100th Post / Etsy Store Grand Opening Giveaway!

Hmm, well, Blogger still counts this as being Friday, November 9th, but in fact, it's after midnight where I live, so I am going to go ahead and post this. (As usual, the biggest block of uninterrupted time I have is at night, after the Short One is in bed. I just have to forego incidental things, like, you know, sleep.)

Never mind, that, though! Welcome to my 100th Post! I can't believe I've already made it to 100 posts on my blog. I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has been reading my drivel for the past several months. You are all generous, gracious people, and you have saved me from the horror of mumbling to myself.

Also, I have now technically opened my Etsy store, although things are still a little unfinished here and there. For one thing, I can already tell that I will have to re-take some of my photographs. The Etsy program cropped some of them in a funny way, and I need to go back and deal with that. At any rate, the pendants are listed at this point, if anyone has any desire to see them. I have agonized about pretty much every minute detail of this, and I'm sure there will be changes over time. However, everyone has to start somewhere, and I've decided to start here. (I may end here, too, but I'm trying hard not to be too pessimistic at this point.)

I realize that many people who read this blog make their own jewelry and beads and will therefore not have an interest in my store as customers. However, if any of you do have an interest, I would like to offer you, as a special blog-only promotion, a small extra, namely: anyone who purchases a pendant from my store over the next week (essentially, while the Giveaway is running - more on this in a bit) will receive a free black rubber and sterling silver necklace. I just received these today, and I'm very happy with the quality. The necklaces are a substantial 4mm thick and create a nice statement with the pendants. They have a retail value of $12.00. Now, inevitably, when I opened my shipment today, I came up short on the number of necklaces, and it turns out that they, too, were backordered. (If I am still operating the store next year, I will definitely take note of when the Christmas holiday season starts for jewelry makers.) It is technically possible that I will run out of necklaces, but I sort of doubt it. One thing I will say is that I have a limited number of 18" necklaces - most are 16" in length. If you have a preference as to length, please indicate it in the comments section (and, of course, regardless, you should indicate in the comments section that you are a blog reader and would like a necklace). I will do my best to accomodate you. If your length is no longer available, I will let you know before shipment.

Now, on to the Giveaway! I won't tell you exactly how late I was up making this necklace last night, but it was pretty late. This necklace is approximately 16" in length. I made the focal from PMC (what else?). The shell pearl that I placed in the bezel cup is substantial - approximately 14mm in size. As usual, I filled the bezel with tinted resin. The clasp is a button I made from PMC, as well. I finished the necklace with coral, lovely pieces of kyanite, rose quartz, citrine and quartz glass beads. How do you win this necklace? Help me out with my little holiday dilemma!

Now, I am the kind of anal person who Christmas shops all year long and usually has all of my gifts ready by October. Ever since the Short One arrived, however, for some reason my organization in this respect has completely gone to pot, and I really have nothing except toys stashed away in my closet for the holiday. While I feel that the Husband will probably appreciate the Brio starter train set that I picked up when one of the local toy stores was closing down earlier this year, I don't think he'll particularly want it as a Christmas gift. I don't know about you, but I find the men in my life (except for the Short One) extremely difficult to shop for, as it is. To top it off, my Husband is the type of person who says "Oh, anything is fine" whenever I try to question him about what he might actually like Santa to bring him (Grrr). Now, you don't have to provide me with actual Christmas gift suggestions to enter this contest (although they'd be welcome! In addition to being an engineer who loves gadgets, the Husband is also an avid cook, by the way...). However, I would like to hear stories about gifts - memorable, funny, disastrous - that you received or gave for the holidays or other celebrations (birthdays, etc.). If you are really, truly, too shy to say or can't think of anything, you can just leave your name (please do leave a name - no Anonymous posters), but I'd love to hear your stories.

The contest will be open for one week, closing next Saturday. I will try to have results posted early enough this time so that it won't be the middle of the night for folks in overseas time zones. As before, you must check back to see if you've won. As before, you do not need to be registered with Blogger to leave a comment - you can just manually type in your name. Oh, and although I swore up and down I'd use a random number generator this time, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and have the Short One pick a name out of a hat again. Call me optimistic.

Okay, back to fiddling with the Etsy store for me. Once again, thanks so much for making this blog such a wonderful experience. Have a great weekend.