Couple of Giveaways

Has anyone else come down with the ick that's been going around?  My boss got it, she gave it to our department assistant, and then they both gave it to me. I'm on my third day off work and going just a little bit crazy.  Acute viral laryngitis and bronchitis. Yuck!

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about some giveaways that are going on in the blog world.

First, Shea from gr8findings is having a giveaway of some of her fine silver components.  Shea actually won my giveaway from the Bead Soup Blog Party, so I was excited to enter her giveaway too! 

 (Picture taken from Shea's blog)

These are handmade by her! Aren't they yummy!  I've never worked with fine silver before (is it different from sterling?)  As you can tell, I'm clueless. The only thing I really know about silver is that it's extra super expensive right now and that it's pretty and sparkly!  :)


The other giveaway is by our Bead Soup hostess herself, Lori Anderson.  Check out her post here to enter.  She's giving away seed beads.  (I say those words in a whisper because I'm afraid of them. I've always admired seed beaders, but have been too afraid to try.)  I was sent seed beads with my bead soup, but I use them pretty much as spacers, etc.

(Picture from Lori's blog)

Hop over to Shea and Lori's blogs and enter.  Although, why bother - I'm going to win them both!  ;)

Can I Ask You a Question?

This has been a sensitive topic and I won't get too much into it.  I know Lorelei has had some posts about it and so have some other people.

My question has to do with "copying" someone else's designs.  When I get my issue of Stringing or Creative Jewelry and see a piece that knocks my socks off, and there is a list of materials and step-by-step instructions of how to make it, is it okay to make that piece?

I am talking about a necklace I saw in Creative Jewelry last summer and I fell in head over heels in love with it. I am in the process of making that necklace. However, I'm using a different pendant, different stones, different spacers, even brass instead of silver.  I am not planning to sell the necklace - I am going to wear it.  I don't sell my jewelry, anyway.  Is it okay to make it and wear it?  And is it okay to show you on my blog, if I tell you where the inspiration came from?

And then, to add to that, what if I see a bracelet on someone's blog and I say to myself, "oh, I like the way she has the bead over there like that and it's attached like that, and then there's that other stuff over there."  Is it okay to use my own beads and just kind of make a take-off of that bracelet, even if it's my own interpretation? 

I truly don't want to start a huge debate - really, really, really don't want to start a debate. I just don't want to break any rules of etiquette amongst the beading community that I may not know about yet because I'm new to the community.

Woohoo - I'm Done!

I'm not done seeing all the Bead Soup.  That may take a little while longer.  I am, however, done with my Google Reader. I've been neglecting it for the past couple of weeks and I was up to over 800 unread posts.  I have been sitting in this chair for about three hours and I finally got through them all!  So excited!  This week's goal is to finish looking at the rest of the Bead Soup.

So in February, I got a big bonus at work and a pretty big tax refund.  So, I bought a new laptop (my old laptop was dying and since I take online classes, it was a necessity), a Kindle, and a recliner for our house.  I also bought some pretties.  Want to see some beady eye candy?

Lampwork from Sooz Beads.  The colors on the first one are my very favorite colors - all on ONE BEAD! (Insert scream of joy!)  And don't you love the bubblies in the turquoise ones?

Pendants from Unique Buttons.  I am loving peachy/pinky colors lately and these definitely spoke to me.

I'm in love with Czech glass lately - the colors, the Picasso finish, the affordable price - everything.  I got these lovelies from Bead and Ribbon.  Aren't they delicious?  What's even better s that I bought a ton of them and they were still sooooo affordable!

And the ones that I'm positively drooling over:

It's the Mermaid Tail bundle from Gaea!  I am a sucker for the beach. I grew up in Minnesota - Land of 10,000 Lakes.  My town was right on the Mississippi River and one of the houses where we lived was right on the beach.  My boyfriend is from Maine - you can stumble out of his parent's house and be at the beach eating lobster.  Love the ocean and everything to do with it.  Sand dollars? Starfish? Mermaids? Shells?  Sea Glass?  Gimme 'em all!

So that's how I spent a tiny bit of my bonus.  Have you bought anything beautiful lately?

Soup Hangover! (Giveaway winner announced!)

Hi, all! 

What an amazing Bead Soup Blog Party!  I am still working my way through all the blogs - can you believe there were over 200 of us?!  I'm not that terribly far down the list yet - this week kind of kicked my butt. I had a big math test and an economics exam.  It was...a bit stressful. 

I am so grateful to all of you who stopped by and left a comment - it truly warmed my heart!  You all must be a lot quicker than I when it comes to the blog hopping.  I have never had this many comments on a post before - it was wonderful!  I promise I'll work on getting to your blogs this weekend, or even the next one. 

I have used the Random.org generator to choose a winner for the necklace I created and Christine Damm, your number was called!  Christine, I've sent you an email to let you know, so email me and let me know your mailing address and I'll get it in the mail!  (I used the word "mail" a lot in that sentence).

Before the Bead Soup party, I was very hesitant about posting pictures of any of the jewelry I'd made because as you can tell by my blog header, I'm still new and I was completely intimidated by all the beautiful stuff out there.  I mean, take a look at Lorelei, Lori, Kelly, and Erin, for example.  Their work is what I aspire to in like a million years.  So yeah, I was intimidated.  Your comments meant so much to me, though, that it made me want to continue showing you what I make, even if it's not as good as their stuff. I'll get there.  So thank you all for your kindness - you have no idea how much that means!

So with that in mind, I've chosen two more people who commented on my post and will be sending them some bead soup.

Commenter #13 was Shea of gr8findings and commenter #40 was Jennifer Cameron of Glass Addictions.  Ladies, I've emailed you too, and you can just respond with your mailing addresses and I'll get your soup in the mail to you!

Thank you all again - we'll talk again soon!