Good Riddance to 2009!

I know I should be writing a positive post and hopefully this will turn out this way but I'm glad it's the end of 2009. This has been the worst year of my life - literally. Both my parents died. My Dad in February after heart surgery and my Mom in April in a house fire which also completely destroyed the home I grew up in. We salvaged a few burned items (less than a shoe box full I would say) of burned pictures etc. The one bright spot was that we managed to find their wedding rings. Both Mom and Dad's. Dad never took his off until he went to the hospital this last time so Mom had it. Her original ring was wore really thin over the years so she stopped wearing it because she was afraid it would wear right through and break. She always kept her purse in the dryer (thinking no burglar would look in there). She also had a small tin box in there with some silver dollars and her wedding rings as it turns out. Everything in the dryer was disintegrated but the rings didn't melt. Miracle of miracles. I've spent the year dealing with death, funerals, wills and insurance companies. It's all settled pretty much now though. As you can imagine I have no love lost for this crappy year. I want it behind me so I can move on to happier times and try to focus on the happy memories. Maybe all this will help push me to be the best person I can be - not there yet still wallowing in self pity some days and don't much care about a lot of things right now but hopefully the future will be brighter and I can push myself to be a better person and make my parents proud!

Miss you Mom. Miss you Dad. All my love.

I don't want to come across completely negative as I am looking forward to a better 2010 and I truly wish each of you a wonderful New Year and I hope it brings you all you desire.

Lots of Progress

I don't have a picture today but last night was a pretty productive night. I hand cut over 100 buttons in preparation for a couple of custom orders. I have an order for 70 buttons that will be used to make wedding favours/favors and I also had a request for some buttons with robin's on them from someone that shares a first name with me. I'm excited to see how they turn out. They're looking good so far. I'm very pleased that someone likes my buttons so much they want to include them in such a special day as their wedding.

I'm also in conversation with a knitting store that is opening up locally. They're from Canada as well and want to feature the work of local artisans when they can and they've approached me about carrying my buttons. I have had wholesale requests before and always turned them down as I was afraid I couldn't keep up as Buttons By Robin is not my full time job. This year though I've decided I want to take my art farther so I'm going to stretch and see how it goes. I can't keep holding myself back because I'm afraid to try which is what I tend to do. If you don't try you can't fail then can you. Well anyway last night was quite productive and I'm feeling very pleased with myself.

New Handmade Wooden Cardinal Buttons

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and/or happy holiday if you don't celebrate Christmas. Chances are you've had a few days off whatever you celebrate and hopefully you've been able to share that time with family and friends and just do some plain old simple relaxing. My Christmas was quiet but nice. We just went out with my husbands parents for Christmas dinner and the rest of the time I pretty much stayed in the house and caught up on some of my favourite craft shows and worked on my own crafts/artwork. I made a really pretty fused glass and sterling silver ring which I'll happily be keeping for myself. I don't have a picture with me right now but perhaps I'll post one later. It's not perfect but I still think it's beautiful.

I did manage to post a few of my newest buttons in my Etsy shop www.buttonsbyrobin.com. I've made these wooden buttons before but since they're much more labour intensive than my resin buttons I haven't made any for a while. I do think that they will appeal to people who would prefer not to use plastic/resin in their creations. The buttons pictured here are some of my latest and can be found here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37367988. If the link doesn't work that means they've sold and that will be a good thing for me.

On boxing day my husband and I went out he bought me a light box so I can "hopefully" take beautiful pictures for my Etsy shop. I'm still learning but I've taken a few pictures and they're definitely brighter and I've even had a few sales after a fairly slow period so maybe it's the pictures that are helping. It could also be that people are finished Christmas shopping for others and are now spending a bit of money on treating themselves. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

I'm back at work for a few more days before the New Years and hopefully it will be quiet. At lunch I'm off to buy some sterling so I'll have some more to play with during my long weekend coming up for New Years. Wouldn't it be nice to have these nice long weekends every weekend?

Weight Loss Ticker

I've been trying to lose a few pounds and so have decided to publicly chart my progress by adding a weight loss ticker to my blog. I know my personal weight loss struggle with those last few pounds may not be of interest to anyone other than myself but I thought perhaps by having it publicly showing front and centre that maybe it will be more of an incentive. You'll note I don't actually have the numbers listed - just the amount I want to lose and where I am so far. Maybe at some point I'll be brave enough to list the actual numbers and although it's not really that much in the scheme of things and actually the number might be a bit to low for me so may need to be changed at some point. We'll see. Perhaps as I progress and write a little bit about what I've been doing and as I succeed I'll feel brave enough to post actual numbers. I even keep my exact weight from my husband. Silly I know as he has a pretty good idea but for now some things are best kept to the realm of secrecy! So right now I'm down 10 pounds from where I started and I have another 14 to go to reach my ultimate goal. That weight would get me down to a weight I was at when I was in my 2os so may need to adjusted for my reality today but we'll see about that. Wish me luck!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas

I just wanted to take a few moments to tell everyone Merry Christmas and happy holidays to those of you who don't celebrate Christmas. I find myself not in a very "Christmasy" frame of mind this year because of the loss of my parents. I'm feeling a bit sad actually. I am however very grateful for the family that I have and for the family that have passed on but are still very much a part of me and my heart. I wish you all the best for the coming year and hope that you take the time to tell those around you how much you love them. You never know what the next year will bring and although I hope it brings nothing but joy and happiness I know for some it won't be the case. Take the time to really hug your kids, your parents, your spouse and the rest of your family and friends. Grab on to them tight and really let them know how you feel. Don't just say the words - make them really feel how much they mean to you. All the best to you and yours from my family to yours.

For my friends (that I have been sadly ignoring this past while) I love you all as well and you know who you are. I haven't forgotten you - I've just been keeping to myself a bit these days. I'll be in touch soon. You are all very much in my heart. Have a wonderful holiday!

Vintge Bird Buttons

These are some adorable vintage bird image buttons listed yesterday in my Etsy store www.buttonsbyrobin.com or http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37136020. These images are purchased from a great Etsy seller www.piddix.com. Now that the Christmas rush is over I've decided to start getting back to basics and doing the sorts of buttons I like and would use myself. I find that holiday themed buttons don't do quite as well, probably because their use is limited to the specific holiday. These sorts of images are great any time of year and the timeless appeal of vintage makes them even more special.

Finally Listing Again

It's been a while since I've been blogging. I think with the holidays coming up I've been a little down. This is the first year without both of my parents. They both passed away this year. Anyway I'll be having dinner with my son and his girlfriend tomorrow and am really looking forward to it. I think I may have a little of the Christmas spirit in me this year after all. With all of that I've had some fun making some buttons again so I'm sharing them here and I've updated my etsy store www.buttonsbyrobin.com with a few different designs. Hope you like them. Happy holidays to everyone.