Check out these cute things made from my Freshaire fabric on Etsy…. (click on image to go to Etsy shops)

From the Mushy Bug shop…

And from Little Ellie’s shop…

And from Pudge’s shop…

Have you made something from one of my fabric designs?  I’d love to see it!

I have a pair of cool ice cream chairs I bought at a flea market years ago.  The seats were a dirty white vinyl.  The weekend I bought them, I had company coming and hastily covered them with what fabric I had on hand and a staple gun.  I always had in mind that I would redo them with new paint & seat covers.

Well, finally, I am getting around to it ~ with the help of my new sewing machine (lovely Xmas gift from my sweet Captain Hubby).  I first took some muslin and made a prototype (a friend of mine has since suggested using cheaper thrift store sheets for this practice - genius! Thanks, Marty!)

The centers of my prototype didn’t join up too well, but I learned a thing or two and jumped right into using my real fabric.  This time I did better, and while the center points don’t line up perfectly, I don’t think I did too badly for a beginner.  I hope to have both chairs completely redone soon and will post the before/after when I do!

I do not have one of those super-spacious, sun-drenched, neatly-organized  “Ooh-Ahh” studios like you see in magazines such as “Where Women Create” and “Studio”.  I wish I did, but for now, I don’t.  I do, however, have ample space in which to work ~ and a healthy amount of daily gratitude for that.  My studio space is split between the 2nd bedroom (the computer room) and the third bedroom (the art room).  I no longer have a guest room, but such is life.

Here’s a little peek at them both ~ and I obviously didn’t even tidy up before snapping them. (click for a closer look)

So I didn’t just want to show off my messy studio spaces.  What I want to talk about today are the challenges of working from home.  We all know how great it is to tally up the pros of being one’s own boss, but what about the cons?

When I started freelancing graphic design many years ago on the west coast of Florida, I was living on a sailboat (another story for another day) and didn’t have a choice but to rent office space in which to work.  We later moved to dry land, but I decided to keep the sunny downtown studio as it gave me the feeling I was going to work every day and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to work at home without getting distracted.

Does that happen to you working at home ~ the getting distracted thing?  Yeah, I thought so.  Me too.  So much so that the first time I tried it after moving back to this area, I gave up and just got a “real” job.  I eventually found myself really, really, really wanting to return to freelancing full-time, but knew that renting a space was financially out of the question.  So I made a list of pros & cons about working from home and examined it to try to figure out why it didn’t work for me previously.  I then made a concerted effort to fix those problems.  I’ve long since lost that list, but can remember enough…..

The bottom line is it is just too easy to get side lined by things like laundry, yard work, grocery shopping, house cleaning, etc.  I think that many of us are procrastinators by nature anyway and not having a boss to answer to and HGTV so handy….well, it’s easy to avoid working.

I’ve now been working from my home studio full-time since October 2001.   I’d like to preface the following post with:  This is just what I have experienced and how I’ve dealt with some of these challenges.  I don’t get it right every day either.   There are some days when I wonder where the heck those precious hours went.  So, for what they’re worth, here are my thoughts on being productive from a home studio.

~ Put a real sign on the door to your workspace.  This may sound silly, but mentally you might feel more like this is really a business. This is the sign I kept from my days in that sunny downtown office (it is now on the door to my art room), but you can easily make one for your own studio door (or corner of the house).

~ Close the door at the end of the day.  One of the pros of working at home is you can work anytime you want.  The problem with this is that sometimes we have the opposite problem from not working enough ~ we work too much because we can.  Closing the door is a mental cue that the work day (or night) is over.  Opening that door the next morning is also a mental cue that your work day has begun.

~ Just. Walk. By. The. Laundry. or dishes or yard work or whatever.  This really is one of the biggest challenges to working from home and until you train yourself to deal with it, you’ll have problems getting work done.   The single best advice I can offer is this: Realize that if you left the house in the morning to go to a “real” job, whatever household chore that is begging to be done right now wouldn’t get done until you came home from work.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t throw in a load of laundry while I am working or take a break and put some chicken in marinade for dinner later.  I just don’t get tempted to clean the refrigerator  and unload the dish washer while I’m at it.

~ As tempting as it is, avoid working in your PJs.  I can hear you yelling “no way!” from here.  And I am not going to tell you that I do not do this myself on occasion, because I do.  However, if you are having a hard time focusing on working in your home studio, a good start is to actually get dressed each  morning before you open that studio door.

~ Get some kind of daily schedule going.  Another of those easier said than done things.  In my case, my day can change dramatically with a phone call or email and an urgent deadline.  My well planned to-do list might as well be last week’s crumpled grocery list.  But getting up at a reasonable hour each day, knowing when you’ll get your exercise in (if you’re an exerciser) before you start working can go a long way towards keeping you on track for the rest of the day.   It doesn’t have to be the same schedule every day that you slavishly stick to, after all, you are the boss.  But having a plan of how you want your day to go helps.

One of those stress-relieving, organizing tips you always read is to make a list at night before you leave the office.  I often do this at night, and sometimes first thing in the morning.  I have a master list of a bazillion things that needs to be addressed ~ today, this week, this month, sometime this year.  But my most important list is the mini daily “What Can I realistically expect to do TODAY”.

~ Your refrigerator can be a distraction.  All those goodies in there calling your name.  I know you can hear them from your studio.  And eating is just one more way to procrastinate.  I realized a while back that the more stressed with work I got, the more I felt I needed a little snack “before I dealt with” the work.  Now I have trained myself to recognize this cue and just go fill my water bottle.  It effectively gives me a momentary break, gets me out of the studio room, and keeps me out of the fridge.

~ Well-meaning family and friends who think that you’re always free, anytime of the day because you’re not actually working.  At least that is the perception when you don’t punch The Man’s clock.  Or the significant other who assumes that you will take care of all errands since you’ve got so much free time….  The best ~ and hardest ~ way to deal with this is to firmly say, “Wish I could, but I’ve got a deadline.” (even if you don’t)  Eventually they get it.

~Email, blogs, Facebook, tweets & web surfing.  These are not time-sucking distractions that are exclusive to those who work from home, but boy, is it ever easier when there isn’t anyone looking over your shoulder.  I could easily spend my entire day emailing, reading blogs, posting to my own blog, and discovering cool things online.  The problem is, that doesn’t pay my bills (darn it).

Check your email first thing, deal with whatever is urgent business-wise and come back to answer your friends’ email & check your Facebook page & favorite blogs later.  Like after “work” or during lunch time.  I have to say, this is one of the hardest things for me.  I often have to just turn off my email program and check it every couple hours to see if there is any business that needs immediate attention.  Otherwise, every time I hear that funky sound that signifies I have mail, I am flipping over to see what it is and am tempted to answer it on the spot.  It’s a sickness, like some OCD thing….

~ Talk on the phone too much?  Or have business to conduct that requires lots of phone time?  Get a headset so that your hands are free.  I love chatting in person with a few art friends in particular and I continue to work while we chat because both of my hands are free.  Now if the phone battery would just last longer….

Now, tell me what challenges you working at home and how you deal with it.  Then get back to work!

I was just reading a post over on Sparky Fire Pants blog entitled “Are you a flaky French pastry? Or are you black coffee?”.  He gives some good thoughts on being a professional in the art business and while I was adding my thoughts to his comments list, I decided it would make a good post.  I won’t reiterate his points already made (go check them out), but will share my comments to his post….

Ah, yes, the “art is my passion, my baby and nobody can tell me how to create my art” thing…. definitely leads to starving.

Personally, I like to eat.  I’ve been a professional artist (of one sort or another) most of my adult life.  A working  professional artist ~ why? Because I am black coffee (dare I say, at the risk of sounding full of myself ~ maybe even Starbucks? :-)).  I smiled when I read Sparky’s post because years ago when I started cold-calling for freelance clients I would tell them “I’m not a flaky artist ~ I’m a professional.  Really!”

I’ll offer a few more thoughts…

Meet your deadlines.  Always. Period. No excuses.

Be flexible and easy-going.  If a client tells you they want the flower pink instead of yellow, don’t give them a 10 minute dissertation on why you made it yellow and why you insist that it stay yellow.  Just. Make. It. Pink.  With a smile.  An old adage of mine is:  “You like it?  I love it.”

If you don’t understand a direction (and there are so many clients out there who cannot properly communicate) ask for clarification ~ don’t wing it.  There are no stupid questions.  Questions save time, money and aggravation on everybody’s part.

In the initial stages (sketches & roughs), give more than asked for ~ but not too much.  Too much overwhelms clients, but they like choices.  Give them a winner and one or two to trash and you’ll move along to the final stages faster.

Be positive ~ leave your personal drama in the wings.  Clients don’t want to hear it if you’re having a bad day, week, month, life.  Keep it light.

Send a thank you note for the business the first time you complete a project with a new client.  No email - handwritten.

So there are my thoughts ~ those and 2¢ will get you a cup of coffee…err..that and $2…..

It’s that time of year again…Bike Week in Daytona Beach.  The roar of the motorcycles, the chrome, the leather, the tattoos, black t-shirts, and (some) just plain weird people having fun.  They’re here again. I’ve always called it Mardi Gras with leather instead of beads.  Seemingly on cue, the weather turns cold, as it does every year.

I just had to share the cold front coming through yesterday morning ~ on Saturday it was nearly 80° and within 30 minutes Sunday morning, it dropped to 59°.  We watched this front roll in from one of our favorite places for a bite.  It was cool to watch the powerful wind shear the tops of the waves off in dramatic sprays.  The rain (precious little) came with it and by early afternoon, the sun was shining again, but the crazy wind remained (and is still with us today), making it very brrrrrr! (I know, no sympathy from my northern counterparts :-)

Here’s the creative part of today’s post ~ this local dolphin mailbox, which we pass on our way to the boat, is always dressed appropriately for each holiday and event…