My New Project

First, I will apologize to my pottery followers.  This is completely removed from anything to do with mud.  But I did sneak some creativity into my current project.

I've been working on getting the shop ready to open.  We've gotten the preliminary approval from the township and have sent the application to the state for our dealers license.  In between piles of paperwork I've been painting the office.  We settled on English Racing Green as our official color to tie in with the name Highlands Auto Exchange.  And because I can't stand boring white walls I thought the checker board was appropriate.

New wall before (yawn)

New wall after

Now we're very fashionable (I think)

Prior color was Painters Tape Blue

The view from the shop is much  prettier.  It overlooks the Musconetcong river across the road.  I might have to take up fishing.

View of the shop from the road

Craig had the brilliant idea of displaying and, hopefully, selling pottery in the office!  He's a genius!  So this is the wall I'm thinking of putting up some shelves/displays.  Maybe we'll do a special:  

"Buy a car - get a mug"!

=D

From Nothin' to Somethin'

The past 2 weeks have been mad busy and I wrapped it all up by catching my son's cold (thank you VERY much!).   So I spent most of today just vegging so I'll be up for working at the new shop this week.

While we were away, our carpenter, Jim, did a great job moving and removing walls and doors.

Wall was moved about 6 ft. to make the bay bigger.

So on my agenda this week is priming and painting the office area.  We've decide on English racing green and white as the company colors.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh, I haven't mentioned too much about the business have I?  It's called Highlands (hence the green) Auto Exchange and for the past 2 years Craig's been working with a friend who has a used car lot.  At this new spot he should be able to get his own used car dealer license.  It's been a dream of his forever to have his own lot and it looks like it's really going to happen.  He works so hard and I'm so proud of how well he's doing.

I've been doing his bookkeeping from the start but I really want to do more to help lighten his load.  So, hopefully, I'll be in the new office pretty much full time.  We're building a website and applying for the dealers license, etc.  It's quite a big switch to go from the sidelines to the front office but I am so up for it.

I have been blessed with a husband who, after 20+ years, is still my best friend.  We've been through our valleys and have come out stronger (Thank you, God!).  He has been so supportive with my pottery business and recognizes that it's my passion and not a silly hobby.   I hear from many artisans that their spouses don't support their craft as much as they'd hope.  I don't always recognize my blessings but in this case I do.  So now I have the perfect opportunity to reciprocate the support he's shown me.  And I'm so happy to do it!

Also, I must give a big shout out to Craig for being the star of the ASP auction fundraiser Saturday.  He did an outstanding job!

Well, I have to laugh.  When I started this post it was entitled "I Got Nothin'" because I wasn't feeling very inspired to write but felt a need to post something.  Apparently, I got somthin'.  =D

Temporarily (I hope) Refocusing

Unfortunately, pottery as taken a back seat recently.  Fortunately, though, it's because Hubby's business is moving again.  That doesn't sound very fortunate since he moved in January but the space he's in now is zoned industrial only so he can't sell cars retail out of that location.  One of his dreams has been to have his own used car lot.  The arrangement he's been working with is a little complicated and I won't bore you with the industry lingo and details that I barely understand.  The new location already had a car lot there so that makes it super easy for him to apply for a dealers license.

I had a craft show this past weekend and usually that's my focus for the week leading up to it.  This time I had more of a "Oh yeah, I have a show Sunday." reaction when looking at my calendar.

Loving my new table covers, btw.

The hippo bank was my first sale of the day!

The show went very well and I really should have more scheduled for the spring but the thought of having to spend hours in the studio under pressure to get my inventory restored (did I mention the show went very well?) in addition to helping Hubby out with getting the new store ready, birthdays, getting pics done for eBay listings, bookkeeping, working on our ASP mission fundraiser (tickets still available!), entertaining In-laws, Easter, taxes, spring cleaning, more birthdays.... (gasping, head spinning, holding wall for support!)  Holy heart failure, Batman!  When did my life get so busy?

So, I'm going to take the spring and summer off from doing shows (though I might do the one in June at the Bethlehem ice rink.) and hopefully, hit the circuit really hard in the fall.  We'll see.