2014 - Week One: Goals, reflections and changes

Can you believe the first year of 2014 has already come and gone? It has been a quiet and restful week in our house - school was supposed to start back yesterday, but was cancelled due to extremely low temperatures through today. (Secretly I am hoping it's cancelled tomorrow too, I'm not ready for G to head back to school! I love having him home with me. ♥)

I am still on "vacation" until February 1st. I will still putter around the studio and list a few things here and there, but I won't be back at it full swing for three more weeks. Here is a peek at the first creations of the new year!

My son helped design this "old" monster!

First Mon-stor of 2014!

This cute, one of a kind monster will be available here on January 24!

Let's talk goals... My goal for 2014 is to work harder, rest more, and care more about what my family thinks of me than anyone else thinks of me. The reason I chose these goals is because while I work eight (and sometimes twelve) hour days, I often don't walk out of my studio feeling like I accomplished all that I could. I succumb far too often to distractions (cough, the infinite interwebs) and need to discipline myself a bit more so I can increase production & churn out my personal goal of at least 300 monsters this year. And when I am working those long days in the studio, I often don't separate myself from my business after quitting time. I rarely take days off. So this year I am forcing myself to unplug, to invest more in my home & family, and to hopefully take one entire day off a week to just rest, relax and hang out with my family - who I know during the past busy monster making seasons didn't get as much of my attention as they should. With better practices I hope to end out the year feeling more accomplished and peaceful than I did at the start of the year!

During 2013 I learned so much, and grew so much as an artist and a person. I learned to hustle and I learned to be more intentional about how I spend my time, I learned better ways to create and build community. But you know,  I still cannot believe how much Lu & Ed has grown in four years. It just blows me away how rapidly Lu & Ed continues to grow and evolve! Here is a visual example I put together today - monster photo on the left is from Dec 28th 2013, the one on the right from just a few days ago. It's stunning to see how much my product photography has improved in just one year!

Something else that is about as amazing as my photography improvements is that in 2013 I sent out over two hundred and fifty Mon-stors, stuffed monsters, Gadget Mon-stors and totes to you amazing people. Mind blown. Literally. Wow. Thank you guys. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for loving Mon-stors so much. ♥ Thank you for supporting my dream and enabling me to be a stay at home mother to my son. Thank you for supporting handmade businesses. Thank you.

Before I wrap up this long-winded post, a bit about change.

I have big plans for Lu & Ed 2014, the first of which I just rolled out last week - a weekly subscription service to receive new Mon-stor listings right to your inbox! Instead of listing stuff as I make it I am switching to stocking once a week, on the weekends. If you haven't yet, sign up now - the subscription service also includes exclusive coupons, sneak peeks of projects I am working on & special Team Lu & Ed news! Sign up below so you don't miss out!

Sign up to get new listings delivered right to your inbox!

Other changes coming include new products, new collaborations, new venues & more! I will release more detailed information as the dates approach for each! ♥

If you made it this far, thank you for sticking with me to the end! Much love and monster hugs! Here's to a colorful, creative, happy 2014!