Double Your Fun! : A Giveaway!

I am super thrilled to announce another event I’m doing with my local Etsy Team*, the Rochester New York Etsy Street Team (RNEST)! We are a group of artisans living in or around Rochester, NY, joined in a common cause, creating handmade items that we share with the world in our Etsy shops. This is a fantastic group of folks to work with. They are fun and knowledgeable about the business of handmade. Plus they are seriously generous! There is a giveaway on our team blog every week!

Michelle from The Quilted House and I decided to double-team y’all for the holidays. We are offering a great big giveaway! A full gift ensemble… wrapping included!

I am giving away a domino pendant in one of my favorite designs – the “Home Sweet Home Nesting Bird Collage” Altered Domino Fine Art Pendant.

The collage on this domino pendant is a print of a larger work of art that I made specifically for my domino jewelry. The original is 6” x 3”, about the same proportion as a domino but bigger. I sent the edge of the house layer through my sewing machine and am delighted that the detail of the stitching came through in the tiny print on the domino. The text “home sweet home” is itty bitty text cut out, backed with red cardstock, and glued to the little print. It has quite a lot of dimension for being so small.

The winner gets their choice of black waxed cotton cord, ball chain, or ribbon for the necklace as well as their choice of length for the necklace. Keep reading for the details about how to enter the contest.

Plus, through December 31st, entering the coupon code RNESTROCKS will net you 10% off everything in my Etsy shop! [Shipping deadline for Christmas is December 20, 2010] 

Michelle, as you can maybe tell from the name of her shop, The Quilted House, loves quilting. She loves to create useful quilted items such as qPouches for your music player, gorgeous notebook and journal covers,  and awesome stockings and ornaments that are beautiful and will make you smile every time you use them. Her shop is currently chock full of fun items for the holidays and beyond!


 

She is giving away a cute little quilted mini gift tote! This little quilted gem is the perfect size to hold a few truffles and a gift card, earrings, a ring box, or the fabulous domino pendant you just won. The recipient can then reuse it the next time a gift-giving occasion arises - the gift that keeps on giving! How cool is that?!

I can personally attest to the precision with which Michelle creates her works of quilted awesomeness. I’ve never seen such neat and tidy seams and hems! Don’t get me started about her folded corners on her line of jotters! Whoa! You cannot go wrong with purchasing a bevy of gifts from her shop!

The coupon code RNESTROCKS will give you a 10% discount in The Quilted House, too!

Ok! So you are saying, “Shut it already! How do I win this pot of gold??”

Go to the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team blog and get the details, which involve the usual things like hearting my shop, following the RNEST blog, and bonus entries for tweeting and blogging the giveaway. The winner will be chosen using the random number generator on Tuesday, December 14th and will be announced in the next Wednesday Wellspring on the RNEST blog on December 15th.

Good luck! I can't wait to see who wins! I get excited about giveaways! 

Happy Holidays!!

- Vickie


*What are Etsy Teams? They are an Etsy.com community feature where one can gather at the crossroads of the handmade marketplace and community, meet people with common interests, and collaborate. The Teams feature makes it easy for you to join an existing team or to create, maintain, and promote a new one. It's also a way for shoppers to browse by theme or location and find shops that might interest them.

We Have A Winner!

I’m pleased as punch to announce that Samy was randomly drawn as the winner of my “Sophisticated Squares” Altered Domino Pendant!! Congratulations!!

The Rochester NY Etsy Street Team, a local Etsy Team for Rochester and the surrounding area, hosted the contest. There were more than 60 entries! It was such fun all week to meet new people and get some good feedback about my work.

Samy is also known as PrincessSamy and PSVintage. Delightful vintage goodies fill her Etsy shop. She says to “Think of her as your very own personal shopper, sorting through all of the ‘blah’ to get to the ‘ooh lala’.” Who couldn’t use a little more “ooh lala”?!

Where else can you find Samy? Looky below! Links!!

Shop: PrincessSamy.etsy.com
Twitter: twitter.com/psvintage
Blog: samyinwonderland.blogspot.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/ PrincessSamyVintage

A Handmade Giveaway!

I want to thank everyone who has commented and/or emailed me about the piece Kathleen Landers did about me in The Examiner on Monday. So much crafty love coming my way! I’m delighted!

Now I get to spread the love to you! The Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST) is holding a giveaway on their blog for one of my new domino pendants! How cool is that?!

About the prize:

This altered domino pendant is part of a new line I have launched. I created several pieces of artwork in the same proportions as a domino but on a larger scale – about 6 inches tall. Then I do some pixel pushing magic and print the art very tiny to be put on a domino. An eclectic mixture of color and texture makes this particular domino pendant stylish, classy, and chic.

The wood domino measures 1 3/4 inches (4.4 cm) tall, 7/8 inch (2.2 cm) wide, and 5/16 inch (8 mm) thick.

The necklace:
• YOUR CHOICE of length of black cotton cord (i.e. 16” or 18” or any length you want!)
• Domino hangs on a silver-plated bail
• Necklace closes with a silver-plated lobster clasp

You can see a close up shot of the original artwork on my flickr site.

I love this process as it gives me the ability to create very meticulous work that keeps its detail when scaled down. You can even read the words from the text I used for the larger collage in the smaller print!

So head on over to the RNEST blog and make your comments for entries!

How the contest works:

ENTRY #1: Go to In My Head Studios’ Etsy shop, heart the shop, and then leave a comment on the RNEST blog telling Michelle your favorite item.

ENTRY #2: Become a follower of the RNEST blog and leave a comment there letting Michelle know - or if you follow already, leave a comment saying you're a loyal follower.

In addition, there are at least 6 other chances for extra entries such as answering a trivia question about me, becoming a follower on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook page.

The winner will be chosen using the random number generator on Tuesday, June 22nd and will be announced in the next “Wednesday Wellspring” post on the RNEST blog.


Many thanks go out to Michelle of The Quilted House for organizing the RNEST giveaway and blog post! I love our local Etsy Street Team! So much support and information gets shared in this group. The RNEST Team, in my opinion, is an indispensable resource for Rochester, NY Etsy sellers. If you are from the greater Rochester area please feel free to contact our leader Linda at her Etsy shop for more information on joining.

Happy Giveaway! Can't wait to see who wins!

I've Been Examined by The Examiner

You can’t make art in a vacuum. I firmly believe it takes community. Rochester, NY has one of the finest art communities in the nation. Having made the foray into doing local art and craft shows, I have had the opportunity to meet many fellow local artists. I find this group of people to be excellent networkers, sharers, and cheerleaders. I can’t believe some of the opportunities that have come up for me as a result of all this art love here.

Today I am especially grateful for a local connection I made with a reporter named Kathleen Landers from The Examiner at the MayDay Underground Arts + Crafts show in May. Kathleen has written a deeply humbling story about my artwork and me. She really took the time through phone calls and many emails to get to know me and what fuels my artistic passions. I could not be happier with how her article turned out. Click the screenshot of the article above to go read it.

“Kathleen is a Rochester native who owns her own decorative painting business and displays her work in local shops and art shows. Inspiration is fostered when seeking out area talent and she loves sharing concepts she's learned.” - Kathleen’s Bio on The Examiner

The Examiner consists of local news, events and attractions, real estate, shopping, and more where you can find local top breaking news and perspectives by trusted local experts. The Examiner serves 240 markets in the United States and Canada. The site is broken down into local pages, such as the Rochester, NY Examiner. There is probably a local Examiner for your area.

To keep the celebration going the Rochester NY Etsy Street Team (RNEST) is holding a giveaway on their blog for one of my new domino pendants (pictured below). Check out the post on Wednesday, June 16th for details and a chance to win! Many thanks go out to Michelle of The Quilted House for organizing the RNEST giveaway and blog post!

"Sophisticated Squares" Altered Domino Pendant you could win. The contest starts on Wednesday, June 16th on the RNEST blog.

This domino pendant was created from a larger original work of art I made especially for my line of domino pendants. It is printed on high quality photo paper and ink. This process allows me to create stunning detail on a small scale.

So hop on over to The Examiner post and get to know me better! And don't forget to enter the RNEST giveaway on Wednesday! I'll post about that again so you don't miss it!

Have a happy day!

Leprechaun Scavenger Hunt Contest Results

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

We had a tremendous amount of turn out for our “Find the Leprechaun” Scavenger Hunt Contest! Our total number of entries was 292! Out of those 292 entries, five were drawn for prizes! And the winners are…

Wasabi Ginger Soap Bar by Soap Rehab: Leigh P.

Vanilla Caramels by Fat Daddy Sweets: Alorinna

Fabric Flower Brooch by Tamdoll: Jennifer I.

Fairy Chime Bracelet by Emily Claire Creations: Elizabeth F.

Natural Green Chrysoprase Earrings by Joslin Jewels: Michelle

Thanks to all of our prize donors, participating shops, and all who blogged and tweeted on Twitter about our contest. A special thank you goes out to Etsy.com for tweeting about our contest! I know our numbers were boosted by the @Etsy mention.

Of course, a great big thank you goes out to all who entered and found the leprechauns. Lots of the entrants mentioned how much fun they were having finding the little guys. I’m glad it was entertaining as well!

I must say that I am very impressed by how this team has come together in the past few months. Our members share resources and information with each other all the time on our Google Group. A few new projects have been created by some of our members in part by belonging to the team. So if you participated in this promotion or not, I want to say that I really do love running this team and being a part of such a wonderful group. We are the best team on Etsy!

Etsy Twitter Team Scavenger Hunt Contest

The Etsy Twitter Team I run is having a contest!! It's time to "Find the Leprechauns!!"

Go to the team blog for details!!