WE HAVE A WINNER!

The good, no wait, the GREAT, news is that we have a winner of the "S-P-R-I-N-G" banner from my June/July blog giveaway!

The sad, oh, so sad, news is that if you haven't received an email
from me telling you that you won, then someone else did:(

I know, I know, I'm sad for you and I'm sad for me (I have to send it away!)

BUT, I'M SO EXCITED FOR TRACY FROM LOVING PRETTY THINGS!!!!

She's the winner and she seems like such a delight! I would like to invite you to visit her blog and see her preciousness - she uses words like "cankles" and "guy liner" - my kind of girl! She has a very cute blog!

The next giveaway is in honor of my 56th on a Psycho day/24th on a Barbie day BIRTHDAY and will be on September 1st or sometime that week. Mark your calendars to check my blog!!

Oh, heck, just make my blog your home page and then you'll not only NOT miss THAT giveaway but all monthly giveaways, priceless art and irreverent humor...
Thank you, everyone, for entering my giveaway and for those of you that signed up to follow my blog. I'm now over "100 followers" so the September giveaway will celebrate not only my birthday but this huge milestone, too! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO - put on your party dress and get ready to enter another fabulous giveaway!

And, to all lurkers that became commenters - I'm as proud as a mother!

xoxo, Jan

BLOG WINNER A-A-A-N-N-N-N-D DON'T FORGET TO LOOK UP!

May's blog giveaway was this precious stamp set below - oh, how I love it!

I did the drawing last night with the help of my best friend, Annette (she picked the number - always helping; that's just who she is), and the *excited* winner was CAROL O'CONNELL of Vintage Crafter! Yea for Carol!! And, she's from Canada which I think is so cool (well, until I get to the post office) - I'm making friends all over the world with my giveaways and that's the most wonderful thing! (I wonder how far away my farthest away reader lives???)

Oh, and don't forget that I have decided to have a giveaway EVERY MONTH!

Big WOO HOO!!

.....And, now the second part of this post............a fascinating story follows. LOL

Frank the Tank has been out of town this week so I've been in charge of watering his babies......his tomato plants (oh, please). So, I'm standing there watering them, probably not the right way, the gentle way...........I simply laid the hose in the container and let it fill with water and then moved to the next container. (DON'T TELL!) Anyway, I'm standing there just thinkin' about important stuff...you know, stuff like 'do these tomato plants make my butt look big?'...'what excuse can I think of to get out of making dinner? "oh, darn, Tank, I was with the tomatoes so long that I didn't have time to cook! *shrugging shoulders pitifully* I guess we'll have to order in" '...'this chore is great for fluffing'...and, pondering such serious dilemmas as erectile dysfunction.

Okay, I'm just kidding. (Well, not about how I watered them...) What I really noticed was the view towards the highway and how green the plowed and planted front field was and how gorgeous the hills across the highway are and how blessed I am to have that view. And, as I was thinking these things I thought about all of the things of beauty we miss because we don't look up! Like the hills across the highway - not something I see very often because I don't look up.

So, I went inside and grabbed my camera so I could share with you some of the beauty that is all around me. Now, you may not think my "views" are beautiful because we all define beauty in our own way. But, my views are awesome to me - they're bits of life that make me smile (fyi - glitter is a bit of life, too:) and a LOT of them make me smile because they make me think of God and how He is the one that has given us all the beauty that is around us!

I took the picture of the oh, so revered tomato plants, the view towards the highway and now I'm going to show you the view to the left of where I was watering the revered ones - you're looking at the barn area. When I look that direction I am flooded with memories of the boys when they were growing up!

And, so, these are the round bales from one of our hay fields. They'll feed the cattle during this drought and through the winter. The boys and their friends used to climb up on them (the hay bales, not the cows) and play 'keep away' while running down the rows and jumping from row to row! They also make a great background for target practice (so they say).

A close up of some of the barns (you're missing the hay barn - hey, hay barns are important AND they're honkin') and the pens. Oh, my gosh, talk about God's beauty! A lot of the beauty is in the memories of the parties we've had down at the barn - behind the small barn that eventually became my first studio. And also, looking at this area is a reminder that the barn was built in 1890 and that the ranch has been a working ranch owned by the Thomason's since 1890. Wow - now that's vintage and I LOVE vintage!

Oh, this is so cool! I see this beauty every time I take the curve coming up our lane - the wicker settee, fence gate and yard chandelier hanging in the ancient pecan tree. I love this little bit of "me" that you see as you're approaching the house and after you've seen the beauty of the pink bicycles lined up along the fence at our entrance...

See? The yard chandelier! Doesn't it make you smile?

Beauty.

Oops! I need another yard chandelier!

This little sitting area is just outside the fence that runs around our yard. It's crazy *meaning more pink on a ranch*, but it's so me:)
As I was walking around the front yard to get this one last picture for you I passed the front door....my lovely front door that no one ever sees because everyone that comes to our house uses my studio door (go figure). I think my front door is beautiful and I was so glad I looked up and saw it as I walked by!

Ahhh, my favorite place in our yard....the swing. I love to sit in it and gently rock back and forth as I look out at my favorite view.

I always look up and see this view! It's my special place where I can be calmed when agitated, blessed when I am troubled, cooled down after a long bike ride, and simply at peace while I am gently rocking back and forth.

You know what? There is beauty all around us; we simply need to look up from our busy-ness and see it! Even a parking lot is a thing of beauty to me if I find a rusty smished bottle cap! Texture, color, faded color, vintage buildings, children, all of God's people, and let me not forget the horizon - what do you see when you look towards the horizon?

I simply adore all of you, my readers. There's such beauty in your comments.

xoxo,

. . .Jan

TWO POSTS IN ONE DAY. . . . .BECAUSE WE HAVE ANOTHER WINNER!!

Do you remember that I had two blog giveaways going on at the same time?
They overlapped?

The second giveaway ended today - it was the Paper Cowgirl Art Retreat giveaway!

And the winner was.................TRACY GUILLAUME!!

Let's hear it for Tracy - "yippee!!"

I've got her vintage clock and her vintage beaded clutch that's filled as much as possible with extra goodies all boxed up and ready to mail to her on Monday!

She was so excited! And that makes it so much fun for me!!

Next giveaway will be sometime in May so be watching for it (That's my marketing ploy to keep you reading my blog. Sly, huh.)

Thanks for reading and supporting me with your comments!

.

XOXO,

. . . .Jan

WE HAVE A WIN-E-E-E-R-R-R-R-R-R-R!!!

the VINTAGE APRON GIVEAWAY!

There's nothing more exciting than finding out who the winner is of one of my blog giveaways!
I almost get goosebumps. . .hoping, hoping, hoping that the winner is someone that really loves the giveaway.

And, I got my socks blessed off yesterday when the Random Picker-outer (my dear mum) pulled out STEPHANIE ZOLLER @ tatuedmomof4@aol.com!! When I read her post I knew the winner was someone that was going to treasure my precious vintage apron!

I have loved reading y'all's entries and knowing that I was giving away a treasured goodie that brought so many wonderful ladies to my blog to enter! Thank you for taking the time to be a part of my life - I so appreciate it.

The other giveaway on my blog is below and ends on April 10th so make sure you've entered it! It's a really good one, too!!

Thanks to my loyal readers for making me realize that writing my blog is blessing people. You know I love you!

XOXO,

. . .Jan

WE HAVE A WINN-A-H-H-H-H!

I could hardly stand it this morning!

It was finally here - the day of the drawing!
We would know the winner of the giveaway!

Oh, my gosh, I was so nervous!.................What if I drew my BFF's name?

What would people think?..................Would they think it was rigged?

"Oh, good grief, Sophie!! Wake up!! - this is exciting!"

What if I drew the name of someone I was unable to reach?
Then what do you do?

This was my very first blog giveaway - no wonder I was so excited and so nervous!

"Okay, mom. It's time. (with my precious mom drawing I knew I wouldn't be accused of any blog crimes) Put your hand in the box and please draw someone I don't know! (Oh, I'm just kiddin' ya! - I didn't really say that!)
She puts her hand in the box and draws.....................(doesn't she look good???)........................................

SUMMER SUNDAYS - JW!!! wooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooo!

We've got ourselves a winnah-h-h-h!

And, now that it's all over except for the mailing of the box, I'm kinda sad.........................so I'm going to have another blog giveaway when I get home from Michigan! Yipee!!! (that'll be the latter part of February *yeah, I know*)

***And, now, on a serious note. . .I cannot begin to tell you how much your posts during this giveaway have meant to me. Your kind words, those of you who wanted to be added to my *some day I'll get it together and send my first one out* newsletter, those of you who signed up to follow my blog because you enjoy it so much, all of you made me feel very special, very loved, very accepted.

Thank you. I love my blog and I love that you love it. (and if you haven't read the story just below this post, oh, you must. It's simply divine.)

So, until next time, XOXO,

. . . . .Jan