Expanding the Fluff

I know a lot of people use their blogs to post cute pictures and stories of their family and friends.  I consider myself on of those people.  There are others that use their blog as somewhat of a diary.  They vent their feelings and ask for help from both their friends and even followers they  never met.  Every once in a while I turn into one of those people.  This is one of those days.
A few years ago I discovered a little website called etsy.  It forever changed my world.  At first I was just exploring for craft ideas.  I was newly married, no kids and even though I was "soooo busy" {remember those days moms?} I would look at etsy and say, I can do that, and put my Martha Stewart Wannabe skills to the test.  Now that I have discovered Pinterest {follow me to your right}, my little crafting world has opened up and I cannot.stop.pinning.  More on that later, back to etsy.
What I discovered when I started exploring etsy was that I wanted to start sewing.  This especially kicked into high gear after I had my son.  Moms of boys you know that every store you go into there are 28 amazing little girl outfits complete with matching tights, bows, shoes, bloomers and jacket.  Heck, throw some sunglasses in there too.  Now, move over to the boys section, you pretty much have your pick of the sports shirt, the bug shirt, the stripe shirt or the Daddy's Little Helper shirt.  No creativity, no cuteness, no accessories, no fun.  That got me thinking, I see little boy onesie in boutiques selling for 25 bucks a pop!  I can certainly do that!  So, I did.  I started making burp cloths and sewing appliques onto onesies in my dining room while my son was laying, yes laying, ah, I remember when he did that, on the floor.  I would sew all day every day every weekend.  It was so fun! 
Soon my buddies caught on that I actually knew what I was doing.  Wait, I take that back.  There was a TON of trial and error.  I am self taught, so a deeply apologize to my early customers for the lack of skill.  I would love to make it up to you by creating something for your now 5 year old.  Sorry about that. However, even though my work at the beginning wasn't exactly the quality it is now, it still turned out pretty cute and people kept coming back and asking me to make more and more for their little ones or baby showers.  I was thrilled!  Soon, I was doing a pretty decent business and I started a website, opened a facebook account {again, look to the right}, made business cards and carbon copied receipts, started pricing things and again, through trial and error I figured out what worked best for me in regards to handling and shipping orders.  I had my first show this fall at a local elementary school.  It was a great learning experience and something I would like to continue to do in the future.
Speaking of future, now onto the whole reason I am posting.  People ask me if I want to continue to sew.  They ask if it is really worth all the time.  Here's what I figure.  Does it take TONS of time?  Yep, sure does.  I try really hard to only work after my son has gone to bed.  I don't want to let this take time away from him.  By the time he goes to bed, my husband is off to the gym so it is pretty much the time I would spend just sitting in front of the TV so it's cool that I found something else to do.  That means I stay up pretty late some nights then turn around and wake up before 5:00 to hit the gym and go to work either at my paying job or my mom job.  When you factor in the time it takes to create a project and the cost of materials, I could never even hardly make any sort of even a part time living doing this.  But, I love it.  I love creating new things and I love that people come with ideas for me and I can always tell them Yes, I can do that.
Now, is sewing my favorite way to craft and create?  I think there are a lot of people out there that claim they love to do many things!  I love the idea of refinishing furniture.  I have taken a few old pieces in my house and turned them into something that I proudly display.  I love scrapbooking and painting.  However, more than anything in the world, I love party planning and baking!  I love to plan a good party.  Yes, I am one of those "theme" people.  I love baby showers and wedding showers and birthday parties...oh my.  I love finding new recipes and trying them out on my family and friends.  It helps that my husband will eat anything.  I swear, at least once a month he says, "Babe, this is the best thing I've ever eaten.  I think this is my favorite meal you've ever made".  If that's not enough to boost your cooking ego then I don't know what is.
So as the longest post in history continues, I ask myself and I guess anyone else out there, do you think there is a marked out there for party planning and cooking/baking?  I have always said that I would love to help people plan their parties.  My idea is to work with people on "at home" parties.  The idea is to meet with a client (and by client, I mean friend) and ask them what type of party they would like to have.  I could do ALL their work such as sending invitations, creating decor or setting a theme.  However, I think ideally people just want someone to come into their house, set up their party, leave and then come back and pick up their stuff.  Now that, I would love.
However, that may be too large of a scale to start.  I have been thinking of selling some of my yummy baked goods at local shows and possibly through etsy or facebook.  Ever since I saw the Casserole Queens on Bobby Flay's Throwdown, I thought this was a brilliant idea.  My obsession always has been cupcakes.  We had a tree of 350 cupcakes at our wedding.  It brought tears to my eyes. I love to make all kinds of different cupcakes.  I realize cakepops are on the rise, but I personally  believe cupcakes will be a staple in the world of baking for years to come.  Recently I have discovered my love of baking in mason jars.  Anyone remember Smores in a Jar?  They were a HUGE hit at work.  Literally, my friends are still talking about them.  I mean, how can you resist anything baked in such a handy and cute way?  So anywho, are you asleep from reading this yet?  If not, thanks for listening.  I am going to continue to talk it through with my family and friends.  I would love to incorporate my enjoyment of baking and party planning into Fluffy Cakes in the future.  I mean, why not, with a two year old I have all the time in the world!