Holidays Are Upon Us - Hooray!!!

This time of the year is such a busy time for most people with the holidays coming up.
In our house both of my little ones have December birthdays - so we have at least two added formal family parties to throw in addition to Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

And that is not including all of the family gatherings going on to prepare for those events.

I love all of it to tell you the truth - lots of food, drink, stress and laughter to keep that stress at bay and help each other out! And I love being here within driving distance to most of my family.
It makes the holidays just that much more memorable!

Speaking of holidays...

Holiday shopping and crafts are upon us!

If you are looking to grab a great handmade item for a gift, for yourself, or for a project - you should jump over to the Love My Art Jewelry Blog on 11/29/13 (Black Friday) and click around through the links there to see all kinds of handmade artists and their shops - running promotions and possibly a sale!

I'm a blog contributor over there and I really LOVE to organize ways for people to jump to one place and see all kinds of really great handmade items. And if you've heard the hype and the uproar from many artists - Etsy is no longer that artist, maker handmade site it started out promoting.

And with their site searches in the last couple of years - it is just about IMPOSSIBLE to find real, actual handmade. That is the point that really stresses me out - that a buyer cannot find the real handmade items! Check out my posts on Love My Art Jewelry about it.

So I'm on a personal mission to help promote handmade however I can through Etsy Teams!
Check out the First Friday Art Walk team and the Delaware Etsy Street Team where we are also helping to promote handmade, vintage and supplies to make handmade items!

And don't forget to follow my new blog as I am posting over there (a Wordpress blog) more regularly.

PS - I have an ETSY SHOP SALE going on RIGHT NOW too!
Items are already marked down on sale (and my MarshaNealStudio Facebook Followers have a coupon code to use all the time).

Sale Update and Giveaway Winners!

Over in my Etsy shop I have extended my "Cyber Sale" to go through Friday 11/30/12.

Items are already marked down to their sale prices.

AND

There is also another impromptu drawing over on my Marsha Neal Studio FaceBook Page:

It is going on through Midnight tonight EST (11/27/12).

My insomniac self joked with another bead friend night owl about running a "night owl giveaway" (but alas, I fell asleep before getting it all going). So today, I decided to run another one.

Seriously Dave says I would be happy giving stuff away - and he is absolutely Right!

I feel so fortunate to be able to have this as my job right now, and love my "job".

If I can share something for practically nothing - and get SO much more in return.

Not only from the marketing side of things, but also from the side of I get to know people better and get the opportunity to connect and network with a great group of people that also like to make their own kind of art (albeit the bead and jewelry making kind of art - which is super awesome in my opinion).

Who doesn't like to wear something handmade?

Handmade has such a great story to it.

Using handmade components has a bit of the artist that made them in it.

Their story...

Then the jewelry designer adds their touch - their story...

Adds to the history of the piece.

These things are treasured. These memories last.

Something I find very valuable...

So. I'm off to go pull and pack orders and think of where all my little bead treasures are heading off to.

Oh, and darn. Got all into my romantic "handmade stuff is awesome" mode.

The Winners!

Beads of Clay Blog Winners

Love My Art Jewelry Blog Winners

And my matching the 2mm Silk Knot Bundles offered over on LMAJ for anyone purchasing listings in my Etsy shop (picked over on Random.org from total listings sold during this entire Black Friday/Cyber Monday SALE):

This was the 17th listing sold!

Staci L! Congrats!!!

I'll send you an Etsy convo to see what other 2mm silk knot bundle you want in with your shipment!

Congrats to all my FB commenter winners too!

Make sure to stop by and tell me about your favorite Winter Holiday Thing or Tradition!

Sorry I can't comment until it closes - I don't want to throw off the commenting numbers for the drawing later tonight!

But I tell you what - you are making me all teary (such great things over there!)

I love this time of the year!

The kids make it the best (even the "not your own kids" out there).

Black Friday Sale Pricing Is Live!

My Marsha Neal Studio Etsy Shop is now LIVE with all of the items that are going on "SALE" now marked down to their "SALE" Prices!

These 2mm Silk Knot Bundles are slightly on sale

(they are priced at the retail quantity discount price of 3 or 4 bundles)

The 2mm knot bundles Regularly $20 are now $18 and 

The 2mm half-knot bundles Regularly $12.50 are $9.

Click To Shop Sale Silks

I have marked down all of the individual $15 pendants to their destash $5 price.

And the $29 pendant sets down to their destash $10 price.

And random other pendants are marked down 10 to 40% off retail prices.

Click To Shop Sale Pendant Sets

And it's about time that a lot of these butterflies, bats and other Halloween creatures find a home.

They are marked down from $10 to $5 on SALE.

Click To Shop Sale Butterflies and Creatures.

And there are so many more sections!

Marsha Neal Studio Nature Impression Pendant

Individual Pendants = Destash prices! Most are $5!

MarshaNealStudio Porcelain Shards

Ceramic Shards = 30% off: $12 now $8 a pair!

MarshaNealStudio Porcelain Donut Earrings (photo by Katy Timney)

Handmade Jewelry = Prices dropped $5 to $15 off for these listings!

Marsha Neal Studio OOAK Bead Set

Bead Sets = OOAK sets are marked down $10 off of their retail price.

Marsha Neal Studio Chevron Bead Sets 

Custom-Glazed Bead Sets on Sale for $30 each:

Chevron, Spiral, and Discs.

Each pair of beads (there are 8 pairs on these strands) retail at $6 a pair.

Regular group discount price = $32 for these sets, on sale for $30 through Monday.

Not too deep discounted because these I will have to make to order.

STILL TO COME!!!

As this weekend progresses and I find some time to look into my shop inventory cases, I know I will have more items to add into my Etsy shop. 

No worries about excessive shipping charges though.

Once you make your initial purchase, you will receive a coupon code in your "Thank You" email from my Etsy shop that will remove excessive shipping charges on any add on orders you may have over the weekend.

Have fun shopping and spending time with friends and family this weekend!

Tomorrow is our day to decorate for Christmas!

The kids are SO excited and the weather is supposed to be awesome...

Black Friday Sale and Giveaways

Arriving from Artisan Whimsy? 

Enter AWHOLIDAY into message to seller to be entered into my $25 Giveaway.

I'm not using the coupon code for discounts since all items on SALE are already priced down.

Shop Marsha Neal Studio Etsy!

Want to see all kinds of handmade beads and components and jewelry on sale?

Click over to my Black Friday page (page will disappear in early December 2012)

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S. celebrating today!

I will be spending the day with my little ones baking and cooking, then seeing my awesome in-laws, then some hang time with my siblings!

Silly Halloween Pumpkin Turkey of sorts...

I'm setting things up for quite the sale through my ETSY shop kicking off on Friday!

Finished Jewelry will be on sale:

Porcelain Donut Earrings

All SALE items will be marked down to their actual SALE price as of very late Thursday night or early Friday morning if the tryptophan takes hold on Thursday.

Porcelain Pendant Set

No coupon codes are required unless you are coming back to buy more then one time.

(To Save On Excessive Shipping Charges, after you have already paid for shipping one time while your item is in house, use coupon code FREESHIP to avoid excessive shipping charges. Please do not use this unless you have already paid for shipping one time!)

Not all items in my shop are going to be on sale, but most will be marked down a bit...

Like these pre-selected color 2mm Silk Color palettes:

Pre-Selected Color Palette "Simple Nature" 2mm Silks

I will be marking individual knots down.

No additional quantity discounts will be applied unless you purchase multiples and the quantity discount would be greater than the sale price (this is meant to entice you to try some of these, not stock up on a ton).

Direct checkout does not allow me to issue a credit - so be aware of that and Use PayPal if in doubt!

Starting Black Friday, there are overlapping events (groups I belong to) that are hosting blog hops and lots of giveaways - talk about overwhelming!

Although - all these links lead to sales - and Handmade Item Sales at that!!!

Here they are in order of Starting Date: Black Friday...

Beads of Clay Blog:Me and My Ceramic Bead Makers Group

I have donated items for each of the daily giveaways over there (share socially, then comment that you did so over on that day's particular post, and you get entered to win that day's giveaway!).

Shop for awesome handmade beads!

Artisan Whimsy Group (fellow component, craft and finished jewelry makers group) 

For this group, I will be giving away a chance at a $25 gift certificate for purchases made from:
Friday, November 23 to Friday, November 30, 2012.
*(Some, but not all items will remain on sale past Cyber Monday)*
You must put "A.W. Holday" in some form into the "message to seller" when you are checking out.
Every listing purchased & using the code will receive a chance at winning that $25 gift certificate.

And for the official Cyber Monday!

Love My Art Jewelry Blog: Awesome Handmade Jewelry and Components

For Actual Cyber Monday, I will be donating (1) 2mm Silk Knot Bundle in
Pick your own color palette to L.M.A.J. blog giveaway.

I may end up adding something extra special in for Cyber Monday too.
Like, hopefully some of these new pieces:

Crescent Pendant Earrings Marsha Neal Studio

My brain just can't get around it yet.
Let's hope decorating for Christmas on Friday gets me in the right mode for this!

And let's hope that by Monday, with the kids back to school - things can resume to normal "work" around here (I cannot wait to get to "work" in my studio - especially onto the terrarium pieces!!!)

Black Friday Through Cyber Monday Sale & Thanksgiving Potatoes...

Want 20% off items from my MarshaNealStudio Etsy shop?

Wavy Grid Diamond Shaped Pendant

Use coupon code BOCCYBER from Friday 11/25/11 through Monday 11/28/11.

You can even get the above pendant set in any of these colors:

Not into such an angular piece? 

How about this one in any of the above colors?

Gnarly Spiral Porcelain Pendant

It's easy to do…

Jump over to my Etsy shop, pick your piece, use BOCCYBER in your shopping cart when checking out for the 20% off, then leave me a message in the message to seller for what color you would like this in…

And now for a little about my Thanksgiving potatoes:

60lbs of potatoes…

I bought 6 bags on sale one day and didn't realize that my Mother-In-Law had picked up just as many for me to use to make the family's portion for Thanksgiving dinner.

My food contribution to Thanksgiving dinner is mashed potatoes (I LOVE making them)...

I always used to love to peel the potatoes for my mom on Thanksgiving.

It was one of the little jobs she gave me to do.

I loved hanging out in the kitchen with her watching the Macy's parade...

After my mom passed, my sister and I started to make the mashed potatoes.

My sister suggested that I add salt, minced garlic, minced onion and chives to the water during boiling for added flavor - YUM!

My step-mom always made the most tasty mashed potatoes.

For a 5 lb bag, she uses a stick of butter, cream cheese with chives & evaporated milk - salt to taste.

Talk about light and whipped creamy mashed potatoes!

So with those 60lbs of potatoes I was happy to peel and cook three in three different batches so I could make mashed potatoes for my kids school's Thanksgiving lunch. 

Make enough for three dinners with lots of family (we only went to one dinner thank goodness), extras for my siblings so they could have some with their leftover turkey…

And I've got a few potatoes left in the bag that I'm going to cook up in a veggie soup.

Then there is the pumpkin pie (I doubled this recipe and added 1/2 tsp of nutmeg to the doubled batch).

My mom always made the best pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing.

I'm not quite there yet, but soon I'm sure.

So for now - 6 pumpkin pies in the last couple of days...

I decided that since I had some left over pumpkin puree, that I would check out the website on the Libby's Can for some recipes, and came across this: Pumpkin pie covered with Yellow cake mix & pecans (aka: Libby's Easy Pumpkin Crumb Cake).

The recipe called for 1/2 c. pecans - but I went a bit overboard.

In my world - when there are pecans on a dessert - there are never really enough pecans…

I've got to admit that with all the stuff going on within my family and "health" issues and deaths (3 since August) cooking like this has become a bit of an escape for me.

I really think I need to get out of the kitchen and back into the studio for a bit.

It will help me not get back up that extra size I went down last year…

Which is scarily getting close. Ugh!

I enjoyed every bite as it went in though…

Thank you all so very much for all your continued support!

Hope you have time to spend with family and friends and realize what you are Thankful for in life.