It's the Same Old Song and Dance

I fail at keeping up on these blogs. The few of you that do still follow know how awful I am about this.  I do still post on the Facebook page and Instagram.

We've had a lot of hits to my family and close friends recently.  It's not been fun.  Add in my oldest's mental health issues, and I've been a mess. (I AM getting help for my own mental health as well, no worries!)

My work space is still a mess with yarn and beads, books and random paper crafts.  I also have yarn and sewing projects all over the living room as well.  The dishes are piled up again in the sink and the laundry is in baskets or still in the dryer waiting to be sorted, folded, and put away.

At least there aren't an abundance of soda cans or bottles littering my desk. (Unlike my husband's, and he has the larger trash can by his!)

I have been thinking about combining my writing blog and crafting blog.  Of course, I've also been thinking about splitting the crafting social media accounts as well.  I have the two Etsy shops, and therefore two different emails, shouldn't I have separate Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts as well?  What's your opinion?  Merge all of the accounts again or separate them all further?  Or leave them as is?  I'm also posting the occasional PawPaw's Bear, as my dad is able to whip them out. (He works extremely long hours and is a Deacon at their church, has eight grandkids, and all of my mom's shenanigans!)  He's asked me to do the posting for them though, since he is even more internet/business illiterate than I am.  Should I make him his own page too?

I also still need to get with a few of my photographer friends to get new and professional product photos for my pieces as well as the bears.  This costs money, though. (I can't ask them "for a favor" unless they contact me about it first.  We all rely on our products for our incomes and supporting our families.)

Etsy Changes

So, it has been brought to my attention that I offer a very....wide....variety of merchandise and I should split the jewelry and fiber pieces into two different shops.

I actually kind of like this idea!  I don't think I'll be able to really open the second shop until after I get back to the states, but I am going to work on setting it up!  Jewelry will still be at Kypress Designs, however the crocheted pieces (scarves, hats, adult humor pieces) will be moved to another page.

BUT I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

I have a poll pinned to the top of Kypress Designs to help pick the new page name, but you can answer here as well.  Should I go with "Kypress Fiber Arts" or "Crochet by Kypress" or do you have another suggestion altogether?  Let me know.


Update: Karissa drew me a new logo/avatar after it was decided that the crochet and few sewing pieces would be renamed "Kypress Fiber Arts".  I also am working on posting PawPaw's Bears as well!  Keep an eye out for those.  (Or should those go to even another page?)

Happy 2018!!!

It's a new year! Another year has passed and I still failed to follow through with my statement about blogging. I'm sorry. I'm a horrible business person.
I love to craft and I do post a lot on Facebook, but it's really mostly just resharing other items or posts from other pages.
Or commenting on how crazy my kids and life is.

But this year HAS to be different.  Something's got to give.

Also, I'm going to Japan at the end of the month.  All by myself. I'm even traveling from Indianapolis to Chicago O'hare all by myself.

I've never been out of the midwest, let alone the country or flown on a plane as long as I can remember.  This is a big leap!

But I do this for friends that are living over there. They just had baby number 3, an adorable little brother for their 4 and 2 year old girls.  They are on mom's work visa, though, and she's gotta get back to teaching toddlers English!  So I'm going to help with that transition.

Did I mention I'm going for a month? Yeah, one month away from my own children, out of the country.  I'm a bit nervous about that.  I think I might even be more nervous about being away from them for a month than the whole traveling to a foreign country by myself.

I've been trying to learn Japanese, but I'm not picking it up as fast or coherently as I need to be. And I have a pretty decent layover in China both ways too.

But I'll be okay.

I have to be.

Because this year will be different.

Messy Bun Beanies

Well, I finally bit the bullet and made a listing for the messy bun beanies, hats, whatever you want to call them.  I'd had enough requests that I made one.
You can find them on both the Storenvy and the Etsy sites for $15, plus shipping!

Why did I think it was a good idea to say we could go to a birthday party from 7-9 on a school night? A POOL PARTY at that. My daughter still hasn't told me a thing about her friend and the party is tonight. So I don't have a gift made (Little Miss REALLY likes to give my handmade items to her friends) or bought. 

And it's a pool party. Remember all those LOVELY illnesses I fight? They make it a bit difficult to be in swimsuits let alone in the water when they are flaring up (looking at you, IBD, IBS, and hidradenitis suppurativa).

We've also got some storms heading our way; I can tell thanks to the migraine I've been fighting since yesterday. So, we may or may not have that party tonight; it depends on the storms. Whining, disappointed kids won't help my migraine if the party gets postponed or canceled but neither will the screams and squeals of excitement. 

I'm STILL trying to figure out this video tutorial thing for Patreon. But I'll get it worked out eventually. Maybe I'll just change it from tutorials to vlogging and say screw editing. I'll make it a mom/fighter blog instead of crochet and jewelry tutorials. What are your thoughts?

(Okay, I'm joking. Mostly. I'll do the craft tutorials, not the whining vlog.)

I'm working on another adult humor scarf--this time heading to Illinois! Woot woot. Of course, I'm trying to decide if it's cheaper to ship it or just drive over there at this point...