Weekly update. . .Happy New Year

Well, we are just days away from 2025 so Happy New Year. 😏 

I'm not all that happy this morning, but that's just because I'm really tired. We are doing some light renovations and repainting and such before we move, things are going great the new faucet for the master bath arrived yesterday 😁 when the new sink/countertop comes next week that will be one room finished. We already painted walls and ceiling, changed the light fixture, and finished the new linen cabinet. 

The first POD has arrived, so it's time to pack up the garages and start sorting the boxes for house stuff. I started in the guest room sorting excess linens, emptied a dresser I plan to give to a friend instead of moving.  

It had a couple of broken handles, so I bought some new ones and did a little rearranging. I'm really happy with how it looks. 😇 

Taking a serious look around the house and realizing that I unpacked too much. I really did think this would be a more long-term thing, kind of regretting getting so comfortable. 😔

Weekly update. . .Merry Christmas

This Christmas may be the least christmas-y I've felt/been in years, since that time my Gran passed and we had a funeral in the snow. 😔

I will be deactivating all listings and making the shop(s) inactive, for those that have followed RainbowMaille for a while you may suspect what I'm about to write. . .. My husband is changing jobs, and we are once again moving many states distance. 😏 So I will shut down temporarily while everything goes into PODS for the transition. I am not "closing" my business just relocating, again. However, PODS start arriving the 27th and cycle thru January, I haven't picked a rental or place to land yet, so I don't know how long it will be before RainbowMaille is fully re-opened. I am aiming for March, but I have to find a place, move, then reregister with the new state, so it will be a couple of months at least.

There is a small silver lining to moving over New Year, you don't have to do the part-year residence multiple-states tax return. 😏 Yes, I am clinging to any little plus I can find, since cross-country moving is such a stressful and exhausting process, if you've never done it personally just trust me, I've done it multiple times. 

Since I won't be creating or making anything, there likely won't be much social media, but I hope to still be around Maker Circle and the fb group some. 😇 I will still do the weekly updates, but they will likely be shorter without new creations or events to talk about. 

Weekly update. . . well, wow

I know the title doesn't say much and may be confusing for a lot of people, I wish I could explain but I'll have to wait because the big news cannot be publicly announced until I at least tell my Momma. 😉  

I got a lovely pair of reviews on etsy the other day from a repeat buyer who is now 3 bracelets into the rubber collection. 

And I quite agree with her, those stretchy bracelets when sized right are so light and comfortable that you can forget you are wearing them. 😎 I do love five-star reviews, although let's be real the majority of people do not leave reviews, seriously the average is less than 20% of orders. So, when a buyer takes the time to write one it's great and when they include a photo of them wearing their new shiny, it's truly special.  😇 

I will be busy and not on social media much for a while, but I will continue to at least do the "weekly update". 😉

Weekly update. . .the morning after

So, the Mistletoe Market was yesterday and yes it was very cold at setup, although not really for me because when you are alone and unloading a booth's worth of stuff and hauling distance from the vehicle to set up by yourself you can work up quite a sweat. 😏 

Overall, it was a decent day, it warmed up quick and after a bit of a slow start there did seem to be a decent crowd. Unfortunately, my booth was at the very end and I saw many people not even walk all the way down before turning around meaning me and the other vendors next to me didn't get the traffic that the central booths got. 😔 Watching people barely glance in your direction and turn around 20-30 feet away is disheartening. That's not to say that my booth didn't have visitors, I had some lovely chats and a few sales. I also had a couple of challenging moments, one was a lady who looking at my chainmaille dragons said something like "I've seen a lot of these cheaper" of course in reality she has never seen a Chainmaille dragon she was comparing them to 3D printed plastic, not that it mattered because she wasn't at all interested in my booth or anything in it she just wanted to cut thru my booth to exit the event space. 😕

This "passing thru" happened more than once, at least most people asked and in the cases of the elderly on scooters and with canes who couldn't make the step up the high curb to the sidewalk I didn't mind, but that doesn't count as real traffic.  

In unrelated news I've decided I'm done with Michaels "makerplace". I gave it a year plus and I've not been happy with several things, there have been tech issues not surprising happens everywhere but with Michaels money and staff some things that should have been easy have taken a year or longer, and some things have just been ignored. However, my decision to cut ties is based on their practice of constantly having sales. I've had RainbowMaille for many years and early on I tried having "Black Friday" and other big sales and it never worked. I've offered discounts and joined etsy's "site wide" sales in the past but etsy's were voluntary you had to agree to participate you set your discount, Michaels just puts sales on your listings that they fund and you have NO say in. I've been told by other sellers to not complain because after all "Michaels is paying the discount you still get your money" but for me that is beside the point. I posted a lengthy FB post on the business page about how my handmade business cannot do 50% off and days later Michaels put a 50% off promo banner on all my jewelry listings for its' sale. 😐 I deactivated every listing that had a red sale showing, other sellers are all like "I wished I had known I would have promoted it" while I'm like I wish I had known and could have opted-out of it.  

Indulge me a moment while I explain why I dislike the constant sale concept . . .Back in the day I loved my Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons, there once was a craft store called A.C. Moore that had a similar constant sale/coupon system, both have gone bankrupt. Michaels, JoAnns and Hobby Lobby have fallen in the pit of constant large discounts, massive continuous email spam campaigns, not only does it personally turn me off as a shopper it makes me wonder how long they will last. Now consider Michaels has already been sued over this questionable business practice, they settled one years ago that cost them 1.8mil, there is another lawsuit active, I had hoped that "makerplace" would be independent of Michaels and not do these things but here we are. 😐 I have deactivated all my listings, but I am hesitant to delete my shop because I don't want anyone else to use my name. I know on etsy once a shop name has been used it cannot be used again, but I do not know if makerplace has the same limit in place.  

I'm not upset about it, I didn't really need a 3rd platform. 😅 Not every platform is a good fit for everyone that is why there are so many to choose from.😉 I don't sell on Amazon or ebay either, no big deal. 

Weekly update. . .it's December

Well, it's December, this year has flown by and it's hard to believe it's almost over already. 😦 I have one event left for this year, hoping it will be a good one and hoping the weather gets better because it's an outdoor event and currently it's actually cold outside. 😏

I am working on refilling the Christmas color HP 3-in-1 display, along with restocking a few other things before Saturday. 

In annoying news goimagine has been under spam bot attacks. So, if you are a fellow seller just know: Goimagine's message center system is designed to let shoppers contact shops, because goimagine is a public marketplace anyone can create an account and message a seller. These spammers are using the "contact" button on your shop they do not have your email or phone number. The notifications are real the message is spam. 

Goimagine site support will NEVER use the message center to contact you, why would they, they have your email.

Goimagine does not process payments, if there was ever anything wrong with your shop's ability to process payments you would need to log into Stripe (the payment processor) and they will never message you in goimagine's message center because they have your email.

When you get an email notification it says, "a customer on goimagine has messaged you" in the subject line, the email says "You have a new message sent to you in goimagine." When you get the text notification (if you are signed up for them) it says "You received a new message through goimagine". None of them say the message is *From* goimagine, so never click any links inside message center messages that claim to be from "support".

Actually, just don't click unknown links, even if you receive an email from stripe or paypal or whoever do not click the link just go log directly into the site. If you do click one of these links and end up on a page asking for personal/financial info even if you do not enter info you should still run some anti-virus, anti-spyware checks, because the link itself may have some tracking or logging attached. 

It's scammer season, they ramp up in volume this time of year because they want to catch people not paying attention, they know we are distracted with holidays, family, travel, events, etc. so they try to take advantage and use fear tactics "threatening" your business don't fall for it. I know it's annoying to get a notification and get your hopes up that it's a sale only to find spam. I know it's frustrating that they just keep coming no matter how many are deleted there is always another. 😒 Now just for a moment put yourself in the shoes of goimagine staff, continuously monitoring the message center, chasing and tracing all these bots/spammers IPs blocking and deleting as fast as they can, constantly bombarded with reports, trying to respond and assure sellers that they are on it, all the while message boards are blowing up with people saying they don't do enough. 😟 I think they are humans doing the best they can against bots that don't sleep. I also think we should all try a little patience and grace this holiday season for all our fellow humans. 😇

Weekly update. . .Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is nearly here and while I am planning for a simple day at home there is still planning and shopping to do. I dug a turkey out of the deep freezer and found my gluten free pie crusts, so good start. 😉 

I am working on a new dragon but since it's a Christmas gift for family I'm not posting photos. 😅 I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. 

My final event of the year is December 7th and very local. 😇

Keeping it short this week, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels (to those traveling).   

Weekly update. . .Christmas and dragons

I finished Christmas Dragon and he is gorgeous. 😁 I've done some shop reorganizing, changing out the "featured" products was overdue, while I was making changes, I created a special Christmas section for the front page with sub-categories for ornaments and stocking stuffers, in hopes of making it easier for shoppers/buyers. I am also making a bunch of stuff "free shipping" for the holidays. 

I am starting another dragon that is a gift and will not be photographed or posted, which is weird for me since I'm used to posting photos of whatever I'm making, but I want it to be a surprise for them so . . . no peeking 😊 

Today I am cooking turkey #1 for those that don't know my husband is a turk-aholic and we cook multiple turkeys in November, because there must be pre-turkey turkey. 😉 Today will not be the full spread of Thanksgiving but a turkey, yams, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls, which is only about half of my full menu. 

In fabulous news my father-in-law's cancer treatments seem to have worked, we are supposed to wait until the 22nd for the full official lab report but his doc called him yesterday and said it looks like we are in for a Happy Thanksgiving. 🙏 I hope he's right but I'm waiting for the full report to really celebrate. 😇

Weekly update. . .holidays are coming

It is November and holidays are coming like a freight train, so it's a good thing I finally got around to noodling this week. 

And by "noodling" I mean making multiple batches of egg noodles for the season. I spent hours the other day on these 5 batches and one of them became beef and noodles for dinner last night. 😁 We'll just call that quality control testing.  

I did finally get some ok to good photos of the dragons and got them listed on rainbowmaille.com I am keeping them exclusive to #goimagine and have no plans to list them on etsy or michaels, even though there is not a single one listed on michaels makerplace. I feel like I may be missing out not listing them where they would be the only ones, but I don't want to cross-post them and take any chance of double-selling because they take so long to make. I may post future ones in different places but for now these 4 are only on my goimagine.

I made this cool graphic ad on adobe yesterday and I was really happy with it until I realized it only fits on pinterest. 😏 I wasn't paying attention to the template/sizing so that's what I get for being distracted. I did cut it in half and post it on fb and insta anyway. 😉 

On a slightly annoying note, etsy stats are always wrong, after nearly a decade you'd think I'd be over being disappointed and/or baffled by things that don't add up and seem to make no sense, but apparently it still bugs me. 😏 So, it says I got 3 favorites yesterday, but I didn't get any notifications of favorites, it says 7 listings were viewed but when I look at the listing stats it only shows 6 as viewed. Then there is this gem where it appears one of the items that was favorited wasn't actually viewed, so it was fav'd from a search page and the listing was never actually opened, maybe that's the "phantom" view. 😅

On a happy note, there are more dragons coming before Christmas, one of them is even Christmas themed 😎 and I think he's going to be gorgeous.

Weekly update. . .so done

It really is a good thing my next event is not for a month, I'm exhausted and disappointed, it may take me the whole month to recover. Although sleep, actual relaxation and "recovery" is not likely for me anyway I still have too much life stuff to deal with. 😔 I don't like to get too personal on the details, but like most people my life is complicated, I still need to get the water damage in my closet fixed, we are waiting to see if my father-in-law's cancer treatments worked, and I haven't made my usual tons of noodles for the season. I feel behind and mildly out of control in so many aspects of life right now. Like this morning my cats woke me up, not unusual, but cats don't know about the time change so it was 4 o'clock in the morning. 😒 

In more business-related related news, I got an etsy order while at the event yesterday, so as much as I want to nap all day, I really need to go make another rainbow boxchain. This week I need to get busy on re-photographing all the framed art and re-doing a ton of listings. I still have all 4 completed dragons, which will now need to get photographed and listed online.  

Weekly update. . .it was a beautiful day

It was a beautiful day with near perfect weather, although by the end of the day I admit I was hot and it's a good thing I always take a cooler of frozen water bottles and cooling cloth. 😎 The venue/location is great, the farm is lovely, there was a team of volunteers directing traffic and the whole thing was well organized. The owner is really nice and there were so many cool booths. I was pretty happy with my display, but 12 was definitely too many easels and I didn't end up using them all. 😅

It seemed like a good crowd, some friends came out to see the booth, which is always nice. 😇 The art got a lot of great compliments, to my surprise I still have all the chainmaille dragons, but several people took business cards and/or goimagine info. Also, I have another event next weekend so it's kind of ok that I still have all the dragons. 😉 I expect I'll see some familiar faces next weekend in Thomasville. 

Thomasville Winter Craft Festival 2024 

This week I need to double check inventory against online listings, I did deactivate the wire trees that sold, I need to shuffle the ones left in the book. I need to figure out how much of the art to take next weekend when I will be taking the full jewelry inventory and 3D printed stuff. Luckily the booth space is a little bigger and I can take all the tables and racks, plus it's indoors so I won't need the tent. 😇  

Weekly update. . .next week

Ok so the tick tock clock is about to run out on me, I only have 6 days left, technically only 5 because we set up the tent and tables the day before, so really only 4. 😟 In this final week of preparing and planning for the Elevate Artisan Market I still have to assemble 11 of the 12 tabletop easels, repack the show tote with the proper boxes, bags, packaging, price the art, figure out a booth layout, oh and actually pack inventory, etc. I still don't feel like I'll ever be ready, but I do have over 2 dozen paintings framed and 3 dragons I'm willing to sell. 😅 I've actually made 6 chainmaille dragons but I am keeping the first 2 and my husband claimed the blue one. 😎 

The purple one is shorter but because of the legs it's actually about the same number of rings as the green one, so they will all be priced the same. The red and black is the newest and I have begun a new version of blue. Although, I'm not sure I'll get a 4th finished before the event I guess it can be my work project in the booth. 😉  I've been considering making little cards for the dragons, description of materials and ring count type of info, but then I thought about "adoption certificates" with names and creation date. 😊 I think I may be overthinking. 😅 I also think my overthinking is just me thinking of ways to waste time I don't really have.  

I am really happy with certain paintings in their frames, they just coordinate beautifully, and the frames really finish the art. 

Weekly update. . .it's been a week

Well. . . it has been a week; it's been a week since I posted and what a week it has been. 😒 No I do not mean that in "good way" as I cannot say it has been a good week. 

First, the week started off with water leaking out of my closet 😯 discovered it was coming from the AC in the attic and has apparently been leaking off and on for a while (weeks possibly months). 😱

Seeping slowly thru the ceiling in the very back corner, completely unseen behind all the stuff because ya' know it's a closet full of . . . stuff 😟 it was finally noticed because it sogged so much that it made a puddle on the floor that came out into the hall 

so yeah, that is ceiling to floor ruination of the beautiful cedar lining in my closet 😧 in a corner so 2 walls and a ceiling to repair/replace 

I should note it wasn't as bad as it could have been because I'm "crazy" so the stuff on the upper shelf was wrapped in plastic for storage purposes anyway. 😅  

There were boxes on the floor that got wet but nothing inside was damaged, some of the stuff hanging got wet but my fancy dresses were stored in bags so fine. I have one thing that I need to take to a dry cleaner to see if it can be salvaged, but truly lucky because it could have been so much worse. However, that does not change the fact that the cleanup and getting the AC ripped out and completely reinstalled has taken a lot of my time this week and it's a small miracle that I have made any progress on show prep.  Seriously, that's not hyperbole I also had a dr. appointment this week where I got my flu shot which made my arm feel like it should just fall off. 😅

So yeah kind of miraculous that I accomplished anything this week. 😏  

Somehow, I have managed to continue to frame art and even added a few rings to the dragon on the bench. I have just under 2 weeks before Elevate I don't feel like I'm ever going to feel ready. 😶 I had so many ideas, wire trees to make, new things to try, more dragons. . . but there is no way the epoxy finish of certain paintings is getting done, it is not likely that there will be many more dragons maybe one. I do have some hope of new wire trees, but it's trying a new thing so not sure how I'm going to "finish" them as they will be free-standing and not my normal in the hoop hanging design. I've been considering various materials for "bases" from smooth river rocks, wood slabs (painted or not?) driftwood so many possibilities.  

Weekly update. . . AAaaaah

 Yeah, that's just me screaming. 😐 I am making progress on the art framing but booth layout and set up are making me mental. Oh, and there seems to be another hurricane in the works. 😕 

I've got 10 finished so far, but over 20 more to go. 😅 Plus the dozen tabletop easels to assemble.

I am ridiculously nervous about the upcoming event, as if I haven't done dozens of events for years. Part of it is because it's a new venue and "new" events always make me a little nervous, but a much larger part of it is being the first time I'm setting up with just art. I've been selling jewelry for a decade, but I am less confident about my art. I have sold some art at other shows but not usually a lot.  I think that is because it is not usually the focus and not much of it is actually displayed, most of it just lives in its' crates, even in the booth.  

I really liked the crates for storage and display when I bought them years ago, the idea of flipping thru paintings the way I used to look thru my parents' vinyl records was cool. . . But apparently, I'm old and most people don't feel that way. 😅 

It has not been a very effective display or actually led to a lot of sales of the art, so maybe a booth with nothing but art properly professionally displayed framed on easels it will be better. 😇 When I think back on it, most of the paintings that have sold at events have been framed and/or sold off of the front display not out of the crates, most people don't look in the crates and even those that do usually only flip thru the first few paintings not the whole crate.  I am allowed to take the wire trees and a limited amount of chainmaille in the form of ornaments and fidget balls, so hopefully I'll have good sales anyway. 

Weekly update. . .Hurricane Helene

Well, that happened, hurricane Helene blew all the way up to category 4.  I was really hoping it wouldn't, but it did, it also came right into the "Big Bend" again even though I was told when we moved here that it's very rare for hurricanes to landfall in the Big Bend. 😕 😐 I would accuse people of lying to us, but my research backed it up.

However, someone needs to update this because we have now had 3 in 13 months, Idalia, Debby, and now Helene. It went from 3 in 125 years to 3 in 13 months, I'm both annoyed and concerned about living here now. 

We have been lucky each time, but part of that is also about decision making, when I bought this house, I was looking for high ground that wouldn't flood, it had to be a minimum distance inland, I had a lot of criteria that had nothing to do with the closet space. 😅 When I settled on this brick monster our concern became the trees, because "large lot with beautiful mature trees" sounds great but in practice these Georgia pines are a mile high nightmare. So, we decided to get a tree service and have something done, a professional opinion, we ended up paying a small fortune to have several trees removed and a lot of trimming up done on many more, at the time I wasn't thrilled with the expense or the noise and I actually cried over one of the trees they took out, but now 3 storms later with NO damage I think we made the right choices. 😏

We didn't go crazy and denude the whole lot there are still a ton of large trees in my yard just not too close to the house, nothing hanging over the roof. 😇

There is still plenty to clean up. 

Truly, it was the easterly shift that spared us, we got a glancing blow instead of a direct hit. I feel bad for everyone who lost their homes on the coast, for those poor souls that lost their lives, for all the flooding and terrible damage done in other states. 😞

I now have less than a month before the big "Art show" which I am thinking will likely be a disaster for me. I don't have enough of the art framed. I don't know what I'm doing for display in my booth because I'm not used to just showing art. I had ideas and I thought I had a plan but the more I think about it the less I think it will work. 🫤 "Nervous" no longer covers my panicky desire to just move to another state instead of going through with this show. 😨  

I have spent hours agonizing over which pieces to frame and which color of frame for each, I think I have a plan finally, but now I have to find time to actually do all the framing. 😅 More than 30 pieces in less than 30 days does not seem likely especially when I factor in a doctor's appointment and a dental cleaning, oh and my AC is messed up again so service calls and workmen traipsing thru the middles of it all. 😟 I can feel the failure coming from here. I guess no one would be surprised if I said Progress has stalled. 

Yep, he's just lying there half done 😔 wings still not attached, no tail yet. 

Weekly update. . . Progress is slow

😅 My progress on Progress has been slow this week. 😂

So that's a funny joke if you know that my latest dragon project is/was going to be named Progress. 😉 

It is also somewhat funny, at least to me, that he's still not finished, he really should be, but my birthday was this week and I've been busy and distracted with other things. 😎

Although, I really need to get very busy and productive in the immediate future, I have that art show next month and I still don't have enough art framed or much of a plan for the actual booth display. 😕 When I scheduled it I had months, so I haven't really been worried about it or focused on it but now . . . tick tock time is almost up and I'm still not ready, I am also really nervous.  I keep thinking about cancelling but this event is hard to get into and has a waiting list so if I cancel, I'll likely never get in again. 😏 Plus my husband has bragged to many people that I would be there. 😑 So, I will not let myself back out but I'm not currently happy about going, maybe that will change if I can get myself sorted out and come up with a display plan. 

Weekly update. . . blah

While not very informative "blah" is very descriptive of how I feel these days, between the life worries and the weather I'm just . . .blah. 😑

I have deactivated all my michaels' makerplace listings because they put this ridiculous suggestion scroll at the TOP of listings, now I am fine with the "you may also like" standard at the Bottom of a page but to put directly competing listings at the top of the page before the buyer can even see the actual listing they clicked on is a huge "Aw HELLZNO" for me. 😡

Some sellers tried to defend the move saying, the scroll is not that big, or it's just random things, however, on my laptop screen it's pretty big and not random, other sellers said on mobile it pushes the listing well down the page. 

Since it is in fact a 3rd platform for me I don't need this especially right now with more important things in life to worry about. Although I am wondering if this is why I don't have more sales on this platform.  I remember etsy trying this and sellers revolting. The only time etsy does this is if someone clicks in thru a pinterest link, if you click an item in etsy search you get that actual listing, now there are multiple scrolls and suggestions at the Bottom of the page (where they belong) but first you get the actual thing you clicked on. This just comes off so temu, ebay, amazon, yard sale desperate to me, it's pointless page clutter and directing shoppers off the page before they can even look at what they actually clicked on. 

This really reinforces for me how much I appreciate goimagine and the fact that they do not do things like this. 😉 As a matter of fact the only suggestion scroll at the bottom of a goimagine listing is a "more from this maker" displaying my own stuff. 😎 Because unlike other corporate marketplaces goimagine listens to and respects their makers and is not constantly trying to redirect buyers out of our shops or to cheaper things.  😇  

Now that I've gotten that off my chest let's move on to the fact that I didn't get this week's dragon finished. 😏 I have made progress and thanks to my husband's smarty-pants-ness I think when it is finished his name will be Progress instead of TheGreenDragon as previously planned. 

At least his head is attached to the body, which is half covered with scales 😉 so ya' know progress

 

Weekly update. . . 9-8-8

Since it is 9-8 I thought I'd take a moment to talk about 9-8-8 for those that may not be aware of the crisis line, lifeline, mental health help line for national suicide prevention.  It is free help available to all, started just a few years ago, it has saved lives, if you or anyone you love is ever in need . . . I'm ok, I have cried and am processing my father-in-law's cancer diagnosis, it sucks, it's scary and sad but there is a treatment plan and we are optimistic about things. 🙏💞

Of course, for us sci-fi nerdy types today is Star Trek Day, the day we celebrate the tv premiere of the first episode. 😎 Yes, I will be watching lots of assorted Star Trek things today. 

In business news: I am still on my "social media break" and I am finding it helpful to not have to worry about daily posting while dealing with other life events. 😇 I am sure I will return to business as usual eventually but for right now this once-a-week post is easier. I am working, albeit slowly in short bursts. I added legs to the purple dragon and I'm not convinced I like it, it's not exactly what I pictured. 😏

I mean he is still cute, the legs do help stabilize his sitting, but I'm considering removing and re-attaching them different. Also, not sure I love the pattern I used; I may have to try something else altogether. 😅 On the other hand, there is always the next one to try something new with. 

The next dragon will be green, although I don't have the large/fancy scales in green, I do have the smaller ones for his back. So black and mirror large scales for the fringe and wings, which will work great since the rings are a mix of black and shades of green. 

His official name will be "The Green Dragon" like the pub from Lord of the Rings 😁 because I'm a big 'ole sci-fi lovin' nerd. 😉

Weekly update. . .September!

I am still on my "social media break". Although, I did post on facebook about etsy the other day, sometimes one just needs to "shout into the void". 😏 Ironically my instagram has gained followers even though I haven't posted in over a week. 😅

I don't know how long this break will last, initially I thought a couple of weeks, but now there are some issues other than my own mentality and feelings. I don't want to get specific but there are possible life altering things on a couple of fronts. I'm ok, my husband is ok, but my father-in-law whom I adore has been diagnosed with cancer. 😟 We think they caught it early enough and we all have high hopes, but it is scary.  

I plan to continue doing these weekly update posts but otherwise I will be mostly offline. I am working some mostly to keep my mind off of other things. This week has been 'purple, purple, purple!' and if you don't get the Gilmore joke that's ok. 😅 

Annoyingly most of the photos I took make the purple look blue. 😏

Weekly update. . .later

I am on a "social media" break.  I do still log on to check for messages and such, but I'm not posting, and I'm not really group participating much. I am just feeling a bit burnt out on the whole thing, social media, business, life stress in general. 😒  

My plan to give Blue legs is not going well, I was so frustrated the other day I was snapping rings and ended up throwing my pliers down. 😖

There is a certain pressure I feel to create content that I really kind of hate. I mean I love making things, but I do not like the constant need for content. . . photos, posts, engagement. The push the business aspect is crushing my creative outlet with its' daily grind-ness, it is literally sucking the fun and happiness out of making things. 😒 Anyone else ever feel that way?  

There was a time, not long ago, that seeing this laying on my bench would have made me so happy, but now I'm just annoyed the legs aren't going the way I want, and it's not done yet and I can't get the photos I need to post more, blah blah blah. 😫

So, I decided to take a break, but each day that goes by I feel . . .guilt/regret, fear of losing ground.  I am going to take my "me-time" though because I shouldn't feel bad about taking care of myself.  I haven't been feeling really well, it's not serious (I don't think) allergies from the high pollen mixed with joint aches and hot flashes from the menopause, I do have an appointment in a few days.  I also have a birthday coming that is closer to 50 than 40. 😏 

Currently I'm not sure how long this "social break" will last, I don't really have a plan. 😐 Ideally it will only be a couple of weeks of no posts, and I can actually get some stuff done to post about when I come back.

Weekly update. . .slow

Well, it's been a week not a super one and not really a productive one, but it's over and I'll try again next week. 😏 

My back is still sore but not as bad. I did stuff but don't feel like I accomplished much because nothing is "finished". I am considering the local farmer's market next month, I have a standing invite, my back should be ok by then, the weather may be tolerable, it's a definite maybe. 😅  

Progress on Blue is slow, I have finished the scales down the back, and I'm working on his tail, but I plan to keep it short.

Since my husband has claimed him and he will be purely decorative and not wearable, it has reinforced my desire to give him legs. However, it's going to take some testing to find a pattern and ring size combo that creates the right look and structural stiffness. I may go ahead and start the next one before this one is finished. 😅 Ya' know because I need more projects. 

Weekly update. . .recovery

Well, Debby passed and made a mess of my yard, although we were lucky no major damage, never lost power, just tons of small sticks, branches and pinecones everywhere.  The clean-up stinks, bending over a thousand times picking up sticks is not helping my backache issue. 😓 My back is slowly getting a bit better, not as sore as it was, some improved range of motion, but nowhere near normal. 😏 

I have made things this week. 😉 I made some progress on the black and blue dragon, he's coming together nicely.  I am very happy with my color choices and pattern so far.  

And apparently so is my husband, he walked in my shop last night to see the latest version and called "dibs". 😐😏😅 Seriously, between my husband, my friend, my mom and dad, everybody wants one, I may never get to actually sell them.  Of course, I am having second thoughts on that anyway, parting with some things is hard when I put so much time, effort and energy into these. I've never had this attachment issue with the jewelry, occasionally with the art I will miss a piece after it's sold but I rarely have that clingy "mine" reaction. 

I got a bracelet order for a color/size combo that I didn't have made, whipped it up, packed it and shipped it off no problem. 😉

I have literally sold hundreds and hundreds of items over the years, from my previous business to tons of jewelry, wire trees, paintings. There are only a couple of things I genuinely regret letting go, a canvas I miss, a particularly spectacular wire tree, but overall, I make things with the intention of selling them, so I don't get attached. I think maybe part of the difference with these dragons is they have a face. 😐😅

When I'm making them, they almost seem to develop personalities. 😇 Or I could just be crazy. 😅😆

Weekly update. . . ouch

Not much business news this week, just personal stuff. 😅

I have somehow messed up my back, not entirely sure how but I think I have a slipped disk or something. Doing all the daily chores like scooping the litter boxes, run the vacuum, empty the dishwasher type things is killing me, but no one else is going to scoop the boxes or vacuum for me so pain be damned house be clean. 😖 However, the continuous pain is exhausting, I am moving slow and regularly stretching but I have accomplished very little this week aside from keeping the house and planning meals. 😕 

I haven't spent much time working because my shop's desk chair makes my back hurt worse. 😑 I've tried working rings on the couch, but I keep dropping them, which gets frustrating since I don't want to have to crawl on the floor to retrieve them. I do have the next dragon layout started he's going to be black and blue, kind of how I feel. 😉

In other news Reover has a vet check-up coming this week, he's due for shots and I'm not really looking forward to the appointment myself. First off, it's not easy lugging that moose to the vet, he's large and heavy when in the carrier if/when he gets mad and flops around, he's so heavy he can nearly knock me over. My back is screaming in protest of his weight already, as I suspect the vet will when they weigh him. 😏 I do not look forward to being told he's "obese" he knows that word and it makes him mad, seriously calling him fat pisses him off you can see it in his face. Not in this photo that's just mild annoyance at not getting outs, notice how he's in front of the door and occupying my slippers. 😅

The last vet that called him obese he hissed at I'm just saying. 

I know my cat is fat, but you can't just put a cat on a diet. First of all, there are 3 of them in this house so trying to limit the food for one is not easy, taking away the food for all doesn't work. Changing and giving special food to only 1 of the 3 doesn't work either, they are cats they eat out of whichever bowl they choose. Getting lazy fat house cats to "exercise" is a whole other challenge, I considered buying him a treadmill/wheel, but I don't think his lazy butt would use it. 😅

Oh and apparently there is a storm coming. 😕

Weekly update. . .oh wow

Oh wow. . .July is all but over which means my months to prepare for that fall art show are just whizzing by and I still have not set up and tested the art resin on a painting. 😏 

The good news is I have completed the second dragon. 😁

He's cool and colorful and most of my testing worked out. I did not succeed with the leg idea this time, but I'm not giving up on it, it just won't be on this one. 😎 Overall I'm pretty happy with him, but there is still room for improvements and future modifications. 

I do like the tail flare, I plan to try again and repeat it in different sizes like barbs. I'm still trying to decide which patterns I like best in the tail, 2-by-2 seemed like cheating to me (at first) because it's so simple, but it is the fastest way to make distance with less rings. 😏 So for the curious . . .

Secondus is actually slightly longer than ReGol, even though his "body" is shorter and he has 50+ less rings. 

He does have a clasp hidden in his tail scales so he can be worn as a necklace too. 😉 

I think the third attempt shall be about half the length and have the legs, be a pure sculpture piece. In the meantime, I have to figure out what to do with these two I'm not sure how to store them or how I'm going to display them in the booth. 😅 But they gotta go somewhere because I need my bench back.