February 19, 2014 by Born To Organize

I’ve Been Framed

Framed!

I hope you weren’t here looking for an espionage post. What I meant was, my art’s been framed…and I love it.

Last month I won a blog giveaway from The Contented Crafter. The prize was an art print of my choosing from her Etsy shop. Be still my crafty heart.

Pauline is a mixed-media artist, blogging from New Zealand. Her art is full of optimism and joy. It makes me happy.

When Pauline first opened her Etsy shop, I snapped up the original of this print as a gift for my friend, Elizabeth. Elizabeth loves butterflies, original art and I felt certain she would love this too (and of course she did). The original piece arrived with plenty of time before gifting so I got to enjoy it for a few weeks. Then I wrapped it and sent it to its new home.

Then, serendipity: another blogger offered to sponsor a giveaway on Pauline’s blog, I won, and the rest, as they say, is history!

I’m the proud caretaker of the Butterfly Sprite print which arrived in the mail post-haste. She’s now framed and ready for viewing.

Framed and ready for the perfect spot

Here is where I could use your help.

When we remodeled nine years ago, we went from white walls to color in every room in the house. I love it, but it’s another element to consider when hanging art. Please take a look and let me know what you think by voting in the poll that follows. I’ll share the results later this week.

(A) Bedroom “mermaid” wall

(B) Bedroom entry wall

Hallway, long view

The Contented Crafter sells her work on Etsy.

February 10, 2014 by Born To Organize

Valentine’s Day Giveaway: The Winner Is…

Special thanks to everyone who entered my Valentine’s Day Giveaway last week.

I wrote the entrants names on pink hearts, then tossed them into my world globe. It seemed like the perfect vessel given the number of countries represented from around the world.

Global Hearts

Pink Hearts: There’s a winner here

Representing the pink hearts were:

♥Australia

♥Canada

♥France

♥New Zealand

♥United States

Congratulations Mary Elizabeth! You won the random drawing for the“exploding circle book” featuring Pink Paislee’s Secret Crush.

Congratulations Mary Elizabeth!

I’ll confirm your address, and then I’ll pop it into the mail to you this week.

The winner receives this pop up scrapbook

February 10, 2014 by Born To Organize

Bloglovin’ and that Strange Post

I signed up for bloglovin on Sunday. It’s a simple and uncluttered way to follow all the blogs that I love. WordPress has a reader, but it only works for WordPress blogs. Other platforms, like Blogger, BlogHer, TypePad, etc. show up in different places, via email or in an RSS reader.

In order to “claim my blog”, I had to send a short post with code, hence the strange post.

Here is the scoop from the bloglovin site:

Why did you build bloglovin’?

We started building websites in a garage in Täby, Sweden, and before we started bloglovin´, we were working on our second failed web project: a fashion-community. To get feedback on that idea, we got help from three fashion-bloggers — one of them was Carolina Engman. Somewhere between discussions and coffee breaks, she checked if any of her favorite blogs had updated. So she picked up a laptop and started typing in their web-addresses. A bunch of new windows flew up in her web-browser. Some blogs were updated and others weren’t. It. Was. Chaos.

Here was an opportunity for improvement. Wouldn’t it be sweet if you had one site that notified you every time one of your favorite bloggers had written something new?

We scrapped the fashion-community and started over from scratch. Two weeks later, we had our first, somewhat rusty, version of bloglovin´ up and running. One week later, over 1000 people had signed up.

Sure, there were other blog readers out there, but they were technical, boring, and cluttered with features. We wanted to build something for the rest of us. For everyone who doesn’t care about the technology behind it. For everyone who just wants things to work.

Check it out when you have the time. It was quick and easy to set up. It’s also free! Happy reading.

January 22, 2014 by Born To Organize

And the winner is…

Butterfly Sprite
Mixed Media on Canvas by Pauline King of The Contented Crafter

Me!

Oh my gosh. I’ve been dutifully buying raffle tickets from school children, the scouts and pretty much anyone that asks for years. I’ve never won a thing.

Blogging completely changed my luck.

I won the drawing for an art print of my choosing at The Contented Crafter. All I had to do was leave a comment on her blog (which is so delightful that I do that anyway.) She drew names from a teacup (my favorite beverage, by the way), and I won. Serendipity!

Pauline is a mixed-media artist, photographer, and all around talent, blogging from New Zealand. She shares her art and artful process with her readers. We’re treated to the occasional story about her charming cat, Orlando.

Pauline leaves fun and funny comments on various blogs and gems of wisdom along the way. I hope to meet her on future travels.

I picked out a print of the Butterfly Sprite. It arrived yesterday, along with a lovely note and one of her greeting cards. I’m feeling as cheerful as the lovely sprite.

Coincidentally (more serendipity) I’m working on a framing project for one of my clients, so I took my new print to the shop and had it framed just a day after receiving it the mail. I promise to share a picture when it’s framed and hanging on my wall. I’m currently scouting for the perfect spot. Stay tuned.

Thanks so much, Pauline for bringing art and cheer into our home.

The Contented Crafter sells her work on Etsy. You can read more about her process on her blog or on Facebook

August 16, 2013 by Born To Organize

The Blog Must Go On!

This is a first for me. I’m blogging using my iPhone and a portable keyboard. I live with superior tech support (my husband and my 13 year old son are a force) so between them they figured this out.

We’ve been without an internet connection, phones or electricity most of the day. Around 2:30 this morning a drunk teenage driver crashed into a power pole one house over. The driver and his passenger were unharmed, but the ensuing mess inconvenienced a lot of people and caused thousands of dollars in damage. The good news: they hit the *pole*. A few yards to the left and they would have plowed through a fence into a yard and a bedroom.

What this crazy day did was help me put a few things in perspective. For starters, it’s not the end of the world that I dropped my newly harvested pumpkin (the biggest one in the patch) splitting it wide open. My nickname is Ms. Overachiever. For some reason I thought I could tuck a slippery, round pumpkin under one arm while carrying the kitchen scrap bin with the other. My treasured pumpkin rolled right out of the crook of my arm and landed with a thud.

No! Those orangey orbs of goodness are such a high point of my gardening experience. For a few seconds I simply wanted to deny what I had done. There was no getting around it though. There it sat, split wide open. One moment I marveled that it would last through the end of October. The next moment is was clear it would turn to mush by week’s end.

My careless handling of the pumpkin is hardly comparable to the damage of an inebriated driver, but it is a reminder of the fragility of life. Be sure to hug your loved ones as often as you can and remember to treat your precious pumpkins with the respect they deserve.

[insert split pumpkin photo here]…I guess that will have to wait until tech support is done watching a soccer game. Check back next week for a peek.

February 20, 2013 by Born To Organize

From There to Here, From Here to There, This Blogging Thing is Everywhere*

Shooting Star Hydrangea Closeup Today I surpassed a personal milestone. A year ago February, I set out to write every day for a year. During that time, the earth made a complete revolution around the sun. Four seasons came and went. Garden squirrels came and went too, along with aphids, scale and thrips. Raccoons dropped by, leaving tell-tale paw prints next to the overturned sod before washing there ‘hands’ in the fountain. It’s every critter for themselves in the world of gardeningnirvana.

Writing daily was sometimes challenging, but it was always worthwhile. I gained confidence along the way. Dr. Seuss said it best:

“Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ‘blog’ will make you the winning-est winner of all.”

The good doctor was right. Here’s what I won:

The ability to persevere through illness, fatigue and, yes, procrastination.
Discipline, in both writing and gardening.
Goal-setting. It had been awhile since I set such a lofty goal. It was important to me to see it through.
The most generous, thoughtful, gracious, intelligent and engaged readers a person could hope for. (You know who you are)

*With apologies to Dr. Seuss