All's well that ends well!

   The year long charm swap saga is over.  I received my charms back today along with the other girl's charms and some "sweet" offerings.  My faith in man is restored and I can move on.  (Pretty sad when this is what ties me in knots for a whole year.)  But it won't be spoken of again!!

Charm swaps

      The Art Jewelry magazine's website was my first foray into an online forum.  I was looking for other people who did metal clay and that seemed a logical place to start.  They had a section for metal clay enthusiasts, both experienced and beginners.  It was through this forum that I tried out my first charm swap.   

    Lucky for me, I'm an eternal optimist or I never would have gotten into another charm swap after the first one.

   The year before, the charm swap had lots of participants.  Last year there were only seven of us and only two of us made our charms and mailed them to the girl who was coordinating every thing.  We waited...... and waited........ and waited.  Our charms never came.  I tried contacting the girl.  But she never answered.  The other girl who sent charms did get an answer and a promise to send her charms back before Christmas (2007).  But, she never did.   

   I just chalked it up to a lesson learned, until I went to the PMC conference in Indiana last July.  Lo and behold, there was the girl who had my charms.  My friends thought I should confront her.  But I remember her picture on the forum showed her in red boxing gloves and she sure looked like she could clean my clock.  So, I opted to wait until after the conference and try emailing her again.  This time I tried to use a little strong arm persuasion in my email.  Didn't work.  I never heard back from her.  

   Again, I chalked it up to a lesson learned.  Today I got an email from the other girl involved.  She decided to give it another try and did get a reply.  She is supposed to get her charms back before Christmas.   And she offered to give the girl my mailing address too.  I also emailed her again.  So.... maybe, just maybe I will finally get my charms back.  We'll see.  

    I've been in two other charm swaps since and have been very satisfied.  I exchanged charms with my friends from my certification class.  At the conference I exchanged about twenty five charms with people from all over the world.   I put them all on a lovely charm bracelet, which gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I wear it.  (Which isn't as often as I would like.   Everyone expects me to be wearing jewelry I've made myself.)