I'm impressed! Perhaps not so much with myself, but with the idea I came up with and how it's all turning out and coming together.
I'm still perfecting things, Papa's still resizing images to the best fit and altering the lighting to the sizes. The smaller you go the darker the images get.
And now he wants all new pictures with the new camera and equipment.
He loves to take pictures. People, places ~ things. When he started getting sick on top of dealing with mental challenges, I knew his work life would be shorter than he expected.
Retirement actually kills some people.
For many, that routine and the companionship of the co-workers is a big part of their lives. Those that do it repeatedly with the same company for so many years, have a harder time adapting to changes. Especially changes in their routine and financial status.
Idle minds are a dangerous place!
So, while I was busy making a few direct sales companies richer and myself broker.... I brought him along with his photographs. I listened and watched as folks reacted.
Hence the founding thoughts that led to 'now'. Where we are working together to build the company and not making anyone else rich, nor ourselves really. But it is helping a little financially and a lot health wise.
I have always been a CRAFTER/ARTIST.
I wish I would have realized then what I have come to know now.
Whenever there were gift exchanges at school, my family being poor, wouldn't be able to 'go out and buy gifts for all of us kids and our classes'. So, my mom would dig out her crafting supplies. Then we would figure out who it was we had to buy for ~ and something personal would get created.
I always loved the homemade Barbie clothes! My personal favorite.
Sadly, I went to school in the 70's when the 'push' for 'name brands' and 'spending the most money' seemed important to kids.? Homemade, wasn't popular.
My talents were needed yet again in life....
I was a young mother of 4 kids. My first husbands work would lay off in the fall and not pick up again until spring. Winters were hard financially; and Christmas was often a very stressful time for us. One of the many ways we combatted the need for school clothes twice a year, Birthdays, Easter and Christmas was ~ LAYAWAY. 10 to 12 weeks to pay before the holiday would arrive. Most of our favorite stores offered the plan all year round.
We were able to give our kids a pretty good life.
Then there was the obstacle of 'the kids' wanting to shop for family and friends. . . So the crafting began again... Birthdays, Anniversaries, Holidays...
During the weeks before Christmas the kids would sit around the table and paint ceramics, make candles and all kinds of little things to give Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles - cousins.... The supplies would only cost about a third or less of what it would have cost to 'buy' everyone a gift. And this way, no one would be left out. There was always enough supply to make 'yet one more thing'!
And yet again ~
So here we are now with these amazing machines that can turn the photographs into 'anything' ~ and of course, my first thought was the grandchildren. One granddaughter picked out a photo print to make a Tshirt for her mom, another granddaughter has decorated a piece of sublimation paper with special ink pens to decorate a cup!
As you can see, talent continues to run in the family!
- T-Shirts {med - lg - xlg}
- 12 oz Ceramic Cups
- 6 oz Frosted Candle Jars, w/Tealight & lid
- 1.5 oz Frosted Shot Glasses
- Square Coasters {Set of 4}
- Mouse Pads {3mm & 5mm}
- Book/Tote Bags
- Wall Canvas' in a variety of sizes from 3x5 to 16x20