Preface to BEAD SOUP! Beads of Courage

I wanted to spell this out in a bit of detail beforehand TO GET YOU ALL EXCITED....

Tomorrow is the Bead Soup Blog Party and I'm doing a giveaway...but not just any giveaway....it will be for a good cause.

You'll see my gluttony tomorrow.... but I got DOUBLE SOUP from my partner Diana of Suburban Girl Studios and I want to pass along the love and good karma....

So I will be giving away 2 or more pieces, but to win these pieces, there is a caveat...

I will be listing many more bead soup pieces that I've made on eBay. To win the pieces I'm giving away, you must bid on the Ebay auctions. The auctions will be uploaded on Saturday to coincide with Bead Soup Blog Party.

All proceed from the eBay auctions will benefit Beads of Courage. To read more about what Beads of Courage does, go here.

SO that is the footnote. You will get 2 (or more) for 1 and you will help out a good cause....

You don't have to be a follower.

But here is the fine print:

1)You must comment on TOMORROW'S post AND bid on at least ONE AUCTION. There should be a away to contact you via your comment i.e. I can contact you via blogger or leave your email.

2) You must state in your comment your eBay auction ID...so I know that you actually bid.

3)If you blog, tweet, FB this giveaway, you get an extra vote, but only if you bid on the eBay auction. PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT AND A LINK IF YOU DO THIS to be considered.

All of the auctions will start at 99 cents! International bids are welcome!

Home-ly Owl Giveaway RESULTS!

You know what I realized? When I don't put the word giveaway in the blog title, I get a lot fewer comments...no worries, the odds are better for those of you who did comment!

Hey, also, I'm not giving away 2 sets of owls but 4! I found 2 more sets in my to be polished bowl so y'all are in serious luck.

And your comments?

They were all so rad and so, so kind, and I couldn't choose...

So...I went outside and plucked some lovely pecan tree leaves and wrote everyone's name upon them.....





and put them in the bowl.....




and plucked out not 2, as previously mentioned, but 4 names! woohoo!


and the winners are....

Marie of Skye Jewels

Alice!<
Sara! Sara is a childhood friend of mine and one of my first jewelry customers.

But WAIT! look at that! How RAD is that?! There's a heart on Sara's leaf? Gotta love nature.

and last, but certainly not least is,

Miss Lorelei!


So, Please email me secondsurf{AT}gmail{DOT}com if I don't have your info! And you're about to get some homely owls.

blog soup giveaway delay

Hi friends! I had it in my head that I was doing my giveaway this morning and I'm a little behind. When I checked the post I realized I was supposed to do it YESTERDAY morning so I'm even more behind than I thought. Don't worry though, I'll be back later on today to do the reveal of the winner! And I may even have a little something else to give away with it!

Stay Tuned!

It's Finally MY Turn to serve SOUP!

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My day has finally arrived. MY turn FINALLY to unveil my blog soup! I hope you all aren't too full from all of the beautiful soup that's already been unveiled!!!

As a recap, My partner was Diane Hawkey, and we were quite suited to each other, I think. There is a similar vein to our work. We both make beads, and the beads, while different, share a similar vision, I feel.

Diane has already unveiled her piece. It's so amazing, because while we both chose different roads and the outcomes are different, there was a singular mindset taking place. Diane described her thought process as making a piece that wanted to be touched like a talisman. I also felt the same way about the pieces she sent me, but rather than make a long piece, which doesn't flatter my frame, I chose to make shorter pieces that can be held close to the heart.

Inspiration from the first piece:

Handmade ceramic beads, made by Diane, made up the majority of the beads she sent me. These pieces are so weighty, begging to be close to you. The aqua focal, Grow, just spoke to me. I wanted to make a substantial piece, that I could feel next to my skin, and reminded me of just that sentiment. I added the small tibetan chimes to the bottom, so I could actually HEAR it, reminding me that growth takes movement. Going confidently in the direction of your dreams, even when it is uncomfortable.

Inspiration from the second piece:

The second piece has a peachy pink sunrise, which also reminds me of a lotus. I added one of my small stamped charms, reading HOPE. It reminds me, just as the sun dawns, and the lotus in Buddhism, that although the world is sometimes rooted in ugliness, each day dawns anew and the lotus blooms, and the opportunity is there to make beauty everyday. The lotus flower both blooms and simultaneously sheds it old blossoms.


And, while I plan on being completely selfish and keeping these two amazing pieces for myself to wear, I took the remainder of Diane's faceted nuggets (which I totally wanted to keep ;) that she sent me, combined them with a bead of my own and made a wonderful piece to share for one lucky blog reader.

So, to enter to win the green branch piece, please do the following:

A) you must comment on this post.
B) you must answer in your comment, "What makes your world beautiful?"
C) You can enter more than once by tweeting, facebooking on a fan page (not on your personal page), or blogging about my giveaway, AND and telling me so here, in a separate comment. If you tweet it, there is no need to mention a specific URL, just make sure you @mention @2ndsurf in your tweet.

D) I will draw a winner on Sunday morning, June 27, after the finish of Bead Soup Party.

p.s. you don't have to be a blog soup party member to join, just enjoying the ride!

Here are the rest of day five soupers!

48. Nan,Spirit Rattles
49. Amy, Copper Diem
50. Malin, Beading by Malin de Koning
51. Anne, Gardanne Glass Lampwork
52. Alice, Alice's Beads and Baubles
53. Barbara, Second Surf
54. Amanda, Articulations
55. Heather, Humble Beads
56. Melissa, Melissa Meman, Art, Life, Love
57. Kate, Organic Odysseys
58. Patti, PJ Clark Designs
59. Stefanie, Stefanie's Sammelsurium




Thank you to Lori Anderson for organizing such a wonderful blog party! I'm so grateful for all the friends I've made and the amazing inspiration I've witnessed! ♥

all righty then...wowza.

I don't want to post this because if I do and you win, I will act like a sullen child for weeks. because I want it. so. bad. But hop on over to Denise Yezback Moore's blog and see the awesome-ness she is giving away.

Go.
Do.
It.
Now.

Thoughts, the giveaway & Adorned by Morgan

I'm a little late in congratulating the winner of my beads that I was giving away over at The Constant Gatherer. Rachel of Adorned by Morgan won her choice of a multicolored set of birds or owls! She chose birds!

The best part for me, is that I was already an admirer of her work! Rachel's designs are truly unique. Since I am both a bead designer as well as a jewelry maker, it's hard sometimes to rectify making a truly handmade bead to the wealth of equally lovely embellishments that can be purchased on the market for sometimes better prices and fabricated into stunning pieces. You can search on Etsy for hours and not find many pieces that carry the charm of Rachel's work.

What is unique about Rachel's designs is that each piece carries a lovely narrative all it's own, a quality I strive for in my own work. You can tell that they are all carefully considered and each component is thoughtful. Thanks Rachel for participating!

p.s. her work is vegan! how cool is that?

Images:
1) the set of four beads that Rachel won!
2) Sweet Spool of Flowers $32
3)Gypsy Trove Necklace $75
4) Blossoms from Wonderland $36.5
5) Sweet Japanese Baskets {sold}

Good Stuff!!!

Please take a moment to hop on over to The Constant Gatherer and see the giveaway that dear Katie is hosting featuring moi! One lucky reader will receive their choice of 4 beads in their choice of a flock of owls or birds!

Also be sure to check in at Katie's Etsy shop now and in the coming week, as a little birdie told me she might be having a sale, and there are bargains galore to be had! She's cleaning house and I'm keeping a keen eye peeled for any crumbs of her glorious stash of vintage finds that she might need to purge....