Out with the Old, in with the New, Big Changes

I am adding some new diamond painting kits for Ebay and also on Bonanza.  These will also be added to the shop, more on that in a bit.  This is a licensed product produced by Vervaco, Hello Kitty, a partial round 8.75x8.75in canvas kit. This is not a China derived item.

So.  There are a lot of changes afoot, please bare with me as things flip flop and I alter the shop and items quite a bit over the next few weeks and beyond, as fast as I can.  Generally speaking, this is driven by my health, and market trends, customer issues, etc.  For the last year, I have been struggling with minor but painful health issues that have made it extremely difficult to drive working so hard. I can only work from home, as it is, and I do all the work myself.  I feel like I have recovered, after a trip to the hospital and some very very quiet days in a no stamina state.  But, it's a new normal, and perhaps a few things, I cannot push, like I used to.

The diamond paintings from China have been my biggest hurdle in a problem area with a lack of quality control.  I love them, I like working on them, and wish I could still offer them all the time.  However, it's difficult with so many bad kits.  I will be discontinuing the entire category, as it currently is.  This will take a bit, and I think if you follow outside links, they may still work, and that is fine; I am trying to get new selections up before I wipe out everything old.  But I will take down the storefront category in about a week.  These items will not make it for Christmas, at that time, so it seems like a good time.

I will be bringing the category back. Almost immediately.  But it will only have the handful of kits from China I have personally bought to resell, that have been counted and are correct, that I will be shipping(with fees) from the US, to US customers.  It's a smattering, it's not meant to be a category option, it will be a small selection, and I do not have physical room to store very many kits, at this point.  Just a way to keep a small selection running that are complete and able to ship asap.  The other kits available will also be a small selection, but may ease the angst of not having a full range of kits.  These will be from needlework designers(see above) who have licensed and packaged their own kits and design conversions.  This will come as dropship direct to you items, that I don't see, but am assuming will be well put together, and will take a week to 10 days to arrive, again, shipping fees will be calculated in, it's not cheap in the US.

Other very important changes, that will be happening right away, Dec 1, is that I will stop shipping anything internationally.  The site can only be toggled for US shipping, or hand selected countries.  The items I am adding, cannot be shipped outside the US.  As a matter of fact, most will be only lower 48 and no PO Boxes or APO/FPO, mostly ground shipping.  To that end, I will unfortunately have to switch off international orders.  Nov 30 is the last day.  DPDISCONTINUED  is a coupon code that will expire at 11:59 CST to ease issues.  It's good for everyone, sitewide, you  must enter the code, for 20% off your order.

I am adding many more China direct items, to the site.  If no shipping directions are indicated, it's a China item.  If it indicates US shipping, this will be sourced from a warehouse in the US.  I will continue to browse for many more women's and general home items from China, so that will still grow.  But the additions of US items, I will be pushing to add right away.  I have been selling them already on the auction sites, for years.  Brand name items that you recognize, makeup, craft kits, candles, food and baking, jewelry, all kinds of things.  I'm really excited to be able to start offering them on the website storefront itself. 

In the meantime, I am adding more items from China, that I have sourced and shipped to myself, and will continue to.  I am adding diamond drills that you can buy direct from the auction pages, a little at a time.  I have a few more diamond painting kits coming.  I also have a large selection of big stone cabochons coming, and bead strands for diy jewelrymaking. I am adding those listings to the stones selections on the website so you can browse and order direct, but many I will be having on hand and ready to ship asap from ebay, including some handpicked odd colors that are not regular stock, and actual pictures of the coloring and patterns. I may post those from time to time, for the new arrivals.

I should be back to emails, soon, that will be back open.  Remember, only the one tagged to the website itself. I do not see the ones from the payment processors and random other addresses. I'm working as fast as I can, to fit more into a work style that will work for me.  I am still crafting, in rare hours here and there, a few new projects are almost done.  It's a little on the backseat until January, when I can settle in some.  I am taking commissions on the diamond painting kits, either the ones I am stocking, or anything else you have or would like done, including from China.  I also can do that for the other craft kits, etc that I am sourcing, including things like the Bucilla felt Christmas stockings and ornaments, cross stitch, pixel, etc. I am happy to take on commission orders, as I have dropped off some personal obligations and other work, in order to concentrate on website sales. It's been a long time coming.

So, some patience please, and ignore the poor picture quality of my own items(where is the sun, anyway?)  as I have been raring to go, on offering a lot of different things. And I am so sorry for not being able to do international sales, perhaps find a US buddy who can hold/ship to you?  It's a lot of my customers, maybe something like that would be helpful; only idea I have been able to come up with.  

Red Christmas Bells, been forever

The Red Christmas Bells Drawing diamond painting.  Finally finished.  Sorry, it was not a sunny day, and we aren't going to have a nice day for about a week.  This is a full square, 35x35cm from one of the 3 kits set I got last year.  I do still have the other two for now, details were in my FB and they are up online(ships from the US).  Now that I have finished this one, if the others aren't purchased, I will dig in and make those, as well, to be offered as finished art like this one.  I added the forest green washi tape, looks very light once on the canvas. Sprayed with some gloss sealant. I have put it on ebay and etsy  already. This does come in different sizes, you can still go to my shop and order it yourself in bigger or smaller sizes.  Remember that it will take about a month to get, from the shop orders. (I have noted that most all XMAS gift type things should be ordered by Nov 25, to ensure delivery in time, not much later will work.)

So, uh, blah.  I did get really sick over the entire summer.  I was fighting a nagging infection, ended up that I got a secondary infection--from the medicine.  I eventually went to the hospital and spent a little time there.  It's been a long road to recover, and I'm still feeling a little fragile, not sure if that will go away.  I've been taking it a bit at a time, all the important stuff for shipping and packing orders, as a priority.  I think I otherwise slept the entire summer, no joke.  I am tentatively getting back into my routine, including from having turned most communication off beforehand.  I am not sure what it is, younger crafters etc, but emails were outright bullying.  Writing an intro email to someone you are looking to help you, that sounds nearly like a death threat, isn't the way to go about it, sorry, and my stress levels cannot deal with that, and a lot of the toxicity of social media. 

I hope to have things back on an even keel, including contact for people that have actual problems with the orders.  There is tracking assistance all over the web, I cannot respond to everyone asking again for the status, when it's all been sent, or I'd never get anything done. If I get through the emails, it will only be on the TurquoiseRoads one, most all the rest, I never even see, as it is, those filter to junk email accounts from the payment processors and hosting, etc.

Next?  Good question.  I've now had a couple years to assess what is working and what's not.  Dealt with a few family issues that have seemed to resolved finally.  My health seems good, except for energy level, and I have to take that into account for what I can get done.  And for the first time in a long time, a relationship that may be blossoming into something worth setting aside some time and effort for. Still in a wait and see mode, at my age, I am not keen on rushing anything, and it's been buzzing around for a few years already, only recently becoming more apparent.

All of which means I need to be working smarter.  I will be trimming things that seem to be wasteful. I plan to downsize the ebay store when it is due, Feb 1? Most of the beads are not a productive item at this point.  If you want beads, this is the time to get them.  I will start lumping them into clearance bulk sets as the winter goes along, and moving them into auctions. I do have them on Bonanza as well, but I will try to push as many through on ebay as I can, before going into a smaller storefront.  A lot of the US dropship on ebay will also have to come down. Craft kits, threads, etc, will have to come off, probably not even enough space to auction.  Those are all on the TR Bonanza, again, you can still find it, but not if ebay is your preferred go-to, at that time.

I will be adding more China produced items in the bead space, ordering direct to have on hand. It's all stuff that populates US marketplaces already. However, I start to hit some issues on where to host items, conflicts on which platforms to use, and I cannot be spending hours every day in doing this.  The TR website is set to international shipping, which I cannot flip back and forth on items. I do not want to shut off international customers, that is about half my base.  But ALL of the items I have on hand, I will only ship in the US, it's much easier.  

So whether that is regular beads, China beads on hand, US sourced dropship, or the crafted items, I don't have a nice place to put all the overflow.  I am working on ideas to open another shop, for that.  It will only be available to US addresses---and quite possibly, no APO, PO Boxes, or even AK/HI, as many of the dropship will not accept those address formats.  Many are shipped by ground methods only.  Some of this is exciting for me, as I can add food items, perfume, etc, which I have not been able to offer before.  I do not have a firm date to start this, but possibly not until Jan 1.

In the meantime, it's time for a lot of site cleanup, and quiet nights of more crafting, as I hopefully recover a little more strength. (This includes the diamond paintings, as the super hot interest in those has waned a little; I will be cutting several of those slow movers out completely.)  I am quite disappointed in not being able to finish projects this year, especially since some are leftovers from last year. I am still working on the birds and maple pixel, ready to pick another type of diamond painting, and a few small cross stitch in the works. Not feeling like I have a lot of time to rest, needing to push so many things forward. 

My next update shouldn't be nearly so far, only a few weeks, if that.

Butterfly and Roses Pixel Mosaic, illness

A finish I thought I would have ready a while ago.  Butterfly and Roses pixel mosaic(non XMAS!) 10x8". 4 plates, 64 colors.  I somehow got stuck at the very end, just for the finish. While that happens sometimes, mostly it was because I wasn't feeling well, and just couldn't get that last oomph to get it done.  It's up on Ebay and Etsy already.


I sold the pink tiger head diamond painting.  I'd like to make another of those, but I really don't want it to be pink, so I am not sure I will order another one.  It was fun, so maybe sometime later, pink or not.

In the works?  I have a huge pixel of fall birds I would really like to get cracking on. I have a few small Christmas things that keep hanging around in my face, that I will probably shuffle around and work on.  I'd like to be fitting in one more non holiday type item soon, perhaps an oriental theme cross stitch.

But, in the meantime, I've been dealing with some serious illness. Not sure if it's really been noted much before, or it was way back, that I am not totally healthy. Chronic illness things that will never go away.  Hence, my foray into totally online craft and women things with the auction and website formats.  It's how I need to make money--- and how I can work and still take some downtime, as needed.  That bears repeating, the flexibility of crafting and working from home, lets me work around many types of scheduling issues.  Sorry if it's not always on the customer's timeline. Lately, it's been worse, and I've been more delayed than even I would like, but it couldn't be helped.  I've developed a severe secondary issue with my stamina, after being so sick with colds all winter.  It's not under control right now, but a bit better.


So---right now, most all of my energy is only on the most critical items. Usually listings and processing orders.  And I must, that is my income.  Other things will be processed as I can find the energy and strength.  (usually resolving itself before I get to it.)  

Add to that, shipping times have been extended.  I am not sure what happened to the Chinese New Year Festival, but it didn't seem to go that well, on their end.  Multiple issues with stock, delays, processing, message responses, etc.  Standard regular shipping has now been pushed to 25 days delivery.  Ouch.  It used to be 12-20.  Nothing I can do about that.  PLEASE start planning ahead, especially for holiday ordering, this could create quite a backup in October and beyond.

Anyhow, we seem to be at the edge of summer already.  I am busy still re-sorting from the Festival, and getting links updated, and adding items in several more categories.  I do not expect to do much crafting right now, but with several projects that were almost finished, I hope to have some more updates soon.

Be sure to check out the beads on ebay, I am clearancing a bunch of those out, permanently.  Older items that I have decided to drop, probably won't replace.  I will have some new items in the fall, to add, but it will be different beads, as well as more diamond supplies and dropship craft items, etc.

Candy Cane Pixel Mosaic, slow going

I have been working on other things!  Another finish, from a couple weeks ago, so the listings are already active for both Ebay and Etsy.  Candy Cane pixel mosaic.  This is only one plate, 4x5", but it also came with a plastic frame to set it off, so it's ready.  Pretty sure I will source another one, in pieces, cute idea, just not yet.

LTNS.  I have spent the entire winter going from one cold to the next, including right now. For me, that requires serious rest, in between what I can get done.  So I am still behind.  You will continue to see several Christmas projects coming out, as I did not get to get them done before Christmas.  And well, I think this year will mostly be a continuous Christmas, as those are my best sellers, etc, and it will be upon me before I know it, for this next year.  And, I really need to make things work.  On the more personal side, I continue to have a few things boomerang and chip away at my energies, that I thought were mostly done.

And, it's been the Chinese New Year.  That's been my time to dig in for some serious rework on website items, other listings, research, etc.  As the suppliers do not work or respond at all.  A few are just now coming back to work, but not that many, and they are swamped.  I am still processing orders, including some as custom(the regular listing was gone from them), so please please please be patient.  I haven't even had my email up this week, as I have no answers or updates, and no suppliers are answering until now, so, sorry, I will work on that as well.  Many listings will change, so please use the search function if you were looking for a specific diamond painting kit, or ring, etc. I will keep the names the same, but many have changed to alternate suppliers.

On that note, all emails etc should only be coming to the website.  I do not read or have direct access on a lot of other email accounts(including the payment processors), social media, or even mail etc.  It's yahoo  as TurquoiseRoads .  That's the only one to get you a (mostly) prompt reply and address your issue.  Orders, missing drills, tracking, artist removal requests, (at least from my site, I cannot control what China is producing), additions, etc, EVERY THING. Anything else unfortunately may be not seen, appear to be ignored, misrouted, or blocked. I streamline everything to that account only, online, for my health and sanity. Please use it.

In the meantime, omg, I am looking for warmer weather.  I hope that will ease a few of my cold issues and my work and productivity.  I do have another pixel mosaic in the works, and it's a spring/summer theme!  But then I will be right back to XMAS as I ponder a few other quick projects, or not so quick, that are more general in nature.