Any Blog Partners Still Out There?

So I've sadly neglected my blog partner program over the summer...it seemed as though people were super busy with challenges and other blog partner endeavors and I didn't want to overload my partners or have their pieces just get lost in the shuffle so I hibernated things for a bit.  That said, I'm bored and want to get it moving again but with a bit of a twist!

So I'm thinking to simplify things I'll just post the blog partner goodies here and if you're on the blog partner list here (with the link back button on your blog) and want a chance to join in the challenge for the month, leave a comment on this post.  I'll randomly select three blog partners to receive the goodies for the month.  That way I avoid randomly selecting someone who has already committed to a bunch of things for the month or someone who no longer wants to participate.

If you're not selected (or not on the blog partner list) and would still like to participate in the challenge, I'll have the item(s) available for purchase at a 20% discount for the month of the challenge with the coupon code: SeptChallenge

What do you think?  If you're in, I'll reveal the item for the month on Thursday!

Blog Partner Reveal!

I've been making some larger buttons in my last few kiln loads so I wanted to give some blog buddies a chance to show off what could be done with them.

This month I drew three names to participate...

Cilla:  Tell Your Girlfriends Jewelry

Linda: Linda's Bead Blog and Meanderings

Patty: My Life Under the Bus

...then also added Hope because I had drawn her name but removed her from my list after confusing her blog with another that didn't have a blog partner button up: Crafty Hope

Stop by and visit their blogs to see their creations!  I'll post a recap here tomorrow!

Blog Partners?

Yoo Hoo...anyone out there?  I heard from Patty so I have one of my three blog partners confirmed.  After drawing three more times with random.org and landing on three more blog partners without the blog button up, I decided I'd remove those names as I came across them, so if you no longer see your name there that's the reason.  If your name is still listed and you do want to continue to participate, please double check that you have the blog button on your sidebar!

So... Cilla Watkins  and Linda Landig are you up to join Patty for the blog partner challenge this month?  I'd like to send out the goodies on Saturday at the latest so hopefully you're keeping up with your blog reading this week!

October Blog Partners

Jean Yates is the first blog partner to reveal her creation for October...

I sent out something a little different to the blog partners this month, a stoneware disk with a three dimensional patterned butterfly taking flight (I also included a porcelain button in one of my tried and true patterns).

Jean is so creative with her jewelry designs and did something I haven't seen with one of my pendants before...check out those little pearly embellishments!  What a great idea for blinging out some pendants...I could see swarovskis for an accent working great as well.  Thanks so much for sharing Jean!



If you like the style of the raised butterfly I have one more listed in a big circle pendant style on the website

and there are a few smooth disk pendants that would lend themselves well to a little Jean-esque blingy treatment too! 

Giveaway and Public Service Announcements...

So there is a giveaway to be had here today, but first a couple of business items to get out of the way (of course I can't stop you from just scrolling down to the giveaway and ignoring all of my blathering on if you'd prefer! It's at the end.)

First, after some thought I've decided to add everyone who is interested to my blog partner list instead of capping it at 12 people.  I'll still only be selecting 3 (or maybe 4 if I've had a really good firing month) people each round but I think it's a good idea to widen the pool a bit.  If you're interested in participating, check out the partner tab at the top of my page here, grab the button code and let me know you're in!

I will be re-evaluating whether or not to continue the program at the end of the year.  I love to see what people create with what I've sent out but I haven't yet seen it result in any significant return traffic so we'll see how it goes.

On the topic of blog partners, I forgot to share the gorgeous pieces that Sue Kennedy and Lorelei Eurto created for September! Lorelei's is above and Sue's two pieces are below...

Ok, on to the giveaway (but not without one more commentary item...).  Nothing is more discouraging to me than being the winner of a giveaway and having the person hosting the giveaway not send out the prize (or in some cases, not even respond to the email/comment where they have been given my contact info).  It's happened to me twice now (two different blogs) and I recently had an email conversation with another blogger who had it happen to them, which made me realize that it's probably more widespread than I thought.

I will ALWAYS respond to the winner and send out the prize...if for some reason you should not receive it, please let me know.  On the flip side of that, when I win something on a blog giveaway, I try to blog about it to show a picture and provide a link back to the person hosting the giveaway...I think it's just a nice way to acknowledge that you received the item.  That's just me, in no way is it a requirement when I hold my own giveaways...although I really do appreciate an email to let me know it arrived safely.

Ok, off my soapbox and on to the prize...
You've probably seen these wrap bracelets all over the place lately...I first came across them on the Ornamentea blog where I followed the link to Honestly WTF where she has an awesome tutorial with step by step photos.  After accumulating all the necessary ingredients to whip one up, I realized that I wanted one of my ceramic beads for the closure...which meant a 3 week wait until I fired the kiln!  So finally after much delay I made one...and misjudged the length...which has left me with a lovely double wrap bracelet that moderately reduces blood circulation in my hand.  So...my lack of planning is your gain!  Up for grabs (hopefully to someone with more dainty wrists than I have!) is a chocolate leather, shiny brass and turquoise thread double wrap bracelet with one of my buff stoneware turtle glazed round beads at the closure.

(sorry for the kind of lame photo, took it quickly this super overcast morning)

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Wednesday, September 28th.  I'll randomly select a name on Thursday afternoon and announce the winner that evening. You get one entry for your comment and you can leave additional comments for entries if you "like" my page on Facebook (link on the sidebar), blog, FB or tweet about the giveaway.

Good luck and thanks for stopping by!

October Blog Partners...

Marcie and Jean come on down!  If you haven't already sent me your mailing address please do! (Thanks to Patty for the heads up that this would be two months in a row for her)

These are the pendants that I showed in their glazed state a post or two ago that I challenged anyone to guess the end color results.  Pretty tough, I admit...the photo isn't the best on these today either.  The raised portions are a semi-metallic hematite shade and the base is a dark, reddish undertinged black.  I suppose I could say that I was inspired by darker colors for fall or even our "Blackout 2011" that hit Southern California this Thursday afternoon (that resulted in us having to throw out almost everything in our fridge since the power was out for about 12 hours at our place) but the reality is that I had a not completely anticipated result due to some new clay I'm trying out.

So partly because no one was even close to guessing correctly and partly because I'm not sure I gave a fair shot, we'll try this again and I'll make it multiple choice!  Stay tuned for the post tomorrow with your clues...

August Blog Partner Reveal

A few weeks ago I sent out some of my new wood block pendants to my August Blog Partners, Kym Hunter, Shannon Chomanczk, and Lisa Petrillo.


I am beyond thrilled with the gorgeous pieces they came up with and I'm so appreciative for their follow through in meeting the deadline for the reveal.


In my mind I gave them a bit of a challenge as far as color palettes but they certainly rose to the challenge!

I won't spoil the surprise here by showing the full pieces but I think I can share a little peek...


Stop by their blogs to see their posts about what they created!

Next month you'll be treated to designs by Lorelei Eurto, Susan Kennedy and Patty Gasparino.

August Blog Partners...

Lorelei, Sue and Patty...congratulations! I'll be sending out some of my new wood block pendants for you to play with this month. Stay tuned for their creations on September 15th!

July Blog Partners

What amazing things were created by my wonderful blog partners this month! Linda Landig made this warm relic necklace using my Roman Shipwreck pendant...


Look at how those golden tones set off the matte glaze on the pendant!

Erin Prais-Hintz created this rich necklace with oxidized metal and stones that couldn't have matched better if I had glazed them!

She didn't stop there though, my Aurora Borealis button was transformed into a stunning clasp for her bracelet!
Thank you so much for your beautiful work ladies!

Now, the Good News:
I just completed a HUGE website restock, lots of new items primarily in the architectural and botanical categories. You may also notice that I have a brand spanking new category for buttons as well!

The Bad News (for anyone who might like to scoop up some of these new goodies) is that my website is on vacation, as am I, until July 20th. Feel free to place your order so you don't miss out on these new items but unfortunately I will be unable to ship them out until July 21st.

Hope you're having a wonderful summer!

June Blog Partners!

Erin Prais-Hintz (Tesori Trovati)
Leslie Gidden (Mad Maggie Designs)
Linda Landig
Congratulations ladies! Your pieces are slated for toasty kiln firing this weekend and will go out to you on Monday. Please send me a quick email with your mailing address so I can get them your way!

Blog Partners Continued!

More gorgeous work from my May blog partners...this time Sally Russick of Wireworked whipped up some pretties to share with you. A lovely strung necklace that lets the pendant shine with a few pretty bead accents...

and this beautiful copper wrapped bracelet.


Doesn't the oxidized copper set off the patina glaze perfectly? Nice work Sally!

One more blog partner to go for May then I'll announce the June participants.

Blog Partner Peeks

Hope you all had a wonderful and restful long weekend! I managed to find a little snippet of time to finally try out my pottery wheel...the conclusion? I need a LOT more practice and maybe a class or two! That said, I think I will have a little bowl to show off next week if it doesn't explode during the bisque firing.

Michelle Mach is the first of the May Blog Partners to post her creations...check out what she made! For May I sent out a Big Circle pendant and a 4 hole bracelet bar in my latest Architectural designs. I love that she named this piece "Magic Carpet bracelet", fitting isn't it?


Stay tuned for creations by Sally Russick and Christi Baxter Clothier too!

The Big Reveal...

This will be short but there are still some things to say so I won't skip posting...

Here's a sneak peek at a bunch of my new designs, I'm really just beyond tickled petunia pink by them! They turned out even better than I could have imagined...the challenge will be naming them all and keeping them all straight in my head, especially because they're pretty much all architecturally inspired.


I'm going to do my very best to get what's come out of the kiln up on the website but I'm not sure I'll have time tomorrow. Sadly, my mother in law passed away this afternoon so as you can imagine, there are plenty of other things that take priority over beads for a few days.

The last detail before I go into a bit of a radio silence mode... I'm scheduled to be a sponsor for Art Bead Scene for the month of May. These are my contribution to the goodies that are up for grabs in their giveaway:

Along with the giveaway I'm offering a special discount code so be sure to check out ABS (or make sure you're signed up for my newsletter which really is going to go out right away-there have been technical glitches slowing me down) for the details.

Blog partner peeps, I'm still planning on getting your special items out in the mail to you on Monday so the show will go on.

Other than that, any orders coming in over the next week will have shipping (or production if there are made to order items) delayed until the 10th. Thank you for your patience!

Happy Easter!

Did a bunny visit your home this morning?

I wasn't expecting him to get inside mine but apparently he did and left scatterings of Reese's mini eggs around. So the photo above will be my submission for this week's I Heart Macro round!



I'm behind on blogging about several things so please bear with me...

So far I have nine wonderfully talented Blog Partner Peeps lined up:

Erin Prais-Hintz (Tesori Trovati)

Lorelei Eurto

Susan Kennedy (SueBeads)

Michelle Mach

Linda Landig

Christi Baxter Clothier (2 if By Sea)

Patricia Gasparino (My Life Under the Bus)

Leslie Gidden (Mad Maggie Designs)

Sally Russick (WireWorked)

You can find all the details and listing of those participating under my Blog Partner tab up at the top of the page. I like round numbers so I will still accept a few more designers into the mix, I'm thinking an even dozen (also a number divisible by 3 since there are 3 drawn each month) so there's room for 3 more. The first 3 people who let me know that the button is up on their blogs are in!

For the month of May the three designers randomly selected are....


Sally Russick, Christi Baxter Clothier, and Michelle Mach! Ladies, email me with your mailing addresses please and the goodies for this round will go out in the next two weeks. You will have until the end of May to reveal your creations!

In publication news, quite some time ago I received my copy of Wire Style 2 in the mail. Much to my surprise and delight I discovered that the very first project in the book, a gorgeous necklace by Lorelei Eurto, featured one of my Zinnia Connectors! It's a terrific book full of projects by talented folks and I would highly recommend checking it out.

Wire Style 2: 45 New Jewelry Designs


Another surprise this week came when I flipped through The Best of Creative Jewelry on the bookshelf at the store the other day... My Splish Splash bracelet and a pair of earrings from Creative Jewelry a couple years ago both made it in!

I've delayed long enough, I have a huge stack of pendants to clean up and fire today, many many new architectural designs to test out...I have a suspicion that the Blog Partners will be seeing some of them!

Hope you all have a most wonderful and chocolate filled Easter!

It's Coming...

the Chinook Jewelry Designs Blog Partner Program! Want a shot at free beads? Have a blog? All you need to do is shoot me an email and hook up your blog (like the mixing of metaphors this evening?) with my button to be one of the 3 lucky designers each month! The code for the button is over there in the sidebar...

Hard at work on my long overdue newsletter...delayed sending it after losing my edits about 4 times on Monday. It's a good thing though, I have a shwack of new designs to roll out and want to give a sneak peek to my newsletter subscribers...won't have them ready until the weekend though. Not signed up? Look over there...no, to your right...see that box that says "Chinook Jewelry Mailing List"? Just fill it in and you'll get my enthralling and informative newsletters (or maybe I shouldn't speak in plural...I think only one went out last year).

I'm certainly looking forward to having it finished and finally sent out!

What are YOU looking forward to this weekend?