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, March 20, 2011

2011 Fan Fest Extravaganza



My son Sebastian's prize pool earrings!
When I announced on my Facebook page that I would be having an extravaganza celebration when I reached 2011 fans, I asked a few of my friends and fellow business owners if they would be willing to donate an item to the prize pool.  They all said yes and made some gorgeous items to include - and I thought that was the end of it.  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect the explosion of generosity and kindness that came next!  I announced the pages that would be participating and the next thing I knew, my inbox was bursting with offers from other pages to donate items to the pool!  What an amazing blessing!  In the blink of an eye, there were 30 items in the album and I can't begin to tell you how honored and thankful I am :)

So the original plan was for there to be one winner of all the beautiful things, but that was before so many businesses became involved!  With so many beautiful things and so many pages participating, I decided that the best way to make this a true Fan Fest Extravaganza was to spread the winning around among as many people as possible.  So that's what I'm going to do - each prize will be awarded individually and yes, I know that's a lot more work for me, but I'm not fussed about that at all :)

So I bet you are wondering how this works, right?  To enter the drawing, you must go to my Facebook album called "2011 Fan Fest Prizes" and like every page who has donated to the prize pool.  As winners are drawn, the names will be checked to make sure that they've liked every page.  If they have not liked every page, they will be disqualified and another winner drawn.  Please understand that this has to be fair for every page who donated and every person who enters - so there are no exceptions to this rule.  Once you've liked all the pages, please return here and post a comment on this blog entry with your first name and email address - and please, join me in thanking all of the businesses who have graciously donated their time, effort and beautiful work to help me celebrate 2011 Facebook Fans in 2011!  This drawing will remain open for a full week, allowing everyone time to visit all the pages and get their entries in.  Entries will close on Sunday, March 27, 2011 at 7 pm (US CST) and the drawing will begin, via random.org, immediately following.  Winners will be announced as their entries are verified.