Vacation

I'm alive. I'm on vacation, but alive. I won't be posting anything on Etsy or mailing any orders or even making work (well, I'm trying not to) until January 5. I'm going to try to respond to messages, but I can't guarantee it will be a quick response. I'm MAKING myself follow these rules...it's VERY hard. Hope everyone is well and recovering from the holidays!

Be inspired.

That's the name of this wonderful treasury that's on the front page right now...

curated by Rachelaakmama. Thanks Rachel!

There's still time to buy that mug!

One more day.

So much has happened since my last post I don't even know where to begin. There was glazing madness and then firing the kiln during an ice storm...no power problems, thank goodness. Packing and loading for Craftacular...which ended up being quite spectacular. I met lots of fellow Esty folk, clay people and others. And I met lots of folks saying that they had "hearted" (my new favorite verb) my things on Etsy or recognized my work and even 2 people that had bought things from me on Etsy! That was fun. We stayed at my sister-in-law's apartment on Saturday night, slept VERY little, woke up and shot right to the Metropolitan Pavilion. We got a sweet parking spot right out front and parked for free! We finally got home around 11pm after picking up Dudley at our friends house. Monday and Tuesday were spent posting left over work like a madwoman and packing up TONS of boxes. I had to bring them straight to the post office because there were just too many to leave for the mailman. I had to go again today, 10 boxes and 5 of them were BIG boxes. I also managed to work a little in the studio today. I still had a few more things I wanted to make for presents. I'm planning on firing a bisque on Friday. We are supposed to get hit with a bunch of snow on Friday. We had some late last night, into the morning. Jon had a 2-hour delay. It doesn't look like school's going to happen Friday. Then he's off until after New Years. A nice long break. I'm hoping I will have the discipline to take a break too. After I glaze this last load of work over the weekend, I'm planning on taking a break until after the new year. I think I deserve it!!
Well, the last day to purchase work in time for the holidays is tomorrow. Friday was to be my last day for shipping but I may not be able to leave the house until Saturday. If you still need something, buy it tonight or tomorrow before 1pm so I can get it shipped out tomorrow!!

Brain freeze.

As I sit here awaiting the freezing rain and staring at the huge....no, ominous....Christmas tree in our living room, I am exhausted.

When I sit back and look at all the work my hands have created in the past few weeks.....it's really quite amazing. I certainly feel it. My hands feel tight. My back is sore. My brain is kind of numb.We did get the Christmas tree on Sunday and I managed to decorate it in between attaching handles and painting naked chicks. I'll have to take a picture of it. It's the second tree we've gotten that had a bird's nest hidden in it. I think that's supposed to be good luck.

My last load of work for the holidays is almost finished. Saturday, I pack it all up for Craftacular. I will be taking some listings down from my Etsy shop Saturday afternoon. If there is something you've been looking at, I suggest you get it before then. It may not come back with me. Any work not sold will be re-listed on Monday along with new work. Also, my last day to order for guaranteed delivery before Christmas is December 18th. Almost all items ship USPS Priority Mail (2-3 days). Pendants and ornaments ordered alone will ship USPS 1st class (2-5 days). I am willing to overnight any items, just contact me for shipping rates.

Oh, yeah. Does anyone have any good ideas for a gift for my mailman? Do people still do that??? I give all my packages to my mailman to take. Except when I have A LOT going out...then I feel too bad and bring them to the back loading dock of my post office. Anyway, I gave him a mug last year so I don't want to give him another piece. Any suggestions?

Front page love.

I'm on the front page of Etsy again...Sometimes I get a wave of convos telling me that I was included in a treasury and I always snap a screen shot and hope they make it to the front page. But, it's always fun to be surprised and see one pop up of the front page when I haven't seen it before. Good job Ashley for making it to the front! If you haven't seen her work yet, go look! It's a great mix of modern and organic design. If I wore more jewelry (and actually left the house to show it off) I'd get these.

Yowza!

Last night I passed 1,000 sales on Etsy!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my work!

New ornaments.

Okay. I really shouldn't have...but I snuck these out of the top of the kiln. It's still cooling, ALMOST ready to unload, but not quite. I knew these wouldn't crack or anything because they are barely glazed. I must admit, they are soooooooo wonderful. I think I only have 18 in this load and I know I'm going to have to make a lot more.

You can find them here along with my snowflakes.

Still sick.

I'm still sick and now I'm feeling totally grumpy. I can't even sit at my computer in the office/guestroom. I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop and a box of tissues watching Dune (which I love, but sometimes makes me want to puke when I watch it). Jon and I watched the entire series of Twin Peaks several weeks ago and just realized that might have been the root of my owl obsession lately. And it rekindled my crush on Kyle MacLachlan...well, my crush on Kyle MacLachlan as Agent Cooper.

I'm one sale away from 1,000. That's the only thing that isn't making me grumpy today.

I'm off to Bailey's in an hour to pick up some mason stains. I just found out that they discontinued one of the stains I use to make my pale blue, so I'm going to start testing new blues. It's good, I need some change.

I really need to not be sick anymore. I have so much work to do. I can't believe Craftacular is in less than 2 weeks. I'm kind of starting to panic...