Hello lovelies 🖤 I hope you are all have wonderful holidays and are able to find time with your loved ones and a chance to step outside the hustle of every day life to find rest and nourishment for your spirit.

I just wanted to take a moment to let you guys know how things are going since my last update. I always hate to post anything negative, so my instinct is just to keep my head down and keep working until I have happier updates for you guys, but I also know it is important to let you know how things are going, even though the going is tough - as it is the only window you have into how things are progressing. And I don't want anyone to worry that I have disappeared or given up. I am still here, nose to the grind stone, fighting to get each step of this project done.

Unfortunately, it seems like I found the pin company from hell that is determined to make this as painful as humanly as possible to finish this project. I thought we were getting close to breaking through the worst of it, and so I decided to go ahead and place a partial order for about half the designs - all the ones that we have gotten right so far. That way, we would at least have half of the pins and charms made, and it would hopefully be less daunting to me and the manufacturers to finish working on the ones that remained.

However, when I went to place the order, the manufacturer emailed me back to say that they will no longer honor the prices and will get back to me with new price raises. This will be the 4th time they have raised the prices on me, and I am stuck feeling like any time there is a glimmer of hope to move forward, they find a way to kick my feet out from under me again. So now I will have to spend a bunch of time arguing about prices with them again, after having done so multiple times already. And this will be on top of the tariffs - which I still don't know how much that will come out to be. So that is where we are again.

I thought we were about to break loose of this impasse and really start getting things done, and they immediately throw another monkey wrench in the works to stop me. I am back to debating which is the lesser of two evils - starting over completely with another company or continuing to let this company make this as humanly difficult as possible to finish.

I'm sorry to have another less than happy update for you guys - but also I want to be sure to be transparent so everyone knows what stage of the fight I am in currently. When these pins and charms are finally made it is going to be the most relieving victory ever!

So that is where we are. I don't want you guys to worry. I got this. I just have to keep fighting until we make it across the finish line. And of course, I want to say thank you so much for how patient and trusting you have all been through this. This has been the hardest project I've ever come up against and I truly couldn't have hung in there and kept fighting without all of you guy's support and understanding. And eventually, there will be beautiful shinnies in everyone's hands! 

Thank you again, and I hope the holidays are kind to all of you! Love you guys! 🖤