Burning CDs

I have discovered that the middle of the night is an ideal time to burn CDs, print their labels, and slap those puppies on - while simultaneously browsing Etsy (i.e., Temptationsy.) I could spend a gajillion dollars on that darned site.

I have this obsession with finding the perfect ring to wear. Me. Who doesn't wear rings. Who takes them off when I DO wear them because they feel weird. But if I found the perfect ring, it would be perfect and I'd wear it nonstop. Right?

But I digress. Here's the CD label I designed. I'm happy with it - simple, easy to read, and streamlined.

And here are some of the rings I covet...

From June:
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you've already met our crazy dog, Winston. Yesterday I picked up a $3 stuffed duck from Big Lots, and gave it to him last night. OMG. He is obsessed with this stuffed duck. Last night, while Jill and I were trying to work on Bead & Button stuff, he was putting the thing on our feet, wanting us to throw it for him. Over and over and over. And over. It got to the point where he as panting for breath, but he would not quit. Over and over and over.

When we tried not throwing it, he and Mr. Duck would jump into one of our laps without warning. And I have a tray in my lap with over a thousand dollars of 2 mm crystals that I'm counting out. By this time the duck is completely wet and slimy with Winston saliva. Not only would he jump on our lap, but then, he would try to climb up so he could put the duck IN OUR FACE. "What's the matter Mom, can't you SEE the duck that I need you to throw for me? It ain't gonna throw itself, you know."

When I went to bed, he climbed up into bed with me - with the duck of course. Winston never sleeps in bed with me. He has a bed next to mine and he almost always sleeps in that. But no. In bed. With me. And the duck. And periodically through the night he would start squeaking the damn thing. I guess it just made him happy.

Today Winston is STILL OBSESSED WITH THE DUCK. This is just crazy! Does anyone want to come to my house and throw a duck for a while?

5am - time for bed!

I gotta say, the Bead & Button Show may just do me in this year. I am making so many kits. And I am so tired. And there's only 22 more days until the show begins. That may seem like a long time to you - but I'm barely a quarter of the way through the kit making. As a matter of fact, most of my humongous supply orders won't arrive until next week! But I keep slogging away at it, and I do see glimpses of progress here and there.

You guys know how I love to bite off more than I can chew for the fun adrenalin rush I get from panic, right? So guess what we decided to change about our kits yesterday? (And please note: this was a joint mother/daughter decision, so I can totally blame Mom for leading me down this path. Well, her and Marcia DeCoster and Nikia Angel. More on that in a moment.) The big announcement is....we're going to move to providing the instructions on CD instead of paper copies. No more printing reams and reams of paper! Farewell burning through laser toner cartridges like nuthin' at $200 a pop!

Hello new set of challenges! Like figuring out how long it's gonna take me to burn all those CDs. And designing labels for the CDs. And printing the labels for the CDs. And figuring out a new storage system for the CDs.

Honestly, I'm excited about the switch. In the long run it will be more cost effective and more time effective and certainly more storage effective. Plus you've got to keep up with the Jones'! Or in this case, the DeCosters and the Angels.

It all started a few days ago when Marcia posed a question to all the fellow kit makers out on Facebook about we each make our kits. It was an interesting thread for me to compare my ways with theirs, and in the mix I discovered that I was coming late to this instructions on CD party! I asked Marcia if she got much dissent from her customers over the CDs and she said very very little. Nikia Angel (Buy the Kit) says she's in the process of switching over all her kits to CDs. Since that's the way the trend is going, I think it only makes sense for Tapestry Beads to jump on the bandwagon too.

At Bead & Button next month, we'll have mostly CDs, but will still have some paper copies for those who would prefer the instructions the old fashioned way. It's going to be a bit of a test market for us. But I do see us moving to all CDs in the future unless there's mass mutiny at the show. Don't get any ideas, you rabble rousers who read this blog and will be attending the show!

My work for the day is done. Time to recharge. I'll be dreaming of burning CD after CD after CD....zzzzzzzzzzzzz

No fun without photos

As I've been reading through all the various blogs I follow, I realized how stingy I've been lately with photos! But here's the thing: first off, I haven't been beading! No new designs in ages. I do have a bunch of ideas and partial bits and pieces floating around, but until I spend a few days beading, I got nuthin'. Secondly...um, how do I put this? I can't find my camera's batter charger. You've met me, right? So you KNOW that I'm cluttered and chaotic and frequently put things down in a "safe spot" never to be seen again. I know it's here. Somewhere safe. Very very safe. And as soon as I find it, I'll get you some photos. In the meantime, here's a teeny tiny monkey.

One bead...two beads...

My life has become a massive assembly line. For the next 27 days, I will be consumed by the myriad of mindless tasks that constitute kit assembly. My brain gets a workout only as I'm trying to calculate how much of what goes into which baggie, and trying to make sure everything is getting done. I've barely left the house in a week. There's something rather Kafka-esque about the whole predicament - something along the lines of "be careful of what you ask for!"

But the good news is that I have the new Netflix disc that turns your Wii game console into a instant streaming DVD player. I'm not sure that's what my brother had in mind for the Wii when it was this year's Christmas gift, but hey! Now I can go back and watch all the seasons of Dexter while I work away, among other things.