Off to Cincinnati

I'm heading down to Cincinnati for an Intergalactic Bead Show at the Sharonville Convention Center. The show runs Saturday and Sunday from 10-5, and it should be a fun time! I'm really looking forward to it. I have lots of favorite stuff to sell, plus some new beads, too!

Home for a few days

I'm back from Arcadia Daze. I was disappointed by the weather, which turned cold and rainy on Sunday, and dampened sales somewhat. Still, it was a fun time.

Now I'm getting read for the Intergalactic Bead Show in Cincinnati, held at the Sharonville Convention Center. Hope to see you there!

Another stepping stone reached

I was keeping my eye on my eBay account, and sure enough, yesterday I hit another little milestone:



How cool is that?

You know, I never expected eBay to be such an important part of my business. It's still a surprise to me that people want to buy things from me, y'know?

The garage is nearly empty.

A guy who stopped at the garage sale offered to buy everything that was left, and I accepted, and he stopped by and picked up most of it today. There are still a few bits and bobs left that he'll stop and pick up tomorrow, but overall, it's gone.

I am so excited. I feel like this is one of the final steps to really owning the house, in a way. And I feel like this is a new step forward in my own jewelry-making. I am very excited to experiment for the first time in ages, and I'll have the space to do so now.

I've also signed up for a few metalsmithing classes. I took one course ages ago in Birmingham, and it was terrific, but I just recently found a fabulous opportunity to take more, and I'm really excited about it. I'll be taking the classes with a friend, which makes it even more fun.

Even better, while preparing for the Arcadia Daze show this weekend, I discovered a tray full of jewelry in my organizer. Jewelry I had completely forgotten about. And quite a bit of it, too. I will have more jewelry for sale at this show than I've had in the past three years. I'm not certain anyone will really be interested in it--a lot of it is funky, Etsy style jewelry--but at least the displays will look very full. I'm pretty excited by this.

Back from a conference

What could be more welcoming than a sunflower blooming next to my front porch?



I'm so happy to be home. I'm preparing for Arcadia Daze. I have so many beads to bag, and jewelry to price. I hope I have enough time to get ready!

The garage sale is over; the roller coaster continues

The garage sale was not incredibly satisfying in terms of money. Nor in terms of getting rid of things. However, we did at least get everything into the garage, and I was contacted by a guy who wants to buy everything (for a very low price, I'm assuming). I'll be setting up an appointment next week for that purpose, and after that I look forward to parking in the garage again--and setting up a little workdesk out there for experimenting. Hooray!

It's almost here

Tomorrow is the beginning of our garage sale.

I can't believe how much stuff we have to sell. It's astonishing. At least a hundred boxes of stuff from my husband's grandmother, plus a little of our own. And furniture. Decorations. You name it.

Over the six months we've lived here, I've grown increasingly unhappy with the state of the basement and the garage. I have been trying to unclutter my life, and I've managed to get pretty successful. I have only six or seven boxes of extra stuff that isn't displayed.

So moving here, and having to store all of the grandmother's things in the garage and basement, has been a bit difficult at times. I have a reasonably neat house (a little dusty at times, but still, it's not very cluttered) and I want to keep it that way. Having the basement so overflowing with stuff has been weighing on my mind.

I really hope that the sale attracts lots of people. I've advertised it on Craigslist, and I'm crossing my fingers that the traffic for the fair down the road will bring people in.

Really, I just want us both to be able to park our cars in the garage.

And maybe have a space where I can start experimenting with etching...

Garage sale craziness

I really need to work on the garage sale I'm having next weekend. I have a whole basement full of things which I need to get ready to sell, but I just can't stop sorting cabs! Typical avoidance behavior...

Still listing cabs.

Whew! This is a pretty intense job. Especially because so many of the cabs are identical, but have a different kind of foil on their back, or are a shade lighter or darker. I've already realized that one set of cabs should have been split into two--there are two shades of blue in the lot. I'm not going to change it now, though.

I have endless lots of oval cabs in 12mm and 14mm. I'm pretty amazed at how many sets I was able to make. Hopefully I'll be able to list a lot more over the weekend.