I Spent the Night Creating Paper to Sell On Etsy

I stay up all night doing arts and crafts.

I rarely sleep.

I am bipolar in the manic phase. It's pretty cool to have so much energy, although sometimes I simply can't sleep, and it starts to wear on me.

I've been doing pretty good though, and I've managed to be incredibly productive.

Like last night and all day today, I've managed to create a couple hundred specialty papers to sell on Etsy, and to use in my junk journals I will sell when they are done.

Specialty papers such as coffee dyed, watercolor with ink elements, plain watercolor, leaf printed paper, dyed music sheets and a variety of other paper.

I also get my basic housework done, visit with my family, play with the dog, and do a little gardening.

I admit I have more time than most people since I only sleep four hours, but I also manage my time extremely well.

I make detailed lists and prioritize the items on the list in the most efficient way.

For instance, I will start the first layer of as many watercolor pages as I can fit on the kitchen table. Next, I do the first layer of leaf prints on any free surface in the garage and move onto housework or visiting with relatives while papers are drying.

When the paper is dry, I start the second layer and so the day goes on. I did over 100 last night, and about the same today. Today I've mostly been concentrating on leaf printing and watercolor.

Last night it was mostly coffee dying.

These papers I will sell on Etsy, after choosing the ones I want for my junk journals.

At various times, I will take photos of the best ones to make into digital papers for sale later, in photoshop.

I don't do this all the time. I've only just started my Etsy store.

I've done a mass paper creating marathon one time with acrylic paint, and several smaller batches of other types of papers.

I prefer doing it this way, because it is messy, and I can get the messy part done and over with so I can work on journals in a clean area.

If you don't know what junk journals are, they are hand-made books made out of "junk" which could be actual junk, like junk mail envelopes or product packaging or cereal boxes.

Journalists also use a wide variety of things in their journals, such as prepared junk journalling kits, digital papers that they buy and download, bought sets of paper just for scrapbooking and jounalling, and coffee and tea dyed paper.

I use anything that works for whatever journal I'm making.

I also like to paint and dye paper, so that is going to be a source of income once I start building up an inventory, which I am beginning to do now. Some of the pages I will use for my journals, most I plan to sell.

I think my papers are very nice and unique, and I think my store will do well.

I make digital images as well, although I find that to be a bit tedious when it comes to creating listings and editing in photoshop. But I'm probably going to keep listing one or so set of pages a week. I want to spend most of my time creating physical objects with my hands. That is where I find the most joy.

I love doing this.

Sometimes, if you are lucky, you get to live your passion. I found mine, and I'm living it.

Now I just need to start making a living doing it financially. Then I will have my cake and eat it too!