Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Lacking

So, I've failed at posting over the past few weeks. I've been exhausted, life was hectic with family and holidays and things of that nature.
I have not gotten to participate in any ice fishing yet! My in-laws have only gone about twice, plus I can't bring myself to brave the cold some days. It's beyond freezing, and I'm just not use to it, even all bundled up.

We did get A LOT of snow a few days ago, which I was super excited about. We have some snow banks in the yard that are as tall as I am! But they are no good for snow man making, my mother in law told me I could go make an igloo, since the snow is freaking solid.

I think I'm just in a weird winter funk. I've lacked any sort of inspiration for anything. My camera battery is toast, but my husband says for the price of a new one we should just buy a new camera. So I've not been able to take pictures lately which sucks! I'm frustrated and bored. Not being able to actually work makes me crazy. I've started to learn how to make quilts, I'm almost finished with one for my cat, but even that doesn't make me feel like I'm actually doing something. I can't figure it out. I wish I had something to do every day that felt constructive, but I just can't think of anything. I'm sorry for this less than cheerful rant.
What do you do, to get out of a funk where everything feels boring and wasteful?
XOXO
<3
Hopefully more cheerful posts to come!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

And now EssemDesign <3

Ok so it's been a while since my last post on Etsy sellers, because I was waiting for one of my purchases to arrive. Canada post pretty much seems to have the entire month of December off, as well as the first week of January -_- <----This is my "not amused" face for Canada post.

Moving on to Stacy with Essemdesign. She has a shop full of glittery, crazy, cute things, and does tons of custom work. She's a super cool mommy (not to mention, super freakin' cute), with the patience of a saint, and she is unbelievably nice! I had the pleasure of working with her on 2 custom matching cupcake necklaces for my nieces, and she understood the need to have two matching ones to avoid epic throw downs between a 2 year old and a 4 year old. On top of that request, she made a third necklace for my older niece, plus a pair of awesome fuschia hand grenade earrings for me. And she has a great blog that shares info about hers and her partner in crime's (Running With Scissors) work, some of their frustrations, as well as a look into their lives.

We had everything figured out and ready to go, then I went to make my payment and realize my credit card was expired, thus had to do a transfer from my bank account to paypal that seemingly took forever! I kept Stacy up to date, and she was super understanding. I was horrified and was afraid she would think I was trying to screw her around, but she didn't. She completely understood the issues with paypal and waited patiently for my payment, as soon as she received the payment my gifts were sent off immediately! She gift wrapped all of my necklaces in adorable little bags for my nieces, and threw in a awesome make up bag for me!

Everything I ordered exceeded my expectations. I'm finding it hard to give up those cupcake necklaces right now! They're sturdy, a perfect size, and beyond fantastic. She responded quickly to any questions I had, made changes to necklaces to make them fit for the littler ones. She didn't even threaten to choke me when I couldn't stop apologizing for the paypal mishap!

My favorite item in her shop currently are the Gunslinger Girl glitter resin necklaces(she also has earrings to match). To be honest, there are tons of things in her shop that I want to buy, but these have been tugging at my heart from the day I browsed through her shop. They're like old school revolvers made with great colors and lots of glitter. I'd buy one for everyone I knew if I could work in Canada yet! Gunslinger Girl Necklace 

Unfortunately in the past she has had someone try to rip off half of her ideas from her shop and claim them as their own. I'd just like to say that EssemDesign is the original home of the Gunsliger Girl Glitter Gun necklaces! And I wouldn't want them from any where else!

I have to say the best part of this experience is that Stacy is a real person. She has a life, kids, and lots of work to do, but she still treated me like a REAL person as well, not just another random customer. She related to all of the crazy requests I had, the battles with paypal, the horrible postal system, and she did this all shortly before and during the holidays. She even explained why the U.S. Postal Service doesn't provide tracking for things shipped outside of the states, and experiences she has had with the postal service before. On top of the  fact that she's has gotten stuff from China to the States, quicker than Canada post got my items from the States to me!

Also the models she uses to show off her work, are these gorgeous, real, tattooed women. Which I really, really love. Not to mention she even has a photo album on myspace, of photos that customers have sent her wearing her awesome gear. It makes me happy to know that I can purchase some original, super fun stuff, from someone who actually appreciates her customers, and works really hard for them.

Needless to say, I am so glad I got to work with Stacy, and have the opportunity to purchase her fantastic designs. Thank you Stacy for making my Christmas shopping more fun, making my Christmas presents extra special, and being a real, super nice, badass lady while doing it! <3

EssemDesign Shop -http://www.etsy.com/shop/EssemDesign

Lipgloss and Razorblades Blog -http://www.lipglossandrazorblades.blogspot.com/

Running with Scissors, Essem's Partner in crime. -http://www.etsy.com/shop/runningwithscissorss

Up next my holiday charities, and later some ice fishing O.O