Friday, November 9, 2007

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.

19 comments:

Monkee Maker said...

Well done on your 100th post!!

I think the most "un-me" gift I ever received was a navy blue sweatshirt with two fur kittens sewn on the front. *Shudder*

And this from my own mother. Cuh!

Right, I'm off to have a browse round your shop :)

ChristyJan said...

Congrats on you 100th post.

The items in your shop are just beautiful!

Beautiful necklace you made last night too.

windycindy said...

Hello, Congratulations on your 100th post! Please enter me in your fabulous contest! Thanks, Cindi
jchoppes@hotmail.com

Bebemiqui said...

one christmas I peeked at all the gifts and it was the worst year ever.

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

congratulations on your store opening! i'd love to be entered in this contest.

i hope that i do better with buying christmas presents for my kids (as they get older) than my mom did for me and my siblings. i swear, it was often like she didn't even know us. heck, it's still like that.

;)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your 100th post and Grand Opening of your Etsy store!

I used to shop year round and would shop after holiday sales and clearance, etc. I would keep boxes in our closet of gifts with sticky notes on them of who got what. Well one year one of the children found the stash and removed all the sticky notes. It took me almost a week to get the names back on them as I had forgotten what was for who. I had to sit down and got through it all again. Talk about a headache.


Blogged ya: http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2007/11/saturday-edition-of-contests-galore_10.html

Rachel said...

Oh the Christmas gifts of horribleness the list is long. I use to get socks an awful lot from my dad. I guess he got tired of me stealing all of his as a teen. I got a basketball once, hum I don't play basketball. Your shop looks great. What a fun idea for a post I have enjoyed reading every ones so far.

Yeah 100 posts cheers to 100 more!!!

Mama said...

The best Christmas gift I've ever gotten - have to be a tie btn the complete set of Little House on the Prairie books and hmm...I'm drawing a blank - what could actually be a wonderful as getting a complete sent of Little House on the Prairie books from Santa?

re your husband - does he like the America's Test Kitchen show on PBS? If so, the books are pretty darned good too.

ps: congrats on the shop opening!

Anonymous said...

Hey-congrats on 100 posts. Re: gifts. Boy, I make so much of what I give between jewelry and crocheting. But my son recently had a birthday. He doesn't think a whole lot about some important issues like I wish he would. So, trying to use some subtle eco-frinedly persuasion recently, I gave him a bath-towel set made of 100 percent organic cotton in a tree-free gift bag. I got him a birthday card made of recycled materials and put a bit of cash in. To my surprise, the towels were a hit. He donated his old conventional cotton towels to a thrift store and went and bought himself a few more organic ones. I could tell some real horror stories about gifts but do not wish to embarrass myself at this time. Thanks for having a giveaway!!

Rachel said...

I agree with Americas test kitchen stuff I love that show and all their books. I check all thier reveiws before getting any kitchen gadget.

the vicious chicken said...

Congrats on your landmark post, and on the grand shop-opening :o)

It has taken me a bit of pondering, but one of the most memorable gifts I could think of was something NBM gave to a friend - she bought her a pig from the teddy bear factory, where you can record a message onto a tiny speaker-thing that gets sewn up inside the toy. NBM decided that this pig should say "Phwoar - he's gorgeous!" as loudly as possible (I think it was a reference to a TV programme).

In theory the idea was fine, but when it came to recording the message, she realised that it was a little embarrassing to shout those words at the top of her lungs, given that she was in the middle of a very busy, crowded shop! I seem to remeber that I was very supportive and pretended not to know her...

Still, the friend found the gift very funny, so it was probably worth it in the end :o)
VCx

sara said...

Congratulations!
Sara

Anonymous said...

Your Etsy store is great and I wish you much success with it. Great job on your 100th post; I hope you have many, many more.

My husband is great at buying gifts but he is not very good at hiding them so I have often found them by accident. I don't tell him because he likes to think he is surprising me.

Please enter me in your contest for that awesome necklace.

Unknown said...

Congrats on your 100th post!

I gave my computer geek husband office supplies made from computer circuit boards. Recently I've seen notebooks, bookmarks and clip boards made with these.

Good luck with the Etsy store!

victoria b said...

such beautiful and unique jewelry! :D
the best present i ever got was from my son, when he was seven. it was wrapped in crumbled and torn paper. inside was a song he had written, telling me how much he loves me. he took the paper, and with the most serious and sincere look in his eyes, sang it to the tune of happy birthday. i sobbed! LOL. thanks for the contest! victoria (btw. i adore kyanite!)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your 100th post!!!! Add me to your contest. Gorgeous stuff you have!!!Thanks
craftloon@aol.com

Anonymous said...

you do beautiful work! congrats on your 100th post...i could never do it!

gifts...my parents bought me a computer many years ago. the exciting part is that i was the first in the family to receive one. we were all excited because this was an extravagant gift. my sister was helping me unpack the monitor and picked up the box upside down, stood up and the monitor came flying out the bottom of the box and crashed onto the floor. we all stood there and cried. of course the happy ending of the story is that i was able to return it and have been pecking away ever since!

i always give my dad a gift certificate from fred meyers. he loves going shopping now!
thanks, lisa d., portland, oregon

Unknown said...

the worst present for Christmas...

I passed a scholarship tes for an exclusive school. Fees were paid for the four years, ALL I needed was uniform.

Dear (??) sister (my guardian)decided that she couldn't afford uniform AND Christmas, so.....

I got full school uniform and suppiles, and no, they weren't even wrapped.

Anonymous said...

Posting 100 comments is not always an easy thing to accompish. Well done!