Gosh I don't even know what to say. Honestly, I was apprehensive to come back to this forum. I was so emotional when I created this thread so I woke up this morning and instantly felt embarassed for sharing so much. And get this... I actually deleted some of my gripes before I hit "send". It was really getting deep at the end lol.. I was screaming about the neighbor's dogs, my sister in law, the trouble with my 15 year old son, the fact that my husband's job is ending this March because the company has been bought out....and more. I've been holding in so much but I figured I had broken a record for the longest single post at amity's and I just wasn't ready to hold that title lol. Aren't you all glad? lol
I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's replies. I read each post slowly... taking it all in ... and by the time I had made it to the last one my eyes were filled with tears. I don't know what it is about knowing that others can relate to our problems that makes us feel better about our lives and situations... but it really does help. I know I've got to stop being so hard on myself but more importantly I've got to come to terms with the fact that my online business will never work out for me if I don't learn to pace things and not overdo it. I want to continue to enjoy crafting and being overwhelmed with too much just sucks every ounce of enjoyment out of it. I don't want my creative time to feel like a chore. I want it to continue to feel like a blessing and to be therapeutic. I've already decided that my website *will* be instock only. I will be able to make what I want to and in the amount of time that works best for me and my family and then will just post everything in the store. I've really enjoyed creating custom orders for my customers. I've created some treasures that I might not have otherwise created and those were a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll still do some customs from time to time but I know that just doing instock on my site will really be best for me and I'm SO looking forward to it.
I didn't even think of selling the candleholders as seconds. I asked Keaton to remove the beads and the glassware from them to be used in the new candleholders so the wire is already trashed. Rex said he couldn't believe that I didn't just ship them. He said that he couldn't even tell the difference in color until I pointed it out and even then he had to really focus on it to notice. That's how I am. To me, the discoloration was major and so disappointing. There was no way I could send those to anyone. It made it worse because they were already being shipped late.. so they *really* needed to be perfect.
I really appreciate the advice about my website and thank you, Selena, for the offer to make one for me. It's a long story but I did actually hire Michelle in the beginning...over a year ago. She was wonderful.. very sweet. I just wasn't sure what I wanted and was tossing back and forth which crafts I wanted/needed to focus on. Michelle was pregnant and they were living with her inlaws so she had a lot going on and I felt really bad for taking up so much of her time. It just wasn't working out. I hired someone else who did finish a website for me. Well, it wasn't exactly finished but I could have had the small details finished up and could have used it.. but frankly I just didn't want to. When I hired her I had planned to really showcase my dolls and miniature creations and the wire art would be sort of secondary. After the site was pretty much finished I realized I had made an unwise decision. If at any point in time I need to slow things down and just focus on one particular craft then it will have to be my wire art. My profit margin with the wire art is more than twice that of my miniatures. The site she did was very pretty and would have been nice for someone just making/selling natural toys. I couldn't afford to hire someone else (Michelle's work was for trade and I sent almost $200 worth of fairies to the other designer as well as $200 in cash). SO.... I had pretty much given up on the website.
Our neighbor is a software designer and his son is a graphic designer so they are teaming up to create their own website design business. His assistant is suppose to be the one who is actually building my site. She's been wonderful and we've met several times but a few weeks ago they informed me that they were having to set everything else aside to focus on legal issues with is exwife. I completely understood but still felt that maybe this was just another sign that a website was just not meant to be. I did receive an email from her today though. She wants me to come over this Friday so we can get started. She asked me to bring my Godaddy account info and password so they can get a page set up for my url that lets folks know my business will be opening soon. Right now if you type in
www.dream-tree-studio.com you get nothing. So that's a start! David and his assistant are really nice and David's son is a graphic genious! David has already downloaded the program for the cart that i'm wanting to use and he spent hours going through it to make sure that it could be customized the way I want it... so he has put forth some effort. The issues with his kids and his exwife were unexpected and serious. She is mentally ill but has sole custody of the kids so he's having to fight for them. He's giving me a great price because he wants to be able to include my website in his porfolio. If for some reason it just doesn't happen I would definitely like to talk to you, Selena, about putting something together for me.
I'm headed to craft in a few minutes. I should have everything done and shipped by Saturday. If so then Sunday I'm going to do absolutely nothing but sit on my butt and watch movies. I've got some Netflix dvd's that should be here tomorrow and I've got a bag of oatmeal/cranberry softbaked cookies hidden in a antique bowl in my kitchen cupboard ( please tell me I'm not the only woman that has to hide food from her vulture kids and husband lol). I'm going to pick up a 4 pack of Kahlua Vanilla White Russians (
SO good!) on my way home saturday and those babies will be brought out as soon as the last kid is down for the night.
I'm so fortunate really... so very blessed. I have a great husband who loves me, 6 beautiful healthy kids (including my stepdaughter), I have a great online community of wonderful women who I can lean on for friendship and support during times when I really feel like I'm going to crack ..or when I'm really wanting to smoke some crack. lol ok that last part was definitely a joke lol
thank you all SO much for your words.
It really means more than you know.
I;m so sorry things are so difficult right now
every time i see one of your c-n-s, it's all truly stunning. 
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