Luccicare Interview and Giveaway!

Calling all Pandora and Troll Bead Bracelet Lovers!! This giveaway is for you!! Today’s amazing giveaway and interview comes all the way from the Netherlands courtesy of the lovely Christa! Christa has an amazing shop specializing in lampwork beads! Now when I first chanced upon her etsy shop I had seen and heard about lampwork beads before but I didn’t know the long process that goes into making each and every bead! What I love most about lampwork beads is that fact that each one is unique and that you will never find two beads that are exact! It is literally as if the bead was made only for you!

Christa has such an amazing selection of beads in every single colour, I just enjoyed looking at all the pretty designs and just imagining what a whole bracelet would look like made of these amazing beads! I’m not the only one that loves her beads because she can boast 2, 287 sales on etsy which is so amazing and a great accomplishment!! Her beads can be put on a Pandora bracelet or a Troll bracelet or you can even buy a bracelet on which to put her beads on! This is a perfect alternative to the pricy beads that can reach into the hundreds!! All her beads are perfectly wallet friendly!! I'm so excited because Christa was so nice enough to give me a little surprise although I don't know what it is yet, I can barely wait!! =)

Here is her interview:

Name: Christa
Name of shop: Luccicare Lampwork
Location: Harlingen, The Netherlands

Favourite item from your shop: Hard to choose but my favourite colour combination is definitely Ivory & Double Helix (silver glass).

Tell us a little bit about yourself: I'm married and mother of 2 boys (9&11 years old). August 2008 I quit my daytime job and became a full-time bead maker. I'm totally addicted to melting glass so I'm very happy to be able to make beads the whole day...

When and what made you want to open up your shop? Just for fun I opened a shop on Etsy (august 2007) and to my surprise I made a sale on the very first day I listed! Of course I'm very happy with all sales (allowing me to make it a full-time business) but what I really like is the fact that my beads travel around the world and I love the friendly conversations with buyers from many different countries!!

Tell us a little bit more about your creation process: For my glass beads I use soda-lime glass rods like Effetre, Lauscha and Double Helix. To melt the glass I use a minor bench burner, this is an oxygen/propane torch. I welcome custom requests but what I really like is to sit down behind the torch, play around and try to come up with new designs and combinations.
I'm a proud member of SRA (Self Representing Artist #K53), meaning all glass beads I offer for sale are made by me in my home studio.

Where do you draw inspiration for all your amazing designs? Inspiration comes from nothing, or in other words: what works best for me is to sit behind the torch with a blank mind, grab some colours and start working...

If you could be an animal what would you be and why? I guess a tropical fish, I love to swim but the water has to be warm and the sun has to shine :)

If you could have one super power what would it be and why?
It's predictable, but I would love to fly. So a flying tropical fish would be great LOL



The Giveaway:


Christa was kind enough to offer the winner any glass bead from her etsy shop that is $18.00 or under!! I’m so jealous of the winner because they will have such a hard time deciding because she has tons of amazing beads for $18 in her shop! And if you think that’s a great prize wait until you hear the next part…..Christa loves you so much that she will add a matching surprise charm! This will make one lucky girl’s bracelet very happy! The total prize package is worth $35.00!!


How to Enter:

1) Go to Christa’s etsy shop and comment on your most favourite item for one entry!

2) If you become a new follower you get four more entries

3) If you are currently a follower you get six more entries (Yay for being loyal blog followers!)

4) If you post my button on your blog you get five extra entries

5) If you blog about this contest and include a link you gain five more entries

6) If you buy anything from her shop you get ten additional entries (Make sure you let her know as well as myself!)

7) If you enter any of my current giveaways held on my blog, you can get one entry for each contest you enter! Make sure you let me know which ones you entered!

Wow that’s a lot of entries you can receive! And please have a way for me to contact you!! If your email is on your blog profile that will also work! If you are entering more than once you only have to give me your email in one comment...that way you don't have to put it on all of them, to save you a bit of time! =)

The contest will run until May 25th!