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Some of you may have noticed that I quietly closed my e-commerce tool shop recently. While a learned a ton from having the tool business — including manufacturing skills, selling online, customer service, and even blogging — I was ready for the next thing, ready to get make to making more jewelry.

As I made the decision and then went through the process of closing down, I thought:

What direction was a going to take? What would I do with all my new found spare time? What kind of jewelry would I make?

I was reminded of the series of posts from Luann Udell, about making space in your life for the next thing to come in. (Her blog is huge, I can’t find the exact series, but she writes on those topics a lot.)

I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen, but I decided to jump in anyway, make space.

Closing down the shop turns out to be the right decision for me now. While I’m sad that some of my fabulous tools are no longer available in the world (and I hope you’re sad too!), I feel relief, and freedom. I’m glad to be just me out in the world, just me, making jewelry, making art, entering shows, submitting work for books, and blogging away.

That’s all nice, but what else am I doing? I’ve decided to take the plunge and I signed up for the Masters Registry.

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The first step: I got a new sketchbook and am planning out my projects. There are 50 projects, each designed to get you to do a specific technical skill or design task.

If I do just one project a week, I can finish in a year. I like having goals, I like direction. I’ve always made my best work when given an assignment — either an outside assignment, like entering a show, or giving myself an assignment.

I’m also figuring out what else I can cut from life to get more time to make jewelry. I’ve found places.

If you’re feeling stuck, you might like these books:

What now? a lovely little book that started as a commencement speech, but is soooo much more than that and not like any commencement speech you’ve ever heard before.

And Making Room for Making Art, which I’ve mentioned before, is a good one. Oh, and Art and Fear is another.

And maybe asking yourself, what do I need to get rid of in my life so I can make room for the next thing, even if I don’t know what that is yet? Will help you.

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