Week in the life of a crafter mom from a developing country

Hey dollings...
Mouthful title, eh? Hahaha!

Before I go out to the garage and continue with my little doll room/house project, let me share with what I had been doing the past week.. 

Last weekend was filled with family stuff, with Saturday and Sunday celebrating birthdays of loved ones. And when I say celebrating, it means me in the kitchen the whole time 😅 and no time for sneaking out to work 😜

But Monday to Saturday was quite productive in my makeshift atelier, I must  say.. 

Monday.. 

Just another Messy Monday 🎶

A few days before this mess happened, I've already completed my current custom doll's outfit so I started the week with her accessories. Initial plan was just a bag, a pair of espadrilles and some simple jewelry. Turned out I wanted to add a hat, but..  

I didn't like how this one turned out.. 

I like this but this pattern didn't suit the outfit.. 

Thus, hat's off the list. 

And I'm back to my original accessories list. Here's a glimpse of her.

Sneak peek-ish of my current WIP OOAK doll

I am still looking for the best jewelry to add. I aim to do that early next week.
I am planning to add a fashion illustration to go with the set, so with all those things to do, plus designing and making her box, as well as promotional pics, I take it I can only list her by next weekend.

So, Tuesday.. 
I continued installing eyelets and hand-braided straps for my latest tote bags.

Removing eyelet paints with acetone

Those bright sea blue Siargao totes, which you can find here

'Completed only a few tote bags to add to my inventory. 

Cleaning paint off the eyelets was a pain but I kind of just made do with it because of some stupid mistake. I thought I was buying a non-painted/coated eyelet because all photos in the listing of this online shop weren't coated at all. The photos even showed different metal plate colors - gold, silver, brass, etc. But the title did say multicolor and I should have been sensitive about it. My fault was that I focused too much on finding the smallest eyelet sizes and this is the only 3mm-diameter that I could buy locally. So I thought I hit the jackpot.

So yeah, all these is just part of this venture so we just go on and solve problems as we go, right?

Wednesday.. I started with the espadrilles, which wasn't much a success...

Espadrilles gone wrong. I know I should start slow so...

WIP slippers, indeed...

The day ended with this:

Shoe making is this messy when you've a newb 😝

Thursday... I realized I had been spending too much time learning so I thought I'd allocate the remaining days of the week making items that could bring bacon to the table, too.

I chose these khaki shorts to restock because they have been sold out for sooo long and a lot of people had been asking for them.

Everyone needs them, just because they're so comfy and classy 😜

Friday... I decided to update my city shorts pattern, and since I was in the pattern-making state of mind, I thought I might as well make my curvy made to move gal her own city shorts pattern. It's been on my mental list for weeks now.

New trusty patterns...

Love how this nth pattern looked on her ❤️

And so came Saturday, which was a mix of work and family duties.
I made several khaki shorts both for regular and curvy gals and I hope to list them this coming week.

Okies, that felt invigorating.
I did a whole lot of different things and it's a well-balanced mix of struggles, excitement, challenges, disappointments, little joys.

This is my ideal week of sorts, but of course, every week is different and what matters is that it is our choice/decision to live this way. Nobody else can tell us what to do, what makes us happy, or what is scary. It's this little voice inside that matters.

I mean, that's what life should be about, right?

How about you guys?
How was your week? I hope that no matter how you spent it, it was your own choice.

Love lots,
Shasha