Winners!

I used Random.org to generate the winning numbers.
For the mug, 15 said they would like to try to win the mug, and Random gave me the number 12. So BlessedWithFriends won the mug.

12 wanted in for the little square bowls, and Random gave me 5 and 9, so Bertaberta and The Laurinak  won those two sets.

!0 wanted to be in for the card holder, and Random gave me 6. So Miss M won that. I'll be contacting the winners today!

Thanks for playing!!
Ant

Happy Solstice!

Wow! This holiday season has been crazy busy, especially in my Second Chance shop on Etsy, though AntB on Etsy was bustling too.  So, I'm sorry this post is so long overdue, but it was for a happy reason. 

Solstice means Giveaway!

I have a couple little things to giveaway. First I have two pairs of dipping dishes. These are small square bowls that would be perfect for holding vitamins so they don't roll away before you can take them, or for holding a couple tablespoons of wasabi. Put one by your sink to hold rings or earrings. So many uses! They also are just the right size to hold a regular tea light.  
With their sun and moon images, I thought they were perfect for the winter Solstice. 

There are two pairs of these, just the same. These are similar to the ones I sell in sets of three on Etsy. 
These little dishes are about 2.75 inches square (7 centimeters). They are porcelain and dishwasher and microwave safe, though so small that I doubt you would put them in the dishwasher or microwave. 

 Next, I'm also giving away a mug. The images are from antique sources, and the words are my favorite phrases from this post on Regretsy.com
Thank you to Helen Killer!

The mug holds 16 oz and is dishwasher and mirowave safe.  Inside it says "You have no privilege to utter falsehoods on the internet" and "Some people are wreck less fools".  A somewhat labor intensive design, but sooo much fun, especially if you are into Etsy drama.  (like me!)

 And finally I'm giving away something from AntB too. 



This little holder is great for ACEO's and ATC's as well as Polaroids and recipe cards. It also will hold about 10 business cards too, so if you do craft fairs, it might be useful. 

It is made from small slabs of white stoneware, and is glazed in blue and brown. You can put a photo in it and hide a little thing like a key behind it in the triangular space, if you want. 

To win any of these,  just leave a message in the comments. Say which one you would like to have a chance win. If you want to be in the running for any or all of them, just say so, and I will put you in for all of them. If you have won before, I DON'T CARE! Comment to win again.  :D

I will be picking winners on Monday (Christmas Eve). **Be sure to put a way to contact you in the comments!!**

Thanks! And HAPPY YULE!

Wintering Greens using Old Windows and Hot Box

I have more windows that my son found, and I have the hot box I made this last spring. Here's a quick video showing how I use them to keep my garden producing into the winter. The blog post about making the hot box is here. 

Winner!

The winner is the 8th comment, which is Ally!
Thanks to everyone who played!

Holiday Tree Ornaments

I wanted to have ornaments to sell in my decal ware shop, but couldn't think of what to do.
I found these porcelain ornaments online, and ordered some a couple months ago:

First I tried firing decals on them. Because they were already glazed, I held them off the kiln shelves with wadding.  The wadding worked, but the decals didn't. They were absorbed by the glaze and became invisible.

I was bummed.

But last night I was cleaning my office and came across them.  I had some Diamond Glaze (water based craft shiny coating) left over from another project, so I printed some Christmasy images from the Graphics Fairy and copied some from my own stash. I printed them onto tissue paper, and cut them out and tried to decoupage them on the rounds.
I made a terrible mess and the Diamond glaze reacted with the ink and the colors ran like crazy.

I was bummed.

  Then I tried adding my decals to the ornaments. That worked better! Even though they are all just black and white it still looked pretty good.

At first I used more holiday themed images. They looked good, but with the black and white they weren't that interesting.

Next I tried decals that would maybe not seem Holidayish at first glance, like cephalopods and bats.

I was pretty pleased with the octopus wreath, but I was downright proud of the flying bat Christmas Tree!

I let the decals dry on the ornaments, and then covered them with the Diamond Glaze to protect the delicate waterslide paper.

I let them dry overnight, and this morning they look pretty good!

I did have trouble getting the Diamond Glaze to be smooth. There are tiny surface bubble marks, and on the Weeping Angel there is a texture from getting the glaze on too thick.

I will enjoy these being on my tree this year.
Especially the skeleton one!

As a matter of fact, I think I will give one away!
If you would like one, just comment the one you like best, and I will pick one comment at random and send them the ornament of their choice.
Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win, and if you like more than one, leave a comment for each one that you like. I don't care how many times you comment.
Here are a couple of pictures of all the ones I have finished.  I will assign a number to each of the comments and use a random number generator to pick.  I will pick tomorrow evening (Friday night).
Each of the ornaments also has an image on the back too.

 Oh, and please check out my shop and my other one or this one if you have a minute!
Thanks!
And Thanks also to  the Graphics Fairy and Theerin for some of the images!

This contest is now closed!

Etsy Front Page

This treasury made the front page of Etsy today. When I saw that my shop views were in the thousands rather than the hundreds, I figured something was up. Thanks to Andrea for making such a great treasury and including me!

More Tags!

According to the blog stats, the tags from the Graphics Fairy are pretty popular, so I thought I would share some more.
These tags are from a blog I just discovered, Stellar Four. It is an enjoyable read, and she also has these great printable tags:

I love the allusion to Alice, Harry, Snow and Charlie!
I can't wait to use these for Halloween! And you know Gracie's lunches are going to get some of these tags too!