New Friends & Blog Hops

Well I am just so excited! I have my first Friends of my Blog! I guess they officially call them "Followers" but I like Friends better! It sounds less cult like...

But I wanted to officially Thank You for being my first Blog Friends, Lori Anderson of Pretty Things and Karyn of  Releases by Rufydoof.

And I got my first comment! I know this might seem silly to many of you, but I have never written a blog before and I while I have been following some of my favorite bead artists' blogs, I have always been a lurker...never a commenter! Hard to believe considering how much I like to talk and write about beads!

But the lovely Miss Marcia DeCoster changed all that with her "Share the Love Blog Hop" that her and 6 other wonderful bead artists shared with us for the past week!

Marcia DeCoster of MadDesigns, Beverly Gilbert, Val Hebert of Val's Art Studio, Jeanette Cook of Beady Eyed Women, Carol Dean Sharp of Sand Fibers, Cynthia Deis of Shiny Little Things and Lori Anderson of Pretty Things have all joined together to offer us some beautiful prizes for "hopping" around to read their blogs and leave a friendly comment!

It was so much fun...seeing all the wonderful beads and crystals and books and cabochons and silk and all the pretty things that they added to the goody bags...it was just amazing!

And, I was one of the lucky second place winners on Marcia's blog...she felt bad that everyone couldn't win so she gifted her pattern for the Dream Keeper Vessel ring to 5 lucky winners! Check it out, it is absolutely stunning!

Now I have never win anything...seriously! I don't even bother to enter contests and lotteries anymore because I just don't ever win! Of course the not entering part could have something to do with not winning, but you know what I mean!

But other than all the beautiful beads being given away, I had so much fun getting to know these artists on a more personal level...and I was introduced to several blogs that I hadn't been following before. Now I can see myself spending all of my time reading blogs and not beading!

It's a good thing I have taken on the New Year's Earring Challenge at Beading Daily! At least this will keep me motivated to bead after I am done with my daily reading! I am also excited to join the Beading Babes hosted by Releases by Rufydoof in their 3rd Project! These projects should keep me busy!

No photos in the diary today...but I just got my camera back and am working on setting up a better photo taking area for my beads and jewelry. Hopefully this will help with the quality of photos I post here in the future.

Now I really do have to get back to some fast & furious beading if I intend to have anything done by Christmas!

Happy Beading, Reading and Blogging!