One World One Heart Giveaway

Just completed a giveaway via Bella Casa (Congrats to the winner, Chris) and YGM is now announcing participation in the One World, One Heart Giveaway. This thing is HUGE! It's currently over 800 people giving something away on their blog! Click on the logo above to go check it out! (after you enter mine!)

As for me, I am giving away a custom stretchy beaded chainmaille bracelet like one of these:

... except that you get to pick your colors. Here are the colors available for the rings:


And the glass beads are available in red, orange, amber, AB clear, AB black, blue-green, blue, purple, matte blue, and pink with swirls.

You choose your 1-2 ring colors (aluminum, top half of the picture, and rubber, bottom half), and your bead color, and I make your bracelet however you like it. There are more examples of these bracelets if you want to see more colors "in action" (I love making them!) on my Etsy site: http://youvegotmaille.etsy.com  Please note that there is a possibility that some colors may not be in stock and you'll have to wait a bit for me to get them back in, but I do try to carry all of those colors all the time.

This contest is available internationally.  Drawing will be February 12, 2009.  If there are enough entries I may give away two bracelets. 

Also be sure to visit the OWOH site and enter more giveaways. I mean, 800 plus! You're sure to win something.  Oh and do tweet the OWOH site if you're a Twitterer!



To enter, please leave a comment here with your email address. Thanks for your visit, and come back some time!

Sunday is Poetry Day

On Sundays I subject you to my poetry. Well, maybe not every Sunday. And maybe not always my poetry, because I love poetry and I often find ones that other people wrote that I adore. If you hate poetry, I apologize. BUT I'll also feature an Etsy item that matches, so it's all good, no?

This amazing photograph, "Touching History," is available from WillBPhotography on Etsy, along with several others that give me a little patriotic stir when I look at them. And I thought it complemented the poem incredibly poignantly.

Both works are property of the photographer/poet.

Runes of Childhood

These are the runes of
childhood
an open hand
an open mind
an unscarred heart.
There is more truth
in this simple vision
than in all my being.
The world is a place
in which to play, to
pretend
and such wisdom is
unavailable to the wise.

Items Posted in FAE Exhibition

"Melusine" by Tanocat Gems
Featured at Fantasy Artists of Etsy "Love at First Flight" Exhibition

Thought I'd show you a teaser of the beautiful items that await your perusal at FAE's latest Exhibition.  There's an adorable sculpture of an intrepid steampunk aviator, a "Serenity" necklace, beautiful softly glowing vials of magic, fairy wings, images of winged seductresses, and more.  You really ought to go look.  I'm not telling what I posted, you'll have to find it!  (hint:  both youvegotmaille and SecondRenaissance items are there!)

My Thanks to the Following!

 

 

 

 
 

Sending out a big thank you to my top Entrecard visitors this month.  Click on any of the images above to check out their cool blogs... it's no accident that some of them are favorites that I have to visit every day because they're so cool  and I don't want to miss anything they've said.  :)

A thanks to EVERYONE who comments... your comments mean a lot to me (seriously, I check it more than my Heartomatic now!)

In other news, in case you hadn't heard, The Consumer Product Safety Commission granted a one-year stay of testing and certification requirements for certain products to be regulated under CPSIA.  Thanks for all you did to protest this law as it stood!  Maybe in the next year we can get it amended so that it's friendlier to small business and handcrafters.

Friday's Creativity Inspiration #1

tomorrow looks lovely print by Tummy Mountain (for sale on Etsy)

Whatever your creative outlet, I thought it'd be cool to have a prompt, or a little bit of inspiration.  I used to love writer's prompts.  And, indeed, if you happen to be a writer, there's no reason you should not be able to use these.  They should work with whatever your creativity encourages. 

But... try to think outside the box.  If you don't have a creativity journal, think about getting one, and don't be afraid to scribble in it.  Collage in it.  Put pictures of your work and others' in it.  Don't write in it as if it had lines (even if it does), write big and bold, or sideways, or all different ways, or fill the page with random words.  Use different colored markers.  Let your inner artist play.  I'll probably address this from time to time in these Friday prompts, and some of them will deal specifically with your journal or sketchbook.  If you work better on random scraps of paper, start a scrapbook or at least keep them in a folder.  These things are great to look at later.

So you can start (or continue) in your journal with this one, or if you make jewelry, use it for that.  If you crochet, use it for that.  Use it to inspire your usual creative outlet or try a new one.  Got polymer clay?  Crayons?  Run wild.

If you do use it, please comment and leave me a link so I can see where the inspiration led you.

I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature so subscribe (right column at the bottom is the RSS feed) and stop back on Fridays to check it out.  If you'd rather get them via email, request it in a comment here and I'll send it out that way.

This week's inspiration:

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's getting toward the end of winter when we start longing for Spring.  Some of us are snowed in.  Some are tired of dreary skies and gray/brown earth.  You have the power of Spring in your hands, to make one small thing blossom.  What will you do with it?

I'll post my results next week, I'd love to see yours!

Will You Marry Me? [EBT Carnival]

Caged Heart at Second Renaissance

Ah yes, the long-awaited Valentine's Day tale and Etsy Bloggers Carnival Entry! 



Russell and I had known each other for four months and we were pretty crazy about each other.  He would come to Ohio from Tennessee about once a month to visit, and I already had plans to move there.  So, naturally, I wanted this Valentine's Day to be special.  I arranged for dinner at a very nice, very expensive fondue restaurant.

Over the wonderful cheese fondue he carefully took my hand (skirting the hot fondue pot) and asked me to marry him.  Naturally, I said yes.  He gave me a beautiful ring that had belonged to his mother.  Engagement on Valentine's Day is, yes, incredibly sappy (but easy to remember!  which in fact he does, seemingly better than our wedding anniversary).

Fondue is a curious thing.  He'd make comments for months about "paying so much for food you have to cook yourself."  I grew up in the 80s with a mom who follows the latest gourmet trends, so we'd had fondue parties all the time.  I was around 10 at the time, and trust me, kids and fondue don't mix too well.  We had our share of mishaps, about which I warned Russ, since this was the first time he'd ever had fondue.  Things like:  getting the food on your fork while holding it in your hand can potentially result in twin holes in your hand not unlike mini vampire bites.  Eating off a fondue fork that just came out of hot oil is guaranteed to result in a nasty lip blister.  It's great when you can prevent an accident with someone else's foreknowledge.

Well, I had a potato in the oil (which I think was a little on the hot side), and it gave this terrific fried potato POP! that (according to Mr. Melodrama, with much gesticulating),  "sent a Glob of Hot Oil flying INCHES from my EYE!!"

He still makes the sign of warding against evil at the word "fondue," since naturally he would NEVER miss an opportunity to tell the story about how I tried to kill him on our engagement night.

EtsyBloggers Trunk Show Tomorrow!

EtsyBloggers is having a live trunk show tomorrow at 9 EST. If you've never been to a Trunk Show, they're a lot of fun! The Virtual Labs on Etsy is a really cool interactive chat room. Not only that, but the Bloggers have a huge variety of items so there's sure to be something for everyone!

Click on the banner at left to see our Team page, which features the Trunk Show shops, all of which are having a sale. Especially if You can't make it tomorrow!

Click on your "Community" link, then virtual labs, then the Gallery to find us.