Winners of stuff, and more stuff to win :D

Okay so I'm a *tad* late with the blogging... you all should know by now I'm unpredictable in my procrastinating :P  I've been saying for the past.. so many days that I was going to post, so... here... I'm posting :D

Actually, I went from having one thing I 'could' post about , and maybe toss a couple of these other things in.... to having a crap load of stuff to ACTUALLY blog about.

So, to start things off.

There have been several giveaways here this month. Half of those prizes were won by previous winners/ participants here, and so, since I already had their snail mails, I just packaged up their goodies and mailed them off to them... without telling them they won.

So... if you won something here before, or took part in something where you gave me your address, and entered any of the giveaways here this month... you might very well open your mail box next week to a little surprise :)

Freebie Friday #9 was one of these... and while I won't say the name of the person who won it,  if you really want to know if it was you, just pop back to the FF blog and the winners name is listed right on the rafflecopter widget.

So, while we're in between F.F.'s, I'll do another little giveaway or two :) 

Speaking of which, I had two little ones last week that had very few entrants, but wow, what entrants they were!

In ' Slogging Through' I tossed up three bundles of faux suede cording , and to enter you just had to tell me a joke. Anonymous (zanc@att.net) , Lisa ( Pine Ridge Treasures), Beth, Shaiha, Jami , & Anvil Artifacts, all left a joke or two to brings smiles :) Six entries... so I took six flower beads, assigned each person a color, and tossed the beads towards a roll of packing tape I put on the floor. The only bead to land inside the roll of tape ( and stay there, since one bounced right back out again) won. That would be the bead assigned to Anonymous - who's entry I'll count because they left an email addie I can identify them with. I'm not emailing them... if they'd left their name or linked to their facebook or blog... I *might've * dropped in and left a little nudge, but... email is too impersonal.  So 'zanc', if I don't hear from you by Friday, Oct.5th, One of the other jokers will get them instead ;)

On 'Who Wants Free Stuff?' , I asked for links to funny websites or videos in exchange for a chance to win some pretty little glass beads. I received one comment that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything so I tossed it as spam, >.< lol  Rita ( Toltec Jewels ) & Susan are the only ones who entered that one, and Susan's link damn near killed me. I had to force myself to keep reading through the laughter and tears. When I recovered, I immediately shared it :D I haven't heard from my mother since... so I don't know whether she read it... and wet her pants from laughing so hard and so is rather ticked at me for sharing ... ;) or if she never read it.. in which case, I'll have to print it out for her :D hehehe  At any rate, I'd decided as soon as I read it, that whether Susan won or not, I was totally sending her something... THAT was a prize worthy laugh, let me tell you. Two entries doesn't really inspire me to come up with a way to choose the winner though, so... I'll just put together a twin bundle of beads to match the one I photographed and send it to the both of them. Ladies, you've got until Friday, Oct. 5th to send me your snail mails! 

As well, on the same blog, I posted for participants in my ' Pay It Forward'.

Lina58 & Carolyn will both be receiving a little handmade surprise from me at some point when they least expect it ;)  I'll be contacting you both for your snail mails and a few ' likes/dislikes' to play with.

Rita, I wasn't sure if you were saying you wanted to PIF again or not. If you do, let me know. If not, then I have one more spot open. Anyone interested, stick  the letters 'PIF' in a comment  to this post, and if Rita says no, I'll go with you :) If more than one person 'PIF's' , I'll... roll a die or throw some beads to pick which one gets in ;) lol

Okay.. so THOSE are done. The new FF for October will go up next Friday, and it'll be another 'extra nice' one. I'd like to point out that when I packed the last up, wow that little sucker was heavy... I hadn't realized it would be.. I was almost afraid to see the shipping cost, but amazingly enough, it was the same as most of the others I mailed off... must have *just* slipped under the wire though lol

Okay... off track again... 

Like I said, I have lots of stuff to share... but I'll just tease you about most of it today ;)

I finally used some of my precious artbeads ( *gasp* ), as well as some of the VERY FIRST lampwork beads made by a talented gentleman, who I guess I'll finally post about now *L*. I have some jewelry photos as well as other photos to share, plus I'm heading off to Pumpkin Fest at some point this weekend, so I'll have even MORE photos to share next week :) If you haven't heard of it, google it ' PumpkinFest  Port Elgin' . It's HUGE. they've had the Guinness World Record  Pumpkin, as well as several other veggies, there a few times, plus they have a MASSIVE antique car show... as in they shut down the entire main street as well as at least one of the side streets. A few years ago they had one of the original 60's tv Batmobiles  there... of course I didn't go that year >.< My brother took a pic for me though! Last year they had some gorgeous motorcycles too :)

Crap...distracted again... where was I? Oh right.. stuff to tease you about that I might remember to blog about soon...

Oh, three quarters of the parcels I mailed off yesterday are in fancy envelopes. Some of the previous ones I've sent have been in 'special' packing too, but I've decided to keep adding that special touch and ensuring smiles when those mail boxes open. No more looking at a plain, boring brown or white envelope and wondering who it's from or what it might be... no... you'll see a pretty blue and white butterfly bedecked envelope and KNOW it's from me :D ...or.. at least know it's special ;) lol   I sent two 'non-butterfly' packages yesterday, too.. but that's only because they were a smaller envelope and I hadn't had time to figure out the best way to fancy them up. Next time I send out that size, they'll be fancy too :)  

 See? Isn't that much nicer than a boring old brown thing in your mailbox? lol  btw .. that white squiggly thing on the top right corner .. that's a piece of fishing line taped to the board..  I was hanging earrings off it for photos earlier and never took it off >.< 

The reason I just told you all that... aside from making you cross your fingers and wish to see butterflies every time you open your mail boxes ... was because I was thinking I might just do a little tutorial to show you all how to make your packages extra special too :)

I'm sure there was more that I was going to say but... my brain is now stuck on making butterfly envelopes and walking around looking at fancy cars with a coffee in my hand on a (hopefully) nice Fall morning lol

I'll leave you with another little prize for a couple of you to win :)

All you have to do is tell me your favorite thing to do in Autumn. And yes, that includes baking or cooking something special.. but I think you should share a link to the recipe if you've got one ;)  A random winner will get their choice of which pair they want.. and the remaining pair will go to a second winner.. that may or may not be random.. which is.. kinda random if you think about it ;) lol

~ Skye

Who wants free stuff?

Silly question, right?

Well, while I AM posting another little giveaway in here with some of those beads I mentioned in my last post, that's not what I am talking about.

It's IS free stuff, but... not the free stuff in question...

... if I'm not making sense, please keep in mind I'm sick, feverish and generally blah, so ... yeah... I'm weird enough on a normal level.. when I'm sick, I'm down right freakin' bizarre :D

 ... and I lost my train of thought.... >.< Oh Free Stuff, right! lol

Well this stuff isn't exactly 'free' ... since you have to reciprocate ..( oooh.. remembered the word I wanted AND spelled it right the first time...  you have no clue how amazing that is... )

 .. crap.. stop distracting me >.< 

 PAY IT FORWARD !

there... 

Pips of Pips Jewelry  got me :)  I'd been seeing the various pay it forward posts and wanted to get involved, but just had too much on my table at the time. Once I cleared my list a bit, I decided the next blog I saw with it, I'd try to jump in... and wow was I lucky  it was Pips :) 

Anyhow, I wasn't one of the three... but then neither was she... she was an extra add in from the sweet person whose blog she commented on, so she did a couple extras on hers and I was one of them :)

So the rules of this are simple.

The first three people who leave a comment will receive a hand made gift from me some time in the next year ; the exact what and when will be a surprise. I'll note you about  your snail mail addie, and any favorite colors or allergies or stuff like that , then one day you'll open your mail box to find a surprise :)

IF you are one of the three chosen, than you have to do the same... post a blog and make three gifts. If that seems like too much for you, keep in mind, you have an entire year to make and mail off those gifts. Plus, the rules state 'handmade' ... not anything specific. Just because the majority of the blogs I've seen this on have been jewelry blogs, doesn't mean that handmade gift has to be jewelry.. or even jewelry related.

I do a bit of everything so you never know... you might get some jewelry from me... or maybe a little painting... or a little plushie... Heck, it'll totally depend on what your reply to my note will inspire me to do ;)

Hmm.. you know what...? I just realized that if I do the little giveaway in this post, the first three comments might end up being people who aren't interested in paying it forward...

So... how about this.

If you're commenting about the the pay it forward,  have 'PIF' in your comment, along with your 'entry' to the giveaway :) That way you can enter both in one comment ;)

If your one of the first three comments but don't have PIF in it, I'll know you're not interested in taking part and will move to the next one.You'll still be entered in the giveaway .... assuming you followed the rules ;)

So... giveaway :)

sorry for the slight blur...I didn't have the energy to get the tripod and set it up.  So here's a selection of glass beads, some a soft minty green, some orange and some flowers in greens and browns. The flowers are about 10mm wide, and the largest of the rounds is about an 8mm.

The last giveaway , which is still open, asked for jokes to cheer me up. This one.. hmm... send me a link to your favorite internet funny; whether it be a video, comic, or blog :)  One link per comment, please :).. but you can comment more than once ;)  

So leave a link to enter the giveaway, and 'PIF' to enter the pay it forward :)

I'm gonna go curl back up on the couch now and burrow back under my heaps of blankets >.<

Slogging through...

Yeah... I have no clue if it's a real word, but it fits how I feel at the moment so... deal with it.

With the 'In The Pink' out in the open and just a few  late additions to do with that on occasion now, My 'to-do' list has been knocked all the way down to a few over due projects and the blogs to accompany them

- Need to finish my fiberwire piece that I started AGES ago, then ended up getting waylaid by a certain project ;) Sorry, Marla - I DID make something with some of it, and I WILL finish it shortly and share! 

- Need to do a blog piece on some fabulous lampwork beads and their creator... I keep putting it off because I wanted to use a couple of them first ... but things kept getting in the way >.< 

- Need to finish reorganizing my workspace... again. I'm getting there, though... slowly but surely! It's giving me time to discover what isn't working before I get it all in place... the little baggies in the drawer that I thought would be perfect, keep getting caught when I open the drawers... need to figure a way around that...

- Need to design, make, photograph and mail  my earrings for my partner in the 'Mismatched ArtBead Earring Swap' hosted by Diana of Suburban Girl Studio . This is actually now first on my list, since the mailing deadline is September 29th. I have a definite idea for my design, but don't seem to be able to find the bead I want in my stash... If I can't find it in the next day or so, I'll have to alter my design idea :(

... and I need to find the little note book I wrote my full 'to-do' list in... I seemed to have misplaced it while clearing my desk off on Friday... >.< I have my little design/project/password note book here... and the new little notebook that I just found the other day that has my 'to mail' list -all the goodies from this month's giveaways so far. The items themselves are in little baggies in a special drawer with the addresses taped to them, and the list is to remind me I haven't mailed them yet. I decided to hold them in case any of the winners won more than once ;)

Oh, and THAT brings me to the reason I decided to write this lol

Giveaways :)

For the record, I DID draw winners for the button earrings and the pendant. I did them the same way I did the sock draw... I assigned each name a number, wrote them out on paper, folded them and shook them up... then tossed them and the one the cat went for first, won :)

But no, I'm not going to tell you who won either of them :) You see, I don't NEED to contact them for the addresses ... both winners had won things from me previously, so I already HAVE their address.... it just took me forever of digging through emails to find them.. but I HAVE them :D So I decided I'll just keep my mouth shut and let that little packet suddenly appearing in your mailboxes be notice enough ;)

Of course, that means I need to toss up a new giveaway. I just lucked out and found a great deal on some beads.. so of course I'm going to share some of them...  But I'm not in the mood to play with my camera right now. I'm sick, my throat feels like I swallowed sandpaper, and my nose has become a very leaky faucet - I'm on the verge of wedging tissue into it just so I can finish a paragraph without needing to stop to blow and sanitize >.<

.. where was I ..? Oh right... but don't worry, I'll toss those beads up next time. In the mean time, I'll toss up one that I already have a picture for :)

Three bundles of faux suede cording :) And heck, I'll even toss in a little surprise to go along with them... maybe a little mini bead bundle, or some clasps or findings... or maybe a pendant...

So... to enter.. hmm...

I know.. I feel like crap .. cheer me up :) Post a joke or funny story for me. I'll do a random draw for the cord, but if one of your posts REALLY cracks me up, I'll send that person a special something too :)

~Skye

In The Pink

A little while ago I saw a note from a certain Shelley Graham Turner posted in the Bead Soup Cafe, asking for people to message her about a special project... curious, I did.

Bam.

Next thing I know I'm eyeballs deep running a secret group dedicated to showing Lori McDaniel Anderson just how much she is loved and appreciated.

One must always be careful when replying to messages on facebook, don't you know ;) you never know what might happen ....

like for instance... answering that one message...  did THIS to me...

 See that 'duh' kind of expression on my face? That is the result of a couple months of helping organizing this thing, keeping it all a secret, and helping to calm the stressed nerves of members who kept freaking out every time Lori mentioned the words 'color' and 'hair'  in the same post >.< They were POSITIVE that some one had blabbed and Lori knew EVERYTHING!! I'd have to go investigate, then come back and let them know it was FINE... *L*

Okay... so yeah, while I did do that... that's not the reason for the terrible expression. I'm just having a hard time lining up the shot in the mirror lol

Here... this one is MUCH better..

Yes... I did it. I had the bottom three inches of my hair bleached and dyed BRIGHT pink :)

ME... the ANTI-PINK chick... has pink hair.

Only for Lori...I swear ... lol

And yes, this was taken back in the first week of July... and I STILL have pink in my hair... I found I rather liked the pink, but still wanted blue or purple... so in August I whipped up some Koolaid 'dye' and did blue... but didn't do enough... and when I went to buy more to finish it off, I found I really rather missed the pink. So I went back to pink... but not this bright lol It's more of a soft raspberry... and needs to be redone again.

I would like to point out that I spent the week this was first done hanging out with my mother... and she said nothing... not even my father, who HATES me dying my hair and ALWAYS has some comment... said nothing  ...lol

Here's another shot.. terrible lighting, but you get the bonus of seeing some of my beady mess behind me :D ...I'm wearing a black and white skull-bedecked bandana ... but it slipped off and ended up being used as a glorified hair tie while I worked lol

So my 'going Pink'  has hopefully made Lori smile. It's definitely made me smile :D

You know, the original 'plan' was for 'everyone' to dye some of their hair pink. That then changed to include in fake hair clip ons ... then people getting creative with feathers, beads, ribbons, yarn... In the end, we have everything from semi-permanent dye, to temporary dye, to hair chalk, to feathers, to wigs, to flowers, to photoshop.  

And some weren't satisfied with just 'pinking' themselves... they nabbed family and even pets :)

Despite the work and stress of being one of the 'organizers', it was a lot of fun. Not that I'm interested in signing up for another 'leadership' position any time soon, mind you ;) lol

I gathered up all of the photos submitted by people, along with little notes they wrote for Lori,  and have put them all together into an album that everyone can look over and laugh at online. Plus Lori can come back to over and over whenever she needs a smile :)  I've decided to leave it open so that should anyone else feel the need to 'go pink' in appreciation, they can send me their contributions and I'll make them a page and add it in :)

For those of you who are wondering what kind of woman could inspire over fifty people to 'pink' their hair in someway, I'll tell you.

Lori is one of those amazing women, who despite their own troubles,  always does her best to have a warm smile and helping hand for anyone who needs it. She's one of those women who tends to put herself last in her efforts to make sure everyone else is happy with things. She's also one of those women who go above and beyond to make something fabulous for people to enjoy. She came up with an idea for a bead swap and jewelry design challenge a few years ago... the 'Bead Soup Blog Party'. People signed up and she visited their blogs, got a feel for things, then paired them up with someone else and the two of them send each other a mix of beads to design something with. She's done six of these BSBP now. 

In the course of JUST THESE SIX

- she has visited over a THOUSAND blogs, at LEAST twice during each hop - once to get a 'feel' for the person and make sure the blog is active, and again during the hop itself to comment.

- she has spent COUNTLESS hours pouring over blogs and etsy shops, getting a feel for people to partner them up...

- she has written MILLIONS of emails... LITERALLY MILLIONS of emails... think about that for a moment... THEN... consider the hundreds of Blog posts and Group feeds she has written concerning the hops...

- and I'm afraid to think of how much MONEY she has spent on the BSBP ... The cost of the websites and domain names, the cost of all the beads she's sent out as extra soups to those whose partners had to pull out... the cost of the international shipping for all of those beads... plus this year she had special postcards made and mailed out to all the participants ... thats 400 postcards sent all over the world >.<

 ... my wallet hurts just thinking about it.

 but, for Lori, while I'm sure the cost is something she does consider, in the long run, what's more important to her is that people ENJOY what she does. She's the kind of person who would bend over backwards, no matter how much it hurt... just to help you.

And THAT is the kind of woman who can inspired  so many others pulling together to show her some love :)

Everyone in the beading groups I'm a part of has a ' Lori & the BSBP' story... and they're usually the same... being accepted into one of Lori's hop's was the best thing for them... it helped them step out of their comfort zone and learn new things... and introduced them to an entire world of people just like them.

I know because she did the same for me :)

Thank you, Lori ! *Hugs*

Visit some of the others Pink'd people!

Gail Vanderster-Zwang http://angelmoose.blogspot.com

Lea Avroch http://lajewelrydesign.blogspot.com

Leslie Wayment  http://www.aabeadsonline.com/blog

Kelley Katherine Hagerty-Fogle  http://www.mylifeonebeadatatime.blogspot.com

Sheila Davis http://www.stonedesignsbysheila.blogspot.com

Amanda Effron http://craft-o-licious.blogspot.com 

‎Solange Collin  http://www.blog.ahowinjewelry.com

Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten   http://www.vanbeads.blogspot.com

Isolina Perez  http://IsolinaPerez.blogspot.com

Toltec Jewels www.JewelSchoolFriends.com

Sherri Stokey  http://www.knotjustmacrame.com

Mary Howell Govaars  http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com

Bee Kuhlman http://mixedmayhemstudios.blogspot.com

Lynnea Perry Bennett   http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com

Alicia Marinache  http://www.allprettythings.ca

Heather Otto http://www.thecrafthopper.com

Kimberly Flood  http://www.goddessesandbeads.blogspot.com

Courtney White Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com

Lisa Liddy  http://lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Marlene Cupo http://amazingdesigns-marlene.blogspot.com

Marianne Baxter  http://www.simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com

Mária Horváth   http://horimarikabeads.blogspot.hu

Andrea Beth Trank www.heavenlanecreations.com

Heidi Mansfield Kingman  http://mybeadtherapy.blogspot.com

Emoke Schmidt  http://emoke1.blogspot.com 

Sandra MrtzDiaz www.petaloazuljewelry.blogspot.com

Lupe Meter  http://gesmpccorner.blogspot.com

Tanya Boden http://fusionmusebangkok.blogspot.com

Ambra Chicandfrog http://chicandfrog.wordpress.com

Kumi Fisher http://maliekaidesigns.blogspot.com

Sandra Young  http://blog.gypsyroadbeads.ca

Sandi Marinaro Volpe  http://www.sandivolpe.com

Gretchen Nation  http://www.artfoodlodging.blogspot.com

Mimi Gardner  http://www.othercuriosities.blogspot.com

Marian Hertzog http://mhertzog-msplace.blogspot.com

Sonya Ingersoll-Stille http://dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com

Terry Matuszyk   http://pinkchapeau.wordpress.com

Audrey Belangér  http://esperianterra.blogspot.com

Sandra McGriff http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Shelley Graham Turner http://www.shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com

Sally Bohner Anderson

Mowse Doyle http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com

Creative Chaos Design Challenge #2!

Alright.. so I'm terrible at time limit challenges >.<

This is my OWN challenge and yet here I am, the afternoon/evening the day before reveal.. writing my post...

... and I have ONE piece about half done.. and another one kinda started >.<

so, after I write the bones of this post, I'm going to dig out my sketches and see if any of them are workable in short order... then toss them aside, grab the tools and pretend I have a clue what I'm doing >.<

 ... so.. pretty much the same as last time.

* Jumping ahead a couple hours **

Whoohoo! I got some stuff done! And a couple pieces of it I even like.. and one I friggin LOVE :D

And then I had a minor heart attack and cursed out my computer, tore apart my parts drawers, and ransacked the old computer in the bedroom... because as I was about to upload my photos and finish this post... my optic mouse DIED >.<  SO glad I have extra...mice... around. So I'm stuck using the clunky old thing that came with the computer *sigh* I'll have to cross my fingers for nice weather to walk up to Staples after work tomorrow and get a new ergonomic optic mouse.

But I digress... back to the task at hand.

So, to refresh your memories... THIS is what we all had to work with.

( *note - I can't find where I saved my photos of this stuff, so I snitched Kristi's photo from her blog ;) lol)

The rules were that we had to use SOME of an item out of EACH baggie...

 Two different cordings were in one baggie, and while I really wanted to use the brown and gold, my plans failed me several times, so I went with the orange tent cord. For this, my original idea was earrings...but for some reason, when I started to thread the wire through the cord, I ended up with an ugly bracelet instead. Not happy with it. I had thought to wrap a beaded strand or some wire around the outside too... or use that big wooden round ball on the end... but nothing wanted to work. In the end I gave up, slapped some orange wooden beads on the ends and pretended it was finished >.<

 the feathers & Brass piece were in one baggie. I had plans for the brass but time failed me... so I went with the feathers... and after much frustration... made these. simple, three feathers, bound at the top and slipped inside a carved bone bead. The light is misleading... the feathers are NOT green... honest >.<

On to the stuff I LIKE how it turned out :)

The die and the buttons were up next. I did have plans for the die... my skills failed me, however >.< No worries. I had plans for the buttons , too.

Buttons came out and I decided to go with the white pair. I grabbed my new nylon tipped pliers and made some lovely little spirals :) and tada! earrings :) I made the hooks too... hammered them... definitely need some work on my hammered earwires yet, but the over all design came out nice :D

And my absolute FAVORITE piece... well.. it's not a completed piece of jewelry, but it's a completed jewelry component :) and it uses something from the last bag.. the wooden bits. A pendant...

This one was cute how it turned out...I had it turned the other way and was trying different stones against the 'inside' of the scoop... then I dropped it.. and when I picked it up happened to notice that it looked like a leaf from the other side :)

So there's my contributions to the challenge. Still have lots of stuff I didn't use, but not energy.. or time... to use them. I managed to do slightly more then the minimum needed to complete the challenge and that'll do >.<

Hopefully the rest of the challenge crew did better then me >.< lol Make sure to stop off at their blogs and see !

Marge Beebe of RockCreekCreations

Kristi J of CuriositiesbyK

Tammie Everly of TTE Designs

Sarah Goode  of Pookledo

Sherri Stokey of KnotJustMacrame

Paula Hisel of SimplyBeadiful

Shawn Mills of Bent Wire Boutique  

Oh, and for fun, I'll giveaway the button earrings and the leaf pendant to two lucky commenters :) Just say which one you'd like and I'll eventually get around to choosing winners. Oh, and I'll replace the ear wires with 'real' ones before I send them to you ;) lol

'sockapalooza' Results & F.F. #9!

Okay so...I'm gonna have to redo this a few times to nab all the spelling crap... my arms feel like rubber and my brain is mush ... and my title just contained the word 'resluts' until I noticed and fixed it >.<

Plus the sockapalooze results were supposed to be up last night but because of the way I felt, I crashed majorly early. and gee.. guess what? tomorrow's the reveal for the 2nd C.C.D.C. ... which means everything has to be finished, photographed and blogged about tonight... >.< Yup... gotta find the energy somewhere to do scramble-design...I have two pieces partially done and that's it... and I'm not sure you can even really call the one 'partially' yet... *sigh*

So here are all the socks that were entered :)  I took them out of order and slapped numbers on them at random.

Anyhow, for those who entered, the winner of the sockapalooza beads

  is feet #2 ; Beti Horvath :) .

And the winner of the socks ....

 is #6 ; Renetha :)

It was a toughy... I was going to choose Beti's 'sox' as my faves, but since she won the beads, I was then torn between the peace feet and the odds .. and well.. odds won ;).

So Beti & Renetha, send me your snail mail addies  please :)

Oh.. and if you're wondering how the winner of the beads was chosen... I cut up slips of paper, wrote the numbers on them, folded them in half... gave them a shake then threw them into the air... the paper that landed closest to the pair of socks laying on my floor, won ;) lol

And all of you who don't have any socks... SOOO tempting to buy you all a pair, just because I find that sad.. lol >.<

So... off to the object of September's Freebie Friday drooling ...

I WAS going to do progressive, but decided since I'll most likely be doing a big bundle next month too, not to bother.

September Soup

So, on the top we have 3 packets of chipstone - aquamarine, rose quartz, and I believe some dyed howlite. Beneath that we have 3 packets of some of my custom seedbead mixes, then we have two sea glass pendants, a couple shell slices ( whose name I can't remember), some Sesame Jasper, some turquoise nuggets in green, orange, red, yellow and brown, some bead caps, and a foil-lined glass bead.

So, yummy enough? Remember to enter for each of the spots you're eligible for in Rafflecopter, and PLEASE make sure you're blogger account ( or whatever account you post comments under ) has an email or a blog attached to it. I do occasionally break my own rules about contacting winners, or just like to follow links and visit the pages & blogs of people who visit me :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Check back tomorrow for my reveal of the 2nd Creative Chaos Design Challenge ( the one I never did get around to posting a 'see what I have to work with' blog post about >.< lol )  Plus I'll be sticking up another little giveaway any time I feel like it... just gotta think of what to make you guys do this time ;)

~ Skye

September already...

Damn the time went fast... 

Anyhow, we're now into the start of my favorite time of the year. While autumn won't start 'officially' for a couple weeks yet,  I know now that the 5:30 am walks to work will be done in shorts and flip flops, less and less. Pretty soon I'll be forced to wear shoes outside again...*sigh*

But with that little inconvenience comes the milder temperatures, the beautiful colors, the wonderful scents ... damn... starting to crave a cup of pumpkin tea already... Is it just my talking about it? Or the fact that my toes are chilly making me think of fuzzy socks... and fuzzy socks just go perfectly with pumpkin tea and autumn leaves.... ? lol

Crap... and I just realized, I've been home from work three hours now.. and still haven't put on any coffee!! *gasp* Horrors!! I need to go make a pot... I can NOT have an apartment that is not filled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee... well... unless the scent of some Autumn-inspired tea...

I'm rambling, sorry >.< Back to the point.

Yes... I had a point. Honest.

Of course now I've been distracted by thoughts of coffee and fuzzy socks, so it make take me a minute to remember it... >.<

Ah HA!!

Autumn :) 

Well, September and October, anyhow :)

Those of you who were reading my blog last year at this time, may remember that this is MY time. Which means of course I like to celebrate.

I posted a little question on BSC asking what everyone thought was a better idea; one big giveaway, or a bunch of little ones scattered through out the month.

There are aspects of both that I like. I really enjoy doing the month long progressive bundles, but then I like the quick little ones too. They didn't work well the last time I did the little weekly ones, but my readership was significantly smaller then. Back then, a week long giveaway would get maybe four or five entries... if that. I'm hoping that the bigger 'following' means more entries for the little ones.

Yes, that means I'm doing the little ones :)

Of course, I'm also going to do a big one, too :D

So here's how it'll work.

The first Friday in September  .. that would be this coming Friday ;), I'll post the big guy. Then during random blog posts through out the month I'll re-post a photo and link to the big guy ... with some new additions added in ;)

In the mean time... every now and then, I'll also be tossing up some random little giveaways.You'll have to pay attention to each one, because they'll all be different. Some will have specific tasks for you to do to enter... some will have different lengths of time to enter. If you don't follow the rules, your entry won't count ;)

I got tired of regular old boring giveaways... what's fun about clicking a button? No... the little giveaways are going to be 'special' :D

And since everyone who reads this blog knows I've been on a bead buying binge this past month... you all know I've got tons of goodies that might just find there way into bundles ;)

And we'll start things off right now.

Who would like a chance to win these?

16  8mm Dream Agate Rounds, 2 double holed carved horn beads( they could be bone. They're a little over an inch long and slightly curved ). Plus a bundle of faux suede cording in a nice chocolate brown :)

All you have to do to enter... is show me your socks.

Yes. That's what I said.

Show me your socks.

Grab your camera and take a photo of your socks... like this. 

Yes, I went and pulled on some socks. Those are some Muppet socks my brother gave me a couple Christmases ago. I have a whole set ( except for Kermit..I gave those to my mom so she'd have an extra pair of her faves...I prefer Animal ;) )

And for the record, all my skull socks either have grown holes and been tossed, are missing mates.. or are in the laundry ..>.< That's why I'm wearing the Muppets.

Anyhow... back to business.

Post a link to your photo in the comments here. Remember, if your picture is on Facebook, you have to make sure the folder it is in, is set for 'public' or we can't see it... and it won't count ;)

Oh... and the socks have to be on FEET... not just laying the bed or the top of the hamper ;)

And don't just show me boring old socks... pull out your faves... and your fun ones :)

I decided to do a second little prize for my favorite photo...

A pair of lavender and white fuzzy socks :) these are ladies size 9-11, but really... they're soft and fuzzy and warm... and its not like you'll care if they're a bit big on you ;) Plus, if I'm REALLY impressed ( or jealous)  of your socks... I may just slip some beady goodness into the package with those socks ;)

So, quick! Grab your camera and go dig out some socks to pull on!

I'll give everyone until Thursday, September 7th... hmm... we'll say 7pm EST. 

~Skye

SCORE!!

Okay, so those of you who frequent the FB groups, BSC ( Bead Soup Cafe), &  CBC ( Creative Bead Chat ) , may have seen my odd link to a facebook shop called 'Yours, Mine & Ours'.  It's a brick&mortar secondhand shop in Texas owned by an old internet friend of mine, Debbie. Last year she started up the facebook shop on her page to sell some of the smaller items. This year she made the decision to clear out her beading supplies.

Being busy with the store as well as dealing with health issues and the rest life tosses her way, she hasn't been able to post much in the online shop. She has to sort through the tubs of supplies, photograph everything, and then get them uploaded.... and then have fun dealing with facebook and it's 'issues' over getting descriptions and things to post with the photos. A very time consuming and frustrating process.

A few months ago when she first posted the first batch of beads, I sulked because the shop was set up for US shipping only. Being the sweetheart that she is, she pulled anything I wanted and did a paypal invoice for me with international shipping added in. 

After a month long absence due to health problems and hospital stays, Debbie finally started to deal with her store again, and I finally figured out how to link people to it :)

Kimberly still hasn't forgiven me for all the money I *made* her spend there ;)

My fellow beaders from these two groups, combined with a couple of Deb's own customers, cleared out three quarters of what she had listed.... and then I suggested if there was something specific Kimberly wanted, that she could message Debbie and ask about it. This works out better for Debbie, since she doens't have to deal with fighting with the fb shop to get it posted... she can just email the person a photo or the stuff and quote a price for them.

Apparently she cleared out Debbie's stash of crystals. Or if she didn't clear it out completely, she certainly made one hell of a dent in it ;)

I'm doing the same to Debbie's chip stone stash - I have a standing order for that, and she's already working on filling another box for me :D

This is a destash of massive proportions and I am extremely glad I knew her from our ghost hunting days... way back when I had a ghostcam hosted on her son's website so people could catch pictures of my resident ghosts.

 Yes, I'm serious. My ghosts have not been very active in a long while... I rather miss them. Every now and then they'll will make themselves known in some way... usually  either suddenly scaring the crap out of the youngest cat, or snitching an item only to replace it in a really bizarre place, or put it right back where it vanished from... weeks or even months after I've given up hope of ever finding it. At the moment, that trick won't work since I have no clue where anything is and wouldn't notice stuff vanishing or reappearing ;)

Anyhow, back to the BEADS.

Want to see the awesome box of loot I got from her shop?

Do you?

Because... it's really awesome.

Really really.

I mean... we'd thought she'd have to pack some of it into a separate box to mail later on, but her hubby helped and he managed to fit it all into the one box...the lid had a significant curve to it and it was HEAVY ...  Heavy as in 'I'm surprise my mailbox remained attached to my wall' kinda heavy ( I did a crappy job of attaching it ;) ).

You still want to see?

Okay :)

Yes it's a heap... It was the only way I could fit it into one shot lol

Some lovely strands of various blue gemstone beads, plus some strands of larger chipstone. And many many baggies of smaller chipstone is lots of different colors and types... 4mm glass rounds of various colors and designs, some 6 mm magnesite rounds and disks, some large puffy copper heart charms, a big bag of pewter wing charms, a TON of pewter spacers, some seaglass pendants,  some pewter connectors, and a lampwork frog pendant.

Yeah, I know... need more and better pictures. I had stuff to finish and couldn't let myself get too distracted by these goodies, so I quickly filled up one of my cabinets with them to keep them out of sight. 

Have SO MANY ideas and plans for this heap. Beaded chain... lots and lots of beaded chain, some of which will be offered up in giveaways and such... a bunch of which will be used by me :D I see earrings, bracelets, necklaces galore in that pile of baggies... I just need to get things cleaned up here to find the time to MAKE THEM :)

I'll be dipping into some of it tonight, I think. If this 'get stuff done' spree I'm on right now continues to hold out, at any rate.

Any how, if any of you would like to check out Debbie's shop and see what she has posted online... or maybe try and catch one of her amazing quick deals that she just tosses on her page for people to snap up... or send her a message about something you're trying to find... go check her out and let her know where you heard about her shop ;)

  Yours, Mine & Ours

~ Skye