A New Year gift - A Sweet Pea design!!

I missed wishing my friends who celebrated Christmas warm wishes for a very merry holiday! I have come across quite a few Facebook friends who write about their difficulty with the holidays, perhaps not being a part of a large family or living
far from friends. These times can be difficult and to those who spent the day on their own, I hope you had a peaceful, gratifying day!

As 2019 comes around I wish all of you wonderful followers, stitchers, readers, and friends a new year filled with peace, contentment, creativity, and health.

A gift for the new year from me to you!

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Giveaway of Thread Assortment!

This week we are having a Thread Assortment Giveaway for a lucky blog follower!  

In order to participate all you need to do is sign up for our News and Newsletters on Adorn's blog page.  This is what it looks like:

On Friday I will randomly choose a winner for these beautiful fibers from 

the names added to our sign up page. Don't miss this opportunity to win

 4 silk skeins and 4 overdye skeins, coordinated for your next project.  

(Sorry, can only ship within the USA)

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The birth of a smart phrase, AKA JEWELRY GIVE AWAY!!

I actually came upon this phrase in Hebrew and loved it so much I had to translate it.  

Don't wait for the storm to pass - learn to dance in the rain.

So smart and so true.  I needed to put the phrase to good use, so I stamped it on a brass disc, (or is it disk?). I then gave the letters an enamel filling. 

Next I brushed the metal with my Foredom tool and then gave it a good polish.  I drilled a hole at the top so as to make room for a jump ring.

Lastly I inserted a piece of brass fitting into the hole to give it a nice finished look and added a jump ring and a "dangles by orna" tag.  

and now it's ready for a lucky winner!  

So here are the rules...

*  in order to qualify to win we will be trading; I give you my phrase, you must give me one of your favorite phrases!
* leave the phrase and your name in the comment section of this blog.
* I apologize but I can only accept entries from the United States due to postage costs.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and reading all your snippets of wisdom!

(You can see lots more stamped jewelry at Dangles by Orna).

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Get $10 off coupon, easy peasy!!

I love these key rings, they look great with any of my colorful handmade "dangle" pendants.

Send me your ideas for matches, say: 

"green ring with pendant d", 

and I'll email you a $10 gift certificate for any purchase over $30 at: "dangles by orna".

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

PS - don't forget to send me your email address so I can send you $10 off! Easy peasy!! 

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The Ultrasuede® winners are...

Congratulations to:

NCPat:  "I like the embellishments and beads that coordinate. I use random number generator for my giveaways and never have any issues."

needle-artist: "Because I concentrate on bead embroidery now I'd like to see more beads and embellishments; especially one of a kind cabachons and unusual beads. The ultra suede would be a nice bonus. Thank you for the opportunity."

Please contact me privately to make arrangements for you to receive your lovely gift.

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Need your help and an Ultrasuede giveaway, so there!

I want to hear from you, my friends!  As you know I have a monthly Fiber Collection program, and so far it's been received with great enthusiasm.  I plan these monthly collections in advance and I would like to make sure my monthly offerings are interesting, new and provocative.

What would you like to see in future collections?  New companies and new threads? Different threads in the same colorways, such as a range of blues, or the same thread in lots of colorway combinations?  Would you like a bead and embellishment collections? Don't hesitate to request outside the box, I want to hear your most wild collection dreams!

September Collection

August Collection

July Collection

After much thought, (see HERE),  I've decided that I want to give away two Ultrasuede® collections to two of my readers and since there is nothing sinister in my request for your help, I don't see why I can't send out thank you gifts!  BUT, it is so very hard for me to randomly choose two recipients when I need to collect responses from various places so here is the only stipulation...  in order to be eligible to be a part of the random draw, you must give me your collection ideas in the comments on this blog.  Please make sure to comment to the blog and check back for the winning announcement!!

I'll be checking for your ideas and announce the winner on Monday, October 21st.

Thanks so much! xo
Orna

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Ultrasuede® Giveaway? Why I want to but can't do it...

Remember when I asked you to raise your hands if you want an Ultrasuede® Collection back HERE? I wasn't kidding, but then something came in the way.
I happened upon a blog belonging to Sara Hawkins, an attorney.  She wrote an entry called: Sweepstakes, Contests & Giveaways - Laws Bloggers and Brands Need to Know.  So I started reading and could feel myself rolling my eyes.  What now?  Why has it become complicated, legal/illegal, and altogether "forget I even mentioned it"?  I understand the internet is the driver and the laws seem to follow, and I understand why these Giveways can lead to tricky situations. But my only intention is to send a few of you a gift, a little something from me.  I must say I have no patience to try to understand what I need to do in order to be in compliance. This is the long checklist that Ms. Hawkins has for keeping a giveaway legal:

Checklist for your giveaway:

If your giveaway winner will be chosen at random you are hosting a sweepstakes and thus you should comply with the laws regarding sweepstakes.

1. Identify the prize – provide as much detail as necessary to both identify it and make it attractive to your readers

2. Who can enter – detail who is allowed to enter, as well as those excluded

3. Duration – clearly set out when the giveaway (sweepstakes) will begin and end, and follow through

4. How to enter – let the reader know what they need to do to enter your sweepstakes, keeping in mind that element of consideration that could vault your sweepstakes into illegal lottery territory. Ultimately, the best bet is to keep entry as simple as possible.

5. How Winner Is Chosen – describe how you will choose your winner, especially since you are likely choosing randomly

6. Technical Issues – since we all know there could be technical problems, let people know how they will be handled. For example, will you delete duplicate entries? If your site goes down, what will you do?

I admit, can't deal with this.  If you have any ideas of how I can get a beautiful little Ultrasuede® collection to 4 lucky readers without any problems, let me know.  They are all here, ready to go. (22 pieces of Ultrasuede®, 22 colors, all about 2.5" x 3" in size).

Waiting to hear from you...

xo
Orna

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Marilyn the Magnificent! (and 24 hours left...)

The ladies at the EGA Brandywine Chapter continue to amaze me!  Marilyn Siers allowed me to share her completed piece with you.  The interpretation of this photograph is so spot-on, brilliant!!  Thank you, Marilyn!

and on to only 24 hours left!  Celebrating my 500 blog entry, I am giving away an anniversary gift.  Four cuff kits for the price of three!  Gifts for a fellow stitcher? Just slip them into a pretty wrapping. Gift for a loved one? They are a quick stitch and a beautiful show of love.  Pop over to visit me on my Etsy shop and grab them!!

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Celebrating 500 with you!

Today I am writing my 500th blog post.  

500 times I've sat down to write, always wondering... do I have something interesting enough to say, to show, to share? Always marveling that you would read my words and then when we meet, tell me how you follow my blog, know this or that about me because you read my blog.  I am so flattered and honored that you would do that!

500 times I've pressed the Publish button, sending off my thoughts into this strange and amazing cyber world.  Each time a bit of trepidation, excitement and anticipation runs through me as I press. 

Today I am celebrating with you, because you are the reason for this blog and for me continuing to write in it since February 12, 2008.  I've got a brand new batch of the new needlepoint cuffs, The Ocean, Tree, Flower and Nightshade cuff, in stock.   Regularly $40 each, for one week there will be a special offering of these kits,  4 cuffs for the price of 3!  A free cuff kit for you!!

Here is the link to this offer, The Anniversary Offer.  I will have it up on my Etsy site till next Friday at noon. 

and here's to the next 500 posts!!

xoxo
Orna

My First Post EVER!!

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A free blast from the past!

Back in 1997 I designed a number of pieces for Rainbow Gallery.  One of them is "Festival".  A few days ago, a customer, fellow stitcher, asked if I had the instructions for this piece, she had lost part of hers.  I didn't, but thought I would ask if Rainbow Gallery had any more copies, and they did!! 

I bought 10 copies of my own design, :-) sent one to her and now I'd like to pass the rest of them on to you.  The next 9 orders will get a free copy of the design instructions issued by Rainbow Gallery.  You can order on my Orna Design website, or on the Etsy website.  Either way, order soon and you'll get this in your package.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
xo
Orna

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WINNERS!

This was one of the most interesting giveaways I've ever done.  Your answers were fascinating, I thank you all for participating and letting me know a little about yourselves thru your response to the two photos.  I'm going to count the responses and tally up the votes.  I'd love to find out which of the photos has a majority.

But, on to the winners.  Congratulations to: 

**  Maneki who wrote:  Tricky question, actually. Of cause I like a creative mess and seeing colour mixes as in no 1, but on the other hand it's like someone mentioned before me: after than first glance I want to see all the colours in there and then photo 2 is the better one. Also it makes the colours show up better as it's sort of like colour blocking, concentrating each colour to one space. It's easy to see colours and textures then.

I do mix up my skeins and spools when storing (at least to a point, there's structure and order behind the on the surface messy-looking storage), but still like the second photo as it's also neat and tidy like in the local yarn shop.

Had it just been skeins, not spools, in the first pic it'd probably be my favourite. For me, the white of the spools detracts attention from the thread colours a bit and makes it look too messy.


** NCStitcher2000 who wrote:  What a fabulous array of colors you have chosen. I prefer the first picture as it looks more inviting to be able to hunt through all those threads. THanks for your kindness in offering this give away.

Beautiful tidbits of fibers and a frame for your little creation are coming your way!!

I'm leaving for Brooklyn in a couple of hours to visit with my girls.  Shiri has been volunteering for the last week helping people in areas still in a mess from the hurricane.  So many people are still in terrible living conditions.  How easy it is to forget when you are in your dry home, warm and comfortable. 

"See" you when I get back.

xo
Orna

my beautiful Au Ver a Soie threads, YUMMY!!

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A Giveaway! Hey Kitty Kitty...

The Process of Kitting Designs:
They are coming in everyday,  all the wonderful fibers for my new designs.  Opening a box from the various companies is mouthwatering!  I want to say this is my favorite part of the kitting process, but then I also love designing the packaging, deciding which container, bag, box I want to use, packing it all in tissue paper... 

Well in the meantime I've devised an interesting experiment, (crazy?!). 

Photo One - A gorgeous mess

Photo Two - Gorgeous order

Now, here is how you participate in this experiment...  I want to know which of the two photos above is more appealing to you. The same threads, even the same amount of threads, just obviously presented differently.  What makes you happier?  Why? What does this say about you?

Want incentive to answer?  Well, of course!!  Send me your response to these photos and I will randomly choose two winners to receive grab-bags of threads and a miniature frame as shown below, (the threads may differ as there will be two winners)!!  

I will choose the two lucky ones on Friday, November 9th.  Can't wait to hear from you!

xo
Orna

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Meanwhile...

Remember the mess when I came home from Seminar?  I did it, I cleaned it all up!!

At Seminar,  ANG set up a presentation for my design The Philadelphia Journey.  I donated the design, and prepared a special kit.  The design was given out to each participant at Seminar and I would like to continue with this.  If you would like to receive a free copy of the instructions, (they are in color), please send me your address and I will mail a copy out to you.  I have a few kits still available at the $28 price point, (partial skeins, plenty to complete the designs).  The fibers are all silk!  The beads are silver Magnifica and the kit includes both the canvas and the stretcher bars.  Check out my Etsy Store to see the piece in all it's glory and order a kit which comes with the design.

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The Winner is... and I'm back!

Congratulations to Anne Barney who guessed the correct sizes and won a scissor fob!

Both pieces are done on Silk Gauze at 40 count.  

The top left piece is 1.5"x1.5" and the bottom right piece is 1.5"x1". 

We had a lovely week at the beach but I was ready to come home.  Since then I've been preparing for my trip to Minnesota next week.  You should see, (no, really you shouldn't), my house!  Looks like a tornado of paper, threads, and boxes landed smack in the middle of my living room and then spread to every single room in this place!  My husband is very tolerant, I must say!

So, I'll be back with more soon.

xoxo

O

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