Progress & Reassurance

February 1, the date I set to open my etsy shop,  is creeping up.  I'm excited. It is my birthday present to myself.

I'm trying to keep in mind that I won't be as ready as I would like. I'm never as ready as I would like. Every little detail will not be perfect, and that's OK (wash, rinse, repeat). The important thing to is make a start and keep working. The details will come together. It is a process. This is my mantra this month.

You may have noticed a bunch of color changes here on the blog over the past few days. I think I am done messing with it for now. I was trying to match the palette of colors in the lovely little logo at the top of this page, which was donated to me by my wonderful, helpful, generous friend Annette. Not only is she a painter & illustrator (link to her site in the sidebar), she's also a talented designer. I've been sitting on her ideas for weeks. The past couple of days I finally took the plunge and tinkered with her design in Adobe Illustrator - which I don't know how to use - and in Photoshop - which I barely know how to use - to make the logo work as a web banner. (To show you how little I know about these things, I don't even know if "web banner" is accurate terminology.) I don't know much, but I'm figuring it out as I go. And I can always improve upon it later as I learn more about programming and how to use my software.

In an attempt to brand Odd Bird Studio, I've given the website a color facelift as well. Check it out. An actual menu and additional pages are coming. I promise.

In between going bleary eyed staring at the computer, I've been washing my fabric stash. I thought I had completed this chore ages ago, but somehow I'd only washed about a third of it. The final load just stopped spinning. Yippee!

To remind myself that these behind the scenes tasks are valuable, necessary and worthwhile, and to stay focused on completing the task at hand when I would rather be making actual wares for the shop, I'm re-reading Naomi Wolf's The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See. I highly recommend this book to anyone frustrated with their lives or blocked in their creative endeavors.