Discouragement
can mess with your mind. Just when you think all is lost and some drastic
measures have to be taken, something wonderful happens to brighten your spirit
and liven up your creativity.
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| This is one for a bride who wanted symbols of Love and Luck in purple and ivory |
Fast forward
a little over a year later and I am really discouraged about The Button Lady
shop on Etsy. I have lost interest in making button things. The work had kick
started the inevitable, hereditary arthritis in my hands, and aggravated my bad C5
disk in my neck! My attention has been 99.5 % on NaNa's Things and so I have
been thinking of what to do about it all. I was discouraged, my creativity for buttons was dry and my shop was just there on Etsy.
Then Tobi
emailed me again.
This time
she wanted three custom button frames for her daughters graduation party….still
not happening till May 2013. She said she is a Mom that likes to do things
ahead of time!
She ordered a candy themed frame to go on the candy
bar at the graduation party. Her daughter is going to the University of Iowa
and wanted one University of Iowa-ish. On the third one she wanted to showcase the
fact that her daughter plays trombone in the jazz band, the concert band and
the marching band at her high school. I was given the colors, the themes and
carte blanc to do anything I wanted.
At first I was reluctant because I thought
my button supply was low and I didn’t know if I could get all the parts
together, or if I even wanted to. She assured me there was no hurry (!). So, since
she is a return customer, which is a very high compliment, I told her I would
do it for her. It was just what I needed to help the discouragement I had been feeling.
As soon as I
set my mind to it, the creative juices started flowing. I found buttons and
frames in the colors I needed in my supplies and the paper scrapbooking pieces
I needed were readily available….except for the trombone. I had the hardest time finding one, and what I thought
was one turned out to be a trumpet! Do you know which one is the trombone?
Neither one
is!!!
I enlisted my husband to copy pictures off the internet of a
trombone and the University of Iowa logos onto this thick magnetic paper (he works
for Xerox!) that I could cut and paste onto the frame. And then they all were finally finished!!
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I got the 100% stamp of approval from Tobi and her
daughter Dakota.
I'm not sure what the future is for The Button Lady shop ( I will always be "The Button Lady" though!) but the fact that someone likes my work and my creativeness was the boost and encouragement I needed.
That is one of the reasons I love selling on Etsy. It is a networking community of creative people who encourage each other through Teams by favoriting items, putting them in Treasurys and pinning them. It is all about encouraging, supporting and helping each other.
How can you encourage someone today?
AnnMarie :)
