You just have to see something more.

So I was on an 'adventure' with Laine to Old Navy a few days ago and we came across a cute little purple hat with a simple flower on it.   Did I mention it was $2?  SCORE!  But seriously, when I looked at that hat all I could see was adding a couple buttons to it to upgrade it from cute to adorable. What is wrong with me?  I think in buttons now!   Regardless of my mental state, it was a fact - buttons equal adorable.

Here is the before and after.   Yep, adorable.  Happy Tuesday!

Anxiety is spelled IRS.

I always worked in the corporate world;  A.  because I was good at what I did and B.  because I was scared to death of ever opening a business because I have heard enough horror stories to send me running scared.  So when I decided to take on this very SMALL venture, I thought it was going to be a painless introduction.  And for the most part it has been (I mean I haven't even gone live yet so there's that...), but I must say, my history of always trying to find the best way to do something and anticipating what could go wrong (cough cough...event planner) is what has really slowed my process.  First, do I need to charge sales tax?  Yes, no matter who or what you are (i.e. huge corporate or mom selling knick knacks from her couch) if you are selling in the state of Maryland (or anywhere I'd venture) you better be collecting sales tax from residents of that same state. So I ask friends who also sell online and some do collect, some don't collect, some collect from all states, some look at me like I'm nuts.  Why is this such a hard question??  I am sure I've made more of it than it should be, so i call the comptroller to just get the final say.  That was a hot mess (yes, I said it).  I spoke with several people over that lost hour of my life.  First  the comptroller's office noted I was to fill out a sole proprietorship application, then I needed just an EIN, then I may be able to just use my SSN, then I needed to call the IRS to have them tell me what to do (uh hello...Maryland, you should know what I'm supposed to do to sell in your state, thanks).  Then I got on the phone with IRS; well not so much on the phone as I was on hold, but that isn't what put me off about them.  After waiting for about 20 minutes with one operator when I finally talked to someone in the EIN department she treated me like a criminal.  She was drilling me with questions and, as a first time business owner, I really didn't know exactly how to answer them.  She kept saying 'Ma'am I cannot help you in any way, I cannot give you advice I just read the question and you say yes or no.'  I guess I have to respect that but I'm sure those words didn't have to be laced with a rude snotty tone - It didn't make me any nicer all the same.  Finally, before we came to verbal blows, the woman said that if Maryland doesn't require an EIN then they don't either.  Maryland Comptroller, the very entity that sent me to IRS was now in charge of my next step.  Goody.  Thankfully the next person who answered the line at the Comptroller's office was nice, clear and got me on my way in a few minutes.  Oh how I would have enjoyed this process if I had only spoken with her first.  Thank you whoever you are; my business has survived another day thanks to you knowing how to do your job and speaking with a smile.

On to other anxieties, what happens if a button somehow pops off and a child chokes on it?  What happens if someone tries to hang the piece on the wall and does it badly, it falls and someone gets hurt? Sue-happy people give me nightmares.

What's the best way to ship items?  What happens if their damaged in shipping - is there such a thing as too much bubble wrap?

Why is PayPal separate from all the credit cards?  I have asked two people what they think about PayPal and both have closed their business accounts due to bad experiences.  Great.  I've heard many people only use PayPal so there is a rock and a hard place I've yet to wedge my way out of.

And then I look at the beautiful pieces I've made waiting for a loving home and I know these things are little hurdles I have to jump;  but they are just hurdles, once you've jumped them they are behind you.  I press on.

Who likes to cook in a messy kitchen?

So the holiday's have passed and it's time for me to really get this train in motion.  I have basically everything set up but I made one major mistake...I bought 18 lb. of buttons right before the holiday (sale duh) and I am having a hard time creating when there is an entire shelf of buttons looking at me.  "Sort me. Sort me."  Why in the world do I feel the need to get all the buttons situated before I can work?  It is asinine I tell you.  But I guess you can equate it to cooking... you don't really like to cook in a messy kitchen do you?  Nope.  Also, I am addicted to Weeds and Netflix so button sorting goes just a little quicker with some jaw dropping yuppy neighborhood humor.

A revelation.

Things are going along swimmingly.  I keep feeding my button addiction, which then feeds my need to organize, which then satisfies my desire for pretty colors.  I really like it.

I realized how much I've come to enjoy the idea of staying home with my daughter and doing this when a job opportunity came my way.  It is an event manager job and pretty much describes me as a planner, but it's about as far across town as it comes.  I found myself weighing the early mornings, the commute to and from, the inevitable long hours (as event planners keep) and thinking, "Do I really want to do this?"  Yes, I'd love the job itself, but the strain it'd put on my family, especially my little girl, doesn't sway me enough to jump on the opportunity.  I'd rather make each day wonderful for her, get to see her grow up, still do something fun for me and keep our family running smooth.  It's a revelation - I want to be a stay at home mom now.  There is always the thought of going back, for example, if such an amazing opportunity came up where it was at my backdoor, but for now, I'm happy with life as it is.  It feels good.

This is fun!

So I took the leap and made my first two pieces yesterday.  It was, oddly enough, a dinosaur and an elephant.  In true A-personality fashion I got my workstation all set before I began.  Since my workspace is my in-laws family room I was careful to protect it (paint and Persian rugs do not mix).  With my plastic tablecloth down, paint, canvas board, glue and buttons I began.

I don't think I mentioned the paint component of these projects before.  Since I'm trying to make exact shapes and buttons themselves are shapes, odds are pure button work won't create the envisioned result.  As such, I thought to lay a base of paint so that the shape is already created.  After the shape is painted I'll lay the base of buttons and then build a second layer (or more) to fill in any spaces so that, in the end, I have a multi-dimensional and very pretty piece of art.

Things I learned on day 1.  I do not need to paint directly from the stencil.  One, doing that means taping the stencil down so I'm sure to not move it in the process, but the tape didn't come off very clean from the back and I don't really want to sell a product that has tape marks.  Two, why do I need to paint on the stencil?  That's extra clean up.    I have decided to get out my handy colored pencils and just trace the stencil then paint directly on the board.  I tried that today and the adjusted plan is a success.   Good, we're learning here!

Really it was very easy and fun to actually work with the buttons.  Because I had organized them by colors (well and shades of colors for my anal retentive side) I could just bring out the color I wanted, lay them all out and pull the exact buttons I was looking for.  I laid my base coat mixing large and small buttons, then moved onto the top layer filling in all the necessary spacing and creating a cool textural layer that really makes the piece.  Soon enough I was done.   My child was still napping so I found myself with time to move onto the elephant.  I repeated the process with beautiful shades of purple and I am just in love with it.

I definitely made the right decision to move forward with this endeavor.  It is making me quite happy and I think I'm pretty good at it (if I do say so myself).

Old habits die hard.

Ah yes, back in button land.  Today's thought is reproduction (no no silly, not that kind, another blog entirely).  I have my stash of buttons, check.  From those I want to be able to create animals, monograms and other cute little shapes for each piece of art.    You want a dinosaur?   Sure I guess I could 'eyeball it', but that's not me.   That concept takes me back to when my girlfriend and I did a weekly cooking night in Orlando.  I always had to have the recipe printed out in front of me so I made sure to do it 'right'.  She, of course, threw random things in a pot and it tasted great (bitter, party of one). No,  eyeballing it is not for me.  Instead I want to come up with some sort of pattern so that the pieces will be handmade, but in the shape my mind intended (because my mind generally sees a masterpiece but my hand puts out a stick figure).

Back to getting my google on.  I am really appreciating the art of SEO.  You have to know what you are looking for to really get it right?  But I'm not sure what is right for my task.  Wooden Letters, Stencils, Foam Shapes??  I searched high and low for awhile and couldn't really find what I felt was a good fit.   Seriously,  do all stencils come in size mini??  Eventually I happened upon some great coloring books in my local art store and decided I could cut out the shapes within them, trace that onto foam and then make my own type of stencil.  Sounds sensible right?  Yes, but goodness it's a pain.  After four or five (amazing) animal cut outs I went back to the google hunt and PRESTO!  I found everything I was looking for.  Of course it was common sense - an online education supply store.  I found a lot of goodies at discountschoolsupply.com.  Fortunately (for my button addiction) and unfortunately (for my wallet) I also found tons of buttons and such here so I brought home a nice haul.

So now I have the buttons and the shapes I need to start my creations.  Step two down.

I already planned to mount these on canvases so I picked some up during random sales at my local art store, but I didn't know about canvas boards before yesterday so I ordered a few of those online too.  If they pan out the way I'd like (thinner than canvases so it looks like you can put them in frames easier) then I'll share the info. next time around.

Almost ready to actually begin the fun.

The business of buttons.

Don't you hate losing a button?  I avoid having to sew those little suckers back on like the plague.  Must have been a childhood sewing lesson gone wrong, but it's been on the 'try to avoid doing' list for as long as I can remember.  So with all the little buttons you receive each time you purchase a shirt or coat for just such a sewing occasion you'd never think that buttons are a business.  Let me tell you, they are.  Buttons are bank! With my vision of creating button art as a business, I'm going to need to buy zillions of buttons, sell my pieces and actually bring in a profit.  It was time for me to my google on. Bulk bargain buttons, wholesale buttons, ebay, Etsy, Amazon.  No matter the search term the result was the same; Still, pretty darn expensive if you ask me.

And then I found it.  The easter egg of buttons (for those of you not hip to the tech speak that is the hidden gem of buttons.  Don't worry, I'm not cool either, but I'm married to a grand supreme geek). Dickblick.com  Yes yes, get your giggles out.   Now go to dickblick.com and search buttons.  They sell a pound of buttons for $3 and change.  Do you know how many buttons you can get with that?   A lot.  I waited for a free shipping sale (fun fact, buttons by the pound are heavy and shipping costs fall in line) and made my first investment into the button business.  Fifteen beautiful pounds of bulk assorted size and color buttons.

The day they arrived was like Christmas.  I was excited to open up the first pound and start sorting my colors.  How pretty!!!  Deep purple, bright white, hot pink, navy and baby blue, it was a hodgepodge of the rainbow.    It took me a good 30 minutes to sort the first bag, and the process didn't get any shorter as time went on.  I was excited to get a couple bags done during baby naps and let some random show on netflix play in the background.  It's like relaxing and being very busy at once.  But I have to admit, by the last pound I was over the sorting process (pinks, reds and burgundies were all melding into one color I swear it!).   And here I am now, looking at a sea of sorted colors waiting to become something beautiful.  Step one, complete.