We Have Some Winners!

The Bead Crafty giveaway for 3 $20 gift cards ended yesterday, November 8th at 5:00 p.m. EST.  That means that there are 7 entries into the contest.  I used a Random Number Generator at random.org to select the winners.  The first winner of $20 to Bead Crafty is.....

Kristin K!!!  Congratulations, Kristin!   The second winner is......

And that would be Abracadebra!!!  Congratulations, Debbie!  And the final winner is.......

Another Debbie...Craftymoose!!!!  Congratulations!  I will be sending you all an email with more information about your prizes.  I want to say thank you to those of you who entered and shared this contest with others.

Bead Happy!!!!

Preview

A Beady Review and a Chance to Win One of 3 Prizes!

I would like to present to you a source for beads that is new to me, and it may be new to you too.  Bead Crafty is a nice little online bead shop that is based out of the UK.  But don't let that deter you!  They pick orders the very same day they are placed, and shipping to the US is only $1.95!  The orders may take up to 2 weeks to arrive.  However, I think they have some lovely little finds that are worth checking out and waiting a few extra days for.

Their site is easily laid out so you can find in a snap exactly what you are looking for.  They have 3 main categories:  beads, charms and findings.  Some of the categories are a little slim, and you may not find every component you are looking for to make a specific project (not to say you can't), but what they may lack in quantity they make up for in quality and unique items.  For example, one thing I had never seen before I visited Bead Crafty was kilt pins.  There are 3 loops that you can attach beads to, and would make a wonderful decorative pin or something similar.  Neat!

The prices on Bead Crafty are very reasonable.  And, even though it's a UK site, all the prices are shown in US dollars so there is no confusion about what you are getting for the price.  The prices are clearly marked and to find out the size or more description of an item, all you have to do is hover over it and a little box will pop up.

Also on the site are some interesting Tips & Tricks.  One that I thought was interesting and different was how to make a beaded lampshade.  Beads aren't just for jewelry, are they?  One section that I could not get to was the link for the FAQ's.  I'm a little weird that way...I like to read FAQ's.  Is that strange or do others do that too?  I hope they can get the link fixed to that page so I can check it out.

I sent an email asking about the inventory, to which I received a prompt reply btw, and Sarah said they are going to be expanding their offerings, but their main objective is quality first.  Overall I think Bead Crafty is a quaint little site with some interesting finds.  To me it is the difference in shopping at a charming little boutique versus getting lost in a mega warehouse store.  I think it is worth your while to check it out.  And to give you some incentive to do just that, I AM OFFERING PRIZES thanks to the fine people at Bead Crafty!  YEA!!!!  And there are more than one to be had, so please please please tell your friends about this  giveaway.

How to enter:

1.  Follow my page.
2.  Leave a comment giving two things.  First, I need your email to contact you and to get your info so you can have your prize!!!!  If I can't get in touch with you, then the prize will have to go to someone else and that would be sad.  Second, visit Bead Crafty and tell me one thing you would buy first if you won the prize.
3.  Post to Facebook or your own blog WITH A LINK BACK TO MY POST and get an extra entry (leave 2 separate comments if you do this.)  I will need a link to the post so I can see that you actually did it.

What are the prizes???

How about 3 $20 credits to their shop!  Doesn't that sound like fun?  Let's go shopping!!!!  So, don't be afraid to invite more people.  After all, you want good karma so you can win, right?  lol.  Ok, so maybe karma won't really be a factor, but hey, you never know.

The winners will be chosen by a random number generator and entries will be accepted until, oh let's say 2 weeks...November 8th at 5:00 p.m. EST.  Sound good?

Ok, kids...Get posting!

Let Me Introduce You To...and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Do you remember a couple of posts ago I showed you those two amazing cabs I got?  And do you remember where I got them from?  I do hope you will visit Angela at Believe Jewelry Supply on Etsy.  She has a wonderful shop with some truly beautiful things, whether you want completed jewelry pieces or stones to make your own.  And do you remember what I said about her prices?  They are really good!  And the service and shipping time?  Superb!

I'm doing this post for Angela so that you all can get the chance to meet her.  She just started a Facebook page for Believe Jewelry Supply.  She's trying to get at least 25 new "likes" by July 31st.  To show you how much she wants to get to know all of you, she is giving away a fabulous prize from her Etsy shop.  Here is the photo and description of the prize...(click on it for a larger view)

These are gorgeous 14mm genuine red sponge coral heart shaped beads. They hang from cute 16 karat gold plated over brass puffed heart earrings. They are a 10mm satin finish, brushed gold heart. They have 925 sterling silver earring posts. Retail value is $20!!!

The winner will be chosen from all the people who like Angela's Believe Jewelry Supply page on Facebook by July 31st.  I do hope you will go over to her page and click "like".  You could be the lucky winner of this beautiful pair of earrings!  I know it will be one of you, because it won't be me.  I'm playing the role of announcer of the giveaway, so you all have more of a chance to win!  Awesome sauce, huh?!?  Let me see all of you go on over to her Facebook page and show some love to a fellow beader and supplier of the pretties.


GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

Shopping for beads and more stuff

Hi, everyone.  I hope you are all doing well out there in Blogland.  This post may seem a little incoherent as I am seriously sleep deprived.  My pillow is softly, sweetly calling my name.  I will do my best to stay focused!

The past few days I have been doing some major bead shopping.  At least for me, it's been huge.  I have orders in with Artbeads, Beadaholique, and Fire Mountain Gems, and I am going to be ordering some wire here pretty quick with Bello Modo.  Honestly, I would rather have one place to shop because going to all the different sites trying to find the right colors, sizes, textures, etc. is so exhausting.  And then to meet the minimum order amount so I don't have to pay shipping.  ick.  Hey!  Did you know that Bello Modo has no shipping minimum and ALL orders ship free?  Yea for Bello Modo!  Artbeads is still reasonably low at just $10.  It's not hard to come up with $10 at all. 

Then there's Beadaholique which I think is pretty steep at $25 for no shipping.  I don't usually order that much at one time from one store unless I am doing a major purchase.  That's why I went to them this weekend.  That, and they had the colors and things that one of my students picked for our class later this month.  I still had to put in some few random items that I have no plans for to meet that  minimum.  Although I do like their Preciosa crystals and the prices on them.  It's just coming up to that $25 that's hard.  Of course I could spend less and pay s+h, but if I'm going to give them money, I want to get product in return for it, you know what I mean?

Now, FMG...they're a whole other story.  I doubt that I will order from them in the future.  I needed just 1 thing from them for less than $5.  Shipping and handling was almost $8!!!!!  So, $13 for a $5 item?  No thanks!  I ordered a couple other random things with them, too, just to feel a little more justified in my purchase and paying such high fees.  But I HAD to go to them to get the color I needed.  Do you remember the last post about needing an apple green color in a 6/0?  They had something close.  But I totally feel like I got robbed.

Exciting News!!!!!

I don't think I'm at liberty to give away too many details, but I will give you the basics.  You may not see much of me the next couple months.  That's the bad news.  But it's for a good reason.  A friend of mine who is a bead goddess just got a deal to write a new bead book.  She has asked me to contribute projects for the book!!!!!!  How awesome is that???!!!  I will be doing 2 for sure and possibly 4 projects for the book in different sections of it.  This will be quite a challenge for me, and I am learning so much about the process it's unbelievable.  That's the main thing I have been shopping for...supplies for the book projects.  And all 4 are due with instructions in both a photo story and written step by steps on a CD to the author with the finished pieces no later than SEPTEMBER 1st!!!!!  Yikes!  I better get my groove on, huh?  The bulk of my book supplies is coming from Artbeads, and they haven't even shipped my order yet!  Crazy.  I got my order in the mail today from Beadaholique, and my Artbeads order that I made at the same time hasn't even been picked yet.

So all I have to show today are my goodies from Beadaholique.

The gold and silver 3mm are just because I wanted them.  They are sterling silver plated and 22k gold plated.  I have beads like this in my stash, but they are the cheapies.  I wanted some nice ones like this.  So I got them.  The clear crystals are to finish a bracelet I've had in my UFO pile and the black bicones are for one of my students for our class.

These are the other beads for the class.  This student is addicted (I mean seriously addicted) to green.  These are the colors she chose, and they do look very pretty...more so in person than in the photo.  But isn't it always that way?

The tube clasps are for one of the book projects.  The red 8mm are just because I liked them...and I had to buy something to get to the $25 mark.

I just liked the color and look of these 8mm's.  Also a "no reason purchase except to get free shipping".

These are the most gorgeous color of capri blue I have ever seen.  I mean ever.  They are super gorgeous.  It will have to be a special project indeed to get these babies!

And that's it.  $27 worth of beads so I could get free shipping.  lol.  Am I crazy?  Should I just have paid the shipping fees?  No, I don't think so.  These beads will be the perfect ones for a future project.  It always works out that way. 

And my other exciting news?  I was a winner winner chicken dinner on a blog giveaway the other day!  I haven't got my prize package yet, but as soon as I do you will be the first ones to see it.  I won it courtesy of a great new blog I was introduced to, Spyder Jewels.  Thank you Mandy at Beads for Brains: 365 for the intro!

That's all I got today.  Hope you all have a super fantabulous weekend!

Mother's Day Giveaway

Artbeads.com is having another giveaway.  This time the prize is a big $100 gift certificate!!!  All you have to do is select your favorite item from their Mother's Day selection of suggestions and leave a comment on their blog on what you would do with that item.  To see the rules and links just go HERE.  I really really really want to win, but if I can't I hope one of you do so I can live vicariously through your purchases and projects.  :)

These are just a couple of the many pages of items to choose from.  Good luck!

Out of the Flames Giveaway!

Lori Cook of Out of the Flames has hit a milestone for her blog...150 posts!  To celebrate she is giving away a very lovely set of a bracelet and earrings.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on her blog, and maybe you'll be the lucky one.

My thought of the day...if the government shuts down this weekend, does that mean there won't be any mail service either?  That could really screw A LOT of people up.  My other thought...I'm super pissed off that Congress will get their checks on time but our servicemen and women won't.  How f'ed up is that???!!!  Ok...enough of politics.  I think it's the very first time I've ever mentioned politics here on my blog, and I probably won't ever do it again.  At least not for a very long time!  Unless they really make me angry again. lol

sharing a giveaway...come look!

As you have read recently, I am delving into the world of polymer clay.  Can I tell you how many times i typed "polymer clay", "polymer clays beads", and all other variations into google?  I found a blog over on Wordpress that has an amazing tutorial series on African Trade Beads with polymer clay.  At the same time my friend Beth kept mentioning the name Marie Segal to me.  Then Marie came and visited my blog here on blogger, so I went and visited her blog (also on Blogger).  Wouldn't you know it???  It's the same blog that is on Wordpress, and even though Beth had mentioned her name several times I didn't make the connection...it was Marie's blog!!!  Then to have Marie come visit my blog in the meantime.  How funny.  Small world!  Anyhoo, on Marie's blogger blog (not Wordpress), she is having a giveaway of one of her pieces she created using her polymer clay canes.  It's really beautiful!  I want to win it for myself, of course, but it's so pretty that I thought you should see it too.  Just go see her on her blogger blog (not the Wordpress one) at Art From My Heart for a chance to win.  And while you're there take a look-see at some of the other wonderful things she has done.  Good luck!

And the winner is....

I wish that I had something to give away to every one of you.  I received such nice comments from so many people and I could tell that a lot of you really did want to win this bracelet.  When I decided to do this giveaway, I wanted it to be something really nice.  I had this cuff listed in my shops for quite a long time.  It got lots and lots of looks, but I'm guessing the price tag must have put people off.  That's when I thought that rather sit and collect dust any longer (don't worry...it's been put away and not really dusty), I'd give it to one of my blogger friends.  The bad news is that there was only one Drops of Honey bracelet.  But the good news?  I've got a couple more cuffs that are sitting in my shops collecting dust.  They will make great giveaways for other milestones, right?  So there will be more chances to win something.

I used a number generator from random.org.  There were 25 entries and on the click of the button, it was number 4.  Congratulations......Mandy!!!!   Mandy is currently on a quest to learn and post something new every day for a year.  Why don't you go visit her blog, Beads for Brains, and take a look at the things she has done.

Last chance to enter my giveaway!

WIN ME!!!

I'm excited about the giveaway.  Remember, if you want to get in on the fun and have a chance to win my Drops of Honey embroidered cuff, deadline is tonight.  So hurry and get your name in the hat.  Go to the previous post for all the details!

I'm also excited about the new things I will be creating soon.  I have decided to jump head first into the pool of polymer clay.  I've seen such amazing things come from polyclay that I wanted to give it a go and see what I can do.  I am in no way, shape, or form talented in the area of painting, so making amazingly painted face cabs like Beth over at Bellesanbeaus is definitely out...but, I think I can mix clays and techniques to make some pretty cool polyclay beads and focals.  I'm hoping the birthday fairie (my daddy) comes this month.  I have on my wish list a pasta machine that I saw at Hobby Lobby, an extruder, some little cookie cutters and, of course, lots of colors of clay.  I bought a few blocks of clay about 2 weeks ago along with some tools and a bead roller.  I learned one important lesson already.  Don't use Fimo Classic!  It is soooooo hard and is nearly impossible to get soft enough to work with.  Fortunately I only bought one of those.

I have 2 books about polyclay beads on order at the library.  One of them came in and I'm going to try to get hubby to take me to the library to pick it up.  I can't drive myself....had a scare yesterday morning.  I got up early and went to the corner store.  I have no a/c so I was driving with the windows down.  I heard a swoosh-swoosh-swoosh sound coming from my tire as I was driving along.  I thought that maybe i need some air in the tire.  They sometimes make that sound if the air is too low.  Went home, got Sami ready for school and was headed out the door to take her to school.  I decided to take another look at my tire.  I bent over, put my hand on the tire as I started looking at it, and OUCH!!!!  Something cut me!!!  Holy crow...my tire is almost shredded!  The wires are coming through and the tire is all cracked around the side wall!!!!  I am sooooo lucky my tire hasn't exploded and come off already!  Especially on the freeway or something.  How dangerous is that?!  So, to make a long story short, I will not be driving my car until we can afford some new tires and I will be depending on my DH to take me where I need to go (I don't drive his van).  Sooooo I am excited about picking up the one book that came in and drooling over the pretties and learning whatever I can.  I will keep you all posted.

Also, I have learned how to make PDF patterns for beadwoven pieces.  I have made a pattern of my Wrapped in Red netted collar necklace and a pattern for my hematite flat spiral bracelet.  If you'd like to take a look, they are in my Artfire shop here.  And, I had some pros review my first patterns.  They were gracious enough to take the time to guide me along, give some critiques and suggestions, etc. to make sure that my patterns are as professional as possible.  Thank you Nicole from Beadwright and Kathy from England!!!  You two were my angels these past few days, helping me with something new.

Ok, kids.  I'm going to head off for now.  I have been rambling today, haven't I? :)  Don't forget...go to the previous post and enter the giveaway if you haven't already!

Giveaway Celebration!!!

Can you believe it?  I have reached 100 posts!  When I started this blog, October 31st of 2009, I had no idea what I would write about on a regular basis, if anyone would ever read what I had to say, or how long I would continue to do it.  So far it has been a great journey!  I have met so many wonderful people and made such good friends through the blog world.  It has been great for me because I don't get out much, and I have never been good at meeting people.  Maybe it's just that I don't put myself in situations to be able to meet new people.  I live a very sheltered life, even having gone through almost 2 years of severe agoraphobia where I barely even left my room let alone went out and spoke to someone.

I have so very much enjoyed writing, reading your comments, emailing you back and talking about things and then visiting your blogs and getting to know you through your posts.  I appreciate your friendships very much.  In return for your kindness, I would like to give away one of my pieces.  I thought about making something new, but all of you probably already know I am really short on funds, and I didn't want to skimp on anything.  I wanted to give away something special.  So what I have decided to do is take one of my cuffs out of my online shops and give it away to one of my readers for my 100th Post Celebration.  I am giving away one of my bead embroidered cuffs that I call "Drops of Honey".  It is one of my favorites.  I just love the shell discs.  The colors are so rich and creamy...they look just like nice big dollops of honey to me.  Here are some photos of it:

What do you think?  Do you like it?  It is made with an aluminum cuff base with microsuede on the inside.  It could be yours!  All you have to do is be (or become) a follower here on my blog and leave me a comment...make sure you tell me how to reach you in the event you are the winner.  If you'd like a 2nd chance to win, post this to your blog with a link to the post, and I'll even do a 3rd chance to win by sharing to your Facebook page (you'll have to friend me, too.)  Leave me a separate comment for each of your 3 ways to win so I can keep an easy count.  I will do a random number generator to pick the winner.

The deadline for entering my giveaway is going to be Saturday, April 2nd at midnight EST.  I will ship this anywhere, so everyone is welcome to enter.  I will announce the winner on Sunday, April 3rd.  I hope you like my giveaway, and I hope to see lots of entries to make my celebration a party.

Thank you again for making my blogging experience a great one!!!

Go Team!

Guess what!  I am on a team!  I am so out of shape and unathletic it's a real good thing that it's not a sports team.  No, definitely not one of those!  I joined a team on Etsy called Saturday Night Sellers.  This team does sales in their shops from 5 p.m. EST on Saturdays until 6:00 a.m. EST the next morning.  Fun, huh?  I love sales!  I will tell you all that my sale this week will be 15% off anything in my store...even the bead embroidered bracelet that is already marked down.  So that item is a double sale.  The coupon code will be sns032611.  If you've been looking at something in my shop, tomorrow night just may be the day you would want to get it.  Also, if you want to see other sales in other shops, just click on "community" at the top of the Etsy page and do a team search for Saturday Night Sellers.  There will be posts of sales there for you to look at.  Also, I probably won't run a sale every Saturday night, so come now while the gittin's good!

We are just a couple more posts away from my giveaway!  Keep coming back, and tell your friends to come keep an eye out to see what's up for grabs.  I think it's a pretty good one, if I do say so myself!

What a lucky girl I am!!!

Do you all know Cyndi from Beading Arts?  Well, she has a great blog full of fun, interesting and inspirational things that you should definitely check out!  As I got familiar with Cyndi's blog I used her category list on the right bar if you scroll down and clicked on topics such as beadweaving or bead embroidery.  I like the fact that she often includes the exact materials she used and often the instructions on how to make what she did.  What a great thing to have! 

So one day about two weeks ago Cyndi was having a giveaway of a book that I thought looked like it would be really fun, so I left a comment and crossed my fingers.  I had really forgotten about the giveaway (I never win so I lose track of deadlines and win days) when I got an email.  I WON!!!  Wow!  This was the first time I had ever won a blog giveaway, and I was truly so excited!

What is my prize?  It is a great little book called "Making Elegant Jewelry for Special Occasions" from the publisher of BeadStyle magazine. 

My copy came in the mail today, and I was excited to get into the book right away.  It has beautiful projects with sections on Crystals, Pearls and Wire.  Wouldn't you know it?  Those are my 3 favorite things!!!  If you've been following my blog you know I've been learning about wire, I almost always use crystals, and pearls top the list of my favorite things next to crystals.  Lucky me!  The directions are easy to follow, which is good for me because I have a hard time following printed patterns for beadweaving, so this is much easier.  I don't know that I will follow the designs exactly, but what awesome inspiration!

Thank you Cyndi for giving such a wonderful gift!

Super Giveaway from Videojug!

Here's a Link You Won't Want to Miss!!!!

If you've been with me for a little while, you know that I've made some beading tutorial videos for a website called Videojug.  If you haven't seen any of my videos, click here to take a peek.  I've almost completed a series on bead embroidery stitches.  I got an email from Videojug today that they are having an awesome promotional giveaway!  How would you like to win an HD video camera?  How would you like to win two of them?  Ok, that's not it either...Actually, how would you like to win THREE HD video cameras?!?!  If you go to their Facebook page and click "like", they will pick a random fan on March 1st to win one video camera for themselves and one for each of two friends who are also fans.  How amazing would that be???  To go to their Facebook page, click HERE.  And remember who sent ya. ;)

I hope you all are having a good week so far.  I am still waiting anxiously for the mailman to bring me itty bitty little presents.

What a Sweepstakes!!!

I just got an email from Artbeads.com.  They have just launched a holiday giveaway called Stocking Stuffer Sweepstakes!  What's up for grabs is a stocking full of beads and a $100 gift card!  woohoo!  Who wouldn't want that?  I have already entered, and of course I really really really want to win, but in case it's not me...I hope it's one of my readers.

Click here to enter the contest.  Good luck!!!

Here it is the day before Thanksgiving, and I am going through my head all the things I need to do to prepare for our outing to visit family.  Gotta go shopping tonight for some goodies, gotta make the green bead casserole (as I do every year, because mine's the best :)  gotta get Sara's hair all curled up and a bit of little girl makeup on, gotta get myself ready.  In the meantime today I've got to clean the kitchen and cook a pork roast.  Oh, and I forgot that I also have to repair a necklace.  So many things to do!  But, I am taking a moment to slow down and smell the roses.  What is this holiday about anyways?  Thankfulness.  Not the rush rush rush.

What I am thankful for most in the entire world is my family.  I have the best husband in the world, and all four of my children are gems in their own unique ways.  I would be a lost soul if not for them.  They are everything to me.  Especially more so now than ever before.  A couple years ago my husband and I separated, and I was very ill so he was better equipped to take care of the kids.  It was a very dark and dreary period in my life.  So I am eternally thankful for my second chance.  And it has been pure bliss.

I am also thankful for you...those of you who take the time to come visit my blog in my little corner of the world.  And thank you to those of you who take precious moments from your own time to leave me comments of encouragement, critique, and just fun things to read.  I appreciate all of you and am glad to have the pleasure of calling you my friends.

With that said, I hope all of you have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend, full of love and laughter.

And the winner is........

It's after midnight EST and I have done the drawing for my beaded pin.  I put everyone's entries on a list in the order they came in.  Then I used a Random Number Generator.  There were 22 total entries and the number selected was 21.  That means that Pattee from Odd-Dolls has won the pin!  Congratulations, Pattee!  Please send me an email with your full name and address to indigosbeads@live.com so I can get it sent off to you.  btw, Pattee makes very unique and fun dolls, and she has really adorable chicks and ducks so check out her blog too.

I wanted to say thank you to those of you who responded to my giveaway, and for the links and the new followers...welcome!  Keep coming back...you never know when I might have another giveaway!

Giveaway Day!

I made something new and decided that I would like to share it with one of you.  It's a brooch that is 2" wide and about 2" tall.  The fringe hangs 2 1/2" below the main circle part.  I used felt to bead on, a beautiful color of silver-lined transparent brown bugles surrounded by a great Czech mix called Tortoise.  The main cab is wood, and the fringe is various shapes and sizes of glass and metallite beads.  It was a lot of fun to put together.  I'm not sure how many people out there are into pins, but I do think this one is pretty (if I do say so myself :) and the photo doesn't show the colors in the tortoise mix very well.  It would look great on a jacket or a blouse...keep it for yourself or gift it to someone special.

SO....Here's what you do!

You can have up to 3 chances to win!  (you don't have to do all 3 if you don't want to...but you do need to leave a comment.)

1) Leave a comment to this post
2) Be or become a follower
3) Post a link to my giveaway on your blog  (see note below under rule change)

So, in your comment tell me if you are now or are becoming a follower and let me know if you are linking to your blog.  I'll also need an email address to contact you.  Either leave one in your comment, or email me at indigosbeads@live.com with your contact info.

That's it!  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!  Oh...the deadline for commenting is midnight EST on Wednesday 5/12.

RULE CHANGE
lol.  Mary-Frances brought up kind of a funny point.  If she posts a link she'll be potentially adding to the competition.  hehe  I didn't think of it that way.  Well, if you post a link I'll put your name in TWO extra times.  Does that make it a little better?  lol.

A Giveaway

I just wanted to let everyone know that my good friend Beth over at Bellesanbeaus Crafts is giving away this gorgeous hand made/painted cab in tribute of Mother's Day.  You only have a few days left (April 30) so go see her right away!  She does amazing work!  Take a look at these beauties...

Made by Beth Evans at Bellesanbeaus Crafts