Can you imagine???

I have a wonderful mental picture for you - but before I get to that - if you want to know why my blogging has been so sporadic lately check out this blog post :)

Now - do you listen to Block Head Radio? Well, if you do your probably familiar with our dear producer Rod:
Well - if we sell 50 of the 5,000 impression ads by March 15th .... he'll put on something like this:
Scary? Yes. A good reason to buy advertising for your shop? Of course!

Disclaimer: this will be done as tastefully as possible and I promise your trauma will be no where near as severe as the trauma his 6 children go through when THEY see it!

Want more information? Check out the original blog post on the stations blog :)

Like the pretty purple tutu? I found it (where else?) on etsy :D Go HERE to check it out :)

Thursdays Interview - The Chain Maille Lady!

Yesterday was the first episode of Thursday Spotlight on Artisan, my new radio show with my fabulous co-host Lily, of Tulips Treasure Box! Many thanks go out to Rod, the King Plugger Lugger, for giving us this wonderful opportunity!   Each Friday I'll be doing a short recap of the show, and featuring some of the lovely items from that week's artist :) To listen to yesterday's show go here. It was a blast!

This week's interview was Lauren, of The Chain Maille Lady, and she did a fabulous job!  Lauren creates gorgeous chain maille jewelry.  She's been doing so for about 4 years now, and creates an incredible variety of pieces!  Looking in her shop you'll find bracelets, necklaces, earrings, dream catchers, celtic stars, and more! Quality is key with Lauren, and she works hard to insure that none of her pieces will ever snag your skin or clothes. 

One thing that Lauren is doing that I think is awesome is she's raising money for research to cure Polycystic Kidney Disease.  Here's a little blurb she wrote about that: For
the month of November & December 10% of your purchase from my shop
will be donated to the PKD Foundation (Polycystic Kidney Disease) in
honor of my father and uncle who lost their lives to the disease (I
also have the disease). For more information on the foundation please
visit http://www.pkdcure.org/. Thank you in advance for your support. Donation to date: $71.80

Want to learn more about Lauren and see more of her work? You can find The Chain Maille Lady on Etsy, 1000 Markets, The Maille Market, and on her Blog!

Lauren would tell you that one the best ways to get your work known on etsy, and to find support, is to join teams. She's a part of the California Crafters Club of Etsy, the Etsy Chainmaillers' Guild, and the Fantasy Artists of Etsy. 

Here's a few of my favorite pieces from Lauren's shop!

Large Celtic Star in Pink, Dark Purple, and Silver



Mini coat of Arm(or) II Bracelet



Pink Passion Earrings

On a more personal note - I mentioned last night that I had a friend coming over to teach me some chain maille work.  Oh my goodness! I have so much more respect for chain maille artists - and I always was really impressed by them!  It's a lot of very finicky work.  I've started learning the basic 4 in 1 weave, but I've learned that I can't do it when my hands are shaking, and so I wasn't able to work on it for very long last night.  But I will keep working on it! Because it's fun, and I'm one of those crazy people who wants to learn everything :P

Whew!

I feel like I've been going none stop all day long! I finally have internet access again and I've slowly started catching up on all the blog posts that I missed.  I felt so left out! I'm having fun reading everything, but it's taking me awhile :P So if I haven't been by your blog yet, don't worry, I should be soon!  I've been starting by catching up with my etsybloggers, and I plan on returning to my normal entre card drops tomorrow if at all possible!

Yesterday was really exciting! My dear hubby and I were talking as we drove to the bead store about building a web-site.  He's a geek-extraordinaire, and has offered to build one for me.  My first reaction was, "I'm managing enough sites with etsy and three blogs!"  Then, as I thought about it more, I began to see more and more possibilities for having my own web-site.  One of the things that I'd really like to do in the near future is start working on getting some consignment and wholesale accounts in the local area.  I was thinking I'd try to get cracking on that after the New Year.  So I was thinking that it would be fantastic to have a web-site that I could put in a brochure for consignments and wholesale accounts.  That way I can produce a small brochure, and then say, "for futher examples please see ...."  My dear hubby loved the idea and we talked about the whole to the bead store!

At the bead store I had several things I was looking for specifically, and I ended up in a long conversation with the store owner.  I have a new project I want to try, the patterns from a book, so I was double checking with her that I had the right materials.  As we chatted we ended up talking about many things, and I showed her a macrame piece that I had in my pocket (working on it in the car), she was very impressed! Which surprised me since I've just started working with macrame...  Anyway, next thing I know she was telling me that she loves to support local artisans and if I ever wanted to sell in her shop to let her know! 

I was floored, and super excited! We talked over details and I'll be going back in the next few weeks to set it all up! I couldn't believe that we'd JUST been talking about trying to pursue opportunities like this, and one was handed to me, dropped right in my lap.  Isn't that exciting?

Today was our first radio program on Blockhead Radio! I'll be telling you more about that tomorrow - so stay tuned!  I'll just say for now that I think it really well :)

I wanted to share a blog post with you that a friend of mine put together.  I thought it was really inciteful and I'm looking forward to reading the rest she has to share!  Go here to find the blog post :)

Oh yes, and for anyone who has been wondering, I do plan on resuming my promotions series, hopefully Saturday or Sunday. 

Quick view...

So here's a shot of my work area, it's kinda messy, but I decided not to clean it up for you guys because then it wouldn't be accurate!

As you can see my hubby and I are sharing a desk for our computers, but I get my own table for my jewelry! And all i have to do to go from laptop to jewelry creation is swivel my chair! Ahh bliss :)

All this stuff and there are sooo many more supplies I want to get! Anyway, I should have my internet back sometime in the next 24 hours and I'll be around more again.  Don't forget to come listen to my new radio show that I'm co-hosting with Lily of Tulips Treasure Box, tomorrow, 12pm EST. :) http://blockheadradiolive.com/

I'm so Excited!!!

There are many things I'm excited about today :) For one - I'm thankful to be alive - you can read about that story here. I'm also very excited to announce that the Etsy Bloggers are having a sale! My shop is participating with 10% of the entire shop PLUS FREE shipping on orders of $20 or more! Here's our team announcement :)

H a p p y H o l i d a y s ! !
The EtsyBloggers HOLIDAY S*A*L*E* is going on from Black Friday thru Cyber Monday!!
That's Friday 11/28 thru Monday 12/1!!
See a list of the 50+ shops having a SALE at http://etsybloggers.etsy.com
H a p p y S h o p p i n g ! !

I'm also very excited to share with you an exciting opportunity I have! Have you listened to Blockhead Radio? If not - check the widget on the side of my blog! And clicking on the logo below will take you to the blog!


Anyway, Rod, the founder of this radio program and a man we call the "King Plugger Lugger" (because he loves to plug other people's businesses!), is doing a lot to expand the program. The Monday night show is now being called Artisan for Artisan and will be covering a wide range of topics related to the artisan world! Come join is Monday's at 9pm EST for an awesome time of laughter and fun :)

Rod's also added on a Wednesday night show, also at 9pm EST, called the Indie Music Artist Spotlight. He'll be doing live interview's with a wide range of artists, the first week's show is already in the archives, so go listen!

Now for what I'm REALLY excited about! Starting Thursday, December 4th, and 12pm EST, will be the new show - Spotlight on Artisan! Rod will be there to introduce the show and run the chat room, but it will be co-hosted by none other than the fabulous Lily of Tulips Treasure Box and myself! That's right - each week we'll lining up fantastic indipendant artists to interview - and you'll get to hear my voice! Here's a hint - I sound 16, but I'm really not :P

The opening show will feature a live interview with a wonderful artist - Lauren of TheChainMailleLady :) I have a thread going in the forums to help promote this - so if your as excited about getting to know other artisans as I am - go chat in the thread with us!

New to my Blog :)

I've made an addition to my blog layout! On the right side you'll notice a player that you can use to access the Block Head Rod show :) (That's a picture of da man himself on the left here) Don't worry - it won't start automatically playing on you - but it's more than worth a listen! Not only can it be utterly hysterical, but this on-line radio show is highly informative.  You'll learn a lot! Tonight's show is a topic I've been dying to listen too - their talking about blogging and about making money off of your blog! Since I love blogging, and honestly could use the money, I'm really excited to learn more! 

Now, what's even better than listening to the show on my blog, is being there for the LIVE show!  Why? Well, you can win great prizes, the chat room is a blast, and you get a chance to do some shameless self promotion via the chat room :) It's worth it - trust me!  To participate in the chat you do need to sign up for the blogtalkradio, but they won't spam you and it's a quick and painless process.  While your at it - go check out his blog!  You'll learn more about what the radio show is all about :) 

Rod's a busy guy - he also hosts the Artisan's challenge - go cast your vote!