Weaving A Gem Of A Life » Contests

Peg Cherre — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:52:59 +0000

My daughter convinced me to enter a photo in the Snap Local, Snap Fresh online contest. Designed to encourage and support the local food movement, winners will receive prizes from the NY Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua — a very cool place.

This is asparagus grown in my garden. I’ve had a bed for decades now. Had to move it once when some construction was taking place, and may have to move it again due to my own poor planning for trees growing, but I love fresh asparagus, so it’s worth the work.

You can vote for my picture here, and visit Amanda’s site to get the links to her pix.

I hope to get a few more pictures during my travels this weekend — we’ll see how that works out.

Your turn: what’s your favorite local food?

Tiny Dancer

Peg Cherre — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:42:22 +0000

I think I was 5 or 6 (but maybe as old as 7 or 8). It was Christmas morning — very early Christmas morning. My sisters and I got up at our usual wee hours time. In hindsight I’m guessing it was around 5:00 AM. We’d get up and go downstairs as quietly as possible, which probably wasn’t all that quiet.

We knew well and respected the Christmas morning rules. We were allowed to open our stockings, and our stockings only, until both of my parents were up. And for Dad, that included having at least one cup of coffee in him. Perked coffee. Coffee that took a lifetime to make, or at least 15 minutes, which was close enough to a lifetime for little kids on Christmas morning.

So on this particular Christmas morning my sisters and I were downstairs enjoying the thrill of the stockings. (Watch for more on my family’s stockings in a new post.) But my parents were sleeping. And sleeping. We knew we couldn’t wake them too early (was the rule 6:00 AM?), but we were getting anxious. So my oldest sister had the brilliant idea of organizing the presents under the tree, piling up a stack for each of us so we could at least see the size, shape, and number of boxes. I’m sure I didn’t argue with the idea.

We crawled under the tree, gathered and sorted, piled and stacked.

Then…..oh, no! The box on top of my stack fell over! When it did, music started playing. I was scared, ashamed, and guilty. I knew we were wrong and shouldn’t have been messing with the packages. I ran upstairs to my parents’ room crying. Mom woke up pretty quickly.

I don’t remember what happened next, but I vividly remember the amazing music box I got for Christmas that year. This picture is the closest thing I could find.

The base was an inexpensive metal, but it was embossed with a design that I thought beautiful. You could lift off the lid and put a few little things inside, but that wasn’t important to me. I don’t remember what song the music box played, but I might recognize it if I heard it. Or I might not.

The top part of the music box was AMAZING!! It was made of a heavy duty plastic, but it was as good as glass for me. And inside the glass? Inside was a beautiful ballerina, complete with a starched cloth tutu. Her arms were raised in perpetually graceful motions, but her legs — they were the most amazing part of all. Her legs were hinged at the knees. When you wound up the music box, she twirled around, and as she twirled she also went up and down on a little stick that kept her centered on her tiny stage. When she was at the lowest point of her dance, her knees were bent. At the highest point, she was dancing on the tips of her toe shoes. The ballerina would plie and jump, twist and turn, plie and jump. I loved it.

I’ve seen jewelry box/music box combos that have a ballerina that pops up and twirls when you open the lid, but they were all stilted and ugly compared to mine. I’ve never seen another one anything like it, only this picture to confirm my remembrances.

I believe that music box stayed in a place of honor on top of my dresser for at least a decade (two lifetimes to a child), and worked perfectly that entire time. My ballerina music box was the first really important Christmas present I remember.

Your turn – what’s one of your early Christmas present memories?

Other posts you might also like:

December Contest

More Free Stuff

Win a Free Victorian Ornament

Peg Cherre — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:29:32 +0000

Congratulations to Joanne, who won the November contest. I plan to deliver her talisman at my show this weekend.

Now to the December contest. This month’s contest will be shorter than usual so that you have a chance to receive your prize by Christmas. The prize?

This little hand made Christmas ornament with its beaded cover. This is my smallest Victorian-style ornament, only about 2″ in diameter. The blue matte glass ball is adorned with glass beads. Should the glass ball break (as it did when I dropped it during the photo shoot), no problem, just slip of the cover and drape it over another ball. You can also choose to change it to another color (silver, white, red — you choose) to coordinate with your tree theme or just for a different look.

So what do you have to do to win this hand beaded ornament? Simply leave me a comment, on this or another post, telling me one great Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Eid/Solstice story from you life. Your answers are due by December 15 – only 12 days, folks, so let’s hear from you!

November Contest, Part 4

Peg Cherre — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:47:53 +0000

After I posted Part 3 of this contest, asking for your funny stories, I thought about what funny story of my own I would post. I was surprised to realize that I don’t really have a funny story about Thanksgiving. So I’m posting Part 4 – Good News.

I got the best Thanksgiving news ever – my son will be home for Christmas! Michael’s been living in North Carolina for about 7 years, and I don’t think he’s been home on Christmas itself in all that time. He usually gets some time off in the middle of winter, but we’ve celebrated Christmas as late as mid-February with him.

And this year? He’ll be home a few days before December 25, staying for a few days after. YAY!!!

He’ll be bringing my granddaughter with him. Here’s a picture of sweet, little Dixie and her dad. Ok, neither of them are little, but they’re both extremely sweet.

So what’s your good news? Tell me and you’re entered into the November contest for the free gemstone talisman

Win More Free Stuff!

Peg Cherre — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:54:37 +0000

A cartoon of Margaret's

If you’re like me, you love the chance to win free goodies. Particularly when there’s no scam, catch, or other drawback to entering. When the odds are as good as this, that only adds to the draw.

I’m not talking about my contest to win free jewelry, although I DO want you to enter that, too.

In addition to my contest, enter Margaret Shulock’s contest. She’s giving away your choice of either her hysterical calendar or a set of lovely note cards. No strings attached.

What are you waiting for? Enter both contests now!

November Contest, Part 2

Peg Cherre — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:14:54 +0000

Ah, Turkey Day. In addition to bringing to mind all the reasons we have to be grateful, for most Americans it’s filled with traditions. As a kid, I have a few essential Thanksgiving memories: my mom getting up early to begin drying out white bread in the oven, later to be cubed, mixed with chopped onions & celery & pounds of margarine for the stuffing; watching the parade on TV; and getting the jellied cranberry sauce out of that can in one piece. These three were constants.

When I had my own family, we adopted several of my hubby’s traditions – using bags of various Pepperidge Farm bread blends (cubes and crumbs) as the base of the stuffing instead of white bread we’d dried in the oven, adding sausage to the stuffing, and cooking that turkey in a paper bag.

If you’re like I was that first year, you’re now saying, “Huh? Cook the turkey in a paper bag?!” Yep, you butter the inside of a brown paper grocery bag, slip Tom into it, fold the end over and keep it closed with clothespins. It really does keep in the juices and reduce cooking time. I’m sure its where Reynolds got the idea of their browning bags.

One Thanksgiving tradition that’s remained constant throughout my life? Getting that jellied cranberry sauce out of the can in one piece.

One of my sweetie’s weirdest traditions? An essential leftover lunch included a stuffing sandwich with on doughy white bread. With mayonnaise WHAT?! That’s a bread sandwich! Putting bread between two slices of bread! Yep, I agree, it’s totally wrong, but my comments never budge the practice. Nor could his insistence make me try it.

Remember the prize this month? It’s a healing gemstone talisman. Made with moss agate, amethyst, amber, peridot, and my coppery wishes for peace.

So as part 2 of the November contest, what’s one of your Thanksgiving traditions? Tell me sweet or odd, long-standing or newly-formed. If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, use another food-centric holiday of your choice. (You can still respond to the first part, if you prefer.)

November Contest

Peg Cherre — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:50:35 +0000

Although here in the northeast our gardens are pretty much done in October, traditionally November is a time of celebration for the past growing season. Thanksgiving is the culmination of this, and includes gratitude for many things beyond just sufficient food.

My November contest is in that spirit of gratefulness and abundance.

I made a talisman specifically for this month’s prize.

Copper is said to bring relief from some joint ailments. I just love its rich, warm color. I’ve stamped it with the word shanti, which means peace. That’s part of what I think of with gratitude, and what I wish for. Inner peace, peaceful thoughts and feelings toward others, and peace in my community and the world.

I chose an assortment of gemstones for their healing properties. With Thanksgiving generally a time of abundance, I included moss agate, amber, and peridot. These three gemstones are said to bring abundance to their owners. Because of the word I chose for the copper, I wanted to repeat the message of peace and happiness, so I selected amethyst, peridot, and repeated the amber. Peridot is also helpful in inspiring compassion, an essential element for both internal and external peacefulness.

I’m sometimes asked what one does with a talisman. Here are a few options: carry it in your pocket (my personal favorite) or purse, hang it from your bedpost, put it on a leather thong and wear it around your neck, pin it to your waistband. The point is to keep the talisman near you as much as possible.

So how can you win this lovely talisman? I’ll be posting several entries asking for your response related to the November theme. All you need to do is comment on one or more of them.

For this week, the question is this — tell me about a person that graces your life, that makes you grateful for his or her presence, that brings a smile to your lips. I’ll tell you about mine in a few days.

October Winner

Peg Cherre — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:37:35 +0000

Congratulations to Kathy S, who won the October contest. I’m sending the handmade bracelet, crafted from sterling silver, porcupine quills, and red jasper her way.

I’m hoping she’ll send me a photo of it on her wrist!

Be sure to check back soon – I’ll post the November contest in the next day or two. (I have to squeeze out a few minutes to make the prize first.)

September Contest Winner

Peg Cherre — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:32:48 +0000

Yeah, it’s taken me forever to post this. Sorry. Getting ready for 2 shows back to back, one of which requires me to clean my house thoroughly, has kept me really busy. Anyway…

Congratulations to Joyce, the winner of the September contest for the starry earrings! Check out her blog – Joyce takes some amazing photographs!

And if you haven’t yet entered the October contest for my new handmade bracelet with porcupine quills, red jasper, and sterling silver, what are you waiting for? Leave me a comment for your chance to win free jewelry!

October Contest-Free Bracelet

Peg Cherre — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:56:49 +0000

It’s fall. Although the grass is still green, browns, reds, and ochres predominate here in the hills of western New York. I decided that the prize for my free handmade jewelry contest this month should somehow reflect the autumnal season. In fact, this bracelet is a new design of mine.

I’ve had a few different designs of porcupine quill necklaces and porcupine quill earrings for several years now, but bracelets present particular problems when working with quills. Quills are fragile; they bend, crack, and break easily, so need to be strengthened by being threaded onto sterling wire. Regular beading wire doesn’t provide enough stability, and stretchy cord is simply unacceptable. Trust me, I’ve tried them all. I couldn’t come up with a bracelet design that both supported the quills and pleased me. Until now.

This bracelet is made from porcupine quills, red jasper, and sterling silver, including a sterling silver handmade clasp.

I’m often asked how I prepare porcupine quills for my handmade jewelry. It’s a lengthy process. After the quills are removed from the porcupine, they need to be cleaned in warm, soapy water, sterilized with a bleach solution, and then laid in the sun to dry. Both ends must be cut off to remove the barbs, and then it’s trimmed to length. Tedious and time consuming.

I like to use red jasper in my handmade jewelry designs. In addition to providing a nice, rich, warm color, red jasper is a great healing gemstone. It helps improve self-worth and enhances body image. It protects against negativity and promotes beauty, grace, and healing. Red jasper is also helpful in understanding and improving family relationships.

So how can you win this handmade bracelet? I’ve decided to repeat last month’s challenge. Simply leave me a comment on any one of my blog posts this month (entries must be received by midnight on Friday, October 30) to be entered into an end-of-month drawing. I’ll notify the winner on Halloween.

If you love the concept of quill jewelry, check out my necklaces and earrings. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to put them on my website, so you’ll have to come to one of my shows or contact me for pictures.

I can’t announce the September winner yet; I’m waiting to hear back from her. (Check your email to see if you’ve gotten a message from me.)