Blog Give-away Winners Announced

Wow, Blaire and I were so excited by the responses received during this give-away. It made it really hard when it came down to the decision making. Which caused a bit of delay in our announcement.

So, I won't hold back any longer - I know you've been waiting to here who the winners are.

(please stand by for a brief commercial message from our sponsors)

Nah, just kidding!

1st Place Winner - $25.00 @ Goodkarmasoaps
We chose Bella as first place because she had both a soap and marketing idea, congratulations!

2nd Place Winner - $15.00 @ Goodkarmasoaps
Wehav is second place with a great marketing idea of teaming up with other Etsy sellers.

3rd Place Winner - $10.00 @ Goodkarmasoaps
Third place is Oceanside with the sampler idea

Honorable Mention - $5.oo & FREE shipping @ Goodkarmasoaps
(couldn’t help it, there were just too many good ideas so I had to keep adding prizes) was Mignon

To claim your prizes, contact Blaire at good karma soaps by email customerservice@goodkarmasoaps and she will give you instructions on how to claim your prizes!

Thanks Blaire for sponsoring this fantastic give-away. Also, if you didn't notice she decided to increase the prize levels. She is always so sneaky like that. I should know. I just received a package from her with my exploding frog soaps that I ordered and ended up with a box of never ending soaps. Soap just kept coming out of my box. I couldn't believe by eyes. It reminded me of those clowns packed in the super small cars and they just keep coming out and coming out. Blaire has a huge heart for others and takes great care of her customers.

Ok, now on to the winners of my portion of the give-away. Thank you for following my blog, tweeting, and joining me on facebook! I've met several wonderful people and look forward to talking with you in the future.

Mignon - you have been chosen for my $10.00 gift certificate to be used in my shop. Congratulations!

Quilting Diva - I am happy to offer you the $5.00 gift certificate to be used in my shop.

Both of you can contact me for your instructions on how to redeem your prize, either by etsy convo or email: designsbyjenai at gmail.com.

Finally - for everyone else who participated, all of you are wonderful and had such great ideas and compliments I would like to offer you a choice of FREE shipping or 15% your next purchase in my shop. Just remind me when checking out or convo me and I will make sure I take care of you.

Before ending this post I would like to also offer you another way to save in my shop. I am going to start a referral plan in my shop. If you are interested in participating and would like more information, please leave me a comment here along with how I can reach you directly, so I can share the details with you.

Have a terrific Tuesday and remember to make someone smile today!

Special Announcements

Good afternoon Friends!

I have several announcements that I wanted to share with you so I'll do it all in one post.

1. Upcoming Blog-Give Away - Check back on Monday. I will be announcing a special give-away sponsored by another Etsy seller. You won't want to miss this!
2. Etsy Yart Sale - I will be participating in Etsy's Yart Sale next week, starting on June 10th. I will be offering special deals on select merchandise, to include reduced prices, free shipping and other fun surprises that I think of by then. I have a special Yart Sale Section in my shop.
3. Twitter: I would love for you to find me on twitter. I will be tweeting secret Twitter Only Specials from time to time. http://twitter.com/designsbyjenai
4. Charitable contributions: I have decided to donate 10% of my sales to a wonderful organization that I recently discovered, Gainesville Fisher House. This means that your purchases will also help others in my community. Want to learn more about the organization? Visit their link on my links section.
5. Feature Friday - I will be featuring another Etsy seller and her mini etsy on my blog tomorrow, check her out, find a few things you like and heart them or better yet, find something to buy. :-)

What is an Etsy Mini - I just heard someone ask the question, glad you asked, someone else may have been too shy to ask. It is way for sellers on Etsy to show you a few things that are offered in their shop and it is linked directly to their shop. So, all you have to do is click on one of the images and it will take you directly there. You can see mine on the top right and theirs is directly beneath mine.

Why are you posting someone else's shop on YOUR blog Jenai? Aren't you afraid that you will lose business? Heard that question too. Short answer would be: I just rock like that! Long truthful answer: I am nice like that and I do rock, but I have other reasons as well. I feel if we support each other, folks will find us (me, my shop). I am asking them to also let their friends, followers and enemies know about my blog and my shop as well. I am a firm believer in "you reap what you sow". As I help someone else, the favor will be given to me. Finally, I enjoy meeting new people and connecting with them and I get to do that with my blog, etsy shop and twitter.

Have a great Friday Eve and come back and check out my give-away announcement and Feature Friday.

Thoughts for Thursday

Photo by: Jenai Collins - Designs by Jenai
Titled: Take time to smell the flowers.

Happy Friday Eve!

I made a new friend yesterday, another awesome Etsy seller and she has a huge heart - Blaire of goodkarmasoaps. Her shop is full of fantastic soaps - with my must have, exploding frogs. Yes, I said it exploding frog soaps. I am going to win Aunt of the Year as I am ordering them for my niece and nephews.


Today she shared some words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama and I felt it was a great reminder to myself and wanted to share it with others as well. Take from it what you want and feel free to share it with others.

Instructions for Life from the Dalai Lama


1.Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2.When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3.Follow the three R’s: - Respect for self, - Respect for others and - Responsibility for all your actions.
4.Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5.Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6.Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7.When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8.Spend some time alone every day.
9.Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10.Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11.Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12.A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13.In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14.Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
15.Be gentle with the earth.
16.Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17.Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18.Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19.If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
20.If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

I would like to challenge each of you to find at least one item above to reflect on for the day. Also, practice an act of kindness as often as you can and watch how your life changes. Feel free to come back here and comment on either my challenge or an experience you have had with a random act of kindness.

Jenai

Meet my new friend - Herbert

Every once and awhile I come across something that really catches my eye or heart for that matter. I fell in love with Herbert the moment I saw him. He is just the cutest guy ever and he is so well traveled and has many friends.

Yes, Herbert is an owl, a drawing of an owl by a very talented and creative Etsy artist, Maggie Hurley. Maggie went to school at the Laguna College of Art and Design before moving to San Francisco and then on to Berkeley, which she now calls home. She accepts commissions for portraits, specializing in children and pets. She occasionally sculpts as well. She is multi-talented for sure.

When I saw the picture of Herbert and the Aliens I knew I had to talk with Maggie and Herbert and invite them to my blog. They agreed to share some information with us as well as some pictures.

Share a little about yourself and what inspires you: I've been drawing and painting as long as I can remember and seem to have difficulty focusing on just one genre. Herbert, my little owl, sprang to life one day of his own accord. I just surround him with what feels right. This same idea rings true for most of my work - I feel like more of a conduit than a creator. I think, in a lot of ways, each of my paintings is a direct line into what I'm thinking at that moment... often I can't really tell how I'm feeling until I read the expression on my character's face!

Other locations were Maggie's artwork can be seen - check them out:http://hushmouse.etsy.com/, http://hushmouse.blogspot.com/, and http://www.maggiehurley.com/

Above is one of my favorite pictures of Herbert with his Alien friends, below Herbert can be seen on a magic carpet ride and riding along with his Yak friend. Check out Maggie's other sites to see her wonderful work.

Thanks Maggie for sharing these great pictures with us and a bit about yourself.

Combination of Two Loves

This week I have been experimenting with the idea of combining my love of creating fun jewelry and my new love of crocheting.

I found several fun patterns for crochet jewelry and have made a few pairs of earrings and made an attempt at a ring. The pattern for the rings can be found in the free pattern section of Crochet Today magazine.

When it comes to crafts I am not very patient. Projects that are fairly quick and can be done in several hours or a few minutes excite me the most.

I've been working on an orange and blue, granny square, (he's a 6 year old, Gator fan) blanket for my nephew the past few weeks and I am struggling with the fact that I am beginning to get bored with it, yet I want to finish it. It didn't help that I ran out of both yarn colors and had a hard time finding them again in the local Walmarts. Happily, I did find them this week and now I must motivate myself to start on the blanket again and get it completed so that I can give it to him.

With spring quickly approaching I am on the hunt for fun, spring crochet ideas. Feel free to post a link or pass along to me any ideas you have that would be fun to do.