Ch ch ch ch ch ch Changes!

Hello, all!

How was your Christmas? (or whatever you celebrate?)

Ours was lovely, if a bit scaled back this year given some ongoing health challenges. In fact, scaling back has become a bit of a theme around here, as we've begun passing on many of the Christmas decorations to our daughter, cutting back on the annual baking, shopping wrapping, and so on.


The Christmas feast was still kept though, thanks to daughter Courtney, who handled all the prep, and did a spectacular job with the roast and Yorkshire pudding....

 Looks yummy, yes?

Several friends joined us as well, and it was an altogether lovely evening.

I even managed to take two whole days off, which has left me feeling completely spoiled. ;)

But now...NOW it's back to work! Commissions await, as do several notebooks of sketches and ideas, and even some new art supplies (yay!)

But even in the midst of all this creating, I'm feeling the need to scale back - to simplify ("SIMPLIFY" - my word for 2016.)

What that means in practical terms, is some pretty major cleaning and purging around the house as we consider a move to smaller, more manageable quarters. And it means some streamlining in the work department as well....

I will be completing those commissions which have already been accepted, but will be drastically reducing the number of commissions accepted in the New Year. This includes the personalized Halloween and Christmas ornaments (of which I took far too many orders this year, leading to some very long hours in the midst of holiday prep). So I'm practicing my most polite, but firm "no". ;)

I'm also eliminating at least one looming deadline. As many of you know, I've been a regular participant in the PFATT Marketplace for several years, and the management of the site has been incredibly kind in making allowances for missed deadlines due to personal issues like my husband's hospitalizations. But I've felt for some time that my work is no longer a good fit with the overall style of the group (it is, after all, a "primitive" site, and my work is not), so January feels like a good time to let it go. :)  My work will continue to be displayed on Facebook, in my Etsy Shop, and once a month (9PM on the last day of the month) in the EHAG Emporium.

So yeah....some changes in 2016, but ones I think will lead to a decrease in deadline induced panic, and an increase in CrEaTiViTy - always a good thing!

Wishing you love and light as we move into the New Year, and wishing you all good things with whatever changes 2016 holds!!

♥ Carolee 
* Note - the "simplify" graphic is from a meme, and not my work.