$50 Clay Item Winners and What's Next!

Thanks for everyone participating in helping with this Round 2 of The Silk Palette Challenge!

During the first week of sales for Round 2:

12 of the Finalist Palettes were sold through my Etsy shop and Website

Both Round 1 and Round 2 palettes sold between 6/25 and 7/1 counted.

I used Random.org to pick the winner of the $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay gift certificate.

The winner is:

And if you are wondering what the heck does that mean...

As the orders come in, I keep track of the sales in a spreadsheet, in order of date purchased. 

Each palette that is purchased gets numbered.

This way everyone that purchases during Round 2 (6/25 to 9/18) gets a chance at the final $50 MNS Clay item Gift Certificate drawing on September 18th, 2012.

So congrats to Monique who purchase of Kathy Lindermer's palette:

Down By The River finalist palette!

That palette won her $50 to spend on Marsha Neal Studio Clay items!

And as extra incentive to help the finalists promote their 24 palettes (Round 1 and Round 2 finalists),

The palette that sold the most during week 1 for Round 2 of the Silk Palette Challenge would also get a $50 MNS Clay item Gift Certificate!

So Congrats to Andrea Ross! 

Your In The Rain Palette sold 4 total bundles!

So what is next in Round 2 of the Silk Color Palette Challenge???

The Design Challenges!

What does that mean?

Any of the Round 1 or Round 2 palettes that you have purchased and used, can be made into finished items. You do not have to use the entire palette in the project, just be inspired by something about it and use some of the silks from it to create a finished product.

In late July, I will be posting a gadget on my blog where you can link up your blog post or photo of your item that you used the silks with. After the link gadget closes, I will pick a random winner to win more of the silks or some of my clay pieces from my Etsy shop!

Ongoing For Round 2 Silk Color Palette Challenge:

1. Any of the Round 1 or Round 2 palettes you purchase from 6/25/12 to 9/17/12 will get you entered for a chance to win a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Gift Certificate.

2. Help the Round 1 and Round 2 finalists reach "Sold Palette" milestones to help them win free silks & Marsha Neal Studio Clay items!

3. Create finished items with these silks and enter them into the design challenges so you can win free stuff from Marsha Neal Studio AND have awesome jewelry or other projects made with these silks (who doesn't love the way soft, silky jewelry components feel against the skin?!)

If You Are A Finalist, Promote Your Palette!

If you are one of the finalists, or a friend to one of the finalists, grab a photo of your palette and put it up on your blog sidebar, write a post, run special promotions, and get creative on helping sell more of them. The more of your palettes that sell, the more free stuff I can give away to you!

And I'm sure I will be coming up with other fun things to do to for this too!

Thanks everyone for helping make this Round 2 a success!

I have not yet decided the fate of a Round 3 yet.

Participation really is going to determine if it will happen.

I sure hope you get excited about using these silks in your projects!!!

I know I have a lot of ideas brewing, and blog posts with use ideas coming up...

What about you?

Round 2 Silk Color Palette Challenge Individual Palette Finalists

Here they are, the 12 finalists palettes for this Round 2 of the Silk color palette challenge!

(in alphabetical order)

These are all available for you to purchase through:

Marsha Neal Studio Website

Marsha Neal Studio Etsy Shop

BONUS!!
June 25 to July 1, 2012:
Round 1 and Round 2 palettes purchased during this "First Week of Sales" for Round 2.
For every one of these special palettes you purchase, you will get a chance at winning a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Gift Certificate!
If you are buying any silks in my cart use coupon code: ROUND2 and get free shipping from June 25 to July 1, 2012.

Andrea Ross - In The Rain

Cat Pruitt - Into The Night

Erin Prais-Hintz - Garden Party I Do!

Jennifer Justman - Pandora's Box

Jessica Stoops - Beach Cottage

Kathy Lindermer - Down By The River

Kim Roberts - Island Hues

Lee Koopman - Elven Woods

Lisa Cone - California Native

Lisa Martin - Prettiness

Mary Harding - First Spears of Spring

Natalie Alexander - Sweet Baby Yawns

Why buy these you might ask?

Well, if you love the lightweight, silky softness of silk on your skin - chances are - so will your customers when you are creating wearable jewelry.

These silks are color fast (I've tested them for years as I wear them personally) and are hand washable with a mild soap if they become dirty.

Treat them as you would any other silk...

And I'm hosting some specials to make this "an event".

1. During the first week of sale: June 25 to July 1, 2012 I will pick one random purchaser from both my Website and Etsy shop that buys a "Round 1 or Round 2" palette to win a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Gift Certificate.

2. From June 25 to September 27, 2012: The duration of "Round 2", every special Round 1 or 2 palette that is purchased gets you entered into winning a chance at a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Gift Certificate!

3. Design something with these palettes (from Round 1 or Round 2) and link them here, up to my blog when I host Silk Color Palette Design Challenges, and get a chance at winning free stuff (to be determined).

Need inspiration for coming up with designs that use these silks?

Check out this awesome new book (and the blog that accompanies it!)

Bohemian Inspired Jewelry 

Authored by: Lorelei Eurto and Erin Siegal

More to come!

Remember to get shopping this week for that "First Week For Sale" $50 gift certificate chance!

Finalists Palettes And Giveaway Winners Announced

It has been so wonderful having so many creative people involved with this Silk Color Palette Challenge.
Thank You Everyone that submitted a palette for this round!

I'm delighted to move into Round 2 with 12 new palettes chosen to be sold in my Etsy shop and on my Website. And to continue with design challenges for both Round 1 and Round 2 silk palettes.

After I finish photographing these new 12 palettes, edit them, and upload them, they will be available for purchase.
I really hope to get it done sometime on Saturday, but with two little kids and being the weekend and all - Monday might be the day I get more done.
That's Life right...

Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette, Twelve Round 2 Finalists Palettes

The 12 palette image above from Left to Right:

Palettes in order of 8 top voted for:

Natalie Alexander: Baby Yawns (51 votes)

Lee Koopman: Elven Woods (45 votes)

Kathy Lindermer: Down By The River (34 votes)

Andrea Ross: Rain In The Garden (26 votes)

Erin Prais-Hintz: Garden Party I Do (24 votes)

Mary Harding: First Spears Of Spring (21 votes)

Lisa Cone: California Native (19 votes)

Jessica Stoops: Beach Cottage (19 votes)

Special Guest Choice (my husband Dave - I thought it would be interesting to get a guy's point of view) and Marsha's Choice:

Jennifer Justman: Pandora's Box

Lisa Martin: Prettiness

2 Winning Finalist Palettes from Round 1:

Catherine Pruitt: Into The Night

Kim Roberts: Island Hues

BONUS DRAWING #4: FIRST WEEK OF SHOPPING!

During the first week these new palettes are for sale (as soon as they are updated or June 26 through July 1, 2012) anyone that purchases a palette from Round 1 or Round 2 finalists gets an entry for a $50 Marsha Neal Studio Clay Gift Certificate to my Etsy shop.

1 bundle = 1 entry.

2 bundles = 2 entries.

3 bundles = 3 entries.

And so on...

ROUND 2 WINNERS FROM BLOG POSTS:
Each of these winners gets to pick out their favorite Silk Color Palette (10) 2mm Silk Knot Bundle!
Thanks to all that entered (more giveaways to come!!!)
Bonus Drawing #1 = KayzDesignz (social media sharing blog commenter)
Bonus Drawing #2 = Lee Koopman (submitted palette random winner)
Bonus Drawing #3 = Erin Prais-Hintz (voter appreciation random winner)

SO ~ What's next???
1. Purchase silk knot bundles for projects, giveaways, promotions, etc.
2. Create and photograph projects using these silk palettes (round 1 and 2 all apply).
3. Blog or share those photographs about the projects and your inspirations.
4. I will be hosting some design challenges/ blog hops around things you make with these silks so you can show off your stuff!

Need some inspiration for projects?
Check out Beading Daily's Blog Hop in celebration of Lorelei and Erin's book:

Bohemian Inspired Jewelry

Where you can see 30 artists find inspiration from the book to create their own finished jewelry, including one of our Finalists for Round 1 and Round 2, Erin Prais-Hintz:

Erin Prais-Hintz "Garden Love" Project: Bohemian Inspired Blog Hop

PS - I saw Erin Prais-Hintz blog hop post for her "Garden Love" project (a version of Lorelei's "Ocean Love" project), it seriously made me get all teary with how awesome her color palette works with the beads and her use of my Porcelain Flower Pendant.
(I have a thing for magenta tones. My grandma taught me to draw that style of flower while growing up. Chloe loves purple & I have now taught her how to draw that style of flower. And - this was the first major book that I've ever had stuff in.)

Speaking of which - I still need to get myself a hard copy.
Pdf is ok and all - but there is just nothing like having a copy in hand to flip through...

Thanks again for continuing to support me, my crazy ideas (like this color palette challenge), and my ceramic clay work!

More on my clay work updates to come...

Individual palettes for Round 2 will be here and available for purchase very soon!
And remember, the more of a particular finalist palette that is purchased, the faster they can reach their milestones and win free stuff from me!

Bonus Giveaway #1 Post and Round 2 Silk Color Palette Challenge Directions!

Marsha Neal Studio Presents: Silk Color Palette Challenge

This is a quick blog post for three main things:

1. WINNER OF $50 MNS Clay Gift Certificate from Round 1 palettes purchased.

2. Bonus Giveaway #1 Post (June 12 to June 21)

3. Round 2 of the Silk Color Palette Challenge Directions

THE WINNER OF THE $50 Clay Gift Certificate:

Erin Prais-Hintz by purchasing this listing:

Thank You To everyone that purchased the 2mm Silk Knot Bundles during Round 1 of the Silk Color Palette Challenge! 

Out of 25 palettes purchased through my Etsy shop and website, the winner picked is #7.

Numbers were assigned to each bundle palette purchased in order of date/time.

BONUS GIVEAWAY #1 (This Post!):

Getting Ready for Start of Round 2

From Tuesday, June 12 through Thursday, June 21, 2012 comment on this blog post for any of the following things, and I will pick a random commenter to win a (10) silk strand: 2mm Silk Knot Bundle of their choice on Friday, June 22, 2012.

1. Share info on this Silk Color Palette Challenge socially (Twitter, FaceBook, Pinterest, etc) 

Then comment for every time you do it here on this post!

The more you share and comment, the more chances you will get!

2. Grab the Silk Color Palette Challenge Button and post it on your blog sidebar then comment below.
If you already have it up from Round 1, just comment below.

<div align="center"><a href="http://marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/p/silk-color-palette-challenge.html" title="Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette Challenge"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7UvNQMmAgEQnrehZYpH6oRcxQ_1Z72aIA5GKFWH1ETeZ7mb2u9qmBvaOw96x7fB0vAysg2ENIzN4_jTOV8M-NXP7yykk-oqocvhjC-IS6oZhuD_19XCWSdoNbtULajWATEuMF2SWcrFG/s1600/Silk+Color+Palette+Challenge+Marsha+Neal+Studio+2012.jpg" alt="Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette Challenge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Directions for Round 2: How to participate.

1. INSPIRATION:

Find an image that inspires you (be aware of copyright issues if you are going to use a copy of the image in your blog about your inspiration and please give proper credit, get permission, or don't use that image) and pull the colors visually from that image that you are drawn to. Or if you just want to simply pick out up to 10 colors that you think look awesome together - go for it!

2. PICK YOUR SILK COLORS:

Look at the colors of my silks from my Flickr photo set and pick a palette of 10 total 2mm silk ribbon strands (whatever color combination you want, but no more than 10 total silks) that you feel you are inspired by that image to gather up.

3. CREATE YOUR PALETTE IMAGE AND LINK IT UP:

Wednesday, June 13 to Sunday, June 17, 2012, link up your palette image to the Inlinkz gadget on the June 13 blog post.

Be creative and make something like the photo mosaic below (I used the free Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker, set up 3x2 square photos, then copied the individual silk color image URLs from my flickr 2012 MNS Silk Palette Flickr set, and put it into the Big Huge Labs mosaic maker. You could select the number of rows and columns that fit your palette.) so you have an image of your silk palette for the "voting" part of these challenges. You will have to save your palette image as a jpg to use it to connect to my next challenge if you want in on the voting to become one of the 12 finalists to have their palette pulled and put up for sale. 

Don't forget to give your palette a name that can be used to identify it's unique qualities through this next round... And you can use the extra spaces for the Marsha Neal Studio 2012 Silk Color Palette Challenge square image in my Flickr Set. If you want to leave a blank square for yourself to edit in your palette name - that is fine too - be CREATIVE!!!

Marsha Neal Studio Stormy Waters Silk Color Palette Example of Mosaic Maker and Flickr photos.

***If you do not submit your palette before midnight EST on Sunday, June 17th - your palette cannot be added. The Inlinkz gadget will be set up well ahead of time, and will run as scheduled. Please submit yours as early as possible to avoid any technical difficulties. Do not wait until the last minute to submit and have issues, as I will not be available to help you out last minute (I will hopefully be asleep at midnight).


4. VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!

Voting is open from Monday, June 18, 2012 to Thursday, June 21, 2012 (Midnight EST).

The final 12 palettes are picked:

   1 entry chosen by Marsha.

   1 entry chosen by a special guest.

   1 entry from the artist with the most palettes sold from previous challenge:

     (Congrats Kim Roberts!)

   1 entry picked randomly from the remaining 11 previous months finalists that sold at least 1 palette:

     (Congrats Catherine Pruitt!).

   8 entries will be from votes cast on the entered palettes (top 8 most voted for after any of the above).

*If your palette gets picked in the final 12 palettes, I will pull your 10 silks and photograph them for you so you can use that image to help sell more of your palettes. Then you can get as creative as you want with marketing, challenges, reselling, etc, and you can get free stuff depending on how many of your bundle sell through my Website and Etsy shop. Naming your palette and giving a back story is always a great way to add more "romance" to your palette to help them sell.

*Please don't vote multiple times for yourself. It takes the fun out of challenges like this. By all means, vote at least 1 time for yourself. But overall - vote for your favorites!

*Only 1 palette per person may be submitted. If you want to change up your palette during the "link up your palette phase 6/13 to 6/17" you may do so by deleting your first palette, then adding the new one (look for the little red "X" by your submission, that only you can see. That deletes your submission).