Monday, December 29, 2008

It's Over Now | Back to Business

I feel like I can breathe again ... the Christmas holiday season has always been my favourite (with Halloween being a close second) but it is indeed a stressful time of year no matter how hard you try to make it easy-going. Realizing that it's been nearly a whole month since I last posted, I'm trying to think back to what kept me so darn busy. It did however, seem that I was out shopping almost every night even though I had thought I was successful in completing my Christmas shopping early. I had several issues with the gifts I had for a few people I had bought for early, which led to numerous trips to the same stores, countless phone calls to every Home Hardware in the province and an exchange or two due to shotty manufacturing of an expensive item! Anyway, it's all over now and everything turned out very nicely! The highlight for me was watching my parents open the gift I gave to them! I had been wanting to give them this gift for the last three years or so but it just never seemed to work out. I dug out the old video camera from the basement (which has been broken for about 11 years with a half-used tape stuck inside) and I got all of the home videos transferred to DVD's! It was so great to watch old family vacations and birthday parties, forgetting we ever looked the way we did back then! Needless to say the out-of-date video camera is no longer, in order for the tape that was in there to be removed without getting damaged, but it's the memories that were on those tapes that are important! I got some pretty nice gifts as well! I got a Hydroponic Herb Garden in which I was eager to plant the pods on Christmas Day and already I'm seeing sprouts come up! It holds seven "gourmet" herbs including Italian Basil, Purple Basil, Parsley, Thyme, Cilantro, Dill and Chives. It's really neat to see them sprout up without even being in dirt! My sister got me a lovely Lennox Disney Tinkerbell to add to my collection! She sits upon a minty green coloured thread spool and she has beautiful pearlescent wings! She's wearing a crystal necklace too! Keeping with my Disney-themed collection, I got a dish set that displays original black and white sketch images of Mickey Mouse in different positions using different expressions, with artist's notes and such from 1937. It's so unique, yet it doesn't scream out loud DISNEY, it has a more subtle, mature feel to it. Jay, my fiance, got me a beautiful handmade piece that I fell in love with three years ago! It's a hand-carved, hand-blasted and hand-painted piece of glass with a wooden base. It's a beautiful flowing mermaid painted in a Monet-sorta-style using my favourite colours; teal green that fades to celadon, fades to mint green... it's stunning! It has a light behind it so it gives off a nice soft light! He also got me a really nice tri-pod for our new camera! Not only will it make it easier to take photos of my beads, it will help in taking photos outside and in the dark, with a steady surface! Both Jay and I are excited to take up photography as a hobby, snapping interesting scenes while out for a walk or simply taking more photos at home of family and friends!

Perhaps it's because of all the holiday candy and chocolates, turkey dinners and desserts, along with quick fast-food meals while shopping in the malls all month long ... I've been feeling rather "sluggish" lately with very little energy and some days if I had of allowed myself, I would of stayed in bed 'til 1pm! Even with my late nights, going to bed at 2 or 3am, sleeping in past 10:30am bothers me, leaving me with a feeling that I wasted my entire day merely because I didn't get an early start at my day. I don't know. So beginning January 2nd (after one last New Years Day turkey dinner!) Jay and I have decided to do a 30-day detox! It may end up being a 21 day detox, or it may even end up being a 14-day detox, but gawsh'darn it I am going to try my best at it! I'm not setting myself up for failure by thinking I won't succeed, I'm just being realistic ... detox systems are hard to stick to! I'm really looking forward to the fresh, energetic feeling I'm hoping I'll get from it!

Back to business: I want to thank all of you for all of the Christmas custom orders, it is greatly appreciated! Those orders that were not Christmas gifts and for those of you that said it was ok to wait until January, I will be working on your beads again starting tomorrow and hopefully have them all shipped out by the end of the weekend. Thanks for your patience! Also, I'm still working on creating new images for my gallery pages and Etsy so stay tuned for that too!

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday season, no matter what and how you chose to celebrate it! I'll be back in the new year with the last FREE Bead Giveaway for voting for my site! Good luck everyone and thanks for chiming in!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

'Tis the season to be cheery!

Happy December! I love this time of year... to me, December means it is officially the "Christmas Holiday Season"! I'm even anxious to wrap some of the gifts I've bought already! (and it doesn't help that I seem to have this uncontrollable urge to buy Christmas wrapping paper every time I see it for fear I won't ever see that same design again!) Unlike other years, I didn't just wander around the malls aimlessly with no ideas for anyone. This year, I've been successful in buying something for at least one person every time I've been out shopping, and it feels nice to know that I won't have to trek through ridiculously irritable crowds in a mall that feels more like a sauna, feeling hopeless as I run out of shopping days before Christmas Eve! Aside from shopping, I've also been working on some new things in my studio! My first attempt at this new technique didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, but I'll try again tomorrow!

Since it's December, it also means that it's time for another bead giveaway for all the voters out there! Congratulations to Loretta V. of Tampa Florida this month! Check out the home page to see what she's won! Thanks again to everyone that votes! Starting January 1st, I will no longer be having a Voting Giveaway Contest. I am finding that the two sites in which you vote on are experiencing technical difficulty more and more each month. It is becoming harder for me to track the votes, therefore the ranking of my site seems to go up and down drastically each and every day. By all means, you may still vote for my site if you wish ;) ... but just please know that December will be the last month for a free bead giveaway. I will be announcing the winner in early January (most likely not Januray 1st, as I will be busy with family on New Years Day). Thank you again to all those that have voted for my site day after day, I truly appreciate it! I'm sure I will have some other kind of free bead contest in the near future, I just have to think of something! haha

Well, I should get to bed so I can have an early start at the torch tomorrow! Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season (I'll be back in a week or two I'm sure but I just wanted to spread some holiday cheer tonight). Thanks for stopping by ...and remember to keep a watch out for some new beads in the gallery and on Etsy soon!