
Just wanted to say hi and say let me know if you have time for a visit when you're down here for your Mom's b'day (Happy birthday Kandice's Mom!
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LOL thought you'd never hear from me again, didn't you?? Well, it's almost the end of August, and I am still recovering from the Seemingly Non-Stop July. Yep, that's a song.
And it's true, too. July was neverending! Mom turned 50, Great-Grandma passed on, a few friends had birthdays, and my baby cousin Chelse got married.
Now it's almost September, and I've been hibernating.
September begins my most favorite time of year, so it's almost time to wake up. Fall is in the air - and the temps are finally starting to cool down. I am enjoying some much needed time to myself these days - and getting excited about the coming months, which I know will be a mixture of hustle and bustle, and fun autumn events.
These days, I am restructuring - changing the way I am doing business as a beadmaker. This mostly has to do with my decision to kind of phase-out the whole ebay thing in favor of alternative venues. Ebay needs to change its ways before I will go back to using them for the majority of my bead sales. Beginning with a category change many beadmakers have been asking for for years. Hopefully that will happen, but until it does, I will be supporting more of the smaller auction/artist venues. Haven't seen the petition yet? Please sign it if you haven't - support your favorite artist who loves ebay. We need just under 70 more signatures.
So, one alternative to ebay for me these days is The Annealer Auction Boutique. I have an auction ending there today, and plan on having more soon. The website was done by a fellow beadmaker, who is also putting out a printed magazine called the Annealer. It looks promising, but it's still very new. So you can get screaming good deals on beads there.
In other news, I will be hosting the Carnival of Lampwork in October - fun! I'll be doing a kind of Halloween special. See the publishing schedule for info on submitting.
No bead shows for me this fall - I have no inventory to speak of. Instead, I have opened a new Catalog page that enables buyers to purchase single beads in the colors of their choice. That's something people have been asking me to do for years, so I am trying it out. A sort of build-your-own-set kind of thing. I'll supplement that with the occasional auction or special to keep things exciting. That should keep me busy through the holidays.
There are pumpkins and witches' hats there for those who want Halloween beads. Snowmen will be up soon, too. I know you all like to get stuff ahead of time for those fall shows!
Hmmmm, so entertainment-wise, I have been listening to A-Ha a lot lately - a group I was nuts for as a pre-teen. Hard to believe they still have new stuff coming out over 20 years later! And it's wonderful. Their sound has really changed, and I love it. All their new albums are imports, of course - I don't think they've released stuff here in the US for quite some time, but in this internet age the music is easy to get. I am collecting all their albums. Sure is a flashback!
Anyway - that's enough for now. Have a great weekend, everyone!