Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads Giveaway!

Last week, I was the lucky recipient of the Sisterhood of the Traveling bead box- 

(Originated by the talented Heather Powers of Humblebeads- Heather compiled a large box of beads from her studio, and offered them in a giveaway on her blog. The box has traveled through the hands of about 8 different people!

 I won by sheer LUCK as my comment was picked on Kristie's Artisan Clay blog. When it arrived, I was so excited and eager to go through the contents! It was equivalent to Christmas morning, except there was a glass of wine, and instead of in front of the tree, I was on the floor of my studio.

I picked out a handful of my favorite items, here is a pic of a few things I picked out.

I contributed several boxes of art beads, and other findings, and beads to the box- trying to label them accurately for the next recipient.  Here is a sneak peek of a Smidge of what I contributed from my own stash.

There is now a cute little journal included, which I thought was fun- and enjoyed writing my entry of what I was contributing. The biggest challenge was making it all fit back onto the box once I was done, but I was triumphant!!

Here is the box, all packed up and ready to go to the next lucky beadaholic! Here's what you need to know to play along:

The giveaway: The entire box of goodies, WELL over $200 worth of beads.

The stipulations: You'll pay for shipping: $15.00 for flat rate priority mail.

The rules: You'll take what you want from the box, add in items from your own bead stash to replace the items you took and do the same giveaway on your blog. We'll keep the beads traveling for as long as we can.

To enter: Leave a comment, be sure to include your email.


Bonus: Blog, facebook or twitter about it to enter more than once. Leave another comment letting me know how you helped spread the word.



Deadline: Comments will be accepted until Friday Nov 5th, at 5pm
                 [the box will then be shipped Monday Nov. 8 to the winner.]



The winner will then have 2 weeks to go through the box and pick out their items and contribute to the box, and then host their own giveaway.

All I ask is that each time it passes hands, the winner will email me when the next giveaway starts so I can enjoy the traveling and help promote your giveaway!

International bloggers: I'm sorry, but due to shipping only those in the U.S. can play along. But I'm suddenly feeling really bad for my non-U.S. blog readers. If you are outside the states leave a comment and I'll also draw one international winner for a bead grab bag from my own stash of beads.

Here were some fun comments from the contest that Heather shared:

"How about if contributors post pix of the contents when they get it and what they add? It would be very interesting to see how it changes." - Deerwoman


"I'd love to play. Is it possible to share your turn? Because I know my bead society would love to join in but most of them don't blog or have sites." - Mikki



"A friend of mine started something like this a little while ago - on a much smaller scale of course - only $15 worth of beads - and we have 4 beaders who are participate currently. When the pkgs contain beads we originally put into the stash, we take them out and replace them and just keep the traveling bead circle going. :) It's a really fun way to destash/share and receive/discover new goodies!" - Kismet1990



Some questions that Heather was asked:

How do we know the value to replace the beads? I only ask that you think generously of the next winner and replace the beads with what you think is a fair trade.



Did I lose my mind giving away this stash? Honestly these are things I will never use. They were stuffed in boxes or piled in corners. I'm not giving up anything precious. I also happen to be a big believer that only open hands can receive new gifts! (Or beads in this case.)



Can I do this on my blog? By all means, de-stash and do your own traveling bead box! I didn't make this up, gardeners trade seeds, readers trade books, there are crafty swaps going on all the time. Have fun, I'm happy to inspire such beady goodness.