These wonderful African Trade Beads are the next prize in the Beading Gem’s ongoing giveaway. She has had some neat prizes from various bead makers and sellers and this week its our turn! So if you want to win these great beads or are just looking for a good crafting blog to read, head on over there and take a peek:  Pearl always has interesting and informative articles on beads and other cool jewelry-related stuff.

The prizes are awesome and the more entries, the more of the prizes get unlocked and she has really saved the best for last! Not that the other prizes aren’t great, but who DOESN’T want this fantastic bustle skirt by Crescentwench?

It only requires about 30 more entries (last I heard) to unlock this beauty so tell your friends and get on over there to peruse the neat stuff she posts and enter this contest. I’m sure she’d appreciate a few tweets too if you have the time as she’s moving soon and super busy.

In other news, I broke my bent nose pliers working with some big honking rings and now I cannot get anything done until I get around to ordering new ones… maybe I should learn a new craft in the meantime – any suggestions?  I mostly finished what I was working on – pics to come most likely – so it’s not too big of a deal, they were not the best quality anyway and I had been delaying replacing them. I guess they made that decision for me! But its too hot to stare at the computer anymore, I am going to go relax in the slight breeze on the balcony that my kitties seem to be so enjoying.

Happy crafting!

His decisive victory (49%)  in our recent race makes him the new For the Love of Beads mascot! Keep an eye out for this shiny AND furry bead-loving heart popping up in various parts of the store.

Thanks to everyone who voted, we couldn’t have decided without you.

Coming tomorrow (a little late but worth waiting for, was planning to post on Friday), some very, VERY cool chainmail sculptures from a fellow crafter on the Ring Lord forums. Make sure you come back and check it out, you won’t be disappointed!

’til then, happy crafting!

Just a quick hello to mention some cool blog-y stuff going on out there on the internet!

First off since there isn’t much time left, head on over to Chinook Jewelry’s blog and suggest a name for two new beautiful glazes for a chance to win a fabulous pendant! Contest ends tonight at midnight (PST) so don’t dawdle!

My friend Pearl over at Beading Gem is having a giveaway contest so be sure to enter! For the Love of Beads will be donating some of my favourite beads (pics to come) to this giveaway so be sure to keep an eye on it!

Lorelei’s  Inside the Studio blog is also having a great giveaway over the next few weeks so be sure to take a look and leave a comment to enter for some cute mermaids (and whatever other goodies she has to give out).

Beading Daily is hosting their first earring swap which sounds like fun. I plan to participate myself if I can decide what on earth to make so check it out, enter if you feel up for it and maybe you’ll get whatever fun earrings I come up with in the next few weeks!  (Or something fantastic from one of your fellow internet loving crafters!)

And last but not least, don’t forget that our mascot race is running until Monday, August 3rd so get your vote in if you haven’t yet.

Now I have to go make use of the sunshine which has been so sparse the past few days – so many new pretties and no pics of any of them! Time to change that.

Happy crafting!

Voting ends on Monday, August 3 so tell your friends to vote for their favourite now!

Thanks for participating! Hope you had fun!

Thanks again to everyone who took part! It was lots of fun to run a contest and I’m sure there will be more in the future. Read on for the list of winners and also links to sites and blogs which helped out by posting about the contest.

Winners:

• Grand Prize Winner: Congratulations to Lisa from Indialantic, Florida, who won the $250 gift card! (Lisa runs the Lucid Moon Studios Blog and Lucid Moon Studios Etsy Store.)
• Green and Black Necklace Winner: Congratulations to Erin from Massachusetts, who won the Green and Black Necklace! (Erin runs Every Heart Crafts Blog and Every Heart Crafts Etsy Store – and also posted about the contest, thanks Erin!)
• Blue and Black Bracelet Winner: Congratulations to Lindsey from Staten Island, New York, who won the Blue and Black Bracelet!
• Chain Maille Flower Choker Winner: Congratulations to Leigh from Highstown, New Jersey, who won the Chain Maille Flower Choker! (Leigh runs the Constant Cravings Blog.)
• Silver and Blue Chain Maille Bracelet Winner: Congratulations to Christine from Bensalem, Pennsylvania, who won the Silver and Blue Chain Maille Bracelet!
  

So congratulations again to all the winners! I was going to do a video of picking names out of a hat like Lisa did on her blog, but I realized that, having only collected emails I couldn’t really draw names without giving away peoples emails. There was also the secondary problem of having to track down a camera and get the hundreds of names printed and cut up. Next time we do a draw I’m sure we can do a video of Suzanne and I picking names though.

Thanks a ton to all the sites and blogs that posted about the contest! Here is a list of them in no particular order:

• Pearl over at The Beading Gem Journal kindly posted a nice write-up of the contest on the 4th of April.
• Lisa from A Bead a Day helped get the word out to her twitter and facebook contacts – she was very kind in giving me some pointers for getting onto twitter where I’ve found so many people, but haven’t tweeted nearly enough myself yet.
• Erin from Every Heart Crafts posted too as I mentioned above (since she was also one of the winners). It was her post that our Grand Prize winner Lisa found out about the contest from!
• Jennifer Ramos from the quite successful Made By Girl blog helped get the word out. Also have a small ad over on her blog that has been sending a fair bit of traffic our way too!
• Corra from De Cor’s Handmades posted before she disappeared for some time off – hopefully she had a good time. The burger in her latest post is making me hungry =D
• Tammy Powley from jewlerymaking.about.com and The Craftey Princess Diaries mentioned the contest on about.com.
• Sheila Morley from Art Talk with Sheila Morley did a nice post just before the contest was over – check out her glass work, such beautiful colours!

I tried to keep track of who I emailed and who posted or otherwise helped out – but I’ve been so busy with college and all the orders coming in that it has been tough. If I’ve missed anyone I’m so sorry! Let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

For all those that didn’t win, there are sure to be more contests in the future! Please come back again soon and theres always the FTLoB newsletter if you want to hear about new contests and other news!

Also I’d love to see some comments (or get some emails) as to what people found both good or bad, intuitive or frustrating about the contest so I can make the next contest even better.

I’ll be sending out emails to winners over the next day, so keep an eye on your email inbox!

The official announcement of the winners will be on Thursday. I’ll also do a shout out to everyone I know of that helped out with spreading the contest too – for now I’d like to say thanks again to everyone involved!

Spring has just sprung here in Toronto and Easter is just around the corner. Easter in my family has always been marked with a big family dinner and of course, lots of chocolate. I have fond memories of searching every nook and cranny to uncover every last hidden treat. Decorating Easter eggs was also something I remember affectionately.

Suzanne and I have decided to celebrate the launch of the For The Love Of Beads Blog with a Virtual Easter Egg Hunt and Raffle!

The Grand Prize will be $250 gift card for For The Love Of Beads! Four other prizes will be given out, each a piece of jewelry I’ve made recently. Everyone who finds an egg will be entered into the raffle (slight change from what I thought we’d do when I posted the teaser). You will also receive a 15%, 25% or 50% discount when you find your first egg.

For the rest of the details click “more…” below!

Eggs are hidden on 5 individual bead pages spread throughout the For The Love of Beads store. Keep an eye out for paw prints to guide you to the right place!

Once you find an egg, click on it and enter your email address. You will be shown a clue for one of the remaining eggs’ location and will be emailed your coupon. There are 5 eggs in total, and for each you find you get a new entry in the raffle for a chance at winning one of the prizes!* The contest will run from today (Monday, April 6th) for one week, until Sunday night (April 12th, just before midnight EST).

So without further ado, I present the hint for the bead where the first egg is hidden:

“I’m big and red and straight from the sea; imagine the jewelry you could make out of me!”

CLICK HERE TO START NOW! (Will take you to main page of For The Love Of Beads so you can start your search)

Keep an eye out for the Easter Bunny’s footprints around the site leading to the beads he’s hidden eggs near!

Here are pictures of the 4 pieces I have made that will be given away as secondary raffle prizes:

Prize: Blue and Black Bracelet

Prize: Chain Maille Flower Choker

Prize: Green and Black Necklace

Prize: Silver and Blue Chain Maille Bracelet

Winners will be drawn at random once the contest is complete and results will be posted the Thursday following the end of the contest (16th of April).

*Click here for full contest details.

I’m excited to announce that starting Monday we’re going to have a big contest!

The GRAND PRIZE will be the winner’s choice of $250 worth of beads from For The Love Of Beads. We’re also giving away four pieces of jewelry I’ve made as secondary prizes.

I don’t want to give too much away yet, but with Easter just around the corner there will be a small hunt around the website to qualify for the raffle. Also, everyone who participates will get a coupon for a discount on their next order from For The Love Of Beads (upto 50% off!).

Make sure you come back again next Monday (April 6th) to participate and get all the contest details!

If you’d like a reminder, sign up for the FTLOB Newsletter on the home page.