Random Wednesday

Today is being spent cleaning up the house, doing laundry and playing with fire.  Headpins will be going into the kiln, in addition to beads.

I just found out my in-laws have decided to come a little earlier than previously planned, which means they will be here in time for my birthday.  Over.  The.  Moon.  Happy to know the people who mean the most to me will all be at my dining room table for my birthday.

There are already a dozen beads in the kiln and all of my new shipping boxes have been stacked neatly on my shelves.  Most of my new glass has also been put away in my glass cabinet.  My supply of boxes had severely dwindled to just a handful, so I ordered a hundred new boxes last week in three different sizes.  I think that will help with holding smaller amounts of beads better and it is also spurring a change in shipping pricing (I'm eliminating the additional $0.50 riding each extra item.  I will still waive shipping fees for purchases $40 and up).

Faith is an easier concept for my children to grasp than death.  Thank you for all of the kind comments and emails you have sent my way regarding Maggie.  The house feels empty without her, especially at meal times when she would have been the first one lined up and waiting at her food bowl.  Or her nightly ritual of making two rounds around the downstairs before heading upstairs to her crate.  Her protective presence is greatly missed.

I am getting made fun of for my love of the papyrus font.  I'm waiting to hear suggestions on alternative fonts that I would like just as much, but so far those airwaves are silent.  I am still snickering at this website that was shared with me, though.

Jezzie is still just as much of a snuggler and company keeper.  She was on the arm of my chair while I was melting glass.  By the time I got my camera app opened, she was climbing the back of the chair and giving me a kiss on the nose when the shutter closed.  And this picture freaks me out because it flipped everything from right to left like my office/studio is laid out completely different than it is.

Today, I am replacing toilet seats.  Exciting stuff.  I also cleaned the half bath from ceiling to floor.  Walls and baseboards included.  Before I left the phone company, I hated cleaning.  But now I am embracing it and finding a strange sense of accomplishment in my days.  No, this is not your opportunity to invite me over to your house to clean.

I will be photographing a wedding in a little over a week and am very excited about this.  This weekend, I will be going back to the location just before sunset to better scope out perfect spots for the bride and groom.

I love these boots, but think it may be awhile before I can save up for them.

Due to not being on the torch at the end of last week or beginning of this, I have moved my shop update from tomorrow to next Thursday.  There are reminders of the date/time at the top of this blog and my shop that show the next update, too. 

My hair is growing out and is now past my shoulders.  I've got an itch to cut it, but don't know what I would do with it.  Plus my year from the last hair cut isn't up yet (cause I typically only get my hair cut once a year).  I'm just thankful that it's not giving me headaches.  Yet.  Cause I'm a wuss with my thin hair.

That is all.

Shipping Through Paypal

I have read so many people's twitter and blog comments about making runs to the post office.  Unless I am shipping internationally, I don't make any trips to the post office.  I used to purchase my postage online through usps.com, but that was spendy because the cheapest postage was Priority Mail at $4.80 a pop.  I had tracking information which was cool, but I was losing money (my shipping charges on Etsy are roughly $3-5, but then I waive shipping fees for purchases over $40....and my little boxes that I use to package my beads and keep them safe are around a dollar each.  see?  money was flying out of my account faster than it was going in!).  

Then a friend tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Um, why aren't you shipping through PayPal?  It's First Class mail AND you get tracking info."  Cause, um, sometimes I miss the obvious?  :D  It only took me a year plus to stumble onto this much cheaper solution.  Momma always said I was a smart one.  Apparently not when it came to shipping.

So here are a coupla screenshots for my fellow Etsians who are sending out jewelry or other small items.  If you receive payments through Paypal, it is extremely simple.

I am using Gunilla as an example because I still have the Print shipping label button visible on my Paypal account page showing all transactions (it disappears once you have printed a shipping label).   Gunilla lives in Finland, so I drove to the post office to ship out her beads.  You can ship internationally through Paypal, but only using Priority or Express Mail.  Both of those are spendy options and filling out the customs info is a major pain in the toukis (it requires much more information than we fill out on the green customs form).

This transaction shows Partially Refunded because I refunded Gunilla her shipping fees because she spent over forty bucks.  Next step is to click on the Print shipping label button.  The nice thing about this is that Paypal automatically populates the address information because they use the buyer's PayPal account address.

You can then select the type of shipping.  I use First-Class Mail, but there are other choices that are more or less spendy/speedy (Media Mail, Parcel Post, Priority or Express).  Then select the package size; the other option is Large Package which typically isn't suitable for me sending beads or jewelry.  Then the weight.  I have a little five dollar scale I picked up in the kitchen section of Walmart.  It hasn't done me wrong yet, I just need to make sure the needle is lined up at zero before I place the envelope on the scale to weigh it (cause it's not a fancy-schmancy digital scale).  You can change the mailing date if you are printing out the label the night before and can also type a note to be emailed to the recipient (the recipient will receive an email directly from Paypal with the tracking #, so the note is an added bonus if you have extra information to share).

After clicking on an OK button, you will get this confirmation screen.  Just click on the Print Label button.  A pop-up window will open asking for confirmation from you that the label printed correctly (you would want to do a re-print if the printer jammed or the ink ran out.)

That's it.  After the label prints out, then just cut it down to size & tape to the outside of your envelope and walk it to your mail box.  Done.

Your Mail Boy/Slave will thank you.