Jewellery By Shalini

So the 8th Beadsoup Blog Party International Partners have been announced. Our hostess is US based so I am "international" from her location :-) In the next few days I am hoping to get to know my partner. Meanwhile a disaster (for me it is!). Iritis is back and this time it is in BOTH Eyes. Bugger! This is not good as I only got the all clear on 11th Feb! I feel really down and defeated at the moment because I am letting my clients down and I am letting my businesses down. I am writing this post through a haze... or better description is probably looking through a waterfall. I can barely make out what I am typing even through the browser is set to 250%. And in a few minutes I have to use the dilating eye drops again and then even this will not be possible! I am not asking anyone to feel sorry for me (I can do a very good job of doing that all by myself!) but it does mean all these fancy plans of learning new skills and trying new ideas that I have talked about in the pa...

...sometimes don't quite materialise. Oh well... That's life. Its my Birthday week-end so Dave & I had planned two days of intense learning to celebrate... how to solder, how to set bezels, how to make cold connections... and create a few new pieces in time for 3 Christmas shows coming up. Unfortunately an old friend decided to pay a visit on my birthday (yesterday). Well not quite a friend, I don't like it, I don't want it, but it likes to arrive unannounced anyway and linger for a while. And it has no concept of timing! (Grrrrrrr!) So here I am suffering with an Iritis flare up (right eye pain, light sensitivity, blurred vision in the affected eye due to the medication, more eye pain) Intricate jewellery work is out. Spending too much time at the computer is out. Daytime telly is not really my thing and its not a good idea to watch TV with an aching eye anyway. Its been just over 24 hours and I am bored already! So the next few days I will probably spend ti...

Just received a call: Him: "Good Afternoon this is (didn't catch the name he mumbled it) from FB (or maybe it was FP). Can I speak to accounts?" Me "Could you please tell me what FB (or FP) is and what this call is about?" Him: "I am sorry I cannot tell you, I would like to speak to accounts" Me: "I am sorry there is no one called Accounts in this office, Good Bye" IDIOT! Where do these people learn how to make business calls? I don't need to know your life history or your NI Number but the least you can do is tell me your name clearly & the name of  the company you are calling from if you want to try and sell me whatever it is that I am not interested in buying! Too many calls like this these days and I am really getting sick of it!  BAH!

It is our Livelihood, it is our Business, it is what helps to pay the bills! Yes, this one's going to be a bit of a rant! One of my artisan friends recently mentioned her experience at a (fairly large) Christmas craft market where a lady spent a lot of time looking at her work and then said "Hmmm Nice Hobby" and walked off. And then I saw this on facebook "Well you must have a lot of time - you obviously don't work!" on a page called Kirsty Elson Designs - another crafter. Probably not spoken by the same person but  it's this attitude from a lot of people that really gets to me sometimes! It's not just a hobby! In my case it is a part time business, but its a part time business that keeps my dogs fed and pays my monthly utility bills! And occasionally allows me to go to the pub and have a drink with my friends.  I work hard for it and I earn it!... AND pay my taxes on what I earn! [UPDATE 01 October 2014: It is now my full time job! So al...