If I had a do over, I would...

Holidays always bring times of reflection to us. And New Year's brings the thought of resolutions. This is the first time that I (Jen) haven't thought about goals or resolutions, per say. One of the greatest things that I picked up this year that worked well for me is making shorter goals instead of goals for an entire year. I made 90 day goals and I accomplished a lot more. That felt great, but I've been thinking what if I had a do over on everything? What would I do differently for my entire life?

Impressing People is Not Worth It: 
I have accomplished not looking so closely at money (to the point of insanity), but it's biting me in the ass. I have to admit, I'm quite stressed out about it all. I feel that we are in a situation that we can't get out of and it's driving me crazy. I've tried techniques including Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman methods. They don't fix it. They don't get the situation under control. I want a redo to 1996 and not sign up for a credit card and in Christmas 1997, not to use said credit card to buy all of my family gifts that I couldn't afford. I honestly never recovered from that decision of going in debt. I've had credit card debt since that year and I can't recover. I want out from under that debt so badly I can taste it.

Don't Say Everything:
I've learned a lot about how to be open and who to open up to in 2012. I've lost a few friends, redefined a few boundaries with a few people, and mended some family and friend relationships a little bit more. Where I'd like a do-over is the moment of sharing too much before it's shared. I don't have to share everything with everyone. Usually what provokes that is that I want to share it because I want them to understand where I or we am/are coming from and why we make the decisions that we do. I struggle a lot with wanting people to understand my point of view and I assume they don't... Maybe they do. And if they don't, does it really matter? Probably not. They'll think what they want anyway. And it's none of their business!!!!

Quit Judging those that Judge:
I have a lot of emotion and anger towards people that judge other people, but I've realized that I'm no different. I'm judging the judges. I don't want to judge the judges. Everyone comes from unique backgrounds and make choices differently based on their backgrounds. And just because someone else sounds like they are judging, doesn't mean they are judging. We're all in this together. I want to just take a chill pill from now on and have peace in my heart about other people's motives. Who cares what their motives are? Let them deal with it....

Don't Sacrifice Mental or Physical Health:
If I had a do over, I'd, **GASP**, be more selfish. The thing is that I watch a lot of people (and I was one of them) sacrifice every part of themselves to the point their expectations and perceptions are so skewed that selfish is considered negative. "Me" time is important. "Friend" time is important. "Hobby" time is important. A job that you love is important. Relationships are important.  Taking care of your mind and your body is important.  INVEST WHERE IT MATTERS! If you have time for other stuff, then do it, but if you don't, stick to the basics!

Don't Trade Money or Opportunity for Friendships that will last a Lifetime:
It's hard to put it in a short paragraph, but I have to say that there are a few very valuable friendships that I have made along the way in various locations. The problem is that they all live many hours away from us. Those relationships matter most to me and I can't be with them regularly. If I had a do-over, I would have tried to stay near those friends instead of taking the path that I chose. Now, in Cincinnati, we do not have near the support system that those friends may have been able to give in Maryland, Seattle (at the time) or Indiana. It takes time to build those friendships and I long to be near them regularly.Wish I would've invested more time with them and not sacrificed so much of them to "better" our situation. They were better than any situation we've gotten ourselves into and those said situations aren't any better anyway. Also, I would've invested way more time into the friendships that matter and that I want instead of the ones that I thought I should have.

  
What does any of this have to do with anything? Glad you asked....

You might wonder what the hell any of this has to do with Brass Hammer Designs. It may not look like it has much to do with it, but it actually has everything to do with it when you look at what motivated BHD to start up and to try to fix all of these said problems. BHD is a business that stemmed from a hobby to try to help offset some of the above things (financial issues, mental/physical health issues, finding fulfillment in work and missing friendships...). It didn't really accomplish any of that, but we got an "A" for effort on our part. We tried for a year now. We're not giving up. However, we are realizing that BHD has a different place in our life and that it cannot fill those voids that we mentioned above.  You may have noticed that we haven't been as active and this is why. We've turned our focuses on Josh finding a job that is fulfilling to him and towards dealing with the mental/physical health issues. This is where we are. We'll always be here and we'll try our damnedest to fill any needs you might have. We always appreciate referrals and purchases. Hopefully you'll continue to stick with us as we have a Work-in-Progress Art Business.

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

A.D.D. or Normal?

This morning started off with me cussing because of a series of things - the dog peed on the floor, I spilled coffee on the couch and I absolutely cannot find a piece of paper that had checking account number and routing number for our business account. All I want to do is set up our etsy account to accept Credit Cards - for the LOVE!!!!! I'm blaming it currently on Josh's A.D.D., but I know a LOT of people must lose key pieces of information like this, right? Josh's jobs have him logging his thoughts on random pieces of paper and then they don't get transferred to a place that won't be thrown away. That has to be an A.D.D. thing, right? Isn't it??? No?

So, as thankful as we were yesterday, I'm frustrated today. Family time is over and we're trying to create sales by making it easy for our customers to  make a purchase with their credit cards instead of PayPal, which you may not have an account with. I'm hopeful Josh will be able to locate it soon, so we can make things convenient for you. I'm in rest mode today and wanting to sit on my butt for a bit because we're heading up to Purdue tomorrow to enjoy the rest of my birthday gift..... Laundry, cleaning the fridge and Christmas decorating is on my list today....

So a poll at this point..... have you ever misplaced something this vital multiple times?



We'll await your answers as we head to the Purdue vs. IU Oaken Bucket game tomorrow.....

BOILER UP!

And hopefully the outcome is better than it was last game we went to.... Homecoming in October.

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

30 days of Thanks!

We can't help but notice that many of our friends on Facebook are participating in a movement of the30 days of Thanksgiving during the the entire month of November. Even though Josh and I did not participate in the 30 days of Thankfulness for the month there, we are very thankful for so many things. It's good to write down what we are thankful for to keep us in perspective and that is why we are sharing our 30 days of Thanks here.

Day
1. Thankful for the air we breathe and our health and the roof over our head.

2. Thankful for each other and the love that we share.
3. Thankful for the support that is given to us by our families.
4. Thankful for the friends that we have in our life - you all are amazing and we love you.
5.Thankful for the special group of friends that are our family away from family.
6. Thankful for our right to vote.
7. Thankful that even though the election results didn't meet everyone's expectations, we still have control of our own thoughts and actions.
8. Thankful for Facebook and the connections that without it, we probably would not have.

9. Thankful for our fans. Without you, Brass Hammer Designs would not exist.
10. Thankful for relaxing Saturdays that give us much needed rest.
11. Thankful for all of the Veterans that have served our country and everything that was sacrificed by them and their families for our freedoms.
12. Thankful for the ability to travel and learn more about the global perspective.
13. Thankful for our college educations and the perspective that it has given us of life.
14. Thankful for the advancements in medical technologies that have increased cancer survival rates and help us have less-invasive surgeries with faster recoveries.

15. Thankful for our dog Buster, who has been an awesome part of our life. And for Daisy who we still visit in our dreams. 
16. Thankful for the Small Businesses in our lives that recognize us as much as we recognize them as being a valuable part of our community: Swing This, Garage Massage Therapy and Bodywork, Rituals by Nature, and Tony Deal Photography
17. Also, an extra thankfulness to Swing This and owner Joe Daniels for all of his genuine support for improving our health.
18. Along with Joe's support with health, we're also just as thankful to Rituals by Nature's Will and Missy Marlar for their dedication to skin care products. PLUS all 3 of you have helped us learn how to manage our business better and we are so thankful for those conversations that we have regularly.
19. Thankful for organizations willing to help people in need during disasters.
20. Thankful that we have a few holidays to remind us to be thankful for our freedoms and Thanksgiving to remind us to be thankful in general.
21. Thankful for my (Jen's) job and career that has helped us land in all of the great places to encounter all of the great people and make a final landing in Cincinnati. Thankful that this career has supported us a lot through thick and then.
22. Thankful for the struggles that we have had that help us appreciate each other more.
23. Thankful for music and artists willing to risk failure to share their talents. Some of our favorites: Clutch, Murder by Death, Old Crow Medicine Show, Grateful Dead, Avett Brothers, Bob Marley, Jewel, Johnny Cash, Jack Johnson, Cake, and so many other talented ones that go unmentioned.
24. Thankful for modern conveniences (such as washers, dryers, toilets, stoves, ovens, microwaves, phones and cell phones and computers and databases and excel sheets!!!!) that make life easier and thankful for the inventors that created these items from their heads.
25. Thankful for the internet and Google Searches to find nearly every answer to every question. Also, thankful for the freedom of information in the United States that helps unveil a lot of truths that are not available in other countries.
26. Thankful for good athletes and inspirational people, such as Felix Baumgartner.
27. Thankful for those that do the right thing even when no one is looking.
28. Thankful for good memories with great friends
29. Thankful for friends with good advice when it is most needed.
30. Thankful for our island and the ability to go therefor vacations.

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Managing Your Own Career

Had to share this - it was too big and too good of information not to share with as many people as possible.

Kathy Beechem, currently the Director of Spiritual Growth for Crossroads Church, came to Kroger on 10/18/2012 to speak to the Women's Associate Resource and she was phenomenal. I was thrilled to hear what she had to say and appreciated that she had several good principles to apply to managing your own career. I wanted to share it with as many people as I could because I'm so inspired by it.  Enjoy!


Principle #1: Produce oustanding results no matter what position you are in. This means being the top performer in what you are currently doing and meeting the metrics that that position is measured on. Produce quality and good quantity results to be noticed. To do this, you need to know the ranking system for your role and your area. This is usually boss-defined.  Be involved with being the best at hitting that measure. The top 10-25% range consistently creates value on the team and to produce reliable results gets you noticed.

Principle #2:  Build reulationships while you are producing outstanding restuls. Be genuinely interested in others and do your best to remember names. This is a HUGE one - NAMES.  Also remember that it's the 2nd level up that you has more influence in your career. So make sure you have a relationship with your boss's boss.

Principle #3: Expect Change and look for Change. Have a good attitude towards change, look forward to it. Remember, where there is change, there is opportunity. Learn within your unit, your company, the effect of the economy and world on your industry.

Principle #4: Where two things meet is the Sweet Spot. If you have history in an area and then it meets with one of your passions, don't miss it. This could be a chance for a sweet spot!

Principle #5: When your career hits a point that has more than one option, choose the option that gives you the most options.

Principle #6: Community involvement allows you to develop leadership skills that can propel your career. Here is the key though: do not volunteer unless you have a passion in it. If you don't have a passion for it, you probably won't do your best and you won't be interested in showing up consistently. (See Principle #1). Learn your heart, so you can be ready for involvement in your community. And remember, it is absolutely okay to say no if you don't have the passion for it. Just be honest. There's nothing wrong with not having passion in everything.

Principle #7: A door closes. Another door opens. Expect disappointments along the way. How you respond to those is how it will make a difference.

Principle #8: There isn't a map. It's a journey. YOU make the map! Kathy told us her history and she started her career in a convent trying to become a nun that wanted to change the Catholic Church. After that, she became a teacher for the better part of a decade. Then she entered Human Resources and then into Management in US Bank. In 2010, she was named in the top 25 women in banking by Forbes Magazine. She felt her career took another turn when her husband became ill with a brain tumor that resulted in a book about dealing with a terminally ill loved one. And now she is working at Crossroads. Her point in telling us her history (and my point in sharing it here) is there was absolutely no way you could predict her career path based on how she started. None...

Principle #9: She mentioned Community Involvement again because it can allow you to build relationships that can propel your career. You meet key people that share your passion, and can see the potential you have in a job.

Principle #10 wasn't really a principle, but it was worth mentioning after some Q&A time with the group. Focus on your strengths and know how you're wired. Keep developing what you're good at. Don't discount things that come easy to you - that might be the sign that you are good at it. Weaknesses - don't spend too much time trying to correct all of your weaknesses.

I hope these 10 principles impact you as much as they impacted me.

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Nothing Comes Easy

I apologize that we haven't posted in a while. To be honest, there hasn't been much inspiration. We've been doing the same thing week to week. Josh is looking for a new job that he can build a career in and is dealing with a few health issues that are taking up a lot of his mental energy. I have been my normal busy self with all of my hobbies and such. Nothing has slowed us down enough to really sit and think about a blog. Sadly, Brass Hammer Designs is usually the first to suffer when we both get to this point. But tonight, I find my mind focused on the phrase: "Nothing Comes Easy."

So what does the phrase "Nothing Comes Easy" mean? Think about it. What ever comes easy? People always talk about how hard they work for things, but how often do you really hear of someone not having to work for something they cherish? Yet, we waste tons of money playing the lottery or gambling for that slim chance that something will come easy. Why do we do that to ourselves? Why in the world would we ever think any differently than the norm?  I search for quotes to inspire me at moments like this and here are two really great ones:

To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.
William Shakespeare

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
Robert Collier

It really doesn't come easily. You have to work at it at a slow and steady pace. And when you work for it, you respect yourself more and you enjoy and respect everything you earned along the way even more. It's sweeter..... You know those moments you've felt this way...... when you bought your first toy as a kid, when you bought your first car, when you bought your first house..... You know these feelings. Remember them when you think about buying into that easy fix.... As easy as we would like things to come, success just does not come easy. Ever.

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Get Mikey to Try it

A few years ago, I had training for work and we covered the generational differences of the 5 generations in the work force today (yes 5). One of the things that was noted of us GenXers was that we are loyal to people and not companies. I find that very true of myself even today. There are certain people in my life that I believe completely in their products, their services and their companies and their friendships. I feel they believe in us too, but convincing someone to switch brands or spend money is very difficult. The only way that I know how is to get people to try things. I tend to do that by giving gifts to the doubters or people that are hesitant and hope that they will start believing in the products and in turn, start buying them for themselves. That's easy to do with someone else's product, but not as easy to do with your own - especially if you are selling artwork. It reminds me of that commercial in the late 70s about Mikey trying Wheaties.

Josh has said it a lot lately: "Art doesn't make itself." That's true and one of our customers just posted  another great quote from Samuel Butler on his Facebook wall: "Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it."  How can it sell itself if people don't see it? We need to get exposure. I don't think I can give everyone a gift of art to get them to try it.... That could be $1000 that we don't earn. We have to start working at this if we want our art to sell. Online presence isn't enough. Getting it into people's hands so they can see it in person, touch it, enjoy it and then yes, buy it and take it home.

So that probably is next step. We have quite an inventory built up, so we will be making our way to something soon most likely. Just have to get organized.... Ahhhh - organization with an ADD. Is that even possible? :) And I still am convinced it's contagious and I have caught it.....

Before I go and start trying to organize this, I want to share with you where our loyalties lie.... Depending on where you live, you may be interested in these products and services:

All Natural Face and Skin Care products: Rituals by Nature
The best kettlebell gym and community you could ask for: Swing This Kettlebell Studio in Latonia, KY
My favorite lady at 602 Salon is Jacquie Smith Meadows.

Onalda Martinez at The Garage Massage Therapy and Bodywork in Cincinnati area.
Bridgette Dobbs at The Right Touch Massage & Therapy in New Castle, IN
Yoga - Kim Spivey at World Peace Yoga
Another Great Yoga instructor - Leah Gates at Kenwood Hot Yoga
Makeup Services: Dashing Beauties by Marie
Tour and Limo Service: Night Shift Limousine and Only in Cincinnati
Custom Motorcycle Work at Stella Kustoms in Severn, MD
Daniel's Restaurant and Open Air Bar in Elkridge, MD

"He likes it! He likes it!"

Until Next Time.... Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Appreciation for Close Family & Friends

We'd like to take a moment and thank our friends and family that have supported us through this still-very-evident recession. Josh's mom gave us an older car a few years ago that we used to sell and get some money from to make ends meet during that time and she continues to send him money when we're in a rough patch. And today, we drove home a 2004 Toyota Camry that my mom and step-dad gave us to help us through the next few years of this recession. We are thrilled beyond words!

This gift couldn't be at a more timely moment because Josh's Jeep has had no A/C all summer (during one of the hottest summers we've had this year) and blows hot air when the vents are on. It has manual windows. (Holy Crap - I just realized people under the age of 20 probably don't remember manual windows now unless their parents still have a vehicle with them. Our Jeep is 18 years old, and automatic windows were vast then, so it's a rare bird. You have to open them by cranking a handle on the door and you can't just touch a button to open the passenger windows.....) So, back to the hottest summer of the year and not being able to open windows easily and vents blowing hot air - that is a recipe for sweat stains on your shirt and maybe your pants on the way to and from every destination in your vehicle..... Try going to an interview that way. And with gas prices and grocery prices and just trying to survive, we have not been able afford to get the A/C fixed just yet - it was going to cost at least $2000. We cannot save $100/month right now with the bills that we have going out.

So, this just made us realize how much we appreciate our family and friends who know what is going on in our day-to-day lives and step up to help us in ways that we can't even express enough appreciation for. Without these types of people in our lives, we would be a lot further in debt and Brass Hammer Designs would not even be a possibility. Hopefully all of our readers are fortunate to have people in their lives to help them through these hard times. And if not, hopefully you are able to get through this recession with minimal debt or stresses.

Hugs to all of our parents, family and close friends and a big THANK YOU for being there for us. We LOVE you very much. Hopefully you know how much we appreciate you.

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

106 Short Days Left.....

While walking through the Oktoberfest in Mainstrauss (Covington, KY), I realized that a lot of these crafty things are what people buy their friends and family for gifts. They see a saying like "Let's save time and assume I'm always right" and crack up, then say "I think that'd be good for: Mom or for Grandma or for Sister or my best friend. I'm buying it." We're still excited about the idea of making it to a Festival or making surprise appearances at a Farmer's Market in the area. But until then, we can still make that product for you.

Light bulb!!!!!!!   Do you have a sign that you've always admired or a saying that you like? We can make it. Just email us and see what we can do. We'd love to be your source for a custom gift for a friend or family member. This sign is a connected sign to the Stella Kustoms job that we did.

Stella Kustom's shop was destroyed just about a year ago by a tree falling into it during a thunderstorm. It's up and running again! (Go like this page - trust us. They'll be doing some pretty awesome things in the future now that it is and he's worth watching.) Note our sign in the background with that "Life is a Dry Hand Job" sign hanging from the bottom. It is reversible too depending on the mood. Here's the other side.

CUSTOM CHRISTMAS ORDERS ACCEPTED THROUGH NOVEMBER 15th. GET YOUR ORDERS IN NOW! And why haven't you checked out our Etsy page yet? You might already want to buy something there. Don't forget going in together on gifts is a great gift for mutual friends or parents...... They love that type of thoughtful gift and especially when it's a beautiful piece like what we can make... We also have done some unique Plyoboxes for Swing This. Some of you Crossfitter fans might be interested in that as well.

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Only.... 115.... Days......

It's August 31st and you only have 115 SHOPPING DAYS left until CHRISTMAS! .... And even shorter if you celebrate Hanukkah! Why not give a Memory this year for the holidays? We're accepting a limited amount of custom orders between now and November 15th. Also, check out our Etsy page for existing pieces. If you want to add a little extra special, we'll work with you for a few extra bucks if you want to add a small message on any piece. The custom-made items add a piece of your soul to any gift and your family members will cherish it for generations.

Here's a few pics from the weekend of gift giving we had.... Remember the couple we did the sign for? They are now officially Mr. and Mrs. Stellwegen. Love them to pieces and we were honored to give them another piece for their collections:

Here's the sign that we did and the bike that was sold soon after delivery by Stella Kustoms.

And here's the wedding gift...... And Josh is so good, he even wrapped it beautifully for our friends. :) They loved it, of course.

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Joint Projects

You've heard us talk several times about our relationship with the owner of Swing This, Joe Daniels. He is so supportive of small businesses and helping them get started. He's been more than supportive of Brass Hammer Designs; in fact, our last project was a project for him. The MOAB (Mother of all Boxes) plyo box we mentioned in last week's blog was delivered to the Swing This on Monday August 13th. That day alone, there were over 600 jumps on it and it was delivered mid-afternoon! We're estimating there already have been well over 7000 jumps on it by now.

So, what makes the box different than all the rest? It is rectangular instead of square like the typical plyo box, so it's actually 2 boxes in one. It's a 24" x 30" x 24" box reinforced so that it can be turned on it's side to be a 30" box or a 24" box. OH! And don't forget the "Ashley edges" to prevent any nasty shin upsets! We're already working on the next box even though it's not purchased yet and can't wait to incorporate that into our daily routines at the gym along with everyone else. Check out Swing This' Facebook page to see how many people are talking about the MOAB and how it's helping their training experiences. Be sure to "Like" the page too while you're there.

MOAB (MOTHER OF ALL BOXES) PLYO BOX DELIVERED

FIRST DAY OF USE

And here is the small MOAB (12"x18"x24") in the making.

Knots inside of the small box for easy maneuvering.

We cannot thank Joe and the members of Swing This enough for all of your support. We are thrilled to be working on projects that help people get more fit and support their goals and dreams as well as ours.

Also, our final cross, called Stacked Prayers, has been made in the series of Mexican Folk Art Crosses. We've put it up on our etsy page. Go check it out along with our other inventory and see if there's anything you would like.

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Skip a Monday?

I was thinking of skipping today for posting a new blog. I don't have any real new material. I mean, we're doing the same ole, same ole: praying to the money gods that we can stretch our dime til the next pay check like the rest of ya. So why write anything? I have nothing new. Well, there's a little bit that is new, but I'm going to save that until next week. By then, we probably will have delivered the latest purchase to Joe Daniels at Swing This Kettlebell Studio. We've been posting a few pics on the Swing This Facebook page as well, so check that out when you have a chance.

So I was thinking of skipping a post, but then I was recording numbers and we've had 33 more views since last Monday on this blog and 8 or 9 new likes on our Facebook page, plus you are going to check out our Etsy page more too - 18 new views there. Well hell, I don't want to miss out on new likes and views because I have no new material! Like I've been saying for a few weeks now, that could eventually mean sales.

So today, I guess what I want to do is plead to you that share our social media sights. Can you do that for us? Can you share our Facebook page with your friends? Can you share our Etsy link with them too? And feel free to share this blog's link as well. Any new likes gained from this could be the person who buys a new piece from us and that's why we're here!

So thanks in advance for your help and support!

Until Next Time,

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Overcoming Obstacles

Many of you probably can relate to overcoming obstacles. But what do you do when the obstacles do not go away for years? Do you change the direction you're going or do you keep trying to overcome them? And how long do you wait before changing directions? That's where we're stuck. Brass Hammer Designs basically derived because of an obstacle of Josh finding a job after finishing his Bachelor's Degree in Behavioral Sciences in 2010. This economy has stuck us with several obstacles including the constant job search of a 34/35/36 year old Caucasian man, owning  a house that didn't sell 7 years ago, owning cars that have 200,000 miles on them, and not being able to pay down debts that we need to pay down. We're fortunate enough that we have renters in that house paying 3/4 of the mortgage for us, but that still means we have quite a bit of excess expenses during the month. And that is what we're faced with again. Brass Hammer Designs just isn't cutting it for paying all of those extra bills. We can't afford another debt, so we're self-funded entirely right now. We had some start-up money to buy a few things, but that has been gone for several months. Josh is working at Home Depot and trying to make ends meet with that income, but it is no where near fulfilling like what he wants.

So how do we overcome the next set of obstacles? Well, since BHD isn't paying bills, we're faced with having to overcome the same obstacle we're always faced with - needing money. I know that this is the case for many of us, so I don't want to pretend that it isn't. It is what it is, right? So, Josh continues to look for a full-time job that is a career, so that BHD can be his hobby on the side. But the aspirations of BHD keep changing. First it's a full-time gig, then it's a full-time gig along with a side job and now it's turning into a side job instead of a full-time gig. Don't worry, we don't intend on letting it go away - it is a plan for our retirement to our island one day. But, I'm sure you all know that nothing comes easy. I can name off all of the cliches that we can think of at the moment and it doesn't fix what it is. We're struggling daily to keep our heads up and we want to do the right things and stay positive. It's hard to do.

Just like I told our Score Counselor a few weeks ago, we're basically waiting on more money to come in so that we can do more with BHD and with our lives. Until then, we're patiently waiting on someone to give us a million dollars. :)

Until Next Time,

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Crosses are Everywhere!

One of our Facebook friends recently asked "Why all the crosses?" She's not the first to ask either, so the answer was simple for Josh, "I think I began making crosses because subconsciously I was searching for comfort. Great know thy self question, thank you for asking."  So, we have crosses everywhere now and Josh is thinking that he might be ready to put down crosses for a bit. :) 

 Understandably. Look at how many we have around.  

And here are the ones that have sold already. So.... many.... crosses....

We're very proud of all the crosses that we've made/sold, but there's only one more getting made right now and then it will be time to move on to something new.... We have a couple of custom projects to work on, but is there anything you'd like to see from us? Why not tell us on our Facebook page? 

Until Next Time,

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

No System is Working

I'm stuck. Utterly stuck in a rut of procrastination, avoidance, and ignoring. Remember those house pics from a few weeks ago? Maybe a little longer? Nothing is better. We haven't slowed down long enough to do much besides do a quick bathroom cleaning and clean the kitchen a few times. That's it. All of the flat surfaces are still covered. I know that I am need of simplification of my life in all areas. I keep telling myself in 2013, I'm going to focus on simplifying our finances, but what about the rest of our shit? Seriously! It's out of control!

And my days are getting busier. I'm avoiding more and more and then looking around wondering how in the world am I going to get to the things that need to get done? I desperately need to slow down somehow. I'm debating joining The Fly Lady's email list. But to be honest, I'm overwhelmed with all of the information online and coming at me in that method as well. Maybe she addresses that, but what if she doesn't? Then I'm stuck with more clutter in the form of email. I can pretend that we're moving maybe - that seemed to work to keep our clutter down for a good 10 years - we moved every 2 years. It seems like when we moved from our house in Richmond, IN though, we brought everything with us instead of purging.

I'm overwhelmed really. I don't know what else to say. I keep saying I'm going to try something and I plan to do it, but for some reason, this is where my drive fails me. I set out with goals and accomplish them all the time, yet, I can't take a simple task like staying organized and getting it done. I don't feel we are hoarders or anything, but I just want to simplify my life in so many ways.

 Our clutter is in the way of so many things.... I once posted on my facebook page and purposely keep it in my quotes, "The state of your housekeeping a lot of times reflects the state of your mind." I agree still and my mind is a mess...... I feel completely out of control and desperate to control something. Organizing, cleaning and making lists are my natural way of trying to gain back control, but in this case, I don't think I can gain it the way I need.

Yet, a weekend of just relaxing seemed to help some. A few changes will have to be made and some evaluation will have to occur soon. But, I'm at peace.


Until Next Time,

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Weekend Get-a-way

What a great weekend. Sometimes, all you need is a nice get-a-way to reconnect with yourself and your friends. Josh's birthday was June 8th and I bought him tickets to see Clutch at The Vogue in Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis on July 13th. Clutch is one of our FAVORITE bands and introduced to us by one of our best friends (Chad of Stella Kustoms) while we lived in Maryland. We probably have seen Clutch play every year since 2003 and as Josh says it, "they never disappoint."

Clutch kicked off our weekend and it kept getting better and better with each visit of our friends that we call our family. The only thing that would've made it better is if our friends that are Clutch fans would have been with us Friday. 

Since we didn't have a very productive Brass Hammer Designs weekend, we'll leave you with couple of our favorite Clutch songs: "The Regulator" and "The Ghost". I'm thrilled that they played both of these Friday.

Until Next Time,

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Just when things seemed slow....

Everyone's topic of interest lately has been the weather. Yep, it has been hotter than Hades lately. Saturday, we hit 104 degrees, which was a record in this area from 1847. And, I'm not sure you've noticed but, when it's this miserable, it's hard to not let it get your mood as well. We were starting to feel that way and like Brass Hammer Designs was just kind of at a stand still. But this weekend was different because we SOLD another piece! You just never know when it's going to happen. And just when things seemed slow..... BOOM!

So how did it happen? One of our friends was talking with Josh on Facebook about wanting to buy one of our pieces and he asked her if she had checked out our etsy page. Turns out, she didn't even know what etsy was! *gasp!* Well, I'm honestly not that surprised. There's a plethora of websites and things out there for everyone to tap into. How can we get people to notice our product in such a vast array of online resources? I find that the best way is get our Facebook page noticed and liked, so it shows up in our fans newsfeeds. Then when we post things, they'll see how we're doing and hopefully hit up our etsy page as well. (By the way, if you didn't know either, etsy is a place where artists and vintage shop owners can set up an e-shop to sell their work. It's a great place to go find all kinds of artsy things including Brass Hammer Design products.) It's kind of cool too, etsy posts images on Google Images, so when you type in "Mexican Folk Art Crosses" on the Google Images page, many of our pieces show up! :) They change positions, but it's still really cool to see that.

The biggest problem seems to be to gain "likes" on Facebook. And even though, we try to get everyone to "like" our Facebook page, it seems that we're still not able to reach our audience fully.  It's all about social marketing and networking. We're taking a lot of advice from our friend, Joe Daniels, with Swing This. You should go check out his stuff about physical fitness. He is great at interacting online with his posts on his blog, facebook, instagram and twitter.  And of course, we've mentioned in previous blog posts that we talk a lot with our friends, Missy & Will Marlar at Rituals by Nature too. Both of these businesses are doing something right because as of Saturday, Swing This was up to 1413 likes and Rituals by Nature was up to 1372 likes on their Facebook pages. An observation though is that both of these businesses have been at this for over a year too, so again, we're back to patience.

So, we'll keep plugging away at making art and blogging and trying to win your likes on Facebook... And selling great pieces like Felina below.....

Until next time, stay cool and hydrated....

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Score Check In

Our Score Counselor, Hugh, called us Tuesday night to check in and see where we are.

So, let's catch you up too.

1) How's the website coming?
Well, we have had one of our friends and Josh's former teachers, Susan Shapiro, of Indiana University East, look at it and give us some tips. She consulted to companies about their web pages during her sabbatical in 2009 (I believe). She gave us a lot of tips, but many of them were a lot for us to handle at this time. We're not web designers. Bottom line.

2) How'd our meeting with Bare Knuckle Marketing go?
Great! Allison and Rebecca are very talented and have a lot of potential to help us. They are hooking us up with their lunch 'n learn schedule and hopefully we can go to that when it comes up. The class will help with how to better handle social media and our interactions with our fans and potential customers. They also suggested to check out the Final Fridays at Pendleton Art Center. It's an art event for artists to sell their work at the event on the last Friday of every month. We attended that this past Friday and it has a lot of potential. We're eager to explore our options with that.

3) Have we looked into Peachtree or Quickbooks yet?
I think we've actually talked about Quicken's Office most, but not totally sure.  I want to be able to interact with the customers and keep a log about them, and I'm not sure that Quicken does this. We haven't had a ton of time to look into it all because we've been trying to just manage making pieces and keep our head above water with our bills.All three programs are close to $180-$200 and that how much we are selling one  some of our pieces. But, that's the rough part, we're not selling that much right now and we have too many other bills to pay.We just can't afford much right now.

4) Have we sold any more pieces?
We sold "Amen" for $200.

"Electrified Again" for $65

And this awesome 3'x5' sign with a price of $400.

5) Can Score do anything else?
At this point, I think that we just need time and money. If Score can give us that, then we're good. :) Most likely they will give us time, so the next best thing is probably finding our customers and displaying our work there. Pendleton Art Center has a lot of potential and we're researching that. This past Friday was interesting and we think that we have a cheap way to display our art through another store owner at that event, but we still have to negotiate and set things up with them.

So until then......

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Etsy and Twitter!)

Secret Projects

Remember that secret project we mentioned a couple of weeks ago? For a few of our orders, we've had secret projects because our friends are buying gifts for each other and they are our friends on Facebook, so we can't share everything going on at the shop. For the record, we LOVE "Secret" Projects. We will take pictures along the way and email to the buyers, so that they can see the progress and get just as excited as we do about the project while it's in progress. So, Terri, the fiance of one of our very best friends (Chad) called us from Maryland a couple of months ago and said she wanted to surprise Chad with a sign for his bike shop, Stella Kustoms. See, it was being rebuilt after a 2011 storm knocked down a tree into the side of the house and the shop. FEMA declared it a was a disaster area. Chad had to rebuild and it has been a long, gruesome and expensive process for them. Terri wanted to surprise him with a token of her affection for all of the hard work that he put into the rebuild (Audience "Aws" here). So, we were doing things all in secret on behalf of Terri and these are the progress pics we sent to her. We had to wait until the project was delivered before we could share them here or on Facebook. (By the way, Brass Hammer Designs does not normally deliver that far away, but Josh is selling his '75 Iron Head and he had to take it to Chad to get it fixed up proper and introduced to a major biker community that Chad and Terri are in.)

Anyway, we thought our fans would enjoy this.

Step 1: Basic Tongue & Groove boards cut to size and nested. 

Step 2: Nailed together with a couple of supports.

Step 3: Stained with a solution made from steel wool soaked in distilled white vinegar for 24 hours. This is what the backside of the sign looks like. (This is Jen's opinion, but I think that there is a good chance that the next sign made will be treated 100% with this stain and the paint applied over that stain.I like this look very much.)

Step 4: The tools we used to "distress" the wood. Our poor neighbors probably wanted to know what in the world we were doing while beating the crap out of the wood, but it made for a very neat effect. 

A little extra for the receiving customer.

And it is reversible depending on his mood. :) 

Step 5: Testing the crackle technique used on the front to make it look like it came off the side of an old barn - just like the Mail Pouch signs.

Step 6: Treated the entire sign with crackle technique. First we painted the top white, then put the crackle paint down, then painted it black. We did sand it a bit to get a better effect, then distressed it again with the tools from above. 

Step 7: Outline and painting
You can see a chalk outline on the board. We used a projectoscope to reflect the image onto the sign and traced it with white chalk. There is a tiny piece of orange duct tape in the center of the star that we used to line it up and make sure that we getting accurate lines. Then, we started painting from lightest color to darkest. This is bout 4 hours in with white only. 

More paint by color.... About 10 hours in. I (Jen) had a goal in mind that the Maryland Flag was what was "cut" out of the old barn, and then the Stella Kustoms logo was painted over it with fresh paint, so I left the black portions of the Maryland Flag in the background with the distressed look. I also painted very lightly over that with the yellow, so you can see a bit of it through. Then the Stella Kustoms logo is painted "fresh" over the top of it making it the focal point of the sign.

Almost done -just need something to make those letters "pop" more.

Step 8: Finito and Stella Kustoms returns the favor with fixing Josh's "Jalopy" and make it shine just the same.

Just like we said.... Stella Kustoms made the old Jalopy shine again and has it ready for sale.

Until next time.....

Jen Crandall, Wife/Manager
Brass Hammer Designs (Follow our Facebook page, Pinterest, our Etsy store and follow us on Twitter!)