GIVEAWAY - Charlotte's Web Book and GreenCycleDesigns Book Paper Flowers! CLOSED

WINNER
WILL BE
DRAWN
THIS WEEK!

This week's giveaway is a special one!

We have one of my all-time favorite books

(hint - that's some pig!)

Charlotte's Web and a GORGEOUS paper flower bouquet created from the pages of another copy of Charlotte's Web by the amazing paper artist and recycler Tara Ackerman of Green Cycle Designs!

(her name is Tara and she is a green-aholic)

Tara says, "Anything that can be saved and used again, MUST! Green Cycle Designs is the manifestation of my childhood dream. Based in Plantation Florida, GCD is quality eco-friendly home decor and jewelry done right. We are focused on promoting a green yet fashionable lifestyle, without breaking the bank in the process."

(I love that and am sure Charlotte and Wilbur would approve)

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive the Charlotte's Web book bouquet from Green Cycle Designs and the actual book!

HOW TO WIN:
It's easy, peasy - just leave your contact information below!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog
(5) Facebook this post

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:

Enter by midnight on Sunday November 20th! Good Luck!

some pics and purchases from last month's asheville trip - aren't olive and her best friend ruby the cutest sweater wearing boggles evah!

Make an Upcycled Ruler Frame - Holiday Gift Countdown - Week # 6

By now you can see that I am using alot of vintage pieces for holiday gifts this year

(this makes a great reason for flea marketing in the summer - you can only hoard so much stuff personally if you do not want to end up on one of those tv shows fighting to hold on to your collection of somebody else's bowling trophies and climbing over piles of old magazines to eat a slice of frozen pizza in bed with your cats)

you can make this gorgeous yardstick frame/mat from new rulers, too, but the old yardsticks make it a totally one of a kind piece for your lucky recipient!

you will need: 3 colorful yardsticks (enough to mat 2 11X11 Ikea frames), saw, adhesive, sandpaper

I decided after playing around with the rulers a bit that I wanted to keep the glass under the rulers and leave them with the framed black edge of the Ikea frame.

1. lay out your rulers
2. saw rulers to size (be patient and careful with this if you are using a little wobbly handsaw like I did)
3. lay out the pieces and then glue them into place.

I was originally thinking I would glue the ruler pieces to the glass, but decided in the end it would be better to glue them to each other and to the inner frame.

* onion print by f2images

To get your own yardsticks - check out the Etsy listings HERE

maybe it's better to seek out some criticism .... the kind that offers up just a little love bite though, not the kind that requires stitches

It is usually easy to find people to tell you how great your idea or thingamajiggie is and how you can absolutely sell that great idea or thingamajiggie - "they'd sure as hell buy one" they say - although they likely never will ...

(unless of course, you are in my family - the "do you really want the truth?" clan of solemn pronouncers of doom and gloom, yes - that's where I get it)

sometimes though - it is best to ask people

what they don't like.

So, instead of seeking approval, maybe asking, "what is wrong with this? how can I make it better?" could be more likely to get something real ... and maybe helpful ... and maybe valid.

It also requires the person who's opinion you value

(and if you don't value their opinion, then please do not ask them)

to really look and listen to what you are showing them.

You can, of course, totally disregard their answers, but if you are really looking for feedback - this approach may yield you some important talking, thinking and action points that you hadn't thought about.

(a final note about asking someone else about your work - remember an important life lesson here - you can only be to someone what they see you as - and yes, I realize I am dangling a participle here, but stay with me - what people see has more to do with what is behind their eyes than in front of them, so keep that in mind - this is not an exercise in giving your power away - but solo workers need the power of collaboration sometimes, too)

* if you're gonna shoot print by petek design