Milestone Giveaway: 1000 Facebook Fans!

Feel like I should add some stars and balloons to the photo!

Last week I hit one of those personal milestones: 1000 Facebook fans for Skunk Hill Studio.  The past year and a half has been an incredible journey.  Producing my newest book, I have connected with so many fascinating, creative, artistic people throughout the world.   Thank you for sharing this journey with me!

Celebrating the milestone, I'm hosting a little giveaway.  Leave a comment on my Facebook page, and you'll be entered to win one of my ebooks or tutorials.  Freeform peyote, fancy fish, elegant beaded beads; if it's digital, the choice is yours.

I'll be drawing a winner on Wednesday (July 22nd), so you have until I sit down at my computer Wednesday morning to enter.  Don't you love my precision deadline? 

Thank you!

Winners for the Book Blog Tour for Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say "Hi" during Explorations in Freeform Peyote's Book Tour.  From the 78 entries, here are the winners of the Door Prize drawings:

Third Prize:  74 Becky Clay
Third Prize:  32 Doug van Dyke

Second Prize: 26 Beaded Tail
Third Prize: 65 Carolyn

Grand Prize: 36 Anne Marie

Blogger Hopper Prize: Creajet
  

Congratulations to all of the winners!  Please contact me so that I can arrange to mail your prize to you.  I've emailed everyone for whom I have an email address, but Doug and Becky - I need you to email me by Wednesday, January 28 to claim your prize.  

The Blogger Hopper Prize was a special drawing I added for people who left comments on all six participating blogs.

The Prizes again include:  
 

JJ Jacob's glass work & some sample bead soups

Grand Prize:  a signed copy of Explorations, along with a complete set of ten postcards with images from the book, AND a Bead Soup mix based around a lampworked bead(s) by artist JJ Jacobs.  Her fused glass cabochon was the inspiration for my Opal Essence necklace (shown in my alternate cover above).  She's sent me a similar fused glass cabochon, and I've put together a bead soup in blues sufficient to make a similar necklace should you desire. ($100 value)
 



Second Prize (2):   a Freeform Bracelet kit (beads only) to make your own version of my Nautilus Flower Cuff OR Demeter’s Harvest Bracelet.  I will draw one winner for each bead set.  Each set will include all of the beads, including the closure, to make a bracelet similar to mine.  
 
Third Prize (2):  Small bead soup mix and postcard set.  This set will include enough beads to make a smaller project like a Personal planets beaded bead, pendant or several rings.  These prizes have grown, again thanks to JJ Jacobs!  They now include bead soup mixes with three of JJ Jacob's Waterdrop 'sea glass' beads.  You can see more of her beads here!  

Blog Hopper Special:  ebook versions of Explorations, including Kindle, ePub and the interactive PDF.   (I'm hoping to have the final Kindle and ePub versions available by this coming Friday!)


Thanks again to everyone who helped to make my first ever Book Blog Tour a smashing success!

Winners of my Because You Rock Giveaway

Thanks for another great year!  2013 saw growth in almost every area of my business and I couldn't have done it without all of you.

It's now time to announce the winners to my Because You Rock Giveaway.  Yes, winners, plural!  It seems only right that a fantastic December here at Skunk Hill Studio translates into a little extra beady cheer for two of the amazing people who helped make 2013 awesome.  So, drumroll please, the winners are:

Miriam W 

and 

Vala R

You've just won a little beaded bead pendant (similar to the one's in the picture) made by me in the color of your choice.  You both should receive an email from me in the next hour. 

Because you Rock Giveaway

Thank you!  For stopping by and reading my blog.  For participating in the challenges I've hosted this year.  For purchasing my kits and tutorials.  For spreading the word and helping to make this the best year yet for my Etsy store.  For sticking with me through the year.  It is truly thanks to you and everyone else like you that I can continue to produce new patterns and tutorials like my Fancy Fish Friends. And you rock!  

I've decided to host a little Give Away to say thanks for all your support and to finish out the year on an upswing.  

What will I be giving away, you ask?  How about a little beaded bead pendant like either of the two pictured at the left.  I'll even make it in whatever color the winner desires (provided I can find beads in that color).  

How do you enter the giveaway? Here's how:

• You can get an entry for visiting my main Etsy store, favoriting an item, then coming back here and commenting to let me know what you chose.  If you've favorited an item in the past, you can use that if you'd prefer.
• I'll give you a bonus entry if you let me know why you chose that particular item or items (I'm looking for concrete, constructive ideas here - something beyond 'because I liked it' which, while cool, doesn't give me much to go on in terms of continuous quality improvement).
• I'll also give you a bonus entry if you make a concrete suggestion for future additions to my Etsy store - something you'd love to see in 2014.  
• I'll give you an extra entry if you mention and link to this giveaway on your blog or Facebook page, too.  Just comment on my blog and let me know where you've posted. 
• Anyone who makes a purchase at my Etsy store automatically gets TWO entries.
• I'll also give an additional entry for every $25 in purchases - so if you made a $50 purchase, you'd get four entries.  For this purpose, I'll be counting all purchases made between November 15th and December 31st, 2013.
• If you've made a purchase in my Etsy store previously and you buy something between now and the end of the year, I'll give you an extra entry for being a repeat customer. 

Winner Selection and Upping the Stakes

I'll be choosing the winner (and if there are a LOT of entries - winners) randomly.  Lastly, if I break my Monthly Sales Record for my Skunk Hill Studio Etsy store, not only will I do a happy dance, I'll add in a separate Grand Prize of a Fancy Fish hand-stitched by me.  But that's only if my December sales top those from July 2013 (my best month to date). 

I'll announce the winner(s) on my Blog on Thursday, January 2nd.

Make sure I have a way to contact you in case you are the winner (the easiest is if your profile is set up so I can send you an email).  If for some reason I am unable to contact you, I reserve the right to choose another winner.  But I'd really, really hate to have to do that.  

I'm in a Podcast! And I'm CoHosting a Design Challenge and Blog Hop!

Mandi Ainsworth over at Bead Circle contacted me earlier this month to see if I'd be willing to do a podcast interview about freeform peyote beading, my work and my design process.  I was stunned and tickled by the invitation and promptly said 'Yes!'  Then immediately started wondering what I'd gotten myself into.  Some of her other podcast interviews have included interviews with Marcia DeCoster and Jean Campbell; hard acts to follow!  

Today's the day it goes live!  I haven't actually heard it yet (since I'm really writing this post on Tuesday, set to launch Wednesday morning while I'm sound asleep) and I'm more than a little nervous and a lot excited.  We had such a great time talking, and Mandi promised to edit out my horrendous flubs.  Yeah for editing! Thank you Mandi!!!

While we were setting up the interview, one of us commented 'wouldn't it be fun to do a Freeform Peyote Challenge and Blog Hop'.  That's something I've drempt of doing for ages now, but never quite felt like it was the right time.  But now the time has come! 

Choose Your Own Adventure - Freeform Peyote Challenge and Blog Hop

Signups:                         January 16-31st, 2013
Blog Hop & Reveal:     February 23, 2013

To Signup:
Email Mandi or myself including your name, email address and blog URL.   Or leave a comment with your email address on this post, telling me you'd like to join in. If you don't have a blog but would like to participate, let me know - as long as you can email me photos and text, I'll make sure you're included in the hop. 

Mandi and I will compile a list of participants to include in our posts for the reveal date, and also keep you informed of any changes or special happenings.

Rules:
Everyone is invited to join in, whatever your familiarity or skill level with freeform peyote.  The goal here is to challenge yourself and choose your own adventure.  

On the reveal day, post a photo (or photos) of what you made and include a paragraph or two about your piece.  If this is your first time working with freeform peyote, tell us about your experience.

Resources
Planning for this challenge, I started a new group on Facebook: Freeform Peyote Beading that is already turning into a wonderful source of inspiration.  To join, you'll need to send me a request through Facebook and I'll happily add you in.

And I've launched a new Freeform Peyote Beading Facebook Page where all you have to do is hit 'Like' and it's added to your Newsfeed stream.

I'll also post a series of links to additional resources later this month.

Giveaway
What's a party without party favors?  Leave a comment on Mandi's blog telling us what excites (or frightens) you most about freeform peyote for a chance to win a copy of my book on freeform peyote.

If you already own a copy of my book, share what you like most about it and if your name is drawn, I'll send you something else of equivalent value, likely a bead soup for freeform peyote. 

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Okay, maybe not literally; it's still a bit too warm here in Seattle for actual snow. But I was treated to a flurry of snowflakes yesterday and how pretty they were! Yesterday nine students joined me for my second annual Snowflakes and Stars class at Fusion Beads. Such a fun, festive time we had!

Snowflakes clockwise from top left by L. Kay Rokusek, Cathy Warms, Nancy Lundeen, Debby Smick

Karen Lusby's snowflake with her bead selections

I truly enjoy teaching at Fusion Beads.  They have two great classroom spaces and they really go out of their way to take care of their instructors and their students.  And this is one of my favorite classes to teach because a) I get to share one of my favorite, quick and extremely versatile patterns and b) I receive all sorts of inspiration from my students' creations. 

Isn't Kay's garnet, white and silver snowflake at the top left above stunning?  It's so rich and regal.  Nancy named her snowflake at the bottom right 'Siena' because it reminded her of the floor tile mosaics there.  Every student tried something different, and every snowflake was truly unique.  Thank you to everyone who let me photograph their work to share here.  

Karen Lusby even suggested I include her bead selections in my photos of her lovely pastel rainbow creation.  I took one photo just of the snowflake, and then another with the bead packets - transparent light azure AB, transparent light lilac lined AB and sterling plated iris over clear. 

Now, it's time to draw for the winner of my Snowflakes and Stars Kit and tutorial.  Between the two blog posts where people entered, there were a total of sixteen entries.  I printed out the comments and started to assign numbers so I could use Random.org, my usual method for determining a winner.

Looking at the neatly arranged comments, I decided to do something different this time, so I chopped the pages up into strips, folded the strips and put them all into my hat.  Then I woke my sleeping husband and demanded he draw a name from the hat.  After a little wait during which time I thought he'd simply fallen back asleep, a hand snaked out and plucked a piece of paper, which he then tucked under his pillow.  Luckily, only a peck on the cheek was required to achieve it's release. 

When I finally opened the paper, I found Christine Altmiller's name winking up at me from the page.  So Christine - you are the winner of my bead kit!  Congratulations and I hope you enjoy!  Let me know whether you'd like Cobalt, Silver and Gold or Snow White and Silvery Blues for your kit.  I'd love to get this out to you tomorrow.

Thank you all for participating!  And check back - this isn't the last give away I'm planning for the holiday season.  At least one more is still to come. 

And the Lucky Number is 3

I spent the day at the School House Craft conference. 

It was billed as "a dynamic three day conference for people wanting to gain the skills to run a successful creative small business" and I have to say that Day One definitely lived up to the billing.  I have pages of notes and action items from the sessions I attended, as well as reports on some of the other sessions. And I received some great feedback about my kits from some of the other people sitting at my table over lunch. (Yes, I pulled out two of my bead kits to see what people who knew nothing about beading, but lots about handmade, thought of my presentation.  I'm shameless!)

I promise to write more about the conference, but you may have to wait a week or two until I have time to digest it all first.

In the meantime, I promised to do a drawing for the next stop in the Art Bead Love Chain Tour.  So, drum roll please!  I decided to let Random.org do the honors.....
 

And it looks like the Art Bead Chain will be heading to Cindy at Devine Designs next.  Cindy - I will be emailing you to invoice you the $6.00 for shipping for the chain. 

The Ingredients for Bead Soup

Have ingredients, time to start working on the recipe

I absolutely adore receiving packages in the mail!  And yesterday's package from my Bead Soup partner Judy Riley was one of the best! 

I loved the way she packaged it - all done up in a bright summery party bag.  It even matched my summer table cloth!  And inside what did I find but over a half dozen individually wrapped packages.  The little kid in my scrambled forward and began tearing into the little guys.  It was a feeding frenzy at my house.  Luckily no one was there to see me as paper went flying and I chortled and crowed with each package I unwrapped.

So pretty!  You absolutely rock Judy!  Thank you!  Isn't that stone focal gorgeous?  I love the deep blues, and how they're offset by the cream and red/browns.

This is going to be so much fun!  Now I have a little over a month to come up with something (and to finish out several extant projects as well).

Lori Anderson is giving this Bead Soup mix away to one lucky person

In the meantime, Lori Anderson, our amazing Bead Soup hostess, has posted a giveaway to her blog.  The thing is, the giveaway is actually FIVE separate give-aways rolled into one.  First there's this lovely Bead Soup mix, with items from her stash and donated by several other amazing artists.

Four more give-aways from Lori Anderson

Then she's giving away copies of her two books - her upcoming book on Bead Soup published by Kalmbach Books, and her ebook on the art and craft of blogging, Follow the Path.  Lori's is one of my favorite blogs, with it's mix of humor, beads, and peaks into her life, mind and heart.  I know that there's a lot I could learn from her to improve my own blog and will definitely be picking up a copy of her ebook if I don't happen to win it on Friday. She's also giving away a Bead Soup tote bag and a Mystery Soup of her own creation. 

The drawing's this Friday, July 13th.  Hop on over to her blog if you'd like a chance to win.

101 Face Book Fans Milestone Celebration and Giveaway

Last week, I hit one of my milestones of a hundred and one fans for my Skunk Hill Studio Facebook page.  To celebrate, I thought I'd host a giveaway.  No puppies, I promise!  None of those in residence here, without or without their spots.  What I do have a is ton of beads (sort of spot-like), so I thought I'd give some of them away in two separate prizes.

In the first prize, the beads are cleverly disguised as a pair of earrings.  I've selected this pair at left.  They're a pair of openwork freeform beading using right angle weave and peyote stitch with Vintaj antique brass ear wires and a $45.00 value.  If you've followed my blog for a while, you might remember them from my January earring challenge.

I personally think they're a lovely pair, and was tempted to keep them for myself.  But, since I believe in the freedom of choice, I'll make you an additional offer.  You're welcome to look through my Etsy store - if you see another pair you prefer, favorite it on Etsy and let me know.  If you win the earrings, then the one you marked is yours. If you favorite more than one, make sure you let me know which is your top choice!

Freeform Peyote Beading kit - includes beads & book

The second prize is designed for my do-it-yourselfer friends, and also comes with a choice.  The winner may choose either:

Kit Package A: including both my Lacework Bracelets and my Corset Beads kits mentioned in my last blog post. The prize will include both tutorials and all beads necessary to make a single-color lacework bracelet and two corset beaded beads. 

or

Kit Package B: my book, Freeform Peyote Beading and all of the beads necessary to make a bracelet similar to my Autumn Rain.  During my original bead selection for the piece, I divided all of my beads into four portions.  One of each was used to make the bracelet, while I held the remain three of each in reserve.  Earlier this year, I combined the three remaining kits into two, to make the bead packets a little more robust.  So this is a very limited edition kit.  Both kits prizes have a $45.00 value.

If you have a preference as to which prize you win - earrings, kits or either - let me know.   I'd really like the kits to go to someone who will use them.  :)

Now that you know the prizes, here are the rules for entry:

1. Since I'm celebrating my Facebook Fans, you need to be one to win.  If you're not already a fan, it's not too late become one.  :)  Update:  I'm already seeing a potential problem - if your Facebook profile name and Google profile name differ, please make sure there's an easy way for me to connect the two! 
2. You can gain chances to win by any of the following (up to, I think four, chances):  Comment here on my blog and/or on my Facebook page.  Tell me what you'd like best or what you'd like to see more of.  Post about this on your blog or Facebook, and let me know that you've done so. 

I'll do the drawing a week and a half from today, on Wednesday, June 27th.

And thank you all!

A Regifting Give Away

At last month's general meeting for the NW Bead Society, Kendra Bruno, Executive Director for the International Society of Glass Beadmakers gave a fun lecture combining a bit of the history of glass beadmaking, along with overviews of the past and present focuses of the ISGB itself, including a wonderful slide show of their two of their most recent traveling art exhibits. 


As part of her talk, she gave a way catalogs for both of the exhibits,  Trajectories focusing on the art of the glass bead and Convergence, which focused on contemporary jewelry design with glass beads.  These catalogs are gorgeous eye candy.  But the truth is, I already have a copy of both.  Oops! 

So I thought I'd pass them along so that someone else might enjoy them too. 

a sneak peak inside the Convergence catalog

two gorgeous pieces after my own heart from the Trajectories catalog

If you'd like a copy, let me know by leaving a comment.  I'll do a random drawing next Wednesday, May 16th.