The Crafter's Dilemma

Dilemma time!

There really isn't enough time in the day, is there?

My time right now is spent in these three areas with number one being the top priority:

1. family
2. health
3. craftiness

 Family time.  The best part, of course.  My days are spent hanging out with my boys and maintaining my house, and they are busy days.  The boys and I are always up to something and we all look forward to evenings and weekends when we do things all together as a family.  There is playgroup, library time, sliding, skating, archery, movie nights, snowshoeing, visiting... full days!  We are also very involved in our community through volunteer work and just spend a lot of time outside.

Healthy time.  A good chunk of my time is also given to the healthy changes I have made in my life.  There is meal planning, logging my food intake, and exercise.

Craft time.  I love this time.  It is my time to take a little break from my family and get creative.  My skill set with leather and fur has grown so much over the last six years and I am still in love with my craft.  My business is growing each year and I am continually trying new patterns and ideas.  My husband is a great supporter of my need for craft time and I do get to log quite a few hours every week hiding away in my sewing lair.

So what is my dilemma?

I am one of just eight crafters that has been accepted to sell their wares at the Sourdough Rendezvous festival this February in Whitehorse.  I would be set up in the main performance tent and it would result in a lot of exposure for myself.  Pretty awesome.  Due to our vacation in the fall, I missed out on selling at a big craft show that I usually do in Whitehorse before Christmas.  It is a big money maker for me each year.  So it would be nice to have this craft show so I could use the proceeds to load up on new craft supplies for the year.

But some hiccups:

• I am getting a lot of custom orders.  Just enough that I can keep up, but enough that I don't have a lot of time to make items to put into my inventory. 
• We are heading out on holidays this Sunday for two weeks.  That only leaves me three weeks when I return to get ready for the craft show. 
• Two stores have asked if they could carry some of my items to sell.  One is the store right here in Faro and the other is out in Nova Scotia.

Those are all really great things!  Orders?  Holidays? Stores?  Hurray!

But I have a severe lack of time.  I don't want to take away from my family time.  And my kids and husband don't deserve a grumpy mama/wife because I am stressed about my craft time.  I can't take away from my healthy time.  I am twenty five pounds away from my goal weight and still have a lot to learn about maintaining my healthy lifestyle when the excitement of losing a significant amount of weight has worn off.

So I have to decide pronto what to do.  I am pretty sure family and healthy time will win out.  And craft time will sit on the back burner a bit longer.  It won't be long now until Cavan is in school and I will have a bit more time to dedicate to crafting.  It won't be a big loss though if I do not get to go.  I am a very lucky mama that gets to do so much every day with my kids, husband and community.  As I write this, I realize I am definitely prioritizing my time right.