Just around the Corner

HI! Just another week and Christmas will be here, YEAH! I've gotten almost all of my Christmas shopping done and went way over my budget, oops! I still have a few things to make, just need the motivation. I got some of the supplies I have been waiting on and now just need to find a bit of time to finish up the earrings to go with a necklace. I also need to finish the scarf i'm working on for my grandmother. I can't wait till next week because i'm OFF, OFF, OFF! 9 day vacation, WOOHOO! I'm excited but I'm not, cause probably half of that is going to be sent traveling from one place to another. Honestly, I'd rather just stay home but I can't cause I miss my family too and it's hard to go and see them and this time of year is when I get my vacation so I gotta go.

Creatively speaking, I have earrings to finish and I need to finish up on a prototype ring design. I haven't come across a ring like this yet but doesn't mean that someone hasn't already done it or something very similar. So after the holidays look for my new design (to me anyways).

I have a beef with an artist even though I don't know where this lady is from, just somewhere near El Campo TX., I think. My great Aunt T ordered a couple of floral paperweights for my grandmother. My grandmother wanted red roses and the date of birth and death of my grandfather. When my grandmother recieved the items she told me that she almost started crying and was just going to throw them in the trash. First, they weren't even red roses, they were a reddish carnation and a yellow carnation. Second, they weren't even the same sizes. The reddish carnation is probably the better of the two but not by to much. The yellow carnation one, it's like the lady just decided to hurry up and since she didn't seem to have enough resin to make it the same size the carnation looks squished.The yellow one, it's just horrible, I was upset that this artist actually let that one leave to a customer. They both have knicks like they were cut by something. The bottoms were painted with a crappy green paint that didn't even get into all the cracks and crevices. The bottom was covered with green felt and it was a sloppy job on cutting it to fit the bottoms. The yellow one actually had scraps of green felt stuck to the bottom. As an artist, selling a product, I would never have let those leave my home much less expect the customer to pay for them. It's things like this that give crafter/artists a bad name and make consumers continue to see our creations as "garage sale" type products. Grrr, just thinking about it makes me mad and I have those horrible pieces at my house right now. About the only decent thing I can say about them, the person did a decent job on keeping the air bubbles out. I'm going to have to get pictures so that everyone can see. I just haven't had time yet.