OWOH Winning Entry

The 2009 One World One Heart blog participation event has at last come to an official close. I used a random number generator to pick from the 270 comments left here and the winner is:

Liisa from Sweden who maintains Ottilias Veranda blog. Liisa is #014 on the OWOH list! Check out Liisa's truly beautiful blog for more information about her life and passions.

I'll be contacting Liisa by email with this news later today!

Thank you so much to all who entered my giveaway.
Until next year....
hugs,
~Anna Lee H. in Toronto

Chain Fringe - What Goes Around Comes Around

I'm always amazed how fashion trends move on an ebb and flow cycle, sometimes disppearing from popular culture for years or even decades before re-emerging in a brand "new" iteration. Well, apparently chain fringe is now 'in'. But this style of jewelry has been in existence for centuries.

My vintage inspired chandelier earrings are styled after a stunning pair of earrings I noticed the gorgeous Capucine sporting during her appearance in the classic John Wayne movie "North To Alaska" set circa 1850. Chain fringe was a common element in Parisian jewelry of that era. Chain fringe was also featured in Edwardian and Victorian jewelry styles.

I have wanted to create something featuring classic chain fringe for quite some time so I'm pleased with how this creation progressed. Similar fringed styles look wonderful in bright sterling silver but they adapt well to oxidizing and a variety of patinas too. And in gold tone the look is simply stunning.

[Inset: antique costume jewelry dress clip with gold toned chain fringe.]


The eye popping gemstones in my design are baby swiss blue topaz intricately faceted squares often called "dice" cuts. This particular commissioned item is sold, but if you are interested in a similar design please email with your ideas for a prompt free quote.
Until next time...
hugs,
~Anna Lee

My Jewelry Sites - Housecleaning

I'm finally getting around to fixing up my main jewelry site Oracle Gem Designs where my links and contact pages were in desperate need of TLC.

Thanks Lois for including me on your recent blog feature: http://abeadedaffair.blogspot.com/2009/02/just-few-updates.html. Your ABeaded Affair widgetbox gadget is now on my links page too!

I've taken the liberty of including some of my eSMArts etsy street team friends on my links page too! That includes an rss widget I made up for CoastalArtist that's Van Stewart Bevil's arwork (Van I hope you don't mind) as well as widgets from CreationsbyJAE, MyGemstoneBox, and MomFuse. If you'd like your gadget added, please send me the script or email me for help in creating your own.

Gadgets are very easy and fun to make at www.widgetbox.com where it only takes a few minutes to create your own beautiful & transportable streaming banner advertisement! To whip up an easy blog ad, just type in the url of your blog! You can even create an ad using the rss feed from your etsy shoppe too! That's what I did for Van's artwork.

Widgetbox has developer guidelines concerning property rights, so it's best if each artist creates their OWN gadget for sharing with friends and contacts. But I took the liberty of creating one gadget and I'm not trying to portray this content in any fraudulent way, so I hope the author(s) involved understand my intent.

Through searching widgetbox's galleries, I just found an archived gadget for my friend Teri of S&T Creations so I'll be adding that to the links page here too. And I encourage anyone reading this to explore Widgetbox's FREE online ad generating tool. It truly is a godsend for site and blog developers.

Switching gears for one moment, I'm working on a mirror site for
Oracle Gem Designs - it's a free webs offering at http://www.oraclegems.webs.com where I can engage in viral ad campaigns.

I'm also going to be hard at work over the next few weeks cleaning up my SassyDLite site http://www.sassydlite.com and another old domain www.oracle-gems.com. I hate housecleaning of any kind!
hugs,
~Anna Lee

One World One Heart Blog Giveaway Contest

The 2009 One World One Heart blog giveaway event is a chance for bloggers from all over the world to meet, mix, and mingle. It also gives us the opportunity to win prizes from each other!!! If you love prizes, and would like to be entered in my giveaway please leave a comment here!

Very last minute (oh if I could only clone myself) I've decided to offer these unique handmade earrings as the Gahooletree entry in the 2009 One World One Heart blogging event. Next year, I promise I'll be ready for this event with amazing entries.



I'm also offering a different giveaway item on my other jewelry blog, so visit SassyDlite blog http://sassydlite.blogspot.com/ to enter that contest too!

To be entered into the giveaway for these earrings, leave me a comment, being sure to give me a link to your blog or your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you're my winner! You have until Thursday, February 12th at 11:59 CST to leave a comment here with the requested info in order to enter the drawing. I will then use a random number generator to choose the winner!

My Gahooletree entry for One World One Heart 2009 is this pretty pair of 14K gold fill dangle earrings with gem grade faceted prasiolite (green amethyst), gemmy rose quartz marquis cuts and garnet. They measure 1 1/2 inches in length and the earwires are handforged 14k gold fill. Good luck and I look forward to meeting tons of new bloggers!
hugs,
~Anna Lee H. in Toronto