And we have a Winner!!

The eSMarts Treasure Hunt has come to an end and we have a winner!! Yay!!! :-))

Susin Schiff from Canada will receive the whole package and from what I hear, it's all going to a good home! I don't know if she has received it yet, but I'm eagerly waiting to hear what she thinks of the gorgeous prizes she won! Read more about it here.

While you're there visiting the eSMarts blog, please also take a look at our monthly contest and cast your vote! Only two entries this month, none of which are mine, but some day I hope to find the energy and inspiration to participate in this too! :-))

It's only a short blog post this time. I'm knee deep in the digital photo album I'm making as a christmas gift, and that means I need to get it finished soon, or it won't be printed and back here on time! My niece is coming over tomorrow night to check on what I have so far. With matching poem going throughout the album telling the story... It's actually a pretty fun project to do, and I'm learning by leaps and bounds how to use Photoshop (and some other programs), even though it's an older version I have. Gotta go work on that some more now! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

't is the season...

...for Shopping!!! Yep, that's right, people! Time to get the best deals and start your Christmas shopping!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I wish my US friends (and anyone else who celebrates this) a happy day and hope you can spend it with your loved ones.
But Thanksgiving, man, it really has become a surreal shopping experience over the past few years. First, all we heard about that over here in Belgium, was the -to us at least- strange "Black Friday" term and we got news flashes on TV about it. It totally amazed us. With the internet, everyone wanted to be part of it, so along came CyberMonday. But that's not enough, oh no! Now we have Black Wednesday too! You can get the best deals on the internet if you shop on Wednesday already, have Thanksgiving dinner with your family, then hit the brick & mortar stores on Black Friday to get the good deals there too! It's a win-win situation of course. :-))
Read all about the newest shopping experience in the full article on this page!

I am joining in this amazing blog roll too, and have put a few items in my store at half price. Whààààt??? Half price??? Why on earth did I do that?? Well, to give you a chance to shop at a reduction. Hmm, okay. Soo, what's in it for me? Happy customers will spread the word!!!! See?? Win-win situation. :-))
Check for the notion "Black Friday SALE" in my etsy store for the items at half price, and lots of other items have free worldwide shipping!! Yay!! I know a good deal when I see it. Do you??






All these above earrings are now in my etsy store at Half Price from Black Wednesday til CyberMonday! That's from November 25 (today!) and will end on Monday November 30 at midnight.

***Edit November 26: The following items are now taking part in the Black Friday Sale at my store too! :-))

There is also the video preview of what you can win in the Treasure Hunt! Okay, first time ever I embed a slide show into my blog so I hope everything will go well. Here goes nothing!!

Full pictures of all the handmade gifties in the basket can be seen here on this blog! Aren't they just gorgeous??

Enjoy the holidays and whatever you do, stay safe! Let me know the good deals you find too! heheh... ;-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Take your pick

...and you decide whether this is a hint or a clue! But it's somewhere in my post... heheheh.... ;-))
Remember, you have to play to win the big jackpot! Make it a family game to go hunting for the Treasure and find the hidden Santa images. Santa needs to come out of hiding to bring gifts this year, won't he? Give him a hand!

I'm still working on my crochet shawl and I have to tell you, it's BIIIIG! I mean, way way big. LOL
I never anticipated it would end up this big, but I just liked the crocheting so much that I just kept going. And going... and going... And now it's really really big. But, I don't care, I actually like how it turned out and am sure I will enjoy cuddling up on the couch on cold winter evenings with this newest addition. :-))

I enjoy the bare works of knitting and crocheting, but the finishing touches... not so much. Anyone else have that problem? I mean, it really is a problem here. I wanted to crochet a bonnet and what do I find in the bag with the yarn? The bonnet I crocheted last winter! The crocheting part is finished, but I never bothered to actually work the end tails in. How stupid of me! I should have been wearing this!
Did you know there's a hidden Santa in my etsy store? Find him, copy the url, find 2 more of these Santas and there's your first chance of winning the big prize! How's that for a clue? ;-))
The newly discovered bonnet is duo toned, in purple, so it's completely in line with all the current fashions. But nooo, I'm the one that keeps things like this unfinished in her bag. Another one of my endless supply of UFOs. I really have to finish this one. And I'd prefer it done before winter starts. Ha!

But I'm working on that. I mean, I'm working on actually finishing what I started. The crochet part of the big shawl is done, I have worked in all the tail ends already (wow!) and now I'm in the process of adding the fringes. Tell me, how does it look so far??

Hugs,
Wezz

Another hint... or is it a clue?

Hey all, have you been on the Hunt yet?? The Secret Santa Treasure Hunt is on!! Go go go!!
Did you know you can enter as many times as you can find 3 different links with Santa in them? Just follow the rules and increase your chances of winning this fabulous Treasure!

Oh and I just thought of something too! (surprised, huh?? LOL) Now why don't you make this a family thing? Yeah! Wouldn't your kids just *love* to go hunting for Santa images?? Get everyone involved, even your hubby! He could win beautiful gifts for the woman he loves, or the kids could win some really cool gifts for mommy! Enjoy the family time together while going on a Treasure Hunt! Think of it as playing a game with the whole family! The kids will love it! :-))

I have another "teaser picture" for you today! Here's a little detail of my beadwork with the matte and shiny snow white beads.
Let me know how the teasing is working please! Would love to hear about it.... ;-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Santa Claus is coming to town....

...and he's bringing lots and lots of prezzies!! :-))
Okay, so Christmas comes a little early this year, Santa is an old guy and he needs the extra time. Let him, will ya? (grin)

You all know by now that I'm part of the online group eSmarts and we've teamed up to bring you the best! We've organised a Treasure Hunt, and believe me, the treasure is definitely worth it!!
You have to play to win though, but the big prize could be yours! Wouldn't that be fun???? Mark your calendars for the start of the Hunt on November 14th! Go go go, what are you waiting for???

Our great eSMArts team is sharing the love with a handmade bundle to warm your holidays! And YOU can win this! Isn't that just sooo cool?? huh??? :-))

Enter our Hidden Santa Treasure Hunt to WIN a Christmas Gift Bundle of unique handmade creations.

The complete prize package, item photos and detailed descriptions will be announced here shortly.

Our contest begins November 14th so check back here for the full list of Sponsor Shops.

How to Play:

• Check this blog for contest details and a list of participating eSMArts Sponsor Shops.
• Visit each participating shop to find images of our santa.
• Make note of the url where you find our santa pictured!
• HINT: santa images are not embedded yet. They won't be online until the contest start date of November 14, 2009.
• Here's how to complete each entry: ~find 3 Santa images that you haven't previously submitted. ~Email the urls along with your name & address to esmartspromos [at] yahoo.ca to be entered. ~Find new/unsubmitted Santa image urls and enter as many times as you like! ~Entries will be validated to ensure that contestants are submitting fresh Santa spottings. ~Remember that 3 new Santa image urls equals ONE additional contest entry.
• Contest runs November 14-28, 2009 (close is November 28/09 at midnight eastern).
• Drawing takes place November 29th
• Winner will be announced here November 30th
• Prize package ships December 1st, 2009.

check back for hunting hints and tips! The package IS worth it, mark my words! You'll be in for a big big surprise! I know, coz I've seen some of what's in there.... I'll post more about the Treasure as we come closer to the start of the Hunt and the final draw... heheh... Patience, my dears, patience! And keep your eye on this blog!
Happy Hunting everyone! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Heartfelt Blog Award and a sneak peek

This is the Heartfelt Blog Award, and it was given to me by Mary Ann from Starlight Blog. Thanks so much!! It means a lot to me, coz this is a very special award given to blogs that give you a nice warm homey feel, full of heart. I'm so happy that my blog feels like a homey place on the web. That was the intent all along and I'm glad it all worked out that way. :-))

Many many thanks to Mary Ann for this wonderful award! It is truly an honor!

Mary Ann is a writer and loves to read, but has many interests beyond that. Check her post of Oct 31st and take a look at those pictures! For some reason I can't link directly to this post, but please scroll down, it's worth it. She's also a beader, and a member of the infamous eSmarts Team. (grin)

Now as for the people I'm going to pass this on to... Their blogs are all chock full of heart. You feel like they're old friends even if they write about something of little interest to you. You can feel their passion and the heart they pour into their blogs. Sometimes, they'll give you a peek into their real life, but even their online life is interesting. Give yourself a little gift today and go spend some time with them.

Here are the rules:

1. Display the logo.
2. Nominate up to 9 blogs that make you feel comfy or warm inside.

3. Link to your nominees.
4. Let them know they have been nominated by commenting.
5. Link to the person from whom you received the award.

OK...Here are the 9 new nominees:

1. Catherine from StampFrancisco, a rubber stamp company, is one of my dearest friends that I've come to know in the past 8 years or so. Generally, we see each other 2 weekends a year when I help her out at shows here in Europe. Her blog shows her love for animals, and for France. She takes wonderful pictures too and doesn't hesitate to share them with all of us!
2. Vanessa from Scrapness is an accomplished scrapbooker, and especially since she turned to digital scrapbooking. I hope to learn lots from her! Her blog gives you a peek into her life with pictures of her family. She loves to create, so anything that will grab her fancy will be tried. Like crochet. Did you see her pear?? I'm also gonna take a closer look at her dare list... Maybe that will be my next blog post... :-))
3. Godelieve from StampingMathilda doesn't need much introduction in the rubber stamping world. She's belgian, and she's famous. She shows a lot of her artistic work, but always with a witty sense of humor. She also has a section of blog help on her site, she knows what she's doing!
4. Mandy called her blog "The Diaries of a craftaholic and demented housewife". Now I ask you, that name alone calls for investigation, no?? She's funny, and I love what she makes and the stories she shares with us.
5. Anna Lee from Ga'hoolTree Designs is passionate about making jewelry (check it out!) but also shares her travel stories and how she feels about our world today. Always interesting to read.
6. Lois from A Beaded Affair also doesn't hesitate to share her feelings about today's world on her blog now and then. She does great wire work, it's just amazing what she does with copper. Both Lois and Anna Lee are a few of the driving forces behind the eSmarts Team which I also belong to. I'm thankful to be a part of that, and that I know these ladies through the internet. I love technology, even though I sometimes fight with it. LOL
7. Jennifer from Life Is Not A Cereal shares a lot about her life, sometimes with blog posts that make you ponder and think about things you never thought about before. She makes you stop and think about your next step. I love her digiscrap stuff too of course, whether it's her layouts or her freebies that she put up for grabs.
8. I love people who have more than one hobby, just like me. And that are not afraid to admit it, and share a lot with the outside world about their life. So I really want to give this award to Joan from the Stamping-Cooking-Knitting-My Life blog too. When I read her blog, she makes me feel like I'm right there with her. That in itself is an art.
9. Elly from My Everyday Things takes you on a tour through her life, her house and her creations. Just by looking at the blog, this is a place that feels like home. The pictures are wonderful to look at and give plenty of inspiration.

Thank you all for making the world wide web a place that feels like an online home! Don't know what I would do without you all.

Have you read this far?? Or just skipped til you reached the part about a sneak peek???? huh??? Tsk tsk, you should visit all the above mentioned blogs. Really, they're worth it.
But without further ado, here it is. The teaser for today. (grin)


Soooo, you were thinking I wasn't beading anymore???? No way!! I love it too much! And as you can see I have been working on something in winter colors. Snow white. Come back soon to see more teasers!! Bwahahahaaa!! ;-))

Hugs,
Wezz

Hello 2009!

The new year is well on its merry way, it's already 1 week old! Time just flies by, doesn't it?
Did you make any New Year's resulotions? I gotta admit, I used to do that every year, and every year come February, there was nothing left of my resolutions. I had given up. So, the last few years, I haven't made New Year's resolutions. Instead, I try to do as my grandmother used to tell me. "What you do at the beginning of the New Year, you will be doing for the rest of the year."
Well I certainly hope that's true! At the stroke of midnight, I wished my significant other a Happy New Year and cuddled and kissed him. Yeah yeah, I know, mushy and romantic, but hey, that's me! We spent New Year's Eve with friends so I wished them a Happy New Year too, and I sent some text messages with my cell phone to those who were celebrating somewhere else. We talked til late that evening. New Year's Day we went to see the family on both sides, had a good meal, drank champagne and cheered the New Year on. I beaded. Yup yup, I did! I touched my stamps, some cardstock and some ink pads. I didn't actually stamp, but thumbed through a stamping magazine with the intention to do some stamping/cardmaking soon. I flicked through a beading magazine so I will have plenty of inspiration throughout the year. I also spent some time online to send my well wishes to my cyberfriends on the various groups I belong to. I added a new Ruffles necklace to my etsy store. I've also added some earrings to the ESmarts Team Shop. My new tumbler is still tumbling, with stones in one barrel, and jewelry to clean in the other barrel. I've already taken a beading class last Saturday too! It's snowy and cold, for the first time in years we finally have a real winter here again. Let's hope the freezing temperature will keep the sick bugs away this year. They predicted another week of this cold weather. As long as it doesn't rain, I'm happy. Oh and it didn't rain on New Year's Day! I tweeted on Twitter to wish them all a Happy New Year as well! I blogged about our little kitten who just loves playing in the snow and I'm blogging here now.
I'd say the New Year is off to a good start! :-))
How 'bout you? Did you make any resolutions? Tell me, I wanna know!

Hugs,
Wezz

An Award!

A blog award that is! That is the first time ever that someone thinks my blog is good enough to get an award! Wow! Thank you so much, Jill from JewelryElegance, for nominating my blog!
I am soooo proud now, walking around like a peacock! You can bet I'll celebrate!! :-))

The rules for passing this award on are:
1. The winner may put this award on their blog
2. Put a link to the person who sent this award to you
3. Nominate 5 blogs
4. Put links to their blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees

So, I have put the award on my blog, I have added a link to the blog of the person who nominated me, now I have to nominate 5 blogs. How in the world can I only pick 5 blogs???? There are so many good blogs out there, and from people that I really admire too. Only 5??? Who came up with these rules??? Dang!

I’m very honored to give The Kreativ Award to:

- Kim from Kim De Smet Designs. She is a belgian digital scrapbook kit designer that I admire greatly, and she has some great Photoshop tutorials on her blog, including one to enhance your pictures' lighting! Go and take a look, it's great advice!
- Lois from A Beaded Affair. She is a great wire worker, just look at her designs with cabochons!
- Diane from My Gemstone Box. The jewelry she makes is amazing, and the work she does behind the scenes for our eSmartsteam is incredible. Thank you so much, Diane! It's much appreciated!
- Lin Frye from a View From The Oak. We go waaayyyyy back as cyberfriends, we started out with similar interests, and while I now went in the jewelry direction, I love what she does in regards to sketching and painting! To our friendship, Lin!
- As a rubber stamper, I have to pick at least one stampers' blog. But which one?? I'll go with Kristy Cristopherson. She used to own a stamp company and knows I bought a few (ahum) stamps from her over the years. ;-))
But she's also an accomplished stamper herself as she shows on her blog!

Pheww, this was sooooo incredibly difficult! Please, if you're not on this list, do not think for one minute I overlooked you! You've ALL been on my mind and on the list at one point or another!

Now I can go and let these people know they've won an award! That's the really fun part!! :-))
Thank you so much again for nominating my blog, Jill!

Merry Christmas Eve to all of you!

Hugs,
Wezz

A Treasure

Do you know what a treasure is? I guess you do. It's anything that is of any value to you. Whether it's monetary or emotional, if it has value to you, you treasure it, so it's by definition a treasure. To you anyway. I've got a house full of little treasures, like beads and rubber stamps. LOL And you??? ;-D
But do you also know what a treasury is?? And then more specifically, an etsy treasury? Ive only been on Etsy a few short months and I have no clue (yet!) how to make a treasury or how to get it showcased, but apparently it's a real good thing if you are featured in one of them!! And aren't we so lucky that we have people on our team that know how this works! (I'll learn eventually, meanwhile just go practice on your patience. heheh) I was in one a while ago, and they don't last long so I had to be quick about capturing the screen of it! Here it is!

The beaded stone pendant is mine, the other items are all of handmade items by other members of the eSMArtsteam. Nice huh??

And what to think of the new banner Anna Lee put up on the eSMArtsteam yahoogroup??


I love it!! Shame on me, I didn't even know someone of our group was such an accomplished painter!! Just look at that indian! Handpainted by one of our members. And yes! One of my cretan stone pendants is on there too!! Cool huh?? I really like how this was done, and now I wanna know how to do this too of course. As if I don't have enough on my to do list.... LOL

Hugs,
Wezz

Featured!

I hear ya, I hear ya! "When are you gonna write more about the trip?" I will, I will! Promise! Just not today, coz I have other news!!...
I'm one of the featured artists on the eSmarts Team Blog today!! Woohoo!! I'm just tickled pink that they chose on of my etsy items to show on the blog! The Blue Ruffles bracelet! Okay, I'm doing the happy dance here, along with all the others that are featured today I imagine! Group dance!! LOL
I'm working on the matching necklace which will show up soon in my etsy store. ;-))
The eSmarts Team is really getting it all "out there" and I love being a part of such a great group, where everyone helps the others out. It's an amazing community, and I'm proud to be a member.
Now, back to the happy dance...... LOL

Hugs,
Wezz

New things in the World of Wezz

It's about time I tried something new.... well, besides my crafty endeavors that is. I mean something online, something with the computer, and let me tell you up front I'm no computer wizz-kid, so this is all a test, a dip-your-toe-in-the-water-to-see-how-cold-it-really-is kinda thing...
I've already managed to upgrade my blog and didn't wreck it completely in the process, so that's a success! Yay! Ready to move on to something newer than that.... I have more handmade items than I will ever use or wear in my lifetime, especially greeting cards, mini albums, and jewelry, and I always find something new I want to try, something else I love to make, it just never stops when you have a creative mind (that does come across a "block" occasionally, you are not alone in that!).
So maybe I should try selling online? Yeah, that's it! That's a good idea! With the money I make from that, I can buy new crafty stuff, right?? heheh...
Okay, so I wanna sell online. But how? What's a good site? Ebay? Nah. Not for handmade or artisan items I think, to me it seems that's more a place people will check out to get a great bargain. Setting up my own website with a store? hmm, nice idea, but I don't have a clue how to go about that. I would have to ask DH and he's busy remodeling the attic. No, it has to be something easy that I can do all by myself, and maintain it too! Setting it up is not enough, you have to maintain it and add new items on a regular basis. Now what? Then, oooh, I came across this eSMarts yahoogroup, it's all about helping each other setting up an Etsy store and getting traffic to your blog, website and store. hmm, maybe I should sign up, huh? I signed up. I got confused with all the etsy lingo, and even more confused when they started talking about squidoo and lenses and more of that! Maybe I'm in the wrong place after all. oh, but wait a minute! There are other etsy newbies on this group! Maybe we can help each other out and get the expertise knowledge from those that have been on etsy for a while? Hmm. Let's hang around for a while longer and see how it goes. After all, I got my blog going again after a loooooooong hiatus. The next step is to set up an etsy store. Let's see.... Hey, that's not difficult at all! I just need to think and re-think the intro and the policies and such. And presto, I now have my very own etsy store!! Granted, I know nothing about all the other options that etsy offers, but I'll learn it as we grow with the eSmarts group I guess. And of course, just like any website or blog, it's a work in progress. A status quo is the worst thing you can do on the internet I think, so we gotta work on our sites. All of us, and on all of them. Including the group blog. Yep, we have an eSmarts group blog too, with various members contributing to it! It's quite interesting so go check it out, and it has of course all the links to the members' websites and stores. This is gonna be a fun ride!! Can't wait to see what's next!! :-))

Hugs,
Wezz