Santa Giveaway

Since the season for giving is upon us I feel like having a giveaway and since I have a Santa or two just sitting here I decided to give one of them away to one of you. I used the old eenie, meenie, miney moe method for choosing and here's the Santa that is going to be sent out to one of you.

Santa is dressed in red from head to foot and has a dear little bear in his bag.


I'm going to keep it simple for you to enter the giveaway. All you need to do is leave me a comment saying you would like to be entered and your name goes into Santa's bag. It's the old bag that Mrs. Claus gave me because she gave Santa a new one for his birthday.

I will be drawing the winner on December 3rd and mailing out the prize on December 4th so Santa will arrive in time to be used in your holiday decorating this year and then for many years to come.

I don't know about you but I'm so far behind in my holiday preparations that even if I had twice the time I don't think I'd be able to get everything I want to do done. I have so much to do I would use a few clones to help me out. Having said that, I will wish you all a wonderful day and lots of holiday cheer and as always, thanks for stopping by.

Bone Head Studios Giveaway

Flora at Bone Head Studios is having a wonderful giveaway. Are these not the cutest bone head ornaments you've ever seen? Go on over to Bone Head Studios and find out how you can enter to win.  

FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY

My friend Sharon at Plumrose Lane is having a fantastic giveaway. Nearly 1000 people are following her blog for good reason. Pop on over and see how generous this giveaway is.

I'VE GOT MAIL

This was a great week for mail at my house. As some of you know I won the magic wand that the Angry Gnome and his very talented crew created for the Celebrate Oz event that was held on July 19th. Our mail carrier delivered it to the door on Wednesday. It was inside this humongous box marked very fragile and when I carefully cut open the top flaps I found  a piece of paper with a warning that said,

"Careful opening the wand. I hope you don't hear any sound of broken glass! I have bubble wrap and taped all around & the top paper part is fragile, as well as the glass bowl. Oh heck- maybe you better not even touch it! Just leave it wrapped in the box!"

Well, that didn't sound like any fun at all so I threw caution to the wind and dug right in. Talk about bubble wrap. There were three kinds of bubble wrap and then there were the Styrofoam peanuts and all of the tape and then more bubble wrap. I've got enough packaging materials now I won't have to buy any for years to come. It took forever to get to the wand but when I finally did I was so excited I nearly dropped it. I've got to have a display stand built for it but for now I have it stuck in a vase full of sea shells.

Isn't it beautiful?!? There is so much detail to this piece that I can't even begin to tell you about it all. I was going to take more pictures but as fate would have it, the camera battery went dead. I had taken other photos with it earlier this morning so I managed to get a pic of what came in yesterday's mail as well.

I've just added another photo trying to show the detail in the globe of the wand but this is as good as it's going to get. I'm getting a reflection off of the glass so you really can't see the witch and the flying monkey or see how the poppies and everything fits together so magically.

You remember Dillywink my Munchkin from the Oz posts? That was his name here but his new momma gave him a nickname, Dilly Boy and now that's what he prefers to be called.  He's so happy at his new home so he asked his new momma if he could send me something as a thank you for sending him to live with his new family and she told him he could send me anything his little heart desired so he chose to send me these:

Aren't they wonderful?? It's a  set of 18 of the most delightful Oz ACEO cards and I was flabbergasted when I opened the package and saw them. It wasn't the first time that I'd seen them they were on the July 19th Celebrate Oz blog party post on Ireland Brady's site. I'd never visited this site before and hadn't seen any of the work created by Karen Anne but once I did see it I wanted to see more. I took my daughter blog hoping to see what everyone else had posted for the Oz celebration and she fell in love with the artwork on this site too. Karen Anne is not only a talented artist but also one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. That is one of the wonderful things about blogging. You meet some of the nicest people. I am so happy I took part in the Oz celebration and am thankful for the new friends I've made by doing so. Thank you so much April and Karen Anne and you too Linda for bringing so much joy by being the lovely people that you are.

Remember the pale Santa in the last of my Oz posts? I finally got him painted and took a few photos of him. I've named him "2 B & a D" (two bears and a doll).

I have one more Santa to finish and that will take care of those three Santa heads that played "What's my Line" awhile ago.

Wishing you a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

THE PARTY IS OVER

Chapter four

Here we are again. You’re undoubtedly thinking to yourself, “What else could this din-a-ling possibly have to say about Oz that she hasn’t already said in the past three posts.  You have to understand the reason I keep going on and on it because I find Oz to be so amazing and wonderful and I’ve always wanted to live there. It all started when I was eight years old and I read my first Oz book. I was completely head over heels in love with this magical place. I’ve always thought that it is quite possible these books are what turned me into someone who loves to read. By now you all have a fairly good idea of how crazy I am about Oz and all things Oz so instead of giving you any more facts gleaned from the many books or the wonderful movie I’m going to pack it all in. Yep, I’m not going to say another word on the subject. Instead I’m going to let you take a peek behind the curtain and see what the others have to say before we get to the part where we find out where Dillywink will be heading off to no doubt the main reason you’re here.

"I was beginning to think she was going to make this party last all week. There must be something wrong with the workings of her mind. No one in their right mind would go on and on like this for so many days."

"Thank goodness that's over with. If she had made us pose for one more photo I was out of there. It's such a relief to be sitting down, these diamond slippers are killing my feet. I don't suppose any of you know where my wand got off to?"

"Stop your whining, at least you can sit down. She's done something to me so now I can't even sit and these shoes are pinching my toes and mashing my bunions. I've noticed you can't seem to keep a hold on that wand of yours. You're probably sitting on it."

"Dorothy, did you hear I'm getting a new home?"

"Yes Dillywink, I heard."

"Dear, we've all heard about you getting a new home so there's no need to keep telling us. It's not likely we're going to forget.

Now my bottom is going numb from sitting here and my dress is starting to wrinkle."

"Just listen to you whiny babies. None of you have anything to be complaining about. I don't see any of you stuck in a plastic bag. Plastic doesn't breath you know and it's probably 110 degrees in  here and my nose itches and I can't move my arms so I can't scratch it. I don't suppose one of you two could lend a hand."

"We didn't even notice you laying here. Who are you and what are you doing in That bag?"

"What do you mean, who am I? I'm the Red Queen, that's who I am. Who the heck are you two? I don't recall seeing either of you until this morning but of course I've been laying on a shelf and haven't seen much of anything since she stuck me in this bag and surely you don't think I agreed to being stuck in here. How stupid are you?"

"Hey lady, did you hear I'm getting a new home?"

"Yes you dumb twit! I've heard you say that at least a dozen times now. Instead of being so annoying do something useful and scratch my nose since neither one of those other two would do it and can't get a hand free."

"Sure thing. Hey maybe I can help you get out of the bag. Whatcha' think, Queenie?"

"Well, would ya look at this?!? There's a little girl hiding in here."

"How humiliating!! This is no way for the queen to be treated!

First I'm stuffed in a bag and then hidden away on a shelf and now this?!? That last bit is the final insult! I'm the queen and this will not do!

Off with his head!"

"Hey Mister, did you hear I'm getting a new home?"

"Yes, I've heard, and about 30 times in the past half hour. Why don't you give it a rest son?"

"I see you've found your wand Glinda, can I touch it?"

"Sure, but only with one finger. It has powerful magic you know."

"What's with the old man over there? Do any of you recognize him?"

"There's something wrong with him. Did you notice except for his head he's all pale and colorless? You three need to go over there find out who he is and what he's doing here."

"So, you say your name is Santa Claus and you are a symbol of Christmas and you know when someone is naughty or nice and you bring toys to the good little girls and boys? That's your story?"

"Yes, on Christmas Eve I get in my sleigh that is pulled by eight flying reindeer and we fly throughout the night from house to house and I leave presents in the stockings hanging from the mantel of the fireplace or under a decorated tree."

"And you say you get into the houses by going down the chimney? Isn't that a bit risky? I mean, what if there's a fire or what if there isn't a fireplace so there's no chimney?

 Another thing, how do you know who's naughty or nice? Oh, and where did you get reindeer that fly? Are you some powerful wizard?"

I think you have some idea of what it is like around here so without further ado I'm going to announce who has been chosen to provide a home for Dillywink.

Before telling you who it is I'll explain the process that was used in selecting who it would be. It's a simple but well thought out process and it goes something like this:

"Ken do me a favor and pick a number between zero and ten." (me)

"HUh? What time is it? Is it time for breakfast?" (my son Ken)

"No it's still too early for breakfast. Just pick a number between zero and ten, okay?" (me)

"Why did you wake me up if it isn't time for breakfast?" (Ken)

"Just do it for me, okay?" (Me)

"Eleven." (Ken)

"Real funny! Now, just pick a number will you? I don't want to get out the throwing knives or dart board." (Me) These are methods used for choosing winners in previous giveaways.

"Whatever! Six. Okay, now will you leave me alone so I can go back to sleep?" (Ken)

So looking at the list I see the name in the number six position is:

Ireland Brady.

Ireland Brady would you please get back to me with your mailing address so I can send little Dillywink on his way? As you've probably noticed he's really excited about heading out to his new home.

"Dorothy I'm going to miss you most of all."

"Yeah, yeah Dillywink, I'll miss you too."

"Does anybody know why she's got so many boxes out? Why would she need so many? Look, there are more of those bags like the one the queen is in. You don't think she's going to stick us in one of those do you?"

Thanks for putting up with my silliness and for coming back day after day to celebrate with me. It's been fun for me and I hope for you as well. And a special thanks to you Oma Linda for hosting this fun affair. I know you had to give me a shove to get me started but once I did get started there was just no stopping me. I so enjoyed seeing what all of the others who were participating in this affair had to offer and I even won a giveaway. Until next time.

Enjoy your week and as always, thanks for stopping by.

WENDY'S PROJECT

 Wendy has been working on a special project and hasn’t wanted to share what it is until now. Our mom won some wonderful origami papers and a book on making origami figures in a giveaway from Orchid’s Daily Voice . Wendy wanted to see if she could teach herself origami so she has been working at it a few hours each day for the past two weeks.

You have no idea how hard it is for a polar bear to do something like this. Polar bears have rather large paws and making the folds takes a lot of patience and practice. It took lots and lots of practice, every day, and tons of patience. There were times when Wendy wanted to give up and admit defeat, but that’s not our Wendy. Nope, not our Wendy, she stuck with it.

First she used plain paper so she wouldn’t waste Mom’s special paper.

Once she had mastered a few of the figures she tried making a figure using the pretty paper.

And then she made more figures..

  Here she is making a turtle.

Here she is finishing up a cute little kitty.

Then she started teaching some of the rest of us to make origami cranes and frogs and turtles and after many failures a few pieces actually turned out looking like the pictures in the book.

Here's Bartholomew with his puppy that he is rather proud of.

Robbie and his pink bunny. It doesn't stand up by itself but it almost looks like the picture in the book.

Look at the cute beetle or whatever it is. Mom said she thought it was a beetle or a June bug.  Wendy likes the way the blue kitty turned out so she's going to give it to Mom for Mother's Day.

Even Mom got in on the fun and tried making a crane and then she made a turtle. Wendy said it was easier for Mom since she doesn’t have large paws. You should see the shelf above our TV. There are dozens of origami animals and birds.

Now we have another fun thing to do when we can’t go outside and play. It’s always a good thing to have plenty of options for having fun don’t you agree?

Since it is Friday some of our bear friends are posting so we’re going to spend an hour or so visiting with them. There are still 63 more sleeps until we’re going to be seeing everyone at camp. You all know we’re ticking off the sleeps on our calendar and wishing it wasn’t such a long time but Mom says that the time will fly by once the weather get nice enough for us to play outside.

See you soon.

Hugs,

Bellamine & Wendy

BLOG ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY WINNER

One year ago I was visiting with my sisters and one morning Marlene sat down with me and helped me set up my blog. I needed a picture for my avatar so we used one from an e-mail I'd sent to show them my paper mache Santa figures. I wasn't even sure I wanted to blog because at the time I knew nothing about blogging. The only blogs I'd visited were by sisters' and then only when they called me and said they had just posted and I should go see what they'd just made. I told Marlene that I was sure no one would be interested in what I was making and I was certain the only followers would be her and Maggie. I was so wrong about everything back then and I'm here to tell you that it's been a fantastic first year. I've made so many wonderful new friends. Thank you all for being so supportive and caring. You make this old lady feel like a million bucks. Do people even say things like that? So in honor of this momentous occasion I'm going to share a few things about myself with you.

Little known facts or Maddy trivia: 

March is a month full of anniversaries for me. March 3rd was the anniversary of the day I was discharged from the US Air Force. Yes, I'm a veteran; bet you didn't know that.  I studied to be a missile systems analist at Chanute AFB but ended up being assigned to security police and law inforcement because no other female made it through the program and they couldn't have me sharing sleeping quarters with a male partner when we were sent out in the field. That's how it goes some times. You study to do one thing and end up doing something you've not been trained for. Can you imagine me being a cop?  

I would be celebrating a wedding anniversary on March 5th or March 19th if I'd stayed married. No, I wasn't married twice to the same man. On March 20th, 10 years and one day later I was divorced from hubby number one.

When I made the doll for this giveaway it triggered a time of experimentation with patterns and stitching. I worked on shamrocks and made a leprechaun and none of those experiments were worth writing home about. So much for my St. Paddy's Day decorations. Maybe in a weak moment I might show you the results of some of those experiments but not today. Instead I'm going to show you some of my favorite things.

This is my White Rotary sewing machine. It runs on foot power. No electric equals no light, so I have to have a lamp nearby. The user manual is in the top left drawer and the top right drawer has bobbin storage that I should have photographed. I have another treadle machine, it's a Singer and is quite lovely but it's sitting in a spot where, at the moment I can't get at it to open it up. I've had several treadle machines over the years but am down to just the two.

These are some of the things that I've been working on. I've had the Bunny Hop on the brain all week. I've finished about 20 bunnies in various poses and fabrics. The ones you see here are made from OOAK fabric that I painted 16 years ago. I made the fabric for some pillows and padded picture frames and never could figure what to do with the leftovers until now.

Here are some that I've made for a special friend.

I couldn't resist showing you what I use for a pin cushion. With all of the marvelous pin keeps out there you'd think I'd want to trade up. Well, I'm attached to this plain old thing. I made it when I was 18 years old and had just started a new job working in a tailor shop. It's stuffed with layers of wool worsted cut from mens' suiting fabrics used in the shop. Sitting on top is one of my thimbles. I use a tailor's thimble which has an open end. Unlike the thimbles that most of you use, this is meant to protect just the side of the finger not the end of it.

And now that you are all going, "Enough is enough already... when are you getting to the reason we're here?"  I'll stop running my mouth off, or in this instance typing and tell you who the winner of my lovely Miss Kanin is.

There were 32 entries in the giveaway so chances of winning were pretty darn good. Imagine if there had been hundreds or even thousands...yes, your chances of winning were very good. I know that in the past I've employed some very creative or at least amusing ways of picking the winner in my giveaways. You have to remember the blind folded knife throwing, right? Maybe some of you remember Ginger, my little red headed witch who stirred her caldron and conjured up the winner of another giveaway. Well, this time I'm doing something completely different. I numbered pieces of paper to correspond to the list below and put them in a bag and had my son reach in and pull one out. Simple but effective.

And the winner is.........(insert drum roll here).....

Number 5, Prudence from the Bear's Blog.

1.   Ria Vogel

2.   Katy Cameron

3.   Jan Conwell

4.   Izdiher

5.   Prudence - the Bear's Blog

6.   Lisa - LLA Creations

7.   Pam - Yoborobo

8.   Ascension

9.   Julie

10.  Laura - Cobblestone Creations

11.  Linda in New Mexico

12.  Erin Tame Designs

13.  ArtSings 1946

14.  Mina

15.  Ann

16.  Lois - Huckleberry Lady

17.  Crafty Stitchers

18.  Kay - Kay's Kids

19.  Lisa

20.  Jan – Laughing Dog Arts

21.  Colleen - Colleen's Craft Shed

22.  Mona - Wsprsweetly Cottages

23.  Iris - Boo-Bah AKA Iris

24.  Lisa Stubbs

25.  Miyako - Orchid's Daily Voice

26.  Mary - Colony Mountain

27.  Raggedy Creations

28.  Pea

29.  Bird

30.  Christel Hutson

31.  Lavender Dreams

32.  Maggie - Off My Rocker

Congratulations Prudence. You asked if a bear could enter the giveaway, and not only can she enter, she can even win it. You should see how excited Bellamine was when she found out your entry was chosen.

Okay, now this is such a coincedence! If you look you'll see that this is also my 100th post and that must be celebrated too. 

I'm having my son reach in the bag and select another number for another winner.

The second winner is.....(you know the drill, insert drum roll)......

20.  Jan – Laughing Dog Arts

I wish all of you could have won. I know everybody says that but I really do mean it.

Thanks again for making my first year of blogging such a wonderful time for me. Thank you for your encouragement and friendship and for being such a lovely bunch of people.

Prudence and Jan, please e-mail me your mailing addresses. I will be sending your prizes out within the next few days.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Maddy

FIRST OF MY PUDGY BUNNIES

February is a month for birthdays in my family. Today my son Ken is celebrating his and  yesterday my grandson AJ had his. The day before that was my brother-in-law Ron's birthday. My grandson Donovan had his birthday on February 2nd and my mother's birthday was on the 8th. For a short month we made the best of it.

I told Ken I was baking him his favorite cake and here's his reaction:

Do you think maybe he likes cake? Happy birthday Ken!!!

I've been working on some paper mache rabbits for Easter and I finally have one painted and ready for his debut. The ones I have made so far all appear to have packed on a few pounds over the long winter months. I was trying to come up with a name for this one and finally decided to name him what I've been calling him all the while I worked on him.

I would like you to meet Pugsley Cottontail.

Okay, turn a little to your right so we can get a better look at what you've got there. Pugsley is carrying a green painted metal bucket with a rope handle that holds a bouquet of flowers.

Let's get a look at that tail. It really does look like it's made of cotton. Okay, turn a little more...

Without the bucket in the way you really can see the pudgy tummy.

"Hey, who're you calling pudgy?? You got a problem with chubby rabbits?? I didn't think so!

I should be able to start painting another bunny tomorrow. It seems to take forever for the paper mache to dry this time of year. 

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already. I have an idea for something else to add in with Miss Kanin but it's a surprise so I can't tell you what it is.

As always, thanks for stopping by 

BLOG ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY

My first year blog anniversary is coming up on March 6th so I thought what better time than now to have a giveaway. Since there are also two holidays coming up I took that into consideration for deciding on a prize. 

Easter wins hands down for being the most popular holiday of the two for decorating so I needed to come up with something that would be special and unique and would be something you could use to decorate with for Easter. I say special and unique because nothing short of that will do as a prize to be given to one of my fabulous followers.

Trying to decide on something that is special and unique is a lot harder to do than you may think. Well, it is for me anyway. I'd thought about making some sort of Easter eggs but have been seeing them pop up here and there on some of your blogs so I ruled them out. Not quite unique enough.

I then thought about making a pattern for a one of a kind bunny doll and that sounded like it just might be the perfect prize. After some trials and errors this is what I ended up making.

This is little Miss Kanin (Danish for rabbit) who is out for a stroll. She's carrying a basket for the wild flowers that bloom in the field near her hutch.

She is wearing a hand stitched cotton dress of dusty rose with small blue flowers that is topped with a white cotton apron trimmed with pink and blue stitching.

She is made of muslin and is button jointed so she can be posed either sitting or standing.  She has embroideried features and stands  8 1/2" tall. 

Here are the rules for entering this giveaway.

1.  Be a follower of this blog.

2. Leave me a message on this post telling me you would like a chance of winning this doll.

That's it!! Nothing more than these two requirements.  I will have the drawing for the winner on March 6th.

What could be easier? Since there is still a little over two weeks until my anniversary I'm bound to be making something else to add to my giveaway. I'm not sure yet what it will be, guess we'll just have to wait and see.

As always, thanks for stopping by.