All Hail the conqueror. . .

Ok so it's been months and the first attempt was frustrating to say the least but I think in my secondary attempt I have finally conquered the evils of the facebook Pixel.  😑

Please don't ask me how, as I'm not entirely sure.  😕  

Please don't ask me for advice because I have no real insights on how or why the damn thing works or doesn't. 😐

All I know right now is back in June I couldn't get it to work right, it only ever loaded 5 listings from goimagine and I tried loading things manually but after a couple of weeks they just started disappearing. I tried all the help links and looked through lots of settings in the maze of facebook's backside, business manager, commerce manager, etc.  I finally got frustrated enough that I just went in and tried to delete it all, and while I did manage to delete the "shop" itself and the shop tab from my page the dysfunctional pixel remained. 😓  

Actually the bad pixel is still there even now, I just started over from the beginning steps and created a new pixel. 😏  So I now have the RainbowMaille2 which seems to be working and I changed the name of the previous one to Badpixel.  I have no idea what I did different but this new one seems to be working much better. 

Of course I don't want to jinx it because it could still decide to fault out or not complete.  As it currently sits I have 66 active listings on goimagine.com and so far 55 of them appear in my commerce manager and as of now 53 appear in the public shop.  😁  While it's not perfect and not complete it is waaayyy better than last time's 5 so I'm going to quit messing with it for today and hope that it finishes itself.  😇  ~fingers crossed~

I never really liked the saying " if at first you don't succeed try try again " but sometimes a little persistence does pay off. 😎

Art experiments. . .

My art has always been a hands on learning process and some experiments work out better than others. 😅 My experiments in pouring acrylics last year had a questionable start but quickly improved.  The mix was off in my first batch and the very first piece "cracked up" badly as it dried. 😏

I got better at mixing the paints and understanding how pouring acrylics works, I even started having fun doing it.  I did eventually manage to make a few that are really cool looking.  😍 

Now I have to move on and learn the next steps in how to finish and seal poured paintings.  I have left them to cure for a few months and researched how to clean the silicone/cell magic stuff off the finished dry painting.  I have also researched different types of finishes from standard varnish, to spray sealants, ArtResin and decided that I want to use different finishes on different paintings.

So this weekend I attempted to clean a couple of them and test different finishes, sadly it did not got well.  😕  I think it's because I didn't get all the silicone.  The first one I tried standard varnish I've used before and noticed it didn't want to coat evenly and actually ran away from some spots, when it dried there are spots with no varnish.

It's hard to see the dull spots in photographs but in person they are pretty obvious.  The second one I tried a new spray sealant, I used this spray on a different painting and it worked fine but on the pour painting it sort of foamed and dried with this weird rippling water texture.  

It is very shiny and it looks pretty cool but it's not right and it's not the smooth even finish I was hoping for.  😔  #artfail 

    

Making _____. . .

Well there are a lot of ways that can go. . .making the best of it, making do, making inventory, making time. . . I have done all of those lately.  😇  

I am making do and making the best of things with etsy's ridiculous new "Star Seller" stuff.  I still find the program stupid and not an accurate measure of a shop's customer service but since it's there and there is no way around it, if you can't beat them join them. 😕  So I politely responded to a spammy request for donations with a real answer and a coupon instead of just marking it as spam, because messages marked as spam don't count but messages replied to promptly do.  Then after days of that not being reflected in the dashboard, I had to write into help and point out that if the dashboard never updates and is based on faulty data . . .well it took a week but I finally got a second metric. 😁  Now all I need is someone to leave me a fresh review before the end of the month.

I've made new trees including a couple with the fairy door in the trunk and so so many barrettes that the tray is the fullest it's ever been.  😉

I also made some time to not do business stuff because my husband (wonderful man that he is) got me a very cool anniversary gift this year. . . A trip to the Zoo, I know you may be thinking that's not that impressive or aren't you a bit old for that, BUT this trip to the zoo included a meet and greet with Penguins and art made by penguins while I watched.  Seriously totally awesome, I love penguins so getting to meet up close and pet them was amazing, they are so cute and the little rockhoppers were very personable. 💖  And I have not only a ton of photos and great memories I have a canvas they "painted" with their little footy prints. 😍  

this is me petting a penguin, she was so soft and liked being petted, the keeper said she was a hand-raised rescue so very used to people 

Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to mount/frame the canvas they made.