Free Admission at the Chinese Garden in Portland

Tim and I went the Lan Su Chinese Garden earlier this week. We were going to head up Mt Hood to do some snow shoeing, but it looked really wet and rather warm up there, so instead we had a mellow day in the city. We went to the Garden and took the cameras and tagged along on one of the tours for the first time. Its always fun to learn something new about a favorite place. And it was free admission! What a deal! This made me happy!!!

If you live in Portland Oregon - check it out: the Chinese Garden is offering FREE complimentary admission until Jan 11th. They are celebrating the 10th Anniversary with 10 days of free admission and there's a schedule of fun free events as well.

So why not go down and take your camera and check it out. This would be your one and only opportunity to sit in the tea house and have wonderful little snacks while watching the rain drip off the fancy roof tiles and sip Tao of Tea teas from special cups - all without paying for admission to the garden! (you still have to pay for the tea, but usually you'd have to pay to get in the garden as well) And its such a perfect time of year to go. Seriously.

Rain + Chinese Garden = Wonderful.

Give-Away: FREE Mobile Frame

This frame could be yours!

I am not sure who might want this, but here it is! You could make your own mobile using this wire frame. Its completely assembled, all you would have to do is make things to hang off the ends of the wire (the frame holds 9 things and is approx. 24inches in length).

You could hang photographs or felted things, or pieces of paper or glass things, or bottle caps, wine corks, beads, buttons... who knows! Your imagination is the limit!

If you are curious about the explanation of this wire frame:

Making empty frames for other artists to create mobiles out of is not something I normally do (only a few persuasive individuals have coaxed them out of me) but I have a couple of lonely confused wire frames in my studio for some reason... they once held creations of mine and I must have removed all the little glass pieces and made something else out of the glass and then the empty frame went lonely and ignored.

Post a comment here on the blog and it could be yours. It certainly wants to make friends with someone, and I'll be intrigued to know what it becomes! Spread the word too - this give-away will run thru April 1st 2009 - anyone can win! Its totally free and simply fun.

And the Winner Is...

The winner of the mystery box is Amanda!

I am just as curious to find out what is inside as she is!

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Give-Away: FREE Mystery Package

I've always loved a good mystery - whats not to love about a free package that has hidden surprise inside!!

The story here is over a year ago while doing my shipping I mistakenly sealed this box and completely forgot what was inside. See how its an older version of the USPS Priority shipping boxes :) I really don't remember the circumstances at the moment, but for some reason at the time I decided to put the box aside and not ship it (the recipient received what they ordered, and whatever is inside this box remains a mystery...) I know its a miniature mobile, I think its one that can stick onto a computer monitor (but I could be wrong there) and I have my guess what is inside, but who knows?! (my best guess is that its one of these guys)

So leave a comment on this blog and enter a chance to win the package! This give-away will run thru March 10th 2009. I will draw a winner and email them for shipping info. This give-away will even be sent to you USPS Priority Mail (its already in the box, so hey, you get 2day shipping!)

Give-Away: FREE Cupcake Jewelry

I am giving away this fun cupcake set of jewelry, they are translucent pink and have sparkly cupcakes printing inside the glass (earrings and pendant)! Free! They could be yours!

Post a comment here on the blog to enter to win, spread the news to your friends, who doesn't like cupcakes!!

I will choose a winner and contact them for an address to send these treasures to (when you post in the comments make sure I can contact you) on Feb 23rd, 2009.

My friend Jan carved out blocks for me from funny little sketches I made of cupcakes. For some reason when I play with these blocks I cannot help but chant (out loud - sorta singing) "cupcakes, cupcakes". I like saying the word "cupcakes" and I certainly like eating them!

I am thinking about a fun little line of cupcake jewelry, I am also wanting to make little mobiles that are cupcake themed. So let me know what you think - feedback is welcome and appreciated!

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Give-Away: FREE Pendant

Who wants a free pendant!! Post a comment on this entry and get a chance to win this little beauty!

Its green and white and clear borosilicate glass - its about the size of a quarter. The lines of color swirl gracefully around this little pendant made by yours truely (ME!).

This week I am having a Torchworking Week - what does that mean? It means I am making a concerted effort to get behind the torch as much as possible and all my blog posts will be oriented around glass torchworking. Did you notice I even changed my banner in honor of this week? :)

So enjoy! heres a sneak preview of some of what I will be blogging about this week:

• how torchworkers can personalize handmade candles
• Wednesday I am teaching a class introducing Torchworking Borosilicate
• next week my Cousteau Classics Beadmaking series is starting, so I will blog about that
• and there will be a couple whimsicle surprises as well

stay tuned - especially you torchworking friends of mine - I hope this week will be full of fun reads!

and hey - this pendant could be yours! Winner will be chosen Jan 26th 2009

FREE Google Product Search

I have been fiddling around with the newly available Etsy statistical data and spending a bit o' time on the Etsy forums getting tips and tricks (and sharing complaints). I stumbled across a web-programmer/Etsy-shopper who said that she found Etsy thru an "organic search engine". Basically what she meant was that she doesn't pay attention to the paid adverts, she prefers the search engine results. She was giving her 2cents on whether Etsy shop owners should pay for Google Ad-Words (Pay-Per-Click). Her good advice was to sign up for the Google Product Search - its FREE and she said that her clients had experienced more sales with this campaign than with their Ad-Words efforts.

So I had to check it out. You should too! Heres a link.

Basically all you have to do (unless you are more savy, so far I have done the minimum) is set up a spreadsheet in Excell to create your "Data Feed". Save this spread sheet as a .txt file and go about setting up your Google Product account (be sure to put your website in the setting, the data feed won't work without this)

The help info was great and I've got my first feed running.

Here is the info plucked right from their site to explain how it works to your advantage to do this (did I mention its FREE - so why not! - common, go make a spreadsheet!)

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Increase traffic to your store with Google Product Search – for free

Google Product Search helps shoppers find and buy products across the web. As a seller, you can submit your products to Google Product Search, allowing shoppers to quickly and easily find your site.

Increase traffic and sales

Product Search connects your products to the shoppers searching for them, helping you drive traffic and sales to your store. Your products will appear on Google Product Search and may even be displayed on Google.com, depending on your items' relevance.

Submit products for free

Inclusion of your products is completely free. There are no charges for uploading your items or the additional traffic you receive.

Reach qualified shoppers

Reach shoppers precisely when they are searching for items to buy on Google.

A Reward for Procrastinators

Its snowing here in Portland, have you heard? :)

Here's my pitch - to any shopping procrastinators out there: buy from me online :) Many of the mobiles I made for the holiday season still remain in my inventory! The weather (and the economy) has put the smack-down on the end of my business year. I am ever so grateful for all the orders I have filled this year - I am so glad many many people will be receiving mobiles as gifts this year - but the fact remains that I still have many more to share... wanna help :)

Anyone who still needs gifts this year - buy online from me and I'll throw in a free ornament! (offer good thru noon Dec 22nd 2008 or until I run out of ornaments) Oh yeah - free ornament anyone?! I will be shipping out this weekend, USPS Priority Mail, which takes only 2 days, so everything should arrive by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest.

Any last minute gift needs - I can help! I am happy to reward the shopping procrastinators with a free handmade glass ornament!

Cyber-Monday FREE Give-Away

Every order placed in my Etsy shop today will receive a FREE ornament with their purchase.

... and each item bought will enter you into my Dec 1st 's give-away. This is a quick one (only lasting today, Dec 1st 2008, and orders already placed today will be retroactively entered into the fun) with a sweet prize: the four ornaments in this picture could be yours!!! The funny thing is these are my "seconds", mostly the bows heated funny, sometimes one loop closes so they hang funny, or they don't hang at all. I am not sure what you will do with them, but I do hope you will enjoy them. Get crafty, hang them or glue them to something... who knows!

so get shopping - each item purchased counts as one entry, and every order will include a free ornament!

Happy Cyber-Monday!

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Glass Give-Away: Cutey Drop

I found this little blue droplet and I thought I'd share. He makes me smile and he deserves a good home!

He has a cutsey little "O" expression and a jump-ring thru the little hole on the top of his head.

I made these years ago... in all different colors and different facial expressions. I have a jacket somewhere that I attached a yellow one to the zipper... and a few change purses that these got attached to as well. I even made a few mobiles that every droplet had a different facial expression, like little characters - I loved these mobiles!!! Occasionally their owners will visit me at the Portland Saturday Market and tell me that they own a mobile made by me that have little faces on the drops - and I squeal and smile with the memories and inform them that they own a collectors item :)

Well I found this little blue one and I thought I'd share. He has a cutsey little "O" expression and a jump-ring thru the little hole on the top of his head.

He could be yours! Simply leave a comment (and spread the word to friends and family of the FREE opportunity on my blog here - ANYONE can win!) and make sure that I can contact you if you win (leave your email in the comment if you don't have a blog or if your blog profile is private)

These give-aways are the real deal - HERE you can see who all has won and received previous FREE give-aways. The point of these promotions is to drive more traffic to my blog and give away clutter from my studio.

This giveaway will run from 11/1/08 thru 11/15/08 - Good Luck!

Glass Give-Away for Halloween!

Hey heres a quick chance to win some glass - give-away ends on Friday Oct 31st, 2008.

Win a set of these little marbles - a bat and a pumpkin face! - Enjoy!

All you need to do is leave a comment here (and your email address if you are commenting anonymously) and spread the word - Thanks!

Happy Halloween!

Tool o' the Day: Tripod

If you are crafty and interested in selling your own work, or you already do sell your artwork online, photography is a must, and DIY photography requires a few tools. One of the most important things to have for good pictures is a handy dandy Tripod. The tripod will allow the camera to capture more detail and crispness, which looks very pleasing to the eye. Better pictures = more sales online.This tripod (not the garden hose - its just a prop) could be yours!

It spins, it swivels, it will be many different heights, its simply an all around great tripod. Good for most any camera, includes the screw fixture that holds your camera to the tripod, easy to use.

Rather than buy one - why not win one!

Here are the contest details: All you have to do is blog about me and my blog (or this contest specifically, either is fine with me) and put a link in the comments here. At the end of the month (its Sept 15th now - so in 15 days on Sept 30th 2008) I will choose a winner and email you to get an addy - I will send you this tripod free of charge.

I believe what comes around goes around, and good photography is a must - so hey - join the fun - try and win this tripod. Even if you already have one - you could give it away to a friend in need :)


This give-away is part of what I hope to be a more regular effort to do fun free give-aways on a semi-regular basis on my blog. So stay tuned and spread the word!

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