Giveaway, Swap and More! :)

Okay, so I am going to do a swap and a giveaway!

First the swap. Since I've never run a swap before, this will be an education in the process. ;)

The swap theme is "Mother's Day" so anything feminine that you would give as a gift on Mother's Day would be appropriate. Mother's Day here in the USA is on May 8th, this year.

If you would like to be in the Swap, comment on this post and leave a preference for color and I will match peeps up and have names listed on this Sunday. So, time is of the essence for this one! It would be great if everyone could get their swap items made, sent and received by May 8th so we can all do a reveal on that day. Feel free to share this with your followers if you have a blog, the more the merrier! :)

Now, on to the giveaway. :)

The last time I had a giveaway was last year on Mother's Day, so, I think that will be the day I announce the winner. Only, the winner won't have to wait as long as the last one did, since life is much calmer here now. :)

There are many ways to increase your chances of winning the giveaway. :)

Be a follower of my blog and comment on this post.

Join in the swap and get another chance to win.

Mention my giveaway on your blog.

Like my fan page on facebook.

Favorite my shop on etsy.

Give here and you will get two extra chances to win,  it's such a good cause. You only have until March 31st to do this. For privacy concerns, you can just email me the reference number, don't tell me how much, it will all add up. :)

So, you can have seven entries to win. :)

Now, do you want to know what the giveaway is or would you like to be surprised?

I hope this doesn't get too crazy! lol

So, you are probably wondering what these pictures are of, aren't you?

Last year, I had a client in need of some bird of paradise plants.  I put the word out of my need and very graciously Cecilia Colo sent me one she had made. She thought I could make them myself, but one look, I knew it was out of my realm, they are made from clay. Isn't it lovely though? I've been enjoying it on my work table for quite a while now.

The urns were filled by my friend Cath of Golden Unicorn Minis. I love them. :)

I've been seeing a lot of birdhouses on peoples blogs lately and I wanted to share with you the one my dear friend Sandi of WhimsyCottageMinis gave me. She doesn't have any in her shop right now, as she is preparing for a miniature show, but, she said if you convo her on etsy, she'll reserve them for you. :)

Look how it comes packaged, isn't this the cutest thing?

Need a prescription for your addiction? ;)

What's this?

Oh, just a bit of shopping....

more to come on that later. :)

Minis Listed!

My new line of minis have all been listed at artfire.

Click here to go directly to the shop.

Quick question! Does anyone know why my picture is not showing up on the blog roll?

Many thanks to anyone that can answer that one!

dale :)

Big Reveal!

Happy First Day of Spring everyone! :)

I hope you are enjoying the day.

 The sun is bright and shining, the birds are busy singing, and flowers in the garden are blooming. :)

It's a good thing! :)

This is my new line of miniatures.

Gingham in many colors!

This is what has kept me very busy in the studio for the past month.

I have made chair cushions, coordinating trimmed pillows and place mats complete with napkins in rings.

My inspiration.

Where do you find your inspiration?

This is  from Country Curtains.

I enjoy the images in their catalog and have ordered from them in the past for my real life size house.

Always a positive experience there. :)

Gingham is very versatile, as it lends it's self well to many different decorating genres.

In black, it looks traditional.

Red looks great in cabin decors.

Classic blue and white looks wonderful in beach houses.

Pink for shabby chic styling.

I will be listing them in pairs (chair cushions, pillows, place mats and napkins) and also as an entire set, two of each, at a discounted rate for buying the entire grouping.

These will be listed this week in my new Art Fire shop.

You may have noticed something a little different around here?

My banner and avatar have received a little spring pick me up and refresher from my friend Beth of berrybluecreations on etsy. I had sent her a copy of my old business cards and she recreated the graphic digitally and revamped my avatar, banners and business cards. Beth was wonderful to work with, she was quite professional and very accommodating.

Have you seen this?

Brought to you courtesy of teamMIDS. :)

Are you on facebook?

 Have you, liked my page?

  I have almost four hundred following me now on facebook.

Thank you! :)

Many thanks to all of the new followers of my blog as well!

 I have some welcoming to do! :)

Seems I passed over three hundred followers some where along the line. ;)

What to do to celebrate?

 A giveaway? Seems like it's giveaway season in blogland. :)

 How about a swap? Swaps are fun. :)

What do you think?

Let me know,

enjoy the rest of your day and thanks for stopping by.

dale :)

For Japan With Love

http://www.forjapanwithlove.com/

Feature and a Favor! :)

First, I ask a favor and that is to go over to Caterina's blog and see what you can do to help out. Click here.  Thanks so much! I know it will be greatly appreciated! :)

Next, I wanted to share with you, that I have been featured on Miniatures in Dollhouse Scale's blogspot.

Miniatures in Dollhouse Scale is more commonly know as TeamMIDS on etsy. It is a group of sellers of dollhouse miniatures in one inch or 1/12th scale and smaller scales.

If you aren't a follower of the blog, I encourage you to begin following it. There are lots of pics, links and info about miniatures and the artisans that create them. :)

Our blog is maintained by my dear friend Whimsy of WhimsyCottageMinis on etsy.

Search TeamMIDS for quality artisan miniatures on etsy! :)

Along with the kitchen chair cushions that were featured...

I also offer these coordinating placemats and napkins in my etsy shop.

and in pink, too! :)

Thanks! :)

dale

Hello!

Is it me, you're looking for? lol Channeling a little Lionel Richie. :) If you'd like to hear the song, click here. :) Just don't forget to come back and read the post, lol. ;)

I never dreamed that I would be gone from blogland for so long! I'm sorry, I thought I would just take a couple of weeks off and be back up and running, such was just not meant to be.

Life had gotten a little overwhelming here and you don't realise just how bad things are, until they change. The last five years have been more than a struggle to put it politely. Things have changed significantly and I now find myself evaluating goals, ideas and priorities. Who am I, what am I doing, what is important.... I just read recently that these are signs of coming out of mourning, for which I am grateful to begin living life again and to catch up on literally, a life that has been on hold.

While I will continue making my minis which have been an escape and a saving grace over the last few years, I add on to my list of things to do with projects around the home. I'm hoping to start a new blog that will document these as well as my passion for cooking, gardening and all things domestic, with a lot of decorating, life size! :)

It swells my heart and brings tears to my eyes to read all of the comments on my last post so many months ago. That the comments kept coming along while the blog was dormant, as well as the many private emails and messages I recieved from you my readers, let me know, that I wasn't alone, nor would I be forgotten and I'm so appreciative of that, more than you know.

I'm glad I had facebook in the mean time, to pop in and see what peeps were up to. Seems so many of you are on fb and that was just wonderful for not feeling completely out of touch.

This is what it looked like around here for most of the winter. Seems there was just one snow storm after another. We've been snow free for a few weeks now and the daffodils are just starting to poke out of the ground now, a sure sign that spring is not only in the air, but will be here soon!

We had a young gal living with us for a while and she recreated our entire family, including pets in clay for us as a gift. Not only did she capture us, but she did particularly well capturing the pets in their favorite poses. From left to right starting in the back is Sissy (mommy's baby), then Katrina (itty bitty kitty), Serena (mama's fat girl) and finally, Isabelle (belly girl). I thought the clay artists among you might appreciate the budding talent of the artist. :) 
So, I'll be back to share with all of you, I've got new minis in the works as well as many minis bought as retail therapy. ;) And there's a lot of them, still in their packaging, waiting to be shared with all of you.

So now, I bid you adieu, but not for so long! :)
Thanks for still being my readers, I look foward to catching up with you and your projects and thank you  to all that joined to follow in my absence. :)
tootles! :)
d. :)