Functioning is Hard

     After a live sale I have a big internal struggle. Can I take some time off? Can I take it easy? What should I do??? If I work on model horse projects for myself does that just seem like work and am I defeating the purpose of time off? Staring at the wall is a good pastime, right? OK, I don't usually spend much time staring at the wall, but I have had times where I could not think of what I should do so I basically did nothing. Which usually means randomly scrolling on the internet, watching TV (even on really nice days) or taking a nap. I really am kind of bad at free time. 

     I am also kind of bad at doing things differently after a big push to get ready for a live sale. I have been wanting to see Crystal for a while. I just don't get to see her enough. But even though I wanted to, motivating myself to leave the house to drive to her house (which is not next door but not THAT far away) was hard. I did finally manage it. I'm glad of that. We had a nice visit. I miss seeing my friend. 

      I got this micro Uilleam in the mail. He was another of my Breyerfest purchases. I am getting a lot closer to having everything at this point. I really love how far micros have come. Just look at the detail on this little guy! Now I need to see about getting him prepped and painted. Or tell him to get in line while I work on getting all the others prepped and painted.

     After supper I did a little bit of work on my custom I am working on. Though I forgot to get a picture. Not that there was much to see. I just dremeled down some of the epoxy on her neck. Maybe today I can get into a bit of neck sculpting. And maybe not. Only time will tell. 

     I am hoping that yesterday's weird tiredness was from too many days of pushing myself to finish things and not quite enough sleep the night before. I would like to get a bit of something done today. Maybe get some doll clothes cut out for some orders I have coming up. And potentially sewn. I don't want to get crazy, but I don't want to just lay around and wonder if I have enough energy to take a nap (which is exactly what I meant to say). 
 

I Know Where I Need Help

     Sunday's live sale was long. I knew it would be because it was all scheduled out ahead of time. I may be able to shave off some time for the next one by cutting down the time in between the groups of items becoming available. But I don't want to cut things down too much and make myself crazy. Anyway, It's pretty simple to run the sale by myself when everything is already scheduled, planned, and all the items are numbered and organized ahead of time. That makes things pretty easy for me to do single handedly. At least in comparison to how hard the sales used to be. 

     Where I need help is in the shipping department. Monday I spent 6 hours invoicing, packing, and weighing items. It is more efficient to do those things together, but it still takes a very long time. First I check to see who sent me the first message (since everyone is supposed to message me on my studio page with their email address and the country they live in) and I grab their bag and start typing up the invoice. I have a ton of items in my invoicing system, so things go a bit faster. But it still takes a chunk of time. 

     I had a doll wrapping station set up on my bed and I had extra "thank you" stickers to close up the pink bags to make them look a bit cuter when they got shoved into a box or a bubble mailer. I got a lot of steps in going back and forth during all of this. 

     I pulled out my largest Breyerfest loot box and set it up in the kitchen so I could toss the weighed packages in it. Once I pack the items I close up the package, seal it, weigh it, put the person's name on it and the weight of the package. And the box measurements if they are not printed on it. That way once all of the invoices start to be paid it is easy to just grab packages and check the shipping weight instead of having to pull out he scale and go through the whole process. 

     This time around I also invested in the sticker mailing labels. I still spent 2 hours printing and applying postage after people started to pay their invoices, but it would have been easily twice as long with the old cut, glue, tape method. This way is more expensive but saves so much time it is totally worth it. 

     So I have, so far, spent 8 hours on invoicing, packing, and shipping labels. If I had a helper to help with packing that would be pretty fantastic. I am almost sure Elecktra would help, but I would have to have a packing day that didn't get in the way of her work schedule. That is the tricky part. I am unwilling to delay shipping. I just can't do it. 
 

Livesale; New and Different

      I have been holding live sales for a couple of years now, or nearly a couple of years. The first one I held was on Black Friday in 2019. After that I decided to do another and had it for my Birthday (but not ON my birthday) at the end of March 2020. The first one was scary because I didn't know if anyone would buy anything. The second one was scary because it was a couple of weeks into the quarantine, all the items were retail priced, and I didn't know if people would buy anything. But people really like the live sale format. They like the interaction and the silliness. One of my least favorite parts of a live sale is the very beginning. Live sales actually scare me. Not to the point where I won't do them, but I have a bit of mild nerves before the sale and then continuing for a few minutes once I start them. Though the semi-live format gives me something to do, other than just watch myself talk, and it seems to help. But definitely the first few seconds are always weird. I know I am alone, it's not possible anyone has had time to see that I am live and join in. And I don't want to start anything important right away. 

     August of 2020 I decided to hold a miniatures sale, in a live sale format, to see how it would go. I also wanted to see if it could be done. That was the start of me offering a certain variety of miniatures for sale, but the miniatures live sale will now and forever be the only one of its kind. It was too much. Too crazy. Too confusing. But I learned things from it. Like always keep the external battery (charged) and ready for when my phone starts to die. 

      During my live sales there are always some thinking faces. I am either reading things on the screen (or in this case, on my laptop) and thinking about what I need to do. I definitely have fun during the live sales, and I want them to be fun for everyone watching, but I am actually working, and I know it. So I try to be mindful of that and keep things moving at a reasonable pace. 

     Another constant is that my live sales seem to be about 2 cans of seltzer long. No matter how long they are. Since all of the items were scheduled to post at specific times I knew the sale would be 3 hours. I figured I would need more to drink. I didn't actually have time. But I still got my 2 cans in. 

   A new addition to the live portion this time around was being joined by Katy Niles. I didn't know if I could do it, though Facebook was saying that I could. Once Katy figured out how to request to join I brought her in. 

     And then she said she needed to go put a shirt on and it made me laugh! She was also wearing a tank top, she was fine, but whatever makes her comfortable. 

     I think that having a guest with me on the live was a fantastic idea! If nothing else there was someone to tell me, out loud, the answer the the question "what time is it" which I asked at least 50 times. Since everything was scheduled to post already I needed to watch the time, but wasn't always paying attention since the interacting portion of things is fun. 

     Katy was also an excellent guest because of her awesome expressive faces! I believe I was saying what was in the mystery boxes or something during this segment. Not that I really said what is in them, lol. That will still be a surprise. Other than money. Everyone knows there is tiny money in them. And there are 4 discount coupons floating around with a good variety of miniatures. I need to come up with new things for the next batch. 

     The aftermath of a live sale is always pretty much the same. I have a ton of bags lined up, in alphabetical order, with everything people have claimed during the sale. This makes everything much easier to invoice and pack. This was a trick I learned after the first live sale. During the first one I didn't have bags. I started with piles and sticky notes. Things quickly got mixed together, and it took me days to figure out what everyone had claimed. The bags make it a lot quicker. 

    So I started out with Black Friday 2019, had my first Birthday Live sale in 2020, My not-Breyerfest live sale in 2020, a miniatures sale in August of 2020, another Black Friday sale in 2020, then the second Birthday live sale in 2021, the small semi-live sale to test out the new format (the one we used this time) in April 2021, and now I have done my first annual August live sale. And I think I am finally working out all the kinks. Something has been a bit different at every single sale. I learn new tricks and figure out ways to make things better. I started out needing to figure out how to do it all by myself because I didn't have the option of a helper (quarantine). Then when I could have a helper I didn't know what they could do to help. The sales are pretty easy to manage by myself doing it this way. Even though they are a ton of work. I think I'll keep it. And I think I will continue to do 3 live sales a year. That's a good number.

 

A Break

      I work a lot. I have even asked my doctor for advice on how I can do less and not feel guilty about it. He unhelpfully has said this is just how I am. Thanks. I worked extremely hard to get ready for my live sale. I work really hard getting ready for every live sale, really. And right after a live sale, once everything is packed and shipped, or ready for shipping, I take things a bit easier. For a few days at least. But the closer I get to a sale, the longer hours I end up working. It's very tiring. 

     This time around I had specific dolls and things I wanted to get finished for the sale. I finished up the dolls early on Wednesday (I think Wednesday, lost track of days again) and then I worked on the computer stuff on Thursday. Meaning I got the photos of stuff that I needed to take, I added the group letters to them, then duplicated them and added the claim codes. Then I did all of the scheduling of the photos, plus typed up the schedule so I could publish it to make things easier on people who want to shop. I worked really hard. And then I stopped working all together. 

     Friday I didn't work on any doll work at all. Travis and I went out to Tractor Supply in the afternoon to see if they had the new blind bag stablemates. They have no Breyers at all at the moment though. So I decided to go to Walmart out that way (sort of out that way) and my GPS took us by Quabbin. So we stopped in and got a picture of a sign for Ethan to send to his friend (he forgot when we were there). Then we went to Walmart where I bought a ton of seltzer and lemoncello La Croix. That night I went to a Mares in Black Zoom party and it was great. I had a really good day. 

      Then Saturday I also did no doll work. Though I did have to do a small bit of live sale work. I had to come up with some trivia questions and I printed them out and the schedule. Just in case someone asks me when such-and-such will be up, I can say. I also typed up the live sale rules, which are a bit different than other live sale rules. It's good to have those things in front of me. 

      I was not highly motivated to do things on Saturday really, but we went out to get some primer, in case I get the urge to get back to work on my custom, or on any micros. I also went to T.J.Maxx to get my Skinny Syrups, which I put in my coffee. All the pumpkin stuff is out already. It may be too early, but I like it so I don't care. I have a variety to try out. 

     So leading up to my live sale I took a couple of days off. And it was nice. I had gotten the things done that I meant to, and even though I could have done more, I didn't. I just took a break. Now I need to get all the shipping taken care of, but after that I might take a day or two off before I get into some orders I need to finish off. When school starts I might need to take several days off until I get back into the swing of getting up so early. But I took some time off and I was OK with it. That seems like progress to me. 
 

Live Sale Add-Ons (August)

     To try to be as easy on myself as possible, I have either listed everything by color, or just by number. All colors/numbers go from left to right. If you want to add any of the items to your live sale purchase please let me know in the private message on my studio page (Field of Dolls Studio-custom dolls by Anne Field) when you send me your email address and the country you live in. The prices are all on the photos. Please use the description (ex. Mug, hot pink). You may also purchase the add-on items even if you didn't claim anything during the live sale. 

Mug coffee- hot pink, pale pink, orange, yellow, lime, dark blue, light blue, white, brown, black

lemon water sets

Chair, laptop, pair of flamingos, handcuffs, cell phone, judges kits

Rubber chicken, Starbucks drink, ice tea, carrot, pizza slice

Bubble tea- orange(ish), lime, red, blue (straws come in a variety of colors)

Iced coffee, water, energy drink, coke, diet coke, coke zero

Pastries- 1, 2, 3(sold out), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (is chicken)

Vodka, Whiskey, Baileys.

Donuts- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Cake- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

To-go coffee- red, hot pink, pale pink, yellow, lime, light blue, brown, white. 

To date I have made 1547 dolls

 

Live Sale Schedule of Items

     

  So running a live sale in this way is more fair to everyone. It takes me an insane amount of time to set it all up, but hopefully that makes everything easier in the end. I have a handful of items of my own that I am letting go of, and then I have a HUGE variety of inventory. Everything has been meticulously scheduled. This sale will be long, but it should work nicely for not making me totally crazy (lol, we'll see) and with the schedule you should be able to see when the items you are looking for will be listed. As always, the times are Eastern times, you will need to convert if you are in a different time zone. I hope this helps! 

     If I like how this larger sale runs as a semi-live sale, and I find that I have way too much extra time, I will cut down the time between groups for the next sale. Just like always, I am playing around with different ideas until I love how something works!

    The items from my personal stash are posted in room 511 on the Facebook group Not going to Breyerfest, Clarion. The items from Field of Dolls Studio are listed in the sales catalog that was posted on my blog yesterday. 

2:00 Live sale starts!

I have some of my stuff, as always

2:04 micro Martin

2:04 horse/doll set

2:05 SM set

2:05 Micro Copperfox Shire

2:06 Rainbow unicorn

2:06 micro Featherstep

2:07 micro pony

2:07 micro Sprat

2:07 micro Castanea

2:08 SM set

2:08 micro Armstong

2:09 micro Touch of Spice

2:09 Chroma

2:10 micro Squirrel

2:10 saddle

2:11 Breyer stable set (not box)

2:11 2 tables

2:12 saddle pad

2:12 blanket

2:13 Stablemate

2:13 micro Chaos mode

This is where the stuff I made stuff starts

2:15 Group A - micro pouches

2:19 Group B- micro pouches

2:23 Group C- micro pouches

2:28 Group D- micro pouches

2:32 Trivia

2:37 Group E- hoodies

2:42 Group F- hoodies

2:47 Group G- hoodies

3:02 Group H- dog sets

3:07 Group I- dog sets

3:10 Trivia

3:14 Group J- doll stands

3:18 Group K- bareback pads

3:22 Group L- bareback pads

3:26 Group M- dog vests

3:30 Trivia

3:35 Group N- cross country kits

3:39 Group O- cross country kits

3:44 Group P- backpacks

3:49 Group Q- backpacks

3:54 Group R- saddlebags

4:00 Trivia

4:05 Group S- casual and dressage dolls

4:09 Group T- cowboys

4:14 Group U- chaps

4:19 Trivia

4:25 Group V- casual English dolls

4:29 Group W- removable helmets

4:40 Group X- Hunt seat dolls

4:44 Group Y- Western pleasure dolls

4:49 Trivia

4:54 Group Z- mystery boxes!

4:59 GO

5:00 Wrap up. Thanks for coming!

OMHPS (Online model Horse Photo Shows)

      Recently I decided to enter the Art of the Horse 2 show (Stone photo show) but I had to get performance pics of my Stone pony Halestorm. Or at least I thought I did. Apparently the Stone show, unlike the Breyer shows, is open to all makes and types of model horse. The things you learn when you read the show packet...

     Anyway, I did get my pics of Halestorm the other day so I entered the show, emailed Elena Lemm, the show hostess, with my OMHPS user name, and when she added me I went to the site to figure out how to enter shows. 

     I have done several shows on Ponybytes at this point and once you know how to use the site it is pretty easy for the most part. I do have the issue at times of not being able to easily find where I was in my gallery to continue with uploading entries. Plus every time I put an entry in a show it duplicates it in my gallery. I have no idea if this normal or just something I have messed up. I deleted some of the duplicate horses in my gallery, which seems to have taken them out of the shows they were in. Which also loses their results and can't be fixed. It's frustrating and I am not sure if I am just doing something wrong. I do like ponybytes, but it sometimes confuses me, I can't imagine how hard it can be for people who are less tech savvy. 

     The Stone Show is being hosted on the Online Model Horse Photo Showing site (OMHPS). I was prepared for a weird learning curve... and it never came. This site is so simple to use. Everything makes perfect sense and I really love the layout. At the top of the page is a label that says My Horses. When you click on that you get a page of all of your horses. 

     When you click on an individual horse, you are brought to that horse's page. All of their performance photos you have added are on the page, and any classes they are entered in at any show is also listed. It is such an easy layout!

     Entering classes is also extremely easy. Once you have your horses uploaded, and their performance classes uploaded, you go to a particular class in a show you are entering and click on eligible horses. Any horses you have that are eligible to enter the class are then listed. Some classes, like other stock, might have all of your quarter horses and paint horses listed as eligible (for example), but the Quarter Horse class will only have your Quarter Horses listed. 

    There are times when you click on a performance class (this was English Trail) and you will see which eligible horses you have and ALL of their eligible photos. Mocha Latte could have gone in with either her arena trail or natural trail entry. 

    So far I have uploaded a whole bunch of performance photos for several of my horses, a bunch of halter horses, and have entered 2 shows. It was very easy to do, super quick, and was pretty fun. This site is so user friendly! I am really considering holding the Field of Dolls Online Fall show on there. Even though I already have the SmugMug account. I will have to consider it and see what I decide. But OMHPS seems to be a wonderful site and I am having a ton of fun using it!