Long time readers of this blog know how much I enjoy crafting and a vibrant economy in massive titles. I often get so carried away, being a purveyor of virtual goods becomes my primary activity. About 2 years ago, I expanded my love of crafting into a real life endeavor by designing and selling handmade accessories on Etsy. I’ve had a blast even though the effort dominates my free time. It’s been a wonderful form of creative expression that pays for itself. It was also an on-time sanctuary and balm when my mother passed away suddenly. I could sit down and express myself without words and be left with something that was at least to my eyes, beautiful – tangible.
My absence from gaming and blogging is owed to taking it one step further. I’ve leapt from the ledge of selling online to purchasing a brick-and-mortar business. I was hoping to find something I could afford that possessed growth potential, provided creative expression and that also leveraged the time and investment I’ve made in making accessories. I’ll have to tweak my target audience and aesthetic a bit but I found a great opportunity.
My youngest daughter and I are now in the high end children’s consignment business – a growing trend. I purchased an adorable boutique called Hissy Fits that’s less than 10 minutes from my house. My daughter is managing the front of the store so I can keep my day job. I join her after work and on weekends. I’ll be doing marketing, merchandising, new product introduction and working to transition my accessories into this new target audience.
We carry more than clothes. It’s the whole children’s kit-n-caboodle of shoes, baby gear, gifts, furniture, décor items, maternity wear and exquisite handmade special occasion outfits (Baptism, First Communion and Christening). It will be easy to fit my sewing skills into the mix. I have some ideas on the accessories but am still noodling that part over.
My gaming and blogging has waned over the past couple of years into spurts around starting to play a new title. Well it’s about to get even thinner. I’ve considered that I may have outgrown the end game treadmill no matter how much I enjoy the leveling experience in a new MMO. But I don’t think I could walk away forever. I adore the excitement and adventure of exploring new fantasy worlds and conquering new classes. But my focus is definitely elsewhere for the foreseeable future. I don’t know how I’m going to fit Final Fantasy – A Realm Reborn into the mix. I’ve wanted to play a FF MMO for quite some time and I’m a pre-order. I suppose we shall see.
I will be replacing the very lame and sparse website I inherited into something more substantial that will also have a blogging component. [Fixed - oh the joys of GoDaddy and WordPress. I was able to put something presentable together in a few hours].
I’m about to see how much of my EQ2 furniture business savvy translates into real life. Just kidding. I co-owned a physical business in the past with my ex – bistro. And I ran a small SW consulting business before the tech bubble burst.
If you’re curious about the life and times of a virtual crafter gone b-n-m, check me out in a few weeks. For now, most of what’s going on with the shop is on our Facebook page. Ugh, I hate social media. Guess I’m going to have to get over myself on that score. *smile*
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