MiShel Designs

Holiday Shop Hop 2011

Welcome to the Holiday Shop Hop 2011

Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday, December 4th

Carved Wooden Snowman Ornament by Gordon W. Baldock
Photo by Michelle Buettner
Graphic Enhancement by Mary Anne Flesch of Handcrafted Serenity Jewelry

We all know it's pretty easy to hop around and shop all over Etsy, Artfire and many other super wonderful arts and craft sites, but sometimes it's a bit daunting and so this was developed (with some generous help from some very wonderful people, I might add!) to be a fun and enjoyable way to shop handmade and support the arts and crafts sector of the small business world during this very busy gift giving season!

"Winter in Nutrioso"
Photo by Michelle Buettner

Listed below are some pretty cool places to find unique handmade items such as Jewelry (I love buying other jewelry artist's designs - they're so gorgeous!!) and Jewelry related items, such as Beads and Supplies (I can never have enough of these!). There's also handcrafted Toys, Wearable Goods, Bath and Body Products, Candles and items we use everyday such as Pens, but these are handcrafted with some really cool flair!

Some of the participants below have listed their online shops for you to browse through while others have listed their blogs, website or Facebook page which is where you will find information on the wonderful items they create and offer for sale. (The MiShel Designs Etsy shop is listed in the link list below with everyone else's and there's a clickable link over here on the right side of my blog. I've got a coupon code for 20% off posted in my shop announcements for shoppers as well.)

Each participant has created their own unique shopping experience for you and you'll want to be on the look out for a few that are offering specials, discount codes or coupons and even a possible give-a-way or two!

To start things off, I'm going to be giving away a necklace and earring set here on the MiShel Designs Blog. Everyone who leaves a comment at the bottom of this post either today or tomorrow will be entered in the drawing and the participant will be chosen by random.org and announced here on my blog on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011.

Necklace and Earring Set by Michelle Buettner
of MiShel Designs

So please, browse through the list below and enjoy the

Holiday Shop Hop!

A Bead A Day

Blackbeary Mountain

Blue Pearls Handcrafted Goods

Chic and Frog

Crafty Hope

Dragonfly Dreamers

Etania Gems

ExPostFacto Jewelry

Fangdangles

GreenBead Designs

Handcrafted Serenity Jewelry Designs

Happy and Healthy Magnetic Jewelry

Holly Westfall / Silver Rose Designs

Just A Tish

Just Mare Pottery

Keefer Style Creations

Kabs Creative Concepts

Klassy Joolz

Kristi Bowman Design

Lilly Rose Jewelry Designs

Little Rocks

MiShel Designs

Melinda Orr Designs

My Life Under the Bus

Olive Branch Organics

Pine Ridge Treasures

Pink Poppy Studio

Rosebud’s Lampwork Beads

Sand & Sea Designs

SCJ Jewelry Design

Sew Stacy

SongBeads

Studio Waterstone

Sundancegems

Suzanne Stevens

Sweet Creek Herbs

Sweet Water Designs

Wire Worked Handcrafted Jewelry

We Hope You Have Enjoyed The Holiday Shop Hop!

Although Most Of The Specials and/or Give-A-Ways These Shops Are Having May Only Be
Valid During Certain Times,
The "Holiday Shop Hop" Button
at the Top of This Blog
Will Have These Shops Listed
Until January 15, 2012
So That You May Browse
Through Their Shops During
Your Entire Winter Break!

Enjoy!!
Cheers,
~Shel~

Peace, Love and Happy Handmade Holiday!

Cheers,

~Shel~

With Much Gratitude

It was brought to my attention that I hadn't properly thanked all the wonderful people who helped me with the Holiday Shop Hop that's taking place here on my blog tomorrow and Sunday, so I wanted to take this opportunity to do so!

First and foremost, to everyone who’s blindly jumped in to participate and make this little shop hop a fun event this weekend. Thank you so VERY much!

You’ve tweeted, you’ve facebooked, you’ve blogged, and talked, and emailed and shared the information for the Holiday Shop Hop with so many people and it will be thanks to all of your brilliant efforts when it’s a success!

Next I’ve got a little “private list” of peeps that have listened to my long, drawn out and rambling emails (You know who you are!!) and who’ve also offered countless suggestions and were there when this was just an inkling and I had no idea what the heck I even wanted to do to help get traffic to people's shops and to help get people to shop handmade, small business and “local” (in their jammies, in their own house!) this gift giving season! Thank you!!

I want to give a big shout out to these wonderful women as well:

Lori Anderson – Lori’s listened to many of my rambling emails, gave suggestions and offered help despite her own very cool and successful Virtual Craft Fair she’s got going on this entire week over on her blog, Pretty Things! Thank you so much Lori, your suggestions, offers of help and ear for listening are greatly appreciated and deeply valued!

Lisa Crone: Lisa got blind-sided as I asked a ton of her one night via email. She had such a full schedule and still said to me “As soon as I’m free, I’ll help out”. So, when she finished, I said “Oh, thanks, but I’ve got it under control”. How rude of me – not on purpose, but still - rude of me none-the-less! And, being the gracious one she is, she still helped out! What a class act! Thank you so much for your support and help!

Regina Santerre: Regina was one of the first one’s to step in and say “Count me in!” and she’s also the one who came up with the actual name “Holiday Shop Hop” – it was her suggestions vs. whatever the long, drawn out and wordy thing I was trying to use was! J Thanks a bunch Regina – I think the name rocks!!

Mary Anne Flesch: Mary Anne jumped in for the Shop Hop and then she took my little “Snowman Button” and “fixed” him! Yep, she took the yellow out and made him look all pretty and white like a snowman should! Yeah!! And then, of course, I messed it up again,….what’s new?!! L But, Thank You Mary Anne! You took your time and effort to help me and I appreciate it so much!! And, if I do this next year,…I’ll make sure I use the Snowman you fixed!!

Mary Anne's nice white Snowman! :)

And not the one that looks like it was made with snow that Santa’s Reindeer peed on! J

Shelly's 'yellow-ish' Snowman

THANK YOU everyone! I really am grateful.

Peace, Love and Here’s to a Successful Holiday Shop Hop This Weekend for Everyone!

Cheers,

~Shel~

This or That,...and Some Other Stuff

I'm being reflective today and thinking back on my Thanksgiving Weekend in the Mountains with my family.

We took some walks and gazed at things around us.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving Day and the day after,

It snowed!

The Fireplace at Grandma Emma's - after the Wallow Fire this summer

Fireplace Stone work my Sister and Brother-in-Law did

Fireplace Handle after the Wallow Fire This Summer

Snowy Branch

The Treehouse my hubby built w/our son after his heart attack in 2007.
It was barely started in 2007 and 2 days after Thanksgiving that year
Mike had a massive heart attack. He said all he could think about while laying
in ICU was that he needed to finish the treehouse with Logan before he passed away.
He keeps adding on to it every chance we get to go up to the mountains.
It's kind of symbolic now I guess!
I love this place!

(as always, click on the photos to make them bigger!)

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Pausing,....

Cheers,

~Shel~

Linking up today with This or That Thursday over on Deb Duty's Blog - won't you join in?

BTW,.....

Hey, BTW,...it's Bead Table Wednesday today!

Hop on over to the Flickr Group and

see what's cooking today, won't you?

My unfinished work this Wednesday!

I've got a link list on my bead table and I'm emailing people with it today and I've got a bunch of unfinished jewelry designs waiting patiently for me to finish, photograph and get into my shop for this weekend's Holiday Shop Hop.

What's on your Bead Table Today??

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and BTW!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Almost There,....

Happy Tuesday! Did you survive Cyber Monday? I hope so!

I also hope you're ready for more fun and great deals this weekend as I host the Holiday Shop Hop 2011 this Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, right here on my blog.

A big shout out to Rena Klingenberg for so graciously mentioning the Holiday Shop Hop in the "Neat Jewelry Website" section of her Jewelry Business Success Newsletter that's out today! Thanks so much Rena!!

There will be some great shops/blogs filled with handmade items and creative art for you to browse through at your leisure during the Holiday Shop Hop and up there on the top of my blog, where all the links are,...well, the Holiday Shop Hop button will have the list of all the shops/blogs that will be participating this weekend and it will have all those links for you to click away at from this weekend on through until at least January 15th, 2012. This way everyone who's on Winter Break can enjoy shopping great handmade items even after the Gift Giving Holiday's are over!

Now, on to some other things today. I don't know if you know this about me but I LOVE making earrings. Yes, I know you know that I love to make jewelry but Earrings are, by far, my FAVORITE to design and create!

Handcrafted Earrings by Michelle Buettner of MiShel Designs
"Snakeskin Components" by Kristi Bowman
Handcrafted earring wires by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

Anyhoo,....what I'm getting at is a few things. 1st, nothing destroys a great pair of handmade earrings (in my outspoken opinion, anyway!) than a pair of ugly, not-suited-for-the-earrings, pair of widely manufactured earring wires! (Gosh, I cannot believe I actually said this out loud - I'm sure I'm gonna get eaten alive for this one!)

Sleeping Beauty Nugget Earrings and Handcrafted Earring Wires
by Michelle Buettner of MiShel Deisgns

But anyway, my point is here is this,....I love to make handcrafted earring wires and several of my jewelry friends (and all of my clients) told me how much they LOVED my earring wires, so I started making them for other designers and opened another Etsy shop last year called Shel's Jewelry Supplies. It's been going quite well, so much so that I actually blew out my poor elbow in February of this year and had to stop production for quite a while.

"Sexy Norm" Style Earring Wires in Sterling Silver
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

Well, silly me, with the Holiday Shop Hop coming up, I've been less than productive in the 'supplies' category and have basicially, completely 'SOLD OUT' of my earring wires on my Etsy Site! (Bad, bad Girl!) So, I'm kicking myself in the booty and I'm gonna try to get a few things listed and back up.

"Elegant" Style Handcrafted Earring Wires in 14K Gold Filled
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

BUT - in the meantime, here's the point I was trying to make in the beginning (yep, got a little side-tracked as usual!!)

There's the neatest blog out there that's dedicated to Earrings! How cool is this?! I mean, really - I'm in heaven!

The brainchild of Heather Powers . She, and some other very creative designers who are contributors, have this wonderful site with some awesome designs, so if you're as crazy about earrings as I am - you gotta go check this out. It's called Earrings Everyday - Inspiration and Adoration (Yes, that's what I'm talking about!) It's got tons of inspiration and places to get fabulous beads and fun items for your earrings too - you'll definitely want to check this out!

And, another favorite of mine, is the book Handcrafted Wire Findings, techniques and designs for custom jewelry components by Denise Peck and Jane Dickerson.

Oh,...this is loaded with all kinds of wire findings you can make yourself and that will have your jewelry designs popping with personality (way more personality than mass produced findings if you ask me!) .

Anyway, one of the earring designs they have published in this book, on page 21 to be exact, is their pair of "flattened ear wires". I Love Them!!

"Signature" Syle Earring Wires in Sterling Silver
by Shel of Shel's Jewelry Supplies

And, they're very similar to my "Signature" pair of earring wires that I've been making for over 15 years now (that my metalsmith teacher, Carol, told me were fabulous, by the way!) and so you just have to check out this book, if you haven't already done so, because the findings you will learn to create and be able to expand upon are wonderful!

It just gets your creative juices flowing and your mind racing! Well, it did mine, anyway, and so I just had to share it with you!

So, as you're preparing your handcrafted items for sale this season (and any season for that matter) check out these two very lovely voices of inspiration and education!

And, don't forget to hop back on over here this weekend and check out all the really cool handmade shops that will be featured on the Holiday Shop Hop. There's handmade toys, soaps, candles, scarves and jewelry and jewelry related items, of course! Yummy, Yummy!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Living Creatively!

Cheers,

~Shel~

Cyber Monday!

It's Cyber Monday and that means shopping in your jammies till you drop! And awesome savings of course!!

Hop on over to the MiShel Designs Etsy store today and save 10% off you entire order by using Coupon Code "Cyber10" upon check out.

And, here's some more good tips to help you save while shopping online today -

Hop on over to Studio Waterstone where Lori Plyler is having free shipping on all orders today. I have a couple of Lori's clutches and "OH MY!" They're fabulous so you don't want to miss this!!

At Studio Waterstone, Lori's "Sharing the Love" and letting people post the specials they're having in their shops right on her blog - complete with easy links and everything!! So, go check out all those goodies today,

you'll be happy you did!

Als0 over on Lori Anderson's Blog, Pretty Things, the 1st Annual Virtual Craft Fair is continuing today - check out the artists listed today and see what goodies they are giving away and what specials they have for you as well this week!

And, don't forget to come back here this weekend, December 3rd and 4th when a bunch of yummy shops will be posted here on my blog for the Holiday Shop Hop!

Several shops are doing free give-a-ways and offering discounts or other goodies - so you don't want to miss this!

I'm hitting the internet now and going to check out all the great deals for Cyber Monday!

If you're having a special today for Cyber Monday on your shop, please be sure and leave me a link in your comments so I (and my readers) can go check out what you've got going on!!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Happy Cyber Monday Shopping!!

Cheers,

~Shel~

I Heart Macro - It's Sunday!!

This Weekend I,.....

Walked in the Woods,

Baked pies with my sister, ate some turkey,....

Woke up to "White" on Black Friday

and sat by the fire,.....

What a lovely weekend. What did you do?

I'm gonna go check out I Heart Macro before we he have to say our goodbye's to family - wanna join me?

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Wonderful Holiday Weekends!

Cheers,

~Shel~

The Day After,...

Well, it's "Black Friday" today. The day we're all supposed to go out and 'shop the big box stores'. I really hope all of you who are out there are able to get what you want for the price you want and with out getting hurt!

I'd like to suggest, if you haven't already finished your holiday shopping, that you support a couple of things that are a bit on the smaller scale, and a smidge closer to "home".

First, there's Small Business Saturday. Go out and support your local shops shops that make up your community; the small businesses that provide convenience right in your own back yard!

Then, starting tomorrow, over on Lori Anderson's blog, Pretty Things, there's the 1st Annual Virtual Show - for a whole entire week - you won't want to miss this!! Lovely give-a-ways, great stashes of finds,...oh the goodies to be had here!

And I hope you'll all come back next weekend, Saturday and Sunday the 3rd and 4th of December, and hop around the shops I'll have posted up here for the Holiday Shop Hop supporting handmade goods here online.

I hope those of you here in the U.S. aren't too stuffed with Turkey from yesterday's Thanksgiving dinner and I also hope you are able to enjoy all the wonderful people you are thankful for this holiday weekend!

I'm thankful for all of you who stop by and comment, for my family who I love dearly, for my friends who are both physically here and those who are online and for all the wonderful moments I've been able to experience this weekend!

Until Next Time,
Peace, Love and Thanks!

Cheers

~Shel~

Blog Give-A-Way!

Happy Monday Everyone!

I'm only 7 peeps away from having

100 followers on my blog - Woo Hoo!

Okay, I know,...I know,...there's folks who have thousands of followers, but I'm excited and very grateful for the

93 of you that I have!!

Once I hit 100 followers I'm going to be putting everyone's name in the pot and doing a Blog Give-A-Way as an appreciation gift to everyone who follows along in my quirkly little corner of the world.

There will be three winners in my Blog Give-A-Way.

The 1st item to be given away will be this

Romantic Rose necklace and complimentary earring set

that I created for the Bead Soup Blog Party this fall that everyone gave me such nice compliments on.

(Thank you for the kind words, by the way!)

2nd Up will be my "Follow Your Dreams" Necklace with pewter charm, leather cord and one of my handcrafted sterling silver swirl clasps.

I love this necklace because even with it's

simplistic style, it speaks volumes!

And 3rd on the Give-A-Way block with be my

"Butterscotch" beaded brass wire-wrapped bracelet which, with it's assortment of wire wrapped beads, is fun and funky!

Once I hit "100" I'll be doing the drawing and posting the results of the "100 Followers Give-A-Way" so check back often and see how things are going!

Also, this Monday, I wanted to tell you about a pretty big event that's happening online the 26th of November through the 3rd of December with Lori Anderson.

She's such an innovative one, this lovely beady blogger, and she's come up with the First Annual Virtual Craft Show which she's hosting over on her blog, Pretty Things.

You'll definitely want to check it out!

Click on over to her blog now for the all the juicy details!

Also, don't forget, the Holiday Shop Hop 2011 will take place right here on my blog (and several other's blogs as well!) for two days the weekend of December 3rd and 4th as well.

You'll be able to hop around to several shops and blogs and check out some wonderful handmade items and support the art community when you do your holiday shopping this year.

So, that's it for this Monday. Here's to a creative week everyone!

Until Next Time,

Peace, Love and Lovely Give-A-Ways, Fun Craft Shows and cool Holiday Shop Hops!

Cheers,

~Shel~

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