The artisans of eSMArts are holding a Hidden Santa Treasure Hunt as a way to add a little fun to your holiday shopping. The hunt starts today and runs through November 28th, giving you two weeks to participate in the hunt.

While shopping on line, just browse through the sponsoring shops and keep your eyes open for the icon of Santa pictured in their ad. Every three times you spy him in a new location, you can earn a chance to win a bundle of holiday gifts.

The eSMArts Guild is a online group of artists that originated in February 2008 from within the Etsy.com community, hence the name: The Etsy Social Marketing Arts Guild (eSMArts Guild). Anna Lee, owner of several shops on Etsy, recognized the struggle many handmade artists were having in the area of self-promotion and online marketing. She responded to that need by initiating this group as a way to share her marketing knowledge and assist fellow artists in presenting a professional image.  This group now has a growing chapter of artists selling through ArtFire.com called "Social Marketing Artisans/eSMArts on ArtFire." Members of eSMArts from both venues are pooling their talents in order to offer a collection of handmade treasures for this giveaway.

The official rules for this online event can be found on the eSMArts Blog. Play a little and enter once, or play longer and earn more chances to win. If you find jewelry irresistible, you'll want to participate in this treasure hunt. Start your hunt by going to one of the shops mentioned below, and keep track of the URLs where you find a hidden Santa. Each time you find three new hiding spots with the designated Santa image just email the URLs to esmartspromos [at] yahoo.ca.

Always Wired Bead Lady is owned by Joella and based in Wisconsin. Her shop offers chainmaille,  wire-wrapped pendants, and other jewelry items. Wilma of Wilma's Whimsey creates Lamp work beads in her Minnesotta studio. You'll find jewelry created by an Arizona artist at Jannadu and by an Alabama artist at Artful Unity.

Lois of A Beaded Affair on Etsy and A Beaded Affair on Artfire hails from Pennsylvania and offers finished jewelry pieces as well as jewelry supplies. Dani, of DG Designs on Etsy and DG Designs on Artfire, is a designer and jewelry artist who lives in Texas. Diane, a jewelry artist from Rhode Island, also sells through both ArtFire.com and Etsy.com. Her shops are My Gemstone Box and Unicorn Jem 1994. Both of my shops, ByCoco on Artfire and ByCoco on Etsy are also participating in this promotion.

Anna Lee of Ontario, Canada is the leader of the eSMArts group and also a jewelry artist. You can find her finished pieces at Gahooletree, SassyDLite, and Anna Lee. She also sells jewelry supplies at Gahooletree Supplies. A Belgium artist  also offers both finished jewelry as well as supplies at World of Wezz.

You might also find a Santa hiding in the eSMArts' Team Shop where several artist members have donated items to help raise money for a worthy cause.

Sheree of Shades of Victoria and Jeweled Hummingbird came up with the original idea and developed a plan for this promotion while serving as Marketing Director for eSMArts. Many other eSMArts members pitched in by offering their time and talents, like Anna Lee who designed the banner ad for this promotion and Diane who collected all the donated items, photographed them and will ship them to the winner on December 1st. Here's a sneak peak at the prizes.

Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

Photo Courtesy:
Top: Anna Lee of Gahooletree
Bottom: Diane of My Gemstone Box