Blog Giveaway for Tigger - Awesome Prizes, and not just for Beaders!

As you may know, my puppy, Tigger, has had a rough start in life. I won't detail all his medical issues again (you can read about them here and here), but he is finally home from the hospital after extensive surgery, and is on the mend. In fact, tomorrow we drive back to his surgeon in Columbia to get his sutures and staples removed, and hopefully he'll be cleared for full activity! (I'm supposed to be keeping this 3-month old bundle of puppy energy calm ... LOL!)

 Tigger wearing his post-op T-shirt (to protect his incision) and his inflatable collar to keep him from chewing

Carol Dean Sharpe (of SandFibers) and Nancy Dale (NEDbeads) have organized a Facebook Group called Patterns for Tigger to help me with Tigger's medical bills, and we also have a separate Fundraiser on LoveAnimals.org.

 Tigger playing with Chance, his stuffed doggy (one of Bailey's old toys)

Here are the patterns donated for Tigger's expenses, courtesy of some very talented beaders and designers:

 Carol Dean's Corrugated Mixed Metals Peyote Cuff

100% of the purchase price of this pattern will go toward Tigger's expenses if you purchase it between now and October 23.

Nancy's Summertime Wrap Bracelet tutorial; 100% of the proceeds from the purchase of this pattern go to Tigger's bills. Nancy's generous offer expires October 8 (when the pattern will return to her shop), so you have to hurry to snap this one up!

Summertime Wrap Bracelet tutorial by NEDbeads

Ella of Ellad2 has donated the tutorial for her Alcira bracelet, an elegant and sparkly bracelet made with seed beads, metallic Marino Ice fire-polished beads, and SuperDuos. 100% of the proceeds from this pattern go towards Tigger expenses UNTIL October 26, when the pattern will return to her shop, so the clock is ticking on this one, too!

Alcira bracelet tutorial by Ellad2

Beki Haley of Whimbeads is donating 15% of the purchase price of her Dragon's Tail Tutorial/Kits. These are available in 4 enticing colorways: purple, copper, cream, and bronze.

Purple Dragon's Tail Kit and Tutorial, by Beki Haley

Karen Waterston of Endless Sparkle has donated her Hex-A-Gon Fling Tutorial.

100% of the purchase price of this bold, graphic odd-count peyote pattern goes toward Tigger's bills, and Karen is also allowing me to sell bead kits for this design - the kits are available here.

Cristie Prince has donated her Cleopatra bracelet tutorial; this sparkly bracelet features 8mm rondelles, 3mm crystal bicones, and various seed beads, and is an intermediate level beadweaving tutorial that includes cross-weaving, peyote, and netting techniques.

 Cleopatra bracelet tutorial by Cristie Prince

Susan Barrett of Bead Goddess Designs has doubled the beady goodness by donating 2 tutorials:

Mermaid's Treasure Chest -- a gorgeous sparkler worked on a netted base,

Mermaid's Treasure Chest bracelet tutorial by Susan Barrett

and her sparkly and colorful Stained Glass Bracelet tutorial, which is based on Herringbone, and uses Delicas, 15/0s, and Swarovski crystals:

Stained Glass Bracelet tutorial by Susan Barrett

Susan has taught both these patterns at Bead and Button in the past, and is allowing me to sell these patterns for as long as I need to!

Smadar Grossman, of Smadar'sTreasure, has donated her Rosita Bonita tutorial, a 2-in-1 package that contains both a bracelet and a necklace pattern; these use Superduos and a variety of seed beads.

Not to be outdone (not that it's a competition, ladies!), Carol Dean Sharpe surprised me last night with not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 gorgeous peyote graphs she created from this photo of Tigger I had posted on Facebook:

smiling Tigger

In addition to the gorgeous, natural Golden Retriever colors, she designed 3 eye-popping pop art-inspired colorways: red-blue, pink-turquoise, and heavy metal. These are all even-count peyote graphs, and I've bundled them together as one fantastic tutorial package, available in my Etsy shop.

 Golden Retriever puppy bracelet tutorial - natural colorway

 Golden Retriever puppy bracelet tutorial - blue-red colorway

 Golden Retriever puppy bracelet tutorial - pink-turquoise colorway

Golden Retriever puppy bracelet tutorial - heavy metal colorway

These will be available forever, and I think they'll appeal to a broad audience: Golden Retriever lovers, Dog lovers, puppy lovers, Tigger lovers, and all sorts of folks - don't you agree? Thanks, CD!

I'm working on making kits available for these - I have to order a lot of colors, but I hope to have them ready within 2-3 weeks.

Sales of my own Well-Traveled Superduo and 2-hole tile bracelet tutorial also go toward Tigger's expenses.

Sales of the kits for this bracelet pattern also go towards our cause - click here to see all the kits and tutorials available to help Tigger!

And we still aren't done! Here's one for non-beaders:

Katie Nelson of Katie's Creations has generous offered to stitch up my Well-Traveled bracelet for anyone who purchases the kit from my Etsy shop. That's right: purchase one of my Well-traveled kits, and Katie will stitch it for free* -- all you have to do is purchase the kit, and leave a note for seller at checkout telling me you want Katie to stitch it, and tell me your desired bracelet size. I'll provide a clasp, and ship the beads to Katie, and you'll receive a beautiful custom bracelet! (*You'll have to send Katie a small fee to cover her shipping the finished bracelet to you.) What a deal!

Despite the outpouring of generosity from Planet Bead and Tigger's many friends and family (both in real life and on Facebook), we are still falling short of our goal. Between our 2 fundraising opportunities, we have only reached 1/3 of our goal, for which I am very, very grateful, but we still have a long way to go!

To this end, I am putting together this blog giveaway! We have 3 prizes (and I can add more, if anyone else wants to donate - just contact me!): Carol Dean is offering a $50 gift certificate for her Etsy shop, good for patterns and/or finished jewelry, and I am offering 2 prizes: a $35 gifts certificate good for anything (patterns, kits, or jewelry) in my Etsy shop OR at YaYa Beads in Augusta, GA (one or the other - winner's choice!) AND one free seed bead kit from my shop - either a Well-Traveled kit, the Hex-A-Gon kit, or the yet-to-be-listed Tigger bracelet kits.

How can I enter, you must be asking by now?! Well, 3 prizes means 3 drawings, and 3 winners, so let's lay out the rules:

First, every purchase (jewelry, kits, tutorials) in my Etsy shop between now and midnight (Eastern Daylight Time) October 10, 2014, will be entered into the drawing for the $35 gift certificate to my shop. The entry will happen automatically, so the sale(s) itself IS your entry. Buy more than one item, get one entry for each item purchased, automatically EASY! Plus - you folks have been busily shopping in my shop while I've been writing this lengthy post, so any purchase since midnight last night will be automatically entered.

Second:  Make a donation directly to LoveAnimals.org in Tigger's name - here's the link. All donations made between today (October 5) and midnight, October 10, will also be entered into the drawing for the $35 gift certificate to my shop. Be sure and leave your e-mail address there when you donate, so I can contact you if you win.

Third, every comment on this blog post between now and midnight, October 10, will earn one entry for the remaining 2 gifts certificates (the $50 SandFibers gift certificate and the gift certificate for one free seed bead kit from MY shop). These must be unique, purposeful comments, though - don't spam me! You won't like me when I'm spammed! (Incredible Hulk reference, LOL). Please make sure that every comment you leave contains a way for me to contact you - either an e-mail address or a link to your Etsy shop. I need to be able to contact you if you win! If I cannot find you, I'll have to draw another name.

Here are some of the ways to make a qualifying blog comment:

• Leave a comment here, telling me what kind of beaded jewelry you like to wear best, and why.
• Leave a comment here, telling me what kind(s) of jewelry you make, and why you like that medium.
• Leave a comment here, telling me how cute Tigger is, because, seriously - how can you resist that face?
• Blog about this giveaway, and leave a comment here with a link to your blog post.
• Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a comment here letting me know about your Tweet. Tweets must include the hashtags #giveaway and #PatternsForTigger, and also a link to this blog post. Here is a shortened URL for this post to make your tweeting easier: http://bit.ly/10C3RYH
• Share this blog post on Facebook using this link, and leave a comment here letting me know you shared this post,
• Visit the Patterns for Tigger Facebook page, find the post that links to this blog post, and share that Facebook post. Then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you shared the Patterns for Tigger post linking to this blog post.

So that's at least NINE different ways to enter, SEVEN of which require SEVEN different blog comments on THIS blog post (make sure you are commenting on the correct blog post!)  Lots of ways to enter, several ways to win, but you have to get busy! This giveaway ends at midnight, Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, October 10, 2014. You are free to chooses as many methods to enter as you like - just enter! You can't win if you don't enter! And please be sure each of your comments contain a valid e-mail address or Etsy shop address for me to contact the winners!

I'll be drawing the 3 winners sometime on Saturday, October 11, and contacting the winners shortly thereafter.

So, good luck, and get going: Comment, Tweet, Share, and Blog away! The clock is ticking!

And be sure to visit the shops of the talented ladies above - they have many more wonderful designs to tempt you!

If you have a tutorial you'd like to donate to help Tigger, please let me know - he and I are very grateful for all the beading community has done for us!