Boxes are on sale now at The Crafty Sampler! 2 sizes, shipping included with price. I've stuffed them full with some really nice samples, many full sized. Get yours today!
2 more weeks until I'm a grandma!
pondered at 6:26 pm Sunday
March 16, 2010 - I'm going to be a grandmother! Wo0t!
My oldest daughter is pregnant with her first child, a girl. I'm so excited! She will be named Darla Kaelyn. She is due June 19 (10 days before my birthday.) I have a box to send her with a big pink baby blanket and some other goodies, along with another box which is even bigger which has been sitting at my youngest daughter's house for a month. I'm going to mail both of them March 1.
I also have a new business called The Crafty Sampler. Love samples? Love trying different products once a month, all in one box? Then you'll love my sampler shop! This site is brand new, but I hope as we get more contributors to have sampler boxes for you filled with tarts, teas, bath & body, prim crafts, craft homemade items, herbal products, holistic healing, herbs, candles, jewelry, magnets, pens, mini calenders, matchbooks, etc. Sample Boxes go on Sale to the public on the 4th of every month beginning in March. Two sizes available, shipping included. I've gotten some lovely samples, these boxes are going to be nice! I'll post when they go on sale.
pondered at 1:01 pm Tuesday
Dec. 09, 2009 - I got a hi-def tv!
Wo0t! The candle orders are coming in steadily and I got my cleaning job back, so I was able to afford a 22" hi-def tv for the foot of my bed. I've been watching the new Harry Potter film in hi-def and oh my! I can see detail without having to squint. Now I can't wait to watch Coraline, LOTR, Final Fantasy VII:Advent Children and all my fantasy films again. Yippee!
Chocolate Delight Pie Candle. The crust is Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcake, the embeds are German Chocolate kisses I made myself and the syrup is Chocolate Fudge. It smells good enough to eat!
Greetings, friends of Avaloch - are you in that uncomfortable place where you're still missing the Faire, and can't wait for Christmas?
We have the perfect solution: Celebrate an Early Christmas with us.
On Thursday, December 10th we'll be opening our fabulous Feasting Hall to our friends - doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm.
Admission is "pay what you can" (a donation of $12 is suggested) and we'll be providing free refreshments, fun and entertainment, and a variety show featuring our special guests, The Dueling Fools. There will also be a "Chinese Auction" and a 50/50 raffle.
All proceeds from this event will go to the GLMF legal fund, to help ensure that the show goes on.
For further information or if you would like to donate but cannot attend the event, please contact Sarah Cantrell at pantageous@aol.com
We hope to see you there next Thursday, and of course once again when the warm weather brings us Festival Time anew.
I really dislike banks, hackers and thieves. *angry sigh*
The bank will not refund the $128 overdraft fees from the 4 unauthorized uses of my bank card when the money was wired to Romania. They just returned a check I wrote Nov. 3, after I had gotten back the $442 or I wouldn't have written it. Now I have some more calls to make Friday if they are even open. I've been arguing with them since it happened because they won't take the fees off. I didn't make the transactions, they have the police report, why should I have to pay for this? So now they are going to make money off of me by returning a check and charging me $32 more? I don't understand. This whole identity theft has royally screwed up my finances and bank account. I'm busting my ass to promote my candles and make some money but orders are few and I can't seem to get ahead. I'm very discouraged and in despair again. Screw Christmas, nobody is getting anything this year and I love Christmas time. I'm at my wits end again.
Wow. They grow into adults so quickly. Bobbie Jo is soon to be 32, the twins are 30 and now baby son is 26. Wow.
I just delivered (or rather my son did) 3 huge Cinnamon Buns candles to a friend and she and her bf love them! They said they will send the containers back and I'll just keep refilling them for half price to save them money on containers, all they'll pay for is the soy wax. Making other people happy is the biggest payoff and delight for me. I'm making an order for my friend Christine, the Antique Sandalwood she ordered smells so good, even my son likes it and he's more a fruity scented candle person. He loves my Blueberry Muffin and Watermelon candles. It's all good. heh
The bank gave me back the money on the first 2 unauthorized transactions! They didn't take off the overdraft fees but they said they will call me next week and let me know about those and the other 2 transactions. I thanked them profusely that they acted so quickly. I can pay my rent! Wo0t! (Doesn't take much to make me happy...) Now I'm just waiting for my new card as I need to order some candle scents very badly.
This has not been my year. On Oct.19 someone using my debit card info at westernunion.com took $422 out of my account. I had about $2 in my account after 3 checks that were still out and the bank charged me $64 for such a large amount AND the other 3 checks were paid but that added $90 in overdraft fees...so now they say I'm overdrawn $677.19 which is more than my SSI check. I called western union and they said the money was wired and picked up. Monday I have to go to the bank and dispute that and find out where the money was wired and who picked it up. Then I have to go to the police and file a complaint for identity theft. I doubt I will recover my money or it will take weeks if I do, so now I'm royally screwed. I have no money to pay my bills as my SSI is direct deposited and they will take it all AND I will still be overdrawn!!!! The only person mean enough to do this to me who once had access to my bank info is Mike, but I never told him or anyone else my PIN. Whoever did it had all my banking info as they passed all the security checks and the bank approved it. Maybe it wasn't Mike but I checked the forum he always posts in and he says he's out of work again and living in PA. I am so furious and in a pit of despair. My son will help me but it takes 2 of us to pay rent, utilities, etc. and he has his own personal bills so I have no idea what I'm going to do next month. I was going to send out sample boxes to try and get some candle sales, I'll have to borrow some money to do that as I desperately need sales. The people I clean for have not needed me for 3 weeks now, so I don't even have the $30 a week I was making from that.
I'm calling Social Security Monday to have my check taken off direct deposit until this matter is straightened out but that won't help me until Dec. I try so hard but I really want to just give up.
pondered at 7:33 pm Sunday
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Oct. 04, 2009 - update, full moon tonight, 'tis the season of the witch
Good heavens, I haven't been here in months. My pc was in the shop for almost 3 months, I've been paying monthly on all Mike's chargebacks (the bastard) but now life is good, my son and I are reasonably content and that's all that matters. I"m waiting breathlessly for my autographed Steve Vai dvd/cd set, it's been shipped, it should be here next week. I also ordered some spider web black lace curtains for my room and a huge candle supplies order. I've been out of soy wax for 3 weeks! Ahh, the withdrawal...
I've been working on a lot of my sites, just updating and tweaking or adding things. Anam Cara Candles just got an update, I have 77+ scents now and I'm planning to add more. I've added some Christmas scents, so go take a look if you'd like. I'm going to be able to make candles again. Wo0t!
I didn't do so well selling my candles at the Heritage Festival yesterday. It was very cold and windy so I only made $31. At the Italian Festival in Sept., I made $111. Oh well, you'll have that.
I'm very tired, I need to rest. I've been going non-stop since Weds. and the old bones are aching. Take care of yourself kittens and have a good week.
pondered at 2:43 pm Sunday
Feb. 02, 2009 - life update
A lot has happened since I started neglecting this blog. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas with 2 families, I bought the domain http://www.anamcaracandlesstore.com/ and opened my candle store Anam Cara Candles, I've been blogging at Anam Cara Shop and working on changing the CPSIA law. Mike moved out (again) Jan. 21 and it's over. 12 years and I'm done. I will just stay alone, I don't understand men, don't want to anymore, and I'll be fine. I want to spend the rest of my life living, loving, studying herblogy and candle magick, helping others and enjoying my kids. I love making candles more than anything else I've ever created in my life and people seem to really like them! I keep my prices as low as possible as I feel everyone should be able to afford and enjoy a triple scented highly fragrant soy candle. I'm not greedy, yes I need the money, but making others happy is more fulfilling. I haven't felt this free in a long time. I feel like I can breathe! I've met some wonderful people online who are true friends to me and I love them dearly. I still feel deeply blessed and I never take anything for granted, you just never know when you can lose someone or something. If you want to find me, I'm usually at Anam Cara Shop or Anam Cara Candles. I just took a bunch of new product photos so I will be posting them later as soon as I get them off my daughter's camera. lol My friend Laurie is sending me a printer, which will be a godsend as I need one to print my business cards and shipping labels. I am very happy and hope all of you are too or at least reasonably content. Oh, I'm making bath bombs too, they will be on the candle site shortly. Take care everyone. Stay safe and hug your loved ones.
And having a blast! I got a complete kit yesterday and right off I made a batch of Creme Brulee candles. It's so easy, it's no wonder loads of people do it to make money. I'm just doing it for me, family and friends for now. I just made a batch of Nag Champa and then Strawberries and Cream. My apt. smells delightful, like a bakery! I made two huge 1 1/2 lb candles for my friends for Christmas; on purple scented in Lilac and one green scented in Spruce Pine. I'd make more but I've run out of containers! lol I love creating, it makes me happy.
My 3 businesses are doing well, I'm slowly making money, not large amounts, but enough to motivate me not to give up. I've joined some mom/women groups, met some very nice, cool ladies, attended my first Pagan Pack Faire and won a bunch of stuff! Two cloaks, herbs, candles; I bartered ad space for some other goodies, and I'm helping other home businesses get started. I'm being creative and useful! I'm spending Thanksgiving at my brother-in-law's, when Mike and Mark get together the zaniness begins. I hope you all have a nice holiday. Stay safe and don't drink and drive.
FaerieCon was incredible! The people, the music, the costumes, it all rocked. The only bummer was Omnia canceled at the last minute, the promoters were not happy and neither were the fans. I saw Pricilla Hernandez at the Good Faeries Ball and she hugged me after her set when I told her I enjoyed her music. I saw Trillian Green and Woodland also, 2 really talented Irish folk/celtic bands. I got Trillian Green to autograph their cd for me which was a rush.
I met my favorite faery artist Jessica Galbreth! She is so approachable and sweet. I also met Lisa Steinke and Jasmine Becket-Griffith, 2 more of my fav faery artists. They were so kind and interesting too. I talked to so many people and soaked up ideas.
Guess what! *drum roll* I made 3 sales this week from my sites. My online businesses are starting to make money, yippee! $5 ad, $10 ad, and a $16 faery headpiece. Wo0t! I am so excited and happy right now I must be glowing. My aura should be serene and beautiful. If you believe in such things and can see...
I will be in the world of the fae this weekend. This is a once in a life time event for me. The planets are aligned right, or the gods are pleased with me, or my karma is coming back to me, I really don't know, all I know is there was the perfect convergence of money, timing and location in order for me to go. I will see ALAN LEE, BRIAN FROUD, WENDY FROUD, HOLLY BLACK, JESSICA GALBRETH, LINDA RAVENSCROFT, KINUKO CRAFT, MICHAEL HAGUE, CHARLES VESS, JASMINE BECKETT-GRIFFITH, CAITLIN MATTHEWS, JOHN MATTHEWS, ARI BERK, HELENA NELSON-REED, RUTH SANDERSON, WENDY PINI, MICHAEL BUCKLEY, PAUL BORDA, DIANA ZIMMERMAN, JEN DELYTH, LISA STEINKE,JOHN CURTIS CRAWFORD, BRIDGET WOLFE & J. CORSENTINO. I will be with my youngest daughter and her gf who are very precious to me, I love them and Mike so much for making a dream literally come true. A masquerade ball. A chance to see & talk with others who love the fae and magick. To see 2 of my favorite bands/artists at one time. Ah kittens, I am truly blessed. Remember the rule of three, what goes out comes back to thee...oh my. I'll post pics when I get back. Be safe, wishing you faery dust.
Greetings kittens. I hope all of you are well. For the past month I have been busy learning all about having an online business. If I read one more tutorial or lesson, I might scream. lol Not really, I've been online for about 10 years but this is my first foray into the WAHM (Work At Home Mom) culture. I'm meeting other moms and women and learning a lot. I've even an affiliate seller of about 8 different products. (That's nothing, a woman I just met is an affie for many companies, visit her online store Cims Curio Corner.) I ordered a cinnamon bun bakery candle from her and I will write a review of it and the other items after I get them. I'm also getting a Pagan Pack which is a sampling of products from pagan business people. Which leads to my title of this entry. Yes, I am pagan. I really like them as they are so in tune with nature (they worship it) and are a very open-minded tolerant people, but I follow my own heart, that's religion enough for me. I consider myself a faery child, an earth mother and a hedge witch but mostly I'm just me. I don't worship anything anymore.
I've also discovered Traffic Exchanges. I never knew they existed until last month. I belong to 6 now. (A traffic exchange website receives website submissions from webmasters that join traffic exchange networks. The person who submitted the website then has to browse other member sites on the exchange program to earn credits, which enable their sites to be viewed by other members through the surf system. This increases the number of visitors to all the sites involved. In practice, traffic exchange programs are generally used by small business owners or marketers who either want free advertising or use the exchange programs for low-budget advertisement campaigns.) I like them as I have found so many other craft sites and I've gotten to know some very nice, thoughtful people.
Hello. Gad, I haven't blogged for a while. I've got FaerieCon on the brain! I've bought the tickets, made the hotel reservations, got directions and my outfit for the ball is complete.
My headpiece for the Ball
My wings
I made a page of all my wings if you'd like to see them. My Faery Wings. I'm in a creative mood, I think I'll make another headpiece.
First of all, a quiet moment in memory of the tragedy of 9/11 back in 2001.
FaerieCon is only 4 weeks away so I'm preparing. Today I bought red glitter gel, black false eyelashes with brilliant red in them, black lipstick to put under the red glitter and some black shiny mineral powder for my eyes or whatever.
I was exploring online and found a delightful site GlitterGaloreandMore.com that has a few things I'd like to order. ColorLoc Adhesive Gel (to keep the glitter from running if I sweat or dance during the Faery Ball) and Eyelid Jewels. They even have this video to show you how to apply glitter to your face using stencils. (Sorry about the music, just turn off your speakers, I guess.) There are other videos too. It's all about the glitter.
Isn't that easy? I am so happy I'm going to a real masquerade ball, I've wanted to go to one since I was a little girl. I'll take a pic of me as soon as my new faery wings arrive (they were shipped today) so you can see my dark faery costume. =)
Sept. 08, 2008 - may as well blog, I'm here editing
Greetings. I'm working like mad on my business site Paulina's Posies. I made a 125x125 button rotation script which I am placing on several of my sites as the mood strikes me. Not much going on, just updating, editing and tweaking html.
What a crazy last few of days! I will try and condense them into a short cohesive story.
A new pc game is coming out called War Hammer Online. Mike wants to play it. (He plays Warcraft and Anarchy Online now.) 3 days ago we drove over an hour to Akron to Best Buy, a computer store. There he purchased a Dell XPS pc, a 20" monitor, an HP printer/scanner/copier, 2 battery back-ups (if the power goes off suddenly which it does often in this small town, our pcs will stay on for about 15 minutes to give us time to shut down everything correctly), a pc fan and a printing cartridge kit. He gave me his old pc which has XP on it and is more powerful and fast. Wow, is it fast! I also got his 19" monitor which is huge! The resolution is a whopping 1280x1024 which makes my sites (and most others) look small and narrow. The cool part is I can see everthing better and the colors are very vivid and bright as this pc has an awesome graphics card in it. I should be a vacation for it as I don't play games on the pc. (Good grief, I have 10 gaming systems for that!) All I want to do is web design and to sell my Posies. heh I've spent the last 2 days saving all my files to disk and copying them to this pc twice (we had to re-install Windows XP for some reason when we changed pcs.) I didn't know how to save my favorites, so now I'm trying to remember and find them all as well as remembering all my passwords to sign into everything I use to make web sites. Oy, it will probably be a week or so before I get everything back to normal. I installed my ftp first so I can work on my sites. It's all good.
Sept. 02, 2008 - Merlin's beard!! FaerieCon here I come! Wo0t!
I'm going! I'm going! I'm going! I'm going to FaerieCon in October! *breathe* My daughter and her gf said they will take me cuz "it's fun to watch you have fun, mom." ?! Er, okay lol. All I know is I'm going. *does hand stands and backflips and happy dances all over the place* Ahem. I'm fine really. *dances away* heh
I've been talking to Priscilla Hernandez on a thread at Radio Rivendell and I told her I am going to see her live at FaerieCon. She is performing with Trillion Green and Omnia. I listen to Omnia everyday, or when I'm in the forest dancing among the trees. (shh) I haven't heard Trillian Green yet, but I'm going to see if I can find some of their music. Priscilla opens the Bad Faeries Ball Oct. 10, then Trillian Green plays and then *drum roll* Omnia. *breathe* I am so excited, can you tell?
I have a long black satin spaghetti strap dress with a sheer sequined overdress and I just ordered black faery wings with red accents. I've already made the headpiece I'm wearing. Mike bought me a silver wand which I sparkled up. I'm getting the glitter you can put on your skin so I'll glimmer as all faeries should. :P
I made a site for my headpieces. Paulina's Posies. (note: the PayPal may not work yet, awaiting confirmation.) The Red Rose Lg is the headpice I'm wearing unless I can find some black rosebuds somewhere.
Have a good week everyone and stay safe. I'm off to dance around the house some more and sing "I'm going to FaerieCon! I'm going to FaerieCon!" lol Have a happy!
pondered at 6:26 pm Sunday
It's all good. heh
Greetings. I'm working like mad on my business site 
