"WHO'S NAUGHTY OR NICE" CHRISTMAS BEAD SET GIVEAWAY

Let's have some fun with this giveaway. Leave me a comment on the naughtiest or nicest thing you did "as a child" at Christmas to be entered. Lets keep it clean, remember I said as a child. No Naughty or Nice stories, no problem, just say "hi".  For extra chances blog about this giveaway and let me know. Become a follower and let me know you follow my blog. I will pick a winner through random.org so let me know if you blogged or are a follower for those extra chances. I will pick a winner on Tuesday, December 7th.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR PARTICIPATING, I REALLY ENJOYED YOUR COMMENTS. THE WINNER OF THE SANTA BEAD SET IS NUMBER "7" REGINA. CONTACT ME AT HAVANABEADS@YAHOO.COM WITH YOUR ADDRESS AND I WILL SEND THESE OUT TO YOU. CONGRATULATIONS!

GOOD LUCK!

Raida

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

I''m going to try out a new feature on Etsy this Black Friday.  They've come up with a coupon feature your customers can use when they check out.  It automatically discounts whatever percentage you set up with that particular coupon code.  No more reimbursing through Paypal or redoing invoices.  Lets hope it works.  So here's the sale.  Both my stores have 20% off the entire store.  Shop as usual and when you get ready to pay there should be a coupon feature where you type my unique code "THANKYOU10" and it should automatically take off 20% off your entire order.  Pretty cool; lets hope it works.  Sale runs from 6am Friday, November 26th through 6am, Saturday November 27th or whenever I wake up to turn it off.
Here are the two links to my stores. Havana Beads, Gentle Wind Designs.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

Raida

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hi everyone, just wanted to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I am having 24 people over for Thanksgiving tomorrow so I've been baking up a storm today.  I have 6 loafs of bread, 3 pumpkin pies, and 4 dozen cookies almost ready to go; cookies baking.  Turkey is defrosting and I'll season that tonight so it's ready early tomorrow morning for the stuffing.  I can't wait to see my family and have a great day with them.  Here's a sneak peek of some of the baking.

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Raida

ETCHED EARRINGS

I've been busy doing some etching lately.  I've been doing these handmade plates which I love but are extremely labor intensive being that I cut out my own plates and sand them and then go through the whole etching process, tarnish, tumble and wax.  It almost seems not worth the effort until you see the finished product and your customers are loving them.  Then you know it was all worth while.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the Bead Soup that is being hosted by Lori Anderson of Pretty Things.  Click on the Bead Soup link button on your right to go to her site for more info.

These are listed on my Gentle Wind Designs Etsy store.  gentlewinddesigns

Have a great Weekend!

Raida

Ooooo Caramel!

Look at the beautiful treasury my little humble ceramic dragonfly pendant made its way into.  What wonderful artist in this treasury!  If you'd like to see the treasury and visit the individual artist click Here.  This treasury was put together by Angela of A and B Originals at Etsy.  Check out their store for wonderful crochet gloves.

Have a great day,

Raida

BEAD SET GIVEAWAY AT ANDREW THORNTON'S BLOG

Head on over to Andrew Thornton's blog for a chance to win one of my lampwork bead sets this week.  He was kind enough to host this giveaway for me.  THANKS ANDREW!  Go here to leave a comment on his blog for a chance to win Andrew Thornton.

Here is a picture of the set.

GOOD LUCK!

Raida

LUCKY GIRL

When do you know you're a lucky girl?  Well, this is how I know.  I was enjoying one of my favorite blogs when I realized I had never become a follower.  So I went ahead and became a follower and to my surprise a message came up that said something like "You're my 600th Follower".  Are you curious as to who's blog I'm writing about?  Well it's the fabulous Lori Anderson of Pretty Things.  Lori contacted me and told me I had won one of her marvelous jewelry pieces.  To make it more fun and personal I asked Lori if she would mind making something using some of my lampwork beads.  That way it would be my lampwork beads with her wonderful creative jewelry making skills and imagination.  This is the wonderful bracelet I received from Lori.  So I say to you, am I a lucky girl?  Check out Lori's blog at Pretty Things.

 

Have a marvelous day,

Raida

NEW GOODIES ON ETSY

I'll be posting these on Etsy in a little while.  Wanted to post a quick peek here first.  The bead with the vintage skeleton key was a first for me and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  I was scared I'd make a mess and have to break the bead to be able to reuse the key.  I bought a special mandrel to hold the key in place while I worked on the bead and it went really well.  If you lampwork you should try this, it's really cool.  Send me an email and I'll send you the info. to purchase the special mandrel.

Enjoy your day,

Raida

WESTMINSTER ACADEMY CHRISTMAS BOUTIQUE

I've been so crazy lately preparing for this weekends craft show I haven't had time to do much posting.  I've been making some jewelry with my lampwork beads and thought you guys might want a peek at some of the new jewelry I'll be selling this weekend.

Lots of my lampwork in this necklace and earrings.  I like the baby blue and brown combination. SOLD

Had a hard time photographing this necklace and earrings.  I'll try again next week to take some beter pictures if I don't sell it.  I made the ceramic focal pendant from clay and the sand dollar earrings I made are lampwork.

 

These lentils are a favorite among my customers so I thought I'd try to make something pretty with them.

 This bracelet doesn't have my beads but the mother of pearl ring kept calling me so I had to make something with it.  I like how it turned out.  I'm a neutral fanatic so this bracelet is right up my alley.

These have my lampwork beads, turquoise howlite and natural amethyst. 

I love the color combination on this bracelet.

These are some of my clay beads.  For a beginner in clay, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out.

I'll have these posted next week if I don't sell them at the show.  If you're interested in any of these, before they go to the show, email me at havanabeads@yahoo.com.

If you're in the area this weekend, stop by, I'd love to see you.

Westminster Academy - Gymnasium

Nov 12th & 13th

5601 North Federal Highway

Fort Lauderdale, FL 

Friday, 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Saturday, 9 a.m. -3 p.m.

Hope to see you there,

Raida