Getting orders ready, writing tutorials, and waiting some more

I will have the loan money in hand on Friday. So, I am working on my order for display and packaging materials. I will place it as soon as the check hits my hand. My husband will pick up the power washer on Saturday and we will scour that caboose from top to bottom on the inside. After the floor dries, I will sand it down (after I texture and paint the walls, so I can sand off any spills).

Speaking of the floor -- after removing some of the interior components of the caboose, I had a very pleasant surprise -- under all that dirt and grime hides a beautiful oak hardwood floor! So, it will be lovingly sanded, stained and varnished, or perhaps just sanded and oiled to a beautiful glowing shine.

I'm thinking I will do the interior like an old dining car -- glowing wood, hunter green upholstery and great art and photography on the walls.

The caboose owner helped me by tearing out the desks that were bolted securely to the wall with bolts that were rusted down. The old boiler still has to go, as does the old diesel stove -- which will be replaced with a small woodstove currently stored in the barn at my in-laws. I will use the stove to heat the place during the day, and a small space heater at night or when I am gone.

A friend of mine pointed out to me today that I will be getting the store open just in time for the Sturgis bikers to be coming through, so I would be wise to design some jewelry that might interest them. Good thought and I'll get right on that!

I wrote a tutorial for the "Jewelry for Him" Challenge on http://www.jewelrylessons.com/. The tutorial is called "Totally Handmade Cufflinks" and will hopefully be available within a day or two. I used larvikite cylinder beads and sterling wire to make the cufflinks. Too bad I don't know any men who wear cufflinks! I guess I will put them in the store.

Well, my son is tired and cranky, so it is time to sit with him and snuggle him to sleep, then perhaps I can create something new. :)

The Waiting Game Again

The loan is approved, but the money won't be in my hand until Thursday. However, I am at a standstill until the caboose is wired. I need to powerwash the interior to get out years of accumulated dust and grease, but those things run on electricity. I want to orange peel the interior, but once again, electricity is an issue and it can't be done until AFTER I use the powerwasher. I want to sand the floors, but need to powerwash and orangepeel BEFORE I can do that. So, I'm waiting.

I sprayed a bunch of recalcitrant bolts yesterday and I hope to be able to remove them today. I need to get the desks, the diesel stove and the boiler out so I can make room for my workbench, work station, my desk, the display area and a safe.

I have hauled a few things out, but more needs to go.

I met with the plumber over the weekend and he will change out the railroad toilet for a regular one and insulate the pipes coming up from the ground to the caboose. I would like to have hot water, but I don't know where I would put the water heater. Hot water on demand is a bit pricey, so I'll probably just make do with cold water, or microwave some when I want some warm or hot water.

It was suggested that I contact Burlington Norther Railroad to see if they would be interested in donating the paint to take the caboose back to its original colors. After perusing caboose photos, it appears that would be a green body with canary or butter yellow ends and white trim and lettering. Not the best colors to grab attention in a world that is covered with green prairie grasses, but it would look nice and would keep the caboose true to its history (not to mention save me a lot of money).

So, the caboose would end up with similar (but brighter) colors to what it has now on the outside. On the inside I think I will emulate the old dining cars, with dark wood, hunter accents and cream colored walls. I want it to look rich but bright enough to work as an art gallery as well.

My neighbor is a master woodworker and he is working me up a bid to build the workstation and the display area. His work is awesome, so I'm sure they will look great!

Better go fix lunch for the kiddos and perhaps make some jewelry!

Happy creating!

A Lot of Work Ahead Of Me

Okay, the loan money is on the way -- now the work really begins! The caboose is cute from the outside, but it needs a lot of TLC on the inside! I need to scrub, scrub, scrub, years of debris and dirt from everywhere, plus I need to get it plumbed and wired. I also need to paint the interior, paint the exterior, plant a garden, build a deck, build a picnic table, paint the trash cans, build a workbench, build display areas, and make some really big signs.

I am still fine tuning my list of equipment and supplies so I can get the best bang for my buck -- but I am held back by the fact that I don't know what plumbing and electricity are going to cost. I can't find a plumber and the local electrician hasn't called me back yet, despite numerous messages.

So, today I will probably carry a cooler of hot water down there and start cleaning. I really need a power washer to power all the grime out of the interior, but since there is no water nearby I am going to have to just use elbow grease. I think I'll dig out my luggage cart and just cart the cooler back and forth with water. Fun!

I'm waiting on my husband to return so I can leave the kids with him -- the place spooks my daughter and my son would want to "help," which would mean he would end up covered with water and dirt and the caboose would be in worse shape than it started in as he "touched" everything with wet hands, transferring dirt from one place to another. He LOVES that caboose though and we have to go "visit" it every day.

I'm going to have my daughter help paint, so it feels a bit more "hers" and less scary to her.

I'd better get to work!

Sales, Smiles, Sunburn and Sighs

Smiles all around as we had a GREAT week at the gallery with lots of visitors and a large number of sales.

In the past two months I have sold four stone necklaces out of the gallery, as well as a 16x20 framed photo. I also sold out of notecards in the gallery as well as the motel that sells my cards in the lobby. Several other members had large sales too -- so everyone is extremely happy.

My latest sale was a one-of-a-kind Owyhee picture jasper necklace that looks like the Nebraska Sandhills where I live. The focal stone looked like rolling hills, with a soapweed growing in the foreground. It was strung with gold-filled corrugated beads along with desert jasper, cream fossil and black onyx beads with a handmade gold-filled chain and clasp and matching earrings. It was called "Soapweed and Sandhills."

I also sold a pearl bracelet and a pair of earrings through my Etsy shop, so the last two months have been good to me. :)

The caboose has been moved and I realized, while on my way home from serving as an EMT at the 50th Annual High School Rodeo out at the Thomas County Fairgrounds this weekend, that it is almost invisible to people coming from the east and west. I have been wracking my brain to come up with a solution to this problem -- but no luck so far. I think it means the caboose needs to be painted red and yellow, but since the lettering does not show up well on the red, I'll have to change it up a bit.

I think I'll paint the ends of the caboose red but trim it out with yellow on the railings, soffit and landing, as well as on the stairs. The sides will be yellow, with red trim and red lettering outlined heavily in black.

I will also put up HUGE signs -- especially to the east and west, angled so they can be viewed from the overpass as well. I see a big investment in plywood and stencils coming up! I'll use the same paint I use on the caboose to tie it all together.

I need to do another mockup of the caboose with the new paint scheme to see how it looks.

We had a good weekend, with a family fishing trip on Sunday. We didn't catch any fish, but we did catch a lot of sunshine and the sunburns that go along with that -- despite copious amounts of sunscreen. The kids had fun playing in the water in the livewell while hubby and I tried many fishing applications to entice the walleye to bite. We ended up catching three short fish we had to throw back. It was a day of family fun despite the fact that we didn't have fresh fish for supper.

The sighs come in from the waiting portion of this whole process. I am by nature, an impatient person, so this several month long loan process has me tied up in knots. I am still so positive that I can make a go of this business, but the past few days the waiting has gotten to me and despite surprisingly good P/L projections, the doubt has had time to creep in -- not doubt that I can manage the business -- but doubt that the loan will be approved. I can't see why it wouldn't be -- the numbers are good -- but I just want this so badly that it scares me!

My husband was even surprised by the numbers that came from a very conservative P/L projection and is now fully on board with the idea -- after realizing I could actually contribute to the family coffers instead of possibly just putting us into debt with the loan.

I think he was simply humoring me before -- although he was supportive -- and now he is excited about the prospect as well.

The board hopefully will convene this week to consider my loan application further. If they agree the business is viable, we will proceed on. If they don't, I am dead in the water -- which would be SO disappointing -- for me as well as for the owner of the caboose who is really excited about the possibilities with this business as I am.

I guess I will just keep praying, as I have a number of area residents who are also waiting with high hopes and a number of repair jobs for me to do.

I guess for now I will just prepare the 4-cheese lasagna I am taking to the community dinner at noon and try to keep my mind off this whole process for a little while. I will also work on a new picture jasper necklace to replace the one that sold.

So, I'm off to cook and create!

Profit and Loss Plans, Moving Cabooses and Name Changes

I got good news from my hubby today when he called to tell me the caboose has been moved to it's new location. I did some rejoicing, but it was tempered by the knowledge that I still have to get the final approval from the REAP loan board before I am truly in business.

The knowledge was also tempered later when I found out the movers had forgotten to "flip" the caboose, so what is to be the studio end of the caboose would face the parking lot.

So, from the "kitchen" area, I have a wonderful view of the parking lot where customers will be coming from, and from the "working" or "studio" end I have a wonderful view of a grassy field.

Don't get me wrong, I like grass and green and sky, but I really did want to be able to see my customers coming and have them be able to access the business easily from the parking lot.

Now I have to make the access ramp even longer, and I will have to place the signage differently, because the caboose is also not angled as was planned.

The side facing the road is the side that needs paint, so I will not be able to put that large, time-consuming and expensive chore off, unfortunately.

Since the caboose is located about 300 yards further back from the road than I thought it would be, I will have to be sure to paint it to be extra bright -- I am thinking the red with yellow is the requisite color scheme at this point, although I still prefer the thought of hunter green and yellow.

I am also thinking the addition of a picnic table and some trees to the garden out front to make it inviting for people to visit will be helpful.

I talked with the owner of the caboose, who has some old railroad ties and he said I could use those to make the handicap access ramp. That would be fitting, considering the shop IS in a caboose! They would certainly be sturdy too!

I finished my profit and loss projections for the year and got them turned in. I tried to be as conservative as possible, but could only realistically project amounts for items I have already sold via the gallery and I could only guesstimate the other items.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite a large monthly loan payment and other expenses, even with conservative estimates, this is a money-making opportunity -- I was simply hoping to show I could break even. :)

Once I begin working with GROW Nebraska, I expect those numbers to triple through sales via the website I will have them help me build. They also offer numerous other cooperative marketing opportunities and cooperative advertising, as well as "Holiday Shops" at malls across the state, all of which increase sales opportunities and visibility immensely.

Along with the process of doing the P/L estimates, I decided that since this business is getting to be more like a gallery, I should use my name -- for name recognition in the industry purposes -- as part of the business name. So, instead of Sandhills Emporium, I am going with Dawn E. Bryant Designs. I hope I won't regret that decision.

Anyhow, now it is time to hold my breath and pray again, as I wait for the final decision from the loan board. OOOOH, I HATE waiting!

I am so excited (and scared) about the possibility that within a few short weeks I could be a business owner!

I had better go make supper and work on the list of supplies I need to purchase to get everything set up properly.

Happy creating!