Weekly Hooray: Banded Goddess

Well, February continues grey and weird and unpleasant. In the calendar family, February is totally the grey damp sheep of the family. Blech.

But there are still color-worthy things happening, at least to me, and since this is my blog, I expect everyone to be celebratory along with me. So all together now: Yaaaay!

Why? Well, this week, it's this:

That's Terry Spier-Kalmar's Banded Goddess necklace, given to me out of the crazy awesome generosity of her heart and the wild blogride that was One World One Heart this year.


I'm sure you can see just looking how lovely that is-- but what amazes me is that  this is a necklace I would commission if I were able to commission a necklace right now! Wow! Look! Fluorite, my favorite rock(It phosphoresces! It serves as an energy shield! It is used in cookware enamel!Best gemstone ever!) ! A wonderful smooth-nubbly glass goddess for my twitchy fingers to hold when I'm thinking! A magnetic clasp so my same stupid fingers can actually get the piece on and off! And it sits right at the point where I like my pendants. I am, in short, never takin' this thing off.  Sorry to anyone else here through OWOH who might have wanted it themselves, but clearly, this Goddess was made for me.

But I bet you can find something just perfect for you at Terry's site, http://www.magicalbeadstalk.com-- she's got all sorts of pretty rocks up for ogling!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Happy Necklace Dance to get back to.  Strike up the band!

One World, One Heart, Six Winners!

Wow, what a wild crazy blogtastic carnival it's been on the OWOH Magic Carpet Ride! Thanks to everyone who came by and said Howdy, especially those of you who had to cross oceans and mountains and vast linguistic barriers to do it, and especially especially all those from everywhere who decided to follow me afterwards and see what kind of mess I stumble into. I suppose now I'll have to actually be interesting! Scary!

But this post is sure to be interesting to at least six people, because it's time to reveal my One World, One Heart WINNERS! And since you amazing people left almost 600 comments, that's six names drawn! Six fascinating people to get Mystery Prizes! Drumroll please:

JULIE SMITH, who likes ballet, longswords,and foreign films!

BIRGIT, who favors the Old West, Mystery books, and the color Teal!

ANGIE HALL HAVILAND, who like purple, nifty fibers and paper, and cows!

JENNIFER HALL, who likes fabricky craft supplies, Retro Kitsch, and Montsers!

And finally, two people with something in common,

CONNIE! From Chicago! Who likes pale pink roses, postcards, and anything Japanese,

and

MISS KOOL AID, aka Sophie, who likes cats, tea, and vampires!

What do those last two have in common? They also apparently like living the whirlwind life of super spies, who are very hard to get hold of through blatant cover investigations like "email". I hope they appear soon, because those are awesome art prompts! Connie! Sophie! Let me know you're out there! And, well, where. I need a place to send the prizes, you know! If I don't hear back from you by Thursday, I'll have to draw other winners! And that would be sad.

Everyone else-- thank you, very sincerely, for playing along. I loved the answers to my question, and am deeply touched at the faith some of you have in my craftsmanship (I can't create children, folks, no matter how much you love them! Well, I mean, I can. But it would take nine months, and be rather more involved than a simple blog prize can reasonably justify.) In those 500 + comments I've got enough art inspiration to keep any artist hopping for years! And writing, too, since I am absolutely writing to everyone who took the time to leave a personal message. Ya'll are fascinating!

And for everyone who joined in OWOH, whether you left a comment here or not, another thank you. Lisa, the brave founder of the event, calls this a simple blog giveaway, and says it won't change the world, and she's probably right. I visited every blog on the list, which meant about a thousand people- a thousand people who opened their doors to strangers from all over the world, people I would never have encountered or read otherwise. All of us are carrying different labels, different political views; we're all busy with our own lives, and maybe most of us wouldn't talk if we met in person. But for a few weeks, with the room for just one blog post, everyone on the OWOH list was able to tell the world one thing, and everyone shared their passion, their craft, the things they love, for no other reason except to let other people enjoy it too. That's not exactly World Peace, but it is pretty darn awesome.

Thank you, Lisa, and thank you, fellow bloggers!

Thank You, Etsy Texas Crafters!

Oh boy, I won the Etsy Texas Crafters Dia de los Muertos challenge! Well, I came in fourth. Which is better. No, really! See, the challenge has prizes, and every challenge I've entered, the prize I really wanted has been third place or later. It is bizarre, but true! This month it was a pair of luxury washcloths from the lovely Laine, of Cradle And All, who even let me choose my pattern!



Don't those look amazing? It's just the sort of thing I always sigh after and never buy, because I am a sensible responsible household budgeter who is saving all my money for patching the roof. No fun, and not nearly as luxy as these washcloths. I think that's the best sort of prize or present, really, something useful and loveable but not...quite..in the budget. So big thank yous, Laine! And it goes really well with my prize from last time!

Last time? I was in the lower-place prizes again! And I won a Pink Sugar Whipped Soap from Amanda of Fairy Bubbles.



Which is pretty great all on its own, right? But then she went and double-sized the prize just because she's that cool! I love using this stuff; it's like showering in an ice cream sundae, but somehow getting clean, instead of just sticky. And then I smell good, but somehow don't attract ants. Fantastic! You really should try it out. But only if you like smelling good.