Cozy Up To Me...and a Winner!

Whew! The hoppers in the 3rd Annual Challenge of Color have put together a feast for my eyes! Aren't they all inspiring? Seriously, you people never disappoint me. Unfortunately, I am {fashionably} late to my own party. I have been hopping here and there, but with a full work schedule yesterday didn't get as far as I would like. I promise you that I will make it to your blog...then leave a comment... grab your permalink to the post... update my blog list... and pin your creation to the Challenge of Color Pinterest board. All this while trying to catch up to the 16 plus custom Simple Truths orders pending in my Etsy shop right now (just in case you were waiting on something from me). Just wanted to rise to the surface to tell you that I am still here and I am working on it!

Are you sick of voting for things after last month's elections? The Soft Flex Company hosts their annual Flex Your Creativity contest. I have been fortunate to be voted in the top 10 almost each year since they started doing this in 2009. I don't enter because I think I will win. I do this simply as an exercise in creativity.

{Cozy Up To Me - Both bracelets use the Vintage Bronze 24 gauge Soft Flex craft wire knitted with hand dyed silk cords from Marsha Neal Studios. End caps are from Vintaj and assorted art beads from Mary Ann Carroll, Julianna Cannon, Heather Powers, Jennifer Cameron, Diane Hawkey and Shannon LeVart.}

This year they ran the contest a little differently. They always have a theme, and for 2012 you had to submit something created using their wires and the knitting spool. This was something I had never done before. Luckily, I had the book Show Your Colors by Jamie Hoggsett and Sara Oehler to show me the way.

What is different is that the Soft Flex company selected the top ten finishers and now they are up for a popular vote. Popularity contests are not my sort of thing, so for me the true victory is learning something new, completing it and then being selected as a finalist. All top ten places received a spool of wire, but the winner of the popular vote will receive a nice gift certificate, but all the top ten will be featured throughout the coming year on their website as well as in magazine ads. I just received my two bracelets back from them along with a CD containing the shots from their professional photo shoot and they let me know that the voting is now live through December 11th! I would encourage you to check out the beautiful designs and vote for your favorite, but please know that it does not have to be mine. Vote for the one that you feel did the best in the spirit of the contest. I feel very blessed that I placed in the top ten. That is gift enough!

 I promised a winner of the new limited edition Botanical Bird ornament/pendant from the post about The Best Gift Ever. And the winner is.....

Cassi Renee!  

She had this to say about the best gift she ever received:

Best gift ever, I think I have two. First, the gift of being born to two loving parents who gifted me with an awesome childhood and still support, love, and forgive me. My second best gift ever is my daughter, even though this parenting thing does drive me nuts a lot of the time.

You all had such lovely gifts to share. I was really touched by all the non-material things you had to share. Congratulations Miss Cassi Renee! I will be in touch with you by email to get started creating your special Botanical Bird!

Tonight my husband and I have a {rare}date at the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra's Holiday At Home show featuring our favorite local-boy-turned-professional-singer-songwriter Danny Mitchell. He is good looking, witty, supremely talented and will be debuting his new holiday CD at this event. I feel blessed that we got the last two seats in row Q ;-)

{Danny Mitchell}

Take a listen to his songs: Can't Take You Anywhere or Someday, Someday or my favorite Shining Armor. And here is a sampler of his Christmas songs from his album last year. He has a great jazz vibe and is killer on the piano. He makes all the young girls (okay, the old ones, too ;-) swoon!


Lots of fun coming next week including an Art Bead Scene ornament blog hop on December 4th and a planned tour of my holiday decorations (perhaps in video?) along with my brand new mantel-scape that I am so very proud of creating. I also need your help generating ideas for the Hintz Family Superhero Christmas Theme. I will share more about that next week. ;-)