Thursday, February 28, 2013

The Birthday Sale Is ON!

It's my birthday and I'll cry if want to, cry if I want to...Wha??? Oops! You've stumbled into my annual private pity party! I HATE my birthday!!!

A myriad of childhood traumas - from being forced to invite people my mom thought I didn't play well with to my birthday party only to have my "real" friends find out and end up being mad at me to the time the folks decided entertaining business clients at the racetrack (where kids can't go) and pawning me off on my sister and brother-in-law to all the guys that would break up with me before Valentines and make up after my birthday - I have ISSUES, OK??? It's never good and I prefer to disappear altogether!

And since my actual "misery day" falls on the weekend and I so disdain being out in public with lots of "sheeple," I'm having my day out tomorrow and spending the weekend with the phone off the hook and the computer off doing... whatever strikes my fancy...just NOT taxes!

So, I'm having my best sale of the year! There are TONS of beads on the site!

Here's the deal:
Anything on my glass bead website is 29% off with the coupon code Birthday 29
Min $15 purchase
Not valid on Made to Order

Fans and Newsletter subscribers  get their own (better!) deal...

I've got a post scheduled for Fashion Friday but not for Saturday so... I'll see you on Monday after it all blows over!





Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Kumihimo Class

I taught Kumihimo this week and finally realized I should be taking photos near the end of class. These are some of the rat tail samples I have the class practice on to learn the basic knot. The goal is not to make a pretty but to learn the knot and see how it lies. And to keep turning the loom in the same direction...



I took a few photos of the beaded versions but will get that up in another post. I'm still jamming on taxes!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Stampin Saturday Mrs. Frosty

Brrrr...It's still kinda chilly around here and lots of places have snow! It's the perfect time to celebrate with a snow themed rubber stamped cookie bouquet!

Please use only food safe rubber stamps in your stamped cookie bouquets!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Fashion Friday Mumbai Magic

Celebrating Indian influence in this layout. This set was created around Judith Billigs fantastic glass bead necklace by the same name.

I just love that, depending on accessories, you can create a comfortable outfit perfect for staying in or stepping out! 

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Beads of Courage Show the Love Challenge

I've been more than a little out of it with all my family issues...so I only just found out about this Beads of Courage Show the Love Challenge. Send in 30 beads with a 3/32" hold by 2/28 and get a pewter love bead and a My Beads Go for Good Deeds Sticker! Cool!  Time to clean our my Beads of Courage Drawer!
Link to the donation form

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Uh-Oh Bead

These beads may not be the best example to use for this topic. I can't say I particularly like them even... Yes, they are that metallic but... just not right for me.

But I did have one of those forehead slapping moments when I made them! I love beads that teach me a lesson!

This was a lesson in production work...something I don't do very well but...in this economy, if I get an order, I can't really afford to turn it down. I was making about a thousand 37 letter beads for a group. The work was repetitive and tedious. And they were pressed beads.

As it always happens with my brain...sometimes I zone out and put too much glass on the mandrel. While sometimes I can fix that...volume control is a mad skill to have! Sometimes the bead over presses the mold on the mandrel and it's time for a water bath. OR is it???

I realized that the largest round mold I have was just bigger than my square press. So... what could I make with ivory and black? I had a metallic black stringer on my table and I used these as my experiment beads. As luck would have it, once I figured out what to do with an over-pressed bead...I only had three uh-ohs!

And while I'm not in love with these, I AM in love with the idea. I know I will never sit down to do production work again without thinking of what to do with the mistake beads. Most pressed beads begin with a fairly basic color. Keep a jar of similar frit or an interesting stringer, a larger mold or press nearby and even the uh-oh beads can be keepers!

What do you do with your uh-ohs???


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Stampin Saturday: Hearts

Now that I've added Fashion Fridays, I thought I would try to talk about rubber stamping on the weekends... Hoping to keep it on Saturday. You know I love alliteration!

I thought I would show off some of the rubber stamped cookies from my students in the last class I taught. Being before Valentine's Day, hearts were all the rage. Although we had a Santa or two! I once had a student make a Halloween bouquet in a Thanksgiving class! We all have our passions!

One student did an all heart bouquet. She did a lovely job coloring!


And this is the makings of my favorite bouquet: A cookie for the handyman...

And one for the baker...
Became.... The handyman loves the cook!  Isn't it adorable! I just love the creativity of my students!

**Sweet Stampen is the ONLY manufacturer of food safe rubber stamps. Please do your research before crafting with your food!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Fashion Friday: I LOVE Purple

My bestie has gotten me addicted to Polyvore, the the fashion and collection sharing site. I think it's a fabulous way to show off glass bead jewelry! So I plan to put together a new layout every Friday... Fashion Friday. And I hope to not only show off my own creations but those of some of my favorite designers working in glass beads! I hope you enjoy!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Back in the Etsy Grove

Welp, it took me around 26 hours to get back in the groove with Etsy. Amazing! They shut my account down in under 15 minutes and take 26 hours to get it back on line. When I finally got a second email from them some 23 hours after shutting me down; after I had sent them FIVE emails, four tweets to @Etsy and @EtsyHelp, and numerous posts on their fan page, they claimed not have received any answers to their questionnaire!

It was in RED at the bottom of EVERY email!

It finally came down to Etsy wanting me to change the password to my shop... which I pointed out that I had done that before I ever wrote them. And, they wanted me to change my email account associated with the shop. I implored that a) the spoof email did not come to that account b) I OWN the HollysFolly.com and have all emails go through MY server to avoid hacking and c) I already have seven emails and simply did not want one more!

Finally, they acquiesced allowing me to keep my own email! OY! 26 hours of hell all because I wanted others to know of a fraud site. As my mother would say, "That's what you get for trying to help someone!"

I don't necessarily believe that but, I won't help Etsy directly ever again! And the EtsySucks coupon good for 25% off on Glass Beads ends at midnight PST tonight!

On to other things: My recent absence explained and... I'm trying something new on this blog tomorrow! Be sure to check in!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

25% Off Sale Today!

#SALE at HollysFolly.com 25% off coupon code EtsySucks

--------------------------
I've been out of town for two weeks. I come home and I'm check all of my seven email accounts at once with all of them going into one fold sorted by time. I will admit I was jet-lagged and distracted. One of my personal accounts got an email from a website called etsy-security.com saying my Etsy shop had been closed. Foolishly, I clicked on it. I typed in my store name and my password and got a page asking for a credit card for "verification." Etsy does NOT have my credit card info Alarm bells started to sound and my grumpy brain kicked into gear... "OH NO!"

I went to Etsy, my shop was just fine. I immediately changed my password using my own handy dandy tutorial for creating unhackable passwords and KNEW that all was well. But no... I'm a do-gooder. I like to let people know important things (insert eyeroll here). When will I ever learn???

So do-gooder Holly writes Etsy and tells them to beware of that website and maybe make other sellers and shoppers be aware of the dangers. And what does Etsy do to thank me for my kindness??? A coupon for free listings? A promoted feature of the beads in my shop? Oh no! They locked me out of my shop in under 15 minutes flat!

Oh, BTW, my shop is still there...I just can't get in it! ( I do wonder what would happen if I got a sale!) And it's been almost 24 hours now. I've only gotten the one email from Etsy asking me a series of questions... the first of which I can NOT answer without looking around my shop!

These are their questions:

  • ◦ What month and year did you create your Etsy account?
    ◦ What cities and/or states do you most frequently login to your Etsy account from?
    ◦ What Internet browser do you most frequently use to login to Etsy?
    ◦ What mobile devices do you use to access your Etsy account?
    ◦ List one of the shipping addresses you've used when purchasing from Etsy.
    ◦ Please provide a new email address that we can use to update your Etsy account. This should be an email address that is NOT already associated with another Etsy account.
The last one really irks me... I OWN my own dot com. There is NO other email I was associated with my etsy account.

Since I'm beyond pissed and have had no income for two weeks, I'm having a sale. Come on over. Coupon Code: EtsySUCKS gets you 25% off EVERYTHING!