Crafting Success One Doodle at a Time

What if reimagining a simple magazine page could unlock a whole new realm of creativity? This week on Brewtifully Made, we take you through an artistic journey inspired by Lori Siebert’s  Windowsill Workshop. Using the prompt "magazine," from Elle Lovey we breathe new life into a magazine page with whimsical doodles while discussing the exhilarating and challenging moments of running our brand new storefront, which officially opened on August 11th. Feel the rush as we recount a recent Journey cover band concert that brought a wave of enthusiastic patrons and filled our class schedules to the brim!

As we prepare for the holiday season, we dive into the intricate balance of planning ahead versus spontaneous creativity. From stocking up on pumpkin spice lattes from a local coffee business to strategizing for holiday sales, this episode is brimming with practical insights and heartfelt reflections. Join us for a candid conversation about community connections, the entrepreneurial rollercoaster, and the sparks of inspiration that keep us going. Don't miss this vibrant discussion on the early days of building a business and the joy of creative expression!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hello, happy Friday, welcome back. It is a beautiful I'm sorry it is a brutal day here at Brutally Made. I am super excited to be back and sharing some thoughts around being creative. So today's prompt from Elo is magazine and I am going to do a different spin on it. I had just taken a Windowsill workshop with Lori Stieber and it was a magazine page like makeover. So I'm going to take this page that I have found in a magazine and kind of revamp it with some doodles as we're talking. I think that would be a fun spin on that prompt and it's the end of August, so I think I may switch it up and do something a little different, starting next month for doodles, but yeah to be determined to come. Month for doodles, but uh, yeah to be determined to come. So, yeah, it's a busy, uh busy month, since this was my official opening month at my new storefront, august 11th.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Um, I have a ribbon cutting now scheduled for, uh, september the 12th, and that's with our township trustees and super, super excited about them offering that and doing that, and I had one of the best nights I had with the township's amphitheater. So we have this beautiful amphitheater that is in the plaza that I am in and there was a Journey cover band which I journey um in high school. That was one of my favorite bands and of course, you know, growing up in the 80s they're huge. So they were playing last night and the place was just packed, I thought. I don't even think you could see any of the grass because the lawn was just full and it was a lot of people coming in, a lot of people. You know, are you open? What's going on? My lighted side isn't there yet. So, yeah, I have signs out front, I have the lights on and people, what is this? What's going on? And then I've got just as many now going. I follow you on social media and I see that you're doing this, this, this, this, this.

Speaker 1: 2:26

And it was so crazy because I have a class tonight, for example, and I it filled up because people were talking about it and then they were going out to the theater, the amphitheater, to enjoy the music and then they were logging onto the site and signing up for the class. After coming in and I had people calling me and I was just like blown away. So that was so much fun because I was getting the materials ready for the class tonight last night and I'm like, okay, I'll go get things together and cut some more stuff, and I was just so excited. So, yeah, the class is now full and I can't wait. Even if people drop in, I will get other material together for you and they'll get to enjoy doing the class. And the other classes that I have are filling up halfway full, still adding more classes. People are wanting lessons, people are wanting to have field trips. I've got to arrange some things with some of the community and it's just wow. I just am blown away by the response and I'm super excited.

Speaker 1: 3:36

And the really focus of today's conversation is preparing when it is holidays or when there's things coming up. I know in big box stores, larger corporations, their plans are really far in advance and I know on the design world, even if you are licensing design, your work is almost two years ahead of when it will actually be published and that is daunting and scary and makes me think how far in advance do I need to prep my store to get ready for the impending holiday and do I take advantage of things that I know are coming that could be trendy, or do I just wait and do it on the fly closer. It's hard to tell. Another small business that I have in the store is a coffee business, and they're so sweet. They came by this week and so they're talking about their pumpkin spice lattes and I said, yes, as soon as you get those made, I'm going to purchase them and put them in the cooler for sale, because the lattes did really well in the store. And you know, mind you, I've only been open since August 11th and I just am really surprised at everything. So everything that you hear me talk about, I'm sure you're going to hear that like I didn't realize or I didn't know, or this is happening or this is selling. Well, I have no idea. This is totally new for me, so it's just a learning curve, and so I'm sharing that truly as a first time business owner, because I had no idea. And so they were the same. They were like well, we think we're going to bottle it and sell it, and I was so excited. And as soon as I said that, he's like nope, I guess that's the indicator. Yep, we are. So the next day, I swear I love it they posted a picture where they were showing the bottle, and she purchased one of my skeleton sweatshirts and she had it on.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Another thing I got three or four things in for the holiday, for Halloween. I love Halloween. Halloween is so much fun and people are buying it all already and I was super surprised. I had no idea that people would feel the same way that I did and they would want it this early and it's so cute because there's so many like teachers they're preparing for their classrooms. They're like I teach like sixth grade, I teach second grade. This will be great, the kids will love this. I'm just like, oh, I love that. It's just so fun to really just share what makes you happy out there, because other people are going to gravitate towards it too.

Speaker 1: 6:24

And I just you know, if you have a business or if you're a designer or you're planning things to you know, make for markets like, how far in advance do you like, are you getting your Christmas stuff? Are you getting Valentine's stuff together? Right now I literally have scheduled two Valentine classes with the gal that does the hand knitting blankets, because we're going to do a collaboration class for two people, so couples can do this. So we're doing the glass, the faux glass, and we're doing the blanket and like a cuddle and glow class and it's going to be the bar, the barrel room, in February. One is actually a Galentine's event, so you can bring a friend and I. Just that's February and this is August, but all of our blanket classes have sold out like max capacity and a couple's.

Speaker 1: 7:22

Just like I had to add two more and I'm like that's fine. I have extra tables and we're just going to make it work, because I have 40 chairs and it's just like blowing me away. I'm just so. I just I love it. I love that people were like, yeah, I'm creative, but I want to learn something. What do you mean? I can just walk in here with a drink and like nachos and sit down and start a paint by number. Yeah, that's what these tables are for. Sit down, enjoy yourself. You don't have to like rush home. You can take this home as you're, you know, done making it a little bit and finish it there. But hang out, have fun.

Speaker 1: 8:09

I'm going to bring some games, some art games, into the studio. So if you want to just sit down and maybe we'll have a game night, a game and craft night, and we'll pick a game, we'll play that and then everybody can do a craft and you'll get to take that home and I just there's so many fun art games out there and I am going to do that. So I'm adding that spin to an evening and I want to do a PJ and paint party where you wear your fun pajamas and you get to paint and I, you know, you can bring your door, drink and stuff in. It's just my mind. Everyone's like are you sleeping? I am sleeping.

Speaker 1: 8:41

I just get so many cool ideas and I'm just running with them and I'm just super energized and excited about the whole space and I just I love it and I just want to know, you know, how far in advance should I be planning some of this stuff? What should I be focusing on? Should I be like I want to do great, fun, unusual activities for, you know, new Year's Eve, you know, should I be putting that on the calendar now? I just, you know, trying to figure out like, how far in advance I need to start planning some of this stuff, because I'm blown away by the response that I've got right now for Halloween and it's August, so, um, but yeah, I have a lot more planned for Halloween and I just I love it. It's been super great and the month is flown by and literally it's just been like a little over 20 days and, um, yeah, it's just. It's just reminding me that I really made a fun, great decision to do this and the support has been terrific.

Speaker 1: 9:50

So, yeah, I hope you like the this magazine page is not going to be done by the end of this, so I will have to, you know, share probably a still image when I'm done, at the end, because it's going to take me a little longer. But I just had to, you know, get your thoughts. I would love to know, like, if you're drawing right now, are you drawing Christmas? Are you planning Christmas? Do you put commissions out there for Christmas? How far in advance should I start be? I should start planning some of this stuff. I know some of my vendors. They um, don't have a lot of other holidays available. They have some, so there's availability to purchase merchandise, um, but you know, and I have actually started buying some Christmas things to have ready because I didn't know if it would be gone by the time Christmas rolled around. So, but as a new business owner, I'm just trying to plan and so I was just curious how you balance that and what you start looking for when you start looking for it.

Speaker 1: 10:57

So, but thanks for tuning in and listening and give me your opinions, and I can't wait to share the next week's happenings with you. So stay brutally made and I'm hoping to get the photographer on. Jude, if you're listening, I really want you on to talk about your class, because for that, it's a two-day class, it's two consecutive weeks, but it's like a Tuesday, and so I really am excited to have people snap pictures and learn how to use their digital cameras. She owns a studio and she's a photographer here in town, so the class is really cool that at the end, you're going to get this photo that you've taken made into a puzzle that you can share with your friends and family and put that together Another fun little, mindful thing to do. So, dude, if you're listening, I'm still hounding you. I want you on so we could talk about your process and what people can expect.

Speaker 1: 12:05

So check out Brutiflycom if you want to learn about the classes that are happening and if you want to shop online. If you don't have the ability to shop by storefront in person, go to Brutiflycom and you can see shop online in the top navigation and you can shop all of the a lot of the stuff that I have even actually more stuff that I have in the store is available there. But that's another way to support if you'd like to, and have some art and have some clothes that I have my designs on, and accessories and bags and things. But, yeah, it's been going really well. So, thank you, thank you all very much. All right, take care. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend and I will talk to you next week. Stay beautifully made. Bye-bye.