What I did today....

Well, actually I started this the other day.  But today I feel I chose a great theme and I'm really happy.  
So what did I do?  I set up a Tumblr micro blog.  It was easy and posting is fun!  I think I might be addicted :D

What is Tumblr? you ask. Tumblr is a micro blog.  Nice an short and sweet.  They even have this nice little tool that you drag into your bookmark bar and you can post from any page on the internet.  You can see an example down at the bottom of this blog.  Check it out. I really like it.

See you on Tumblr!  Click here to go to my Tumblr micro blog!

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Thank You, I Now Feel Really Rotten

I have to admit that I am not very happy with myself. I've acted pretty unprofessionally. But I'm not sorry. I'm still very irritated with Cargoh for not making it clear who they wanted on their site before they invited people to take the time to set up shop.

My time is valuable to me. Right now I spend a lot of time caring for my mother who had knee surgery over two months ago and still cannot walk short distances.

So you can imagine how upset I was to spend over half a day of my valuable time setting up my Cargoh shop, then more time listing, only to be given the, "oh, sorry, we lost our direction."

I felt like a new neighbor who saw an add in local paper inviting people to a house warming party only to be escorted back out the door because my green bean casserole wasn't "gourmet" enough for them.

Was I hurt? Sure. Was I mad? Absolutely. And I still am. But I do feel badly that I acted almost as unprofessional as they did by commenting on their Facebook page about their lack of tact.

I woke up at 3 am suddenly remembering that I had given them credit card info. During set up I had that sixth sense telling me something wasn't right. I should have listened. Now I'll have to monitor my cc. Cargoh's name will be the first thing mentioned if I see anything suspicious!

My estimation is that no matter how hard they try and with the way they're running things, they won't do well. Doesn't really matter any more.

And the good news...they'll never be as big as ArtFire!

Edited to add:

Interesting that after being told my account was being deleted I've had to email them TWICE now and ask that it actually BE deleted!! GAH. Seriously?

I totally sound like a big whiner up there, don't I? See what I've been turned into?

And in all reality, Cargoh will most likely do fine.

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Thanks for nothing!

Well, I've said it before, I'll say it again....no one ever gives away the good stuff for free. And yet again the cosmos proves this saying to be true. So, how good can it be if they can't even decide if they want to give it away or not?

Just recently a new website, Cargoh.com was advertising for a free lifetime Pro account if you signed up by a certain date. I read the TOS (terms of service) and FAQs (frequently asked questions) to see if I qualified. Did I see any requirements or regulations? No.

So I spend a whole day setting up shop, and adding items every now and then. And then today I get a wonderful love letter. Not only was I slapped in the face, but someone needs to learn to space between paragraphs.

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Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to register your shop on Cargoh.com. When we launched twelve weeks ago, we set out to create a smaller forum for independent artists and designers to showcase and sell their work, looking to provide a home for people who perhaps had not yet found a place to truly call their own on the Internet. To help communicate this, we focused our efforts recruiting sellers whom we felt represented that niche community to join our fledgling marketplace for it's beta launch. We hoped that hand picking our first round of sellers would help paint the picture of what we hoped to build.

Our company is in it's infancy, and we're learning every day. Thanks to the incredible power of social media, word has spread quickly about our little venture, and we could not be more grateful. But while our marketplace has grown faster than we ever imagined, we've lost control of it's original direction, and the work we set out to highlight has gotten lost in the fray as a result. The concept for Cargoh has always been a really difficult one to define, but it has never been our intention to compete with the already flourishing handmade marketplaces you may know and love. With that in mind, and in order to stay true to our vision for Cargoh.com, we've made the difficult decision to curate our marketplace.

Unfortunately, at this time, we won't be asking you to stay on as a seller at Cargoh. This decision is in no way a commentary on the quality of your work - there are so many creative, talented people out there, and we simply can't accommodate all of you and maintain our business model. We're learning that the hard way right now, and we deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

We will take the utmost care in deleting all of your private information from our databases. Please feel free to re-submit work that you feel might be a better fit in the future.

Again, we apologize for any confusion, and as always, we're here if you have any questions.

Humbly,

The Cargoh Team

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Here's what I read: Thanks for signing up when we were begging for sellers. But we decided you're not good enough for us, so we're wiping your bug splatter off our windshield. Oh, but if you decide to create REAL art, come on back and we'll totally pull the rug out from under you again!!

What am I supposed to say to that? Sure, I'll come on back later after I lick my wounds, waste another week with you, only to be hustled out the door before anyone sees me. No thanks.

All I can say now is Cargoh, go away!!

PS: No, I did not include any hyperlinks to Cargoh. If you want to go see them you can look them up yourself. They don't deserve the boost to their website google ranking.

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Beads of Courage....

I just packed off a box of cute little beads to send to Beads of Courage. With a tear in my eye I thanked God that my children and grand children are healthy. And I only hope that at least one of my beads will be treasured by a special child in need of some hope and encouragement.

You can read about Jean Baruch, a nurse has touched the lives of thousands of sick kids with her idea of Beads of Hope.

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Hot From The Kiln....

This weekend was a great weekend.  I got some torch time in, and I really love melting glass. 

As you can tell, I was feeling a little froggie.  They turned out really well, I think. I started with the tall style, seen in the back row.  And quickly changed to the horizontal form.  The legs are really fun to make.  But I'm thinking they need to be just a touch fatter!

But my favorite one was the fat little penguin.  He turned out so cute!  I went with a chubby shape.  I love chubby!!!

The last ones I created where the Potato heads.  Believe it or not those really drive me nuts.  First of all, I always forget the ears on the first one.  Not that it really matters, you could make him with one eye.  I mean, after all, Mr. Potato Head is a totally customizable toy.  But then I finally remember the ear and I one goes off center!! GAH  Then, there is so much tiny detail, it's hard not to melt them all in.  So the going is slow.  And last, I never make him chubby enough.  I like chubby!!!

But he's still cute. And that's what came from my kiln last weekend :)

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