Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Karen Snyder and I've been a crafter for about as long as I can remember. I am a stay-at-home-Mama of two beautiful children with a husband who makes my dreams possible.

This blog is about all sorts of crafting. I am a paper-crafter from early days, a jewelry-maker with an unending obsession for chain maille. I make chain maille purses, many of which will be chronicled in this blog as their future owners await their completion. I love metalsmithing. I am an indifferent beader and don't get me anywhere near seed beads... they scatter, screaming to get away from me. I love to try new things, have a short attention span so if its a long-term project... I'm probably not doing it LOL.

If you have questions, ask. If you have tips, share. Same with suggestions - share! I want this to be a great forum for people to brainstorm and problem-solve with a good attitude. Crabby Apples need not respond, this is a feel-good kind of blog :)

Sunday, September 19, 2010

And the 900 Fans Winner is....



Another milestone passed and celebrated!  I'm so happy to announce that the winner of the 900 Facebook Fans Give-Away is Amanda from Flowerskissing!  Amanda, watch your messages for one from me telling you how to claim your prize - and congratulations!

To everyone else who helped me reach this milestone, thank you so much for all of your support!  As of the writing of this blog entry, I'm at 939 fans.... so it won't be long before we're back here to give something away for reaching 1000 fans! 

Thursday, September 16, 2010

900 Facebook Fans!


900 Fans!  Who would have ever thought that I'd be back here so quickly to announce the drawing for 900 Fans?  I am so proud and thrilled to be giving away another prize - two in one week! 

This prize is a pendant and a new skill that I've been working on diligently - wire coiling and wrapping.  This free form chunk of green aventurine has been in my bead stash for a very long time.  After seeing a tutorial from my friend Amanda at Pallina Designs, I decided to give the technique a shot.  I used bright copper wire in 3 different gauges to wrap the pendant, then used more to wrap nine, 4mm tourmaline beads onto the piece to commemorate the achievment of 900 fans.  The piece includes a copper chain and pendant bracket.  All of the copper has been sealed with Renaissance wax to keep it bright and shiny!

To win, simply leave a comment with this post and include your name and email address.  Winner will be announced Sunday night, September 19 at 8 PM CST.  Thank you to everyone who has participated, shared my page and invited their friends to my page.  It is all of you who make it possible for me to do what I love :)

Monday, September 13, 2010

And the 800 Fans Winner Is....

I'm so sorry I'm late getting this posted.  The hubby is playing softball tonight and the kids have decided to wage Sibling Warfare this evening.  However, one is now down for the night and the other is pink milked and jammied up!  So without further ado...

Tonight's winner of the 800 Likes Earrings is..... Jan DeClue!  Jan I will send you a message with the details of how to claim your prize and thank you for being a part of helping me reach 800 fans.

As of the writing of this blog entry, I'm at 832 fans... so we're steadily working our way up to 900 when you know there will be another give-away.  Thank you, each and every one of you, for participating, suggesting to your friends, and being so supportive and encouraging of my work.  Hopefully we'll be back here soon to celebrate 900!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Celebrating 800 Fans on Facebook!


It seems like it was only a few days ago that I was celebrating achieving 700 fans and now I'm at 800!  Yahooo!  I can't tell you all how proud, excited and just plain honored I am to be able to type that number.  You know I'm one to celebrate with a give-away and this time is no different.  I have had this design available in my shop for a while with garnets but I've always thought I needed to re-work it with something a bit more elegant.  I was up late a few days before I actually hit 800 fans when I realized that what this earring needed was some Swarovski sparkle!  (Yes, that surprises you all I know... because it's just so rare for me to add sparkle right?  LOL!) 

This chain maille weave is called Full Persian 6-in-1, which means that each link connects to six others.  It is a dense weave and not all that flexible, so I decided to suspend the earring from a post finding with a single ring so that it would swing and dance on your ears.  Not to mention, the construction allows the faceted Swarovski drop to catch as much light as possible.  These are currently made with Jet drops, but the winner will get to choose another color (in stock) if they want.  I think the black makes these work with any outfit and wouldn't these be elegant on your ears for all the holiday parties coming up?  All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with your email address to be entered sometime between now (Friday evening, US time) and Monday evening at 7 PM CST.  I'll be announcing the winner at 8 PM Monday evening.  Good luck everyone and thank you for being a part of helping me reach so many wonderful fans!