Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

If you are in retail, you should be!  It's hard to believe when we just put our Christmas decorations away a week or two ago, but Valentine's Day is less than a month away now.  Valentine's Day is far from my favorite holiday so I'm not really sure why I've gotten so into making things for it this year except that I really like heart items.  I also got fired up about my Christmas promotion and decided it would be fun to do a much smaller Valentine's Day promotion with some new items.

Greeting Cards

I am not listing a lot of cards on Etsy, because I don't HAVE a lot of cards to list yet and because I'm not planning to change my shop focus drastically.  However, I am starting to offer a limited number of seasonal cards.  I'd like to add some all-purpose cards (i.e. birthday) at some point, too.  These Valentine's Day cards are my first listings.  I got the "Inspire" stamp and "Inspire the ones you love" just came to me.  I thought that it would work well for Valentine's Day.  Edi of memoriesforlifesb loves the "Live, Laugh, Love" phrase, which inspired me to make a card with it.  Thanks Edi!

What's next: I have some mini cards in the works.  I'm planning to get them finished and listed within the next week

Wrap Bracelets/Necklaces

Of course I had to make something for my new line for Valentine's Day.  I loved the pink mix from this piece so much that I set it aside for later.  I added a couple more shades of pink to the mix for these new pieces.  No, the first piece doesn't actually wrap, it's just a single strand bracelet, but it is still a herringbone stitch like the pieces in my wrap line.

What's next: I don't have any more pieces in this line planned for Valentine's Day this year, but as always, I'm happy to make something custom.

Charm Set

I was not able to find any heart patterned paper that I really liked except in a huge scrapbook pack that didn't have a ton of other prints that I loved.  So I cut out my own hearts and put them on a red background for the glass piece in this set.

What's next: I'm still planning to list a music set next.  I also have a beach themed set that I'll launch with my March EBW Challenge Destinations piece sometime next month.

Oldies But Goodies

I've added some older pieces to my Valentine's Day section, too.

What's the deal?

I'm offering free shipping worldwide on all jewelry items in my Valentine's Day shop section and free shipping in the US on my Valentine's Day cards.  I will lose money if I ship cards for free overseas so I just can't justify it.  Sorry!

Check Out My Sponsors

All of my blog sponsors have some great items for Valentine's Day.

Love Scrapbook Photo Album - Perfect for Valentine's Day

Fine Art Watercolor Painting Original Art Love Valentine's Day

Pink and White Dots Korker Bow

Where else I linked up today:

I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party 1/23/2012.

free shipping, sneak peak

I'm offering free shipping in my Etsy shop through Sunday October 31 11:59PM EST.  All refunds will be issued through PayPal.  It does include custom orders.  You have one more day to enter my blog giveaway, too.

I finished my newest Natural Sparkle piece today (as well as a pair of earrings) so I cleared out my box and started laying out on my newest winter leafy pieces.

I know that some of those leaves look green or purple, but they're really blue or clear in better lighting.  I'm excited about all of the gray and silver leaves that I'll have in the mix this time.  It should add a really nice dimension to the final look.

BLOG GIVEAWAY and FREE SHIPPING for my 2nd Etsy anniversary

My second Etsy anniversary is coming up on Halloween.  In honor of it, I am hosting my first blog giveaway!  I'll also be offering free shipping on everything in my Etsy shop all day on October 30th and October 31st.

The giveaway is for one pair of peyote triangle earrings ($13-$15 range) or one peyote triangle pendant ($15).  You get to pick the colors.  Here are just a few of my existing designs.  (Click on the pictures to go to the Etsy listings.)

To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is a leave a comment on this entry.  You don't have to comment about anything specific.  You are welcome to promote the giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc., but there are no multiple entries for promo.  I like to keep it simple. :)

You have until 11:59PM EST Sunday October 31st to get your entry in here.  I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner sometime on Monday.  Please leave your e-mail address, blog link, and/or Etsy shop address so that I have a way to contact you.

Free shipping will start at 12AM EST on Saturday, October 30 and end at 11:59PM EST on Sunday, October 31.  All refunds will be issued through PayPal.

Busy Friday!

Lots going on!  The biggest thing this weekend is that the EtsyBloggers are having a team wide sale for our 3rd anniversary as a team.  You can view all of the sales here.  Approximately 50 shops are participating.  I'm offering FREE SHIPPING in my entire Etsy shop, include sale and custom items, today through Sunday.  I will do a few single day free shipping offers before the holidays, but this will be the longest free shipping sale for randomcreative for 2010.  So take advantage of it while you can!

I published my second beading PDF pattern yesterday.  This one is for my Button Embellished Beadwoven Bracelet design.  Check it out here.

You can view all of the button embellished beadwoven bracelets that are currently available for sale here.

As promised, I have a couple new leafy developments.  I reworked my Indian Summer design and updated the listing yesterday.

I want to mention that I normally use Aleene's Jewelry and Metal Glue for the knots on my leafy designs.  I don't normally glue my knots, but because this design is fairly weighty, I like to give it a little extra security.  The glue itself works pretty well, but the bottle is a bad design.  I always end up getting glue everywhere, and it's about as strong as super glue so it doesn't create a good situation.  Jake always keeps super glue around for his models so I tried Loctite super glue for this bracelet instead, which was much better.  Their bottle designs are amazing.  If any of you who bead weave need a glue for your weightier designers, I highly recommend it.

I'm working on a couple purple/pink leafy designs next.  Here's a sneak peak at the first one.

I haven't mentioned any non fiction books that I've been reading in quite a while.  I recently checked out Camera Creative: Professional Photography Techniques for Innovative Images by Chris Gatcum from the library.  For those of you who use a light box and/or enjoy experimenting with photo editing/lens/etc., this is a great resource.  I have gotten some excellent advice from it about my light box, as well as confirmation that some of the things that I'm already doing are good.

Finally, I found out that my pieces are featured in two new treasuries yesterday.  jessypatterson included my new Tortoiseshell Cat Button Charm Bracelet in her Steeped Tea treasury.

Fellow EtsyBlogger DevineDesignsJewelry included my Beaded Bracelet - Double Linked - Chocolate and Cream in her Etsy Bloggers 3rd Anniversary treasury.

Have a great weekend everyone!