Today I've got an interview and a giveaway with the lovely Maria of The Treasure Chest, a local Etsy shop, who's giving away the lovely beaded necklace (below) and sharing her reflections on her business in 2012, and her future business goals for 2013!
What do you think was your greatest accomplishment with your business in 2012? In 2012 I attended lots of shows and I realized that beaded jewellery is such a saturated craft. You can find beads and jewellery findings everywhere. It can get to the point that that you get tired just of looking at them. It made me think that it was time to focus on a niche and create something with a unique touch. I decided to focus on bead embroidery, a technique I love and that allows me to go beyond just jewelry It was a big new step but I am glad I made it. What are your goals or vision for your business for 2013? I am done with craft shows. I haven't had good experiences with them this year and am going to focus on my online shop. What new skill did you learn last year that you want to keep improving on this year? Bead embroidery is such a versatile technique, it is like painting-- you can play with colours and shapes and use a variety of materials and little vintage treasures as embellishments. I am going to explore it further and perfect it. What advice would you give to anyone who was just starting a crafty business? My advice is learn from your mistakes and never give up. Have the courage to take new steps and change direction. Never stop improving yourself, there is always something new to try, and above all, be creative! And now, for the giveaway! Enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter below. If you can't wait until the end of the giveaway to see if you won, you can get your own necklace now in her Etsy Shop.
PS--Check out the Valentines Heart Pins giveaway post to see if you're a winner - I ended up picking two lucky winners instead of one. Thanks to everyone for entering--I loved reading about your best Valentines Day memories.
I've put off a few celebrations I wanted to make here on the blog of late, so what better time to celebrate than now? When I first started this blog, 300 posts and over 100 readers seemed a long way off, but I'm happy to have shared this journey with you all and made it to this point! For those of you who are new readers-welcome!
If you're a new visitor to the blog, here's a few of my favourite posts and things that happened this year.
You can also visit my About Me page to learn a bit more about me, as well as check out my progress on my 30 before 30 list and visit my Etsy shop for more crafty fun.
Giveaway
And now, on to the giveaway! Today I'm offering up this lovely retro tote bag!
This lovely bag is made out of a retro print fabric, that is lined and features a removable inside pocket (it attaches inside with velcro) to hold all those little things. (and is also available in my Etsy shop if any of you fall in love and don't end up winning!)
How to Win (mandatory entry)
Leave me a comment below with your favourite thing you have planned for this summer-maybe a trip or a picnic, or something else entirely. Make sure to include your email address.
Bonus entry:
Since I'm celebrating 100 followers with this giveaway, I'd love you to join in! Become a follower of my blog and tell me how you follow me in a separate comment for a sweet bonus chance to win!
The giveaway is open from now until May 25th at 8pm EST
I will ship internationally, so this giveaway is open to everyone!
Two chances to win, as above.
Winner will be chosen my random number generator and notified by email, as well as in this post.
If I can't find an email address or way to contact you, another winner will be chosen.
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of Socialpunk in return for participation in this blog tour, but all opinions are my own.
Monica Leonelle is a well-known digital media strategist and the author of three novels. She blogs at Prose on Fire and shares her writing and social media knowledge with other bloggers and authors through her Free Writer Toolkit. Her most recent book, Socialpunk, is the first in the Socialpunk trilogy, and I recently got a chance to preview the book.
Socialpunk begins by placing you in the middle of the unfamiliar world of a vision of Chicago in the future, contained with "The Dome" which protects its citizens from the effects of the Scorched Years, and ultimately cuts off the citizens from the rest of the world. The plot centres around Ima or "E", a teenage girl who's in love with her best friend Dash with whom she has a complicated relationship, and who longs to escape the violence of her abusive father and the limitations of her life in The Dome. Ima gets her chance in an unexpected way after she and Dash sneak out to attend a concert and end up in the midst of a life changing event that shakes her very knowledge of the world to the core and forces her to go on the run. Throughout the course of the novel, Ima changes names, her appearance and her attitude, and ends up growing out of her shy shell over the course of the novel, and changes her
Overall, I really enjoyed this dystopic cyber-punky story and was pretty much glued to my Kobo reading it to find out what happens, and there are some amazing ideas and depictions of the future city that make it a compelling read. However, I did feel that some of the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more in terms of what makes them tick. The whole plot line involving Ima's feelings for Dash was a little bit hard to relate to, just in that we aren't told a lot about him and why Ima cares for him and is willing to risk so much for him, other than that he's been a fixture in her life for as long as she can remember. The ending was also a bit abrupt, but I was still left wanting to read more!
Here's an excerpt from Socialpunk:
Prologue
After playing God for six years with the world he created, he couldn’t control any of his subjects, none at all. Over the years, he had watched them evolve and become the sum of their own choices rather than the sum of his; and for that, he regretted ever giving them life.
A small, blinking red light from just inside his eyelid reminded him of the news they sent him earlier that morning. The company had cancelled his funding and would shut down his project within three months. According to them, the project cost too much and took up too much space, and the inconclusive results couldn’t be published reputably, now or in the future.
Six years of his work, tens of thousands of lives at stake—and he could do nothing to save any of it. He bowed his head, letting his chin rest on the rim of his breakfast smoothie. The smoothie reeked of powder—crushed pills—but he supposed he had better get used to it. He wouldn’t be able to afford the luxury of real food after they canned him.
He closed his eyes and called up the camera view of one of his favorites, number 3281. She fascinated him; he couldn’t deny it. When he had designed her, her pre-teen rebelliousness lit fire in her eyes. A survivor, he’d thought. He’d meant for her to have it all—to grow up, to get married to the love of her life, and to have a beautiful family of her own someday.
But he had only given her sadness so far. Instead of creating a strict father, he had given her an abusive one. Instead of creating a loving boyfriend, he had given her a friend who could never love her. And instead of creating a strong, proud mother, he had given her a meek one, who watched the whole thing unfold and did nothing about it.
He looked at his last and final creation sitting in the chair across from him—his own son, not awakened yet. The law forbade him to have any children of his own, so this boy would substitute.
But he had done the unthinkable with this creation—he had bestowed on it his own thoughts, emotions, and decision-making processes. He’d given the boy his own mind, his own physical characteristics, his own wants and desires.
He had never done so with any of the others because of the dangers of investing too heavily in any one of his subjects. But who could he kid? He had not stayed objective thus far, watching some of his subjects more closely than others, wishing for the happiness of some at the expense of others. He had become an abomination, a monster of his own doing, who had created subjects only to watch them suffer.
He couldn’t forgive himself; not now, not ever. His eyes lingered on the vial that sat next to his breakfast smoothie, that he’d stowed away for the day when they destroyed all his work, his entire world. He would save it, tuck it away for now, for as long as he could protect them. When things spun out of his control, he would drink it and end himself the way he had ended them.
In the ancient stories, gods frequently gave their sons as gifts. Now, he would give his son as a gift to her, number 3281. So she could be happy in her last months on earth, before they destroyed her with the rest of them.
If you enjoyed this excerpt, the book is available to purchase at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and you can also download the first 10 chapters to get you started using the links below!
And there's also an awesome contest going on until April 30th, 2012 to promote the book, including the chance to win a new Ipad 3, a Kindle Fire or 25 hardcover autographed copies of Socialpunk.
(Click the link below to continue to the Rafflecopter giveaway if you can't see it)
I also won the yoga mat bag giveaway on The Simple Boxcar's Blog. Ani made up this awesome custom yoga mat bag for me, since I loved this rainbow hat from her Etsy shop and hoped she could do it in similar colours. Pretty awesome, right? The yoga mat bag is like this one, but rainbow colours!
I'm going to have a hard time not waiting next to the mailbox in anticipation!
I'm going to make a knitting admission to you that I feel a bit silly about.
I thought I knew how to read a knitting chart, but guess what?
I didn't have a clue!
Usually I get around using charts by just using the written instructions, but these often seem to be wrong for lace stitches and goodness knows, the written directions for the Ishbel shawl made me throw up my hands in despair and put that shawl promptly into a bag in the back of my closet for a cooling off period.
So here are the basics of chart reading that I've learnt this week that hopefully will save you from making the same mistakes as me!
If you're knitting on straight needles:
Start reading the chart at the bottom right, and read right to left (right side rows)
The second row is then read left to right. (wrong side row)
If you're working in the round on double pointed or circular needles:
Read and work all rows right to left
Now that you know, you're all set to try out a chart! Maybe a cute Batman chart (this is for a hat) catches your fancy?
I'm currently working on a hat using the lace pattern mentioned in this hat pattern , although I've messed it up by not realizing knitting in the round was different until too late! I still think it looks good though:)
Also, while I'm here, without further ado, the winner of the giveaway from The Treasure Chest, is comment #102, Angie Stevens! Congrats! You'll be hearing from myself and Maria soon to get these pretty earrings in the mail for you!
Today I have a giveaway from a lovely local jewellery maker, Maria, who runs an Etsy shop called The Treasure Chest. Up for grabs is this beautiful set of sterling silver and crystal earrings from her shop!
Maria is a dedicated crafter, whose committment to art has been lifelong:
Art has always been my favourite way of exploring the world, of inwardly processing new experiences.The power of light, colours and shapes has always charmed me. My jewels, mostly but not exclusively, made with semiprecious stones and glass beads, are the tools with which I represent the beauty and harmony we can still find around us.
She channels this love of art and seeing the world into each piece of jewellery that she creates:
Each peace is unique: designed with love and artistic passion, professionally made with care and attention to details. I believe that my mission as an artist is accomplished whenever I succeed in touching the soul of other human beings with the caress of beauty.
Yay! I'm glad to have Maria's thoughts on art and creativity, and to have met such a fabulous jewellery maker! Her shop is also full of other delightful pieces!
How to enter:
Mandatory entries: (Leave a comment for each) 1) Like The Treasure Chest's Facebook page, and leave a comment here saying you did so 2) Follow my blog through Google Friend Connect, Blog Lovin' or RSS, and leave a comment with your email address saying you did so
Additional entries: (leave a comment for each) 3) Visit The Treasure Chest's shop, and leave a comment with your favourite item 4) Like the Craftzilla Conquers the World Facebook Page 5) Follow me on Twitter --@Craftzilla 6) Tweet about the giveaway using this tweet: "I entered to win a fancy pair of earrings from The Treasure Chest on @Craft_zilla's blog. http://bit.ly/yxOq0n "
The giveaway will be open until January 29th at 11:59 midnight EST, and is open to anyone! The winner will be chosen by random.org generator. The winner will be emailed as well as announced here on the blog.
Have fun entering, and good luck luck to all of you!
Now that I'm done exams, I've been trying to work on my Christmas crafting, as well as to tie up some loose ends and attend some fun Christmas events. Here are a few glimpses, that will likely continue over the next few days, since there's a lot of random crafty fun to share! I accomplished most of the things on my crafty to do list even, so feeling pretty accomplished! However I have so much left to do!
Tasty sugar cookies made (edited to add--I used a recipe similar to this one for the cookies and this one for the icing)
Lip glosses in peppermint, coffee-vanilla and orange made:
Penguin finished and sent off to his forever home:
More sugar cookies made for a potluck!
Zen made some s'more pie which was amazing! I think the addition of just some coconut to the base and something on top to tame the stickiness of the marshmallow, and it will be even more perfect! Perhaps there will be a recipe to follow, once it's perfected.
Fancy pot luck gift that I put together! It contains one of the coffee lip glosses, as well as some home-made chocolate spoons for stirring into the coffee. That was fun and easy, though I think I'll roll them in crushed up candy canes next time.
Additionally, I chose a winner for my Sew Mama sew give away! The winner is Robyn! Feel free to check out her blog and congratulate her! I'll be emailing you later today Robyn!
Thanks to everyone for entering, and welcome to all my new followers! I'm excited that there's 70 of you lovely folks now!
It's giveaway day today on the Sew Mama Sew blog, so I thought I'd join in the fun and offer something fun to win on my blog today!
For those of you who are new to my blog, I'd love if you go to know me a bit as well as took a browse around my blog! Nice to meet you all:)
Here's what I have to offer:
Printed fabric, backing fabric and sew-in interfacing for five Christmas ornaments (Nativity scenes, Christmas tree and small stocking). I have a tree skirt that matches this, and it came with a bunch of these smaller prints that are great for ornaments, or even quilting up a small table runner or banner if you're so inclined.
Close up of some of the ornaments:
Four different kinds of Christmas fabrics - holly, bells , Christmas bears and winter country fabric - each print has enough to make a small gift bag. You get two pieces of each print that measure roughly 11' by 10" )
Two green and two red blank cards with envelopes
- Four pages gold and silver origami paper - for the cards, origami or maybe even to make some fancy snowflakes
- A bunch of embellishments for the cards and ornaments - sequins, brats, ribbon, wire, rope, different sizes of buttons
How to Enter and win all these fancy things:
1) Leave me a comment telling me what your favourite part about the holiday season is--I'd love to hear stories! Please remember to include your email in the comment so I can contact you if you win!
Additional entries:
2) Follow my blog --using Google Friend Connect or Blog Lovin' (leave a second comment with your name and email saying that you did this)
The giveaway is open to anyone in the US/Canada/international readers, so get your entries in now:) The giveaway will close on December 16th at 5pm PST, and a winner will be chosen by random number generator. I'll announce the winner on the blog as well as email the winner by December 18th.
I have some quick Friday Fancies for you today, as I have tons of stuff to do, and must also head off to work tonight!
Yup these are a version of the mittens from Twilight. I've seen them before, but thought I'd share now that mitten season has arrived! I love long mittens like these, and the cables are tres fancy.
If you forgot to enter, there is also an awesome discount code you can use : STMMMS28779
This code will get you $10 off your purchase of the MyMemories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - which is a $20 value! Pretty great even still, right?
I was recently contacted by the company My Memories, asking if I'd do a giveaway of their digital scrapbooking software on my blog, along with a copy of the software for me to try out! Exciting right? I've been wanting to jazz up some of my photos on the blog lately, and this software will defnitely help me to do so!
Here are some of the layouts I've played around with so far:
Pictures from my friend Maricor's wedding back in September
A collection of Jesse pictures, cutest puppy of mine
All pretty cute right? There are tons of options that come with the program, as well as some free downloads of papers and backgrounds from their site which can really make your photos unique and interesting without spending a ton of time figuring out Photoshop or other photo editing programs to make them do something similar.
1) Go to the My Memories site and browse around a bit. Once you've found your favourite digital scrap-booking kit, leave a comment on this post with your name and email., telling me what your favourite kit is!
Extra contest entries (leave a separate comment for each )
2) Be a follower of my Blog on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'
3) Tweet about the contest using the Tweet: I entered to win a copy of My Memories scrapbooking software on @Craft_zilla's blog! Enter here to win: http://bit.ly/voVBKA
4) Blog about the giveaway (and leave a link to your post in your comment)
The giveaway will be open for one (1) week, and will close on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at midnight EST.
But Wait! There's more!
If you just can't wait to get started on creating some awesome photo layouts, or you don't win the giveaway and are super disappointed, guess what?!?
Here's an awesome discount Code: STMMMS28779
This code will get you $10 off your purchase of the MyMemories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - which is a $20 value! Pretty great right?
Good luck everyone!
The giveaway is now closed-thanks to all who entered!
I must say that I'd forgotten how much work goes into full time school and I am struggling a bit. Flopping about on the ground like a fish out of water even. My apartment is a mess, I'm barely sleeping and forgetting to eat, and the dog even got into some fudge last night since forgot to put it away. (Luckily he's ok, we made him barf it all up pretty immediately) There are still the money problems inherent with going back to school too, which is making everyone cranky.
Luckily, it looks like some OSAP monies will be coming in soon, and I got a new job at a national craft store thats opening up a new store in my town! Yay! I don't even care that it will basically be store setup for the next few weeks, just for the excuse to touch some crafts, since that has definitely been falling by the wayside since school started. I'm happy just for the excuse to touch some things that people might make crafts out of, and also earn some monies!
I'm also excited that I'll be teaching a learn to knit socks class at my LYS, All Strung Out, starting this weekend! I think there's still some spots for any peeps local to Guelph --signup here
Today I have a lovely giveaway to share from Claire of Polka Dot Pretties !
Claire has offered this lovely pencil case from her Etsy shop to help all of us going back to school with thier pencil storage needs. Look at how lovely this is:
The cupcake print is SO ADORABLE, I can't even stand it :)
In order to win this lovely pencil case, here's what to do. For each entry, leave a comment and make sure there's a way to contact you (Email etc)
1) Mandatory entry: Visit Claire's Etsy shop and leave a comment below with your favourite product from the shop!
Extra entries:
2) Follow Claire on Twitter
3) Tweet about the giveaway including a link to this post
4) Blog about the giveaway and leave a link to your post
The giveaway will be open for one week, closing at midnight, EST on September 23, 2011.
Winner will be chosen using random number generator, and the giveaway is open internationally.
I'd like to welcome the lovely Giulia of Another Diamond Day to my Back to School Blog Party celebration!
Giulia has a lovely giveaway from her shop to share, to make one of you lucky readers a bit more stylish, whether you're on your way back to school or not!
Description of prizes: BRASS LEAF AND BELL EARRINGS
The earrings consist of a tiny brass leaf and a dusty pink baby czech glass bell. The pendant is 1 inch long and the whole earring is 2.5 inches. The prize also includes a 25% off coupon on any items of my shop. The winner will receive the coupon code by email.
Please leave a comment and a way to reach you (Email, Twitter) for each entry!
How to enter:
1) Follow Giulia's Blog by Google Friend Connect
2 Visit her Etsy shop and leave a comment telling which item is your favourite
The giveaway will be open for one week, and will close at midnight on September20th. Open to all readers!
As I promised at the end of last week, this week will be a fun blog party of guest posts and giveaways from a bunch of amazing people while I start my first week of university! There will be lots of amazing stuff to come on the blog from these amazing ladies:
I woke up yesterday morning, and to my surprise, I had won yet another giveaway from the Oh Prettyful blog, for a $15 shop credit to Garden of Eden designs !
I wandered around her lovely shop, which includes such fancy things as these (click the photos to go to the Etsy listing)
I ended up deciding on this lovely sleep mask, since I have trouble blocking out the sun in my room and I just really love the stitched words/look of this one:
