Winter Snow Queen Bendy Doll Giveaway

In the Spirit of Giving, i'm giving away this lovely Winter Snow Queen Bendy doll.

This beautiful bendy doll is the queen of the Winter Solstice. She transforms the world into a cold and peaceful landscape of snow, ice and crystal. She would beautiful on your winter nature table, or as a gift for your littles.

The Winter Snow queen is 3" tall.
Her cape and crown are removable. She is covered in glitter and sure to leave a few sparkles everywhere that she goes. :) She contains small parts and is not suitable for littles under 3 years.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!!

MANDATORY ENTRY

Head over to my for Sale page or browse my catalog of sold work and let me know your favorite item!

Please include your e-mail address or make sure it is visible in your blogger profile so i have a way to contact you if you win. Otherwise a new winner will be chosen!

EXTRA ENTRIES (make sure you did the mandatory first!!)
please leave a new comment for each extra entry. If you qualify for 5 entries, leave 5 separate comments.

1. Follow my The Enchanted Tree blog via google friend connect. 1 entry
2. Be a fan of The Enchanted Tree on Facebook. 1 entry

3. Share this giveaway with your facebook friends! 1 entry

4. Tweet about the contest leave a link to your tweet. 1 entry (can tweet daily, for 1 extra entry daily)

5. Add my button (top left column) to your blog 3 entries (leave 3 comments)
6. Blog about the giveaway link to this post, leave a comment letting me know where to find it. 3 entries (leave 3 comments.)

**Rules**

• Giveaway ends Dec. 7th, 2010 at 11:59pm EST
  
• Winner will be chosen via Random.Org. i will then contact them by email, and post the winners name on my blog.
  
• Winner will have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen
• This giveaway is open to all USA shipping addresses
  
• International readers may enter, but will be responsible for shipping cost.
  

Day of Thanks and Food.

This year, our Thanksgiving was very nice. i feel so blessed and grateful to be able to spend the day with my family and eat lots of good food.

Store bought tofurkey Roast (not nearly as pretty as last years seitan) on a bed of home grown Swiss Chard, red potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes. The baby carrots came from the store, my carrots did not do well this year.

Our feast also included a layered bean dip, spinach pies, mexican sushi rolls and homemade Chevre with crackers. My cherry pie was a bit messy, but delicious. It was made from organic cherries we picked at our neighbors house.

Homemade pizza. Half has peppers, onions, portobellas and olives, a quarter has only olives and a quarter just cheese. :)

Lots of raw veggies and blackberry cobbler from our own blackberries. We had icecream and whip cream on top.

Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and Swiss chard from the garden. Our very traditional looking 'but meat free' meal. :)

It was really nice having Nana and Pap share the day with us. We only get to see them a couple times a year, and this is the first time they've been here on Thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for! i hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Preparing for our feast.

My folks will be here in the morning, and i should be cleaning and doing lots of food prep. Instead i'm procrastinating, and thought i'd put up a quick post. As a vegetarian family, we don't celebrate a totally traditional thanksgiving.

Instead we have a Feast of Favorites. Everyone chooses their favorite meal/foods and we have a huge Feast that usually lasts us a couple days. :)



Last year, i made a homemade seitan/tofurkey with wild rice stuffing and an orange juice tamari glaze. It turned out awesome, and now looking at the picture i almost wish i was making one this year. Instead, we opted for the store bought Tofurkey. It's kind of expensive, but is good and we only do it once a year. So it's kind of a treat.

i actually like the traditional Thanksgiving foods, so besides the Tofurkey i make stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, winter squash and sweet potatoes.
The rest of the family prefers nontraditional, so we also have pizza, bean dip, spinach pies and mac and cheese. :)

i really like to incorporate as much food from our garden as we can in our feast. This years garden wasn't the best, so there is a lot of things we'll be eating that are not homegrown. My spinach and lettuce got pecked up every time it start sprouting. i finally fenced it in, but it's not big enough to harvest yet. We do have plenty of red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. A few different varieties of winter squash and a few tomatoes.

i also have lots of greens! i'll pick these tomorrow right before we cook them. i like to saute them with kale in olive oil, add a splash of tamari and some fresh garlic.

i made up a Blackberry cobbler, from the berries in the freezer that we picked over the summer.

i also made a cherry pie, again from frozen cherries we picked this summer. This is my 'before i bake it' picture, because i knew when i bake it the filling would ooze out everywhere and make it not so pretty. Smells good though.

i'm feeling a bit melancholy. Last year on Thanksgiving, our dog Sampson was hit and killed just minutes after we finished eating. The truck that hit him was the only vehicle that drove down our road all day, and it didn't stop. It was the beginning of a downward spiral for me. It was very tough winter, and in a way it feels like i am just now getting out of that 'funk' that i was in for most of the year. It is hard to believe that an entire year has gone by since that day.
So, i'm looking forward to tomorrow, spending time with my family and enjoying our food, but i'm a little sad too remembering the events of last year.
Still, i am extremely thankful for all that we have, and all that we are.


Give Thanks

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.

Give thanks for your food and the joy of living.

If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

Chief Tecumseh

Busy, busy...

i have a really tough time naming my blog posts. :)

Lately, i've had a hard time writing posts as well.
i am however finally getting a handful of bendy dolls made up. i have intentions of getting these listed on Etsy or doing a holiday craft show...but until then, i just keep making them.


Here's a few new ones. This is the pink fairy. $12 shipped first class.


Purple haired mermaid. $12 shipped first class.


Holiday Elf. $12 shipped first class.
This is the Purple fairy. $12 shipped first class.

Also working on making Pegusas. :) Will have these available in sets with fairies, gnomes or elves...the unicorns too.

Here's a peek at what my husband has been making. These are all on there way to Osaka, Japan. There is a sweet little store their called Fool the Hermit, that has been a major supporter of Tiemeyer Glass since the very beginning. We are always grateful for their support.

more pretties heading to Japan..


Some of these are going to Japan too, but a few of these are currently available on Etsy.

Just a quick post to let ya all know what we've been working on.
My folks will be here in two days, and i have lots of house cleaning to do and need to get my menu ready for Thursday. We are having our traditional Feast of Favorites. This will be the first time my folks will be spending it with us. So it should be nice.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Bubbles the tadpole; Insectlore's Frog Bog.

Several years ago we hiked down the road to visit our neighbors who live on the bank of the Greasy Creek. They had a huge metal container behind their shed that was filled with a few inches of water and a ton of tadpoles. We gathered them up and brought them home to observe. We watched them transform into frogs and then released them back into the creek. We documented the experience here. It was incredible to watch the tiny little tadpoles grow into froglets and then frogs.
Now, every summer, we take a hike down to the creek looking for tadpoles. This past summer we found only a few but still brought them home to raise. You can read my blog about them here. Tadpoles are very easy to keep and it's really a fun and educational experience for the kids to see the tadpoles change to frogs. We have always kept our tadpoles in a 10 gallon fish aquarium which works but is really too big for them and a pain to clean out.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to review Insectlore's Frog Bog kit. There was a bit of a mix up with shipping and we received our tadpole a few days before we received the actual frog bog. hee hee. It was all good though and when the habitat did arrive our little tadpole seemed quite happy in his new home.

The frog bog kit includes a hard plastic habitat with vented lid. It measures 13" long by 9" deep by 6" high. It also includes an aerator, a quiet pump, a syringe for water cleaning, and care instructions. The habitat is a really nice size and perfect for viewing our tadpole. The bottom of the Frog bog is slightly domed so the waste collects along the edges making it very easy to clean with the syringe (think turkey baster).

Maintenance is easy. A couple times a week we use the syringe to suck out the collected waste. When the water starts looking a bit cloudy you can remove about half of it and add fresh (room temperature) spring water.

The tadpole we received is huge!! The kids named him Bubbles, although i was really pushing for them to name him Ponyo. :) It is an American Bullfrog tadpole and is about 3 1/2" long. He looks almost magnified through the sides of the container so it really great for observing the changes he'll go through.

The only potential problem i see with this kit is that Bullfrogs can take a long time to transform. i had waited to do this review hoping to post a few pictures of our tadpole changing but so far he still looks the same. Bullfrog tadpoles can take 6 months to a year for full frog development. So, if your interested in teaching metamorphosis in a classroom or homeschool group you might want to check out the Frog Hatchery kit. which comes with Leopard frog tadpoles. They complete their development in around 3 months, and you will be able to see them change a little each week. You will want to pay attention to state restrictions and the dates that these are available to ship.

The Bullfrog tadpole is very cool to observe because of his huge size. You'll have to be a bit more patient watching him transform. The kids love to watch him, he's very active, and swims all over his frog bog. If your interested in raising tadpoles and learning about metamorphosis, but don't have access to tadpoles in the wild, i really recommend these kits! Insect lore has a huge selection of educational and fun frog items and both bullfrogs and leopard frogs are native to the US.

You can enhance your frog study with this Bullfrog lifecycle coloring page and The Frog Jumper activity. Here is a really fun Tadpole Puppet printable you can print up from Scholastic to show how tadpoles transform into frogs through metamorphosis. My kids love this!!

*Disclaimer* i was not paid to try out these products, i received this product to review from Insectlore in exchange for my opinion. Opinions posted on this blog are 100% mine. i would not recommend an item i didn't believe in. We Love insectlore!

and a couple more...

A couple more bendies i recently finished...

Mermaid Sea queen with trident. $15

Wizard with white beard with staff and wand (although wand isn't pictured) $15

Dark haired Gnome girl $12
i'm thinking i may re-do the embroidered leaf that is on her shirt, it doesn't look much like a leaf in the photos. :)

Last week i went to Michael's craft store and purchased a bunch of supplies, then came home to realize that the beads from Michael's are not the same size as the beads from Hobby Lobby, even though they claim to be the same. So yesterday i ordered new head beads from Hobby Lobby, and i'll have to take a break on making any new bendy dolls until they come in. i'm going to work on making felt horses, unicorns, Pegasus, dragons and fairy houses for a bit. As well, as try to catch up on some other things. :)

i'm really trying to get my website updated, and i'll have all the bendy dolls and other products i have available listed on there and kept some what up to date! You can check it out here.

Have a beautiful day!!

Handmade Holidays: Seven Feathers Tribe

Just in time for the holidays, i am going to try to spotlight a few handmade crafters/artist on my blog and encourage you all to check them out.

Artist Feature: Seven Feathers Tribe

i admit, i have been a huge fan of Cre's work for many, many years. Back in the day, she made gorgeous patchwork clothing with the most intricate and beautiful appliques and her business was known as Oceantribes. Although she still sews some clothing items and amazing applique work (check out her pixie pockets on etsy!!!) , her focus has changed a bit as she and her family have grown and evolved over the years. Cre is a work at home mama to 5!


In the last couple of years, Cre's focus has moved toward making eco-friendly children's toys. It has been fun to see the amazing things she can do with felt!! She uses Eco-Fi felt (also known as Ecospun) for her handcrafted plush toys/foods. It is made from 100% recycled post-consumer plastic bottles and is compliant with the Consumer Product Safety Act, making it a great, eco friendly choice for our children.

If you visit her etsy shop, you'll find it packed full of lovely felt playfoods, imaginative masks and felt crowns for dress up play, market bags and more! She makes an amazing selection of play foods!! My favorites are the tea sets, asparagus and the bags of pasta. Her felt masks are so creative and original, she has a nice variety of fairy masks, gorgeous owls (my favorite), and lots of other animals.

Her prices are incredibly reasonable as well. If you are looking for homemade gifts for your littles (or for you) you are sure to find something wonderful from Seven Feathers tribe.

Please consider purchasing handmade gifts this year. Show some support to this fabulous mama who creates these amazing handmade toys so that she can stay home with her children.

How to connect with Seven Feather Tribe:

Head over to Facebook and become a fan of Seven Feathers Tribe.

Visit The Seven Feathers Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/sevenfeatherstribe
Besure and add them to your favorites!

You can also check out their Website for more information and to see more examples of Cre's beautiful work. : Seven Feathers Tribe http://www.seven-feathers.com/

i hope you enjoy these artist features, i plan to be featuring a new artist/crafter each week up until Yule. That's my hopes anyway, life often gets in the way of what i'm planning... but i would really like to spotlight a few folks who's work i really love.

New Background.

This morning i spent a bit of time looking for a new background for my blog. It just seemed to need one. i came across a couple several i really liked, and had a hard time picking one. i ended up putting one of my favorites on my personal/family blog here. Cute eh? i wasn't sure whether to put that one here or there, but felt like it matched that page better.
So what do you think about this one? Is it difficult to read? Is the background distracting? i've played around with the font and colors trying to make it easy to read, but nothing seemed to help much. i'm just not sure how i feel about it and would love some feedback. i love the lighter center space in the other background, it makes the writing pop out more....but i love the colors on this one. So what are you thoughts? Okay? or too distracting?

Would love some feedback!

Thanks folks!! i went ahead and removed the background. It was only loading correctly about 50% of the time for me, and then it seemed a bit distracting. Thank you for the feed back!

Favorite Giveaways!

i'm working on a list of my favorite Giveaway Links for Oct-Nov!

How cute is this owl snuggle sack by Baby Aspen?? i'm trying to win it for my friend who is due in Dec!
Stop by Mama Must Have it by 11/22 for your chance to enter!!

Be sure and check out the gift guide while you are there! Lots of great giveaways!!
While you are there at the Mama Must Have It Blog enter to win this Easel from Melissa and doug!

stuck in creativity mode and starting to panic. :)

Is it really November already?? Yes, i am already starting to panic. My folks will be here for Thanksgiving, which is only what...about two week away? Crap. i've been working on handmade gifts for my kids, but haven't started anything for anyone else yet. i was also hoping to stock pile some of my bendy dolls and accessories to set up at a local craft show. If you follow along on facebook none of these are new to you, but for everyone else..here is what i've been working on this week.

Unicorns, horses and Pegasus. i haven't made a Pegasus yet, but it's my next project. :)

The perfect size for the bendy dolls. Still finishing the details on these, but can't resist sharing.

i keep getting myself sucked into these projects that take way longer than they should. This dragon is an example of that. Sewn entirely by hand with the blanket stitch. This my own pattern, like the unicorn above.

Here it is almost finished, and a second one already started.

After making my boy the wizard a few weeks ago, he put in his request for a dragon, King Arthur and his knights. So this is the beginning of that project. i alway love to make my kids homemade gifts for Yule, and i know he's going to love these!

i still need to sew the crest on the horses blanket, and add the eyes etc to the horse. i'm not sure i like how the knight turned out. His helmet was kind of a pain and looks rather awkward. So i may attempt something different with the next one.

Here's another one of those projects i jumped into and it ended up taking much longer than i intended. The tree house is hand stitched, and if make more of these i may sew them on the machine to save some time, and then just do the detailing by hand. There's always a horrible glare on my dolls making them look as though they only have one eye. :) She really does have two!

The roof is removable and gives better access to the little home.


Little bed of leaves and a few home making accessories.
i love this set and really hope i can put together a few more before the holidays!

i don't like this time crunch feeling, especially when i'm feeling so creative and wanting to get more made! i'm going to have to start putting some thought into holiday gifts for the family and taking a bit of a break these.

If you are interested in any of the dolls or sets that i've been posting, just send me an email at enchantedtree (at) hotmail. com

a couple more...

i have a bunch of unfinished posts that i've started and saved but can't seem to finish. It's been especially cold and i've been feeling quiet, withdrawn and reflective. i've been creating like crazy. Working on holiday gifts and bendy dolls.

i had my first bendy doll sales over the weekend. The two blue haired Mermaids are now on their way to Switzerland. The Holiday Elf and Earthy Fairy are heading to New York and the Green and Yellow Fairy is heading to New Jersey. :) Starting Monday, i'm charging $12 on these. i forgot to figure in the cost of bubble envelopes and paypal charges..yikes. If i start listing them on etsy, i may have to bump it up a bit more.
i'm considering trying out Artfire and sharing a shop with my husband's glasswork. He sells enough to justify the monthly fee, and then i don't have to worry as much about the extra charges for each sale which really add up if you sell alot. i'd love to hear some opinions on Artfire.com. What do you like/dislike and how it comparable to Etsy?

Anyhow, here is a few more i've recently finished.

Little gnome girl in blue and purple with braids. She's a shorty 2 3/4". $12

Gnome girl with oversized hat. Her hat goes down to right above her eyes. i pulled it up a bit for the picture. i think it's super cute when it pushed down a bit more. $12

My new favorite is the Woodland Elf Queen. i always end up with a terrible glare, but you get the idea. $15

i paired the Elf Queen with this little Woodland man and baby. He has a tiny messenger bag and walking stick. This is my favorite set so far...not totally sure i can let it go. hee hee. This set with the Elf king and queen, baby and 3 toadstools is $35.

i just picked up some more head beads, but am running really low on embroidery floss. So i'll be working on a few more of these this week, hopefully a wizard and perhaps a knight. Those i'm not sure i have the right colors for those. i think i really like the larger eyes, and am going to be experimenting with some different bigger eyes on the next few. i also have a lot of wool roving that i could use as hair on a few, and flower petal skirts which i've done in the past....so i'll have something new to post in couple days.

Ecomom Winner Announced!!

Drum Roll Please....

Out of 87 valid comments, the winner of the Ecomom $15 GC is.... #83

kathy said... 83

yes i like the enchanted tree on facebook :)


kraftykathleen@gmail.com

Congratulations Kathy!! i'm sending out an email now! You'll have 48 hours to claim your prize or a new winner will be chosen!

Thank you all who entered!!!