Little Beans . . . Little Pillow . . . Little Giveaway

In January, I participated in the Grow Your Blog party at 2 Bags Full.

We were encouraged to do a giveaway and in the end I chose four names in my giveaway.

The third and fourth prizes were mailed off right away.

First and second place were customized for the winners and I just finished them last weekend.

Second place was a hand painted pillow.

The pillow was won by Nicole of My Garden Diaries.

Steve stretches his own canvases so I always have a stash of canvas scraps.

For all the pillows pictured above I used canvas, but for Nicole's I used a painter's drop cloth from Lowe's.

I really like the feel and color of the drop cloth.

I thought for a long time about what to paint on the pillow, scoured Nicole's blog for the color, and finally settled on green for the stripes.

I love reading her blog as she talks about gardening and life with her "little beans".

I painted "LITTLE BEANS" on the pillow

because she is the only person I have ever heard call her children that.

This morning I received this e-mail from Nicole. 

OHHH Carol!!!  I just received the pillow today!!!  WE LOVE it!!!  It is fantastic!!!  I mean it is the cutest thing anyone has ever made for me!!  I will cherish it!!!  You are one creative lady and I can not thank you enough.  I have nothing in my home that has "little beans" on it!  Thank you for capturing something about me in a creative way!  How wonderful!  I hope you are doing well and that your husband is feeling a bit better. And I hope you are having fun creating and working in the garden!  We still have snow so we aren't doing anything like that here yet,,,just making igloos and snowmen!  You take care!  Thanks again and all the best!  Nicole

I read Nicole's sweet e-mail before heading out for our morning walk and

as we were walking and I told Steve how Nicole's reaction made me feel.

Her love of the pillow made me feel very good.

So good, that I have decided to do another pillow Giveaway.

If you would like to win a custom pillow, leave a comment about what you would like.

I am not an artist, so you are limited to stripes and words.

I can do hearts and stars and probably checks.

Life is totally hectic this week -

I am taking 90 students to a UCLA basketball game ALL DAY tomorrow

and

my yearbook deadline is March 4.

So, I will leave the Giveaway open until Tuesday, March 5.

.......................................

You can find me partying at

No Minimalist Here

Funky Junk Interiors

My Romantic Home

Life on Lakeshore Drive

The Gingerbread Blog

A Humble Creation

Lovely Crafty Weekend

A Few of My Favorite Things

Every year, I have my students make a book.

It is a favorite project because they are writing about themselves.

One entry is simply a list of things they like - sports, food, tangible items, colors, etc.

It is somewhat difficult for my students because they are second language learners and don't

always know the words to use.

I made my sample on wordle and created my page for them to visualize.

100 Things I like

So what do I like?

BASKETS

wicker baskets...wire baskets....metal baskets...canvas baskets

too many to count!

baskets, quilts & baskets filled with quilts

Baskets filled with books

RED...YELLOW...RED & YELLOW TOGETHER

I painted the red & yellow pitcher on vacation in Santa Fe

Our entryway 

HANDS

There are hands in every room in the house.

One of my students told me that she thought it was a weird thing to collect.

I told her I couldn't be the only person who collected hands because I find hands in so many shops.

I once met an artist who also collected hands and her collection did not contain a single hand that I own.

Baskets, books and hands all together

THE LETTER C

Having the initials CC drew me to collecting the letter C.

Actually, I love all the letters of the alphabet.


STRIPES...POLKA DOTS...CHECKS

I love red and white stripes.

I love checkerboards.

I love polka dots.

And of course always in red and yellow.

Our beloved Dorje was helping me take photos

Just a few of my favorite things.

Don't get me started on all the different art supplies I collect!