Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

[Bluebird]

A local witchy store is having a pop up event in May and they’d like me to vend. I’m fairly certain I could handle it because it’d be small. I’m thinking about it as an alternative to the other small Ren Faire if I’m not accepted there. The Ren Faire would DEFINITELY have priority if I was chosen. I’m going to get more details on the local market though. I definitely have plenty of stuff that is pagan themed to add into my designs to fit the aesthetic of the event.

My nephew is here! He drove down from New York to stay the weekend to see DarkKnight’s show. My daughters are going to come for dinner tonight along with TheEngineer and his wife, as well as two of my friends. I bought a pack of tickets so we can all attend the play together. I’m excited!

The rest of the day today I am going to finish my strawberry corsages. I completed five headbands yesterday, including one that was commissioned directly by a friend. (Special one not shown.)



My craft space is definitely seeing use everyday as I prepare for Ocean Renaissance!



My booth is slowly taking shape as I continue to add displays and come up with ideas on how I want it to look.




The stuff behind the table is my regular dining room decor - I haven’t gotten my curtains in yet to hang up to block views from the straight-on angle yet. MisterMoonbeam gave me his photo studio backdrop to use for that - you can see the frame! - but the legs are very wide and I think I may purchase a set up with T-legs rather than the shape that I have going on now - they telescope out in a triangle shape and it takes up too much space. I’m thinking about it.

I’m working on a strawberry-themed garb outfit for the summer, and so I can do a “get ready with me” Instagram reel with my product. I’m also trading some garb right now so I can be all set for what I’m wearing to the Ocean show. One of them is going to be straight teal!



That’s a cropped vixen with D-ring hardware with a new style of pockets, a mad hatter hat, a wench corset, a blouse with a Sgt pepper vest on the hanger, and a falling waters tulip skirt. Squeeee! I also have the matching bracers which aren’t in this picture.

Speaking of garb, I got back my wedding corset from the seamstress yesterday and oh my god. I can’t believe this is me!



I haven’t lost more than 2 pounds since restarting Mounjaro. I’m just kinda hovering in the low 170s. My doctor said to expect this since my thyroid meds prescription isn’t solid yet. My metabolism is a hot mess. Still, I can feel changes in my body and I am losing inches in places!

Anyway, I will be wearing this corset to Ocean as well, as part of a daily look and with a huge matching overskirt to update it for one of the dances. I need to take a day and try on stuff with MisterMoonbeam. Today is not that day!

 

[Bluebird]

I had a fun weekend and I have a plan for this week, so life is good!

Twelve of us got together and saw DarkKnight perform in Heathers on Saturday, including my nephew from New York, TheEngineer & his wife, my two daughters, and friends. It was such a good show! I bought everyone dinner at the Dog House and then had a hefty bar tab as well. Worth it.

I have another long to-do list coming up today. Actually on my calendar is MisterMoonbeam’s singing practice, but while he is at that, I will be going to Costco and stocking up our garage freezer. TheEngineer is gonna meet up with me and do some shopping at the same time - a very practical date! Our new generator is still in the box as we haven’t had time to unpack it and check it out. Plus it’s been cold. I’m hoping it warms up a bit this week so we can go out there and check it out and learn how it operates.

I am going to shower this morning and then call my insurance company. I want to get liability insurance and coverage for the products I make, with my business. It’s important to me. I hope it’s not a lot for the year. I guess we will see. I want a separate policy. I might have to wait until my DBA comes in, but maybe not. I have a state tax ID already.

I was accepted to vend at the Maryland Garb Sale this summer, but I wasn’t really worried about that one. It’s a big indoor yard sale where everything is Ren Faire related. I paid for my spots (it’s two days) and got it on the calendar.

I ended up having to pull out of the local witchy event before I got too involved with it. The actual date didn’t work out because I have tickets with DarkKnight to visit NY and see my nephew’s show that weekend. I am thinking I will reach out and talk to my mom then as well. I have to see how my therapy goes with that though!

We hosted D&D on Sunday and that was another good time. The next session is already on the calendar.

Besides insurance stuff, budgeting is my priority today. I need to clear some credit cards with the cash I have in the bank and create my expenses spreadsheet for my business. Almost everything I’ve purchased has been on one card, but I have paid for some things with my regular bank account so I need to get those recorded for tax purposes later!

I have more items arriving this week for my booth - I had to buy more acrylic headband stands and I am getting my shit together when it comes to having a count of how many items I plan to take with me to my first show, and beyond. I’m doing better with my wooden clips and on Wednesday I’m having a date day with TheEngineer where he’s going to show me how to use his laser cutter to design my own. I want to make some in the shape of cryptids - bigfoot, mothman, etc. The ones I have finished so far were store-bought and pre-painted fantasy and nature ones that I altered by attaching an alligator clip to them. Not too fancy, but a great low-cost and low-effort item. I have a bunch of blanks pre-cut to shapes like gnomes and fruit, that I am going to paint myself this week with the same purpose. 3/$10! TheEngineer’s cutter is like an $800 model and he cautioned me on spending less than that, so I’m not in the market yet to buy my own. He said it prints super quick, so I should be able to take the ones I plan to draw (on the schedule tomorrow) over on Wednesday and have them all print out a ton and done then. Then I just need to figure out when to paint them.

I’ve solidified my headband + corsage offerings - those are going to be $30 for a set. Each of my 3 bookshelves is going to have a shelf of 4 different designs, so 12 unique sets! As I am making them, multiples are going into boxes that will be on the bottom shelf of the bookcase, so as I sell something, I can take another out to replace it. I did a blueberry themed one, to go along with my strawberry sets! I only have one of these, but I plan to make a second today, first thing.



I have raspberries and lemons I’m going to use in a similar way this week. I would also like to do one for Winter, one for Autumn and a few with butterfly clips for Spring. I need a darker, horror themed version as well, but that many might be too much this week. It seems as though I can crank out an entire set with multiple copies in 1-2 days. It would be a lot faster but I have to secure the corsage to the bracelet and that glue takes several hours to dry. I’m really only actively creating for 2 hours or so a day. If I can increase that, I’d make more but I’m happy with my output so far.

I made three of these with corsages yesterday. They take 25 minutes - I know because I did a video with my new ring light tripod stand! So it’s not too long if I’m not interrupted.



No makeup and I didn’t even brush my hair in that pic - it was first thing in the morning yesterday, right after waking up. I was feeling creative and went and knocked these out of the park! I’m hoping these would sell at Pride.

Hopefully I will hear back from the other places I submitted to soon. I’m hoping for the Southern Maryland Ren Faire in May and Baltimore Faerie Fest in November. I plan to try and get in to Ravenwood Faire and GoblynCon (that’s a new event this year) but I’m a little hesitant about selling out of state. I was also okay with selling at Masks of Mischief in Virginia - I was accepted to that already but it’s a small event. I need to pay for my spot for that date in September.

 

[Bluebird]

Okay, right now I’m thinking I’m NOT going to submit to Ravenwood or GoblynCon, because I instead applied for Oakenmist Ren Faire! Keeping my fingers crossed that I get into that event. Right now I’m waiting to hear from three events (Southern Maryland Ren Faire, Oakenmist Ren Faire and Baltimore Faerie Fest) and I’ve been accepted at two (Ocean Renaissance & Maryland Garb Sale). I was accepted at Masks of Mischief in Virginia but I have not yet paid the booth fee. I’m not sure about selling out of state and the timing would put me in crazy mode if I did get accepted at Oakenmist! I do want to apply to my city’s Pride festival but I have yet to see a call for vendors to that.




I was alone today but DarkKnight came home for lunch as he had a sleep study pre-appointment this afternoon. He starts his Mounjaro tonight - I am excited for him and I hope he loses a lot of weight! I have two boxes of 2.5 plus a single additional shot that are all extra for him to use, as well as at least 3 boxes of 5.0. So it should give him a good start at zero cost, since his insurance won’t cover it at all. His doctor said he was clear to take it, in spite of him not writing a prescription. So, yay!

I am suddenly down a couple of pounds so I am finally off of the no-lose plateau I’ve been on since before my thyroid removal surgery in November. I think I mentioned earlier that I feel like I’ve been losing inches in various places in spite of the scale not budging. Honestly, if I never lost another pound I’d be very happy, but my dietician wants me in the 160s so we will see. I’m bouncing around between 171 and 177. Right now I’m at 173. The endocrinologist says she’s just wanting me to maintain and not gain while they muck around with my hormones. So far, so good.



I have to say though that I am thinking I really need to get some skin removal surgery. My abdomen is all flabby, empty skin. I’d definitely go down a couple of pants sizes if it was done. It is uncomfortable and I don’t like it. Obviously I am not going to look into this further until I’m at a stable weight and my system is solid on meds. It’s nice to dream about!

Now that the weather is improving (it was 60 degrees here yesterday and today!) I am excited to get out to hike again. I’m still working on hitting all of the Maryland state parks. It’s not in the cards this week but maybe next? Hopefully the weather is good to go!

I went to Costco with TheEngineer last night and I spent $500 on packs of meat and some frozen blueberries. Oh, and freezer bags. I feel like this was a good start to having a backup. The generator I bought is still in its packaging but the plan is to make space and check everything out this weekend if the weather permits. DarkKnight is researching a smart plug that will send a text message to alert us if the freezer shuts off for any reason. We wouldn’t be able to see if an outage is just in the garage! LittleMichigan came over with her boyfriend a little bit ago and we gave them a box of meat to take.

Today I called and get both liability insurance and coverage on my inventory for my business. For a million dollars in liability coverage it’s $36 a month, and that also includes $5,000 in coverage for my physical inventory for right now. I paid to start it and I’m good on that.

I also set up an Excel spreadsheet for tracking expenses. I think I’m going to take pictures and screenshots of all of my receipts and orders and save those too. I wanna do this right! I’m still fuzzy on if I’m supposed to break out what I bought into categories - like do I need to track the tax I pay to places like Michael’s and Amazon? I need to figure that out. Does it matter if I bought flowers vs a headband holder? Paid a booth fee or bought a corset to wear at a specific event? I need to know how best to track this stuff.

I got an email this morning rejecting my trade name request because my middle name was filled in the ownership section on the application, but it isn’t on my tax form. Sigh. They let me delete that extra info at no cost and resubmit. I’m like uh, okay. Thanks for that.



I made a couple of more headbands yesterday including a copy of my blueberry design, but I didn't get the corsage done until this morning. I made two other floral headbands, and I have both a corsage and a headband on the table, with their glue drying for later tonight or tomorrow. I have a good system down with headbands and corsages at least. This week and next that’s all I am focusing on making. I’m going to work on jewelry while in Arizona - in the hotel room, and when I get back I will make bigger flower crowns.

 

[Bluebird]

I made two pink beetle headbands with matching corsages - and oh the little bug is so precious! I also made two burgundy & gold headbands with a gold clip-on bird, but the corsages are drying overnight.

This morning I had an electrician over and he fixed a loose outlet in what used to be my basement storage room, but is now my inventory space/shipping room/photo booth. I also had him upgrade a 2-prong outlet to a grounded plug. We get a free electrical inspection every year (we pay for a service contract which includes electrical, heating, cooling and plumbing visits) and he fixed a broken bulb that was stuck in a backyard receptacle for free. The light pole next to our front walk stopped working and sadly it’s a couple of thousand to fix because a trench needs to be dug. Fuck that. The pole itself is ugly and I’m cool with it staying switched off until we dig up all the front landscaping. We will replace it then! I also had him look at the garage door switch but he said we could change that ourselves because it’s a broken spring. A new doorbell will fix it? My guys can do it, I’m sure. Otherwise it was $88.

I spent the entire afternoon at TheEngineer’s house. I sent him a picture from Pinterest of a display stand I wanted for my booth, and he freaking BUILT IT FROM SCRATCH. I paid $87 for plywood and dowels, and he knocked it out of the park. I didn’t even know that sort of thing was possible. Like, I knew it was possible, but he literally had every tool needed and knew how to use it with zero hesitation. I was so happy!

Pinterest inspiration:




Item built for me:



CRAZYPANTS

He’s designing little domes that fit into the tops of the dowels, which I will 3D print over the next couple of days. He’s also designing feet for it. I’m going to paint it sometime next week.


Here I am today with my bubble braids! I made an appointment to chop my hair next Monday. I’m gonna lose the bottom two elastics!

 

[Bluebird]

So the week has been good. I’m right on time with my headband/corsage production totals (based on what goals I set for myself).





I have realized that the slap bracelet corsages I’ve been using only come in glitter/shiny and in white/black/gold. This isn’t ideal. I fruitlessly searched for other options online and they just don’t exist. I need red! I decided to try purchasing regular slap bracelets and seeing if the plastic corsage slide-on sleeves fit over them. I mean, it seems like they should? I cannot find these plastic thingys ANYWHERE, sold separately. TheEngineer seems convinced that he can lasercut some out of thin leather, which would be way better than the plastic they’re made out of now.



So we will see. MisterMoonbeam has his pagan choral practice on Monday night again, so I think I will meet up with TheEngineer then to play with his laser cutter. We didn’t get to do that last time. I am thinking about buying one, but the cheapest decent starter is like $800 so I am not interested yet. I have a ton of hair clips and pins that I am going to be selling that come from one, but until I can see that I can make money with them, I’m not going to invest. Now, if I can also use it for my corsages, that makes it much more enticing! We will see.

I have been approved for my DBA and I have an appointment on Monday with the bank to open a business bank account. I don’t yet have a federal EIN though, as I got rejected online and the phone help told me I needed to fax a form. I did that and it’s like 14 days to wait. So I am not sure if I can use my social security number or if I will have to reschedule. No biggie if I have to wait.

I’m going to Kink First Contact this coming Friday night and I am apprehensive. I haven’t been to an event in well over a year, and definitely not with this new body. Both TheEngineer and MisterMoonbeam are going to go with me. TheEngineer has never been to the Baltimore Playhouse, so we will see how it goes. Right now we don’t have any plans on getting a hotel room or anything - we need to figure it out. Normally I prefer a lot of holding time after I’ve been subbing, so I’m not sure how that translates if I’m being dommed by two dudes!

I’ve had individual conversations with both guys, and I feel good about my boundaries being respected. MisterMoonbeam is great about making sure I feel safe with rope, and we’ve been in situations where he allows others to tie on me for practice, so I am confident he can direct TheEngineer in that regard. TheEngineer is upbeat and positive about accepting direction. So we’re on the same page with that. They’re both pleasure Doms, so I don’t think I have to worry about too much - just bliss - if I can just get out of my head about this new body shape. I am self conscious still. I will definitely be talking about it more in therapy on Wednesday.

Today both my guys are home. I just did budgeting through til May with DarkKnight and MisterMoonbeam. Things are good. In a short bit the guys are finally pulling out the mold-filled refrigerator in the garage and taking it to the dump. It got moved into the new house with food in it (I forget who was in charge of this but only the freezer was emptied) and then left unplugged. Yeah. We haven’t opened it in ages because fuck that. They’re also HOPEFULLY finishing up dismantling the old exercise equipment in the basement and hauling that off to the dump as well.

This is all in preparation of me starting to use the van to go to shows to sell my floral headpieces. I need more space than my hatchback provides! So I want to clean out the van and make it nice. Part of this is hauling off the biggest bunches of trash this weekend so we don’t need it for anything else for a bit!

My booth is coming along nicely. I this morning I ordered some under shelf led lights to try out. They should arrive tomorrow. I got a new gold frame and set of curtains for my backdrop behind the table, and I think it looks good! I liked it enough to then buy two more frames and sets of curtains for the sides of my booth, behind the bookcases - they are arriving tomorrow as well. The curtains will need to be hemmed - my seamstress says she can handle that in a couple of weeks, so that’s good news.





I’m on the lookout for two navy blue or gold director chairs - I want taller and comfortable! My current pics have two of my dining room chairs being used but those need to stay in my house!

Upcoming expenses include those chairs ($300 budgeted), and I need to pay my graphic designer on Friday when I get my logo! ($350) Then I have to order my die cut business cards ($200?) and print some stickers. Maybe make a stamp? I also need to order a banner (maybe another $300 for those?) At some point I also need to figure out packaging - I need bags and tissue paper when my customers buy something! I’m figuring maybe $150 tops for that. Hopefully that’s it. Starting a business is expensive!

 

[Bluebird]

I ended up rescheduling my banking appointment on Monday - I decided it was better to not waste my time. I have it back on the calendar for late next week and hopefully that will be good for the IRS and I’ll have my EIN then!

This week has been depressing for me. I’ve been out of sorts and having really bad dysmorphia. I think it’s because of the upcoming Playhouse stuff on Friday. On one hand, I’m super excited and looking forward to having all the attention of two of my partners at the same time. However, I’m also stressed about my extra skin and possibly looking terrible.

Also, MisterMoonbeam made an offhand comment about the outfit I wore on Monday and it left me in my head, bad. He later clarified what he meant and that helped, but the damage was done by my messed up mind in that regard. Sigh.



I’m wearing one of the lasercut clips that I made in that pic - it’s a gold feather. I’m really happy with it, but seeing as all I did was glue the alligator clip onto the back it’s not all that. I need to schedule time to start working on the ones I need to paint myself. I did do okay with making my own design on Monday night with TheEngineer. He showed me how to work the software on a BigFoot silhouette and I drew a MothMan.





I had a LOT of fun with this and I need to get the software on my laptop. That said, I feel like more and more I need a drawing tablet to make this work. However, again it’s not something that makes sense yet with the price point of these suckers. I’m going to paint them up and see how I feel. At some point!



I have hired Lenny as my head of marketing. At the moment, he’s crushing that job.

I have therapy today at 2 pm and two of my wench corsets are ready for pickup from my seamstress. I’m supposed to drop off my booth curtains for hemming, so first priority -after getting up and peeing - is to unpack all of those and make sure it all arrived okay from Amazon. The corsets she did are for Arizona Ren Faire and one of my Ocean Renaissance looks, so I am anxious to get them back! I have more to have altered - all of my corsets are okay in my current size (32-34 and 33-35) but the hips flare out and I need to get those tacked down. For $20 each corset, I’m making it a priority because it makes such an amazing difference! At least, it does in my mind.

Here’s a pic I snapped of one of my shelves last night:



Clearly that is without the curtains behind it! My inventory is growing but I have so much more to make! On deck at the moment is 3 starfish-centric headbands & corsage sets, and a burgundy/black/gold dragon headband & corset set. I’m not sure if I will be able to get all that done today though. Maybe if I get focused after therapy!

My price point on the sets is $35 for both. I am trying to slide in extra corsages when I make a set, in case people want those more than the headbands, but I’m not confident in my pricing yet. I thought maybe $15 for a slap bracelet corsage and $25 for a headband, so there is a $5 savings for getting both at the same time. I dunno though. Some of the corsages are kind of subdued? I like big and bold so the more blossoms the better! However, not everyone is like that, so I made a bunch without a lot of WOW so I feel like those are just less spectacular and less of a value. I keep telling myself that’s not the case - that the idea is that they will actually appeal to a wider audience. Also, my goal is to sell the set, and I think $35 is a fair entry point on that and it makes me a nice profit on each one!

 

[Magdlyn]

My professional opinion? Your prices sound good, separately and as a set. Of course, I've only been to Ren Faires like three times, and not been a vendor, but from what I recall, I think you'll do okay.

From what I remember 10+years ago, we used to sell fresh flower wrist corsages for $25, for prom, mostly, and I am sure they're more now.

 

[Bluebird]

My professional opinion? Your prices sound good, separately and as a set. Of course, I've only been to Ren Faires like three times, and not been a vendor, but from what I recall, I think you'll do okay.

From what I remember 10+years ago, we used to sell fresh flower wrist corsages for $25, for prom, mostly, and I am sure they're more now.

Thanks for that!

 

[Bluebird]

My day didn’t go as planned yesterday - I ended up crafting absolutely nothing. My seamstress friend texted me early on and said my corsets were ready for pickup, so I spent the morning setting up my booth so I could take my backdrop & sidewall curtains to her.



See, they were still in the shipping boxes and I knew I needed to make sure everything was good before I dropped them off. Thankfully, the gold frames were all in working order and the curtains were fine. I absolutely love how everything looks put together!



I’m glad I set everything up, because I did end up making choices I hadn’t anticipated. The frames I am using are currently set to be 6.8 feet tall. The back curtains are 8 ft long. There is some pooling on the floor, but it’s not too bad. If I add in additional bars, I can adjust this wall to be another 14 inches tall. I’m not sure I would ever do that, but after thinking about it, I decided to not have that set of curtains hemmed, in case at some point I need to go taller.



The curtains on the side are 10 feet tall. Those I am most certainly having chopped down and hemmed at 8 feet. Again, the frames can be adjusted taller. That said, they also can be made longer - and it is feasible that in the future I could have a 10x20 booth, so even though here I only have a single set of curtains on each side, I have 4 additional curtain panels needing a hem. So 8 in total.

So I set up my booth, and I was very happy. By the time I got it all taken down again (I have 4 cats - keeping it up would just inspire shenanigans) I had to quick get dressed and go to my therapy appointment. I ended up spending most of that appointment talking about my business plan and my booth! We did discuss plans for my Friday night, but mostly I was hyped up about my set up!

When I got back to the car, MisterMoonbeam had sent me some texts about the display, as he had gotten around to attaching the drawer pulls I had purchased for it. Basically, the long dowels and 3D printed domes were great, but anything sat on top could easily fall off! Since I want people walking by to stop and touch, I need my items to be secure. I came up with the idea of screwing in drawer pulls, and resculpting the domes to have indents for headbands. Ta da!



He also sent video and it works as planned! I’m very happy! Now I just need good weather so I can take the unit outside and spray paint the tall dowels gold, and paint the base off-white.

Here’s a video screenshot. Not the best, but you get the point.



After therapy, I stopped by and saw my seamstress friend and we traded bags of stuff. I then went to the post office and mailed out a different corset trade, and then I was at the UPS Store to process 3 Amazon returns. I also had to stop at CVS to get my latest 3 month supply of 5.0 Mounjaro.

I made it home in time for a shower with MisterMoonbeam, and then dinner with him and DarkKnight in the living room, watching an episode of season 3 Traitors. At this point I had realized I hadn’t eaten all day and I was falling asleep while eating! Gah!

In bed, it was time for a new Dexcom sensor and that process went fine but shortly thereafter my sugar started crashing. I drank a protein shake but it didn’t help. I thought it might be just needing a sensor recalibration, but a finger stick showed that the numbers were accurate! Shortly thereafter I got back up to 100, and I fell asleep. Apparently I stayed around 106 all night, which hasn’t been a number I’ve seen on the 5.0 Mounjaro level at all.

Today I have like 4 baskets of laundry to put away. I’m going to wash my bedding tomorrow. I am motivated to make some headbands and corsage sets since I didn’t have time yesterday. I also want to plan what I am wearing to the Playhouse tomorrow night. I need to get a pedicure in the morning, so I have to know what color would work. Lol

 

[Bluebird]

Well my plans went out the window for the morning. Lol I got sidetracked and made a reel showcasing my strawberry pieces, while wearing strawberry garb! I’m now back dressed in my pajamas. I fed the cats and myself some lunch, so NOW I’m ready to go downstairs and start making some headbands!

 

[Bluebird]

DarkKnight and I are at Deep Creek Lake, celebrating our 19 year wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow).



We rented a one bedroom condo - it has two fireplaces and two balcolnies! It’s really nice. The bed was very comfy last night, thank goodness. We had some issues checking in (they close up reception at 8 pm and we arrived at 8:11 pm, so we had to find where they had hidden our entry packet) but it was a mild annoyance at best.



Today we are going to go hiking in two different areas (at least) so I can get back started on my Maryland state park map. I am still trying to do at least a mile in each - I have done 47 of 64 so far. Last year I think I did two total, because of my surgeries and recovery times. I MISS being in the woods and I can’t wait to get out there this afternoon.




View this morning:

 

[Bluebird]

I had a wonderful escape with DarkKnight these last couple of days - we even got to play some of our Forbidden games! Yesterday we tackled two hikes in the Deep Creek area, including a moderate-rated trail along Cherry Creek Cove.

The longer I am away from home though, the more anxious I am becoming about my business. I have spent a lot of money and effort getting it started, and I need to be back so I can create items to sell. I’m growing more and more afraid of failing, the higher the credit card balance grows - and I need to invest at least $1000 more, as my logo designer needs to be paid, and all of my marketing materials need ordering (vinyl banner, a stamp, business cards and stickers). I sent a message this morning to one event, as I haven’t heard if I’ve been accepted - or waitlisted! - or denied from there outright.

 

[Bluebird]

Business: I just sent my logo mockup back for some tweaks and I’m excited at how it looks so far! It’s exactly what I wanted! When we came home yesterday, I was able to knock out a teal headband and corsage (similar to one I had previously designed - this one went right into an extra inventory box) and I started creating one with seashells and a starfish on it. (I stopped before finishing, as the guys wanted to watch an episode of Traitors.) I think I may have located some chairs for my booth, so I am also stoked about that. Today there is a county collective meeting, but MosterMoonbeam took the car so I am unable to attend. I’m vacillating on whether to message a friend for a ride, or just skip out on things. It’s at 10 am, so if I am going to go I need to get up and into the shower like, immediately.

Personal: I’ve got something amazing going on right now - the guys submitted me for something special and DarkKnight’s application was selected, and both he and MisterMoonbeam ended up on a conference call yesterday! Apparently they made it past that step, and now I’m waiting for a direct phone call. Not sure if that’s happening today or when. We will see! I’m going to be vague here, but just know it would be legit insane if this went through to completion!

Health: I went and got bloodwork done yesterday and tomorrow I have an endocrinology appointment. My TSH is normal, and my A1C is 5.5! That’s definitely good! I’m still waiting to see what my T4 is. I’m still having issues with my temperature regulation and sleep schedule though. I have no idea what my weight is - I haven’t popped on a scale in a while. It’s not up, I can tell you that!

I went off in search of the worst photo of me on my phone, and I think I found it. I think it highlights the changes I’ve gone through fairly well though.

 

[Bluebird]

I wasn’t in a good headspace yesterday and I delayed packing for my trip to Phoenix until the late afternoon. At that point I had to face facts that almost nothing I owned was okay for 70-80 degree Arizona weather. I’ve lost weight again, and definitely inches. I went into a spiral and MisterMoonbeam caught me crying. Both he and DarkKnight swept me up to the mall, where I bought some stuff I could take with me.

About half of the items purchased were a size medium. The other half were size large.

I will be speaking to my therapist about this when I return. Last year my body dysmorphia was pretty centered on my abdomen scar, when it was jagged and raised and raw. Now it’s not an issue for me. But apparently all of the losse skin is REALLY doing a number on my brain weasels, as is the ever-constant need for different size clothing. I don’t know how to explain it other than it used to be I’d fixate on one part of my body (usually my ankles or my shoulders) and they’d just feel WRONG, like they didn’t belong to me. Now it’s so many parts. Nothing is mine.

I can now shop at H&M. I don’t think I’ve done that since my daughters were teens. Meaning, for them, not me. I am interested in going back when I have more time - I was buying for this trip and didn’t have the ability to leisurely check out everything. MisterMoonbeam said we can go to a mall in Phoenix once we land, since we won’t be able to check into the hotel right away. I want to buy a black blazer like the one I am wearing today, but I also need a pair of solid white sneakers.

My numbers were all good at the endocrinologist. She remarked that I had lost four more pounds since January and I should keep going. I didn’t tell her that I kept my boots and jacket on when I went on the scale. She kept me on the 5.0 level of Mounjaro for another 3 months.



I was accepted at another event - this one in May - RenFest Southern Maryland. I’m going to be scrambling to make enough stuff for that, but I feel confident about it. I will need to purchase a tent and weights, since it is outdoors. Maybe another rug. I did just get navy blue director chairs and I am excited to see them when I get back home next week!

Instead of bringing jewelry along to make in the hotel, I felt overwhelmed with all of the beads and instead brought flowers! I have one shoebox full of paint markers, a larger bin of all of my lasercut pieces (except for the cryptic because I need to sand those), and a much larger container of flowers and headbands. I brought enough to make 2 headbands each day - an original and a duplicate). Or I can use those same pieces to make a single standard crown. I didn’t bring anything to create any corsages - I’m still worried about the platform piece. TheEngineer is busy fabricating some for me since I can’t source them individually. He’s confident he’s finally hit about the right thickness and design, but told me to buy another pack so they’ll be in my mailbox when I get home, just in case I don’t like his.

I got a commission to make a headband for someone attending a rally for Ukraine. They wanted it to mirror the flag, with blue on top and sunflowers along the bottom, with a dove for peace. I really didn’t care for my first version, though she liked it and paid. I made a second one using the older flag colors (a more sky blue) and I loved it a lot. I listed it up on my insta.






TheEngineer is having marital issues again. He told me that this time he let his wife know he wanted to de-escalate their relationship while he worked on his mental health. He doesn’t feel like the break they took a short while ago was enough. He loves her and wants to be with her, just not physically. I’m not sure where that is at right now, he was very vocal about it when I saw him on Friday but it was a fresh revelation the night before and they hadn’t had time to reconnect after she left to stay with her other partners.

 

[Bluebird]

I’ve been in Arizona since Sunday. I am feeling optimistic, happy and anxious, all at the same time! Lol

I’ve gotten into a good routine where every morning I am focusing on painting my lasercut blanks. These won’t be finished until I return home, since they need a sealant and I’m not going to spray anything toxic like that in a hotel room. I haven’t done anything artistic like this in a while, and I definitely have a learning curve with the paint markers I purchased - I need some with finer lines. Overall though, I am enjoying the process. These will be sold cheap as hell (3/$10) so I am comfortable with both my effort and the results. I think these will continue to look better as I progress. My main focus on pins is going to be my cryptid series in the future, so these are kinda practice. I think they should sell.

The orange snails are for my personal use with MisterMoonbeam this coming weekend at Arizona Ren Faire.





Today I’m planning on doing unicorns and leaves.

After painting, I take a stretch break and then work on a focus topic - budgeting, marketing, merchandising. Mostly math though. It’s a struggle, because I don’t wanna do this part but yet I absolutely must. Honestly, I need my laptop and I’m irritated at myself for not bringing it along, but I’m making do without it.

Today I’m going to be focusing on my business card & sticker order. All of these freaking companies are ghosting me! I wanted to use a local printer but everyone says they’ll get back to me…and then they don’t. I need to figure out where to order the banner and stickers from, because at this point I’m going to run out of time to get a die-cut business card.

I spent Monday on the phone with the IRS - I still have no EIN number and it’s causing a cascading issue now. I can’t get a business bank account without an EIN, and without a business account, I can’t order my Square reader or set up my website there, and without a website, my QR code just goes to Instagram, and I don’t want a business card that just shows my Insta, when a lot of people don’t have that. So I guess the slow response on getting quotes for my business cards isn’t exactly terrible, since they’re not ready to go on that one detail yet. FUCK though, the IRS sucks. They’ve upgraded me to a “tax advocate” because no one can figure out why the system won’t give me an EIN. I’m told I will have a phone call by Monday.

I’ve now been accepted to 5 events. I don’t think I got into the Faerie Scary weekend, which I am both bummed and relieved about. It was a $400 fee which I don’t really have right now, however, I think I could make products that would sell well there. I’m sorta annoyed though because the coordinator posted on Facebook about needing vendors to apply in some categories still but how the headpiece category was well-represented, and then tagged two sellers, saying how they were going to do great, and then tagged someone else saying this person hadn’t applied but they were holding a spot for them in case. Like, okay - couldn’t you message the people who you’re not accepting first, so they don’t find out on Facebook through a post like that? I thought it was unprofessional. I guess maybe I could still be accepted but that seemed pretty clear.

I’m not salty though - the two that were tagged have sold through their event before, so it makes sense they would have priority spots, if they did well there previously.

Anyway, not going there means I’m available for two other events in the Fall, but since they’re not open for applications yet, we will see how that goes.

Right now my schedule is:

April: Ocean Renaissance
May: RenFest Southern Maryland
July: Maryland Garb Sale
August: Oakenmist Ren Faire
September: Masks of Mischief

I also want to hit my city’s Pride festival in June, and then possibly a local farmer’s market, since that was suggested to me by my online mentor and then I met the coordinator recently at a networking event.

Except, OMG this is a lot of product to create!

Also, this all costs money. I did budgeting yesterday and it’s a lot of cash I have to splash out here in the beginning. It’s daunting because if I don’t sell, it’s going to hurt financially. I have $3500 on a credit card at the moment, and I’ve paid around $600 out of pocket in cash and on another credit card that I paid off already. I have at least another $1000 in costs coming up (the graphic designer, ordering cards & stickers, packaging (bags, tissue paper, etc) and partial hotel costs for Ocean Renaissance next month.

I will probably have another $1000 to put forward in fees and also product materials for my May event. So yeah, the timing is scary and so is the math.

In the afternoons I work on headpieces. My goal for this week was to do two a day, which I have managed. I made a crown and a headband on Monday and two headbands yesterday. I saved back flowers for corsages, since I didn’t bring slap-bracelet materials with me. I’m actually kinda bummed that I wasn’t able to do a crown yesterday, but the flower bouquets that I packed didn’t have enough blossoms to support that, even at the midrange size.

These are Mondays creations:



And yesterday I just got a single pic of one of the headbands, but they’re identical.



Honestly, I’m waking up every morning excited to create. These don’t take too long either - the 2 headbands took a total of one hour, together. The price point is okay. The flowers cost $7.19 total, but I have 4 stems left so let’s make that that $5 even. Two headbands is $2, and the dragonflies are also $2. So my materials cost is $9. Add in $15 (my minimum wage time) to create, and that’s $24. I’m selling these for $25 each, so $50 if they both sell. I’m comfortable with this. Ultimately I’m hoping to sell them with the corsages, which will cost me an additional $6 in materials and 30 minutes time. Packaged together I sell everything as a $35 set. I’m hoping my time to create improves as I get into a routine with some of the designs.

Yesterday MisterMoonbeam went into work early so he could return early and we went to the Botanical Gardens. Legit my favorite place in Phoenix!



We ended up having to buy hats because we forgot ours in the hotel room. The one I wanted was $45, but I found the one I was wearing as a shirt/hat/pin combo for $35. I was shocked because the medium sized tshirt was a solid fit. I am still having trouble with the idea that I can fit a medium.

All of the food we’ve eaten so far has been meh. We’ve met some interesting people though. Oh wait, we did have dinner on Sunday night at a place where there was live entertainment and that was both interesting and yummy. Legends, it was called. We tried Barrio Queen again but the last time we were in Arizona we went to the Gilbert location and it was phenomenal. This time we went to the one in Tempe and it was very disappointing!



Okay, well this is long and I need to get up and get started on today. MisterMoonbeam went in earlier again so we can possibly do an escape room later!

 

[Bluebird]

Ugh I had a horrific headache all day, which would NOT let up until MisterMoonbeam came home from work in the late afternoon with Tylenol. Still, I got up and dressed, and made two headpieces:





And all of the pins I painted this week now have backs glued on, and they’re actually packed up to go home already.





A friend I have at home is super talented with drawing and she’s going to bring me some finer-point paint markers when I get back. She asked me to make her and her dog matching flower crowns for a photo shoot, and I bartered with her so she’s going to paint some of the pieces I have left! I don’t have a lot of time left in my schedule before my first show to work on any more, so that’s good news for me!

I officially got waitlisted for the Baltimore Faerie Festival as I figured, but I am fine with that for reasons I mentioned previously. They said I was welcome to snag a sales table for “Disco Night” but I most definitely passed on that.

Wednesday we won our escape room and had a lot of fun doing it! The story was that we woke up in our hotel room with no memories of our antics last night, so we had an hour to figure out what we did and where our bestie is at - they stuck us with the bill and housekeeping will be arriving soon. It was a really well planned room and we had no complaints.



Thursday, MisterMoonbeam went into work super early so he could come and pick me up! We got to the Bernie Sanders rally at 2:30 which apparently was the sweet spot because we were among the first 100 people in line. It quickly filled up after that. We were in the shade for most of the wait (doors opened at 5 pm) so that was good for us too!





It was an amazing thing, to be among so many like-minded people. The arena was packed to bursting - the internet says it holds 5,000 people - and the overflow was completely full outside as well. AOC was a speaker, and wow, can I just say that Bernie has such a commanding voice in person. It was very inspirational, and I’m super, super glad we went!

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Arizona on this trip, and we will be going to the Ren Faire. I’m very excited about it.

 

[Bluebird]

The Arizona Ren Faire was a lot of fun. I felt super cute in my costume, and over a dozen people stopped me to tell me that they loved my snail!



What was super surprising about this is that they didn’t know I was wearing a snail backpack! In every single instance, I’d say thanks, and then angle myself so they could see the shell, and they’d lose their minds with excitement and wonder. No, what they were complimenting me on was my snail clip - the one I hand painted!



I was very surprised by this, and since then, I’ve really been rethinking my prices. I was set to sell my lasercuts for $4 each or 3/$10. Instead, I’m now thinking $6 or 2/$10 is better. The experience left me feeling very confident about my items, that’s for sure.

The other thing that I gained from this event was contempt for floral crown sellers in Phoenix! The absolute cheap trash they were selling at the faire left me very confused about pricing in general. Everyone expects to pay more at places like this, but what.the.fuck?



These two *looked* nice, but for real? $128?! $158?! I was like, the materials in these crowns are less than $15 each! What little stems are there should take less than 30 minutes to make! It’s just a complete and total rip off.

The cheaper crowns, I took pictures of their construction, and I got some ideas on how to make some cheaper ones of my own. That said, the $30-$50 pieces were the bare minimum - flower heads hot glued to a headband, with zero fill on the backside, so you could see the glue and the bare headband! I’m like, I would charge $25 for these and I absolutely cover everything! Gross.

I’m planning on going to a ribbon outlet store on Wednesday back in town, so I can tie off the ones I made while in Arizona. I need to do all the backside work on those as well, since I didn’t pack any eucalyptus leaves - I’ll get that done on Monday.

I’m writing this while on the plane, and I’m working on a list of how the events I’m selling at are different, because the people who attend them will not be the same, and I’m presuming they will have different spending habits. Like Ocean Renaissance is in its 5th year, and it’s indoors in a hotel over 3 days with 2 dances. I’m assuming it will be similar to Mythicon, in that the people who attend are familiar with cons and faires and will have a lot of their own garb already. The stuff I sell needs to be something really nice and fabulous to catch their attention. Simple standard circle crowns with little flowers are not the way to go. They’ll already be dressed up, or will be looking to supplement what they already own. There won’t be very many children there at all.

My show in May is RenFest Southern Maryland, in its second year. It’s a two-day outdoor event held by a brewery with an estimated 2000 people attending. I’m the sole headpiece seller. I’m guessing since it’s a local faire, a lot of people will not be wearing elaborate costumes, and will only be showing up for one of the two days (while people at Ocean Renaissance will be traveling and staying at the hotel all 3 days). So for Southern Maryland, there will be many more children, so making the unicorn horns and fairy wing headpieces will need to happen. I’m going to make a lot of the simple entry level crowns, and the slap bracelet/headband level stuff, so people can instantly dress up their plainclothes looks. I will obviously offer some fabulous stuff too, but I am guessing they will move slower.

So yeah, I need to make lists, and I need to plan my time for making sure I have enough inventory for each of my first two events.

 

[ravengalaxy1]

This looks like a lot of fun. I’m happy to see your success.

 

[Bluebird]

Thanks!

Business updates!

I was on the phone for an half hour with the IRS today, however, I FINALLY have a federal EIN! I still have no idea what the hold up was, or why this process took a month. I have an appointment with the bank on Wednesday to hopefully open a business bank account, THEN get a Square reader & start up a shop webpage. Whew!

DarkKnight says he will help me on Saturday with setting up a QR code to the new website - if I get it started by then. I went and ordered some sticker paper and glossy cardstock, as
I continue to have a lot of difficulty with getting pricing from local print companies for my die-cut business cards and stickers. The single company that has responded quoted me $610 without the die-cut and just to make the business cards round. No fam, I’m not about that boushie life!!

I’m going to try printing my own cards. I have a color laser…we will see how it goes. If I get a better price anytime soon, I will be happy to have someone else do it! I can’t print anything final until I get my shop site up and running anyway. I figure it’s worth a try. DarkKnight says he is down to help with that too, so if it’s possible for them to look good from here, they will!

My packaging materials are starting to arrive - I’ve got colored & patterned tissue paper, clear gift bags for my larger crowns, and sage green bags for standard-size headbands. I’m waiting for the mail to deliver some pretty eucalyptus-printer smaller gift bags later this week, as well as some gold mesh jewelry bags for when I sell earrings, pins and other jewelry. I had put off ordering this stuff until now because I kept forgetting to measure my pieces! But I have the cart I plan to use as a checkout station assembled, and it’s time to get it filled with stuff.

While I was in Arizona, my tent & canopy with side walls arrived! I purchased extra weighted bags that I got in case of high winds. My first outdoor show will be at RenFest Southern Maryland in May. I’m excited to be able to set up the tent in my yard this weekend - hopefully the weather cooperates. It’s an ABC and it’s supposed to be easy for one person to do it alone.

I really am nervous about winds, so I’m going to see about getting some weight plates from our basement gym to put in the bins on the bottom shelf of my bookshelf units when selling at outdoor events. I’m reading other ideas online on how to protect my stuff from weather like that, but also from just general issues like customers bumping things. I bought a ton of magnets to secure my mannequin heads to the shelves but I haven’t had time to put them on yet.

I still need to order more lights - I definitely want to get some larger ones for the inside corners of my tents and in the center. We will see how things look when I get the canopy set up on Saturday or Sunday - I will definitely keep it up at night so I can see how the products look when it’s darker out.

Today I’m mostly recovering from jet lag after my trip to Arizona, but I managed to accomplish a lot around the house and with the company in spite of the exhaustion. I have a massive to-do list for the week, but I am feeling good about everything.

 

[Tinwen]

Omg, so many beautiful photos on your blog