wow…looks like there is a class action suit in the works for Google AdWords users.  I received this email message earlier today:

Google is sending you this notice of a proposed class action settlement that may affect your legal rights as a creator of an AdWords campaign between October 2007 and July 2009. This notice is being sent to you by Court Order so that you may understand your rights and remedies before the Court considers final approval of the proposed settlement on March 11, 2011.

This is not an advertisement or attorney solicitation.

A settlement agreement has been reached by the parties and is pending approval by the Court. Under the proposed settlement, Google will pay a total of $3,500,000 to the settlement class, including attorneys’ fees and costs, for charges accrued by AdWords users who left the “CPC Content bid” input blank upon creating an AdWords campaign, and were charged for content ads appearing on Google’s Content Network.

IMPORTANT. If the settlement is approved, your legal rights may be affected whether or not you act. You should therefore carefully read the documents filed with the Court concerning the settlement, the reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses, and the litigation generally.

Please go to http://www.largocargosettlement.com for full details on the settlement and further instructions on what to do to submit a claim, opt out of, object to, or otherwise comment upon the proposed settlement.

Please do not reply to this email.

Please note that Google will never ask you for password information or other personal credentials when sending you notices.  If you suspect someone is improperly using Google’s name or products to obtain your personal information, please report the message as phishing.  See http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=184963.

This mandatory announcement was sent to certain AdWords users in the U.S. as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

I’m not sure that I’m part of the users stated above and will need to read a bit more details to determine.  Just wanted to share in case you were an Adwords user too during that time.

Starting today, each Tuesday’s blog post will be Totally Giveaway Tuesday. I love giveaways, and I thought it might be nice to share some real estate for some blog-o-sphere giveaways with my readers. I’d like to profile Artfire and other artisan giveaways, but feel free to list any great giveaways you have to share. Each link will contain the name of the giveaway linked to the entry instruction page. Enter as many giveaways as you would like

Got a blog giveaway you’d like to advertise? Hosting an artisan jewelry giveaway? Have a handmade soap giveaway? Announcing a felted animal giveaway? Have a guild giveaway you’d like to list? Want to announce your team’s giveaway to the world? Please use the widget below to list your announcement.

In the Your Name Field: enter the item you are giving away, and the date the giveaway expires

In the Your URL Field: enter the web site address of the page to find instructions about how to enter.

Giveaways for the week of 11/30

Note: I can’t be responsible for outcomes of giveaways hosted by anyone but me. Outcomes of giveaways hosted elsewhere are the responsibility of the giveaway owner. Please read each giveaway’s entry instructions carefully and only enter if it isn’t going to get you into any trouble in your location. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!

Visit again next Tuesday for a whole new list!

and don’t forget to tweet and share with your friends using the widgets below

(For those of you receiving this via RSS, you have to visit my real live blog to see the list of shops with sales. Not sure why, but looks like the Readers eat the linky code. sorry. )

This list of words disallowed by Google Base shopping was posted last week in the Artfire forums.  You might want to review your item titles and descriptions to ensure that your items are being successfully submitted. Note: this list ONLY pertains to Google shopping. Items with these terms will still appear in the regular Google search results.

1. #1
2. 100% satisfied
3. 4U
4. Accept credit cards
5. Act Now!
6. Additional Income
7. Affordable
8. All natural
9. All new
10. Amazing
11. Apply online
12. Ash
13. Bargain
14. Beer
15. Best price
16. Billing address
17. Buy direct
18. Call
19. Call free
20. Can’t live without
21. Cards Accepted
22. Cents on the dollar
23. Champagne
24. Check
25. Cigar
26. Cigarette
27. Claims
28. Click
29. Click Below
30. Click Here
31. Click to remove
32. Compare rates
33. Congratulations
34. Cost / No cost
35. Dear friend
36. Do it today
37. Extra income
38. For free
39. Form
40. Free and FREE
41. Free installation
42. Free leads
43. Free membership
44. Free offer
45. Free preview
46. Free website
47. Full refund
48. Get it now
49. Giving away
50. Guarantee
51. Gun
52. Here
53. Hidden
54. Increase sales
55. Increase traffic
56. Information you requested
57. Insurance
58. Investment
59. no investment
60. Investment decision
61. Knife
62. Knives
63. Legal
64. Lose
65. Marketing
66. Marketing solutions
67. Message contains
68. Money
69. Month trial offer
70. Name brand
71. Never
72. No gimmicks
73. No Hidden Costs
74. No-obligation
75. Now
76. Offer
77. One time / one-time
78. Opportunity
79. Order
80. Order Now
81. Order Status
82. Order Today
83. Orders shipped by priority mail
84. Performance
85. Phone
86. Please read
87. Potential earnings
88. Pre-approved
89. Price
90. Print out and fax
91. Profits
92. Real thing
93. Removal instructions
94. Remove
95. Rifle
96. Risk free
97. Sale
98. Sales
99. Satisfaction guaranteed
100. Save $
101. Save up to
102. Search engines
103. See for yourself
104. Serious cash
105. Sex
106. Sexy
107. Solution
108. Special promotion
109. Success
110. The following form
111. Tobacco
112. Unsolicited
113. Unsubscribe
114. Urgent
115. US dollars
116. Vine
117. Wife
118. Win
119. Wine
110. Winner
111. Work at home

This list is probably far from being complete. What other terms do you know about?

The 2nd Annual SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway ends on 11/28. And this flowery lush garden of a bracelet is the gorgeous prize. You can almost smell the heady fragrance of the flowers and hear the droning of the bees when looking at it.

Several members of the SATeam put their talent together to create this beautiful charm bracelet, and it’s looking for a good home.

Every time you purchase an item from one of the participating shops listed on the SATEAM Blog post, your name will be automatically entered into the draw to win this stunner. (See entry rules below.)

The sale runs from October 17, 2010 to November 28, 2010, so on your mark, get set, and GO! Enter early and often! Items included in this sale can also be found by searching SATEAMWRIST on etsy.

Entry Rules:

Eligibility: NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. While each purchase made from a participating shop automatically enters you into the drawing, making a purchase will not improve your chance of winning. Void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulations.
Giveaway dates: This giveaway begins at 12:01 a.m. EST on October 17, 2010 and ends at 11:59 p.m.EST on November 28, 2010. The drawing for the winning name will be held on November 30, 2010. The name of the winner will be made public on this blog.
How to enter: Any buyer of an item from a participating shop will automatically be entered into the drawing. To enter as many times as you would like without purchase, hand print your full name, complete address with zip code/postal code, and email address on a standard size postcard and mail with the proper postage affixed to: SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway, M. Carte, PO Box 710156, Houston, TX 77271 USA. All mail-in entries must be received by November 28, 2010. All entries become the property of the Giveaway host and will not be acknowledged or returned.

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Etsy Starving Artists Jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.

More info can be found at the Starving Artist Team Blog.

Good luck!

Inspiration is found in funny places sometimes, isn’t it? This one takes the long way ‘round. But I promise I’ll get there.

Squeeze is one of my favorite bands. Ever. I can remember rewinding my cassette tape (!!) over and over trying to memorize the words in my favorite Squeeze tunes. In a seven degrees of separation kind of thing, one of my favorite shows is currently featuring Johnny Lee Miller as a deranged psycho. Remember Johnny Lee when he was an uber hot techno geek in Hackers? Bleached blonde hair and all kinds of geeky goodness? Squeeze sang in that movie. Remember? Heaven knows? Here’s a link to a lovely musical flashback from 1995 (Watch closely, my color inspiration is in the video)

Heaven Knows

You’re no Dame, I’m no Duke
Somehow love is a fluke
We’ve survived thick and thin
Taking knocks on the chin
In the eyes of the sad
We may be barking mad
But the truth has been ceased
We are like chalk and cheese
You wind me up and I drive you mad
It’s a fact of life, it goes hand in hand
And I know that look, it’s read like a book
And I realize

I don’t care what the world has to say
You should know that I love you
I love you
I love you today

When the boat starts to rock
Then my ears start to block
All the words that you say
Through the night, through the day
Where there’s muck there is brass
And the storm soon will pass
Then it’s back to the norm
All the cold turns to warm

Sometimes I think life crawls like a snail
And all of our dreams become the wind in your sails
Without wealth it’s true, who cares what you do
And I realize

I can feel the eyes behind us as we walk
I can see the ears that listen when we talk

Heaven knows, Squeeze

Angelina costarred with Johnny Lee. Remember the fab red, yellow and white leather jacket she wore?

Those colors and the song inspired this necklace. Made from a unique shaped agate cabochon, set in sterling and fine silver, embellished with a bit more silver, antiqued and then polished to a wonderful patina. Available in the ShinyAdornments Artfire Studio.

Have you checked out all the shops hosting Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales? There are a lot of great deals to be had, and you won’t have to face the crowds at your local mall.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale Announcements
from Etsy and Artfire sellers

Happy shopping everyone!

and don’t forget to tweet and share with your friends using the widgets below

You can post it with an image from your Studio right here on my blog.

Post your Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales here

Happy shopping everyone!

and don’t forget to tweet and share with your friends using the widgets below

Starting today, each Tuesday’s blog post will be Totally Giveaway Tuesday. I love giveaways, and I thought it might be nice to share some real estate for some blog-o-sphere giveaways with my readers. I’d like to profile Artfire and other artisan giveaways, but feel free to list any great giveaways you have to share. Each link will contain the name of the giveaway linked to the entry instruction page. Enter as many giveaways as you would like

Got a blog giveaway you’d like to advertise? Hosting an artisan jewelry giveaway? Have a handmade soap giveaway? Announcing a felted animal giveaway? Have a guild giveaway you’d like to list? Want to announce your team’s giveaway to the world? Please use the widget below to list your announcement.

In the Your Name Field: enter the item you are giving away, and the date the giveaway expires

In the Your URL Field: enter the web site address of the page to find instructions about how to enter.

Giveaways for the week of 11/23

Visit again next Tuesday for a whole new list!

and don’t forget to tweet and share with your friends using the widgets below

(For those of you receiving this via RSS, you have to visit my real live blog to see the list of shops with sales. Not sure why, but looks like the Readers eat the linky code. sorry. )

This post is powered by Mister Linky

I spent some quality time with a bit of fire, some pickle and some hammers this weekend. I’ll have some new items to post in my Studio later this week. But this purple serpentine in stichite cab will remain with me. I managed to scratch it when I was setting the bezel. (sigh)

The scratch is small, but noticeable enough that I can’t sell it.  A consequence of trying to set a stone and watch the latest shenanigans of Courage the Cowardly dog with a mesmerized 5 year old.

I thought I’d post a few in process photos as well as the finished product, which now resides in my jewelry box.

Have a great week,

By the way, check out all the great Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales.

The 2nd Annual SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway ends in two weeks.  And this lush flower garden of a bracelet is the prize. You can almost smell the heady fragrance of the flowers and hear the droning of the bees when looking at it.

Several members of the SATeam put their talent together to create this beautiful charm bracelet, and it’s looking for a good home.

Every time you purchase an item from one of the participating shops listed on the SATEAM Blog post, your name will be automatically entered into the draw to win this stunner. (See entry rules below.)

The sale runs from October 17, 2010 to November 28, 2010, so on your mark, get set, and GO! Enter early and often! Items included in this sale can also be found by searching SATEAMWRIST on etsy.

Entry Rules:

Eligibility: NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. While each purchase made from a participating shop automatically enters you into the drawing, making a purchase will not improve your chance of winning. Void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulations.
Giveaway dates: This giveaway begins at 12:01 a.m. EST on October 17, 2010 and ends at 11:59 p.m.EST on November 28, 2010. The drawing for the winning name will be held on November 30, 2010. The name of the winner will be made public on this blog.
How to enter: Any buyer of an item from a participating shop will automatically be entered into the drawing. To enter as many times as you would like without purchase, hand print your full name, complete address with zip code/postal code, and email address on a standard size postcard and mail with the proper postage affixed to: SATeam Wrist Candy Holiday Giveaway, M. Carte, PO Box 710156, Houston, TX 77271 USA. All mail-in entries must be received by November 28, 2010. All entries become the property of the Giveaway host and will not be acknowledged or returned.

Featuring artisan handmade creations by the Etsy Starving Artists Jewelry team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current etsy shop owner members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.

More info can be found at the Starving Artist Team Blog.

Good luck!