Swapping Saturday - Jennifer of Gilding Lilies

I'm so happy to welcome my friend, the lovely and talented Jennifer today.  We've decided to swap blogs for the day to give you a little variety and to give us a change to work together.  I hope you enjoy her post today and it gives you some great ideas for holiday shopping.

Hi, I'm Jennifer aka Gilding Lilies. I'm so thrilled that Jamie invited me to share some Etsy Shopping ideas with you. For those of you that might be unfamiliar with Etsy, it's a site where talented artists and crafts people can sell their wares. As an artist, it's invaluable to easily have a way to show your artwork to people all over the world. As a buyer, it's a great way to find an amazing assortment of wonderful arts, crafts, supplies, and vintage items from far and wide. It's like the biggest and best craft fair ever! I'm warning you, it's addictive.

I invite you to stop by and visit my shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/gildinglilies). I have many gift items to offer including signed photographic prints, gift certificates, jewelry items, and greeting cards. I'm also happy to offer a 2011 Calender that features many of my photographs, which are suitable for framing after the month has passed.  

So, I recommend you go visit  Etsy, and show some talented artists some support. Doesn't that sound like a better idea than just helping out malls and big corporations? Trust me, the artist's will really appreciate it, and you will feel the special and personal attention. It's a great experience!

Here are some of my favorite Etsy gift ideas for the season.

 

'Creamy Winter White Gifts' by gildinglilies

Enjoy!

Cream knitted leg warmers Flutterbydaisy $47.00	rabbit girl and her good fri... zeng $11.00
amate top zelaya $76.00	Winter White Stretch Lace he... GarlandsOfGrac... $15.00
NEW - 8 Layered Big Champagn... milkysupplies $9.30	Gold Lip Dish upintheairsome... $34.00
Organic Vegan Oatmeal Comple... runicrhymesoap $4.00	Hot water bottle aran sweate... ACrookedSixpen... $36.00
wildflower earrings foundling $35.00	SALE Off White Lemongrass Sa... kerrirenee $8.95
Oatmeal Cup Cozy, Beige Mug ... natalya1905 $15.00	Soft Cream Ruffles- Swanky C... SwankyCameraCo... $35.00
a thousand whispers . five w... katescottage2 $24.00	Whites Shades - 3 x 11 Yards... PaperPhine $13.00
Ginger Peach . solid sugar s... DancingMooney $7.50	SALE - Deco Border Lace Tape... orientalflea $2.99

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The Sunday Creative - Obsolete

I'm so glad Justine agreed to host the Sunday Creative for Maegan for a while.  Since it is the only challenge I participate in regularly, I would have missed my weekly push to try something different.  I fell in love with my idea for this photo right away, but I'm not completely thrilled with the photos, but with a little help from PW's actions and some textures I think it is at least interesting.

My parents built a new house about 15 years ago on a vacant piece of land about a block and a half from the house I grew up in.  I'm from a small town where we all pretty much live by the motto of using what you have and making it work.  So the fact that the plot of land had 3 buildings: a couple of small sheds and an old outhouse didn't faze my family.  We didn't even consider having them removed.  Instead my parents made some repairs to the sheds, added shelves, power, paint and siding and now have a workshop/garage and storage shed.  The outhouse was more of a problem.  Who wants to look out their back window at an outhouse?

My dad cleverly hid the outhouse behind some trellis fencing and now uses it as a tool shed.  So while it may be obsolete as an outhouse its still useful and proves that small town ingenuity can be an amazing thing.

I discovered this cd and band at the library this week - what awesome luck:  Band of Annuals - "Thought I'd Have Learned."

Check back in tomorrow for a very special Saturday Guest Post!

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Fun at Auntie J's House

When I'm home, my niece and nephew come to my house to play at least once a week.  Since I don't have toys around to keep them entertained I have to get creative.  On the last trip we started in a cabinet, climbing in and out entertained them for a while.

Then T moved onto the door stop.  Listening to the noise it made kept him entertained for a while. (Decor note - I did NOT pick out that wallpaper and it's going away one day soon, as is the carpet, who puts carpet in the bathroom????)

But soon they gave me these looks - and I knew it was time to move on to something new.


Luckily it hadn't snowed yet, so we headed outside.  Who really need fancy things like swings or trampolines when you have a wet, muddy hill the kids can slide down.    They had a great time and I only sent them home to their mom slightly muddy.


Isn't being an aunt perfect - you can muddy them up and send them home with their parents to be cleaned up.  One final picture - just couldn't resist another look at this face.

I was listening to this song today and can't help but think maybe we'd all be better off if we could cling to the simple innocence of childhood.  Want to hear more music?  Check out my post today at the i-Studio here's the LINK
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Rain Photography

A few days after reading a great post on rain photography I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned to work.  At dusk it started raining so I grabbed my camera and headed out to the front porch and started snapping.


I quickly realized that if I wanted to capture the great reflection and light that come from wet surfaces I needed to get up close and personal.


I was rolling around on the ground trying to keep me and the camera dry but also trying to capture interesting photos.  I was in my tiny home town, so I'm sure if any of the neighbors saw they'll be asking my parents about their crazy daughter soon.


One bonus of an evening of rain?  We woke up to a rainbow the next morning.

After reading Kat's post on rain photographt, I literally was "Waiting for the Rain to Come."
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Back to My Roots Mix

I recently participated in a mixed CD swap.  It was so much fun to put together a mix for someone else and I can't wait to hear the mix she put together for me.  I thought I'd share it with you too.

You'll quickly realize I was in the mood for a little roots and blues.  Throw in some guys with gravely voices and a gal or two for variety and the mix was born.  I think I started with 40 songs and had to cut things down to get it to fit on a single disc.

Let me know what you think.

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Giveaway Winner

Miss M's Happy Dance just for you.

Congratulations to the lucky winner of my CSN Giveaway:

The Felix Family!

Winner was determined using random.org, I've tried pasting the box into this post but can't figure it out. If anyone has mastered that skill I'd love to know how to do it.

Andrea - contact me with the email address you want your gift code sent to, auroraforever (at) gmail (dot) com.



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