A Busy Fall

So, I have been busy. 

At the end of September Hurricane Helene came through our area and left her mark. 

Fortunately, the tree uprooted in my yard (that fell over the street) did not hit the houses on the other side of the street. And, neither my house, Terri's house, nor the store had any damage. 

There were trees down all over town, most of them uprooted. BIG oak trees, and at one time there was no way to get in or out of town. We all were blessed that as bad as it was, it was nowhere near as bad as the mountains of North Carolina. And there were places in South Carolina that were hit worse than we were as well. We knew we would have wind and rains, 

but never expected to have such strong winds for so many hours.

We lost two days of business because there was no power at the store. 

Terri and the store were without power for 2 1/2-3 days. 

I lost almost a week of production time due to having no power at my house for 6 days.

However, I was able to continue to create enough Gnomes and Friends to stock my booth at Mistletoe Market at the Anderson County Museum the beginning of November. 

I had a great show and have brought most of the remaining angel & gnome stock to the store. 

My booth at Mistletoe Market.

Limited Edition Christmas Gnomes in the background.
Penguin and Polar Bear ornaments, and Black Bears.

In between, I had house guests (my sister Regina & her husband Matt, as well as my brother Bill) who were in town for a surprise 70th Birthday celebration for my sister Sue. 

(Brother Rick also came to town but stayed at my nephew's house.) 

Sue's comment when she saw Bill & Regina the first time was "It's not nice to surprise old people!"

The whole family that was here including Sue's children (Bobby & Karen), son & daughter-in-law (Matthew & Shelly), grandchildren (Blake, Logan, Cara, and Sawyer), and grand dog Tic, Terri's husband (Rodney) and son (Ben), Rick's wife (Alice), his dog Wrigley, Regina's husband  (Matt), Aunt Celeste, and Betty (Dad's friend in his later years).

While everyone was here we took to opportunity to place Dad's ashes in the columbarium with Mom's. This was something that Terri and I did not want to do with just the two of us, 

we wanted as many of our siblings to be there as possible. 

Dad in the car on the way to the church's columbarium.

Dad on the kitchen counter wearing his Elon cap that Rick gave him and Mom's crab hat giving him a hug. The urn was designed by my father-in-law Wally Higgins and made by my sister-in-law Laurie Higgins Lang.

At the beginning of October Terri created a scarecrow display for Scarecrow Season in Pendleton. Those scarecrows are only 12" tall! The title of her display was "Fairies of the Garden".

Faeries of the Garden

Now we are prepared for Christmas at the store. And, I need to get my house listed for sale again...

 

Busy Summer

 I didn't realize just how long it has been since I last posted. My apologies to anyone who may have been looking for any kind of update.

The painting is complete, and the house has been back on the market for 3 months now. 

I decided to introduce a new friend to my collection, as well as a new Limited Edition Christmas Gnome.

Black Bears (Brown/Grizzly/Polar to come soon)

A Black bear came to mind, inspired by a couple of my favorite clay artisans. Theirs are SO very different yet very inspiring. I have made 17 so far, and only have 2 or 3 remaining finished ones. I am making more for Mistletoe Market!

In addition to the Black Bears, I will make some Brown/Grizzly Bears, Polar Bears, and more Gnomes, Cats, Fox, Owls, Ghosts, Snowpeople, Pumpkins, Angels, Santa Hats, Mushrooms, Penguins, Bluebirds, Cardinals, Hedgehogs, Mice, Bunnies, and maybe more... Ideas keep percolating in my head.

2024 Limited Edition Christmas Gnome

As I was making some Polka Dot hat gnomes, I decided that I would make the dots multi-colored, like the Christmas Trees I started making. The background colors so far have been black, purple, and yellow. Anyway, that inspired me to create the Limited Edition Christmas Gnome for this year with a Christmas tree for it's hat. I have pre-orders for 40 of them! I will make plenty extra to bring with me to Mistletoe Market.

In other news... I am frustrated with the fact that nobody has come to look at the house in 2 months! I had both bathrooms worked on (as per my previous post) as well as painting the one bathroom, and painting the large kitchen wall. I then hired a crew to trim the greatly neglected trees and shrubs. We lowered the price. We would rather not lower the price too much more. The house is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,300+ square feet of living space with an out building and 1.55 acres. Our agent grew up on this street and her dad still lives in the neighborhood. Any pointers on getting people to at least come and take a look?

I know it will sell when the time is right. I just am stressing about how long it is taking to get to the right time.

I will do my best to update things before Mistletoe Market (which is November 1 & 2 this year!)

Renovations complete! (Now to paint.)

 In the effort to get the house ready to put back on the market, I hired a contractor to completely re-do the small bathroom and to put new flooring and toilet (plus some cosmetic upgrades) into the larger bathroom.  I cannot say enough good about the job they did (local peeps - try to hire Carter's Remodeling & Construction LLC). 

Now, I need to finish painting the kitchen and the large bathroom. The small bathroom needs absolutely no more work.

Why did I go to this expense if I am selling the house? Because the only feedback from potential buyers last time was "How much would it cost to re-do the bathrooms?"

And, I need to get my hands back into the clay again and do some creating! I was accepted into Mistletoe Market again this year! Happy dancing!

The new floor & toilet in the larger bathroom.
I still need to paint.

The view of the small bathroom from the door.

The new vanity in the small bathroom.

A closer look at the new shower in the small bathroom.

The kitchen wall that has been colonial blue from the chair rail down 
is becoming all white. It needs at least one more coat, probably 2.

I've been busy

I have not had the time nor energy (physical as well as mental) to create too much these past several weeks. We had our contractor install new flooring at the store, which required all the stock and fixtures in that particular area to be moved elsewhere, and then back again.  We did have help from some friends with the moving and we are VERY grateful for that. 

We had the LVP installed right over the tongue & groove flooring Dad installed nearly 36 years ago, so the squeaks that existed are still there!

One weekend they did one half of the sales floor, and the next weekend the other half. We had them work weekends so we didn't have to close the store to have it done. Another weekend we had to move a fair amount of stock and fixtures so they could do some repairs to the walls that were hidden by built-in cupboards Dad had made. We had the cupboards removed so the flooring could extend all the way to the outer walls. 

Now we are in the process of getting some new fixtures to replace those built-ins that had to be destroyed in order to move them. Dad sure built them solid! It is a work in progress that may take another month or so to get to where we want it to be. 

As far as the house goes... we are going to have the bathrooms updated before listing it again. I am waiting on the Line Equity to come through so I can pay for the work to be done. 

I have some gnomes and angels in progress, but not too many yet. Hopefully more this weekend.

 

Hello Little Sister!

 I got your email through the blog, but had no way to contact you.

You can reach me at HigginsDesignStudio @ gmail.com.

As 2023 comes to an end...

After Mistletoe Market, I still had orders for this years Limited Edition Christmas Gnome (Santa with Gingerbread). I only had 2 remaining after Mistletoe, so I made enough to fill the rest of the orders. 

I still have 6 to make today to finalize the Limited Edition of 35 pieces. All but 4 are spoken for.

In early December we chose to take the house off the market temporarily. 

Home sales traditionally are very slow this time of year. 

Of the few people that viewed the house, the only specific comments were about the bathrooms needing updating. So, we are planning to update at least the small bathroom, if not both. 

Then we plan to re-list the house sometime in March.

The house is now officially in my name. It's scary being a first time homeowner at my age! 

The fact remains that the house is too much for me... space and budget-wise. I need a smaller place.

Jordan Bannister and John Perkins 2023 PABA Co-Presidents present Cindy Higgins the First Annual PABA "Higgins Award".

The Higgins award was established to  recognize an PABA Member for exceptional service and dedication. Cindy has served on the PABA Board of Directors for 10 years. During her tenure Cindy has given her time and talents which has resulted in invaluable contributions to the Pendleton business community.

Not only is Cindy the first recipient, the reward itself is named in her honor and will be awarded annually.

THANK YOU CINDY!!!

Several years ago, I became Secretary of the Pendleton Area Business Association. A couple of months later, the group fell to the wayside because the President and VP didn't want to continue. It was dormant for a few years. 10 1/2 years ago, business owners wanted to resurrect the organization. I was the only remaining officer still in the area, and was the only one on the signature card for the bank account. 

We were able to re-group and I retained my position of Secretary. One President served 2 years, the next served 1 1/2 years. Not long before his term ended, our Treasurer unexpectedly passed away. One the President left, I was the only officer. I had a volunteer help with the treasury. Finally, I was able to encourage the right people to step forward and serve as full-time Treasurer and Secretary, and I became President (officially). About half-way through 2022, I stated that I could not serve any longer. I had my own business to attend to with my sister. The crickets didn't even chirp. I got blank stares in return... Then, in September, Dad passed away. I said at the next meeting that I REALLY couldn't do it any longer and needed a Nominating Committee to find candidates. FINALLY a few people stepped forward and volunteered for that committee. As a result, there were nominations for officers and a new Board of Directors was elected that November. I would remain on the Board as Past President per the By-laws. I was good with that. Today officially marks the last day of my time on the Board of Directors of the Pendleton Area Business Association. I am ready to let go... and I am grateful to those who  are taking the leadership of our organization on. I will remain an active Member at Large.

At our Christmas Party, they presented me with this award, which they named after me! 

I am beyond honored!

My wish for all is that 2024 have fewer obstacles and more joyous moments.

 

Busy creating for Mistletoe Market

I've been busy creating stock for Mistletoe Market. The show is in 1 week. The creative flow has been difficult at times because I need to clean and put everything away every time I leave the house for more than 10 minutes, just in case someone wants to view the house.

Glazed and ready for the final firing.

Some angels ready to assemble. Other items I ran out of time to glaze for tonight's firing.

The last of the items formed for next weekend's show. (I will make more after the show too!)

Collapsible bar that comes with it's own carrying case.

And a shelf underneath for boxes, bags, and tissue.

I have stopped shaping things for the time being so I can finish those that are already shaped. I will resume after the show so I can build stock for the store. I also found this wonderful collapsible bar that I can use as my wrap stand for the show.