Happy Valentine

My husband never forgets Valentine's Day. I even got the flowers a few days early as I was heading out to the Philadelphia buyer's Market Show and wasn't due home until late afternoon on Valentine's Day. But as you can see they still look great - and so does my hubby of 34 years. And I am mighty pleased with them. The color - lilac - is awesome. Never saw roses quite this color before. It's really MY color!

On the other hand the Buyer's Market needs a new name this year as I'm not sure a lot of buying was happening. The registered atendees were way down. But to be fair there was some buying going on and I'm sure there are many happy vendors.

I was juried into the ISGB - International Society of Glass Beadmakers - booth. There were 12 of us exhibiting. The work looked awesome. The booth was great. But the traffic was way down according to one artist who was there last year too; and sales suffered. It's sometimes hard for new artists to weather times like this. You always wonder "was it just my stuff they didn't like?" But a friend and I were talking this morning and we decided this is the year to build up your inventory, try new techniques, and hang in there.

When I was in Philadelphia I stayed at the Marriott as it was close to the convention center. This sign in one of their jewelry stores sums it up.... I was tempted to buy something at those prices, but they were closed...............