Stopping in after awhile
I haven't been around for a long time. I'm sorry! Life seems to get faster, days shorter (despite it being summer and longer days) & I find myself at 10pm barely able to keep my eyes open and yet wondering why I didn't get everything done I had wanted. When I do manage to jump on LJ & DW I open tabs to reply, reply to about half of them and then run out of time before I get to post. I thought I'd change that and post first.
I'm doing ok over all. Work is ok, nothing too stressful but nothing wonderful either. It's mostly alright, most days not too bad and my grumbles are really minor compared to what some people go through in their jobs. I am lucky that overall I have a decent team that works together, a decent team leader and I don't have to worry about my company going out of business. It isn't to say I still wouldn't want to win the lotto & retire to do just my craft stuff but it's not as bad as it has been.
I've finally gotten things together to submit my Viking knit contest piece. I just need to scan the entry form I signed & then send it along with the 3 photos. 3 photos aren't much when you want to try to showcase your piece! One has to show the whole piece including the clasp so that means putting it flat really, which isn't as flattering as when it's hanging. I like what I've done with the piece, have gotten compliments from a couple coworkers who saw it in person. Do I think I will win? No, not really. I've seen amazing work online from other people and while mine is really good I think I'll be up against some amazingly talented people. Does it matter that I don't win? No, not really. I enjoyed the process and am glad to have the experience in doing something slightly different.
The contest closes at the end of Dec so I won't be able to post a photo of the finished piece until after that.
The garden is going well and it is one of those things I haven't had as much time & energy for as I would like. I've managed to spend a little more time there than previously at this time of year, so things are going well out there. The tomatoes are going crazy and this year I've planted spaghetti squash which has gone Triffid on me. The leaves are huge (I've read since that they do grow large). The cucumbers are just getting started & the mini-watermelons are still pretty tiny. Hopefully they come right and put a growth spurt on. I had a bunch of lettuce but something has been eating it so I've picked up some eco-snail bait & put that down today. I'd like some of my salads please!!!
I put pea straw down as mulch for the first time this year & the plants are really loving it. It has nitrogen that it releases slowly as it breaks down, and it has made a good moisture barrier so far. The ducks and birds haven't scattered as much as they do usual compost, mulch or bark I have tried in the past. It's looking promising!
I have picked up a couple Viking knit commissioned bracelets. One was to a coworker, C. I had mentioned my Viking knit to her, she saw one I'd done for another coworker & asked me to do a silver-coloured one. I have now picked up a commission from another coworker, J, for a sterling silver VK bracelet which makes me rather happy. I really love my sterling bracelet but they are so expensive to make that I can't justify getting the materials & making them to sell because they're going to be too expensive and will probably just sit around (if a $40 VK bracelet is sitting around not selling then a $150 one sure as heck would is my guess!). This may give me enough wire to do a 2nd one if I get another order. I didn't order enough sterling fittings to do a 2nd one (money is tight) but that isn't a big deal I think.
Price is something I need to really think about in the new year. I read a lot of craft blogs and articles that talk about how you should price your work. Supposedly you should take your materials & labour costs & double it. Ha! I can't even really put enough to make up my labour. There is one way of thinking that if you charge too little people won't buy because they think it's just really cheap. The other way of thinking (that I tend to subscribe to) is that I'm not here to really dig gold out of people's pockets and while I would really love to make a living at it, at the end of the day I'd like to make some extra funds & make some stuff affordable so they can have something sparkly/nice/handsome that they like.
Here are a couple photos before I wander off to do dishes. There are a couple of me with the squash & a couple photos of the just silver-coloured bracelet a coworker commissioned recently.
Off to dishes now! I hope you are all doing well. I'm getting my Christmas cards slowly started so these will trickle out to you. Blessings to you all!
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.
I'm doing ok over all. Work is ok, nothing too stressful but nothing wonderful either. It's mostly alright, most days not too bad and my grumbles are really minor compared to what some people go through in their jobs. I am lucky that overall I have a decent team that works together, a decent team leader and I don't have to worry about my company going out of business. It isn't to say I still wouldn't want to win the lotto & retire to do just my craft stuff but it's not as bad as it has been.
I've finally gotten things together to submit my Viking knit contest piece. I just need to scan the entry form I signed & then send it along with the 3 photos. 3 photos aren't much when you want to try to showcase your piece! One has to show the whole piece including the clasp so that means putting it flat really, which isn't as flattering as when it's hanging. I like what I've done with the piece, have gotten compliments from a couple coworkers who saw it in person. Do I think I will win? No, not really. I've seen amazing work online from other people and while mine is really good I think I'll be up against some amazingly talented people. Does it matter that I don't win? No, not really. I enjoyed the process and am glad to have the experience in doing something slightly different.
The contest closes at the end of Dec so I won't be able to post a photo of the finished piece until after that.
The garden is going well and it is one of those things I haven't had as much time & energy for as I would like. I've managed to spend a little more time there than previously at this time of year, so things are going well out there. The tomatoes are going crazy and this year I've planted spaghetti squash which has gone Triffid on me. The leaves are huge (I've read since that they do grow large). The cucumbers are just getting started & the mini-watermelons are still pretty tiny. Hopefully they come right and put a growth spurt on. I had a bunch of lettuce but something has been eating it so I've picked up some eco-snail bait & put that down today. I'd like some of my salads please!!!
I put pea straw down as mulch for the first time this year & the plants are really loving it. It has nitrogen that it releases slowly as it breaks down, and it has made a good moisture barrier so far. The ducks and birds haven't scattered as much as they do usual compost, mulch or bark I have tried in the past. It's looking promising!
I have picked up a couple Viking knit commissioned bracelets. One was to a coworker, C. I had mentioned my Viking knit to her, she saw one I'd done for another coworker & asked me to do a silver-coloured one. I have now picked up a commission from another coworker, J, for a sterling silver VK bracelet which makes me rather happy. I really love my sterling bracelet but they are so expensive to make that I can't justify getting the materials & making them to sell because they're going to be too expensive and will probably just sit around (if a $40 VK bracelet is sitting around not selling then a $150 one sure as heck would is my guess!). This may give me enough wire to do a 2nd one if I get another order. I didn't order enough sterling fittings to do a 2nd one (money is tight) but that isn't a big deal I think.
Price is something I need to really think about in the new year. I read a lot of craft blogs and articles that talk about how you should price your work. Supposedly you should take your materials & labour costs & double it. Ha! I can't even really put enough to make up my labour. There is one way of thinking that if you charge too little people won't buy because they think it's just really cheap. The other way of thinking (that I tend to subscribe to) is that I'm not here to really dig gold out of people's pockets and while I would really love to make a living at it, at the end of the day I'd like to make some extra funds & make some stuff affordable so they can have something sparkly/nice/handsome that they like.
Here are a couple photos before I wander off to do dishes. There are a couple of me with the squash & a couple photos of the just silver-coloured bracelet a coworker commissioned recently.
Off to dishes now! I hope you are all doing well. I'm getting my Christmas cards slowly started so these will trickle out to you. Blessings to you all!
More comment(s) at Red_trillium's Dreamwidth journal. Come join the conversation! You can comment there using OpenID or ask me for an invite to create your own account.