GIVEAWAY!!! and BEAD STAR Finals

Okay, okay, edited a THIRD TIME. This is it, though! Really!

Okay, for anyone who visited earlier today, I have edited this post a little TWICE. Here's the revised and now final version:

Well, I just found out that I have made the finals of the BEAD STAR Competition. I don't know if any of you have heard about this, but Interweave Press has decided to hold a jewelry design competition called BEAD STAR. There were apparently 1,500 eligible entries and out of these, 180 (20 each in 9 categories) have been selected for the finals. Now, voting is open to anyone with web access until June 18th. The top 5 highest vote-getters (1st, 2d, 3d and 2 Honorable Mentions) in each category will be published in the BEAD STAR annual magazine in December. I'm not sure yet whether I'm allowed to post a photo of my piece - if I get the okay, I'll put a photo up later. The piece is No. 17 in the pearls category. Please go here to see the piece. Of course, I would love your vote, too.

I thought it might be fun to hold a little contest of my own in conjunction with this one, and it's been ages since I held a giveaway. So, here it is : I am giving away the koi pendant above on June 19th. To enter, send me an email at strandsofbeads [at] yahoo.com (with the usual "@" replacing the "[at]"). (By the way, I will not do anything nefarious with any email addresses such as spamming, selling them or whatever - I don't even intend to keep the addresses, except for the winner's address, past the giveaway deadline.) I will pick a winner by random drawing from all of the entries I receive on the 19th. My one request is that whoever wins the bead send me a photo of what they do with it (whenever that may be), even if it's just to string it on a chain. Good luck!

Oh, and if you want to see what art beads I bought at the Bead & Button Show, please head over to my post at Art Bead Scene.

Thanks! Have a great day.