Year in Review 2022

I had fun this year.  not as many projects and no new toy designs.  The Etsy shop is going well.  I have had a couple of commission jobs from it.  It is nice not to have to do a lot of painting and repairs on a house.  I was able to get the garage mostly setup.  There are some minor things here and there to work on.  Now it is more about getting things cleaned up than workable.  

This year I purchased a new cabinet saw.  It is the Laguna Fusion 2.  I am really happy with it.  It has the safety devices on it that I was missing on my last saw (riving knife and anti kickback).  It is so much quieter than my old saw.  It was a good purchase and enjoy using it.  I just finished up my first workbench for me.  It is more than just saw horses and a sheet of plywood.  It has drawers for storage for all the tools that I frequently use.  I also added t-track on the outside edge so that I can clamp pieces to it.  It isn't fancy, but it is solid.  Blog post on that will be latter.

Favorite project was the blanket chest.  It looks good and came together well.  I like how solid it is and the lid does not slam shut.  I probably should of had a lighter lid but I like how it looks.

I did some animated toys this year from a book I got a while back.  Again the blog post will be latter because I have to put them together.  I was thinking that this would be a next phase in my design.  I am not thinking that anymore.  In short, the designer does a great job and amazing work.  The small pieces and the inability to lock the small parts in place make them a choking hazard.  I just was not impressed with them.  I will have to think of some other things to design

Business is holding steady.  Etsy has been doing well.   I have not done anything to grow business out here.  There are a lot of craft fairs, but I am not sure if I want to go through and get a Virginia sellers license.  Time will tell on that.  I am enjoying what I am doing now. I was able to donate to the Laurel house this year and also to operation Santa.  I had some kids help make the donation toys this year.  It was a lot of fun and will continue to ask for help.

Next year is already booked out.  I have been asked to make a toy train from a graphic.  I have started the design part.  This should take about three months.  I am going to be making chest of drawers for our room this year.  That will take most of the summer.  I am also looking at a repeat customer that runs and week long church camp and part of the time is spent building four projects.  I have the toy donations that I will be working on as well as the many ornaments to do this year.