400th Posting - Madonna and Child Giveaway Winner - She Dreams Big!

And the winner is.......

Connie from She Dreams Big!

Thank you for the overwhelming response to my give away in celebration of my 400th Blog.  I am already working on my giveaway to celebrate the BIG 500 coming up later this year.

Your praise, encouragement and well wishes are so welcome - it has been my deepest pleasure to create this reliquary and then send it off to a new home.  I like to think that this little piece of me will be around for hundreds of years....and that this reliqary will bring pleasure, hope, strength and courage to whoever holds it in their hands and gazes inside to see the Holy Mother and Child within.  That just makes me happy thinking about it - and isn't that what art is all about....creating something soulful and then sharing it with the world.

Visit Connie
She Dreams Big - a blog filled with arty inspiration.

Now I want to share a little bit of my world with you from the weekend.....

We had 12 inches of snow at the farm over the weekend!  The little cowbirds were flocking to the feeder for seed and didn't mind being photographed in the process.  The bird on the railing is a woodpecker that visits the feeder each day.  He wasn't thrilled to see the cowbirds invade his feeder - poor little guy.

The daffodils were rescued from the garden before the snow covered them and they brought sunshines into the kitchen for the weekend and the fragrance is one of my favorites.

We were having a barn cleaning party at the farm over the weekend - well it wasn't much of a party with the 12" of snow to plow through as we hauled away junk from the barn.  We purchased the farm two years ago and have been working on it ever since.  We replaced the roof this year and now the next phase was removing all the "junk" left from the four previous owners...what a mess!  We still have one horse stall filled with metal that will have to be hauled away in a few weeks.

We still haven't decided what we will do with the huge groundhog that has taken up residence in one of the horse stalls - underground of course.  As the barn improvements continue I think he will probably move his den to a more quiet location.  I imagine him as being a grumpy sort of fellow, who gets all huffy when we visit and mess around "his" barn disturbing his otherwise peaceful existence.  I have seen him when we drive up to the house and he is the largest groundhog I have seen.  He stands on his back legs - prairie dog style and then scampers under the barn doors and then his head pops back out from underneath the door one last time to see if we are still there and then he disappears into his den.

My sweet sis in law, Laurie and her sweet husband, Bobby came down to lend a hand and what a mess it was...everyone was filthy by the time the last load left the barn.  We joked that Bobby and Laurie would probably never come back again...which is really not far from the truth.  We try to offset the hard manual labor with good eats.  We do feed our guests and farm hands well - we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast and a grilled steak dinner... everyone seemed to have a good appetite after all that hard work and fresh country air.  We were all rosy cheeked and happy sitting in front of the fireplace at the end of the day swapping barn stories from the day and marvelling at the heavy snow fall on the first day of Spring!

To me there's nothing better than working outside in the fresh country air and the feeling of calm bliss at the end of the day as you sit in front of a blazing fire with a warm cup of coffee in your hands....heaven....

What's your personal "heaven" like?

Giveaway Alert

 

JANUARY GIVEAWAY CONTEST!!

It's finally here...the opportunity to win a necklace hand made by Riki at Riki Jewelry, she is hostessing this give away as a thank you to everyone who has contributed to her first year in the blogging world.

Riki has selected a sweet little bee necklace, that she soldered to some of her etched brass, she then strung the pendant on a colorful lavender metal cord with some fun mixed metals.

Visit Riki's blog for details and enter to win!

Sandy's Creations Giveaway Alert

 Sandy is celebrating her 300th post and her gathering of 100 followers by hosting a giveaway that includes this lovely heart pillow, a journal and tote bag.  Visit her blog HERE!

This pillow was inspired by Ruth Rae's new book, Layered, Tattered and Stitched.



I picked up my copy at my local Border's book store a couple of weeks ago and have been absorbing her work by looking at the projects inside again, and again, and again.  It's a lovely book filled with beautiful fabric creations presented in a user friendly methodology that makes it very approachable.

Now for the sad news, my little brother suffered an heart attack this week and it nearly did us in.  We adore him - he is the sunshine in our skies.  A blessing from heaven.  He is genuinely the nicest, most helpful, and the kindest young man I have ever known.  He's the kind of guy that will always lend a helping hand, whether your pipes have frozen, your car won't start, or you need help around the farm. 

He is a good grandson who helps his 90 year old grandmother weekly by bringing her fire for her fireplace so that she can sit by the fire as she loves to do. 

He is also the father of two sweet kids, only five and two...

He was moved out of Intensive Care today, we were so happy that he was doing well enough to be moved to a normal room at the hospital and that he had a bit of an appetite today. 

Please pray for Jason, and send well wishes his way he needs each and every one.

I am Dreaming of Castles Giveaway

I am Dreaming of Castles is having a Giveaway in celebration of the Blogervisary.

Inside is a variety of paper in each package...

there could be pages of:

music, novels, diary,

pages from books in another language,

Bingo card, lace, buttons, library pockets

Maps, old envelopes and more.

This pack has 75 plus pieces.

Be sure to visit and enter to Win this generous giveaway!

LiveArt Giveaway - So Beautiful....

I am a huge fan of Linda Iverson's work, a very talented artist in Norway. I found her blog and became mesmerized by her work. It's colorful, imaginative and a little edgy at times. Don't you love that?

I joined in a giveaway Linda was hosting at her blog LiveArt - it was a very generous giveaway. The lucky winner would be given the opportunity to select any art from her blog - can you imagine??? I was one of the lucky winners - I was so honored to be chosen even if it was random - I felt so special and was very pleased to be selected.

This is the work I chose from her lovely blog. This mixed media work reminds me of "me and my little dog, too" aka - Molly. She is my rescue, Jack Russell terrier from Animal Haven. Molly and I have a unique relationship. If I agree to buy her treats - she will agree to perform tricks for me..... And to be held like a baby in my arms whenever I get needy. I know, I know, that's really a terrible thing to do to a little dog - it's very undignified - but, I spare no expense on Molly's treats so she tolerates it quite well and doesn't seem to mind....too much.

Ms. Molly performing her "sitting in a tire swing" trick so I can take her photo at the farm this Summer. Isn't she the cutest little girl? Having said that - she has a definite "bitchy" side to her nature as well and has been known to scare the beejeebies out of grown men with her snarls and growls. Much like myself in my younger days..... tee hee. I have mellowed with the years, as I hope Ms. Molly will do so also. I used to be quite the spitfire back in the day.... of course, my husband would still insist that I still have quite a bit of spunkiness, especially when it comes to my kids, my friends and family and my sweet pups. Loyal to a fault - that's me.

Just try to take a treat away from Molly..... at your own prevail. I'm like that with chocolate.... She is a small, but mightly little terrier weighing in at 14 pounds. She's small, but has the heart and courage of a Rotweiller.

Linda is so generous that she included a few extra goodies for me to enjoy like this one - don't you just love it???

A closer look at the detail of Linda's work. Linda is another of those fellow artist that I adore and haven't met except through our blogs. The blogging community is the very best, filled with talented and caring people who are willing to share their work and glimpses into their lives and hearts.

Another bonus: A geisha themed work that I didn't do justice in photographing - it's gorgeous. All of Linda's work lives with me now in my studio. I look at it each day that I am in the studio and think about this wonderfully generous artist that lives so far away - I feel a kindred spirit tangling our lives together, it's like I have know her all my life.

Giveaway Alert - The Feathered Nest

Click Here to Enter

Dawn at The Feathered Nest is hosting this lovely giveaway in celebration of her 1200th blog post. If you haven't visited Dawn's blog you are in for a treat as she is talented.talented.talented.

She is also a wonderful lady and friend - be sure to visit her blog and leave her a congratulatory comment on this milestone....1200 posts - Wow!

Vintage Blue Studio Give Away

Visit Diana at Vintage Blue Studio and enter the...

Ceramic Earring Giveaway!

In celebration of the start of the holiday season Diana is giving away a pair of handmade ceramic and sterling silver earrings. A winner will be randomly drawn on Monday, the 9th. So hurry on over....