Artistic Miscarriage: Clarification, & Sneak Peak at a New Design In Progress!

First off, I'd like to clarify a few things about yesterday's post -- there are no sour grapes here. Candace Phelps' 1920's inspired design for Vision magazine is beautiful, original, and deserves to be published. I've never participated in one of these challenges before, and I may have misunderstood the rules of the game going into this (I thought only one designer was working on each decade, and did not realize that other designs would be competing against mine for publication).  I'm not looking to cast blame or to complain about the ways of the world, and I'm certainly not trying to say that my design was better than the one the editors selected.

My objective for that post was to recycle my design entry, making lemons into lemonade so my efforts would not have been a total waste. Whatever anyone else thought about it, I really liked my design.  I enjoyed working on it so much that I was bummed that it wasn't a real project that I would ever get to see installed in a client's home.  I thought that sharing the design in my blog was a good way to share with my readers what goes into my design process, as well as a chance to discuss the way that creative people like myself can identify so personally with our work that a rejection of the work can feel like a rejection of self -- and that's something so many of us can relate to. It's easier to talk up our successes than our failures in the blogosphere, especially for those who are blogging as an extension of their businesses.  Since mine is a personal blog that only touches on business occasionally (you'll notice you don't see my full name or business name anywhere, and that's deliberate), I thought it would be the perfect forum to discuss dealing constructively with setbacks.  I appreciate all of your kind comments and supportive emails.  Thank you!
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...  I'm knee-deep (literally -- you should see my office!) in the midst of working on a new design for a very elegant formal living room for a client who loves exquisite textiles almost as much as I do.  Here's a sneak peak at the fabrics and trim I'm using for this project:

Look at this beautiful lustrous bead trim from JAB Anstoetz.  Those are real pearls, not painted plastic:
 

... I'm so excited!