The boutique.

I forgot to let you all know how the boutique went!

{old fence board snowmen awaiting adoption...sold at the boutique.}

As you may remember, I was a little stressed out about it. But all in all...once all was said and done...it was really quite fun! And we didn't do too bad for our first one.

We decided to call it, "The Bored Housewives Holiday Boutique". Like any of us are bored for crying out loud. But it cracked us up...so we went with it. We didn't want to take ourselves too seriously, you know.

There were 7 of us...a great group of women. Funny women. Man, did we laugh a lot. We held the boutique over the course of two days...Friday and Saturday. That seemed to work out well...we may do the hours a little differently next time. But we'll see.

I learned a few things during the process, though. Which is the most important part. I learned to focus on my strengths. I was trying to do too many things halfway rather than focusing full throttle on my strengths. But to be honest, I didn't even realize one of my strengths at the beginning. Not until my mom said, "Hey, why don't you mount some of your photos on blank note cards and sell them?" Huh? What photos? The ones from my blog? Those are just blog photos...not like, real photography.

Well, mom encouraged me to give it a try. So we did. She helped me choose them and then helped me put them together. And wasn't I surprised to find that once the photos were mounted on cream note cards...titled, signed, dated and slipped into a glassine sleeve...that they actually looked professional!! I was pleasantly surprised. (Thanks again, mom!)

Another thing I'll focus on for next year's boutique (yes, we're already planning it!) is preserves and canned goods. Over the summer I'll focus on making "inventory". Jams, preserves, pickled items...and whatever else I decide to try. The good thing about this is that whatever doesn't sell....can just be eaten!!

Bottom line...the boutique was a good experience. And worth giving another shot next year. The most important thing is to focus on what I'm good at...what comes naturally...then it doesn't feel like such a chore. It just feels...right.