…i just got back from lunch with a friend of mine who in the past, was making beautiful decoupage bracelets and pulling in the cheddar doing it. (cheddar n. slang for money)  unfortunately, she hit a roadblock and has lost her creative spark.  the thing is, people do buy her goods so it would appear to be a no-brainer that she would keep going.  however, she views her work as being “less professional” as the work of others.  i think i need to remind her that the whole reason people come to etsy is because they want handcrafted goods that aren’t mass produced for big box retailers!

the above image is just a snapshot of what she has sold and she hasn’t even begun to explore the possibilities of where this could go. talk about giving up before you even get started!  so yes, this is my incredibly annoying way of getting her to revitalize her business.  this is where an almost lifelong friendship comes into play and i challenge her with this: my original prints, your handmade goods.  we’ve talked about this before and it has come to naught but then again, i never pushed it because i’ve been wrapped up in me.  after having been inspired by her and her online tenacity, i cannot ignore her stalled out by the side of the road!

people have asked: why not do this yourself?  i am, with silk screened home goods!  but that doesn’t mean she can’t take what i do and re-purpose it for her line.  after all, my thing is housewares and why wouldn’t i want to share my skills especially since she’s already got people who love what she does?  in the end, it’s good for me as much as it’s good for her because people will see my prints and maybe want more.  get it?

bottom line is you have to give and sometimes, you give without expecting to get.  it’s a dilemma i see time and time again because in our society you should never, EVER give away anything for free.  (you know i’m serious because i used CAPS!)  sometimes though, what you get can’t be quantified in cold, hard cash and as we can see in our present economic state, money is not everything.  if you don’t know what i mean by that, then you probably haven’t lost anything big as of yet.  when you lose big, you can’t help but weigh everything else that you do have against it in order to realize how blessed you truly are. (not that i’m religious or anything, but i can still be grateful!)

so, i’m throwing down the gauntlet.  question is, will bexsong @etsy pick it up?