Friends, Workspaces, and My Shop!

I'd like to introduce to you some of my very talented friends who have Etsy shops. First off, let me explain what Etsy is.
According to Wikipedia:
Etsy is a website that provides the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items as well as vintage items and craft supplies. Handmade items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, bath & beauty products, and toys. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee.
The first shop I want to introduce is owned by my darling cousin. She focuses on painting and portraiture. She does wonderful pieces for children's bedrooms. I absolutely love her old automobile collection. If only I had a boy...
You can find her shop here.
The second shop is owned by my awesome former-neighbor. She is an extremely talented crocheter. I feel so lucky to be able to own some of the booties and one of the sweet sweaters she has made. Her shop is here.
I'd also like to mention that I will be opening a shop soon (within the next two weeks). I've actually been dreaming of it for a very long time but only just recently decided to make it a reality.
Since we've moved to Virginia I decided to dive right in. Here are a few pictures of my workspace. Haha, it is nothing fancy I promise you.


I think one of the things that has held me back from opening a shop until now is that as I have looked into the lives of several very successful artists I've come across and I began feeling like there is no way I could ever be as professional as them. It's only recently that I started hating that notion and decided to not compare successfulness but having-fun-doing-what-you-want-to-do-ness. So anyways, here is my office. It's in the corner of our bedroom. Which happens to be the only room in the house (our baby's crib is in the dining room). All of those stacks of fabric are made up of scraps. I have very few large pieces of material. I very rarely buy a whole yard at the fabric store, mostly I just go through the remnants bins. I was also given some of those piles of scraps from my darling mother, and many are very old. So even though most of my material is less than two feet by two feet, I still love it and cherish every piece. The bookcase I use for shelving there was bought for five dollars at a garage sale. The back fell off our trailer when we moved.
It's hard to see, but there are four large glass jars in front of the bookcase that were cleaned after we ate all of their applesaucey goodness. Two hold scraps, one holds buttons and zippers, the other I use for a garbage can. And on the table there is one of my current projects.