Merry-go-round - What did you expect ?

Jump on our merry go round and join a group of artists/crafts-women from around the world as they link hands and tell you a little bit about their lives in craft.

Do look up the answers from the rest of this band of crafters (links to your left).

If they haven't posted yet, remember we all live in different time zones and check again later... Lily and Charlotte are giving it a miss this month but that should not stop you from looking up their blog and lovely craft...

This month's theme:

Did you think you'd be doing what you're doing now (craft/selling), say 5 years ago? What has surprised you the most?

Hello everyone.
I'll be brief this month because life, personal and professional, has been a bit rocky.
So, my answers to these questions, in a nutshell:
No.
How fast your life can change and how surprising it is.

To elaborate a little.
Seven years ago I left Paris and those of my friends who were not already away from me (in the provinces or abroad), and moved to a smaller and sunnier place, closer to the ocean, and also to a better job...
While I was already packing, I fell in love with cross-stitching. For about two or three years, I stitched away, always trying to personalize the patterns or kits I used, and prefering organic materials, making cushions rather than framed pictures.
Since childhood, I had liked dabbling with stuff and pottering around the house, but it had never taken up so much of my time. I often used it to make unique presents for my loved ones and as birth gifts. It was so time-consuming of course there was no way I ever considered selling my work.

Then one day, I bought a kit that included seed beads and it led me to a craft shop which also sold PEARLS.
The rest is history: more possibilities, more gifts... orders. And now here I am, working with silver, learning how to solder metal and exploring the possibilities of silver clay...
I am now an official "entrepreneur", with very little time these days for my craft, because my day-job has been particularly demanding and time-consuming this year, when my online shops have not...

Still, pleasant and heart-warming surprises there have been: over the past few months, this bloggers' merry-go-round, and more recently, the Thursday Sweet Treat, also a very warm, inspiring band of friendly, artistic souls. Check it out!

And now, if you don't mind, I'm afraid I have to go back to the drudgery...