When I was thinking about the name for this blog post, I thought of “double happiness” which I’ve seen on Chinese food menus. I don’t even know what food that refers to. As a vegetarian, I always get mixed Chinese greens or mixed vegetables, but the name stuck with me. I’ve been a bit down lately, and what better way to cheer me up than a giveaway? That’s where the double happiness comes in. The giveaway makes me happy and makes the winner happy! Apparently double happiness is a Chinese calligraphy symbol meaning joy and is especially popular for weddings.
Anyway, let’s get on to the goods! I just kind of randomly picked boxes out of my stash and went through them and thought, “Oh, people would like this!” and added it to the group. First up, a lovely lampwork butterfly wing by Kim Snider.
Kim’s wares are super popular. I have gotten all of mine on her Mandrel Beads Facebook page sales. There is hot competition, and the wings (in pairs or sets) can go pretty high. However, Kim is very generous and during each show offers not only giveaways but BIN rounds where she offers some wings for a set price. Everyone who comments BIN (buy it now) is entered into a drawing to buy the wings for that set price. That is how I have gotten some wings, and I’m really grateful to her for that opportunity. So now here is your opportunity to get a wing as well. Here is a necklace I made with one of her wings.
Next up is a beautiful starfish pendant by Andrew Thornton for those of us dreaming of summer!
I’m not going to lie; I have quite a collection of Andrew’s art. I just love it! If you don’t know him, Andrew is one of the owners of Allegory Gallery as well as an artist in multiple media and just a really good guy. I’m going to come clean that I’m not good at telling materials apart (or knowing kinds of beads). I just know what I like. So I’m not sure if this is polymer clay or porcelain – even after touching it to try to determine. Andrew works in both, but whatever, it’s beautiful!
Next up is a Gaea bundle. That tube bead makes my heart go pitter-pat!
Gaea also sells on Facebook. I tend to like buying that way for some reason. In addition to loving her beads, I love her original paintings that she has started to sell (I have one!). She has also started to incorporate her prints into jewelry components by offering copper and art resin pendants and beads. These gorgeous works of art are popular!
Next up is a polymer bead by Artybecca. I just love everything she makes. She’s always trying something new. Here are two sides of this bead so you can see all the colors. It feels just as smooth and silky as it looks.
Next we have a clasp from Daisy Chain Extra, which is no longer in business. Joanne Tinley stopped selling components but still makes jewelry and teaches. I found her not long before she stopped selling components, so I only have a few of her things. Here is your chance to own this super cute little flower clasp.
My poor little dry hands. I’m not going to pretend I will take better care of them. I hate the way lotion feels, so I use lotion and then end up washing it off! But I wanted you to be able to see how cute and functional this is.
Now on to some non-art beads. These came out of my metallic box. We have black squares with a gold AB coating on one side and some tiny flat square spacers. 
Next is a strand of white agate beads. There was a time when I didn’t like white beads, but now I really love them. I love pops of color and high contrast, and white can really pop in a design!
Last but not least I’ve included some Czech glass. I must have hit some function on my phone’s camera because this is all vignette-y, but it still shows this lovely selection of English cut Czech beads. I like the pretty chunkiness of this shape, and you get these three beautiful colors because they happened to be in a bag together in my Czech glass box.
This is kind of a long post, but since part of the point was to cheer me up that’s ok. I love to talk about beads and post on my blog, so writing this post was excellent for both of these things.
How do you enter to win? Easy! Just tell/show me something good. It can be something good that has happened in your life recently, something good someone else told you, a good tip about how to organize your work space, your favorite bead shop or artist, a good recipe, a cute picture of your sweet pet…you get the idea. Leave your comment by Friday, 3/17/17 (St. Patrick’s Day!) at 6:00 PM Central Time. If you are in the US, don’t forget that tomorrow (Sunday 3/12/17) is the day most of us set our clocks forward one hour.
I will announce the winner on this blog later on that Friday or on Saturday morning. Please include a way to get in contact with you to make my life easy. Thank you and good luck!
I love even the picture above of the kit. Such beautiful colors! The theme is lovely – Summer Solstice and Faerie folklore. Also, just from my own midwestern perspective, midsummer is a time when we can count on it being consistently warm and there is still time before the snow flies. OF COURSE, I forgot to take a picture of the kit, but I will point out what I used, so you can get an idea.
I hope you agree I’ve achieved the funky and romantic look I was going for.
