Somewhere in the in-between

It’s been about a month since moving on from our little shop in Downtown Jensen. I have now found myself to be in this space I’m naming the in-between. What’s the in-between you ask? Well, I’m not quite ready to move on to the next chapter of life and before I do, I’ve been trying to sort my feelings and make the most of this time. Especially before the baby makes their arrival in October!

So far the in-between has been filled with lots of family time, pregnancy symptoms and feelings. SO many feelings. To be honest it’s been really hard to put into words how I feel. The only thing I think I could kind of compare it to is retiring. While I’ve never actually retired, I imagine this is similar to what it would feel like. Imagine working day in and day out at a job that you love, and then one morning you wake up and everything has come to a hard stop. It definitely takes some getting used to.

If anything the in-between has made me realize that I really don’t know how to slow down. I guess I always sort of knew that but now I really don’t have anything to blame it on. So I’ve been working on that. Last week I finally got back to creating again. I’m actually full of so much creative energy at the moment. But it’s been a constant inner struggle to keep myself from letting it out. Mainly because I didn’t want to rush into things without giving myself a little bit of time to adjust to new life. But I think fighting it only made it worse. All of this energy needed to come out and I wasn’t letting it. So finally, the ending of last week I decided to start back up on some projects that had been abandoned for a while. It felt really good! I may even have a little sneak peek of some new products for you at the ending of this post.

My new “inventory space” has thrown me off a little bit. It’s actually a little corner in our guest room. From this photo I could trick you into thinking that it’s a bedroom and nothing more.

But wait until you see the other side!

It’s only temporary until we can get to renovating my she-shed in the backyard. When we first bought our house a couple years ago I was so ecstatic to find this cute little shed in the backyard.

Initially I wanted to turn it into a library. I wanted a lovely flower garden to surround the whole area and the inside to be filled with all the stories my heart could desire. And of course a little couch where I could bask in the sunlight and read while the babies napped. But now I can look forward to it eventually becoming my studio and inventory space. I spend many afternoons daydreaming about the color I want to paint it and how the inside will look.

While the in-between has brought me so many different emotions and feelings, it’s also brought me lots of joy. It’s nice to be more present in the lives of my loved ones. Especially my little girl. We’ve been busy doing the most ordinary of things but it’s all felt so special. These were things I never really had time to do especially during the weekend with my husband. We are truly enjoying each other’s company and spending quality time together.

During this time, writing has really become my outlet. Sometimes social media can feel a little overwhelming for me because I don’t feel like I’m able to really be as open and honest as I would like. I love being able to sit down with a cup of tea and write out my thoughts and feelings in a blog post. Taking as little or as many words as I need. It’s really been helping me to sort things out. I’m planning on treating my blog as my artist journal and sharing more through here. If there’s anything you’d be interested in me writing about then feel free to leave a comment below!

Before I go, as promised here’s a little sneak peek of some new stationery items that will soon be making their debut! My fish paintings have gotten so much love and I’ve been working on using them on new products categories. Fish notepads and sticky notes will be coming your way soon!

These are things that I’ve always wanted to make but never had the time to do so. There’s also a few other designs that I will be keeping a secret for now. I have to keep the suspense there somehow!

Talk to you soon!

– Renée