Goose Egg Butterfly & Hydrangea Pendant Give Away

In the spirit of the upcoming holidays and to have some blogging fun, I'm doing a give away this month and again in December.

This is a Butterfly & Hydrangea goose egg pendant that I hand painted and adorned with some swarovski crystals. The pendant measures 2 1/4" in length & 1 1/2" in width. It has a silver bail attached to the top and comes displayed on the ribbon you see here or you can remove that and slip a silver chain through if you wish to wear it around your neck.

All you need to do to enter the giveaway, is to let me know in the comments section of this post that you would like to join in on the fun.

I'll be picking a name out of the hat (or in my case, a kitchen mixing bowl ) on the evening of Monday, November 19th. I will announce the winner at that time on my blog and the pendant will be shipped to its new owner the week of Thanksgiving. Everyone is welcome to enter. You do not have to live in the USA to enter (it's a tiny little box remember, shipping is cheap) , that means my blogging friends in Australia as well as anyone abroad is welcome to put their name in my kitchen mixing bowl. Have fun and good luck.

Pendants For Kathryn

I have finished the miniatures for kathryn's order. These were so much fun, I really had a blast painting them.

My favorites by far, are the butterflies. I took so many great photos of butterflies this summer, I really wanted to put them to good use and paint some on a few pendants.

It has kind of inspired me to do a whole series of butterfly miniatures now.

Kathryn's favorite themes were Hydrangeas and Roses so I did a lot whith those 2 kinds of flowers. I also tried to vary designs a bit to keep them interesting for both her and me.

I'm really looking forward to starting on the Emu Egg brides' box and should be getting that going later on in the week. I will post pictures of the naked egg before I start painting it so you can see what I'll be working with. I'm so into the idea of painting jewelry boxes now that I think I will get some more of these going and add a new section on my ETSY site, just for jewelry boxes.

An Order From A Friend

There are times when I get to create some pieces that are lots of fun for me, now is one of those times. I first met Kathryn online sometime last year and just recently, we've reconnected. Above is a photo of her writing desk, very pretty and did you notice, very well organized. Kathryn is a professional freelance writer for 20 years now, specializing in topics that are dear to her heart. She writes for home & garden, interior design & professional organizing industries. You can check out her blog at: http://www.kathrynbechenink.blogspot.com/ where you'll get to read lots of inspiring and informative posts and see lots of pretty photos along the way as well. Her website is: Kathryn Bechen Ink. http://www.kathrynbechenink.com/ . I just purchased one of her e-books she has written, available for purchase and download on her website. If you haven't been to her website or blog, check them out, as there is lots of information and plenty of good reading.

The eggshells above are the order I will be completing for kathryn. Goose eggshell pendants and a jewlery box, a brides box to be exact. I did make one substitution though since taking these photos, I've decided to create the brides box from an Emu egg rather then the hinged goose egg shown. I love Emu eggs for their deep rich color and texture. In addition, they are quite sturdy and a pleasure to paint on. If you want to see what an Emu egg looks like, just click on the link to the right, my ETSY mini, which will take you directly to my shop there. I do have one Emu egg listed and you will get to see the large size, interesting texture and beautiful color of that particular egg. So, these are the before photos....when the order is finished, I'll be taking photos of the finished products to show you.

Back To The Garden Center & Painting A Hummingbird

Today I went back to the nursery I love to shop at, actually, I visited 2 garden centers that I love. Chris and I made an afternoon of it, he went with me and we had lunch, dessert and yes, my extra hot vanilla chai latte with spices as well. Then we went shopping for some more flowers for my summer pots.

I bought some more Geraniums as well as Potato Vines to put in my hanging and large standing pots. I think the Potato Vines I bought last time, that I've already potted, have been growing longer and longer. They look very pretty potted with the Geraniums. I also bought Dahlias this year and I'm very excited about adding those to my potted collection. After talking last year with a lady up the street who loves her Dahlias, I decided to get some for myself. It was a tough decision let me tell you because there was a whole huge greenhouse filled with nothing but all different color and varieties of Dahlias. In the end, I settled on 3 I really liked, a red, a pink and a pinky/peach with yellow. They were all so beautiful, it was hard to decide.

Well, aside from buying plants, I have been painting as well. I painted the above miniature the other day after I saw a hummingbird right outside my kitchen window, he was flying around by my hanging Geranium pots. I was so inspired by this little guy, I got busy painting right away and the above is my own version. Now that planting season is here, I'll be mixing art and flowers a lot more in my posts. They are both interconnected for me anyway so I'll be able to show a lot of inspiration pieces.

The Dahlia is a flower that I haven't painted yet so, I hope to take care of that this summer by creating my first watercolor Dahlias.