GIVEAWAY...International Charm Day!

Below are some charms I am finishing up for "Charms for Charity" an annual charity fundraisers from Metal Clay Group.  They are all made of bronze clay,but not quite finished.  The "red cast" you see on the metal is the reflection of my red tee shirt!


















Today is International Charm Day, and to celebrate, I will be giving away one of my new hand sculpted bronze skeleton bird charms.  it is a bronze bird with a skull head and skeleton hand wings and tail,perched on a white pearl nested in a skeleton hand.  Typical my style of charm..... I will post a picture later in the day, Here's a very bad pic,but it will give you an idea......both charms below are unfinished, of course.  i will post finished pics as soon as my tools arrive from Kauai and I can finish them!   The giveaway will be this Sunday, May 2nd at 6pm EST (I'm in Florida!)  All you have to do is leave a comment between now and then!  Be sure to visit the other bloggers who are also celebrating this charming holiday and check out their giveaways, too!
http://www.internationalcharmday.blogspot.com/

FACEBOOK AND YOUR PRIVACY - IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!

Facebook is changing and expanding the ways they share your information - and if you don't change your settings and opt out - you run the risk of all of your information AND your friends information, responses, etc being public.  They are tracking everything you do and selling it to thousands of companies.  This is an article from the New York Times.  If you click on the link to the actual article you can read even more warnings at the bottom of the page.  Here's the complete link.   In light of what happened to me, being hacked, you NEED to opt out of this!  Remember- the hacker used my facebook info to personalize their money plea letters to my friends list.....
April 23, 2010, 3:12 PM
How to Opt-Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization

By RIVA RICHMOND

This week, Facebook’s introduced the “open graph,” a giant expansion of the “social graph” concept on which Facebook is built. The word “open” alone should be a tip-off that there are significant new privacy issues to weigh.

In the open graph, Facebook sees us as connected not just to other people – our friends — on Facebook, but to myriad things all over the Web. These things could be favorite bands, news outlets or restaurants. It’s a potentially powerful idea – Facebook wants to uncover all these interests and predilections and let us share them with our friends, whether we’re at Facebook or somewhere else, in ways that could deepen personal connections and help us discover cool and interesting information.

But there’s a price paid in privacy. Facebook deems these “connections” to interests and businesses and content to be public information — along with your name, profile picture, gender and friend list. And it intends to make them very public through new “social plugins” and “instant personalization”.

If you like the idea of broadcasting which articles and bands and restaurants you like, you’re in luck. But if you’d rather keep your personal preferences private, beware. The instructions on how to reverse it are below, after the jump.

Soon, Facebook users will be invited to declare “connections” while on other Web sites by using several new Facebook buttons and features, all identified by the Facebook icon, including opportunities to write comments about content on these sites. (Site developers will add them using Facebook’s new social plug-ins.)

If you click a Like button or make a comment, know that you’re authorizing Facebook to publish it on your Facebook profile and in your friends’ news feeds. Also, when Facebook friends of yours visit the same site, they may be informed about what content you recommended or added there, and you will see their activity, too. Facebook says it will not share any of your data with these sites.

If you don’t want your activity to be published publicly, don’t use these Facebook features.

Facebook also wants to expand your “personal and social experience” on the Web by marrying your life on Facebook with your existence on partner Web sites — for now, limited to Windows Docs, Pandora and Yelp, but expect that list to grow. It will let these sites use your public Facebook information — again, your name, profile picture, gender, and “connections” — so they can, say, tip you off to bands and watering holes that your friends recommend.

There has been some controversy about instant personalization, because Facebook has automatically opted in its 400 million plus users. TechCrunchreports some Google employees are so disturbed that they are unplugging from Facebook altogether by deactivating their accounts.

Facebook has been walking users through the new arrangement and related settings, including presenting them with an opportunity to opt out. You can also reach the settings and opt-out via the Applications and Web sites page. Click “Edit Setting” beside Instant Personalization and uncheck the box on the next page beside “Allow select partners to instantly personalize their features with my public information when I first arrive on their websites.” You can also opt out by clicking “No Thanks” in a blue Facebook bar that will appear at the top of each partner site the first time you visit.

Note that even if you opt out, your friends can still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experiences on these sites unless you block each of their applications manually. To do that, visit the “Applications Settings – Authorized” page and scroll down to the “External Websites” section, click “Profile” for each application and then the “Block Application” link on the top left of the profile page.

This is also a good time to double check your application privacy settings and make sure they reflect the information you’re comfortable letting your friends share about you. Check or uncheck the boxes based on your preferences and save your changes.

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/how-to-opt-out-of-facebooks-instant-personalization/?src=busln

YOU ARE WORTH THE TIME...

this is wonderful!  I got it from my friend Lorri who got it from her friend Sharla.

THANK YOU

I just wanted to thank all of my friends and family who put up with the pitiful letter everyone was sent when my facebook and email accounts were hacked.  I appreciate and am very grateful for your concern and caring!
I still don't have access to facebook yet  (tomorrow I hope), but i do have my email accounts back.
How did this happen?  perhaps i clicked on an infected website or maybe it was the unknown person i emailed to ask if I knew them on facebook before I accepted them as a friend?  Who knows.
I did delete all of my contacts in my address lists - so i will have to go searching for your addresses or else look them up in a book i keep.  A bit of an inconvenience, but far better than the embarrassment and hassle of being hacked and phished!   Had I answered my sons phone call at 3:30 am (my time) i could have gone online and frozen the accounts before so much damage was done - I won't do that again!  the hacker started their conversations and requests on facebook.....my son got his on his phone......
Be sure sure sure SURE! that you have entered tough SECURITY QUESTIONS for all of your accounts so that no one can change your passwords or info unless they can answer the security questions first.  I learned the hard way.
THANK YOU, AGAIN    -   YOU'RE THE VERY BEST!

lucky week!

First, Today my son SKYLAR graduated from the New York Academy of Dramatic Art.
WAY TO GO SKY!
We are very very proud of him.   Sky spent 5 years in the US Marines and then returned from Iraq to pursue his true passion - acting.   He landed several speaking roles in TV and feature films in L.A., and then he ventured to New York to fine hone his craft.

He's a really incredible and unique singer, too.
Congratulations Sky - Now GO OUT AND BREAK A LEG, son.
He's such a cutie.
on another note......
I love contests..before the internet  "contesting" was my hobby...I even subscribed to a "contest" bulletin and i sent in zillions of sweepstakes entries a month......and i won lots of prizes too!   from childrens toys, a years supply of pepsi, clothes, an electric knife - even cash!
sooooo.  i love to enter internet contests and giveaways......i don't usually win, but when i do- i tend to do it in multiples!
this week I won:

This was from Crafters Cafe.  This is a book i really wanted...so I am stoked!
Then,  the beadcoop.com sent me this notice:

This Months Winners connie CatCOgle Ellie yep- i won $10 worth of their fabulous bead PATTERNS.  I chose patterns from Silverhill Designs.

I chose a pattern called "Heart of Fire" Earrings, "Queen of the Nile" Necklace, and "Peacocks Pride" amulet bag.
...and then today, this!

Studio Saturday with Jangles

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.
Last weeks winner is Connie. Congratulations you've won one of Lynn's pewter medallion medal charms .

Woohoo! I won a pewter medallion charm made by Lynn, from last weeks Studio Saturday Blog, where a new artists presents their studio and the new art they are working on.  Lynn has two etsy shops with great pewter, copper and resin art.

Studio Saturday is a part of Artbead Scene blog, and this blog hosts several contests...Jennifer at Jangles also has her own giveaway every friday.

I think I should go out and buy some lottery tickets... what a week!