To Provide Enjoyment or To Make A Difference

This weekend has really made me think. I had big plans of getting orders out and just focusing on the shop this weekend, but my day job had other plans. At 4:45pm on Friday I was sent out on a pretty sticky, sad case in which I ended up getting home at 1:30 am Saturday and making people very unhappy with me (nature of the job). Then I was up at 6:30 am and worked on the same case until just now (10:14 pm). Between 4:45pm Friday and 7pm Saturday I only had a graham cracker and a coffee. Luckily I did get a couple of hours of fam time this evening.

This case has really been an emotional roller coaster in the past two days I have cried, laughed, yelled and been completely exhausted and then all over again. It made me wonder why I do it. Its funny, working on products for Green With Envy Studios can take up a bunch of time and it's super easy to spend a whole day working on photography, or design or marketing and it flies by so fast. The same thing can be said for my day job. The difference is that I get way more enjoyment from my shop than I do from my day job. But in my day job I really feel like I am making a difference even though it is a very thankless job. But I will admit that cases like this really test my commitment to social work when I end up spending pretty much no time with my own family to try and keep other families safe but in the end the family only sees me as someone who finds enjoyment in "ruining their lives". Social work is my calling and I know it but in all honesty if running my shop could bring in the same amount I make with my day job, I feel like I just might walk away from it all.

But of course thats not a decision I have to make because my shop does not really pay the bills currently, but at least I have a creative outlet that can provide joy for other people.

Too bad I have to wake up tomorrow and continue to work this case and try and get these orders done so I can mail them on Monday.

Juggling and almost dropping the ball...

Surprisingly I haven't done one featuring cute green creations...well it's about time!!!

a) Large Clutch Purse - Green and White Lattice by KimberlyJonesDesigns
b)Sweet Lime T Strap Baby Booties by pleasantlyplumpknits
c) 4 x 6 Notecard Binder by CrownBindery
d) Green dots clutch purse by jenniferladd
e)Lime Splash Little Gumdrop Flower Post Earrings by BenAndOliver
f) The Felt Foliage Pillow by VSquaredV2

**click on image for optimal viewing

Feeling Much Better...

Ok I'm back and feeling less funky! I have taken the last couple of days to regroup and focus on my goals for my shop. I feel much better and happier and confident about what I want for Green With Envy Studios.


I removed the newest Alphabet prints that I had posted prior to leaving for vaca. I really like them as I was doing them but I wasn't really happy with the final product or the pictures. I haven't quite decided what I want to do to change them so for now they will remain inactive and I will focus on promoting the current items in the shop.


There are several stationery blogs that I read daily and that have given me inspiration. Earlier last year Bridgette from, Perideau Designs posted about her new marketing plan. I decided to try something like that and see if that helps me. I had an ad up on a high traffic party blog for a month. It lead to views but no sales. I have decided to focus on social networking and renewing items and later on down the line consider doing a paid ad again and maybe I'll get better results.


I am also focusing on my shop goals and really trying to accomplish them.

We shall see...

Funktown Population...Me

So since I have been back from vacation I have been in a funk...well since I left for vacation. Most of the funk is life/day job stuff that has kind of distracted me from this job. Some of the funk is just trying to figure out to make this job work better. Plus I have been exhausted so I haven't really had the energy to do anything. The only time I have to focus on this business is after the munchkin goes to bed or on the weekends (if I'm lucky). I just need to figure out a plan of maximizing the time of have. I also really love the things I create but I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that I am not getting the traffic I had hoped for. I know that is my fault in a lot of ways and just the nature of the game. I am still very optimistic and focused on trying to make it all work.

I am hoping this funk passes soon and in the meantime I am going to try and push through.

Back From Vaca...

I am taking a departure from the shop to tell you about my trip home to STL. OK note so much my trip but the plane ride itself. I am sharing this with you because I think that if I had known the private hell many parents go through taking their children on planes I would have had a lot more sympathy for them prior to having my munchkin.

My daughter has been on planes several times and has generally been great, minimal fussing and has been a big hit among the flight crew. Well I was freaking out about this trip months before it happened because this would be the first plane ride since she has learned how to walk. My daughter is full of personality and is VERY opinionated. She does not like "no" or to be confined. I actually purchased the tickets almost a month after I had planned on because I was so apprehensive about flying with her especially since my hubby wouldn't be able to come.

Well the big day came and as much as I worried about it I was hoping in the back of my mind that I was making a mountain out of a molehill....

Well I wasn't...to STL we had to stop over in Denver. The first flight wasn't full (we didn't realize until later in the trip) but we were seated with another lady. Munchkin was a bit fussy in the beginning but I was able to redirect her attention at first. Then I decided to prevent her from running up and down the plane, touching random people who were trying to sleep. Bring on the meltdown....it got to the point where I had to get up and carry her up and down the plane. Luckily we realized it wasn't a full flight and I was able to take her to the back row and hold her, which kept her from crying too much. But I had to hold her standing up for a good hour and that was no fun. I called my hubby when we got to Denver and told him that I was never doing this again by myself. He told me that the next flight would be better...he was partially right. This flight also wasn't super full so we had a section all to ourselves. Across from us was this mom with her two small kids so Munchkin was super focused on the kids (she loves people, kids especially) for most of the flight until the last 30 minutes where she cried non-stop.

Needless to say I was dreading the flight home today. To my surprise she slept the majority of the first flight and it was pretty empty. I should have known that my luck could not continue. It started with my flight changing gates twice and us running from one side of the airport to the other and back. So I didn't have enough time to get some milk for her. The flight was full and we were stuck in a window seat. Well from the second the flight began to move she was crying her eyes out, screaming, squealing and flailing around. Nothing helped, not toys, juice, food, TV or being comforted. After they turned off the seat belt sign I was forced to get up with her, hoping she would stop (she prefers to be held standing up for some reason). Well standing up didn't help but I didn't want to go back to our little claustrophobic seat so I stood up with her while she flailing around screaming her head off for over an hour. My back was killing me, my patience was shot and I was so tired and overwhelmed I cried myself. She eventually fell asleep in my arms and stayed that way for most of the flight until the very end.

So I am now going to be doing nighttime flights until she gets a bit older and hopefully that will lead to much easier flights and a much happier mom and baby.

Luckily even though I know it was super annoying for a lot of passengers no one made any comments (that I could hear) and several were actually really helpful and understanding so it made me feel a little less upset.

OK now that that ramble is over don't forget about Simply Stacie's giveaway!

With Envy Wednesday

I was born and raised in Saint Louis, MO. I lived in MO for 24 years and now that I have lived in Oregon for 4 years and I've had my munchkin I miss Saint Louis, especially being close to my fam. So I am super excited to be spending the next 5 days with my family, they miss the munchkin so much (she is the first grandchild for everyone) they are going to spoil her rotten :) It would only be fitting that I feature items from some Show-Me-Staters!

Pleated Tote by LittleBoPeepChic

Picasso's Garden - Original Watercolor painting by HammelmanArt


Walking in a Winter Wonderland- Freshwater Pearl Earrings by maggiebasile

Building Block Soaps - Lego Style Soap Set by aBreathofFrenchair

Giveway Day!!!

Please head over to Simply Stacie's blog. She features lots of fun products and does tons of giveaways. Today begins my giveaway for one free item from my shop. The giveaway runs until Jan. 26th so head over to check it and enter!

My Other Obsession

I'm taking a departure from shop talk, to talk about my minor obsession (ok it would be considered a major obsession if I wasn't such a penny pincher and would allow myself to buy buy buy). I absolutely love Fiestware...I have been in love with it for a number of years and longed to have a home so that I could buy them. I love color (if you've been to my house or my shop that would be very clear), so Fiestware just suits me. I am not the kind of person who gets a set of one color I have to instead get one of each color. I stopped buy them a year or so ago because we had no room in our kitchen for more stuff until this Christmas when I realized I needed serving dishes.

I was pleasantly surprised when opened one of the packages to find a pasta bowl in the most fabulous color of green. It turned out to be the new color Lemongrass.

Since getting them it has re-awaken my need for Fiestaware. Too bad we are trying to do better with budgeting and saving money. I guess I will have to wait until my bday to ask for more.

Redo Update

I'm alive!

I have been a bad blogger for this site and my family blog. I have been re-working the shop and have had some late nights. I did a long photo shoot this weekend and edited the pictures only to decide that I wasn't happy with how everything was looking. Finally last night I found a background that worked well for my pictures so I stayed up late re-shooting my stuff (I am very impatient so I had to do right then). I really like how it turned out. I still have several more items in the shop to re-shoot and some new items to list. I also re-did my shop banner (which matches my blog banner). I like it a lot and I don't think I will be changing it any time soon. So hopefully by the end of the week my shop redo will be complete.

I am also going out of town next week to visit my family and I am debating on whether to bring my laptop with me to work on new stuff. Since I will be with my fam I will have more free time to work on things since they will be showing the munchkin with love but my hubby (who is not going) will probably not like being stuck with our super old desktop that he claims doesn't work right (I believe its just a ploy to hog my laptop) and theres always the struggle with making time for family in the midst of all of this. Decisions Decisions...

Ok so enough babbling...here are a few new items now available in the shop.