This chunky aquarium focal bead featuring pretty little Tang tropical fish murrini

And a set of funky rainbow twisties

The winner will be drawn from the names of FHFteam blog followers who comment on the team blog during January, so don’t forget to ‘Follow’ us, and start sharing what’s on your mind! Drawing for the prize will take place on the 8th of February 2012

I’d like to say a special thank you to Andrew and Kimberly for inviting me to have a guest blog spot here to tell you all about our giveaway. Their tireless support of handmade it truly inspirational.

Happy New Year
Jo x
Kitzbitz on Etsy, Kitzbitz on HAFshop, Frit N Chips.

I just wanted to share with you a short contest I just ran on my facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ShendoeCeramics) that was super fun and easy for my friends.  I was just about 16 people shy of my 2011 goal of having 400 fans, so I ran a contest asking for existing fans to share my site and if one of their friends became the 400th fan, then both of them would get one of my handmade porcelain necklaces.  It worked wonderfully and in two days I had my winners!  To say thank you to all of my friends on Facebook for participating, I gave them a coupon code for my etsy ( FRIENDS11 ).

Just thought I would share this idea with all of you … feel free to use the coupon code and join my FB page.

Thanks for being part of the handmade community,

shen…

www.shendoe.etsy.com

When we started on this new custom development our goal was fast and simple and we believe we succeeded. We also decided to keep the social features off the site as well, the forum and chat is hosted on a completely separate site with a separate login. The Handmade Artists’ Forum actually came first and is in it’s third year of dedicated service to handmade. The forum supports handmade artists’ from all over the world and does not discriminate against your choice of where to sell. Whether you choose to sell your creations on your own .com, other marketplaces, craft shows, or on our shop, we still just love handmade.

One other goal we have as a venue on the HAFShop is to keep it relatively small. Our initial goal is 10k vendors and then we plan to close open registration. After that our plan, if all works well, is to create a waiting list and hand pick the remaining vendors capping out at 20k vendors. As we get closer to this goal we will iron out the details and keep everyone informed. The thought behind this is that one day we believe that the HAFshop will be the elite place to buy and sell handmade, and by keeping it small and of high quality we think we will over time develop that reputation.

So now that you have received a little history lesson here are  the contest rules.

To enter the free shop for life giveaway all you need to do it write a blog post about the Handmade Artists’ Shop. You can write about an artist on the shop or just about the HAFshop in general. Blog posts should be at least a couple of paragraphs and a couple hundred words or so. Basically if you just write a couple lines your entry will not be counted. There should also be at least 2 links to the shop or the artist or media you are writing about on the HAFshop.

For an additional entry you can also put the shop badge on your blog, this is for an additional entry only. In other words if you do not post a blog about the shop and only put the badge your entry will not be counted. If you do post a blog post and put the badge on your blog your entry will count as two. Hope that makes sense. To grab the badge just copy the code below and post it in your blog.

<a href="http://handmadeartistsshop.com/"target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Handmade"src="http://handmadeartistsforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/blog_badge3.png"/></a>

Now once you have written your post, come back to this page and post a comment with a link to your blog post. We will then review the post and see if you added a badge as well to your sidebar. If your post is acceptable we will add you to the list. Remember a blog post counts as 1 entry, a blog post and a badge will count as 2 entries.

This contest will end Sunday September 4th, 2011, any comment entries posted after this date will not be counted. Our last giveaway on The Beading Gem was a huge success so we are hoping to do the same with this one!

The Handmade Artists’ Shop is giving away a Free Shop for Life!

Our lovely friend Pearl at the Beading Gem is hosting this giveaway for us, all you need to do is visit her blog and comment there are also rules for extra entries as well.

Pearl has been lighting up the world with her blog for quite a while now, the Beading Gem is a great read I strongly suggest subscribing to her feed. She also lovely wrote up a real nice piece on the new HAFshop, so you can get into the minds of the creators… oooooh scary!

So go comment and who know you may win a free shop for life!

This giveaway ends  at 6 pm EST Monday, July 25, 2011.

Rules of the Challenge:

1.) Entries must be directly food-themed. For example: You can carve a stamp out of a potato and enter that into the contest. However, you can’t enter a card that was merely stamped with the potato stamp (unless the card itself is also food-themed).
2.) Entries can be created from food (e.g., a macaroni necklace), can be a resemblance of food (e.g., a “cake” made from diapers), or can very obviously contain food-related materials (e.g., a journal made from recycled cereal boxes; a sorting game made from cupcake containers).
3.) To enter the contest, you must take a picture of your completed entry and post it, along with a brief explanation of the entry. Everyone who sees the picture should be able to tell what is food-related in your entry (an initial explanation of the entry may be necessary, but we shouldn’t have to have a hard time deciphering what is food-related in your entry).
4.) Any entries that do not follow these rules WILL be disqualified!!

Contestants Prize:

We try to be as generous as we can afford to our participants so that their hard work and effort do not go to waste. The winning artist will receive $25.00 cold hard cash to spend on anything they want. The winning contestant will also a win a free shop for life on the Handmade Artists’ Shop!

Voters and Commentor Prizes:

All who vote and leave a comment saying that you voted, will be automatically entered to win  several prizes show below donated from our lovely members as well as a $25.00 cash to spend on anything you want from the Handmade Artists’ Shop! If you vote and do not leave a comment you will not be entered you must do both to be eligible to win the prizes.

The first prize is a plant poker made from copper wire and enamel charms Lovingly donated by BohemianGrove	The second prize is a polymer clay cake donated by one of our earliest members Haffina of HaffinaCreations	The third Prize is a lovely pendant Donated by Bobbiwired of Bobbi’s Imaginations-Jewelry
The forth prize is a 200 page mini journal from our wonderful Blue Highways		ArtsyCrafty is donating this baby dress for a 12 month old

So there are 5 prizes plus CASH! All you need to do is vote and comment

Contest Entries!

It’s a brownie, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and a cherry with hot fudge sauce by WelshDragonDesigns
_____________________________________________________________
Three knit Sushi Rolls by Dahlish Knits
_____________________________________________________________
A Pop Tart Journal by Blue Highways
_____________________________________________________________
Handmade Mardi Gras cake by Reef Botanicals
_____________________________________________________________
Mario mushroom bath fizzie by Choshu
_____________________________________________________________
Fairy House plant poke made from bread dough by BohemianGrove
_____________________________________________________________
How to cook Apple-Strawberry Jam by One stroke painting
_____________________________________________________________
Red, White, and Blue Polymer Clay Cupcake Necklace by Karoger87
_____________________________________________________________
The mouse takes the cheese lampwork by Loves Devotion

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Voting ends July 31st at 12:00 pm EST!

I am new to Handmade Artists Shop and the Forum blog.   So I though I would give all of  you  a short blog to start off by, providing my links to where I sell and what forums I belong to:

Handmade Artists’ Shop:  http://handmadeartistsshop.com/shop/MyriadDesign

Etsy:http://www.etsy.com/people/Myriaddesignjewelry?ref=si_pr

Blogspot: http://myriaddesignblog.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Myriad_Design-Artisan-Crafted-Jewelry-and-more/211888015504463

Artisan Jewelry Designers: http://artisanjewelrydesigners.ning.com/profile/LindaEkblad

Twitter: http://twitter.com/myriad_design

Check these sites out to find out a little more about me, what I sell and my interests.  I am glad to be a part of another Artists’ forum.

Myriad Design Jewelry

What do you have to do?  Not much at all!  First off, you need to visit the beautiful new Handmade Artists’ Shop http://handmadeartistsshop.com/ .  Browse around our wonderful vendors, each and every one of whom creates their pieces by hand, and find an item that you love.  Next, “Like” that item to your FaceBook page.  Finally, head on over to our contest page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111403238946645 and post why you love this item along with the item link.

On Sunday, June 5, 2011 a winner will be picked by random number generator.  The bear will shortly be on its way to its new, loving home.

Now, what are the restrictions?  You know you can’t have a contest without a few of them.  First, we are only accepting one entry per person.  This makes it easy for us but harder on you when you try to chose just one item to “Like” to your FaceBook page!  Second, postage is included in the prize for the United States and Canada only.  Does this leave the rest of the world out?  Certainly not!  Again, the generous IKnitQuiltSew will split the cost of postage with you anywhere in the world.

So, your job is to know peruse through the new Handmade Artists Shop and find that one, special item that speaks to you.  Follow the simple directions above and you could soon be the proud owner of a handmade teddy bear!  So…what are you waiting for?  Check it out!