Comments Winner Picked

Thanks to everyone for the input about my thoughts on the My Mom Pattie giveaway drawing…

I've got a bunch of things to think about to make sure to avoid the gray areas of this type of situation. I hate gray areas… makes me not able to sleep at night. Got to keep things in the black and white!

This morning Chloe was extra sleepy and moody (up 2 hours later than bedtime last night - being goofy. Then up 2 hours early this morning - woke up crying… I think she is starting to have bad dreams about "monsters"). So she missed out on the opportunity to help me with the drawing.

Riley was game though… So I pulled the number of commenters (minus my comment) and put them on his tray after mixing them up. 

He focused and was able to pick one up… And tried to put it in his mouth (of course)...

And the winner is...

The first commenter - Cindy (Higgins Design Studio). Seriously Cindy - go buy a lottery ticket! And get one for me!!! For those of you wondering… Cindy was picked as my 150th Face Book Fan commenter just the other day… FANTASTIC!!!

I think I may get to a point where I am picking two winners for the drawings so Chloe and Riley both can have their turns at pulling numbers.

Thanks for stopping by! Will post soon about my refined ideas about the My Mom Pattie Shop "drawings"...

Drawing and Giveaway Questions - Need Your Input Please...

So I have this idea… 

About generating more money for donations through and for "My Mom Pattie".

This would be a way for me to collect more money to achieve my goals to raise funds to donate to special non-profit organizations in memory of my mom (Pattie)…

Right now I want to reach a goal of $2,500 to donate to Tri-State Bird Rescue to have a small room or outdoor area designated in her memory… (still need @ $2,000 to go).

I ran it by Dave to see what he thought, and he is unsure of how much actual interest it would generate… So now I turn to you, my blogging audience...

MY IDEA:

For $25 you would get 12 chances (1 chance a month) to win a $50 Marsha Neal Studio merchandise gift certificate to be used through my online shopping cart or Etsy shop towards a retail priced purchase (to be used by August 31, 2011).

I would be "selling" these chances until August 31, 2010. 

So there would be a set number of entries every month...

You could buy multiple chances…

That means every month I would be doing a random drawing for $50, starting September 1 (which happens to be my mom's birthday…)

The monies raised through this would go towards the room at TriState Bird Rescue in the name of "My Mom Pattie". If it happens to raise more money, then the overflow monies would go towards the next non profit (like the Leukemia and Lymphoma society… My mom, Pattie, died of AML in Sept. 2007).

To generate comments about this idea, I think I will have to offer a "giveaway" to commenters on this blog post (not on FaceBook).

So let's do like I did for the FaceBook Fans Giveaway… 

Put a comment on this post in regards to my idea (is it viable, questions, concerns, etc…) by July 27, 2010: midnight EST and then include your favorite glaze color at the end of your comment (see my website or previous blog posts for colors) for one of my cutout flower pendants. I will pull one random number from all the comments and that person will get the cutout flower pendant mailed to them on a silk ribbon that matches…

Thanks for your input…

If it looks like a good idea, I'm going to be starting to sell chances on August 1, 2010…

Thanks! Really...

The Winners Are… (150 FaceBook Fans Giveaway)

I like to have Chloe help me pull numbers for our "random drawings" to see who would be a winner in my FaceBook Fans Drawing...

The way it works is if you are one of my FaceBook "Fans" you can comment on giveaway posts...

Then my little helper Chloe pulls numbers out of the ice cube holder (from one of her great grandmother's homes…)

She has to close her eyes to pick the number (they have colors as well - something to consider when working with a 2.5 year old… she has favorite colors!)

Number 4 (Vicki) and Number 1 (Cindy) were pulled as the winners…

After she pulled the two winners, Chloe started to convince me that she needed to be allowed to keep pulling more numbers…

It's kinda scary how she is getting fingers and words involved in trying to make deals with me now…

Oh, so if you become a fan (click on FaceBook sidebar to the right) you can have a chance at winning the next time. All you had to do this time is tell me your favorite glaze color, and if you were picked, I would send you one of my cutout flower pendants in that glaze color…

It's fun! You should try it…

Thanks for stopping by!

New Silks EnRoute...

If you have ever met me at one of my bead shows, when I was doing bead shows, you know how much I love these silk strands... And how great they are to use in jewelry designs!

They are all hand painted by Ute of Silk Painting is Fun and she is right now working on filling a large order for me which includes these 2mm silks in 12 new colors (in Silky and Fairy Ribbons too).

New Silks for August 2010 being made now...

I don't have any names for these colors yet. Won't decide until I get them in hand and can compare them to the tones of the other ones I have (60+ colors already). Then their names come to the surface...

A quick snapshot (basement lighting - sorry)  of the new colors and their numbers.

I think I may try to retake this shot outside. I just have to remember to grab the card, phone and brain all in one place and have a kid free hand or two to take it, then upload it...

No wonder why things take me so long to do sometimes...

Oh, and until Midnight tonight (EST), I am having a 150 fans giveaway on my Facebook page. You've got to be a fan to enter. Basically one person that comments on my post will be drawn at random and will receive one of my new cutout flower pendants... 

And come to think of it, I was supposed to do a giveaway at 100 fans, but I got side tracked with Riley arriving... So I will be picking 2 winners to make up for it - Surprise!

Mosaic of Cutout Flower Pendants With New Glaze Colors

I am excited to have created this image for showing the 12 new glazes that I have recently tested and plan on adding 8 of them to my glaze line.

I am working on an entire new line of cutout flower pendants...

For now, keep an eye out in my Etsy shop to see what I'm coming up with and testing out.

Hope all is well with you!

Thanks for stopping by...

Here is a great link to a blog: Little Red House that hosts Mosaic Mondays...

Talk about a whole lot of inspiration in one place!

Think about participating... I'm giving it a try on a more regular basis!

Wish I could be this inspired for exercising (one day!)...

Want to make your own Mosaic?

Check out Big Huge Labs.

Puget Sound Bead Festival

This weekend is the Puget Sound Bead Festival in Tacoma, WA.

It runs through Sunday, July 11 until 5pm. If you are in the area and are into beads, jewelry, crafting, collecting artist work, meeting artists, and so on - you should really stop by the show and spend some time buying up some goodies!

I always wanted to do this show, and after being accepted a few years ago, I did travel out to the West Coast to sell beads for a couple years. Then I got pregnant, and traveling with little ones that far (5+hour flight) is just not something I am into doing... Maybe when they are older I'll do shows again, but not for a while...

So my friends Joan Tucker and Lana Wilson of Off Center Productions (above picture is some of their beautiful work) are out there with a booth selling their very cool pendants, beads, cabochons, and clay vessels. I mailed them some pendants of mine (including some of the cutout flower pendants) to put out as well...

It's a great honor to have them make space in their booth for my pieces!!!

I hope you have the time to swing by their booth and pick up some treasures... And I do mean treasures! You can only know what I really mean when you have the experience of picking one of their pieces up and holding it in your hands (then another one, and another...). 

Addictive I tell you!

Stop by their booth #403 and tell Joan or Lana that Marsha sent you... Then give them a hug for me! A big one!!!

Five of Eight New Glaze Colors

I have Eight new translucent glazes that I am going to be adding to my glaze palette. These are right out of the kiln - actually, there are five that I have named already (some directly from the glaze name - I'm stumped for a better name!), and need to figure out names for the other three as soon as I test them a bit more...

The above glaze is a stony purple blue color: Twilight (code: TWIL)

The above glaze is a greenish blue: Stormy Sea code: STSE (from the actual glaze name).

The above glaze is a brown/yellow/black glaze: RootBeer. Code: ROOT(from actual glaze name).

The above glaze is an orangey-red color: Sedona. Code: SEDO(from the actual glaze name).

The above glaze is a lime green color, but a bit more muted than my "lime" green... And surprise - the name code I am going to use: Key Lime (Code: KEYL) comes from the actual glaze name as well...

These five that are named I put right onto some of my cutout flower pendants without even seeing what they looked like out of the kiln. I just had that good of a feeling about them. They are the Coyote Translucent Glazes that I am testing for my July Posting for Beads-of-Clay Blog...

And boy am I smitten... As soon as the kiln was cracked open and I saw these - I knew they would be GREAT on these detailed pieces... I just adore translucent glazes on highly detailed pieces. It gives them more depth. You've got to hold one to see what I mean!

I have these five pieces up in my Etsy shop and will eventually add more pieces with these colors and the other three new ones to the shop...