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While caring for my medically retired veteran spouse (see more here about DRESS Syndrome), we found that being retired before I was even 50 years old became pretty boring at times when his condition was more manageable   

During the good times in his health condition, I became interested in arts and crafts as a hobbyist.  After making dozens or even 100 cards I decided to find organizations to donate. 

I donated gifts, cards, packages, materials, and time to various organizations, relatives, and friends.  There are a lot of wonderful organizations that accept donations. (See Here). 

Around the fall of 2023 my kids and I were talking about the days when I owned my own event and marketing company.   (See Game Plan Media). It was merely a suggestion from my younger daughter, who saw my eyes light up every time I told her about a new project I was working on or learning a new art skill to open up a new company and pursue this hobby as a side business.  Initially, I laughed at the proposition, thinking, "Am I even good enough for this"?  

It was terrifying to put myself out there as a real small business owner and contemplate sharing my handmade crafts with others to sell. Like so many of us, I fear rejection and criticism.  

With her encouragement, I started making dozens of cards and gifts to package for sale at my very first vendor event.  But, my husband fell ill again, and we had to put priorities in order.  I skipped the first event, put all my crafts on a shelf, and set aside the idea to start a business.

Along came another opportunity. This time, I powered through sleepless nights and challenged myself to learn new projects. I practiced new measuring templates and projects, learned new programs to help assist with even more precision. We opened a legal business and filed the papers with the state. 

Laura Christina Creative was launched!!

But sadly, our dog Wesley was diagnosed with cancer and died within two weeks of his diagnosis.  I was heartbroken and depressed.  We buried Wesley the day before the event, and I spent the entire day sobbing.  With swollen eyes, I called the event coordinator and canceled my vendor spot.  I was in no mood to talk about crafts or share my new crafting passions with others. My second attempt at launching this business was thwarted once again.

They always say the third time's a charm.  Well, I will let you be the judge of this...  

On my third attempt, I reserved another vendor event and began the same routine of studying new designs and new measurements.  I even enlisted the help of my father, who was previously employed as a tool and die maker.  He helped explain hinges and fastening boxes together in ways that helped me speed up the process of mass production.  I even consulted with my new son-in-law about displaying my crafts, as in his profession, one of his many skill sets is product placement.  

This was all being worked on during Thanksgiving.  Also, at this time, we had our two daughters' families staying in our home with us.  While visiting and entertaining, I also made time for our two little grandsons, along with my older daughter's new puppy and her very old, sick cat. 

To add even more to our plate, I took on all of the games, activities, decorations, and planning of our younger daughter's baby shower.  Trying to juggle all of these projects and spend quality time with our two daughter's families, who were visiting from out of state, was a challenge. So, needless to say - we had a very full plate, and I spent my crafting time in the middle of the night.

I'll cut to the chase.  

I felt unprepared.

To make matters worse, my husband fell ill again.  So, my mother came over in the morning and helped me finalize the decorations, packaging, and some projects that needed the finishing touches and then we began packing things up.  My father drove us out to the event site and left Mom and me at the booth to scramble to set up (late), and he went back to our house to check on my husband,  

Can I just say thank God for family, especially in hard times.

To make matters worse, during the day the sun was intense so the chocolate candies inside several of my custom crafted gift boxes began to melt.  As soon as I caught it we moved those crafts to be stored under the table.  Then later, as the sun went down the wind was so intense off the lake that it was bitter cold.  I hadn’t brought warm clothes or even a jacket! So I was fiercely cold and miserable  

To sum it up:  I sold about a dozen items.  As the fireworks were sounding off, lighting up the sky, I decided to pull out everything that was still under the table and reduce the prices down to well below the cost of the materials and didn't recoup any of my expenses.  However, it was an excellent learning experience for me.

I finally had my first event complete.