Cyber Monday Sale

It's here! Cyber Monday. Everything in my ArtFire Studio is on sale at 50% discount for 12 hours only. 7 am to 7 pm central daylight time, US.

This sale comes at just the right time to have a combined Grand Opening and a Cyber Monday sale combinede. My ArtFire Studio was opened in October 2010 and is filled with beaded jewelry and beaded jewelry patterns. The jewelry ranges from the elegant simplicity of these Elegance Squared earrings to the grandly ornate Labradorite Ripple necklace.

Come on by and take a look. Patterns will be e mailed to you within a short time today as I'm babysitting this site like a mother hen during the sale.

Happy Cyber Monday and may you find all the Cyber deals you're looking for.

Black Friday to Cyber Monday Sales

ArtFire is sponsoring a huge Black Friday 2010 deals promotion. I went to ArtFire to see what the Beaded Jewelry artists were doing. Typed "beaded jewelry" into the search box and got 1245 pages of deals, mostly stringing and wirework. Typed in "beadwoven jewelry" and got 10 pages.

That gave me a big clue as to niche key words for my ArtFire shop. All of mine have beaded, jewelry in the tags, but not all had beadwoven. I'm finding this SEO really hard to grasp, but occasionally I see the light here and there.

Speaking of Black Friday, BeadPatternsBoutique is having a huge buy 2 get one free sale on bead patterns Friday, November 26th through Monday, November 29th. Twelve designers are participating in this sale so you can find a wide variety of patterns. Read all the details in the BeadPatternsBoutique Shop Blog. This is definitely not a sale you want to pass up. We've had this type of sale occasionally, but this one has the largest participation among the designers.

I hope all my US friends are having a very happy, safe Thanksgiving Day, and to the rest of you I hope you're warm/cool (depending on your location) and safe for the weekend.

New Bead Pattern Sneak Preview

My mind's been racing even though my fingers don't want to hold a needle, my eyes don't want to look at beads or the computer screen, and my behind doesn't want to sit for very long at a time. We've definitely got a cold front coming in and it is playing havoc with this old body.

When I finish with the Christmas ornaments (I've still got one and a half to do) I'm going to start on a tutorial for the Russian Lace heart necklace in the picture.

In the meantime, I've been busy trying to get in the Holiday spirit. I wanted to make pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I usually make a pecan pie, but nostalgia took over. I remember my Mother-in-Law's pumpkin bread and it was delicious. Back in the day, she used to bake them in 1 lb coffee cans. When they were cooled they went back in the cans and were sealed. Wonderful! A cooking and storing vessel all in one. I looked and looked and couldn't find the recipe I got from her, so I went online and found one I thought sounded about right. It turned out great. The house smells like pumpkin and spices. That helped lift my spirits.

Today I'm going to carefully crack open some walnuts, clean them out, put a hanger on the shells and glue them together for my granddaughter to paint when she gets home from school. Gotta pass on the handmade tradition ya know?

Don't forget to take a look at my ArtFire shop. I'm still adding beaded jewelry items and patterns, trying to get everything loaded by Cyber Monday. On Cyber Monday everything in my ArtFire shop will be marked 50% off. This will not apply to shipping.

Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Silver & Gold Challenge

Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Silver & Gold Challenge: "Angelque Creations  Beads and Blooms Artisan Originals   Krafty Max (SOLD) Eclectic Jewelry Designs 3 Peeps Designs"

Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Silver & Gold Challenge

Come by and see all the new entries.Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Silver & Gold Challenge: "Angelque Creations Beads and Blooms Artisan Originals Krafty Max (SOLD) Eclectic Jewelry Designs 3 Peeps Designs"
We've got some great designers entering this challenge.

ArtBeads After Thanksgiving Sale

Art Beads is offering an advance "sneak peek" to their After Thanksgiving Sale that will be running on their website next week. Here's a sneak peak coupon for you, my faithful readers. But hurry, this coupon will expire November 28, 2010.

Just use ZZ-THANKSGIVING-SALE at check out to receive 20% off any order over $60.

Also, this is your last chance to enter your own inspiring design in the Artbeads ‘What Inspires You?’ Necklace & Beading Contests. You can enter a design in each category if you like, ‘Necklaces’ and the other ‘General’ category which includes other pieces like bracelets, earrings, accessories, apparel, home décor and crafts. You may also enter any prior or current design you have created through the Design Partners program. The winners will receive awards ranging from $100 to $500 to spend at Artbeads.com! 

Entries submissions must be received no later than Monday, November 22, 2010 at 11:59pm PT. Voting starts Tuesday, November 23, and ends Wednesday, December 8. Winners will be announced Thursday, December 16, 2010. Make sure to encourage your friends, family and blog readers to vote for your design if you are participating in the contest.

Etsy Beadweavers November Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Miriam of Cielo Designs. Her "Wreath of Good Tidings" necklace is the winner of the Etsy Beadweavers November Challenge.
Check out Etsy Beadweavers Blog for the runners up.

Don't forget to check my ArtFire Shop on cyber monday for big, big savings.

Christmas Ornaments and ArtFire

I'm almost finished with the family Christmas ornaments. I only have two more of these cute drums to bead, and I'll be finished. I'm not very disciplined, as you can probably tell. When I have a "deadline" for finishing beading, I can think of all kinds of things that I want to tell you, my readers. I spend more time blogging and writing articles than I do beading. I guess I just love working under pressure. You can find the pattern for this drum ornament at Bead Patterns Boutique .

I've been working steadily on my ArtFire Shop and have added quite a few new items.  I've added a pattern section and it's growing.  Today I added these beautiful, sparkly, red and crystal Elegance Squared earrings and an All Occasion Earring pattern collection.  My shop has a wide range of jewelry with an equally wide range of prices.  Something for all budgets.

Be sure to drop by my ArtFire shop on Cyber Monday, November 29, 2010. I will be running a sale for 12 hours only from 7 am to 7 pm central daylight savings time US.  Everything will be marked down 50% for these 12 hours.  In the meantime I'll be working hard to get many more items listed.

I'd like your feed back on my shop.  What would you like to see in it?  More ready made jewelry?  More patterns?  If patterns, what stitch do you prefer?  

Happy beading all. 

Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Newest Members

Artfire Beadweaver's Guild: Newest Members: "These are our latest members over the last few weeks. I will be making a page as well for our challenge entries and will post them all in a ..."

Come on by and see the works of the new members.  We've got some very talented people in our guild.

Frosty Morning ArtFire Collection

I've been browsing through the ArtFire Beadweaver's Guild member shops on Artfire and found these frosty treasures.

Frosty Morning

Curated By: TheBeadDoodler

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Etsy Beadweavers November Challenge

The November Etsy Beadweaver's Challenge "Holiday Treasures", has been posted and is awaiting your vote!

Voting will be open November 9 through November 15.

Come on by and cast your vote.  Tell your friends so they can vote too.

I didn't enter this challenge, but I've enjoyed seeing all the entries and getting a glimpse into holiday traditions of other cultures and countries.

I've finally finished the last of the Christmas ornament patterns for this year.  This Cheerful Bear carries an armload of joy for your Christmas tree or for a package.

Click here to add this pattern to your BeadPatternsBoutique shopping cart

Or

Quantity:

Before the end of the month I hope to have all the brick stitch ornaments gathered into a collection. I'm still fighting the "tired eye" and not able to be on the computer for very long at a time, but I'm hoping the weather change will alleviate some of that.

New Discoveries and Such

 I learned something today.  I try to learn something every day, but this was by chance. Since I've had cataract and glaucoma surgery on my left eye, it gets very tired very easily.  I've blamed this on the fact that about 40% of the vision in that eye is gone and it just really gets tired trying to focus when I do close work.

This morning I've spent most of the time on the computer updating Squidoo lens, reading e mail, checking my FaceBook and FaceBook fan page, looking at new additions to BeadPatternsBoutique and The BeadCoop, and trying to get some pictures etc. ready to upload to my ArtFire shop.  I've only beaded about 30 minutes.  My left eye is so tired it wants me to just shut it and not make it work any more.

I've come to the conclusion that it's something about the computer and/or TV screens that make it so tired, so I'm going to go rest my eyes for an hour or so, then try to get some beading done. I only have 13 of the 23 ornaments I need for my grand and great grand kids and 7 or the remaining ones are brick stitch, which takes me longer to do than the herringbone stars and snowflakes.

The patterns for my Christmas ornaments are available at BeadPatternsBoutique, and The BeadCoop.

Beadweavers Go Green ArtFire Collection

I have found one of my items listed in another ArtFire Collection, "Beadweavers Go Green" curated by WeaverbirdBeads.  This collection features all members of the ArtFire Beadweavers Guild, and is a representation of a wide variety of stitches and complexity.  All the items in this collection are pure works of art, created one bead at a time with love, care and patience to give you, the customer, a piece of jewelry that will give you years of wear and compliments.

Check out this entire collection by clicking "View this Collection" in the picture.

Beadweavers Go Gr...

Curated By: WeaverbirdBeads

ArtFire.com

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