Step Away From the Cake

 So I mentioned that I had gotten some of the cups I ordered. They are Stanley dupes and have gold plating under the powder coating, so when you engrave them the gold shines through. So awesome. I was afraid of engraving them. Afraid that I would screw them up. But I realized that the only way I was going to figure them out was to do it. So I took a cup and did a test grid on it. By doing that I found the best settings for engraving nice and clean. So then I attempted to make Hubby a cup and ended up screwing the placement up. I had to figure out the placement of the design. These are the cups:  I have them in this creamy white and in black. The handle is removable but getting the placement right is difficult. Using the cup I did the test grid on, I marked where I lined up the laser and then did a test run. I was able to figure out the placing and attempted another cup for Hubby. It came out amazing.  It came out so nice. The gold on the black is amazing. I love them....

 that's what I did this week. I did not look or think about my business all week. Okay, that's not entirely true, I thought about it some, but I didn't really dwell on it. I did start a sort of social media planner that I will be working on this weekend also. I did get some of my cups from China so I'm going to play with them also. And I'm going to work on how I want to approach things with my business. But that's all for later.  This week at school was rough and I'm not sure completely why. I was very grumpy and the kids were squirrelly and it made for a rough week. It could be because of my business. Trying to figure that out may have impacted my mood. That means I need to do fun things this weekend and make some progress so I feel good about things. I'm also going to clean this room, it is a hot mess. I've got crap everywhere and that makes me feel crowded and cramped. I've got new resin I haven't played with yet, definitely going to try t...

 So I started this little business about 1.5 years ago. The idea was to make a little side business that would keep me busy when I retire. I didn't want to make a ton of money and I sure don't want to work at it 40 hours a week, but just a little something to keep me busy. So I started making stuff and I started doing craft fairs. What I quickly discovered, and has been proved over and over again, is that craft fairs are hit or miss. And they are mostly miss. There has only been 2 shows where I actually made my booth fee back. Most shows end up costing me more than I make. This was highlighted yesterday. I signed up for a show that was touted as a dog rescue event. I thought to myself, this will be awesome. There will be animal lovers there. There will be people needing things for dogs. This will be great. So I had some leash holders ready to go and some key holders with dog themes plus my onsite engraving. I was ready. More importantly, I was optimistic (as I said yesterday) a...