RAW update!

http://www.rawartists.org/wingsnscales

Hi Everybody, 

I have been hand-selected by RAW:natural born artists to show my work at their next artist showcase in Sacramento called COMMUNIQUE, but I need your help!

The event will be held at Ace of Spades, 1417 R St on Thursday, August 14th at 7:30pm. The event is 21+ and the dress code is cocktail attire. 

I'm writing to you to ask for your support to be a part of this amazing event! Not only can this event help me network with other great local artists and expose me to 700+ attendees, it can help me expand nationally as well. Here's how: 

RAW is providing me with a video interview and b-roll footage of the event, as well as head shots and photos of my display to help me to further promote myself independently. 

I'll be eligible to win the RAW artist of the year award locally, and have an opportunity to compete against other city winners for the national title to [perform/showcase] at the RAWards award show & ceremony in LA. 

AND I will have an opportunity to showcase again OUT-OF-STATE at any other RAW location of my choice!

All I have to do is sell 20 tickets to help promote the event. Your support would be greatly appreciated. The tickets are only $15 and need to be sold by Thursday, August 7th in order for me to participate. If you buy them from me you also save $5 because they go up to $20 at the door. 

You can purchase tickets right from my RAW artist profile: 

http://www.rawartists.org/wingsnscales

If you are not available to attend that night, you can still purchase a ticket to support me and my work. This will open up a guest list spot for me to invite someone who can attend [clients, record label owner, gallery owner, etc.]

I am currently running a special just for those who purchase tickets on my behalf.  You will receive a 50% discount code plus a special surprise for my Etsy and Handmade Artist shops. If you live locally, and would rather get the discount on an event I am participating in, please let me know.

Thank you so much for your support, I couldn't do this without you! 

Christina Miles XOXO

AND THE WINNER IS......

 Well, first off, let me announce the winner..  

MISCHELLE

 has won this pair of fun beautiful earrings and I am sooooo happy for her.  And I would also like to THANK ALL of you who participated, I really truly appreciated all your shares and comments very much. This has been a fun thing for me to do and I am going to plan on doing more in the future. I hope you enjoyed this and please try again at my next GiveAway..  I also wanted to Thank ZnetShows for those amazing sea glass beads...

Hugs to all....

Chris

FIRST "GIVEAWAY"

Yes, its my very first time for doing a "GIVE AWAY" and I am rather excited about it.  I did some research and checked out other designers give-away so I can see how I was going to do mine. So, this is it..  :-)

For those who are new to my blog, I am a designer for ZnetShows.  We often receive a beautiful handful of beads to create with. Many of our creations are put into their magazines and are also sometimes posted on their blog or website.  This set of earrings was created as part of the recent "Summer Days and Nights" challenge. I did not put them in the magazine so that I could use them as a bonus design on my blog, hence this Give-Away.

These are beautiful cherry red sea glass beads from ZnetShows.   I hand forged the copper wires and added the size 2 rondelle for that extra bling.  These are approximately 2 1/ inches long including the wire.  The copper is sealed with Clear Guard. 

Rules: well, I dont have many..lol.  All I really ask is that you leave a comment on this post.  Below I have a rafflecopter form and would greatly appreciate you filling it out and share the love of my blog.  Its not mandatory, just appreciated. I will put your name in the raffle for each item you fill out and complete on the form. So if you only fill out one of the items along with a comment, I will put your name in twice, etc.

Thank you so much for your interest and your participation...  PS, I do plan on another give away in September...so you might want to join my blog and like my FB page to see what I have coming up next..I will give you a hint, its not jewelry, but you can create something fun with it....and perhaps a few extras fun things tossed in!

***HUGS***

“WINGS N SCALES”

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

My New Watermark for my Photos

You know how it goes when you want to leave that special watermark on your photos and you want something that stands out..something that is YOU and represents what you make.  I am constantly changing my watermark signature to find the one that really works and stands out.  

I was looking online one day for who knows what..hehehe and I saw this beautiful signature that was so simple and it had this cute simple flower that was I think blue and the rest of the signature of her name and then her website...I LOVED it...  But you know me, I can not do simple. 

 SOoo, I did the hunt on Graphic Stock where I have found so many amazing graphics already.  I searched for WINGS since my business is Wings N Scales..Wings represent Fairies and Scales represents Mermaids just in case you didn't know... So I found this great graphic that is a PSD file so I can edit it in Photoshop..YAY.

So, this is the image I found and fell madly in love with. This image is a JPG, so what you see is what you get.  The PDS file has all of the layers.  So, I separated the layers and kept just the woman and the wings and got rid of the background. Then changed the colors.

Then once I found the picture I wanted, I needed to find a fun font.  I usually go to DaFont.com, the trick is finding a font that is free for commercial use.  They are there, but take some time to find them.  Most are for personal use.  Always read the rules before you install them on your computer just in case you want to use them for anything that is considered commercial.

I think this turned our rather cute dont you?  Now this is a jpg so its not the file I use for my watermark but I just love the colors...sooo me!  I thought maybe the girl was too large at first, but I think any smaller would have been not as powerful or noticeable.

I would love to hear your feedback on this.. 

If you think its too colorful, or to big.. I can always change it, or leave it alone!  

THANKS...

ZNETSHOW “Summer Days & Nights”..Magazine reveral

Another bundle of pure beachy joy by Znetshows was sent to me along with many other designers to see what we could come up with for the "Summer Days & Night" challenge.  I will tell you this, you will be quite excited to see all the creations in this magazine. We were also asked what our "PERFECT SUMMER" would be like...  Well, you see how I write sometimes...like a NOVEL sized blurp.    So believe me when I say...mine was a bit wordy and really there was no room for it in the magazine..so I am going to tell you what my perfect summer is to me here on my blog.....lots more room to write and probably bore you to death!!LOL

"My idea of a perfect summer would be sitting on the beach with my toes in the sand and enjoying the cool breeze on a hot day. Of course I would have a hat on and some sunscreen slathered all over my body and a huge pair of sunglasses on.  I would be sitting next to my hubby while he reads. Then also, I would have to have my handy dandy camera with me so I can take millions of pictures only to pick out 10 of my favorite ones later. As for night time, sitting at an outside restaurant eating my favorite fish and chips and having a nice glass of wine or ice cold beer with my hubby...yea, he has to tag along just about everywhere I go, he can be fun!"

Now for the more exciting part of this post...the Magazine.. 
 You can find me on page 74-76.

Summer Days and Nights Magazine by ZnetShows

 To see all the participants visit Znetshows Blog

So, with all the yummy beads, here are some pictures which are not posted in the magazine.. Remember this picture below, this is what I started out with.

This is what I made for my evening wear...its beautiful.  I am quite happy with the finished piece

 See the yummy Swarovski ravolis?

 I bought these great pewter beads at Beads On Main when they had their big sale, its so pretty and is double sided

 And the fun beaded rope..  I watched a quick video on You Tube and got to work..once I got started it was pretty easy to make...but is a very loose stitch so I put the sari silk in the middle for added strength and stability of the beads.

I added a metal filigree backing to the Swarovski rivoli which gave the beads better support and it made it so much prettier I think.

This red design was just an added piece I had to do.  I made the polymer beads, was lots of fun to see this piece fall into place.  I had no idea what I was going to do with all the red hour glass sea glass beads other than the dangle part.  

 I made the dangle part first and beaded a loop on the top not really knowing what I was going to attach it to.

 I made the large beads first...which I think turned out really well..Then I had all this scrap clay I didnt want to waste, so I ended up making the ring you see here.  Little by little this piece came together and I am in love with it!

 I had this clasp for another creation I was going to make, but then decided it looked really good on this necklace...

 Here are the beads, they are quite big for me, but I am getting used to the larger beads.

This is my day time piece.  Now this one, I am going to keep.  It is amazing and very summery and beachy.  I had these beads sitting on my table for some time...not knowing what I was going to do and the deadline was getting closer and closer.....and closer.

It fits me perfectly..LOL

Here is a close up of the starfish pendent I made with polymer clay

 I actually made the bracelet first.  I love this bracelet too...all the dangly beads...

I kept the cording ends long so I could keep them as part of the design element...

Love this clasp...its rather large, but look how fun it is...and its easy to handle for those with larger fingers

I just love this color combination. Sunny, beachy and bold...

I thought the earrings would look best with the same dangling strands of cord with all the same beads tied on.  

And for a fun pair of earrings for my almost final piece.

I have a perfect top that will go well with these earrings..

This is my final piece.  I made these last but did not put them in the challenge.  I had run out of time.  

Now for the real fun part!  Yup, I am going to do a "GIVE AWAY" with this pair of earrings. I have never done one before and have seen lots of other designers do this and I have actually participated in a few.  If you are interested in my GIVE AWAY, please make sure you leave a comment.  Once I get my rules squared away, I will send you a little message and post it on my blog.

Thanks sooooo much for stopping by and checking out the new magazine!

Chris

Blog Hop Participants:

Amy Severino

Andrea Trank

BeckyPancake

BobbieRafferty

BR Kuhlman

CharlieJacka

ChristieMurrow

ChristinaMiles <-----me----->

ChristineStonefield

CynthiaMachata

CynthiaRiggs

DonettaFarrington

HopeSmitherman

KashmiraPatel

KathyLindemer

Kay Thomerson

KellyPatterson

KlaudeteKoon

Lee Koopman

Lisa Lodge

RenethaStanziano

SandraWashington

Shaiha Williams

SherylStephens

StephanieHaussler

TammieEverly