Balancing Act

We all try to find balance in our lives and the same is true for artists. I am a "work-at-home mom"/jewelry artist/Thirty-One Consultant constantly trying to find balance between family life and work life. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and when I had the opportunity just after my daughter's 5th birthday, I took it!

Though I love nothing more than to be able to be readily available to my now 3rd grader, I will admit, working from home is hard. When there is a huge pile of laundry or dishes (seriously....where does all that come from?!?) it can be tough to get into the creative zone! Housework is never done, as every mother knows and there are never enough hours in the day to do everything I set out to do.

Not only do I have a daughter, we also have a small (ok maybe not so small?) collection of animals that are always in need of my time, attention and love.

(Yes, this is pretty typical of a night in our house. Usually no cat on the table though. Lol)

On top of our dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, fish and turtle, this spring we added a hamster, 2 new ducklings and 6 chicks. Yes, I have probably lost my mind. ;)

Then our 2 adult ducks threw us for a loop and hatched out a baby!

We've had our fair share of babies at the Riebow Funny Farm this spring and things are finally starting to settle down here a little as far as all the extra work that comes with babies is concerned.

So.....with all this going on how do I find time for my jewelry business? Sometimes I don't. During the school year I have the house to myself while my daughter is at school and my husband is at work and after taking care of any necessary chores it is usually easy to find an hour or 2 here or there to bust out some new pieces. Then comes summer and we are squeezing every available drop of sunshine and warm weather out of our day and sometimes jewelry making falls to the back burner. Summer brings it's own form of crazy that the school year lacks and I often end up mostly working on custom orders. Thankfully lots of my fabulous customers are looking for fun, summery pieces like hemp/macrame bracelets which are easy to work on anywhere. Plus I have tons of previously made jewelry from fall and winter still waiting for new homes. ;)

And sometimes even when I have time for jewelry, things like wedding gifts need to be made and I get sucked into a different kind of craft world for a while.

I am so thankful to my amazing customers for their patience, understanding and support. Making custom jewelry is very important to me but my family always comes first. I am just trying to live day by day and enjoy every moment while doing my best to balance it all. I would love to hear how YOU find balance in your life. I am still searching. ;)