Blog for Beaders

Are the crashing waves calling your name? Can you smell the sweet, sea salt air while your toes are planted in a grassy field? If you’re ready to be whisked away to the sea, enter the Artbeads Ocean Dreams giveaway. Ten lucky winners will each receive an oceanic goody bag filled with a sparkling Swarovski crystal starfish pendant, cute sea life pewter charms (including a dolphin, sand dollar and turtle!), and a collection of other blue-hued components. All of these pieces are enough to create a darling bracelet and simple necklace perfect for summer. Enter the contest on our Wildfire page and leave your name and e-mail address. We will randomly select 10 winners. Hurry! This contest will be gone faster than an ocean breeze!

One entry per person; must be 18 or older to enter. Open to the US and Canada excluding Quebec. Odds of winning depend on number of entries. This contest runs from tonight, May 16, 2012 until Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 11:59 PM PST. Winner will be announced Friday, May 25, 2012. Prizes are valued at $20 each.

Don’t forget to “like” Artbeads on Facebook!

-Marissa

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Whether you prefer Eggplant, Lavender or Violet, rock your favorite shade of purple in honor of Wear Purple for Peace Day! This soothing shade reminds us of so many peaceful things, like a refreshing grape soda or a romantic winter dinner. This holiday was invented as an open invitation for aliens to visit our planet, since purple is a universal symbol of peace. Be prepared for peace offerings by creating purple-themed jewelry designs with the jewelry supply mothership— Artbeads!

Are you a purple person? Take this fun color personality test to determine what your favorite colors say about you!

-Marissa

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Congratulations to the winner of our Queen for a Day Giveaway, Olga T. from Nevada! Olga’s mom will be treated like the queen she is with a $100 Artbeads gift certificate and Olga will be awarded a $50 gift certificate for herself! You can read why Olga thinks her mom deserves to be a queen below. We hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day, however you choose to celebrate it, and remember that every mother should be treated like a queen. Thanks to everyone who participated. If you’re still looking for easy inspiration for a homemade gift, check out our collection of FREE Mother’s Day ideas in our Learning Center.

My mom is my Queen! I would like the world to know that I’ve the best mommy in the whole world. The first word that I’ve said when I was a baby; it was your name mommy. You were near to me from the beginning of my life, loved me, protected me, cared about me and cherished me. You inspired me with your creativity of beauty and fashion. You’re the best mom that every child can wish for. With you I learned this wonderful world. I [am] proud to have a wonderful, loving, caring, the most generous and understanding mommy. You’re an amazing fashion designer and talented seamstress. My mommy is very beautiful and she’s my best girlfriend. Her advice is always full of wisdom and sincerity. I know that I always can come to my mom for the support that I need in difficult times. My mom gave me the best of everything that I needed to start my life. She wanted me to look back on a happy childhood and grow up to be happy adult. And that is what I am today! I am very grateful to my mommy for everything!

Stay tuned for our next contest coming soon!

-Marissa

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Congratulations to Irina Wilson, the first winner of Artbeads’ Jewelry Design Star! You can learn more about Irina on our Jewelry Design Star Spotlight page or view other great designs from our honorable mentions over on the Showcase page. Do you have an eye for amazing designs and want to share them with the world? Enter our next Jewelry Design Star contest for your chance to be the next winner!

-Marissa

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Happy May Day to everyone! May 1st is often the time to celebrate the arrival of Spring, since up here in the Pacific Northwest we don’t really see a lot of sunshine until this day. This day has quite a history, from its origins to how it is celebrated. It might surprise you how many things are celebrated on May 1st.

May Day began as the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring. It is also a Germanic holiday of Walpurgis Night celebrations, which is exactly six months from All Hallow’s Eve and is celebrated with bonfires and dancing. When the Christian influence spread across Europe, May Day became more of how we know it today. Often May Day is celebrated with a maypole dance and the giving of May baskets. May baskets are small baskets of flowers that one leaves on his or her neighbor’s porch anonymously, as a sweet secret gift.

Modern times have also designated May 1st as Law Day in the United States—a day to reflect the role law has played in the foundation of the country. (Not as fun as the other celebrations but just as important!)

Take time today to celebrate the first of May your own way! Whether you want to make a floral basket for a neighbor or simply get into the spring and summer mood by creating bright and colorful jewelry. Get quick inspiration on free spring jewelry ideas from our Learning Center, like the Lacewing bracelet featured above!

-Marissa

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The one you call “mom” isn’t always the person who gave birth to you. It’s the woman who raised you, who helped you become the person you are today. This is the woman who you can turn to when life gets hard and can put a smile on your face. She deserves to be treated like a queen, and you can make that happen with our Artbeads Queen for a Day Giveaway. You could win a $100 Artbeads gift certificate for your special queen and a $50 Artbeads gift card for yourself. We can even e-mail the gift certificate for you so she gets it just in time for Mother’s Day. We’ll also send you a prize package that includes everything you need to make a beautiful pearl and shell necklace that focuses on the color of the year—Tangerine! Learn how to enter by reading the official rules on our Wildfire page and get the chance to do something special this year. This contest starts tonight, April 25, 2012 and runs until Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 11:59 PM PST.

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Hi! My name is Sparkplug and my owner wants me to tell you that today is Pet Owner’s Day. Today we should take time to thank all of the pet owners out there who make our lives great! My owner Marissa rescued me when I was just 4 weeks old and has taken very good care of me. She is the copywriter for Artbeads and has let me write a guest blog for her today. I just want to say that she is a good owner and deserves her own holiday. If you know a pet owner that should be appreciated today, make them a special gift like a unique jewelry design! Check out Artbeads’ collection of dog and cat jewelry supplies so you can design unique pieces for your favorite pet owners.

Do you know a good pet owner?

-Sparkplug

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Congratulations to the winner of our Tooling up for Spring Giveaway, Susan J. She’s won a cool prize package to help clear out her old tools and replace them with some bright and shiny new ones! Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest. Stay tuned for some amazing opportunities coming soon.

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Want to show off your big, new rock to friends and family? You can play a great April Fool’s Day trick on everyone with this ingenious ring idea. Tell them all you finally got that big rock to wear on your finger! All you will need to pull this off is a ring blank, some E6000 glue and your favorite rock. Simply glue the rock to the ring blank and let it dry. If you want to get more creative, you can decorate the rock with everything from Gilders Paste to Swarovski flatbacks to make it more elaborate. This simple trick will fool everyone, and then they can get in on the fun for next year!

You can even turn drab into fab in a pinch, too! Pretty up your rock with found treasures like sea glass to create a stylish piece that everyone will think is a professional design. It’s up to you on what twist you take on the rock ring!

-Marissa

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Congratulations to Sarah S., the winner of our Swarovski Innovations Spring Giveaway! This lucky lady has won an incredible collection of Swarovski’s latest innovations for spring, including components in the new colors and some of the cool new shapes. You can read her comment below to find out what she plans to make.

Thank you all for participating! Stay tuned for our next exciting contest coming soon.

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