Jump Right In!

Step on up and JUMP right in!




We've got quite a few folks signed up to participate in one capacity or another and although most of the particpants are jewelry and/or bead and supplies related, I'm still getting people leaving comments and emailing me with their information - so it's not too late for you to jump in, too!

You can read all about the Holiday Shop Hop 2011 Right HERE!

It's taking place for one weekend (2 days) on
Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th.

There are several of you who have passed this information on to your friends and fellow online artisans - THANK YOU!!

This was just my small way to try and help after I read several posts and forums in respect to people wondering what they could do to try and affectively drive more traffic to their sites for the upcoming Holidays.

So, head on over to the original post and after reading it and checking out the details, go ahead and sign up! 
And, feel free to email me with questions!

Until Next Time,


Cheers,

Miss Layla thinks you should join in the fun
with the Holiday Shop Hop 2011 this season!

Happy Veteran's Day


In leiu of my usual "Friday's Fab Fav's" today, I'd like to take the time to thank the Veteran's who have afforded me the freedoms I've grown accustomed to.

My Grandfather fought in WWI.
My dad fought in WWII. He was present on D-Day +1, Normandy and many other battles in Europe.

I have several Uncles who have served as well.



My brother's served during Vietnam; one on a naval ship, the other in Thailand. My step-brother was a Marine.



My husband was in the Air Force.



I have a nephew who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan and is surely to be deployed again in the future. I have several cousins, various family members and friends who have served in all branches of the Armed Forces.



I have lost relatives in this "War on Terror".
I have had friends lose loved ones as well and I have a son who wants to be a Marine the minute he graduates high school.



With out you, and those before you, I would not be sitting here, enjoying the lifestyle I have right now. 

I know your jobs are not easy. There have been hard choices to make and live with, there were times when what you had to do went complete against every grain in your soul, yet still,...you did what you had to.


And because of you, I sit here, typing this, having a "day off".

You have my undying gratitude! 

From The Bottom of My Heart - THANK YOU!


Thank you is not near enough, nor could it ever completely convey my feelings of gratitude, but it's what can be said, here, in words.


Happy Veteran's Day!
~Shel~

What's Today??

Okay - so it's Thursday

Yesterday I missed BTW (Bead Table Wednesday)



and today I've missed



My excuse you ask?

Well, Sunday night the hubby and son came home from camping and motorbiking in the desert with the son's wrist all tweaked out! 



Monday was spent at the Doctor's office and
over at the X-Ray place checking things out.

Tuesday morning was another trip to the Doctor's office
to get a splint when we found out it wasn't broken
(thank goodness!) but only sprained.

Wednesday found us back at the Doctor's office after school to learn that the same child now has strep throat! 


Geeze,...this kid barely goes to the doctor once a year,...and now,...three times in three days!

Holy Cow Smokes Batman!

Yes, Marsha, I said it again!
(Now EVERYONE knows what a total dork I am!!)


Today was spent waiting hand and foot on above mentioned teenager who, due to being sick, seemed like he was 5 years old again!!


So, tomorrow I'm hoping that a few things will get back to normal and regular posts to the blog will continue. 

But hey, how un-fun is life when things are always
normal and predictable, right?

So, Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and a little bit of Chaos!

Cheers
~Shel~

Oh - and for those of you who haven't signed up yet for the Holiday Shop Hop - hop on over to the original post and read all about it and then send me your info via email to: Shel@asicj.com



It'll be fun!!

Jewelry Give-a-Way!

Hey there folks - so sorry not to post yesterday, but my computer kept freezing up!

And, I didn't get to play along with I Heart Macro yesterday either as a result - bummer!! I always look forward to Sunday's for that.  I'm hopping over today to Studio Waterstone to catch up on what I missed - you should, too!

Anyhoo,....without further ado,......

I'm giving away three pair of earrings - one pair for my Blogging friends, one pair for my Facebook friends and one pair that went to someone at the actual show! 

The first pair was for here on the blog and although there's only a few comments, several people emailed me saying they were unable to leave comments so I threw them into the mix as well with the random picker!  

These lovelies, designed with copper ammonite components from Kristi Bowman are going out to Deb Duty from

Deb won these!


Next up are these fun, chunky amethyst nugget earrings and they're going out to  Holly who attended the show here in Arizona!

Holly won these!


And these lovely little faceted peridot drop earrings in sterling silver are going to Evie's Tool Emporium who played along with us over on our MiShel Designs Facebook Page!

Evie's Tool Emporium won these!


I'll be contacting each of you individually to get your address so I can pop these in the mail tomorrow!

Thanks to everyone who showed up here in Arizona - we had a great time, the live music was fantastic (Thanks Preston!)  and Mina, the massages were AWESOME!!  Everyone had a great time and it was so wonderful being able to catch up with everyone before the Holidays!

Have a great week everyone and stay warm and dry.  It's 46 and raining here this morning in the desert! Brrrr,......(I know, I'm a whimp!)

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Fun Jewelry Give-a-Ways!!
Cheers,
~Shel~
 

Here's Your Coupon Code!

Happy Saturday Everyone!!



Today's the day my sister and I are having our Annual Fall Jewelry Boutique
Woo Hoo!!

MiShel Designs Falling Leaf Necklace


This is always so much fun!

This year, in addition to live music
(Thank You, Preston!)

Guitarist, Preston Hindman
Photo Courtesy of Egan Eyes Photography

we're also having a massage therapist join us and folks are signed up to get massages in between shopping and chatting with everyone! 

How fun is this going to be?!

MiShel Designs Pumpkin Spice Necklace

For all of you who cannot physically be here in Arizona to join in on the fun, know that you can shop right along with everyone by going to the MiShel Designs Etsy Store and using Coupon Code FALL15 for 15% off your order!  


MiShel Designs Desert Sagebrush Necklace

Plus, I'll be doing a give-a-way over on my MiShel Designs Facebook Page today, too.

So, be sure to hop on over there
and leave a comment in order
to be put in the drawing for the
jewelry give-a-way!

I'll announce the winners of the free jewelry give-a-way Sunday here on my blog and over on my MiShel Designs Facebook Page, too.

MiShel Designs Purple Rain Necklace


Everyone enjoy their Saturday and pretend there's someone rubbing your shoulders while you're browsing the
today - K?!!

MiShel Designs "Follow Your Heart" Necklace


Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Happy Shopping Today!!

MiShel Designs "Perfect Pearls" Necklace

Cheers,

Holiday Shop Hop 2011 - Are You In??


Okay ~ so here's the scoop :



"Holiday Shop Hop" - My idea is to have a “Holiday Shop Hop” for a weekend on our blogs with a link to each other's shops so all our friends, family and internet connections can ‘hop’ around our shops/websites and shop for some wonderful handmade goodies for their family and friends for the holidays.

Carved Wooden Snowman Ornament by Gordon W. Baldock



When: Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, 2011 (some folks suggested this weekend - so I listened)



Who: We're looking for people who sell quality, handmade items with an online storefront or shop of some sort (like Etsy, Artfire, your own website or other craft site, etc.) that have blogs or active Facebook Fan Pages that could post links on the specific weekend for people to 'click' on and hop around to.



What:  Items can include, but are not limted to:



Jewelry, jewelry components and supplies, art beads, art sculptures/paintings, beauty products, handmade soaps and bath gels and products, clothes, accessories (shoes, handbags, belts, etc.), photography prints, vintage goods, home decor, candles, ceramics and pottery, furniture, glass, housewares, gift cards, paper products, children's items, toys, holiday decorations, books, sewing/quilts, scarves, woodworking, carvings, yarn crafts, holiday decorations, wrapping paper and goods, etc.

I would like to limit things to hand-made, (vs. manufactured or store bought) and a nice mix of all sorts of handmade items would be great.



Where: A "link List" that weekend on your blog to all the participants. Or, a link on your Facebook page or your website, or your Etsy/Artfire shop announcements, etc. to the Host blog(s) so people can find the list of 'shops to hop' around to.




Why: To help spread the word about 'shopping handmade' this holiday season, because I've heard so many people wonder (out loud) what they could do to boost their online sales this season.



Now, here's all the other details:



You can offer any type of incentives, or discounts codes, or free give-a-ways, etc., on your own shops, Etsy stores or Artfire shops or blogs, websites, etc., (however each person sells their wares) whatever it is you want to do.



It’s your shop – do what you want.
(you're responsible for all your own orders, shipping, etc.)

I cannot promise you any increase in sales,
but more traffic to your shops wouldn't hurt!
This is an ‘Attention Getter’ ,
with the purpose of getting more people to view your handmade products this Holiday Gift Giving Season.

Realistically, it shouldn’t be any extra work or stress for the participants or anything out of the ordinary other than what you would (should!) normally be doing for your shops at this time of year.

Unless, of course, you wanted to make extra items for your shop so that it's well stocked when people stop in to shop, or create discount coupons, and things like that.

**Here's the important part***

I would like those with a blog and/or facebook page to please do one or two posts leading up to the event, getting the word out and helping to get people to stop by on the dates set for the Holiday Shop Hop.

And, if you are on Facebook and/or Twitter, then a FB post/note and a few Tweets would be really great, too.

Basically, any Social Media things you would be doing for your own blog during the this time of year would be something nice to do for the "Holiday Shop Hop".

***Please Note***

I'm of the mindset that "there's enough for everyone" and so it will not be the sort of thing where there's only one
 type of product in each category
(say only one jewelry shop in the jewelry category). 

Shoot,...with all the jewelry peeps I know, it could all be jewlery!  But I'm really hoping to spead the word and get a nice, wide variety of handmade items to show our guests who visit and give them some great items to choose from.

Any help on getting shops in a wide variety of categories would be greatly appreciated!

So what do you say?

Would you like to play along?

If so, please leave a comment with your shop name, blog name and your email so I can contact you.

If you don't want to leave an email on the comments, please make certain that you leave a blog or facebook link that leads me to an email or phone number so I can reach you and get all your information and proper links to post that weekend for everyone.

I've got several folks who have already asked to participate, so early next week (after I've gathered everyone's responses), I'll post a link button for you to grab for your blog and for those with only shops and no blogs, I'll have the link for you to post in your shop announcements for people to click on.


I hope all of this long winded stuff just made sense.

If you have questions - please contact me.
My email is: Shel@asicj.com.
 
And, there's a link to it over here --->
on the right side of my blog somewhere, too! 


Old Fashioned Santa
Hand Carved by Gordon W. Baldock

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Spreading Good Cheer, Baby!!

Cheers,

Gearing Up,...

I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween yesterday!!

Today's a day of "Gearing Up" for some things that are going to be happening around here, so I'll jump right in.

Multi-Strand Knotted Bracelet
by MiShel Designs
1st up, my sister and I are having our
at her house this coming Saturday, November 5th,
from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

I hope those of you here in Arizona will join us!

I Invite all of my Blogger family, Facebook friends
and beloved online connections who can't physically be with us in Arizona, to join us online this Saturday for our Annual Fall Jewelry Boutique by stopping by here and over on my
MiShel Designs Facebook page and grabbing your "coupon code" that you'll be able to use upon check out in my
Etsy Store.

Plus, we'll also have some online Jewelry Give-A-Ways here, and over on my MiShel Designs Facebook Page as well,
so you'll want to check in both places on
Saturday afternoon and see what's going on!

Desert Sagebrush Necklace

I really love connecting with all the women who come to 

They have shown me their support for several years now.  They're my trusted "board of advisors" on what's good and what's not and they are a fun group of gals that I love to hang out with for the day, while we laugh, joke and share.

They are truly some of the best clients (and friends!!) 
anyone could ask for. I cannot wait for Saturday!!
"See" you there!!

Next up for business today is this idea
I've been swirling
- or should I say "Twirling"-
around in my head.  

These days, I see more and more people who enjoy giving handmade gifts to those they care about. 

The Pippy Golden Pom Pom Scarf by Sew Stacy on Etsy
(I have one in black and white - simply stunning!!)

It's a wonderful feeling gifting someone something
that is handmade and unique - it's very delightful indeed!

One of my favorite handmade purchases was this
Red Leather Recycled Clutch from Lori Plyer over at Studio Waterstone
Yummy - isn't it!?!  I just LOVE carrying this around!!

I don't know about you, but knowing my purchase of handmade items helps to support the
small business person as well as the arts/craft industry
is double the delight for me! 

So, come back tomorrow
(yep, gotta stop by here again tomorrow!)
as I give you all the juicy details for the
"Holiday Shop Hop" I'm putting together.

And, if you're one of the people who have an online shop,
say on Etsy or Artfire, or you sell your wares online via
your website or another craft market place, you'll definitely want to check back in here tomorrow to see how you can participate in this fun and exciting venture and have the possibility of putting more of your handmade items in the hands of those that want them this
Holiday Gift Giving Season!


Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Gearing Up For Fun Things!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

I Heart Macro - It's Sunday!!

It's Sunday and that means it's time for
"I Heart Macro" over at Studio Waterstone with Lori Plyler and the group.



Go check it out - you will not be sorry!!

Halloween Mummy
Since it's the day before Halloween
*** My FAVORITE Holiday!! *** 
I thought I'd share some 
Autumn colors and a few 
"Halloween-ish" sights!

Scary Halloween Spider!


Beautiful "Halloween Orange" Flower


October Leaves

Halloween Pumpkin - Up Close!


Enjoy!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy (almost)
All Hallow's Eve!

We Three Pumpkins,.....


Cheers,
~Shel~