Let's Go Back to the 80's

First, let me apologize for the lack of blogs this week. I ended up catching my brother's nasty cold and for most of the week I have moved off the couch solely for the purposes of getting more tea (decaff) and to use the bathroom because of all that tea! I'm working on catching up on life now though :) Still fighting the cold, but I'm functional again and that's what matters :)

Now to catch up...

One thing that makes me sad about this week isn't I haven't had a chance to promote this week's giveaway as much as I'd like! So make sure you head over there and check it out, and make me smile :D

My latest big project was a piece for the Etsy Beadweavers Monthly Challenge. This month was "Fashion Through the Ages" I tend not to be one who does these huge, fantastic, pieces, so the Victorian Age was right out. So what did I pick? The 80's!

80's Triangle Bracelet

This piece did NOT want to be photo'd. The colors wouldn't show up and have the picture look bright. The top picture required a lot of photo manipulation to get it to look right. I've got a couple ideas that I'd like to try in the future, but they won't be easy someone buy it from me so I don't have to! (no pressure guys, no pressure)

Make sure you go vote in this month's challenge. I'm down at the end - but only vote for me if I'm your favorite! Etsy Bead Weavers Challenge.

Etsy Beadweavers - Time to Vote Again!

I absolutely love the Etsy Beadweavers! This team is always pushing me to be a better beader, and I love the monthly challenges we do! I wasn't able to enter this one for two reasons. For one, I'm just not that familiar with Simon and Garfunkel (this month's theme!) and for two, I'm just getting back into the swing of things! I absolutely love everyone's entries and I haven't decided who I'm voting for. I don't think I've seen all of them... I know just from looking at the mosaic 9, 19, and 28 stick out at me! After I post this I'm going to go double check out all the entries again and decide once and for all!

Speaking of which - we need your votes! Each month's winner gets to pick one of the following themes, which I think is a great prize! So go VOTE!!!

Come Vote for Us!

It's time again to vote for the Etsy Bead Weavers Challenge! I'm in this one too :) I'm number 29 - but don't feel obligated to vote for me - just go vote for your favorite!

Come Vote for YOUR Favorite Ocean Themed Piece!

I've talked about it several times now as I worked on this piece - and now the time is finally here! The voting has started for this month's Etsy Bead Weavers Challenge and there are a LOT of impressive entries to choose from. Normally I show the challenge mosaic when I announce the voting, but there seems to be a glitch with it right now. So I'm showing off my piece again :) Make sure you head over to the blog to vote! You can click on all the individual links to see the different pieces :)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who gave suggestions for the piece pictured below. The top two suggestions I got were "Shades of Nepal" and "Jacob's Ladder." I really like both of them, but I decided to go for "Shades of Nepal" on this piece, and I'll save Jacob's Ladder for a piece, not yet created, not yet even imagined, some where in the future :) I've fallen in love with this stitch, so I'm sure it'll come in handy at some point!

New fun!

Life sometimes seems to be one challenge after another doesn't it? Ah well - trying hard not to let it get me down :) I seem to have developed tendinitis. I think it's because I spent a lot of time writing by hand the other day, and a lot of that was writing in the car so it wasn't on a good surface either. The good news is I can still bead :) I just have to wear a brace. It actually hurts less to bead than it does to type! So today I finally got started on my challenge piece for this month's Etsy Bead Weavers challenge. I'm excited about it!

Voting for Peace

This month's Etsy Bead Weavers Challenge is based on peace and the Winter Olympics. There are soooo many incredible pieces in this month's challenge! I mean, there usually are, but I'm truly impressed by these entries. I highly recommend that you visit each piece individually andread the story behind it, because you'll be blown away by the inspiration! Head over to the team blog for the links and to vote between now and the 15th :)

The Etsy Bead Weavers are Super Charged!

This months challenge was super-power jewelry! I had some ideas but not enough time to even start working on them. Fortunately the ideas are still there and might develop into some pieces in the future! There were 15 artists on the team that DID have enough time to put together their great ideas, and it's time to go vote for them! Go to the Bead Weavers blog and pick your favorite!

I have some ideas for this next months challenge - but I don't think I'm going to be able to work on them. More ideas for notebook I guess! Since my priority needs to be the baby blanket for my cousin I don't think I'll have the time to develop those ideas this month, but ya never know!

Here Comes the Bride - Voting Time!

It's time once again to vote in the Etsy Bead Weavers monthly challenge! I didn't end up entering anything in this one. I had several ideas, but there's just been so much going on in life that I wasn't really able to pull them together to make what I wanted, so I decided not to stress about it. There are TONS of incredible entries though for you to go look at! So go vote!

YART, EBW Challenge, and an Award!

So much going on it's hard to even know where to start! The first is that I'm participating in the YART sale on Etsy! What's that? Well, apparently if you marry the words "yard sale" and "art sale" to each other, you get YART sale. Don't ask - it wasn't my idea - I'm just participating! So what IS the sale?

I'm doing FREE shipping WORLDWIDE!!! PLUS if you purchase $25 or more - you'll get a FREE GIFT! Now how cool is that? If you've been looking to shop in my store - now is the time! www.roseworksjewelry.etsy.com Sale runs through the 14th.

Next - the June Challenge for the Etsy Bead Weavers is up! Go visit the blog and vote! I'm exctra-super excited about it this month because it's my first time entering! I'm entry number 5. Don't feel obligated to vote for me, but PLEASE do go check out the entries and vote for one of the team!

Lastly, I received a blog award! Thanks go to Teresa of Elegance by Mode for giving me the award. I have to admit that I'm a spoil sport and I'm not going to pass it on to the 15 people required... I tend to be lazy when it comes to these things :P

Oh! And I had my 70th sale in my etsy shop today! *dances*