What's Your Motivation?

What motivates you?

What treasures are in your drawers?

In life? To get out of bed in the morning? In business? In your career? In relationships? I am not a goal-setter or resolution-maker. I think it’s a combination of fear of failing to reach the goal and also a propensity to take each day as it comes. I am a planner and I am organized. So I’m not a “fly by the seat of my pants” type of person. I scoff at the question, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years.” But I do have motivation to do the things that excite me.

When I started Naptime Inspirations I didn’t have a goal in mind. I didn’t set out to start a business. I merely started to make fun things and then thought I should try to sell them so that I could make more! I didn’t know the first thing about running a business. What I now know I learned mostly through trial and error and the advice of like-minded people. And, very importantly, Cathy, my S.C.O.R.E. mentor! I’m still not great about setting goals, particularly long-term goals. I have a general idea of where I want to be but it’s probably that fear of not meeting the goal that prevents me from making the goal in the first place.

Keep that special loved one close to you on your wedding day

The part of Naptime Inspirations that is most motivating to me is transforming customers’ personal or heirloom textiles into new creations. If you have a stack of Grandma’s crocheted doilies or delicate floral hankies tucked away in a box or drawer, I can help you to breathe new life into them! And then you can enjoy them around your home or give them away to family members, thereby sharing these precious memories with them.

Do you have a wedding coming up? If that special someone can’t be there with you on your big day, you can still have a reminder of them to keep with you. A piece of lace from your mother’s wedding dress can be incorporated into a small clutch or even a ring bearer’s pillow. A piece of dad’s favorite shirt can become part of your make-up bag that you use on your wedding day.

These pouches were made from the jeans of a dear brother who departed too soon. They were shared with his sisters.

Have you recently lost a loved one? I’m sorry for your loss. Grief is such a personal process—we all have a different path. If you are one who craves a tangible reminder of that loved one, please reach out to me. I’d love to work with you to see what we could create together that would give you that visual reminder of that precious person. For one grieving family I made pillows out of sweatshirts and jerseys and zipper pouches out of blue jeans.

The personal connection we have to textiles is so poignant. Did you have a favorite blankie or pillow when you were little? My brother had a tiny pillow that my mom made for him out of a garish 1970s polyester print. She made matching shirts for my brother and dad out of this fabric and then made the pillow. My brother still had that pillow even after he graduated from college! My daughter has slept with the same plush cow for 20 years now. If I reach WAY back in my memory I can recall my tattered blue blankie with the silky edge that I carried with me during my preschool years. Just imagine if we could glimpse these comfort objects once more! What would it be for you??

Quilts that are too worn to be used on a bed can still be made into smaller keepsakes like pillows, wallets, or zipper pouches.

What motivates me? Bringing new life to precious textiles! It feels like I’m reaching into the past and reintroducing the world to something that was once forgotten or hidden away. Now go ahead—scour those drawers and boxes and see what treasures you find. Then let me know what you found and we’ll work together to create something wonderful!