Midweek update

So I've hit a bit of a road block with the lace making. After blitzing through Torchon (i.e. the net looking piece you see in the previous post), I'm on the chapter on lace edgings and it's doing my head in. I've reread the instructions over and over, but it's just not clicking! Probably not helping that I've also got a billion of other things on my mind (i.e. work situation is a bit worrisome), but still... this is meant to be my outlet!!!

But I will persevere... I have a night of "me time" ahead as MP is out tonight. We'll see how we go.

I am however, very excited about the upcoming weekend. I have signed up to a Beginner's Bookbinding course at the NSW Guild of Craft Bookbinders and it's going to be AWESOME. I know when most people think of book binding, they think of the fat plastic binders, but this course teaches traditional bookbinding skills. The course also includes membership to the NSW Guild of Bookbinders which gives students the opportunity to use all the professional equipment in the bindery. Although I will be taking home a number of examples from the course, my ultimate aim is to go back to the bindery sometime in the next few months and produce a beautiful, leather bound A3 book. What is this for you ask? ...The guest book for my wedding!

I also have another wedding project that has been sitting on my mental back burner for a while. As those of you who know me are aware, I have spent my life in sneakers. I owned silver, electric blue and light pink Sketchers when I was young (and I'm still rocking the pink ones at the gym), and now both MP and I spend our weekend kicking around in our chucks. So it's only apt that at my wedding reception, I kick off the church appropriate heels, and slip on the Cons! I do want to make the shoes special though, so I'm thinking of buying a pair of white cons and decorating them with Swarovski Hot Fix crystals. I've already trialed it on a baby's Dunlop sneaker and it looks sparkalicious! (Picture to come.) So now I'm sourcing a pair of Cons, but boy are they expensive. I remember picking mine up for around $40-$50 AUD back in the day, but looking on the Converse Australia website which directs customers to the authentics.com.au online store, a pair of white canvas cons are going to set me back $90! Hmm... going to need to budget for that purchase.

All in all, it's been a week of ups and downs. I downloaded the Business Plan template from business.gov.au, the Australian Government's principle business website. The site is actually very good, offering a host of helpful information to help people who are thinking about starting their own business. I have to admit, going through the business plan made me realise that there's so much I have yet to think about. Stuff such as insurance, risk management, the expected cash flow etc... I've got a long way to go before I can open up shop.

Well, at least I've made the first step by downloading the template. Now comes the long journey of filling it all in...