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.