Oh boy! These past few days have been rough. I have an ear infection and a chest cold. I felt fine when I went to bed Monday night. Tuesday morning was a whole different story. Fever, ear ache, head ache, coughing, head congestion, chest congestion, the whole nine yards. I'm starting to feel a little crazy. For the last three days I have done nothing but sleep and watch TV. How many Law and Order reruns can one girl watch? I'm starting to feel a little better. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to venture out of the house, or at least off the couch!

So I’m three weeks into the semester and I already feel overwhelmed. I thought this semester would be fairly easy because I’m taking three psychology classes and a chemistry class. Psychology is my major and tends to come naturally to me, it is something I don’t have trouble understanding. Chemistry…I’m not so comfortable with but it is an intro class so I figured it shouldn’t be too hard. Honestly I don’t think any of my classes are that hard… yet, but they are work intensive. I have classes Monday through Thursday and I have and assignment due almost every day, plus three out of four of my classes has a big, huge, mega project due at the end of the semester. I hate to admit it but in the last few Project Wonderland has been pushed off to the side. I haven’t done much more than relist items.  The worst part is I have even had time to create anything new or photograph the stash of jewelry I have made. Over the last three weeks I have realized how much I love making jewelry and how much I enjoy the things I thought I didn’t like, such as photographing my creations, editing pictures, and promoting my shop through different online communities. I know in a few weeks I will have adjusted to being back in school and I will allow myself to actually take a break from the books and have fun… Right now I am just trying to figure out what my professors are like, what they expect from me, and how they grade and test, as I have several professors this year that I have not had in the past. I tend to be a perfectionist, particularly when it comes to my education and my grades. Some day I plan to attend grad school and I’m going to need those A’s.

Late is better than never right? I wanted to post this Friday morning but life got a little hectic and well, it just didn’t happen.

This Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday only I'm having a huge Back to School/Labor Day BOGO half off Sale!!

Buy one item get another item of equal or lesser value half off!! This offer is good on multiple items… meaning if you buy one item at full price you can get up to 3 items half off.

When purchasing, please wait to complete payment until you receive an email containing an updated invoice.

**The sale begins at 12 AM on Friday August 31, 2007 and ends at 11:59 PM on Monday September 3, 2007. (All times are US Eastern Time - New York time.)**

Check it out and tell your friends!!

So classes start on Monday and as I’ve said before this will be my senior year of college. I was supposed to be interning this semester but that well… isn’t going to happen. Basically the agency I was going to intern with recently made a bunch of policy changes that my internship site supervisor wasn’t aware of and these policy changes affect my internship. There is still a possibility that I can intern there but with the semester starting on Monday there is no possibility of it happening this semester. At first I was a little upset about the whole situation but I figure everything happens for a reason. I need to complete a 480 hour internship to graduate so I still have to find an internship for next semester, but who knows, maybe I’ll find my dream internship. I don’t know exactly what my dream internship is but I figure if I keep looking I’ll find it. On the bright side, since I’m not interning I get to take some classes that sound pretty interesting, such as introduction to art history. I will also have more time to work on Project Wonderland during the holiday season which is definitely a plus.

 “Indiepublic is an independent art and design community. If you're an artist, designer, retailer, blogger, or just someone who gets giddy when they buy indie, we've saved a seat for you!” – www.indiepublic.com

So I’m still very new to indie public. I haven’t even explored everything there yet, but I have to say I love it! I read about indie public on the Etsy forums the other day, so I checked it out. Then of course I signed up! Now I must admit I create an account on just about any site where I can show off my jewelry and/or view the work of other artist/creators/designs/crafter/etc. Some of these sites I create an account and then kind of forget about it because the site either isn’t user friendly or just isn’t fun. Some I visit sometimes, and some I’m always on. I can already tell indie public will fit the later category. Everyone there is so friendly, the site it’s self is user friendly, and from what I’ve viewed so far there is a ton of talent there,  making it oh so fun! Check me out on indie public!!                                                                                  

For the past two months or so I haven’t been putting as much effort into Project Wonderland as I used to. I’ve been creating continuously and keeping up with listing items, but other than that I haven’t been doing too much. Promoting takes a lot of time and metal energy. It gets tiring after awhile. Then today I woke up and I thought “O.K. I’m ready to work!” My day was pretty packed with obligation unrelated to Project Wonderland and after I finished everything I had to do I got myself and my space organized. I strongly dislike working in a messy space! So now I am energized and organized and ready to go! Watch out world, I'm back!!

I finally got a ring mandrel, which means I can now start listing my wire wrapping rings! I have some made but I was sure of their exact size… now I am! I am taking pictures now and hope to have one listing in my Etsy shop before the end of the night!

Well reality has finally hit me, in both good and bad ways. I am starting my senior year of college, which is great because it mean I am close to graduating. It also means I am starting my internship, which means I work and I pay a lot of money to do so. On top of paying to work, there are a lot of assignments that go along with interning. Now I am not really complaining because I know the experience will be invaluable and will help me in a countless number of ways during my future. My only problem is I don’t want to be overwhelmed and I already know I will be.  Between classes, my internship, my job, and Project Wonderland, I will be surprised if I sleep, let alone have any sort of social life. I am starting my internship next week, before the semester even begins, to get a head start on my hours. I have also started on my readings for the semester. I know the busy season is coming soon in the world of retail and I want to be prepared. I think the best way for me to prepare for the holiday shopping season is to finish as much school work as I can now, before school even starts. Other than worrying about how Project Wonderland will fare, I am excited about the semester and my internship. I am really interested in the classes I am taking this semester and I think my internship will be an amazing learning experience.

Craft Room

 

I have finally cleaned my craft. I have everything nicely organized and I took picture!!

You can find a few picture on my flickr account!

 

So I’ve been making rings for awhile now. I taught myself to make wire wrap rings using this tutorial. I also bought silver plate adjustable rings with glue pads. I’ve started listing the adjustable rings but I have to wait for my ring mandrel to list the wire wrap rings. I don’t want to list them with out knowing their exact size. I’ve been photographing rings all day, well for a few hours at least, and I got finally got some pictures that I am happy with.

                                                      

You can vote for, and rate, the 50 best websites of 2007… and Etsy is in the running!! I vote and you can too! Go here to vote and before submitting your vote make sure you adjust the slider to say 100 (or whatever score you think Etsy deserve!) Did I mention this is for Time Magazine!!!