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! 

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 :)

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!

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!

The Photograph

If you follow my Facebook page, then you've read me lament my lack of skill as a photographer.  I'm a hit and miss kind of gal when it comes to photographing my work and it makes me crazy.  That might be why I'm so appreciative of great photography.  One night about a month ago, I was browsing around a few new Facebook pages and came across something that literally brought me to tears.  It was this picture:

JAM Photography's image of a Mother and Child

This picture was, and still is, so powerful to me.  You see, I had a c-section with both of my babies and my memory is very fuzzy and disjointed for about the first 24 hours following each of their births.  As I looked at this image, I so wished that I'd had someone take pictures of that precious time for me.  The brilliant young woman who took this picture is Ashlie from JAM Photography.

Ashlie's gift unfolded before me as I clicked through the photographs on her page.  She has an eye for contrast that floors me.

The ring on the babies toe so perfectly illustrates how tiny and fragile are new babies.

She also has that special understanding of sexy and how to photograph a woman's sexiness without stepping over the line into crass or tawdry.

To me, this is sexy and glorious - the kind of photograph I'd want of myself to share with my husband.

Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of Ashlie's work.  You can find her Facebook page here, complete with a Payvement store where you can buy her still life work as cards, prints, even dry-erase boards!  Please take a moment to stop by her page and see her beautiful work - I promise, you won't be sorry you did.  She already knows I'm a fan!

And The Winners Are.....

Wow!  I can hardly believe that a month has passed so quickly!  I started this with 160 fans and as of the writing of this post, I am up to 737!  What an amazing birthday celebration it has been for me and I have all of you to thank.  You've made turning 41 such a joy!

So if you read the full details on my Facebook Discussion tab, you know that I have more than a few things to give away this evening.  So here are the winners.....

There was a tie for the most referrals - how cool is that?  Teshia Wilkinson and Bette Luksha-Gammell each win a pair of sterling silver Romanov earrings with their choice of crystal color!  Congratulations ladies and thank you, thank you, thank you for referring so many new fans my way :)

I said I would choose one fan who was around before the Birthday Bash began and one fan who came in the flurry of new fans.  The "before" fan winner is Carla Krantz and the new fan winner is Jennifer Burke Vogel!  They each also have won a pair of sterling Romanov earrings with their choice of crystal color.  Congratulations to you two and thank you for all of the encouraging comments you leave on my page.

If you've been keeping track, then you also know that there is a pair of amethyst fidget earrings up for winning for reaching 700 fans.  The 700 Fans winner is Cyndi Taylor Cox!  Congrats Cyndi - I hope you enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoyed finally figuring out what to do with those gorgeous amethyst beads!

Earring Entry 8/28/10

Well here it is, the last daily earring entry!  I'm having such a wonderful birthday already and I want to take a minute to thank all of you for being a part of this great event.  You've made my birthday last all month long and it has been non-stop fun for me :)  So today, I want you to leave a comment and tell me about your best birthday ever. 

My best birthday was my 35th birthday, though I honestly didn't know it until about 6 weeks later.  As it turns out, I got pregnant with my first child, our son, on my 35th birthday :)  Best birthday gift I ever received and my husband takes all the credit LOL!