One World One Heart...it's true!

This post will stay up top until Feb. 17th, with new posts below it.  Thanks for dropping in to visit!

It's here!

For those who don't know me, I'm Jan Conwell and I make art dolls and folk art.  With my husband, dog, and dog's foster cat, I live in South Texas (San Antonio) and where the weather lets me garden all year around.  I grow herbs for food & medicine, lots of veggies, fruit & grapes for the table & wine.  And flowers...for their beauty and their benefits to the local wildlife.  An organic, balanced garden is a happy garden!

(Click to zoom in, back to zoom out...)

Les fleurs...

The Veggie Garden (fenced to keep out the Dog-Cat show).

I can shovel a lot of...fertilizer.

Native Mustang grapes, for a wine that doesn't take itself too seriously.  :~)

The Dog.

The dog's foster-cat.

As JDConwell, I sell my art on Etsy, and as one of two Hermits, I sell with my leather-artist husband on Artfire and at local art shows.  There are few greater blessings than to be happy, healthy, and doing what I love for a living.  I am crazy-grateful for my life!

Okay, so to the point.  The One World One Heart Giveaway, and my gift to the winner:

Isobel.  She's hand sculpted of paper clay over cloth, wire and wood, and stands a solid 12" tall on a wooden base.  Her dress is linen, cotton, and lace, and her hair is hand-dyed mohair. To win her, leave a greeting in the comments section, making sure I can contact you when the drawings are held.  But please tell me a little about yourself too--the fun of this event is meeting new people and making new friends!

 

Thank you so much for visiting my artful garden.

We have winners!

My husband, acting as Random Number Generator Man (while he wore my I Love Bacon apron and cooked his breakfast), picked the numbers 16, 5, and 1... 
Said numbers (in order of posting) are
  

Trish,

 

Lisa, 

 

and Yoborobo!  

I'll get them in the mail as soon as I get your mailing addresses--you can send that info to my email address-- jan_storyteller at yahoo dot com.

How fun was this?  And good practice for the One World One Heart Giveaway that kicks off TODAY!

I'll be posting my OWOH later today...

A Doll Giveaway!

Years ago I found a couple packs of old wooden clothespins at a thrift shop.  They were handy at the time because the hubs and I were selling at SCA events--I did medieval costuming--and it was better to have all our displays looking as "period" as possible.  Yeah, these weren't period, but they were better than plastic clothes hangers.

So I have all these danged clothespins, and thought--dolls.  Of course.

The gist is this...a giveaway!  I need to learn how to manage a giveaway, and I want these little girls to have good homes.  The one on the far right is a gift for a friend's baby.  But list your favorites in order of preference for the other three...all three will find new homes.  Be sure and put contact info in your comment. 

I'll be doing others (I made quite a few of these teeny wenches) later, so hopefully the giveaway practice will help!

They each are about 4" tall.  And I didn't give them names because it just seems like their adoptive homes should do that.  :~)  

(Later edited to add:  Oh yeah!  The drawing will be held January 30, and the dolls will be mailed the 31st.)

One World One Heart 2011

Okay, I FINALLY understand what this thing is about, and have signed up to participate.  (Not so difficult, I'm just new to the give-away thing.)  A little blog-surfing on each of seventeen days, a lot of new friends, and some fascinating arts and artists to explore.

The gist of it is that we bloggers sign up for OWOH, visit each others blogs, and--by leaving comments after we've "looked around a bit"--become eligible for each others' giveaway.  I like that she's made it simple and tried to cut out the push-your-own-agenda conditions that so many people apply to their giveaways--none of the "follow me" or "tweet my blog" stuff.  You leave a comment/blog/contact info, I add you to the drawing.  Simple as that.

I've never done a giveaway, and it seems I'm about to start with a whopper!  Also it seems I'm going to be in on the last year of this one...and that's both sad and auspicious as a beginning/ending.  Nevertheless, I'm working on the piece I want to have as my Door Prize...and since who knows who might end up with it, the only thing I know to do is make something I'd enjoy winning.  Yeah, I know...like Dennis the Menace giving Mom a toy firetruck for her birthday, but what else do I give an unknown recipient?

I'm stoked about meeting all those new friends and artists.  And, yes, I'm stoked about my own door prize surprise.   

If you blog (actively and regularly) and want to join in the fun, click on the picture in the sidebar--The Whimsical Bohemian will explain all the whys & wherefores to it. It's not all that hard to understand, but I let the husband have the brain cell for the entire month of December. 

One World, One Heart.  What could be better than that?