Tummy Mountain Giveaway!

Once again, the Etsy front page has shown me a wonderful artist! Check out TUMMY MOUNTAIN!!!

I fell instantly in love with Lloyd's little people and animals. So, being the incredibly bold person that I am, I asked him if he would be willing to do a giveaway on my little blog. He said YES!

Here is a description of the print, in the artist's words:

dances with rabbits

This is a print of my original painting.

The image is 5½ ”x 3½” (14cm x 9cm) and the paper is 8½” x 5½” (21.5cm x 14cm) which leaves a nice white border for framing.

Printed on the finest quality acid free archival Hahnemuhle 310gsm matte paper; a nice thick paper with texture alike to the original watercolour paper.

The ink is archival and guaranteed not to fade for over 75 years.

The print is signed, titled and dated under the image.

The picture will be sent in a plastic/cello sleeve in a rigid mailer that will not bend.

All of my images are copyright. Images are not to be reproduced without permission. So, you can WIN this beautiful wonderful adorable print.

1. Go to Tummy Mountain's shop.

2. Come back to my blog, and leave a comment with your favorite item from his shop.

3. MAKE SURE to leave a way for me to contact you. PLEASE! If you don't want to leave your email address here, feel free to contact me privately at either of my Etsy shops ~ Woolies or Buster and boo.

4. Contest will end Wednesday, August 6th (one week from today).

YOU can be the winner of Dances With Rabbits!

Good Luck!! (Can I be the winner???)

:0)

WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED! See post at home page.

Thanks to all who entered!!

Learning new skills

Making scrabble tile pendants is fun, but now I've found that I am always searching for unique supplies on Etsy, to make different kinds of jewelry.

This is a beautiful hand-made lampwork bead (purchased from JanesBeads) that I "made" into a necklace.

I've always loved charms, so now I'm starting a line of necklaces with charms. I'm such a total beginner......

I have lots of really unique charms...they'll be making their appearance soon. Perhaps not quite the right thing for Etsy....let me know what you think. I'm only using the best quality that I can find - mostly sterling silver.

Can I tell you how many jump rings I crushed while making this? I'm thinking that jump rings may not be the way to go, so will be going to the bead store this week to buy wire.

I also have some really unique beads for earrings.

Considering the insane amount of jewelry on Etsy, I'll be amazed if anything sells. However, I'm doing a few craft fairs this fall, so will keep fingers and toes crossed! Keep an eye on my Buster and boo shop!

I also have another fabric Woolies for sale in my Woolies shop. Her name is Polly (I have a cousin named Polly), what do you think??

Woolies!

Just had to share this collection of Woolies animals - they are on their way to Tree Hollow Toys, a wonderful site for natural toys. Look at them all!!! They're very excited to be getting ready to travel!

The lambies have their blankies, and Edward the mouse has his maroon sleeveless-sweatshirt, which he thinks is MUCH cooler than the overalls.

Wave bye-bye!

By the way, I love to do custom orders, so if you ever see an animal on the pages here that you just must have, please contact me, either here or through my Etsy shop, Woolies.

Before the storm

Monsoon season in the desert is incredible. I've posted about this before - but as long as monsoon season is here, I'll be posting about it again! The storms have the most incredible beauty, and force. 2 inches of rain fell in 20 minutes during the storm last night. At least, in my neighborhood. You can live 5 minutes away and get nothing, because the rain comes down in rain shafts. I'll get some pictures of that soon, promise. And the lightning! Quite a few people have been struck by lightning in recent weeks, including one 8 year old boy. Tragic and scary and terrifying to realize the power of the storms.

Here are some pictures, about 1/2 hour before the storm made it's way to our house. The mountains you see are the Tortolitas - we live in the foothills of that small mountain range.

It was just after sunset.

Fairy Giveaway!

On Etsy, I belong to a wonderful group called Natural Kids. These are shop owners that strive to make toys and other things for children out of natural elements. I LOVE these shops. If you go to Etsy and search for handmade items, type in "Natural Kids" and see what you find!!

One of the members of our group is an INCREDIBLY talented lady; her shop name is Oritdotandolls. She has offered to giveaway a fairy!

I think her fairies are really special.

This beautiful fairy measures 9" high, made from natural merino wool and pure merino wool that Orit hand painted with ecologic colors [without heavy metals].In her hands there is a cotton pipe cleaner so you can change the gesture of her hands.On her back there are cloth petals flowers, for her beautiful wings. She is both needle felted and sewn.


This last picture is a view of the fairy's wings. The detail is so beautiful.

To register to win the fairy:

1. Go to Orit's shop.

2. Find your favorite item.

3. Come back to this blog and leave a comment with your favorite item.

4. LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, or you can feel free to contact me at either of my shops,

Buster and boo, or Woolies, if you don't care to leave a contact for me here.

5. I'll register your name TWICE, if you also go to one of my shops and mention your fav's from my shops too.

6. Contest will end on Friday, August 1st, at midnight.

THANK YOU! and good luck!

Boo plays

Boo never stops playing. She wants to play with all the much bigger and older doggies here. She is funny and silly and loves me to death, as I love her.

I had a nightmare the other night that we had to move and couldn't take her. It was awful.

Anyway, here's some crummy pictures of my little girl:

She's a peekapoo - 1/2 pekinese and 1/2 poodle. She weighs a little over 7 pounds.

Sorry for the crazy eyes in the picture!!

Just had to share!

When she is ready for a nap, she comes to find me, and begs to be picked up - then promptly falls asleep in my arms. I need a baby sling for her.
:0)

Winner!

bfox74 is the winner of my latest giveaway! don't forget to check out Black Briar's unique shop.
And check back often, I love doing contests. The next one will start in a few days.

Thanks to everybody who entered!

Monsoon Flood

Our last year in Philadelphia, it rained 18 weekends in a row. In Tucson, when it rains, it's a BIG event. Right now, it is monsoon season. Incredible thunder storms that can do amazing damage in a very very short amount of time. All throughout the southwest, there are 'washes', that are dry, 99% of the time. And then the rains come, and the washes fill with water, FAST rushing water. Sometimes, for the big washes, they close the roads. They've built bridges over the really really big washes, that turn into major rivers (30 feet deep, it can get). We love monsoon season.

Except it can get scary. Like when the lightning hits 10 feet outside your door, and when your yard turns into a river. Our dirt road has a wash that comes in just across our driveway. It makes a turn, and then continues on the other side of our horse arena. The road becomes impassable.

Next time, I'll get pictures of that. There was too much lightning to venture out to the end of the driveway. So here's some shots of my flooding desert yard, taken from the relative safety of my porch. The water ended up coming right up to both my back door and my front door. I was starting to think about sand bags.

This all happened just before dinner. After dinner, the worst seemed to be over. My 15 year old wanted to go to a friend's house. I offered to drive him. His friend just lives 5 minutes away. My younger son came with me.

Then, we couldn't get home. Every road we tried was flooded, including the "front" way into our road. I ended up going way around, and thankfully those roads were not as badly flooded.

Oh, and our garage flooded. Reminds me that I need to have a yard sale. Or just call the Salvation Army, I want to get rid of all the junk.

Before it floods again.

Another fabric Woolies!

I did it again. Embroidering their faces is a challenge for me - and I don't want to use plastic safety eyes, trying to keep it "natural".

One thing I really really like about making these dolls is that it is less time consuming than knitting animals. I love to knit, it is a part of me forever, and I probably love the knitted animals better (she says in a whisper), but I love these too - and can make them in a few hours, rather than many hours.

Lulu is made from a pattern by bitofwhimsyprims on Etsy. Her name is also Sarah (with an H), thank you Sarah!

Here's Lulu - she's in my Woolies shop. Love any feedback, including constructive criticism....

GIVEAWAY!

The best thing (well, one of the best things) about Etsy is finding new artists - collaborating, even, with other artists.

Tiddlyinks and I have done this with my scrabble tile pendants. Here is her owl image, on a pendant.

I just love it!

This talented artist also has another Etsy shop, Black Briar.

And, to brighten your day, is offering a giveaway, right here!

This will include set of notecards, a magnet, a mirror and a print of one character.....That is a $25 or more value.

To win, please do the following:

1. Visit Blackbriar's shop.

2. come back to my blog and leave a comment with your favorite item from her shop.

3. PLEASE leave a way for me to contact you. Blogger does not always show emails. You can contact me at one of my shops if you do not want to leave your email here.

4. Winner will be announced one week from today - July 19th, 2008.

Thank you and good luck!

Jewelry

Lately I've been fascinated by lampwork beads. They are unique and beautiful; I would love to watch them being made.

Anyway, made a little necklace out of them, what do you think?

You can find it in my Buster and boo shop.

Woolies Stuffed Animals

More Woolies, on their way to Martha's Vineyard, where I hear two sold yesterday at the Farmer's Market. Yay!

Goatie, Puppy, Elephant, 2 knitted striped balls.

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(2nd half of Susan's wholesale order, thank you so much Susan!)

They're very excited to be travelling!

Wild bunnies!

We have lots of wild cottontail bunnies. They're all over the place. Unfortunately, so are coyotes, hawks and bobcats. Not so safe for the bunnies!

Bunnies like it at our house, because we have lots of hay, for our horses. But it blows around, and there's always some loose hay, and it's yummy to bunnies!

Of course, in the spring, there are babies. This year, some new bunny holes appeared right near our horse arena. There were two babies, now I'm only seeing one. He/she? is the friendliest of bunnies. He's been known to fall asleep during riding lessons, sleeping right next to whoever is watching the lesson. Yesterday evening, I was able to get some really cute pictures of this half-grown bunny.

Winner of a Scrabble Tile Pendant!

Selected by a random number generator (http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/random_no_custom.html), the winner is M's Mommy!

Please contact me with your address, and I will send you your bunny scrabble tile pendant!

Thanks so much to all who entered!

Check back soon, I'll be doing another giveaway this week!

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When bad things happen to good people

I have a wonderful new friend, Susan. She owns Martha's Vineyard fiber farm. If you haven't experienced her fiber yet, check out her Etsy shop here. You can even purchase a share in her fiber!

However, that isn't the purpose of this post. I visited her blog this morning, and read a devasting story about her aunt and uncle; people that have given their all, to help people. Her uncle has had a catastrophic injury, and she is holding a raffle. I ask you, please visit HERE to read her story and consider helping a little bit, yourself.

I thank you for taking the time.

I did it!

I've been wanting to make a doll from fabric for a year. I have patterns, fabric, chenille. In the middle of some of the busiest weeks imaginable (day job, working 12 hour days, two big wholesale orders, three custom orders to work on, my animals, kids, laundry) I made a doll.

I named her Rosebud, listed her in my Etsy shop, and she sold in 3 days.

I can't wait to make more.

:0)

Burro!

My friend who lives in Colorado did some traveling last weekend - to Grand Junction and areas around there. She sent me some great pictures, but here are my favorites. Meet Paco, the baby burro!

Enjoy!

(I want some burros.....)