A heart wrenching/warming jewelry shipping story

 vs.

The last couple of days leading up to Christmas are some of the most excruciating for those in the e-commmerce field. Emails start flooding in about orders that haven't been delivered (check your mail box! look at the delivery confirmation!) Most of these honest mistakes result in the package being somewhere safe, and everyone is happy. A funny thing happened yesterday, that caused me to almost have an ulcer from stress, and then laugh a lot.

A customer wanted a pair of small silver drusy stones, and I was plumb out. It took about a week to get the right stones in, and she was very nice and patient about the whole thing.

I finally got the stones, ground them down to fit correctly, and made the perfect pair for her! Off they went, to get to her before christmas.

Then yesterday I got an email.

"You sent me an anchor necklace?" was all it said. I obviously threw myself into a tizzy, panicking about how if I sent her an anchor necklace by accident, that meant I must have sent the studs to someone who had ordered an anchor! But who?? Who?? Was it the customer whom I Express Fedex'd an anchor (or so I thought) to get to them in CA by the 25th?? No, it couldn't be. I had remembered packing that one and racing it over to the Fedex place.

There was one other anchor order that was placed around the same time that I shipped the earrings. I emailed the customer, warning him that he might be getting drusy studs instead of a necklace, and to please let me know right away so I could ship him the anchor in time!

LONG STORY SHORT. (already long, sorry!) The customer I emailed about the anchor was actually the husband of the drusy stud customer!! He had ordered her an anchor necklace as a surprise gift, and she opened it thinking it was the studs! And then the original earrings came, and they let me know what happened.

Funny, right? 

Year in Review

I know. I'm not a very good blogger. And to make up for it (to who? i don't know) i am going to write a lot of things in list form.

I was walking to the post office past the McDonald's, and everything was gravy. I leave the post office, and the sheet is blocked by cop cars. Assuming there was a shooting, I scurry behind buildings like the prepared, aware-of-her-surrounds-girl that I am, and approach from a different angle (why? i don't know). Anyway. A car drove into the front. The end.

I saw this dog, and ached with want.

It has been a very busy holiday season! Just a glimpse at the many packages. 

I got red glasses!

I had some good bonding time with the family dog Kirby over Thanksgiving. Such a floppy flopper.

I *almost* got really horrible glassses (shown above). Ben loses his sunglasses on plane.

I got yoko ono sun glasses which I'm usually too scared to wear.

I went to my best friend's brother's wedding with the family- note how husband ben (left) maintains same face in all photos.

I had the displeasure of finding this guy on my wall. 

I made a million billion honeycomb necklaces, along with other things, for a FAB.com holiday sale.

That should be enough to satiate your needs for now. 

- 

eeeeeep

sorry for the silence, ya'all!

I'm still recovering from Crafty Bastards, which was a wild ride.

And now I'm just excited for thanksgiving, and ready to not sleep for a few weeks until after dec. 25th!! 

That's all I got!

OH I'm on Fab for a while for the holidays, so if you've been meaning to buy one of my signature pieces, head on over there for a deal!

http://fab.com/sale/9355/product/213146/

New Sparklies

I was busy today, I tell ya.

Also, am still in shock about everything destroyed and lost from the storm. i feel so awful for everyone effected. too too sad.

Torching

Fun shot of soldering a pendant- excited to see how the finished product looks!

SALE

GOOD UNTIL TOMORROW. 

Round Up

So yesterday i went to a garden party at the vacation home of David Bradley, who owns the Atlantic Media Group, which includes Ben's magazine. One of his co-workers won a contest at work and the price was a garden party at the house (he wasn't there). So I went! It was on the Eastern Shore, and it's claim to fame is that it was the big house where the Wedding Crashers took place. Fancy.

I kind of want to get this photo blown up and framed.

I also made these:

And these:

Oh my stars! 

Teal!

A Snow Queen Ring

Some more gems of wisdom

When you work from home by yourself most of the day, you start to genuinely enjoy watching Amanda Bynes' What I Like About You on ABC Family, and fantasize about being friends with her in real life. I wonder what she's up to these days..

You get so tired from walking back and forth to the post office all day, and don't understand why you don't just make a schedule so you only go once a day or, gasp, maybe every other day? Or maybe just have the mail man pick up the packages in the lobby....? No, too easy.

You are so so hungry but haven't gone grocery shopping in days because you can survive on frozen yogurt and popcorn (see previous post), and have settled for eating a "healthier" version of cinnamon toast crunch, even though you pretty much are positive that you are lactose intolerant. Listed. I tried almond milk. It's slimy and tastes funny and i DON'T LIKE IT. I LIKE MILK. I'LL TAKE THE TUMMY ACHE. (see previous post).

                                                 

This is what you look like all day even when you venture into the world, because you forget to wash your hair sometimes (and by forget i mean consciously don't wash it). So you forget to look presentable for the world when you venture to the post office with a bag-lady push cart full of pillows and jewelry.

You also never smile when you are walking by yourself because WHO SMILES WHEN THEY ARE WALKING ALONE, and as a result, ever crazy man in the city tells you to smile. 

So, sometimes you pretend to tell yourself a joke, or pretend to remember something funny, and then you smile because of the ridiculousness of what is going on in your head. Remember, you don't actually think of a joke or of something funny that happened, you just pretend you are remembering. 

Check in tomorrow for more advice on running  a business!

Being your own boss

I always read such interesting and smart things about people running their own businesses, and countless times through out the day I think of interesting and smart things for an imaginary blog post. So I'm going to just start peppering them in here. Maybe. This might be the only time. As I type this I have absolutely nothing to write, so I'm hoping that by the end of this sentence I will remember what I wanted to write.

Ok.

Here it is.

Sometimes when you work by yourself all day, you start talking out loud, just to make sounds.

Sometimes when you eat lunch by yourself in the window at the Cava Meze by Target, at first you feel silly and get scared you are going to spill tzatziki on the sleeve of your leather jacket, then you feel empowered, like, "look at me. I'm so busy running around town, buying padded envelopes and dropping things off at UPS. I'm just grabbing a few minutes of...more quiet...by myself with my chicken pita and free lemon water."

On the same topic of food, when you are left alone (i.e husband leaves for business for 2 two days), all you eat over the course of 24 hours is ben and jerry's frozen yogurt and popcorn. then you will get a tummy ache. Then you think how you run your own business, you can handle a tummy ache.

You also watch lots of random daytime t.v in the background while soldering and packing things. Lots.

You day dream about owning a Vespa, and then scare yourself out of it.

All you want are sweaters with sequined elbow pads.

Sometimes when you are thirsty and there isn't any juice or iced tea (blech, water), you might open up a beer and nurse it over the course of 5 hours, until there's only a little warm bit left in the bottle, which you try to finish while watching nighttime t.v with the hubs and realize it's old and gross.

In conclusion, this is the best nail polish.

RINGS

I JUST MADE SO MANY THINGS.

Hoochie Mama

Ahoy there, cowboys.

Want to know what I ate today?

Egg and Cheese Sandwich

Big Bag of Popcorn

Pint, I repeat, Pint, of Ben and Jerry's Greek Frozen Yogurt. Raspberry and Fudge flavor. Delicious.

And nauseating. I just want to eat handfulls of salt now. And then more frozen yogurt.

Anyway. What is new with you kiddos? please tell me a story! I just went on a mental shopping spree at one Nastygal.com (which I hate saying AND typing.)

And while most of their clothing is totally ridiculous and no one in the world can wear any of it, I found a few cheap gems.

Just a warning, I'm craving yellow, peter pan collars, and sequins.

So what do we think? Are these necessary? Stupid? Too trendy? HELP i want everything.

Man oh man

So things are pretty insane right now. And have been for a few weeks.

First of all, I've had a month to make just under 2,000 pieces for a big order. I'm basically done and they will be shipped out on monday. Done and done.

Secondly, I have a Fab sale going on right now for my jewelry until tomorrow, if anyone is interested in a deal!

Thirdly, I have a Stitchtagram Fab sale happening now also! For our new bags!

And while you're at it, check out our MUSIC VIDEO. YOU WILL NEVER GET IT OUT OF YOUR HEAD. IN A GOOD WAY.

(if i put the video directly here it automatically plays everytime you open the blog and i think that might get old fast.)

https://vimeo.com/50025319#at=13

OHHHH what else. I'm home in Mass right now, which is always lovely, especially during the Fall. I gorged myself on cider donuts and sour cream donuts. So so so good.

Here are some pics of necklaces for my big order:

I found this hilarious valentine from a million years ago:

And a fun pic of me (the gums on the right) and one of my best gals, Emily (in the cute braids)

Sorry if this post has been super disjointed, but I actually cannot for full thoughts!!!! 

Let me tell you a secret

First of all, I am on the last episode of season 2 of Pretty Little Liars. I would never have watched it, but Shay Mitchell, one of the characters, is having a Stitchtagram pillow giveaway with her own design. And now I'm hooked. I can only hope that season 3 is online somewhere.

Anyway, on a different note, I was recently introduced to World Market. It is absolutely amazing. Couches, tables, jewelry, artisanal sodas, obscure wines, hard to find chips and candies from all over the world. I cannot stress enough how great it is.

Today, while there with my friend Julia, I was struck by how everything could have been found in Anthropologie, but for half the price. Here are some of my favorite finds from the site.

I bought one of these glasses today, because my life motto is "When you see a glass or mug you love, just buy one, and then in a while you will have lots of cups and mugs that you love, but none will match, so you will have to deal with it." Anyway, these glass beauties are only about $3 a pop. What could be better??

Some more colors:

And these porcelain measuring spoons are only $3! 

Some especially darling hair accessories:

Jewelry!

These CHAIRS

This is the couch of my dreams:

ummmm.

adorable.

Okay. That was a fun little fake shopping spree. thanks!

Fish heads, fish heads

I love this picture! And these necklaces.

Things To Tell

It's like I've forgotten how to blog. So I'm just going to  list some things.

- This morning on my way to get an ice coffee, I bumped into wet paint outside the elevator. Huuuuuge brown splotch on the hip of my brand new pants. The painter scurried away nicely to get me a wet, and dry, rag to clean it off. So I stood there while he watched me wipe at my hip for a while. It was a little weird.

- I just microwaved a Kashi frozen chicken thing with coconut. Pretty okay!

- I never finish any coffee drink that I buy. Not even one with homemade caramel syrup, which I'm looking at right now. I guess I drank half. that's not bad!

-The purple in my hair is completely gone, and I'm too lazy to get it touched up for free.

- I need to make about 1500 pieces for a very big order by October 1. I'm kind of terrified.

- I noticed TEENY TINY nothing colored little bugs crawling in the dust of my work bench- so tiny. Couldn't even see legs. They looked like crawling pieces of dirt. I freaked out and sprayed everything with cleaner and then wiped it all up with a paper towel. I can't see any more. WHAT ARE THEY?? PLEASE TELL ME THEY ARE NTHING SCARY OR WOOD EATING OR BITEY.

-I'm watching an episode of SVU that i've seen about 7 times, and it's not even a good one.

So anyway. Is that blogging?

PURPLE PONIES

I recently wanted to do some pastel hair action lately, so I went to my doll Q at Parlour Salon in DC, and left a happy lady! (even though I don't look like it in this picture!)

Also wore my new favorite curved heart dangles! 

BLUE DRUSY EVERYWHERE

Today I went nuts with blue drusy. Here is the evidence:

Blue Pebble Necklace

Blue Symbol Necklace

Blue Drusy Nest Ring

And this little guy, who doesn't fit the theme.