Countdown to Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Wow! Can you believe that as of this week, we are 2/3 of the way through the Mother's Day Countdown? Am sure you will agree with me that the Countdown has been fun, with LOTS of wonderful items shared and promoted!

Mother's Day is going to be here before we know it, Sunday, May 12! Now is the time to start your Mother's Day gift list. A perfect place to do your browsing/shopping is at Julie and Blu's Mother's Day Gift Ideas Countdown, a collection of handmade and vintage items any Mum will love The Countdown will run for another 4 weeks, which, when it ends, will make 12 weeks total. Last week 83 beautiful handmade and vintage items were shared. This week we were up a bit at 86 items, which included: jewelry, antiques, woodworking, knitting, embroidery, antique postcards and all sorts of different items and techniques! Something for everyone here! Shop early . . . shop often.

Blue dumortierite, Czech glass and copper necklace by Barbara of SolanaKaiDesigns

Sellers who have a studio/shop on ArtFire, SupaDupa, Zibbet, Etsy, stand alone websites and the like, are invited to share up to three Mother's Day gift items starting each Friday of the Countdown. Julie usually posts the link around noon on Friday. The collection will close for item submissions around midnight Sunday night. Then, the following Friday, a new collection will start - and so on - until the twelve weeks are up and Mother's Day is here! The items that are shared need to be G-rated.

Set of three hand knit mini dishcloths or washcloth in purple, raspberry and white by Sharon of HollyKnitterCreations

When you participate in the Countdown to Mother's Day, those all important back links are supplied back to your studio, from the collection itself and from the people sharing your items. This helps your ranking with the various search engines. However, if you share items, you MUST promote each item in the Countdown collection. Pinterest and/or Wanelo are preferred since everyone can see the items and it is easy to resave again from those two sites. Twitter and Facebook just do not provide the ability to find items easily to share again and don't provide long lasting links.

Spring and summer caged bead dangle necklace by Jennifer of DesertCreations

In addition to saving all the items shared to my Pinterest and Wanelo boards/collections, I decided each week to blog about the Countdown Collection and share an item from each of the ArtFire artists who participated. This helps to provide even longer lasting backlinks into the studios. All you have to do is get comfy, pull out a sheet of paper and a pen/pencil, have your credit card handy . . . and begin shopping! Above all have fun browsing these fabulous creations!

Here are the rest of the items in the Mother's Day Collection - Week 8, pretty much in the order they were shared, from bottom to top:

Natural fossil coral polished square, undrilled cabochon by Diane of BeadSouk

Amber fused glass plate with iridized black accents, 14" x 7", by Kellie of ResetarGlassArt

Etched coal black lampwork glass beads and sterling silver necklace by Charlotte of Covergirlbeads

Pink coral shell pearls and Swarovski crystal dangle earrings by Kat of KatsAllThat

White daisy polymer clay bead bracelet with yellow glass beads by Julie of BlueMorningExpressions

"Brilliant Teardrop" handmade fused dichroic glass pendant by Jo of Umeboshi

Double open heart pendant handcrafted from oak wood by Kevin of KevsKrafts

Gustav Klimt "Dancing Ladies" framed glass pendants by Eve of EvezBeadz

Shades of yellow charm watch bracelet by Julie, Nicole and lInda of jnldesigns

Gold tone chains with brown seed beads dangle earrings by Sandie of Prescence

Scrabble tile pendant in a pink, red and gray pattern by Karen of ClicksbyKaren

Tibetan Om bone bead earrings with unakite and padparadscha Swarovski crystals by Mary of PrettyGonzo

Hand forged bronze pendant necklace with quartz crystal and jade beads by Anna of CraftsofthePast

Chunky, multi color dragon vein agate and pewter necklace by Connie of TheSingingBeader

Double strand Hubei turquoise bracelet with hand forged copper clasp by Elaine of zoomgraphik

Shell and glass bead necklace by Pamela of PamelaBead

Woven flat chain double strand bronze bead necklace by Rose of ThaddeusRose

Hand cut Madagascar ocean jasper pendant with handmade sterling silver bezel by Diane of DianesDangles

Mixed metal mountain landscape pendant with sterling silver chain by Lynn of Metal_Artistry

Antique copper open filigree earrings with crystals and chain dangles by Kathy of Specialtivity

Artisan made "Believe" sterling cross necklace with pearls and turquoise lampwork nuggets by Catherine of ShadowDogDesigns

I know you agree that there are many amazing creations shared in this sampling. Be sure to click on this link Mothers Day Gift Ideas Countdown to see all 86 items that were shared. Hopefully one (or more!) of the items will make its way to your Mum this Mother's Day (: And remember, a new collection starts again this coming Friday!

Many, many thanks to Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions for all their hard work in putting this together each week.

If you would like to make my day, please leave a comment. Any and all promotion you can do will be benefit us all and will be greatly appreciated.

My contact information:

Artfire studio: ShadowDogDesigns

Blog: ShadowDogDesigns' Blog

Facebook: ShadowDogDesigns - Jewelry

Twitter: ShadowDogDesign

Pinterest: Shadow Dog Designs

Wanelo: ShadowDog

SocialBliss: Catherine Waterhouse

Rebelmouse: ShadowDogDesigns

Google+: Catherine W