CRE8TIME Maker Studio this week – win crafty prizes!

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We posted about our new “CRE8TIME Maker Studios” in the beginning of February and shared lots of inspiring words from our community about why they were committing to making time to create in 2013.  Well, this week B3 is helping you make time by hosting our first ever CRE8TIME Maker Studio.  On Thursday March 8th from 4:30-8:30pm, our studio doors are open to makers of all kinds so come all ye maillers, knitters, quilters, hackers, crocheters, dabblers and crafters of any kind and join us in a monthly celebration of making time to make.

 

 

As a bonus for our very first maker studio, we have some fun crafty swag to give away that we scooped up at the CHA Show in January.  We’ll have 3 prizes available – one filled with knitting-related swag, another with paper/scrapbooking elements and a final one with some fabric crafting fun (including some really awesome scissors.)  We’ll raffle off the prizes near the end of the evening and you can’t win if you don’t come so – JOIN US!

CRE8TIME Maker Studio
Blue Buddha Boutique
1127 W Granville Ave (right off the Granville Red Line)
Chicago, IL 60660

FREE event, no RSVP needed!

Featured Weave for March: FULL PERSIAN

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FEATURED WEAVE FOR MARCH – Full Persian


For March, we’re featuring full persian. This weave was requested by our community on Facebook and we can’t wait to see what you create with it! The weave works in a number of sizes from very small (base metal size D22) to quite large (base metal size T16) and offers neat tapering options.

Want to see which B3 sizes work well for this weave? Visit our base metal stats & uses page and our sterling silver stats & uses page, or check out these weave ideas posts right here on our blog.

Never tried this weave but feeling up for the challenge? You can purchase Blue Buddha instructions for Full Persian 6-in-1 here on our sale page. (Scroll all the way down almost to the end of the page to find them.)

HOW TO PARTICIPATE:




Make a project which primarily uses the featured weave or a variation of the featured weave. The project can use any and all B3 supplies and can use other weaves, but the featured weave should be the star. Please see the complete rules and details below for more information about qualifications.




Take a picture of your project and submit it using our official Featured Weave Contest form (link below.) You may post the piece online somewhere and provide us with a link, or upload it directly in the form. You will be asked to provide your name and an email address we can use to contact you in case anything goes wrong with your submission—or if you are the winner of the contest!

GO TO THE SUBMISSION FORM

Submissions are closed at midnight CT on 15th of every month and are limited to 2 entry pieces per person.



Get Votes! Submissions will close on the 15th of each month at which point the B3 Staff will choose our favorites. The top entries will be eligible for voting through a survey which we will post to our blog. If you are one of the finalists, feel free to share the link with friends via email, Facebook, Twitter or any other means.

Voting will close on the last day of the month.

 


We will award the top voted finalist each month with a $25 B3 Gift Certificate and will feature YOUR project in a special blog post and possibly even future B3 ads to inspire fellow chainmaillers all over the world.



Complete contest rules and details: Submissions are limited to 2 per person and must use the featured weave of the month as determined by Blue Buddha Boutique. The project is not required to be made from Blue Buddha Boutique rings, however any winning projects that use primarily rings from another supplier or rings made by the artist will not be eligible for posting on our blog or use in our ads to prevent false advertising. Pieces do not have to be specially created for the contest but should be no more than 12 months old. Current employees and interns of Blue Buddha Boutique are not eligible for this contest. Finalists are chosen by Blue Buddha Boutique and voted upon anonymously by the public to determine a winner. Submissions may be disqualified at the discretion of Blue Buddha Boutique if they are deemed inappropriate in any way. If a winner does not claim their prize within 15 days of notification, the second place winner will be awarded the prize.  Please note: As of March 2013, participants are not eligible to win two or more months in a row. 

Vote to select a winner for February’s “Featured Weave” contest!

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CAST YOUR VOTE NOW!

Submissions for February’s Featured Weave Contest are closed and the B3 team has done the difficult job of narrowing down the submissions to our group of finalists which means it’s time for YOU to cast your vote to determine the winner. This month, folks got busy creating pieces using dragonscale.  We were totally blown away by the range of creations which highlight so many different ways to use this weave!

To share the survey, we recommend you copy the link to this blog post and use that in any emails, blog posts, or social media posts you’d like to make about it (we’ve noticed some weirdness in the past with sharing the link directly – it sometimes like to bump people out of voting that haven’t already.)

Get a sneak peak at the all of our finalists below:

                  

FEATURED WEAVE FOR MARCH – Full Persian


For March, we’re featuring full persian.  This weave was requested by our community on Facebook and we can’t wait to see what you create with it!  The weave works in a number of sizes from very small (base metal size D22) to quite large (base metal size T16) and offers neat tapering options.

Want to see which B3 sizes work well for this weave?  Visit our base metal stats & uses page and our sterling silver stats & uses page, or check out these weave ideas posts right here on our blog.

Never tried this weave but feeling up for the challenge? You can purchase Blue Buddha instructions for Full Persian 6-in-1 here on our sale page. (Scroll all the way down almost to the end of the page to find them.)


 

 

Chainmaille Blog Bomb! Plus, great giveaways.

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UPDATE! Scroll down to check out the “aftershock” blog added to this blog bomb 2/21. One more chance to enter to win!

We had so much fun with our blog hop in November that we could hardly wait to do another one.  This time around, we’re doing a blog “bomb” – 4 blogs, 4 giveaways, all in one day.  BOOM!

The theme for this explosion is learning.  Whether it’s picking up chainmaille pliers for the first time, starting a new weave or really venturing into a new craft of any kind, taking those first few steps is altogether exciting, scary and confusing.  But that’s what makes it worth doing!  In re-launching our jewelry-making classes, we are energized knowing we’ll get to help lots of folks take these kinds of leaps, lead them through breakthrough moments and watch them create beauty.  We also can’t wait to do some learning ourselves as we invite makers of all kinds into our space for monthly CRE8TIME Maker Studios.

There’s something special about coming together to create as a community and we’ve really been missing that in our space.  We can’t wait to invite you in to part of it (and yes, we’re still brainstorming how to include folks not within driving distance in the fun!)

In the spirit of our diverse community, we have a very cool group of crafty bloggers participating today.  Make sure to click through on each of their posts below and leave a comment.  Doing so with automatically enter you to win a kit and instructions for our “Flowers” bracelet project.  (Please note: giveaways are open only to US residents this time around.)

Hands Occupied | Blogger: Heidi Gustad

Heidi Gustad is an experienced blogger who has worked with Michaels, Etsy, iLovetoCreate, EKSuccess Brands, Cricut, and more. She currently writes for Mod Podge Rocks!, Discover Paper, Craft Gossip and The Good Weekly. Heidi is also a Librarian when she’s not crafting up a storm. 

 

Check out Heidi’s post documenting her first chainmaille project. (P.S. – We love that B3 Team member & ambassador Darlene was part of her inspiration to learn!)

Lovestruck Jewelry Blog | Blogger: Sara Richardson

Sara Graham Richardson’s jewelry-making journey began in 2005, when she was hired to be an assistant editor for a new magazine called Step by Step Wire Jewelry. Having been hired for her journalism background at the time, she knew almost nothing about jewelry. With some encouragement, she discovered a new creative medium for herself and  now sells chainmaille and wire jewelry through her small business, Lovestruck Jewelry.

Check out Sara’s post all about the different ways to learn chainmaille.

ChiIL Mama Blog | Bonnie Kenaz-Mara

Bonnie Kenaz-Mara (AKA:  ChiIL Mama) is a a freelance writer-videographer-photographer with a P.R./Marketing & Theatre Arts degree from Miami University and over 25 years of experience in the business.  She and her two kids have taken on chainmaille jewelry through two previous blog hops with Blue Buddha Boutique and have proven crafting can be a family affair!

Check out Bonnie’s post all about creating community and passion through art!

BONUS! BLOG BOMB “AFTERSHOCK” – ONE MORE GREAT POST + GIVEAWAY


Poise.cc Blog | Cinnamon Cooper

Cinnamon Cooper taught herself to sew on her Holly Hobby sewing machine when she was a wee lass. She made the cutest outfits for her cats and dolls. Eventually she realized that sewing handbags and totes was great fun because they didn’t have to fit her hips or her waist which eventually led her to create www.Poise.cc — a small handbag empire where politics are fashionable and where handbags are designed to suit your purse-onality.

Check out Cinnamon’s post all about finally finishing her first chainmaille project, 6 years later.

Finally, make sure to leave a comment here on our blog to be entered to win the grand prize: One FREE 3-hour, chainmaille jewelry-making class held at Blue Buddha Boutique.  The winner will get to choose which class they would like to attend from all our upcoming classes and should be prepared to attend the class in-person.  We do not currently offer our classes online so this giveaway is really for folks nearby (or willing to travel) only.

Go!  Get inspired!  Leave comments!  Win cool stuff!  All contests will end at midnight CT on Tuesday, February 26th.

**Please note: Your comment may not appear right away.  In order to prevent spammers and robots from taking over our giveaway, we must approve comments, particularly from folks who have not commented on a previous blog post.  We will do so frequently throughout the day, so we’ll get to yours soon!

Get your “Maillers’ Choice” kit today!

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This month’s “Maillers’ Choice” kits are now available on our sale page. Scoop up your fan-customized “Japanese Cascade” necklace & earring kit today only from noon to midnight CT. Don’t forget!  You can purchase instructions with your kit today and save 5% off each!

Love “Maillers’ Choice”? Join the Club!

Add a “Maillers’ Choice” Club subscription to your order and receive all kits in 2013 to your mail box automatically each month. Please note that subscriptions purchased today will begin in March, so if you would like the February kit, you must add that to your order as well.