Patchy Postings

Greetings and Hellos,
It's been awhile again! I have a feeling Summer-time is going to be a bit patchy with the posting if the spring is any indication so far! Between riding my bicycle, tending my wee one, creating randomness, filling orders, teaching 2 different summer camps, farmer's markets, craft shows, and my summer-long mural project for a local youth theatre group.... well.... you get the idea ;) Here is the latest... I have been painting like mad the past 2 weeks, finishing and catching up on all of my Letter orders for ATIONS. Depending upon wether or not varnish is dry enough tomorrow morning (it's SUPER SUPER humid here...) they will hopefully ALL be shipping tomorrow (otherwise I will hold them back until first thing Monday), and then I am totally caught up with the exception of 1 name, and 2 single letters which I'll easily finish next week. HURRAH! See photos below for a taste of the fruit of HOURS and HOURS of loving labor. Anyways, I will be posting new letter styles in ATIONs as I try to polish my photos and come up with my own designs after several years of mostly mimicking and matching bedding lines and decor. Please don't hesitate to contact me for an original design JUST FOR YOU... I have many good ideas to pull from, lots of experience and passion for painting, and I ALWAYS love the challenge of custom work :)

In other news, all but a few photos in Mama Trashheap's abode have been replaced by newer and better photos. Please take and look if you have a moment and I GLADLY welcome any feedback, ideas for better photos, personal favorites, etc! Most of the photos in Melloheads have also been replaced except all of the greeting cards which have to be re-shot. Those will be fixed this week so be on the look out for that. I also have a few new designs in the works for the next few weeks... I have lots of ideas for the melloheads line but I've been holding off on really going all out on it since sales haven't been terrific... opinions? ideas? Do you like the characters? Does the line just need to be expanded? polished? tweaked? Euthanized? I am really in need of some feedback on this shop, pretty please :)

On that note I should head off to bed... Lennon and I went out on our bike for a couple hours tonight after three days straight of sitting in a chair only exercising my painting hand ;) and I am DOGGONE tuckered out.. Lots to do this weekend, I will be going to see a play done by my little sister's theatre group tomorrow night, attending a family gathering tomorrow morning/afternoon, finishing a few touches on a present and celebrating my niece's 1st birthday on Sunday... packing a couple dozen letters to ship, and putting in several hours of work to help out my parents business (www.magicaljewelry.com) whew, lots of fun but I am definitely going to need to conserve energy by getting some "beauty sleep", lol! Good night all and have a wonderful weekend, I will try to check in at some point next week.
Later Gators,
Kalee

P.S. ALL PHOTOS can be clicked to zoom and see full detail.. and in some of these there is A TON of detail that will be missed if this is not done :)

Crud, Crud and more crud...

Hello there readers,
Its been a pretty cruddy 24 hours. Yesterday my older brother was in a motorcycle accident that should have killed him... thankfully he survived though with many a sprain, cut, scratch, and bruise... After my family had gotten word of the accident there was a heart-stopping 2 hours or so where we knew nothing other than that he had been in a motorcycle accident on the highway, took down a light pole, and was "conscious" and in an ambulance being rushed to the ER.... so, needless to say, yesterday was not the best day (though again, THANKFULLY, was not anywhere near as bad as it could have been had the outcome been slightly altered...)... So then this morning after breakfast I logged onto my email account to find that someone is filing a PAYPAL DISPUTE! Here is the details, I leave it to you to decide if this is justified....

-The item purchased was a PAY IT FORWARD listing (i.e. TWENTY CENTS PURCHASE + $4.80 for shipping and my paypal fees)... which means I MAKE NOTHING and actually LOSE MONEY on these (since my materials, fees, and shipping come to over ten dollars..) and am putting an hour or two of my time into creating the item FOR FREE.

-The item was a CUSTOM HAND PAINTED wall letter of whichI usually would charge anywhere from $15.00 to $35.00 for + shipping. ALL of my letter listings (including this one) CLEARLY STATE that the turnaround time for creating and shipping is 6-12 weeks. Often if will be sooner than this, but I like to give myself ample time for the unexpected delays that can and will happen... I also do not like to make promises of lesser timelines that I may have to go back on. Most other custom painted letters and childrens decor has SIMILAR or the SAME timeframes. SO anyways....

-The item was ordered just over THREE WEEKS ago. At the end of week one I received an email from the buyer (a fellow etsy seller who makes CUSTOM polymer stamps...you'd think such a person would be familiar with checking the turnaround on a CUSTOM item) asking the status on her "outstanding order". I responded politely that AS NOTED IN THE LISTING the timeframe is 6-12 weeks, and thanked her for her purchase and her patience in giving me ample time to create this item to her wishes. I never received a response to that message until 2 nights ago when I received a message stating: "I know you said 6-12, but I don't think I want to wait any longer, I would just prefer a refund. thanks te*****co"... Stunned by such behaviour and unsure how to respond I did not craft a reply at that moment.... it is stated in my shop policies that I cannot give refunds on custom items, and I have already purchased the letter and materials for her item... Today I logged onto my email to find A DISPUTE filed with both Paypal and Etsy.

I am so aggravated and amazed by how little appreciation some people will show for an ACT OF GOODWILL.... there is not too often that something will make my jaw drop for a lack of what to say and how to deal with it... This is one of those times. This buyer has over 3000 feedback from her several years on etsy. I have under ten on that shop... So I can't even leave her appropriate feedback for her behaviour for fear of retaliation which will hurt my reputation more than hers..... my paypal account is now overdrawn since i just paid the months fees for all of my shops and was down to pennies in the account... so now I will be out not only the $5.00 for the purchase, but the nearly $10.00 in materials and all of the time and aggravation of dealing with this BS....... and THE WORST OF IT IS: I hate to even think like this, and I LOVE creating Pay It Forward listings... but this has tainted my desire to do it, perhaps irreparably. What a sucky thing for a person to do, over $5.00 and an apparent inability to read the two paragraphs in a listing BEFORE PURCHASING IT.

Emotionally spent and Exhaustively yours,
Kalee