Prairie Thistle: 400th Blog Madonna and Child Reliquary Giveaway

Prairie Thistle: 400th Blog Madonna and Child Reliquary Giveaway
In celebration of her 400th post this generous artist is giving away this gorgous piece! Check out her blog and and toss your name in the hat!Have a great day!

Anna's First Blossoms

Yesterday I went out to visit the Wishing tree and Anna. I haven’t told you about Anna.

She’s our little apple tree that stands small and firm up on the back lawn. She’s almost directly behind the Wishing tree. She may have even been in the background of a few photos of the Wishing tree… anyhow her blossoms are soooo pretty now I just had to let you see.

As I was poking around I noticed a little friend doing his job… and then as I looked closer,

beneath the leaves…


the start of our first one…

3rd Grade Masters

One of the things I love doing, is volunteering to teach a bit of art once a month in my children's class through a parent volunteer based program called Art Masters. Every year we have a fundraiser at my children’s school where the kids design a piece of art that is sent in to a company that places their artwork on mugs, stationary, aprons, all sorts of stuff. The parents can purchase whatever they’d like with their child’s artwork on it and the school receives a percentage which goes back into purchasing supplies to keep our art program going. With that said, we're always trying to find beautiful, simple projects the parents would love and thus want to buy. (Which isn't as easy it sounds) :) This year with the severe budget cuts facing our California schools parent support of programs like this is all the more needed if art in our school is to survive at all next year. I’m not sure if everyone will love how they turned out, but I sure did.

For this project I used a lesson plan that came from the Crayola website which is a wonderful site if you ever need some fun kid projects for class or home and most of them are really inexpensive to produce. I just loved how this years work in 3rd came out. We used oil pastels for the image in each square and then watercolors for the background. I also did a similar lesson in my son's 6th grade. I'll let you decide which is which...

One World One Heart Give Away Winner!

Before it gets too late I need to announce who won my Querido Frozen Charlotte pendant in the One World One Heart blogging event that ended this evening. It's been great fun flying around, getting to know a little bit about other bloggers I may have never met had I not hopped on this magic carpet, and it's been even more overwhelming to see the tremendous response to my little Querido pendant. Thank you, thank you to all 224 of you that left such kind comments about my work, my blog and my creativity. I'm so encouraged. In the next few weeks, I hope to get a chance to stop by each of your blogs as well if I haven't done so yet and as always I invite any of you to come back anytime. Perhaps some of you might even consider sending a little wish or prayer for the Wishing tree?But of course that sounds like another post... :)

So here’s how I chose the winner... I had a bunch of these adorable “Wish” tickets I purchased a while back to use with our Wishing tree. Knowing that our tree would undoubtedly have fabulous "random choosing" mojo, I decided to hang both the hat and the tickets in the Wishing tree before any choosing actually took place. I decided that the first number on my first roll would stand for the #1. Then I had my daughter and her two little friends separate all the tickets on the roll while they were outside playing. After the girls had carefully separated them, we put all the tickets in one of my daughters many hats.

I thought her blue Luna beret was only fitting. I gave the tickets a few good swirls with my hand to mix them all up and let my daughter pick one! She chose # 885262 which matched up to be comment number 62! Jennifer from Just Jingle was the lucky gal! Check out her blog she’s got some wonderfully fun stuff there! When I emailed her for her address her response was just as I hoped it would be! I was so happy, she was so happy! I knew our tree would help choose someone right. Now my little "beloved" had found a happy new home, a place where she'd be loved. So I'm off to get her ready to send and maybe even create a few more sisters to travel around on a little carpet of their own...we'll see. Ciao for now!

One World One Heart Magic Carpet Ride and Giveaway!

I’ve never really been on a Magic Carpet….I mean my kids were in an Aladdin play at the community center a few years back, but I think that’s as close as I’ve ever come. I’d heard about this little voyage from a few of the blogs I’ve been following and just kept thinking it was too late since it all started Jan 25. Not to mention my fear heights. However the chance to meet and share the ride with other bloggers was too tempting for this first time rider to resist. So here’s the deal: If you’d like to hop on too you need to act quick! The carpet mistress is only accepting riders up until today Feb. 8th. Check here to find out what to do and for the exact times and rules etc. In the meantime, please leave a comment here on this post and I’ll put you in the hat to win one of my Quierido Charlotte pendants made espically for this giveaway. As you can see she's holding "one heart" as a little symbol of how we each hold our "one world" in our hands. Please make sure you leave me a way to contact you either through your blog or email that way I can let you know if you win! Since I’m starting so very late here, your chances of winning are pretty good. I'll accept comments up until Feb. 14th and announce the winner on Feb.15th. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

Now if I can figure out how to use the Random counter thingy, I'll use that to select a winner, if not I'll go old school and simply print up your sweet names, drop them in one of Bella's many hats and let her grab one for me. The winner will be announced right here on February 15, 2010. I will also get in touch with the winner. I look forward to meeting you all! Good luck!

In spite of the rain and the crazy hail,(yep hail) I really wanted to get this beautiful piece out on the tree. I just couldn't bare it, thinking that it would get so thrashed with the torrents we've seen these past days. Soooo I decided to put it out, but with a bit of protection :) pretty tricky aren't I?Thank you Lisa, it's just wonderful!

More Rain

The rain was back today, all day. And while I'm not at all opposed, in fact I really love the rain. It did thwart my plans for a few new additions to the Wishing Tree... one thing I can't wait to place is this absolutely gorgeous ornament from Lisa at Pearl Avenue Studios in Maryland. She does some really amazing work. I love the little personalities that come through her sculpted faces.(Great blog too :) If you get a chance check them out, they're precious. So tomorrow rain or shine, mud or sludge, this beautiful little work of art is going on the tree. The picture doesn't really do it justice at all, but I'll take one in the morning out on the tree for all of you to see. Thank you, thank you Lisa. I'm honored.

The Little Dress Shop

I spent the afternoon at The Little Dress Shop in Claremont Village. It's a kind of magical place...where customers and friends drift in and out all day. They come to shop or maybe stop by in search of something more, a blessing, a hug or even a song from the deeply spiritual owner Marsha Valencia. Today was no different except that it was me that received the three things. The blessing came in a different way this time. I went to bring in a few new pieces and rework my case. While I tinkered and fussed over my jewelry, a sick friend of Marsha's walked in with her Mom. As they talked, Marsha began the ritual I'd seen before. She lit a small twine wrapped bunch of sage and cleansed the air surrounding her friend. Gently she brushed her friends body with feathers and sang a melodic and beautiful Native American chant. The strength of her voice filled the shop. As she sang I thought of something another friend had generously offered me. For most of time I wasn't even watching what Marsha was doing but only listening and it was her song that so touched me as I worked and thought. While this blessing was not specifically for me this time, I could feel the peace of it as the song permeated the little shop and me. It's funny sometimes to see strangers walk in and wonder what's going on. I first notice their nose. They just barely lift their head to sniff the air trying to figure out exactly what it is they smell. Since my case is pretty close to the front of the store, whenever I'm there I assure them it's not what they might think... and tell them it's just "sage." Some people are intrigued, and bravely wander deeper in, others seem perplexed, while some just drift out like the sage. When Marsha finished with her friend we had a chance to talk while I finished my display. I told her about something I'd been struggling with and I decided tonight, after a good deal of introspection that really love was often about just deciding to do it, even when you think you can't. I remember reading this way back in high school and being so awed by this idea. I must have forgotten...it sounds so simple in a way and I know it's really not, but tonight I'll will allow it to be. I've decided it must be. I had made a choice for it to be. And it will. I apologize if this sounds scattered but I'm still working it through. Thank you Annie.

Here's a few pictures of how my little case turned out you know I can never resist the sweets! Oh! and to top it off,when I got home, there was another beautiful little box waiting to be opened for the Wishing Tree. I'm so excited and have a bit of unwrapping to do now! :) Peace and blessings, Bridgette