Bad eBay, Good eBay, Airy Fairy and Goodness

I know. I know. It's been ages (apart from yesterday). I've been a bit pre-occupied with a mega workroom sort out (which I won't bore you with - same old, same old...) and trying (but failing) to get 3 dolls made. But more of them in a bit.

First off I'd just like to say a HUGE thank you for all your lovely comments yesterday. It's nice to know you care :o). Sorry to Nick Nack for making you cry. I'll warn you next time.

So, eBay. Last week I had a reminder of what a gamble it can be to buy stuff off the dreaded site. I paid for a pair of boots. A bargain selling price but the postage (as ever) bumped the cost up a bit. They were described as being in very good, used condition. This is what they looked like when they arrived...

Both back seams were split. Now I agree they were used but the very good condition bit was a blatant lie. I emailed the seller pronto and told her I wasn't happy and wanted a refund, please. I said if she'd refund the total amount I'd pay to return them to her. Her response was that she'd refund the selling price only if I posted the boots back to her. Now am I missing something here? Is it me that's stupid? I would be paying to have the boots posted to me and to post them back again. I would end up with nothing and have paid £5.50 for the priviledge. OK. £5.50 is a massive amount but it's the principle of the thing. Why should I be out of pocket when she has sold me these manky boots?
Well I replied that I'd rather keep them, take it on the chin and give her negative feedback. I've her nothing else from her. It does make me mad though. I'd never do that to someone. If I ever accidentally sent out something that wasn't up to scratch I'd refund the price and tell them to keep it or refund the whole shebang if they wanted to return it. No quibble. Grrrr.

BUT

By contrast today, one of those lovely brown UPS vans pulled up outside. The chappie leapt out of the cab with a big brown box which contained not one, not two but three luvverly new books. This is the first. The one I should have bought at the K&S Show but didn't. This cost me £3.22. No I haven't missed off a 1 - that's three pounds!!!

This was the second book. A fantastic source of inspiration and she's a fab lady too. This one was expensive - £8.22.

Number three bookie is one of those that you need to complete your craft book collection. I've wanted it for a long time but never had the urge to splurge 'til now. Well I say splurge - £4.48.
So for £16 something I got three fabulous books in pristine condition (not second hand). OK the postage was a bit steep at nearly £9 but it came by carrier 'cause books are heavy. But it came the next day. Perfection. It's like Christmas and I've got 2 more on their way from Amazon. Talk about splurge...

So the dolls that have been giving me grief... These are them. The Airy Fairies. My plan was to have them finished for yesterday well actually my plan was to make 9 of them!! Three were going on etsy, three on Folksy and three of eBay. The idea was to sell them and donate a precentage of the profits from each to the three charities that helped look after my dad - The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Cancer Research UK and St Giles Hospice.

However,

I didn't manage to get one of them completed, let alone 9!! Faces went wrong, hair caused problems, headdresses couldn't be resolved, clothing was a nightmare.
So instead I'm going to take a bit more time over them and then sell them in the run-up to Christmas. They will be very twinkly and sparkly Christmas Fairies.
Just keep watching.

I won a competition/draw on Daisie's blog last week. Yay!! And the sneaky woman sent my parcel of prizes much sooner than she'd told me she would. Look at all this fab stuff...

I can't photograph it all as this post is picture-heavy as it is but isn't she clever and kind and lovely?
Small bits of Chrstmasness are creeping in as well. I love this little jar of Christmas Cheer. :o)
Thanks so much. It really cheered me up xx

On Wednesday I went with mum and her chum to Hooty's - No, not the chain of topless bars - a warehouse type place of in Willenhall. Here's a photo of just a bit of my haul of goodies. The little boxes of glittery stuff and beads and sequins. A colour themed pack of six boxes (3 sequins and 3 beads) was 99p!!! 15 metres of strung sequins for 99p!! Packs of ribbon roses 59p!! I filled a trolley. It was great.

OK. So we're up to date again now. I'll try to be a bit more regular with my posts. Perhaps I should rename my blog? Not "Stuff and Nonsense from the Spare Room" but "Erratic Utterances from the Spare Room" or "Regular as the Buses"??

Right must fetch the kiddie back from dancing.

ttfn

xx