in, and each one is its own adventure. I am liking the way the business is heading. It is fun and satisfying and as I check each new thing off the list, I feel a good sense of accomplishment and I feel good that we are growing and expanding.

All was quiet yesterday and all went well. I spent the majority of the day working on cleaning up the files on my computer as well as backing things up. It was the grand finale of my organization stage of the game and I feel pretty good that not only is everything in order, but duplicated on an external drive.

After the crazy pace that I had been working the past couple of weeks, I spent yesterday slowing things down a bit. While I still have plenty to do, I know that if I step back and take a breath, I would be in danger of feeling ‘burned out’ and over done.

I often receive emails from people who wonder how I avoid feeling overwhelmed and burned out.

Well, today is going to be a really short story. I have much to finish up and the clock is ticking away. Yesterday was quite a bit of chaos, with our wall of computers needing to be rewired. I suppose it didn’t need to be done, but Keith being Keith, he wanted it done right.

It appears that I have found the solution for the dilemma that I was having regarding dividing up my time. I suppose that part of being a designer and the process of designing is that we learn more about ourselves every day. What may have worked for us at a certain point in our life may not be a good solution today.

I never said I had all the answers. Part of this journey through life is figuring out things and learning from others and our own experiences – a pretty significant part at that.

In feeling the pressure from ‘both’ aspects of my work calling to me (the painting aspect as well as the scroll saw aspect) I came up with a plan earlier in the week.

As you all have probably realized, things have been really busy here for us lately. It seems that the business is growing and that is a great thing for us – especially considering the way the economy is these days. We are really happy and feel so fortunate that things are working out, and we also realize that there is much to do ahead that is both fun and exciting.

I made some headway yesterday on things, but I still need to remain focused. I realize that this is a time of opportunity for me and I don’t want to let it pass me by. I suppose that puts a bit of pressure on me, but I am rather used to that and in some ways I think I even thrive on it.

What a beautiful Sunday morning it is! The temperature is cool, the sun is shining and there is a soft and gentle breeze. It is so quiet and peaceful, I can hear the river across the road. Even the birds are quiet this morning, with only one mourning dove cooing periodically. It is certainly going to be a wonderful day.

If you would have been a fly on the wall here yesterday, you would have thought we were actually working! Things were really rolling here for most of the day. The printer was humming all day, spitting out page after page of patterns and all the while we were sanding, gluing and then ultimately scrolling out the pieces for the new kits.

I woke up this morning to the sound of the birds singing outside. There seems to be a family that decided to build a nest in the tall evergreen tree near the bottom of our steps right off the deck. The cats like that, as there is plenty of activity to entertain them from their window to the world.

Choices. We all have them and make hundreds of them every day. Some are automatic and simple (do I want cream or milk in my coffee) while others can be more difficult and have a lasting impact on our lives or businesses.

This is especially true if you have your own business.

Today will be a day of cutting and printing patterns. Yesterday I was unable to get to the saw at all and we spent the day in Digby, picking up wood, paper for the patterns, visiting our friends and checking on one of the shops where that sells Keiths’ pens. It was a full day, and by the time we arrived home it was almost dinner time.

Well yesterday was just a dandy! Even though it poured rain and the wind was howling most of the day, it didn’t put a damper on my spirits. I got a lot accomplished AND I discovered something that was pretty cool. It was a great day!

In receiving the new for a second order on my Halloween painting kits, I knew I needed to kick it into high gear.

I had a pretty decent day of work yesterday. As usual though, I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. There always seems to be lots of things to do that get in the way of woodworking and designing. It seems that Mondays are like that sometimes, as I am catching up on the things once the weekend is over.

I am afraid that I don’t have much to talk about this morning. It was a quiet day yesterday. I spent most of it drawing and working on the next projects that I will be making.

Keith is still sick and spent most of the day resting.

Well, I just don’t know what to think.

It isn’t even 7:30 yet and already my day started with ‘adventure.

Hey! Wait a minute! Isn’t it just starting to get warm out? It is here in Nova Scotia anyway!

While most of you are starting to get the garden ready and dreaming of days at the camp or the pool or the beach, I have been sitting here humming Christmas tunes to myself and getting my projects ready for the holiday issue of Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine.