The Art Bead Love Tour

By Staci L. Smith

We here at Love My Art Jewelry are always trying to think of new ways to spread the love of handmade, and the message to create handmade with handmade.  So we put our brains together and came up with this idea, the Art Bead Love Tour. 

The Art Bead Love Tour is an ongoing project to spread the love of handmade to new and exciting places.  It’s a way to reach people who may have never stumbled upon our blog on their own, and give them a chance to share the love of handmade.  We chose to use a chain to link beads as a symbol of  how this project links us all together~ in our unity to stand behind handmade.

We have filled one and a half feet of chain with handmade beads, charms and pendants, donated by our own Love My Art Jewelry Group.  There are 60 beads on this chain, worth approximately $450.  It includes ceramic, glass, polymer, various metals and metal clay beads.  It’s a true tribute to handmade in all its beady glory!  These beads are ready to go on tour…….the Art Bead Love Tour!  This tour is basically an art bead swap, which will go on and on and on. 

Here is how it works. 

PLEASE.......

....please read the entire post before entering).

We will have a giveaway for this chain (how to enter is explained at the end of the post)

The Details:

1.    The winner of the chain will be allowed to take up to 30 beads from this chain.  They will then replace each bead they took, with another handmade bead, charm or pendant of equal quality.  It is so important that the quality of the beads be maintained, so that we can keep the Art Bead Love Tour alive.  We want to share consistent quality with the next winner.  If you make your own handmade beads or components, it’s a great way to get your beads into the world for people to try them out, or, if you hoard  collect art beads, it’s a great way to share your collection and get some new additions as well.  (Art Beads should be handmade by an artist, and not mass produced, such as Hill Tribes Silver beads or others like them).  Remember the focus is on creating handmade with handmade and beads/components taken should be replaced with beads/components that are made by an individual not an organization. 

2.    The winner will post pictures of what was taken and what was added, in order to keep an account of the chains progress and to keep our followers drooling.  Please be sure to give credit to the bead artists as well.

3.    The winner will then have a giveaway, just like this one, to keep passing the chain on and on.  Rules can be copied and pasted from here.

4.    When you repost your giveaway (remember you can copy and paste from here)-a list should be added to show where the chain has gone, with links to each previous blog.  Ultimately, this will end up being a very long list!

For example: 

Look where the chain has been……

www.lovemyartjewelry.blogspot.com

www.yourblog.blogspot.com

www.thenextpersonsblog.blogspot.com

5.    Chain must be shipped to its new home via Priority Small Flat Rate box with delivery confirmation.  Please package it carefully.

6.    There will be a button on the Love My Art Jewelry Website that links to the current blog and giveaway- so if you have the chain, it will link to your blog, that way our followers can have another chance to win it.

7.    You MUST exchange your beads and have your giveaway completed within two weeks of receiving the chain.

(Please please please, if you can not adhere to the above rules, do not enter the giveaway at this time.  It will go on and on and you can always enter at a later date.)  There will be a button on the side bar of our blog so that you can track where the chain currently is.

OK- How to Enter:

1.     You must have a blog to enter.

2.     Leave a comment below (make sure your email is linked to your blog or leave it in the comment.  Entries without emails will not qualify)

3.    Share on Facebook, Twitter or your blog for extra chances to win.  Leave a comment for each way you share, with a link if possible.

4.    Winner will pay shipping and will be billed through paypal-small priority flat rate box with delivery confirmation $6.00. 

5.    Open only to our readers in the United States- due to problems with tracking and shipping overseas (sorry).  Please note- I am having a small giveaway on my blog for our international friends only!!!  So hop over to enter.

6.    Check back here on November 30^th to see if you’ve won.

7.    Good luck and share the love of handmade!

Please, if you have any questions, you can email me directly at staci.louise@hotmail.com

Check it out and see why we call it the Art Bead LOVE Tour……………………..

<-------donated by Izzy

donated by Kelli------->

<--------Donated by LeAnn

Donated by MaryAnn------->

<----donated by D'arsie (who has since left the group due to other obligations, but was so kind to donate to this great project)

donated by MaryJane------------->

<-----Donated by Patty

donated by me (staci)------------->

Here are some pictures of the finished chain......