Weekly Giveaway - Featuring ScaryWhiteGirl

This Post has been CLOSED.

Please check back each Monday for a new giveaway!

And of course the rest of the week to see

what's new, what's on sale, and what I'm up to!

Black with Dark Red, Blue, and White Crocheted Coffee Cozy

It's that time of week again - Giveaway Time! This week's artist is Scary White Girl - aka - Dawn. I met Dawn through the Big Damn Crafters team - a group of like-minded geeks who all love the show Firefly! (To find items from the team search "team bdc" on etsy) Dawn has some fun geekery in her shop, and she's just plain a fun person to be around. Here's her interview:

1. Where can we find your work and what do you create?

My shop is http://scarywhitegirl.etsy.com, and I make crocheted items. A lot of my items are geeky and/or morbid, like my Firefly and Doctor Who themed items, Decapitated Dollies, and eyeball cat toys, but I also have some more "normal" things as well, like arm warmers, coffee cozies, and ice cream cozies.

2. What's your favorite part about being an independent artist? 

I like having at least a portion of my day where I'm my own boss. I still work full time, and craft on the side, but it's nice to be able to be the one who decides what projects take priority when for a little while.

3. Where do you find your inspiration?

All over the place! I've drawn inspiration from people I've met at craft shows, things I've seen on TV or in movies, and interesting color combinations in stained glass. I don't think I can go anywhere without looking at things through a lens of "can I crochet this?"

4. What advice would you give to other artists?

Make what you love. If you don't love what you're making, stop making it, and figure out what you do want to make. You'll enjoy the process so much more once you can focus on what you want to be doing, rather than what you think you should be doing. And the enjoyment you take from your work will show through and become a selling point.

Onto the Giveaway!

Ice Blue and Ocean Hues Organic Cotton Crocheted Cozy

You Could Win a Coffee Cozy like the one's featured int his post!

Here's what Dawn has to say about them:

Dress up your coffee shop coffee with this fashionable and environmentally friendly crocheted coffee cozy, made from organic cotton! Even when the cardboard coffee sleeves are made from recycled cardboard, they still end up back in the trash (or the recycling bin). Instead, use this washable coffee cozy to keep your hand protected from the hot coffee cup! (Winner may choose the color/stripe pattern for their cozy from available cozies at http://scarywhitegirl.etsy.com.) Value $12.

So how can you win?

1. Comment on this entry
2. Share your favorite item from her shop (scroll up for link)
3. Plurk or twitter about it and leave a comment with link.
4. Blog about it and leave a comment with link
5. Purchase an item from her shop (for 5 entries) (link above)

Important: All entries must be submitted by comments on this blog post.

I'm keeping track of the entries, so telling Dawn about them won't help :P

Interested in doing an artist feature/giveaway on this blog? Just let me know!

And there is still a sale going in my shop! 15% off at Rose Works Jewelry :)

Simply Smiss's Giveaway Winner!

Yes, I'm late putting this up, but like I mentioned in my 80's blog I'm still sick! Good news is that I did finally decide to go to the doc to make sure this cold hasn't become something more - and it's still a cold! Doctoring myself up with lots and lots of tea, Vit C, garlic, and rest :) Now for what you really want to hear ... who this week's winner is!

Number 4? Who's that? 

Congrats Valeryalta! 

Now I don't know her - which is exciting! It means I had some one new enter the contest!

So I dug into my comment records to find out who she is...

Her blog is called Yarn Kiss and I found this picture...

It's a Jayne Hat! Those of you who know me well know I'm a big Firefly fan - so that made me happy :)

Congrats again! 

I'll try and get tomorrow's giveaway up first thing tomorrow :)

Let's Go Back to the 80's

First, let me apologize for the lack of blogs this week. I ended up catching my brother's nasty cold and for most of the week I have moved off the couch solely for the purposes of getting more tea (decaff) and to use the bathroom because of all that tea! I'm working on catching up on life now though :) Still fighting the cold, but I'm functional again and that's what matters :)

Now to catch up...

One thing that makes me sad about this week isn't I haven't had a chance to promote this week's giveaway as much as I'd like! So make sure you head over there and check it out, and make me smile :D

My latest big project was a piece for the Etsy Beadweavers Monthly Challenge. This month was "Fashion Through the Ages" I tend not to be one who does these huge, fantastic, pieces, so the Victorian Age was right out. So what did I pick? The 80's!

80's Triangle Bracelet

This piece did NOT want to be photo'd. The colors wouldn't show up and have the picture look bright. The top picture required a lot of photo manipulation to get it to look right. I've got a couple ideas that I'd like to try in the future, but they won't be easy someone buy it from me so I don't have to! (no pressure guys, no pressure)

Make sure you go vote in this month's challenge. I'm down at the end - but only vote for me if I'm your favorite! Etsy Bead Weavers Challenge.

Simply Smiss Giveaway

This Giveaway has been closed.

Please check back each Monday for a new Giveaway!

Also throughout the week for lots of fun :)

Purple Swirly Hair Clips

It's time for my weekly giveaway - and this week is a friend who I've bought from - and sold too! We chat all the time online and I showed off the above hair clips because I have them and wear them all the time :) Aren't they perfect for me? Now for you to meet my friend Jenn of Simply Smiss:

1. Where can we find your work and what do you create?

smiss00.artfire.com, 

smiss00.etsy.com, 

www.facebook.com/simply.smiss

2. What's your favorite part about being an independent artist? 

It's all stuff I enjoy making, and it's great to get feedback from buyers about how much they like it!

3. Where do you find your inspiration? 

The internet, and other artists.  

4. What advice would you give to other artists?

Do what you love, not just what you think will make money. Otherwise you will do something that just feels like a chore. It's much better to do something you enjoy, and then have other people appreciate it as well.

Now for her giveaway! You can win any 2 Pairs regular size button hair clips, or any 1 badge reel. You already saw one of her clips, and here's my favorite badge reel in her shop! 

Butterfly Badge Reel

So how can you win?

1. Comment on this entry
2. Share their favorite item from her shop(s) (scroll up for links)
3. Plurk or twitter about it and leave a comment with link.
4. Blog about it and leave a comment with link
5. Purchase an item from her shop (for 5 entries) (links above)

Important: All entries must be submitted by comments on this blog post.

I'm keeping track of the entries, so telling Jenn about them won't help :P

Interested in doing an artist feature/giveaway on this blog? Just let me know!

And there is still a sale going in my shop! 15% off at Rose Works Jewelry :)

My Giveaway Winners!

Yes, that was winners. There are two of them! I love it :)

Now who wins the bracelet from me?

And that is...

You can see her blog at Bead Dreams and Moonlit Fantasies:

And guess what? We live within half an hour of each other! What do you say...meet up?

I'll let you know if we are able to do it - and post pictures!

Now who won Meri's earring? 

And that is...

I love Tilt Creations! She's been one of my friends online for a long time now. 

You can catch her blog (one of them) at TiltCreations:

Congrats to both our winners!

I just wanted to note something for all of you. Do you see that both of our winners had multiple entries? Each week there are multiple ways to enter the contest, and often the winner put in two or three entries at least! So if you really want to win - take that extra minute and give yourself that extra edge :) Check back on Monday for the next giveaway, and don't forget everything is 15% off at Rose Works Jewelry right now! 

Blog Hopping and a Look Back

I'm still working through the bead soup blogs. It's been a long hop! 210 blogs? Crazy! But that means there is a LOT of eye candy out there for me to drool over :) If you haven't seen mine check out both of my necklaces here.

It'll be another day at least before I get through all of them - so if I haven't been to your blog yet don't be offended! Life is just crazy right now :P

Before I go back to looking at blogs - but I wanted to share with you the piece that I made during my first Bead Soup Blog Hop!

Spring Bubbles Necklace

One last thing and then I'm off to look at blogs! Have you ever heard of Swagbucks? It's a search engine that allows you to earn points randomly as you search, the more you search, the more likely you are to earn points! Yes, it's real. I've been on there for around 6 months now and I've earned enough points to get multiple Amazon Gift Cards. There are a lot of other things you can redeem points for, but that is by far my favorite. How does this tie-in to the Bead Soup? As I've been visiting blogs I'm using the swag bucks search bar to look for the blog titles instead of clicking on the links. Yah, it's slowing me down some, but I've earned a whole bunch of points! If your interested in checking it out I would ask that you use my referral link so that I can get points for pointing you to the site. Now...where's my coffee? It's time to blog hop!

Giveaway Bonanza!

Just let me start by saying, sorry I haven't blogged in two days! I really meant too, but I'm just worn out so it hasn't happened. I'm my brother's secondary caregiver and adjusting to the schedule has had me really run down, but I have a day off today! Woot! And even better? He's doing much better today :D Which means he should have some time to build a little strength before the next chemo treatment. Now for what you want to see..

Giveaway Bonanza

Meri of Elfling Creations offered a second item for this weeks giveaway. She wanted to do something to help support my brother and raise awareness and I love the item she's added to my giveaway :D I think you will too! 

So here's how it works! I'll be drawing two winners for this weeks giveaway when I get up on Saturday - and you can get an extra entry! Just go check out her shop and then visit the giveaway post  and leave me a comment there to get an extra entry into the contest! There were 27 entries when I went I got of the computer last night - and I'm headed to check that email as soon as I've update the original giveaway post with the new item :)

Here's what Meri has to say about the earring: The earring dangles about 1" from the ear cuff, which is silver-plated and 3mm wide. The sun bead has a crescent moon on the reverse side. That bottom bead is a cats eye- that's hard to see in the photo, so I figured I'd mention it.


Now go enter!