Mail Days Can be Fun Days

Receiving the mail last week was so much fun! Like Christmas! I was incredibly blessed and lucky to win some wonderful giveaways during this year's OWOH event and I wanted to share them here, along with a non OWOH goodie package I received.

Kim of Sea Gypsy Cottage created the beautiful doll with parasol above. The construction of this doll is amazing. Kim used (alot!) of pages from a vintage book for the skirt and the parasol and then embellished the piece with lace, pearls and trims. Kim also sent me a PDF file of instructions to make my own, and on looking it over, I know that this doll took a fair amount of time and attention to detail to make.

Kathleen Barnes of Paint Diva is incredibly talented and creative and I received the fabulous Red Queen mixed media painting (above) from her. This piece is absolutely gorgeous in 'real life' - my pic definitely does not do it justice. Please check out her blog for more examples of her work.

The charming fabric flower hair ornament was made by Vanessa of Betty Boogie's Oddventure. The clip on the back enables this to be worn/used in a variety of ways - attach to a hat, lampshade, frame, purse strap, dress, etc., and of course, your hair. Very pretty and the perfect embellishment for warmer weather!

From the very talented Terri Kahrs of Pringle Hill Studio I received the stunning print, entitled "Dream" and three postcard prints. Terri's work is amazing and has to be seen up close and personal! So much detail and the colours she uses are so rich and vibrant!

The lovely whimsical watercolour painting of "Prunella" (I wish I could fly) above, flew to me all the way from Norway. She is so cute! Mette Helberg of Moonfairys Dreamland is the artist that painted her and it was such a joy to 'meet' her and receive this work of art from so far away!

I won the above gypsy collage sheet pdf download from Lorri of Artivity. Lorri has some amazing works of art on her blog - please check it out.

A week ago, I had one of my OWOH winnings personally delivered to my home and got to meet Kim Murray of The Random Ramblings of a Working Mom. It turns out that Kim lives approx. 35 miles from me - how cool is that! She dropped off her OWOH giveaway which was a large amount of scrapbooking materials, plus other craft items. I stole the pic above from her site, as I had already gotten into the stash I received from her. :)

There is one OWOH package I still have to receive, and it is a bit of a surprise - not really sure what will be in it, but I know I will love it as much as everything else I was so very fortunate to 'win'.

Last year I travelled close to the same amount of blogs that I did this year and commented on most of them. Even though I didn't 'win' any giveaways last year, I did meet and make some invaluable friends. This year, I won some incredible giveaways and once again, met new friends, discovered new artists and became totally refreshed inspirationally. What a wonderful journey OWOH was!

The gorgeous lace and satin fabric above are from an 1940s wedding dress. The ADQ issue is one I have been trying to get my hands on for awhile and have been unable to. My friend and fellow ADO member Colleen, in New Orleans, sent these items 'just because'. What a treat! Colleen's sister had gifted her with the vintage wedding dress so she could use the fabric on her own dolls. Colleen knew it was the type of fabric and lace that I also use so she promptly sent me quite abit of it. She also remembered I had been trying to get this particular issue of ADQ which features Marilyn Radzat in it. What a sweetheart she is! And, she's as talented as she is nice.

Some LoopyBoopy (Colleen) Dolls

Please visit Colleen's blog to see more of her work and for a link to her Etsy shop.

Well, I'm going out to enjoy some of our fabulous weather! 11C (52F) here today with lots of beautiful, warm sun!

♥