I know... I've been gone.

So I sort of got caught up in life but I realize that work isn't the most important part of one's life.  Before I had kids and a family, I definitely figured that hey - it's all about me.  I was a complete company person... I am talking overtime, coming in early, coming in on my days off, working late, coming in early, taking on a second job...blah blah.  You know the story.  But then guess what happened?  I had Lucian who is the HIGHLIGHT of my life.  He's stinkin' awesome.  Really and truly he is!  Then Sean came into my life - and he's an AMAZING husband and with him came two pretty neat kids themselves.

Fast forward to today... where I am working myself ragged and not having any time to myself much less time to devote to family.  So I tried AGAIN to quit my job and start a full time at home position making things and selling them.  I still dream and strive to do that... but the quitting my day job didn't go too well.  I was convinced to stay and they're making changes to the format of how they work us.  Ok.  Poop.  I wanted to quit!  BUT, this gives me new insight.  Rather than quitting and relying solely on Sean's income, let's live "light" for the next few months and save save save.  Then I'll quit.  EEE.  Exciting.  I know.  I been talking about it and dreaming about it for stinkin' years now.  Ok, like 2.  But still!

So I'm devoting my "spare" time to blogging and to starting my lines.  I have a Green line SediluGreen where I have baggies, napkins, and a BUNCH of other things like lunch bags and such - all devoted to helping save the planet.. One item at a time! 

I'll also have Sedilu where there will be cutesy things like baby shoes (OMG these I cannot wait to make!!), blankets and some cute applique tee's and such.  OMG.  I can't wait for that either!  I'll do the boutique consignments of course and I won't neglect my online persons that I heart so much!  :) 

But I promise I'll update on family stuff on this site as well as KILLER recipes and such.  It's going to be a challenge but I'm ready for it!

See you soon!  I'll update more and of course add more usable content.  Like tutorials from friends and such!  EEE!

Dinnetta

NEW GREEN SITE!

I gotta tell you something... and it can be our secret, ok? I'm totally infatuated with "green" items. I am talking bags, shopping bags, lunch bags, snack bags, makeup bags, bags bags bags. And (albeit it may sound a bit gross...) female "time of the month" items. I'm talking anything that can be reuable to reduce the amount of waste that is put into the oceans... I'm all for it! I'm completely and utterly obsessed lately. I can't stop reeling on how many items that I can make.

I've been neglecting 2 blanket orders that I've gotten from people at work (they're in no hurry to get them, but still!! It's HORRIBLE!) so that I can sew snack bags. I'm learning how to make sandwich wraps. I'm obsessed with finding neat and pop culture fabrics to make things with. It's a sickness and I don't need help for it. I'm loving every second of it.

I joined www.twittermoms.com today and I have to say - WHAT A FANTABULOUS group. There are groups for pretty much like everything. Green Moms. Business Moms. Mommy moms. Anything you want to talk about - it's there. And it's ridden with smart and intelligble moms. Smart people? WHAT?! Can it be? Yes.

Off topic, I know, but it ties into this next part (I swear).

So I am browsing the Green Moms forum (duh, I'm obsessed, remember?) and I find this post about www.gogreenetc.com looking for products to sell on the site that are green. I'm totally in. I was going to be researching where else to sell my stuff in a few weeks anyway... Why not start now!? I mean, no, my product lines aren't finished and NO I don't have a whole lot of designs, but I will - right? I mean, RIGHT? Yes. That's the correct answer... *shew* I was nervous there for a second.... Moving along...

So watch this video:



FABULOUS! I'm totally stoked.

Time Management

I need a course in time management. Seriously. I do.

I always tell Sean that I need to work. So I sit down at my machine, sew something and get up to get something from the office in the garage (really the storage room that we put my junk in) or in the craft closet which is the spare bedroom closet. And then it happens,

I see the dishes. So I stop to do the dishes. I dry them. I put them away. I remember "oh yeah, I wanted to get some ribbon" and I get ribbon. By now, 30 minutes have passed and been wasted.

So I sit down to sew again. And then it happnes...

Lucian comes up to me and wants me to play. So we go build something with Kinex. Another 45 minutes of my workday gone. It was fun and SO worthwhile. But I'm not working.

SO I try to sew again and realize that I need to do laundry. SO I figure that I can throw a load in and sew while it's washing. But on my way back to the machine I need to clean off the counters because they're cluttered. Another 20 minutes gone.

Then something else happens. Someone calls. Sean wants me to go do something. Whatever the case may be...

How much time wasted? What's the use keeping track.... because the point is that the day is gone.

So then Sean gets on my case for always WORKING. But in reality, I'm not WORKING... I'm in the house and distracted. So I get what - an hour or two at the most of actual work happening. Out of an 8 hour day (on the weekend). I try getting up early but that's just an excuse to clean. Sean thinks that I'm working too much. I think that I'm not getting anything done and need to spend time with the family (I agree... which is why....)

It's frustrating. VERY frustrating.

It's frustrating because Sean feels like I'm deserting them. When in reality I'm doing this so I have MORE TIME with them. More time in that when I'm not working my day job - I'll have all day to do what I need to do and then the night time is free - totally free. Free nights and weekends... can you imagine that? Some of you can! I can't. Not yet.

So I have decided that the time that I'm going to work is at night. The weekends will be a STRICT 3 hours of work per day (and that will probably be at night as well).

It's a start. Wish me luck. I'm going to see if I can get some tools and actually USE them to manage my time. I'm nervous. I have butterflies....

Introducing... SEDILU GREEN!

SEDILU GREEN! Logo coming soon (yay!)



I am always one to complain about the plastic in the oceans. I started using reusable bags. I HATE HATE HATE paper plates (we're too much of a society of trash, you know?!!). I don't like plastic cups or styrofoam. I limit the amount of plastic we use (ok, I try, but it's slow - just like everything in my life!). So I decided that I was going to learn how to reduce our waste beyond the plastic grocery bags.

So then the idea of reusable snack bags popped into my head. It's not a new idea - some people have been doing these for a couple of years now (if not longer!) but I fell in love with the idea (and just discovered it really!) and I'm hooked. I decided to start selling the bags in different designs on etsy and I'll be doing consignment as well.

So right now my designs include rock and roll skulls and sort of "gothy" stuff (I am in a total obsession mode with this stuff right now - and to look at me - I don't look anything like that on the outside but inside - retro and rock are busting out!!). Mod. Retro. Rock. Such a combo.

So, in conclusion I have a total of 2 (ok, 3 if you count my backpacks that I do!) going and it's harrowing. Especially only having about 3-4 hours a night to do anything! But it's going to be worth it.

Check me out on etsy (I'll have ebay stores set up by July if backpacks don't kick my rear this year for back to school which really - I HOPE THEY DO... we need the cash flow!):

www.sedilu.etsy.com

www.sedilugreen.etsy.com

www.amazingshoppe.etsy.com

I'm working up to be able to stay at home and work from the house. Oh the excitement is building daily! And the frustration too of course by me not being able to do it RIGHT NOW. But life goes on and we can only do so much. Typically it takes about 2-3 years for a business to really get in the marketplace. I'm determined to speed that process up.

In the next few weeks I'll be doing some giveaways on different blogs (mine doesn't have any traffic - YET) so my name will be out there. I just have to get my logo designed and everything that goes with it. I'm excited really...

The ideas are flowing! But nothing has materialized again. Time management anyone? I haven't mentioned that yet in any other posts, have I? HA! Such a jokester.

Marketing Op Update

I had forgotten all about me sending those blankets and such to Lucian's school for the baskets. Nothing came out of it. I think that it's because I didn't have good marketing materials.

Everything is so new to me and when I get an idea - it's going to work - no doubt about it! But then... *flat*. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I find another way that's better but I'm in too many directions.

So, I realized that what I need to do is buckle down and stay up later (which I've been doing lately) and work when there are no distractions. It's working out actually. I mean, pretty good in fact! I still need to get my time management down, but that's a work in process. What works for someone else may not work for me because I have an issue with calendars. I update them and then they disappear (ok, really I forget about them) and there goes my time management.

Out the window like a pretty little hummingbird - fly away time! Fly fly fly!

So anyway - nothing came out of the marketing op. But guess what? I did it ONCE! Did I expect to have 30 sales from ONE time doing something? Uhhh... no. I did have a couple sales from the girls at work, so that's good. I just need to get my stuff out there! MORE MORE MORE!

I'm researching marketing stuff. Wish me luck.

Logo Designing... so important!

When I first started this Sedilu Venture, I decided that I was going to whip up a quick logo. I was going to focus on baby items which is fab. It's what I'm going to still be doing. But I realized, after really focusing on boy items - that my logo (with the pink butterfly) didn't really go between boy and girl. So I changed the color of the butterfly to green and blue.








CUTE! But... I'm still not happy with it... It is still too girly. It's not modern. It's not hip. It's... quite frankly... BLAH. And I'm starting to hate it.




So I just didn't know where I was going. I was in a sort of a fog... floating through with temporary stuff like temporary tattoos - luckily I didn't spend money on designing it. I did it myself. BUT I did spend a lot of time on it... so that's about all I've wasted (and about $10 for the vector images)... but life goes on.

SO today I'm browsing the web (http://www.istockphoto.com/) for my new logo for my spinoff venture SediluGreen (which is totally cool reusable items!) and I find what is called...

RETRO. AND I LOVE IT!

I can't begin to express how I was like "oh wow! Check that out! LOVES IT! OOO! OOO!" Anything with that Olive green and brown that is sooooo in right now - Yeah. I'm digging it to the 100th degree.

So I think that I'm going to have a logo designed (you can get GREAT designers to do this for CHEAP on etsy - I'm talking like $50 compared to like $150+++ by designers on the web!) So I've been browsing for about 35 minutes over my lunch break to find some fabulous images for someone to design my store header (on etsy! YAY! LOVES THE ETSY!) and my logo for print design and labels.

I'm pretty excited. BUT - I have to remember that the logo is going to be for a long time. It's branding. Remember that branding is a HUGE part of business. People need to be able to recognize your items by your logo. It's your imprint on society and your niche. I have to think about this before jumping in headfirst (and you do too if you're starting a business or a boutique or anything!!) - is this a lasting thing that I can use for the next 10 years or is it a passing trend?

Whatever you do - don't follow trends when it comes to design and business logos. No no no! It's sure disaster when you have to redesign in 5 years and pretty much start over on branding...

But if you're not concerned about that - more power to you go for it!

I just know what I love. I totally *heart* retro/mod. Every time I see an item with a retro owl or mushroom (and I used to LOVE mushrooms back in the day - I even had clear mushroom stickers on my car tail lights - many many moons ago!) I'm a pile of "awww!"

So, that's the update. I'll be posting about my new "Green" venture and of course the ROCK N ROLL stuff I have rolling out.

Now... just to get time to.... Oh... MAKE the stuff! Now, that's a novel idea!! Making the stuff to sell it and getting it out of my head. hmmmm...

Slow going - for sure!

So this is all so slooooooow going! I had the idea that I would be sewing away and all of my ideas would be fabulous (which most of them are, if I do say so myself - haha) and I would have all the hours in the day to sew my heart out. Well. Guess what? That's not really the case, now is it? Uhhh. No.

Here's the reality -

I work 40 hours a week. I pick up the boy from "daycare" (really Karate with an afterschool/summer program - I LOVE IT). I go home. I make dinner (it's past 6 by this point). I get the boy in the bathtub. I get the boy his bedtime snack (now it's 7:15 PM). I put him in the bed. We read a book. I cuddle with him for a few minutes. Now, it's past 8 (most nights). I wipe the nearly asleep from my eyes. I talk to Sean for a few minutes. I work. Now it's 9 PM. I work until Midnight. I'm exhausted.

I get up at 6. I should get up at 4:30. But no. That's not happening!

I'm starting to realize that I'm gung ho. But... as Sean mentioned to me several times - I need to manage my time. He's so right. On the weekends when I'm working, I try to get stuff done - but in reality - I'm all over the place - I'm cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, playing with Lucian. And... in the midst of all that - I work for about ohh.... 2 hours. Boooo!

So, here it is. Time management time! I'm going to manage my time. Effectively.

Now, just how I'm going to do that is a little beyond me... Hmmm... *scratching chin*

Any help? :)