The First Giveaway!

This giveaway is special in many ways. It is our first, as the title implies, but it is also a celebration of 100 followers to this blog. This is amazing to me. I began this blog with about 6 followers back when I was selling dog clothes. I had no idea where to take it. After the Etsy and Artfire features, I began to pick up 6-12 followers a week. I am just thrilled at the response and the fabulousness of you all!

Our giveaway items come from Hill Country Collection. Let me introduce them first, then we’ll get on to the artisan that furnished them! Here you see a delightful matching set of pink owl magnets and a soft padded embroidered owl eyeglass case. These are yours to win by commenting below. Leave me your email (youname at emailserver dot com) so I can notify you. This contest will run from today until April 30. The winner will be announced on April 30 and a new contest will be posted. The winner will be chosen by random through Random.org. So comment away and you could be delighting your eyes daily (once you put on your glasses) with these little owls. The magnets are available in other colors, too!

“Owls are known for their great eyesight. Humans, not so much. “

This week we have the lovely and talented Kim Curtis from Hill Country Collection. Kim creates some of the most delicious jewelry, magnets, coasters, cards, and machine embroidered products from her home in Austin, TX. Shopping for her items is easy if you travel in cyber world to her studios on Artfire, Etsy, or Zibbet. Chatting with her is also super-easy on Twitter. Find her there as @hillcountrycoll. Kim writes a fantastic blog of her own, plus she is also on Facebook and My Craft Corner. Is there a place where you can’t find this talented artisan?

Selection of stuff from HillCountryCollection When asked about how she learned to make her crafts, Kim said, “I actually started making jewelry while I was going through chemotherapy. I got tired of reading and watching TV so with this extra time I wanted to learn something new. My parents bought me ‘Jewelry Making for Dummies’ and I started teaching myself techniques out of that book. I taught myself pretty much all of the beading that I do from books or magazines. I’m very creative so began branching out into magnets and then machine embroidery products.” Kim also wanted us to know that she is a 2-time cancer survivor. From something so ugly as cancer comes so much beautiful. You can find her line of pink ribbon designs on sale at missberlysdesigns.com and missberlysdesigns.artfire.com.  If you haven’t taken a look at the wonderful items Kim has to offer, you are truly missing out. You can find a gift for any person on your list (hint: Mother’s Day is just around the corner!) There are truly great people to meet, and HillCountryCollection is one of them.